Penske Truck Leasing, headquartered in Reading, Pa., was last night honored for its local philanthropic work. The United Way of Berks County gave the company the Tradition in Caring and Eagle awards at its annual dinner.
Penske News
Penske Truck Rental and Penske Logistics will be sponsoring star IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves for several races this season. Castroneves is in his 13th year withTeam Penske, and is a driver in the IZOD IndyCar Series.
Here is a listing of races that Castroneves’ No. 3 car will be adorned in the Penske yellow and blue. On April 29, he will be running a Penske Logistics car in his native Brazil; the North American races will be for Penske Truck Rental.
- April 29: Sao Paulo Indy 300; Sao Paulo, Brazil
- June 16: Milwaukee IndyFest; Milwaukee
- June 23: Iowa Corn Indy 250; Newton, Iowa
- July 8: Honda Indy Toronto; Toronto
- July 22: Edmonton Indy; Edmonton, Alberta
- August 5: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio; Lexington, Ohio
- August 26: Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma; Sonoma, Calif.
- Sept. 2: Baltimore Grand Prix; Baltimore
Select races will be nationally televised on ABC and the NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus).
Castroneves has an impressive racing resume: 26 wins, 102 top-five finishes and three Indianapolis 500 victories. In 2007, he was a contestant on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” capturing the Mirror Ball trophy.
https://twitter.com/#!/PenskeNews/status/192591077218320384
By Alen Beljin
There are many moving parts in the supply chain that must be constantly in synch to ensure consumers can enjoy their favorite foods and beverages when and where they want them.Penske Logistics has leveraged its expertise in transportation management to help one leading beverage maker further improve its supply chain performance.
PepsiCo Worldwide Flavours recently honored Penske Logistics with its 2011 Operational Excellence Award for transportation management services.
“Penske Logistics is a critical business partner of PepsiCo Worldwide Flavours North America and we’re delighted to honor its exceptional work with this award,” said Laszlo Molnar, senior director, supply chain, PepsiCo Worldwide Flavours. “Penske has always distinguished itself as an organization dedicated to focus, passion and excellence, with both leadership and frontline expertise.”
Utilizing its best-in-class route management techniques and technologies, Penske Logistics manages the inbound supply chain for PepsiCo’s four distribution centers in the U.S. and Canada that handle carbonated beverages, as well as a manufacturing plant in Arlington, Texas. Penske Logistics works to ensure the raw materials for carbonated beverage production reaches PepsiCo’s plants on-time, while monitoring supply pick-up, transit and timely deliveries.
“We are very pleased to receive this award from our long-time customer PepsiCo,” said Dennis Abruzzi, senior vice president operations, east region for Penske Logistics. “Our teams collaborate very closely to ensure PepsiCo’s supply chain transportation network, in the U.S. and Canada, operate at peak performance.”
Penske earns excellence award for transportation management ow.ly/9PRoM #3PL, #logistics
— Penske News (@PenskeNews) March 23, 2012
By “Move Ahead” Staff
The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) recently released its 2012 Risk Management Survey. According to the group’s press release, responses were gathered from 435 senior finance executives about risks that concern them now and those most likely to cause uncertainty over the next three years.
Thirty-six percent of the senior financial executives surveyed expressed concerns over business operations risks such as supply chain and/or production disruptions among others. These supply chain disruption concerns echo familiar sentiments from the 18th Annual Survey of Third-Party Logistics Providers from Northeastern University and Penske Logistics.
Executives Rethinking Supply Chain Strategies
Last October, Penske Logistics and Northeastern University released the 18th Annual Survey of Third-Party Logistics Providers, a study of CEOs from leading third-party logistics companies. Similarly, these executives indicated significant risks and concerns over supply chain disruptions.
Penske’s Joe Gallick addressed the Council of Supply Chain Management Professional’s (CSCMP) 2011 global conference in Philadelphia, along with Northeastern supply chain professor Robert Lieb, Ph.D. They discussed the implications of supply chain disruption, with the study’s findings indicating that third-party logistics providers were working more closely than ever before with senior executives, to rethink how supply chains can help mitigate some of the risks.
