Internship Report

University of Management Management and Technology Internship Report At: Agility Logistics

Name: Talha Bin Arif ID number: 114405-093 Program: BBA (H) University: University of Management & Technology Semester: 6th Semester

Submission Date: Oct 09, 2014

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University of Management Management and Technology Acknowledgment:

Before all, I would like to dedicate the accomplishment of my internship at Agility Logistics with fruitful outcomes to Allah to Allah Almighty for Almighty for he bestowed me with strength of both my mind and body to fulfill the purpose for which I was putting my efforts for. Also I would like to thank my parents, especially my mother for resting her faith in me all the times as well as being a sun in my life for I would be nothing without her. Secondly, I would like to acknowledge the consideration of Agility officials and Colleagues for providing me guidance, support and teachings, in both formal aspect as well as informal aspect, to enhance my experience at the organization not only in technicalities of the focused field but also sharing their professional learnings with me to groom a practical field savvy personality which can differentiate between the opportunities and dead ends. Also warm attitudes are worth salutation for not differentiating me as an outsider and being there at all times. Particularly, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of my mentors, Mr. Waqas, Mr. Muneeb, Mr. Jamal, Mr. Rizwan, Mr. Bilal, Mr. Waqas Khawar, Mr. Junaid, Mr. Mubeen, Ms. Mahek, Ms. Sadaf and Ms. Saira along with entire department teams for working alongside as my mentors also guides for teaching me as well as testing my learned knowledge for maximum retention time to time and making duration at Agility worth the efforts, considering the fact that this being a complete new area of study for me.

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University of Management and Technology

Table of Contents Executive Summary: ............................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction of Report: ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Purpose of Internship: ................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Significance: ................................................................................................................................. 7 Introduction of the Organization:. ........................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Company Profile: .......................................................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 History: .................................................................................................................................. 8 2.1.2 Current Status: ....................................................................................................................... 8 2.2

Department: . .......................................................................................................................... 10

2.2.1

Operation department:. .................................................................................................. 10

2.2.2

Custom house Brokering:. ............................................................................................. 11

2.2.3

Fleet Management: ........................................................................................................ 11

2.2.4 Sales and Customer service department: .............................................................................. 12 2.2.4 2.3

Business Development department: .............................................................................. 13

Hierarchy: ............................................................................................................................. 14

My learning:. ......................................................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Learning from Internship: ........................................................................................................... 15 3.1.1 Operations department (Air/Sea Export): ............................................................................ 15 3.1.2 Operation Department (Air Import): .................................................................................... 16 3.1.3 Customhouse Brokerage: ..................................................................................................... 17 3.1.4 Sales and Customer service Department: .............................................................................18 3.1.5 Fleet management: ............................................................................................................... 19 3.1.6 Business Development: ........................................................................................................ 19 3.2 Skills acquired and Areas of improvement: ................................................................................ 21 3.2.1

Communication skills: .................................................................................................. 21

3.2.2

Prioritizing and Self-Management: ............................................................................... 21

3.2.3

Team Work: .................................................................................................................. 22

3.2.4

Multi-tasking: ................................................................................................................ 22

3.3 Recommendation: ....................................................................................................................... 23 3.4 Conclusion: ................................................................................................................................. 25 Reference: ............................................................................................................................................. 26

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University of Management and Technology Figure 1 Supply Chain vs Logistics ("Supply chain management and Logistics,") ................................. 6 Figure 2 Agility Infrastructure ................................................................................................................. 9 Figure 3 Agility hierarchy and information flow, Lahore branch .......................................................... 14 Figure 4 Logistics Key Functions (inbound & outbound) ...................................................................... 20

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Executive Summary: Supply chain management (SCM) is a term emerged in recent years as collection and essence of all business activities and plays role in competitive integration of all the key business functions of marketing, production and logistics and those interactions taking place in legally separate firms within the product flow channel. And the competitive edge of both cost efficiency and high customer service is achieved through the collaboration and co-ordination among the channels members carrying out key activities respectively.("Supply chain management and Logistics,"). Agility logistics carry outs similar activities but at a more diverse as well as in a more effective manner. Being hailed as a multi-national effectively and profitably carrying out logistic and supply chain related activities all over the globe. To make all these service level possible, Agility has itself divided itself into two basic line of business to achieve both the quality of the services and acquire mutual profitability. Agility Global integrated logistics & Agility Infrastructure. During my time at Agility as an internee, I was placed in departments having part in the logistics and supply chain solutions. Within the departments, I was not only familiarized with the technicalities of the respective department but was also groomed in both personality and attitude required in a professional workplace by the supervisors. Among all the departments mentioned, my personal preference focuses on Operations department (Export and Import), Sales and Customer service department and Business development department (comprising warehousing and fleet management and Resource management). In addition to my personal preference, all the details including the detailed description of the company and its operations, my tenure in the company and all the learning I have acquired during the period 6 weeks internship. The acquired learnings are personally categorized as Technical and Non-Technical learnings. Technical as per description, include all the department related bits of information, relative jargons etc. and Non- Technical learnings include personal learnings that have been acquired by the wisdom of the working professionals. Also, most significant factor I found during my internship is the constant testing of my supervisor to test the learning of previous department as well as newly learned. Also I have also given my recommendations, addressing agility current loop holes present to highlight the facts that may hinders its profitability or quality of its service levels.

