March 2009
A newsletter for the Southern African GSP’s
Inside this issue:
Message from the
CEO
2
Introducing Blessing 3
Mtshali
Get to know Ronald
Tshwaane
3
IT Help desk update
4
My Career, My Plan
4
Purple Stars
5
BDE Awards
5
Choir charms
Bosses
5
2008 Nedbank Golf
Challenge
6
FedEx opens new
Asia Pacific hub
7
Lets play a million
7
ISO Updates
8
Sponsorships
8
We’re on the web!
www.supaswift.com
Pere
Ariweriyai,
defender
from
Amazulu
FC,
demonstrates his soccer skills at the 2009 Let’s Play
distribution launch in Durban. [more on page 7]
<Expressions>
Page 2
A message from
was such a success as did Storme
and Lindiwe Xaji and their team. To
all involved a special thank you and
we look forward to next year!
fiancé Steve Abramson on the birth
of their daughter Jessica. We wish
them both well on their wonderful
bundle of joy!
Our new office in the north of Johannesburg (Unit 5, Cambridge Office
We have seen the development and
Park, Regent Road, Paulshof) is due
introduction of our very own online
to open up at the end of March. Huge
shipping product called FSM & DSM.
preparation has gone into this move
Both these applications allow us to
and we are confioffer our clients a seamdent that this will
less shipping solution
“...FedEx who not only enhance
obviating the need for
our service delivery
them to have to call our
offices for information
have given us a but also take us
closer to our clithat is readily available
ents. The branch
online as well as instruct
clean bill of will cover the
us to collect and disnorthern and westpatch their goods. For
more information on this,
health and were ern areas of Johannesburg. The
kindly contact the relenew
telephone
vant BDE who services
extremely number for the
your area, our call cenbranch is 087 940
tre or our IT department.
1144. Gail Evans is
complimentary
of
On the subject of IT, we
the branch manhave just recently conager and she,
verted our Zambia ofeverything we along with all her
fices to the new MyFocis
team, look forward
and Accpac applicato being of service
have
done.”
tions. This has made
to all our customthem far more efficient
ers, both internal
form an information flow perspective.
and external in the years ahead.
Next on the agenda will be Zimbabwe
Our Port Elizabeth team has also
followed by Malawi and the rest of
moved into their new offices at 32 1st
our region.
Avenue, Walmer. Fortunately their
Our sponsorship of the Nedbank Golf
move was within the current exChallenge was again a resounding
change area of the old office and as
success. As good as the golf was, no
such all telephone and fax numbers
golfer managed to record a hole in
remain unchanged. The new bigger
one on the 7th hole which would have
and better offices will greatly engiven the Strathyre Girls Home a
hance our service delivery in Port
healthy cheque for R500,000. PerElizabeth.
haps this year?
Our new Pretoria office is well under
A great time was had by all our cliway and should be ready for occupaents who attended the tournament
tion in late May. Similarly our enover the four days. The winner
hancements at our Gateway office at
(Henrik Stenson) ended up walking
OR Tambo airport and to our Cape
away with the tournament and much
Town offices will begin shortly and
of the competition was for the minor
should be ready for beneficial occuplaces. Nice to see an “old
pation by late August. Our last develflame” (Kenny Perry) burning brightly
opment in Lusaka is somewhat more
to end up taking second prize. Our
of a long term plan and will only be
involvement with a tournament such
ready for occupation in about a year!
as this does not come without careful
We are happy to give feedback on
planning and countless days of hard
the audit team from FedEx who have
work. To this end we must make
given us a clean bill of health and
mention of Storme Valentine who
were extremely complimentary of
worked tirelessly to make it the suceverything we have done. This findcess it was.
ing further endorses our processes
Our corporate golf day was held
and our promise of making every
recently at the Wanderers golf club in
FedEx experience truly outstanding!
Johannesburg. The standard of play
On a very pleasant note, it gives me
was up on previous years as we saw
great pleasure to congratulate our
the winning scores improve. The club
CXM Director, Dale Johnson and her
pulled out all stops to ensure that it
There are also certain people
changes that have just occurred. We
have a new IT Director in the form of
Blake Higgin. Beans Heydenrych will
now assume responsibility for the
Johannesburg North and Pretoria
offices. Gail Evans has been appointed as the branch manager for
our new Johannesburg North branch.
