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THE
LOGISTICS unit of Aboitiz Transport System Corp. (ATSC)
has teamed up with a subsidiary of De La Salle
University System to offer a postgraduate course in
supply-chain management.
This
development is an apparent move to develop more
practitioners in a highly complicated field to avert a
possible shortage of experts.
ATSC
unit 2GO and De La Salle subsidiary College of Saint
Benilde (CSB) have signed a memorandum of agreement,
which signals that the course shall be available by the
next school year.
CSB is
the second institution that 2GO has partnered with in
the last two months to stem fears of a shortage of
supply-chain executives or practitioners when the volume
of goods starts to pick up in the near term.
Sabin
Aboitiz, 2GO chief executive officer, said they would
make similar deals with schools in Luzon, Cebu and Davao
to expand awareness and a campaign for graduate students
enroll in supply-chain management.
“We are
partnering with various schools to make supply-chain
courses available for both undergraduates and
postgraduates to ensure our readiness for what will be a
major strategic force for many organizations in the
future,” Aboitiz said during the signing of the
agreement.
Prior to
the initiative of 2GO, no college or university in the
country was offering the said course. Currently, most
practitioners are either marketing or management
graduates.
A
certificate course on supply chain is being offered by
an affiliate of Ateneo de Manila University, but its
pricey fee makes it an unattractive alternative for
student.
Last
month 2GO signed a partnership deal with Jose Rizal
University (JRU) in Mandaluyong City. The agreement
called for JRU to offer Supply Management as a major
under the course Bachelor of Commercial Science.
2GO
declined to give details of the agreement, but the
company said it would develop the course in partnership
with the Society of Fellows in Supply Management Inc., a
nonprofit organization founded in May 2006.
Earlier,
Aboitiz said it would need hundreds of supply-chain
practitioners as the logistics business will improve in
five years.
Currently, 2GO is the only Philippine company that
offers moving goods from factories to stores anywhere in
the country. It mainly employs vessels of sister firms
SuperFerry and Cebu Ferries, which converted passenger
space to accommodate more cargo. 2GO also offers air
cargo and has hundreds of trucks to move goods.
The
Aboitiz group modified its business in the last few
years to accept more cargo due to a significant drop in
passengers that use sea transportation. Most of these
passengers have either switched to travel by air with
the advent of low-fare seats to major
Philippines
destinations, if not the interisland roll-on/roll-off
mode of transportation. |