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Introduction of Report: As far as the history goes, when man started socializing, the need of management was there. Everyone didn’t had everything and the concept of social animal and dependence emerged as population initiated ways to fulfill each other’s needs through the use of material they had. As further time passed and development of commercialized environment came into being, this dependency of delivery of goods and services required by others became more commercial and imperative for mutual benefits and hence the foundation of the first supply chain was laid; although was not recognized at that time. Supply chain now has been identified as, a new but widely significant and continuously becoming imperative area of business world. Supply chain can be best defined as, “Activities involved in transformation of the products from its raw material state to a finished product ready to be handed over to the final consumer”. This phenomenon of activities has been identified as a source of competitive edge by the world organizations as well as a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) in itself in early twentieth century. And hence with the passage of eras i.e. from era of identification or creation of term Supply chain management, in 1982 by Keith Oliver to Globalization era; field of Supply Chain Management came into existence and all the relative fields of research and study. (vinci) Within the supply chain, there comes various heads and sub-heading cover the whole process of transformation and value addition of a raw material to a convenient finished product and among such heads is a head of equal significance, so named LOGISTICS. This term Logistics, has origins as old as the human socialization era, and has been mentioned by many historical figureheads (such as Leon the wise, Alexander the Great) depicting the tactical placement and movement of army procurement such as food, ammunition, clothing etc. for gaining upper hand in the warfare.(vinci) Like many other business practices, even before the use of term supply chain management, logistics was considered highly significant factor of competition either in the battlefield or business world alike. Managing the movement of the goods and effective placement is itself known as Logistic Management and hold a great position in the supply chain. The following figure displays the best placement of logistics in the supply chain:

Figure 1 Supply Chain vs Logistics ("Supply chain management and Logistics,")

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1.1 Purpose of Internship: Being a student of BBA (H) and aimed to specialize in Supply chain management , understanding of theoretical framework of supply chain and its various areas such as procurement, processing, logistics etc. is of high significance and cannot be ignored to any degree. However, reality is much more flexible, ever shifting and complex as compared to the described concepts and problems in the theory books. The prime reason for such a difference in theory and practical is the fact that practical conditions are subject to human interaction as well as worldly interferences which is not common in the books. Therefore for a new entrant, require a prior training in the field. As a solution for such dire requirement of prior training, different methods have been proposed however Internship, specifically backed by associated research on effectiveness, has proven to be most fruitful of all. Being a work-experience internship tying the practical and theoretical wisdom of the individual into a blend whose output is fruitful.

1.2 Significance: The significance of the work-experience internship can be detailed on various facets. One of the compelling significant factor is it being a pre-requisite for the completion of the Bachelor’s degree as per set instructions by Higher Education Commission (HEC). Other factors reflecting the significance of internship are as follows:  



 

To develop familiarity with the current market situations and working framework To expose oneself to the actual working environment and conditions associated with the environment. To develop a balance of theoretical ideal situation and the practical implication of the subject To groom one’s personality in addition to the learned technicalities in the organization To initiate one’s mind by exposing to different real life scenarios with defined consequences.

The above stated point reflecting the significance of the internship are developed as per my understanding and my experience at Agility Logistics and are direct reflection of my gaining during my tenure at the organization as an internee.

