COPE conference 2016: Science and practice come together at conference on logistics

On May 25 2016 the Centre for Operational Excellence (COPE) of our faculty of Economics and Business, organised the second successful COPE conference. For this occasion the conference was themed ‘Logistics is everywhere’. Speakers with a business background as well as speakers with an academic background gave lectures in order to share their knowledge with over 230 participants. Along with the visual guidance of keynotes, the public was informed about the latest scientific developments in the logistics sector and their relation to developments in the business field.

Logistical challenges are everywhere

The first speaker to take the stage was Paul Rosenmöller (chairman Secondary Education Council). After being introduced by the chair of the day Iris Vis (Professor of Industrial Engineering), Rosenmöller showed the audience how every organisation faces logistical challenges. In his lecture he gave an outline of the developments in secondary education regarding customisation. The development towards personalised learning, which offers room for every student’s individual talent, has a major impact on a school’s organisation. Paul Rosenmöller drew a parallel with logistics by letting the audience in on the role of a schedule, the layout of school buildings and the changing role of the teacher.

The momentum was kept going when Arthur van Dijk (president Transport en Logistiek Nederland and member of Topteam Logistiek) took the stage. In his presentation Van Dijk gave an outline of the greatest developments in the top sector logistics and the opportunities and challenges for the future. In a film he showed how Dutch innovations in the field of logistics are explained to an international audience.

The third speaker at the COPE conference was none other than Frits van Bruggen (CEO ANWB). In his lecture, he showed the audience the logistical challenges of the ANWB that fixes more than 1 million breakdowns each year. He talked about the underpinning techniques in order to limit the wait for customers regarding the allocation of a car in cases of breakdown. Besides mathematics, human factors play an important role.

Science and practice

COPE has provided a scientific framework for current logistic issues during the day. In the afternoon there were different tracks, in which the wide spectrum of projects done by the COPE researchers in collaboration with organisations were displayed. The subjects of the different tracks were:

• the logistics of internet sales
• serious gaming
• lean versus smart manufacturing
• dealing with uncertainty
• working smarter at libraries
• logistic challenges of personalized education
• logistics of LNG and chain thinking in education

The conference served as the formal closing of the Dinalog R&D projects "Cross-chain order fulfilment for internet sales" and "Design of LNG Networks".

The voice actor Niek Boes concluded the conference with a wrap-up in sound.

Presentations online

Would you like to look at the presentations of the COPE conference? That is possible! You can find the presentations on the COPE website.

COPE Congres in the media (in Dutch)

• Logistiek - maar dan een slagje anders
• Vier keer betere e-commerce logistiek door gebruik van big data
• Spanningsveld tussen lean en smart manufacturing

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