For the past two years, the Young Logistics Forum has been held in the form of a competition involving the presentation of student solutions to a case study prepared by the FML Content Partner – DGL Polska. In this year’s edition, experts from DGL set a challenging task for the students, as usual. They were asked to present a restructuring plan for a severely struggling local transport company and transform it into a logistics platform connecting Western and Eastern Europe. Students from 11 scientific circles presented their visions for the company’s restructuring to a jury composed of TSL industry experts, which included Jacek Machocki (DGL Polska), Marek Biesiekierski (DGL Polska), Bogdan Młynarczyk (GEFCO Polska), Jarosław Lewandowski (Logistics Service), Jerzy Markow (Schenker), Rafał Dziura (TNT Express Poland), and Marek Siuda (Qualcomm). While tackling the task, the students unanimously agreed that restructuring a transport company is not a simple task, and in many cases, it is easier to start a new company from scratch than to change an old, poorly functioning one. Despite this, they rose to the challenge and presented solutions to the problem at a very high level. The jury members also noticed this: “Compared to the previous year, the bar has been raised significantly.”
The lively format of the Forum once again demonstrated that there are many ideas and concepts for solving the task, and students from various universities (technical, management, or economic) often perceive certain aspects in diametrically different ways.
The most exciting part of the first day was certainly the announcement of the results. After a half-hour deliberation, the jury selected the winners – students from the Student Scientific Circle of Logistics at the Silesian University of Technology. The main prize for the best solution was internships in Poland and abroad at GEFCO. Second place went to students from the Student Scientific Circle of Logistics Management at the Warsaw School of Economics, while third place went to members of the Logistics Circle from the University of Gdańsk. When choosing the best solution, the team of experts evaluated not only the substantive value of the proposed solutions but also the method of presentation and defense of their own project – skills highly valued in today’s world.
On the second day of the Forum, training sessions were held by TSL industry experts. The first stage was a training session referring to the main task set for the students. Jacek Machocki and Marek Biesiekierski from DGL Polska showed the students in detail how to prepare for and effectively implement restructuring in an enterprise, and how to deal with seemingly trivial yet significant problems. In the further part of the meeting, lectures were given by Adam Brzozowski (HRK) and Anna Kalinowska (GEFCO Polska), Jarosław Lewandowski (Logistics Service), as well as Olga Aniszczuk and Tomasz Wardak (DSV Solutions).
On Saturday, the third day of the Forum, participants went to the GEFCO spare parts warehouse in Grodzisk Mazowiecki. Its presentation was divided into 2 parts: theoretical in the form of a lecture and practical, during which students had the opportunity not only to see the warehouse but also to independently perform the process of receiving and issuing goods.