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Introduction of the Organization: 2.1 Company Profile: 2.1.1 History: Being hailed as one of the best performing companies in the field of Logistics, it is currently operational in more than 100 countries having more than 500 resident offices; carrying out supply chain solutions for its valued customers with qualified teams comprising of almost 20,000 individuals around the globe. The history of the company moves along the way of the history of markets In the global economy and with the passage of time, it developed from a mere warehouse space provider in Kuwait to one of the largest, non-courier, freight forwarding and shipping firm in the Middle east and then world. With the development of new markets as well as ever developing concepts in the market, Agility over the passage of years has acquired more than 40 logistics brands around the world investing billions with efficiency to produce a model as a Supply chain solution/service provider in the corporate world by providing diverse services covering major industries and relative scenarios which can be faced in a specific industry, thereby living up to the name of one of the best in the market. In addition to the accustomed, mission and vision of firm of substantial size, significant characteristic of Agility is its practicality of its operational activities moving parallel with its CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).(Logistics) 2.1.2 Current Status: Agility has not only expanded its activities to diverse grounds; all following the core features of Logistics services as well as providing a role model for smaller freight forwarding firms. Agility expanded itself on many worldwide stations, both inland and near ports, for effective and more into it level of services to the value customers. Currently the agility logistics is operational in providing solutions in industries:         

Automotive Chemical Consumer Goods Defense & Government sector Industrial Oil & Gas Pharma & life Sciences Retail Technology

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As far as the variety of services are concerned, following activities are being performed by Agility to customers:  Air Freight  Ocean Freight  Road Freight  Supply chain solution  Warehousing and Distribution    

System and Technologies Project logistics Chemical logistics Fair & Events logistics  Household Goods movement To make all these service level possible, Agility has itself divided itself into two basic line of business to achieve both the quality of the services and acquire mutual profitability. (Logistics; Logistics) 1. Agil ity Gl obal in tegrated L ogistics

Integrating global network for providing the best possible level of service to the customer by removing any cross border limitations by promoting a unification of cross-bordered counterparts into one team while focusing on a specific service for a specific customer with regard to his needs and wants. All this integration led to the formation of Global Network covering:  Asia Pacific  Europe  America  Middle East  Africa All these sectors comprising overall 100+ countries.(Logistics) 2. Agili ty I nfr astructure:

With the timely expansion from a Kuwait based firm solely providing warehousing solutions to a multi-national firm, focused for providing dedicated logistics based services and supply chain solutions to the varied industries worldwide, Agility has acquired many logistics brand or head under one roof to provide seamless services in a well strategized manner to improve the productivity of the efforts as well as maintaining a status quo of one of the leading logistics firms which other firms find difficult and risky. Following are some of the infrastructure companies acquired by Agility under one umbrella.  Agility Real Estate  Global Clearinghouse Systems  Inspection & Controlled services  Metal and Recycling Company  United Projects for Aviation Service Company Figure 2 Agility Infrastructure

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2.2 Department: I performed my internship at Agility Logistics, Lahore branch and found following department operational in it. 2.2.1

Operation department: Heart of all the workings and activities performed by Agility, this department is responsible for the quality level of services provided by the efforts of the operation’s executives and Operation manager. Furthermore in providing services to the customer, it is also responsible for maintaining a healthy cooperation between the Airlines and Shipping lines all over the world for establishment of the quality seamless service level as well as prioritizing the jobs. In addition to maintain connections with the Airline and Shipping lines, another responsibility of it is to maintain liaison with the current customers and dedicate itself for more understanding of the customer needs and requirements for proper customized services provision. As quoted by Operation Executive Mr. Waqas Ali, “The Nature of each Job is unique as compared to other, for one commodity is different from other, therefore needs constant attention all times for profitable delivery of the shipment” The department itself is further divided into 4 sub-divisions and headed by following executives: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Air Export Ocean Export Air Import Ocean Import

Mr. Waqas Ali Mr. Mudassar Mr. Muneeb (Same as air-import and Karachi office)

Along with organizing with both the operators (Airline & Shipping line) and the industry customers, role of operation department extends further to other departments; all focused to deliverance of spot-on services.

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2.2.2

Custom house Brokering: Department primarily concerned with clearings of incoming and outgoing freight from the country borders in a pre-defined legal framework of the country of sector being exported or imported. This include furnishing the paper requirements for managing the forwarding procedure in a legal framework as well as practical clearing of the freight both being exported or imported in a well-managed and prioritized way for fast and effective movement of the goods. Following are heading the department: I. II. III. IV.