Keith Ramsewak has been appointed
as the new branch manager for Johannesburg South (Old Meadowdale
premises). To all these people, we
wish you every success in your new
roles and look forward to great things
from all of you!
last person in our business, to go that
extra mile and be a continued part of
our recent successes. This way, we
will continue to have the privilege of
serving our customers.
Andrew Lovell
CEO
Hi all
Our long summer is showing signs of
cooling off as we edge towards autumn and of course winter. With this
comes shorter days and longer nights
and just that little bit more energy is
required to get up in the mornings to
start our days.
The global economy has sneezed
and South Africa has caught their
cold. There is little doubt that the
slowdown has reached our business
as we watch volumes decline and our
customers shift their “pain” to us. It is
in times like this that the strong have
the opportunity to get stronger and
for us to do this, we have to offer not
only exceptional service but also
great value to our customers.
Our clients keep our business alive
and through that, we are all employed. To this end, we must all now
be even more courteous, more efficient, more proactive and above all,
offer an overall better experience to
ensure that we remain their service
provider of choice. It is time for every
Andrew Lovell
We have just recently renewed our
contract terms with FedEx and this
has brought about many changes to
our current costs and modus operandi. More direct point to point destinations are on offer and with this
change, come certain savings. Conversely, there are other changes
within the FedEx world that have
caused our costs to increase accordingly. The net outcome is that we
have folded both reductions and
increases into our new tariff and have
kept the net overall impact to around
the 11,93% that has been mentioned
in our communiqués over the last
three months.
A big positive is that all exports previously known as RP will now be
known as IP. Only one AWB will be
required for all “exports”. Our clients
will now be able to track and trace
these shipments on the FedEx website which was previously not available. Another example of how we
strive to make things more user
friendly for our customers!
Last but not least, it remains for me
to thank all of you for your dedication
and loyalty that has helped make this
Company into the great “FedEx
Family” that it is and I look forward to
all of us working harder and smarter
to make our business even stronger
to successfully tackle the turbulent
financial times that we find ourselves
in!
Until next time, have fun
Kind regards
Andrew Lovell
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Page 3
Introducing
Blessing Mtshali
National Risk Manager
From his beginnings in
Rosbom on the outskirts of
Ladysmith in Natal, to his time
spent at John Voster Square
(now Johannesburg Central
Police Station) in the 1980’s as
a policeman, Blessings’ story
is definitely an interesting one.
Born as one of six children on
23rd September 1969 in
Rosbom, Blessing and his
f a m i l y w e r e f o r c e f u ll y
removed from Rosbom to
Ezakheni in 1976 when he
was 7 years old. As the son of
Blessing Bonginkosi Mtshali
a policeman (Blessings father
was a policeman for 33 years),
his dream was to follow in his
f at her ’s f oo ts tep s. On
matriculation from Ezakheni
High
School,
Blessing joined
his father at
John
Voster
Square
in
Johannesburg.
“we are all
equal, but
as
individuals
we are all
unique”
After nearly 20
years with the
South African
P o l i c e
Services,
B l e s s i n g
resigned
in
December
2007 to pursue
corporate interests. He joined
Wesbank as part of their
Tracing
Unit,
being
responsible for tracing and
repossessing vehicles.
Changes in the financial laws
meant that Blessing needed to
train as a Qualified Debt
Get to know
Your full name:
Ronald Mmoloki Tshwaane
Give me a short history of your
working life: I have done a bit of
sales after graduating, but I
joined FedEx as a Creditors Clerk
back in 2003.I then moved to
POD Clerk in 2004 and I also
used to help a lot in CSD .Lance
Collector (he has since
received his qualification)
ending his career at Wesbank
whilst he did the necessary
training. Blessing pursued
various
interests
w h i l s t
receiving
training,
including
assisting
his sister to
set up a
successful
Bed
and
Breakfast
in Estcourt.
Manager, Blessing’s portfolio
includes functions such as
inspections, loss control,
various elements of health and
safety, investigations and the
ongoing monitoring of our
CCTV camera’s.