Major supply chain disruption concerns have clearly moved to the boardroom level. Troubles for several leading manufacturers and suppliers stemming from the 2011 tsunami and earthquake in Japan helped generate these responses from executives in the Penske-Northeastern survey:
- A quarter of the North American 3PL CEOs reported that some of their customers had experienced a loss of sales in Japan. Thirteen percent of the European CEOs reported similar experiences, as did 50 percent of CEOS surveyed in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
- Eighty-eight percent of 3PL CEOs included in the North American and European surveys reported that some of their customers had experienced a disruption of supply. Eighty percent of the CEOS in the APAC region also reported that being the case.
- Thirty-one percent of the North American 3PL CEOs reported that some of their customers had experienced supplier failures as a result of the tsunami/earthquake. Half of CEOs involved in the European survey, and 30 percent of those involved in the APAC survey, also reported that to be the case.
"Many manufacturers and retailers were not prepared to handle supply chain disruptions of this magnitude,” Lieb noted. “While the lessons learned may vary from company to company, they typically involved the need to focus more attention on business continuity planning, broadening their supply base, and more strategically planning geographical locations of sourcing and manufacturing activities.”
Key Considerations to Help Reduce Supply Chain Disruption Impact
vice president of logistics engineering for Penske Logistics (photo right) advises manufacturers, suppliers and other businesses to take these key factors into consideration to help reduce the impact of future supply chain disruptions:
1) Chose supply chain strategies that keep options open
This may not always be the lowest-cost course of action in the short-term, but it may provide an opportunity to reduce the impact of a disruption.
2) Create capacity and inventory redundancy
Both capacity and inventory can provide slack in your supply chain, which can assist in mitigating disruptions. Inventory, coupled with additional capacity in the form of production, transportation and people, can enable demand and supply uncertainty to be more effectively managed.
3) Introduce partial flexibility into your supply chain
Avoid situations where plants manufacture only one product. Full flexibility (each plant manufactures all products) may be too costly. So, design partial flexibility into your manufacturing strategy. Ensure that each plant is capable of manufacturing at least two products.
4) Improve your ability to sense and respond to disruptions
Use scenario planning to help identify risks in your supply chain, by creating a list of potential events that could disrupt any aspect of your supply chain’s performance. Quantify the costs associated with these risks, and create a plan for managing these risks, before a crisis occurs.
5) Manage supply chain information to minimize supply chain risk
Share information with your supply chain partners as well as your internal locations. This will ensure that all parties are informed quickly in the event of a real or a potential disruption, and can respond quickly and appropriately to minimize the disruptive impact.
“Leverage your 3PLs,” said Ilyes. “They help you manage your supply chain, so they can help you eliminate uncertainty in it. While they may not be experts in your manufacturing processes, they can certainly help you develop and communicate your contingency plans.”
Read it on the Penske blog: #supplychain disruption remains top of mindow.ly/9CMLM #3PL #logistics
— Penske News (@PenskeNews) March 13, 2012
By Randy Ryerson
References:
Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) 2012 Risk Management Survey
Penske Logistics-Northeastern Univiversity 18th Annual Survey of Third-Party Logistics Providers
Driving a Penske rental truck during the cold winter months requires a little extra TLC to keep you safe and your vehicle running its best.
Keep in mind these important safe winter driving tips when venturing out in a Penske rental truck this season.
For Penske’s senior vice president and general counsel Mike Duff, and his wife Diane, serving as this year’s co-chairs of theUnited Way of Berks County’s fundraising campaign in the greater Reading, Pa., area was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“It was exhilarating, exhausting and frustrating, and I wouldn’t change any bit of it,” Mike said. “It was a fantastic campaign in a difficult economic environment.”
This year’s campaign was a huge success, raising $9,008,811 and surpassing the announced goal of $8.95 million. “We are so fortunate to live in a community where people and organizations band together to make sure that our county remains strong,” Mike said.
Duff was particularly proud of Penske associates working in the greater Reading area. Contributions from associates, combined with the company’s matching gift, resulted in a Penske campaign that raised over $750,000. “It is just a testament to the generosity and the quality of the people we have here at Penske. It was an enormous campaign for us as a company,” he said.
Each year, Penske associates in the greater Reading area combine with the company to contribute to the United Way. The money raised are then allocated to the United Way’s 37 partner agencies to fund vital services and programs in the areas of education, income, health and safety net services.