2.2.3

Mr. Syed Raza Rizvi Mr. Asif Mr. Jamal Mr. Abbas

CHB Manager Senior Custom executive (Operations) Senior Custom executive (Operations) Custom Executive (Field)

Fleet Management: At the disposal of Agility logistics, is a fleet of well managed vehicles of sizes ranging from 20’ft to 60’ft vehicles, for the purpose of distributing substantial amount of goods within the borders to different places for large customers like Nestle, P&G etc. by providing them safe, effective and efficient availability of customer products either as inbound or outbound logistics to be moved from manufacturing facility to warehouse or to be distributed to wholesaler or retailers. Agility is utilizing its fleet management department to provide state of the art service with real time satellite tracking capabilities and implication of specified SOP’s by Authorities for dependability aspect. Also strategic allocation of the vehicles to meet the daily demand is also an important function of this department. Following department is being headed and operated by the following: I. Ahsan Uddin Ghias Director Agility II. Mr. Bahzhad Asghar Fleet operation Manager III. Mr. Arslan Asst. Fleet operation

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2.2.4 Sales and Customer service department: Being a firm in services sector, it requires a well-managed sales department working alongside Customer services to acquire new business as well as retaining potential working clients. This department is most valuable as well as important department even before operations, for they are the one’s bringing fuel to agility for maintaining its status. Within the department, there are sub-divisions for fast and timely workings to meet the requirement of the workload and clientele. Following sub-divisions are developed with the Sales and services department: I.

Managing the sales and bringing new potential clients within the Agility Sales team: clientele

II. III.

IV.

Looking forth needs of the clients as well as generating queries Customer ser vice: for the respective departments for providing services. To meet the profitability targets of the company as well as keeping the Pri cing h ead: overall job into financially productive side, pricing is responsible for maintain edge of competitive pricing as well as managing profitabilit y. for securing new clients as well winning queries on Agility side, Buyi ng h ead: buying head is most significant of all the division in the department as it brings the differentiating factor of pricing edge in play which may be the key of securing high potency business in the industry having price consciousness attitude. One of the most important feature of this department involves the short pre-training of the working personnel in the department in all the departments for gaining insight of the working capacities of the company as well as self-preparation required to move into the field and answer all the question that may be posed by the prospect clients. Heading such an important part of Agility are: I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI.

Rizwan Ahmed Mr. Aqif ur Rehman Ms. Aisha Mushtaq Mr. Mubeen Mr. Junaid Mr. Saleem Mr. Syed Raza Rizvi Ms. Saira Ms. Sadaf Ms. Mehak Mr. Bilal

Sales Manager Sales/Branch Manager Key Account Manager Sales Executive Sales Executive Sales Executive Sales Executive Customer service Customer service Pricing head Buying head

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2.2.4

Business Development department: Business development department has been assigned to many tasks comprising of both increasing sales as well as managing supply chain solutions (both 3PL and 4PL business). Developing new business ideas for expanding the service providing horizon of Agility, is one of the prime responsibilities of the business development personnel and prime reason for fabricating such a department is to avoid stagnation which is parallel to the words spoken by one of world’s renowned visionary: “Without innovation, one reach a stagnation leading to a certain death of a name, brand or a company” Utilizing the core concept of Third party logistic ( 3PL ) and Fourth Party Logistic ( 4PL ) taken straight from the theory books into reality, Agility aims to achieve what other firms are not performing. Such a department headed by: I. Ahsan Uddin Ghias Director II. Waqas Khawar BD manager III. Saleem Shahzad BD manager

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2.3 Hierarchy:

CEO

Directors

Regional Manager

Branch mana er

CHB

Fleet

Operation

Finance

HR

Sales/CS

manager

manager

mana er

manager

/Admin

mana er

mana er Asst. CHB

Asst. Fleet

Export /Import

Credit control

Manager

Manager

Manager

manager

Asst. HR

Asst. Sales

/Admin

manager

Mana er Operation

Fleet

Operation

Accounts

CHB

operation

executives

Manager

executive

executive

Sea & Air

Key Accounts

CS executive

Accountant Field executive

Sale Team Rider

Buying Head

Pricing Head

Figure 3 Agility hierarchy and information flow, Lahore branch

One way link Two way link

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My learning: I carried out my internship at Agility for the duration of Six weeks as per the selected criteria of the University and was allowed to spend a period of one week in almost all the related departments linked with Operations and Logistics management , developed and aimed towards increasing my fundamental understanding of the practical scenario in Pakistan logistics and freight forwarding market as well concerning scenario’s in the related fields. The following self-reporting has been developed by me from my tenure as an internee at Agility and comprises of my learnings of Technical as well as aspirational nature as well as skills of both cognitive as well as physical nature. 3.1 Learning from Internship: During my tenure at Agility Logistics as an internee, I was handed a developed internship plan, detailing the departments as well as my time to be spent there and my supervisor. I was given a diverse schedule, which was promising my stay at almost all the concerned department related to Freight forwarding and logistics management. Being an internee justified my lack of sufficient knowledge and justified my urge to learn even more to the supervisor as well as department teams. Following is the reported timeline detailing my learnings at mentioned departments: 3.1.1 Operations department (Air/Sea Export): Super visor: M r . Waqas Al i Du r ation: 7 days Week 01