In the evenings, Blessing goes
home to his wife Wendy, a
hairdresser, and his three
boys, Mpho (19), Tshepho (14)
a n d
A n d i l e
a k a
“Christmas” (7).
On behalf of the staff and
management of FedEx, we
wish Blessing success in his
new position at FedEx.
By chance,
Blessing
saw an advert for a Risk
Manager in the newspaper
and applied. A recruitment
process lasting two months
followed and we are now very
pleased to have Blessing in
our FedEx family.
As our new National Risk
Ronald Tshwaane
Taljaard, who was the country
manager by then also noticed
my interest in ops and he moved
me to operations. From there I
never looked back, Everyday I
leant a new lesson, even today I
have leant something new,
Why a career in courier? To be
honest, this was a total
coincidence, but I like
challenges, and I knew
that courier business is very
challenging, certain things has to
be done at certain times without
fail.
Tell us something about yourself
that not many people know.
Before joining FedEx, I was a
professional soccer player for
eight years.
If you could visit any country in
the world, which one would you
go to and why? France, I love
their healthy food and their
stylish clothing.
We all have “pearls of wisdom”
– what is yours? Never leave
anything for tomorrow because
tomorrow never comes.
Give me one good reason why I
should book my next holiday in
Botswana. Botswana is rich in
history, natural beauty, and its
political stability (democracy). If
you like wildlife ,this will be
your destination.
What inspires you? Waking up
every morning knowing that I’m
going to put a smile on
someone's face (a customer)
and that I’m going to learn
something new and face a new
challenge
Describe your life mentors. What
advice would you give other
people who wish to achieve
what you have? Mmmm!!!many
of them, but my late uncle tops
the list. He had so much faith in
me and I grew up having so
much faith in myself also with "I
can do it" attitude. My advice to
others will be to take each day
as it comes a deal with all your
challenges at once, don't wait
another day because there will
be too much work and damage
to deal with.
Some facts on Botswana
Capital : Gaborone
Official languages:
Setswana and English
Currency: Pula (BWP)
Calling code: +267
Area: 600,370 km²
Population: 1,639,833
<Expressions>
Help Desk Update
Words by Bianca Botha
Page 4
The World Online
In the previous issue of Expressions we introduced you to the I.T
Helpdesk team, this issue I
wanted to tell you a bit about what
we get up to here all day long.
“...help desk
certainly
had their
hands full in
the last few
months…”
We at helpdesk certainly had our
hands full the last few months,
with the virus issues that were
hitting us left, right and centre. We
had crashed PC’s piled up in our
workshop awaiting repair and the
pile kept getting bigger, but thanks
to hard work, all nighters and a lot
of patience, our guys in the I.T
Department pulled us out of it and
things seem be running much
smoother now. We have now
successfully loaded new antivirus
software on all PC’s - THANKS
SAM!
We are overjoyed to welcome
Claudine back from maternity
leave. Claudine is now dealing
with administrative functions
that the boys in the department
are not good at, particularly
involving updating info on servers, creating CD library’s and
ensuring that our policies and
procedures are up to date and
adhered to.
Amos, Vusi and Hoosen went
on an Active Directory 2008
Training course, Knowledge is
power guys…well done.
PLZ branch moved to new
premises, Matthew and Amos
went down to PLZ to assist
with the IT related parts of the
move. All went smoothly,
though Telkom did make us
sweat a little, and our guy’s
moved pc’s, monitors, printers
and cables, they checked network points, telephone points,
etc and all 13 users are now
comfortably set up in their new
home.
Next on our list is the Johannesburg North Branch which they
will be setting up from the now
until the official move on the
21st March. Hoosen is already
very busy with preparations in
order for everything to be ready
on time. GO HOOSEN!
I.T. Helpdesk 011 923 8111
<Expressions>
Page 5
Purple
J u d i t h
Nyathikazi
CSD Durban
Kenneth
Govender in
D u r b a n
wrote, “ A
well known
fast food chain had an issue
with a product supplied by one
of our customers. The process
is that we collect the item and
send it to the lab that investigates the complaint on behalf
of our customer. On collection, it transpired that the bottles of liquid were open and
that these spilt in the packaging. Judith contacted our cus-
tomer, cleaned and washed all
the containers and re-packed
them for the customer into
heb coolers, thus ensuring the
shipment was delivered in
excellent condition to the lab.