Sitting on the United Way board of directors, the Duffs (photo, above) had a good idea of what the partner agencies do to serve the community. Heading this campaign led to an entirely new level of understanding.
Mike told of their experiences distributing food to the less fortunate, visiting with impressionable young children, and of the power of giving when you can, because you can.
Empowering Children
He was running late one weekday morning and was distracted by his workload, rushing to meet his wife and a group to tour the Berks County Intermediate Unit, where children receive a wide array of educational services. Duff was able to clear his mind and find simple joy through interacting with a cluster of 4- and 5-year-olds.
“The kids were just so funny – asking us who we were and why we were there,” he recounted. “I knelt down and just started answering all their questions and talking to them. After a while it was time for us to go and continue the tour. One little girl said that I wasn’t able to leave until I gave them all a hug.”
Mike was delighted when later he learned that he engaged one particular boy who was extremely shy and rarely talked to anyone. “It made me realize that no matter how busy you may be taking just a few minutes to interact with a child can make a big difference.”
Connecting with Community
While Mike and Diane were participating in the Salvation Army’s food distribution last June, they saw a young couple in line and although it’s typical to make small talk with the clients, Mike noticed the man—who was dressed in business casual attire —was polite but didn’t respond or even make eye contact. The woman then politely asked Diane if she could have an extra box of cereal, saying that their kids like to eat cereal for breakfast.
“This young couple looked like anyone you might see working in your office,“ Diane said, “but their family was obviously struggling and just needed some help with food that month.”
During the campaign Mike and Diane took part in weekly lunches with their 23 loaned campaign specialists. These are individuals who are either community volunteers or full-time professionals whose employers loan to United Way for a few months (Penske provided two LCSs again this year). The LCSs help with various campaign activities, and at the weekly lunches, they would share some of their campaign experiences.
Understanding Generosity
One campaign specialist emotionally told of a factory worker in his mid-20s who pledged $37 weekly to United Way, through his company campaign. She wanted to make sure the young man understood this was not a one-time pledge and that $37 would be deducted from his pay each week.
When the young man assured the LCS that he understood, he added that his mother always told him that if you’re in a position to help someone, you should do so, and so he thought he could give $1 per week, per agency, to help others that are less fortunate.
“When the LCS finished telling us that story, all of us had tears in our eyes,” Mike said.
“This young man’s generosity was a wonderful example that all of us can make a difference,” Diane added.
United Way president Tammy White stated: “The Duffs possessed great drive, energy and enthusiasm in working with United Way donors, volunteers and partners to ensure that a broad range of programs remain in place to improve lives and strengthen our community.
“It was a privilege to work with Mike and Diane during the 2011 campaign, and I admire their leadership and passion for making a difference,” White said.
“We’re extremely grateful to everyone who came together to help us achieve our goal,” Mike said.
By Alen Beljin
Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Green Monday. You name it. The holiday season is here and Penske Truck Rental is busy helping parcel companies and retailers meet their peak holiday shipping demands. Recently, theNational Retail Federation issued its 2011 forecast for the holiday season.
The association forecasts retailers will have an “average” type season in spite of the challenging economic conditions. The association expects holiday retail sales for 2011 to increase 2.8 percent to $465.6 billion.
Similarly, many of the larger package delivery companies have forecasted a meaningful uptick in holiday shipping volumes, in response to consumer demand and fulfilling online shopping orders.
At Penske Truck Rental, which operates one of the largest commercial truck rental fleets in North America, all this shopping frenzy and freight activity translates into increased business.
“From November through December we definitely see a spike in commercial truck rental activity,” said Penske’s Don Mikes, vice president of rental. “The major package delivery fleets typically rent our trucks to provide extra capacity for holiday shipping needs and many small and mid-sized retail establishments also start moving more inventory items and make deliveries.”
Penske offers a wide variety of rental trucks from large commercial semi-tractors and trailers to small box trucks. Penske encourages retailers and businesses to make reservations now ahead of the holiday rush by calling its hotline for business rentals, 1-800-PENSKE1.
New business truck rental customers are encouraged to try the Rental Express program and enjoy an additional 20 percent off, for a limited time.
By Randy Ryerson
Penske has been named to G.I. Jobs magazine’s Top 100 Military Friendly Employers® list.
The magazine recognizes military friendly companies that demonstrate commitment to recruiting America’s veterans.