Week one was scheduled to be under the supervision of Mr. Waqas Ali, Export Executive (AIR). On the first day, I was given well-detailed brief regarding the technicalities of airexport as well as significance of the work performed by the freight forwarder in the scenario. The technical learning I got from my duration in Operations Export are list ed as follows: Terminology and technical concepts involved in understanding of Freight forwarding Concept of Air way bill, its significance, details of its types and role in export. Operator (Airlines) details. Air export procedure i.e. from a query to completion of process to departure of flight with good onboard exported out of country. Introduction to IATA (International Air Transport Association) and Internationally sectorial tariffs knows as TACT RATES Commercial papers and documentation involved in carrying out the Air export. Significance of E-correspondence between the concerned individuals. Issues may be faced during pre-export, export and post export time frame. Dangerous goods, its classes and measures to deal wit h them for transit.    



   

In addition of the facts learned from detailed briefs, I was initially instructed to develop insight and understanding through keen observance of the personnel working in the department and given brief regarding any new concept or information we tackled during this state of observance as previously mentioned; each job being performed is unique in nature and demands detailed attention on its own. Soon afterwards, I was given a chance to physically involve in performing the procedures of air export. Along with just conceptual learning of facts and figure of the procedures applied to deliver a profitable service. In addition to the Technical side of learning in Air Export, I also learned importance of Being Responsiveness to the details either asked by supervisor or by client and timely reversion can be very fruitful in practical life. 15


In the Ocean Export, The technicalities learned were similar to what discussed in Air export, however change of procedure was observed on slight basis as the volume of Air and Ocean freight was quite distinct from each other as well as the transportation involved in it to deliver it to relative ports of Departure (POD’s), as understood, one port is to be Airport and other is to Seaport. Following additional learning are as below: Relevant terminology for sea way mode of export Seaway bill/ Bill of lading Operator (Shipping lines) and voyage details Incoterms (Term of Shipments) Modes of Shipment Container types and relevant details Documentation involved in Ocean Freight and its distinction from Air Way mode of export In addition to the technical information obtained, additional learning was in the aspect of multi-tasking i.e. working with multiple query at hands and proper mode of follow up for each job assignment at hand.       

3.1.2 Operation Department (Air Import): Super visor: M r . M un eeb Du r ation: 7 days Week 02

On the second week of my internship, I have moved to the next step of operations after learning details about export as well as practically performing on query. Now a counterpart of previous learning is Import under the supervision of Mr. Muneeb. Conceptually opposite of export, there are obvious distinction in importing a shipment as well. There are two particular reasons for this distinction, First , all the paper work required for importing a shipment is being developed at origin (Foreign Country) from which shipment is being sent to destination country (Pakistan). Secondly, all the details are exchanged with international counterpart residing in origin country on Electronic correspondence. Agility being a multi-national firm, having residing offices in many foreign locations makes the process of import seamless for the whole process is done keeping the trade secret within the organization utilizing the services of agility officials working in the country from which the goods to be imported from, thereby giving more secure and more controlled transaction throughout the process. In addition to learning and understand as well as practically applying the process on an international queries, I have learned the etiquettes of international correspondence as well as understanding the sector specific jargons in the fi eld.

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3.1.3 Customhouse Brokerage: Super visor: M r . Jamal Du r ation: 7 days Week 03

On the third week of internship, I was stationed in one of the most significant and key departments of any freight forwarding firm having impact on its chain of operations leading to delivery of good, involving clearing of goods entered within the border as per the set custom laws of entering, leaving as well as legislative justification of the goods and commodities with in the premises of the nation. Along with that, I was familiarized with the whole practical custom procedure that takes place for clearing of good and involves the following  Furnishing A Good declaration (GD)  Submission of pay order as duties against the transported commodity as per detailed in Custom Tariff of Pakistan  Examination clearance from concerned officers  Anti-narcotics examination clearance  Value examination by the concerned officer for final go ahead  Gate out the goods for either delivery to consignee or export purpose In addition to this whole process of custom clearance as well as site visit to airline sheds and custom houses for experiential learning of attitudes of the work force there and the nature of the work involving the whole procedure. Also listed are some new additions to the Pakistan customs as well with which I was familiarized.  WEBOC system : for automating GD preparation as well automation in the

examination process and creating a paperless workplace for customs  Custom Tariff of Pakistan (2013-2014)

