Metro Shipping puts staff development on the freight front line

Metro Shipping has completed the first phase of a new staff development programme, aimed at “raising the knowledge and experience of staff in understanding how their partner organisations work”.   

The Partnership Development Programme looks to take staff from one contributing supply chain partner and show them what it’s like to be ‘on the other side’, and experience first-hand what their industry colleagues have to do to keep the freight moving. 

It will also provide an opportunity for staff to expand their knowledge and build new working relationships that will aid their developing careers.  The programme should also add new perspectives to their supply chain planning and problem-solving toolkits.   

Pentalver opened its doors to two staff from Metro in May/June 2019 and showed them the hectic and busy world of a road and rail freight terminal.  This provided a massive amount of hands-on experience for the Metro staff who were excited to have the opportunity to get closer to the freight.  

And Metro welcomed staff from Maersk in early July 2019 and showed them the complexities of managing imports and exports for major UK companies.  This increased the awareness of the participants of the processes at their partner’s operation, and led to some interesting discussion that hopefully will lead to improvements. 

 “We are now looking forward to the reciprocal visits in the autumn,” said Colin Smith, training & career development manager at Metro. 

“The support I have had from both Pentalver and Maersk has been really enthusiastic in getting this innovative programme off the ground.  Our staff have new experiences that previously they would never have had.  

“I hope that working together to provide this learning experience will be a key part of our continuous drive to improve working relationships at both junior and senior levels, as well as creating more informed supply chain professionals for the future.  We are in discussion with other partners to extend the scope of this great learning initiative for our staff.”