I first joined this company as an intern back in 2002, when I was looking to work internationally. Since then I have changed roles multiple times. A Management Trainee in our Hamburg office, creating customer solutions as a Supply Chain Engineer in London, running Customer Service in our Rotterdam office, General Manager in Glasgow, Scotland to help our sister company, Neptune Orient Lines. While I was at our Istanbul, Turkey office, I took over the Managing Director’s role while she was on maternity leave. It was during this time that I was asked to come over to Portland, Oregon as Global Account Director to work on an account for one of the biggest sports brands in the world. From Portland I was planning to get back to the Netherlands and APLL offered me the scenic route home through Singapore. So I took on managing our global accounts for APAC & EMEA and I am now headed back to Netherlands this year – taking the scenic route home.

I’ve been everywhere. That’s what I wanted and I got it, right?

Every morning, I wake up with a cup of coffee before switching on my computer to support our global accounts. I need to make sure that we come up with new ideas and new services to support their supply chains; to help them manage their inventories and increase product availability. Now with my baby boss around, it adds a sparkle to our virtual meetings.

In my role, we get to play around and experiment with stuff. It’s a little bit like operating a supply chain laboratory. We look at data and identify patterns before trying to find improvements. We’re a people first company and we have smart people everywhere who can execute ideas. We’re very agile and can try new things and roll them out quickly.

Our biggest customers have been with APL Logistics for 20+ years. The main reason why is because we’re famous in one of the niches they need expertise on: Order Management. We’ve been able to innovate continuously to always stay ahead of them.

We also act as their hands, eyes and ears when it comes to getting their products out of the factory. We can see any challenges or issues and deal with them before they become a problem. They know we’re on the same team.

In my current role, I get to see the inner workings of many multinational companies, and being able to add value to their supply chains is very exciting. It’s amazing to see how committed my colleagues are towards making things happen.

Just a few years ago, I was fortunate to have had the chance to win an innovation award for our team. That was a good moment. It was very satisfying. With the people I work with, I’m sure there’ll be more to come.