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3.1.4 Sales and Customer service Department: Super visor: M r . Rizwan Du r ation: 7 days Week 04

As mentioned earlier as one of most significant department, sales and customer department plays the role of bringing new business as well as retention of the old. In the fourth week of my internship, when I was stationed in this department, first two days I was tested thoroughly to see whether I am even qualified to be in this department as this basic demand of this department was the knowledge of all other department and their relative SOP’s as this department dealt with customers old and new potentials and involved thorough visitations, correspondence with agility counterparts for developing a seamless conditions for high quality service levels as well as thorough follow-up for educating the clients of their valued goods either at pre or post transit stage or in transit. Also this department involved many things as compared to other department I was stationed in as this involved information and application potential of all departments for example buying, selling of freight rates, query generation etc. In addition to the experience gained in dealing with diverse client and large volumes of query coming from every direction, following listed were new concepts that into collection of my memory bank and understanding  Buying rate procedure from the operators for query at hand for both general and       

dangerous cargo. Selling rate procedure to the client keeping price edge as well as profitability that goes all the way to the operational profitability Concept of Funnel management in Selling strategies Terminology and guides provided by the company on development and training of personnel as a good sales team Software applications for follow up on the in-transit freight. Developing a sales lead as well as funneling the potential to hoax customers. Understanding the uniqueness of each query. Application of incoterms in developing quotation to the services.

Also adding to the learned experience, most of the grooming was done In both technical as well as personality aspect; for here I learned not only the how to work out the whole operations of export or import but also was taught how to maintain and develop myself for according to the current market requirements. Along with this my supervisor also worked on identification of my deficiencies and motivated me to work on them. For example he quoted: “You have your so much information regarding what and how things are being done; but you lack the proper way of channelizing as well as disseminating that information for a winning situation”. Different assignment were also given to polish my information as well as myself to a complete professional figure thereby fruitfully using my time at Internship.

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3.1.5 Fleet management: Super visor: M r . Bahzad Asghar Du r ation: 7 days Week 05

From Sales and Customer service, I was stationed now in Fleet management, This particular department is related with another function of logistics management i.e. Distribution and Placement of goods. This department is quite peculiar as compared to all other departments due to the fact it mainly deals with in country and in land transportation and movement on goods and don’t require custom procedures as well as corresp ondence with the counter parts. It requires systematic and strategic allocation of the vehicles available to Agility or available at a contracted vendor and dispatching them on the basis of the order they receive from their clients requesting movement of goods from one place like warehouse to distributer wholesaler or warehouse to warehouse etc. My learning at fleet management is based more on theoretical than actual practical as this is one of the types of 3PL (Third party Logistics) and 4PL (Fourth Party Logistics) and this requires dealing with many organization’s confidential documents, therefore for obvious reasons practical implication of fleet learning was limited to theoretical and at the most display of company software, just to get a notion of how things are being carried out at a multi-national firm. Along with that, following are some of the learning I gathered during my time in Fleet:    

Fleet based SOP development Fleet Management System (software) Pre-requisite for a new fleet entrant in the fleet management Field Fleet types and types of vehicle and nature of commodities

One additional lesson, I learned from the while being in Fleet is well M anaged foll ow up is essential for any business. For here the words hold true: “If you want to do something right; you have to do it yourself”. In my time, I was attached to both the Sales department, for there were many things to be learned and many skills to be polished and honed as well as new concepts to be learned in the Fleet Management concerning the practical implication of supply chain important concept of 3PL and 4PL. 3.1.6 Business Development: Super visor: M r . Waqas Khawar Du r ation: 7 days Week 06

As quotes previously, “Stagnation In a well -established business leads to its end”. Developing new horizons and searching out new possibilities to extend the level of services to the potential clients is what a good business aims to do. Same is the situation in Agility, as a branch department comprising of cross-sectional team of individuals, all focused to extend the current operational capabilities as well as increase the service line. Currently, Business development is utilizing the core features of 3PL and 4PL for extending its reach to untouched clients with potential. In addition to the fleet management departments operating as a branch of business development, another operation carried out under the department of Business Development is “warehousing”, where agility officials are not only providing the service of space allocation for their goods but also helping them develop supply chain solutions for the clients with 19


primary focus cost r educti on and maximum uti li zation of the their r esources . As well as managing their own warehouses for them as equivalent to the turn key solution to t he client. Just like counterpart department of Supply chain solutions, Fleet management, Business development department was similarly more of conceptual and theoretical end rather than practical side due to confidentiality in between the learning and was given detailed tour of the facility as well as detailed discussion focusing on the technicalities related to either warehousing or new business venture of Agility regarding managing the old papers and documentation, they deem not disposable collection of the organizations for them, under the name of Resour ce M anagement.

