The air express and logistics business has never been more robust and DHL Express in the Philippines is seeing more new clients and a wider variety of industries that are interested to avail of its express and logistics services, says Larry Llamzon, country manager of DHL Express Philippines.
He says the industry is growing much faster than the Philippine’s gross domestic product (GDP). The actual growth of the industry over the last three years was approximately double that of GDP.
“We anticipate further growth with the Philippine government’s 7-8-9 priority goals in the next three years — that is, 7 percent GDP growth in 2007, 8 percent in 2008, and 9 percent in 2009. These are very optimistic fi gures and we are expecting the economic foundation and infrastructure being laid to support these goals.”
Further growth is seen in the transportation business, especially for the air express, freight forwarding, and contract logistics industry.
Globalisation and rapid technological advancements in communications, manufacturing, and their allied industries are continuously pushing the growth of the industry and creating an ever-increasing demand for better logistics solutions.
Instead of simply providing courier services and logistics solutions, “we are now perceived as business partners and trade facilitators, working hand-in-hand with our clients to help them grow their business,” says Llamzon.
Air express integrators are not just expected to deliver or move clients’ shipments effi ciently and reliably, but are also expected to tailor-fi t our products and services to suit our customers’ needs.
As one of the world’s leading express and logistics companies, DHL Express makes it its business to meet the growing demands of the market head-on, says Llamzon.
“We develop, innovate, and adjust our express and logistics solutions to ensure that they remain relevant to the needs of the market, and add value to our customers’ businesses.”
Value-added services like time sensitive deliveries, shipment tracking, and delivery notifi cations are now dictating how DHL does its business.
DHL last year opened its fi rst Philippine Quality Control Center at its customs gateway facility at the Nino Aquino International Airport (NAIA) complex in Pasay City to further strengthen the company’s network control capabilities and visibility of shipments.
The QCC is the nerve center of DHL’s operations in the Philippines. It allows the monitoring of all fl ight information and shipment movement data as it happens from the time a package is picked up from a customer’s home or offi ce to the fi nal delivery. It also means a quicker and effi cient response to emergencies and will provide more reliable security for the entire DHL air express operation network.
DHL Express also launched the SMS delivery notifi cation service, more popularly known as ‘text messaging’ here in the Philippines, that proactively informs clients that their package has reached their destination.
The new SMS delivery notifi cation service is available to customers who indicate their cell phone numbers in their airwaybills when they ship their goods. Once the delivery has reached its destination, customers will receive the AWB number, time, and date of actual delivery and other receiver details. With the power and spontaneity of SMS, customers can receive fast and timely communication through their respective cellular networks.
Llamzon has been in the air express and logistics industry for over two years, starting with DHL in January 2005. He was relatively new to the business then, because his previous professional background was anchored in education, fi nance, information technology, and research.
Prior to joining DHL, he was responsible for the strategic management of IDC’s Asia-Pacifi c regional sales team and its operations based in Singapore and Hong Kong.
He previously worked for IBM as well as Citibank in the Philippines. Llamzon received his bachelor of science degree, honorable mention, from De La Salle University and has attended executive programs of the University of Michigan and Australian Graduate School of Management.
“The pace and expectations of the industry are certainly quite different: the speed with which we conduct business, the demands for effi ciency and reliability, and the endless loads of shipments we have to move according to DHL customers’ specifi cations and expectations,” says Llamzon.
Being one of the youngest country managers in the DHL network, and the first Filipino country manager for DHL, his most major professional achievement so far is leading the DHL Philippines team in winning the highlyacclaimed “Country of the Year Award” for 2006 in which it bested a fi eld of the top 14 countries for DHL in the Asia Pacifi c region.
He makes sure that his team is adequately equipped, educated, and empowered by the skills they need to get the job done. “I drive the message to make each employee understand the importance of their roles in the company, that all of us have a stake in it, that they are the brand, and we all are ambassadors of DHL, wherever we go,” Llamzon states.