Figure 4 Logistics Key Functions (inbound & outbound)

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3.2 Skills acquired and Areas of improvement: The skills that I acquired during my tenure as an internee are diverse in nature. They are described as follows: 3.2.1

Communication skills: Although previously, I was a capable administrator of my team as well as knowledgeable leader, but due to the nature of the jobs I was given in, my supervisor identified my lack of communication skills to other, i.e. properly delivering my ideas to others. With a passage of time and my passage through different departments, my skill of communication gradually developed and now although not a perfection, it is passable with continuous efforts being done in the subject matter. For the purpose of improvement in communication skill, my supervisor Mr. Rizwan gave me assignment of making calls and making appointment to new clients and this assignment involved communicating the company’s profile on a telephonic conversation and asking them for their time for meeting with the sales team. For the first two or three tries, It was nearly a disaster but I soon got the hang of it, I was actually getting confused upon asking question regarding the terms of shipment and sometimes irrelevant details asked by the clients, My supervisor Mr. Rizwan and Ms. Sadaf helped me in the overcoming this matter and I soon understood how to talk but as described this skill is only established at an initial stage and required further efforts.

3.2.2

Prioritizing and Self-Management: Prior to my internship as such a well-developed organization, just like communication skills, I lack sense of priority unless forced upon me by the resource person himself on specific assignment, now after spending six weeks in my internship and going through many assignments based on deadlines, I have learned the art of prioritizing based upon difficulty level as well time required having zero insight prior to internship as well as self-management at many levels both physical as well as computer based management, having said by my supervisor that “ few minutes spend on this will make your student life as well as professional life worthwhile for you”. Also at one time, I tried to help Mr. Bilal In buying head in managing his email issue as well through brain storming and seeing him made me realize how mismanaged I have been working for so long.

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3.2.3

Team Work: In the business studies we have been taught the significance of team work and how it can affect the productivity of the firm as well as help create a difference especially in the service industry. Having said that, I specifically, considered myself secluded as well as type of person who would prefer to things along and his way rather than relying on others. Being in Agility and seeing the departmental and operational setup and overlapping the organization structure I have studied over my time in University, I came to conclusion that being alone and secluded is different when one is student or in social life but in professional life, you may be able to do many things by yourself but not all and this statement was made clear when I was given an assignment to seeks out information regarding shipping lines and all the relevant details, if I had been my introvert self I would have failed in my assignment but with the combined assistance of departmental team of customer service and sales ; all acting either my supervisor or my colleague, learning and teaching at the same time was one of the best moments I have ever felt while under the pressure of work.

3.2.4

Multi-tasking: As already discussed, being a professional in a logistics firm, whether you are the employee working on queries at hand or the manager, competency for multi-tasking is one of the most preferred in any type of organization. Its natural tendency that we all prefer those things having multitasking capabilities, same is the scenario in the organization. Multi-tasking is a skill developed after reaching the peak of selfmanagement and prioritizing your assignment, doing that will lead to wastage of less time and more productive as you already know what you are going to do and what is pending. During my time in Operations department , there were more than five jobs both air and ocean export/import at hand that needed constant attention and follow up, being an internee although not complete but partial practice was allowed and there was once, when my Import supervisor was busy in a meeting and I, along with another member of Import were to manage the developing and delivering the required SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for an import job, and that requires being attentive towards many things like incoterms agreed, developing an SOP considering all details such as destination selling tariff for the shipment to be proceeded in a seamless fashion. All these procedures were followed and SOP was developed and transferred to the origin counterpart for proceeding the shipment and starting the invoicing procedure along with it.

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3.3 Recommendation: The recommendation to be listed and detailed are based on both experience and theoretical perspective and involve both the operational and structural analysis of the organization as well as details significance of internship as a whole. They are as follows: 

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Need for a proper internship structure including designed assignments and testing procedures HR needs to devise proper all ocation of human capital against the work l oad to match the gaps and l oop hol es produced by the various contingent factors, especially in the sales and operations department, having a respective additional work hands to back up contingents to the absence of the key operatives, which would otherwise lead from losing a query, delayed quotation, delayed follow ups as well as lessening profitability. Working environment is needed to be less hostile as moments, leading to dissatisfaction of the employees originating from the clashes between the top and front line managers.

Stated points have been observed through my tenure as an internee working within the department and teams and conversing with them and at the end highlighting commonality found in most of the departments. Also, I would also suggest that being a multi-national firm, Agility has established itself well in both Operational as well as Non-Operational and Nonfinancial areas of the organization, also in its procedures and systems of Human resourcing are commendable in the light of the theory however, as part of all organizations development of system is one thing and its implementation is other, and this area requires attention in addition to the profit factors, which are connected with this flaw in the implementation of well-developed system of working in the organization along the designated hierarchy. Interdepartmental clashes, cross hierarchical clash as well as clash between personnel’s residing in different cities is quite visible. And must be sorted for a collaborative, systematic efforts and belief for which Agility holds firms. All the highlighted and well connected and synonymous facts observed ultimately hinders in providing the dedicated service of a Multinational Firm to its customers, thereby developing a questionable image of it toward the market due to influence of such ignored hurdles of human nature. Also, one of the first and most important point to be recommended is lack of proper internship structure within the firm, no systematic procedure of learning as well as testing the acquired knowledge was observed during my tenure as compared to other service providing firms in other sectors such as banking sector. Having acknowledged the pressure of workload of a multi-national and its employees, I had been unable to learn without the efforts of my supervisors as well as teams along with my perseverance and seldom annoyance to my supervisor urging them to provide me time as well as do their duties to the fullest, and same scenario would have been different if the any internship curricula was established which would not only benefit the internee’s as well help the organization to screen out quality candidates in the market. 23


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3.4 Conclusion: All in all, I would like to highlight the fact that my time at Agility Logistic was far from futile, for me, not only learned the dealings and procedure of area of Supply chain of my likings as well as groomed in more than one way in both technical and personal aspect. I appreciate the way I was guided throughout the internship by my supervisors Mr. Rizwan Ahmed, Mr. Waqas, Mr. Muneeb, and Mr. Jamal, Mr. Shahzad Saleem, Mr. Waqas Khawar, Mr. Bilal Asif, Ms. Mehak, Ms. Saira, Ms. Sadaf and all department teams and was given a chance to expand my skill set and knowledge to another level and was given a level of respect equal to member of team. The gained skill and practical knowledge will contribute enough in my future vision of maintaining a spirit of developing the concept of supply chain to new horizon and developing a supply chain model for the world by pursuing my own entrepreneurial idea. All the learnings in both technical aspect of freight forwarding as well as non-technical skills such a groomed communication skills etc. developed in the tenure of internship not only made it possible for me surpass me in academia as well as polished me as compared to others who lack such an experience in working in freight forwarding firm. For future reference I would like to go through another experience of final year internship in another supply chain firm to develop a firm grip on the subject as well as update myself on the ever changing and shifting market of supply chain. Following are some of the learning have been acquired in the tenure of 6 week internship:    

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     

   

Terminology and technical concepts involved in understanding of Freight forwarding Concept of Air way bill, its significance, details of its types and role in export. Operator (Airlines) details. Air export procedure i.e. from a query to completion of process to departure of flight with good onboard exported out of country. Introduction to IATA (International Air Transport Association) and Internationally sectorial tariffs knows as TACT RATES Practical implication of Core features of 3PL and 4PL Fleet based SOP development Pre-requisite for a new fleet entrant in the fleet management Field Fleet types and types of vehicle and nature of co mmodities Concept of Funnel management in Selling strategies Terminology and guides provided by the company on development and training of personnel as a good sales team Software applications for follow up on the in-transit freight. Developing a sales lead as well as funneling the potential to hoax customers. Understanding the uniqueness of each query. Application of incoterms in developing quotation to the services.

Along with the technical learnings, some skills acquired also as follows: Communication skills training Prioritizing and self-management Multi-tasking and team work   

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Reference: Logistics, A. About Agility Retrieved 06, 2014, from http://www.agility.com/EN/aboutus/Pages/default.aspx Logistics, A. Our Responsibility Retrieved 06, 2014, from http://www.agility.com/EN/csr/Pages/default.aspx Supply chain management and Logistics. (07). Retrieved from http://marketingplanbook.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/scm-lcm.jpg vinci, A. p. a. p. f. L. d. (Producer). (9). Retrieved from http://www.adameurope.eu/adam/homepageView.htm#.VDYSp2eSw2I

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Affidavit

I solemnly declare that this report is solely my own effort and nothing has been taken from any other source except which has already been mentioned as references. I further declare that all the figures and tables quoted here, to the best of my knowledge, are correct and all financial calculations are according to the prevailing financial standards. Mr. Talha Bin Arif 114405093 BBA (H)

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Internship Report

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