She tracked the delivery and
as soon as the package was
delivered she advised the
customer telephonically.”
Kenneth goes onto state that
in his dealings with Judith, he
always finds her efficient,
professional and considerate.
Stars
legendary. That’s
why its no surprise that our
customers have
noticed as well.
Lize Cooper
Group ISO Manager
Head Office
Lize’s passion for service is
Business Development Executive
Awards
Congratulations
to
Jenny Turner for winning the November
2008 award and Carol
Van Der Linde, who
grabbed it for the
Bloemfontein branch
in December 2008
Jenny Turner
Carol Van Der Linde
The winner of the 2008 BDE of
the Year will be announced at
the 2009 Sales and Management Conference in Mauritius
Choir charms bosses at 50th birthday celebrations
Friday the 13th of February saw celebrations as both our CEO, Andrew Lovell
and our Managing Director, Micky West
got ready to face the “big 5 oh”!
The choir were phenomenal and crowd
enjoyed their beautiful voices.
Thank you to Portia Kumalo and Thembi
Molaudzi for all the hard work they put
into getting the choir up to speed. Much
Appreciated!
The choir celebrating Andrew and
Micky’s 50th Birthday
On behalf of the
employees
and
management
of
FedEx, we would
like to congratulate
Micky and Andrew
on celebrating their
50th Birthdays and
hope the next 50
years are as good
to them as the last
50 have been.
<Expressions>
Page 6
2008 Nedbank Golf Challenge
The final day saw Henrik
to
Stenson cap a magnificent
scram-
1993
two weeks of golf with an
ble
matching
inexorable march to the
p
r
son’s 267 in 2002,
2008 Nedbank Golf Chal-
figures
but the course has
lenge title over the Gary
a n d ,
since
Player course at Sun City.
y e s ,
modeled – some
He was in such control
given
length
that even the loss of his
that this
additional
favored three-wood (the
is
deeper
shaft snapped while he
there
dug
and…
was scuffing up a grass
w e r e
new
17th
tee) failed to distract him.
also the
He simply geared down to
two pieces of good fortune
formed this hole into the hardest on
the four-wood, or a long
when he found sprinkler
the course.
iron, kept hitting the ball in
heads near his ball to drop
Stenson’s score defied belief. At 21
the fairway and putting
away from potentially dam-
under he was five better than Trevor
confidently to continue his
aging lies.
Immelman’s winning score last year
relentless progress.
Ironically his only yardage
while Perry could only get to four
mistake came on the 72nd
shots shy of the Masters champion’s
wards that he had spent a
hole
16 under – an indication of just how
lot of time in practice
approach from a scruffy lie
well he played.
working
exact
near the bunker on the 18th
Last year “Africa’s Major” propelled
distances he was able to
ended up long and buried –
Immelman to his first major in the
hit his irons in the rarefied
resulting in a buried lie from
Masters. Don’t be surprised if it
air and it certainly paid off
which he was unable to
works out that way for Stenson too.
as his distance control was
save a par four.
For more information go to http://
superb
important
And afterwards Gary Player
www.nedbankgolfchallenge.com/
aspect given the horren-
sparked what is likely to
dously
become
Stenson
unkempt
revealed
out
–
the
an
thick
after-
collars
kikuyu
of
grass
extract
himself
and
totaled 263 in 1999, Nick Price 264 in
his
a
golf,
with
Els
Sten-
been
re-
added,
and
bunkers
the
green
which has trans-
when
a
his
long-iron
talking
point
when he described Sten-
around every green.
son’s 21-under-par total of
When he did make the
267 as a record.
odd mistake (a pull being
It is certainly not the lowest
his bad shot) he was able
total posted, for Ernie Els
FINAL SCORES
267 - Henrik Stenson (SWE) 63 71 65 68
276 - Kenny Perry (USA) 73 70 68 65
279 - Robert Karlsson (SWE) 72 68 67 72
280 - Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 68 70 72 70
284 - Sergio Garcia (ESP) 72 70 72 70, Lee Westwood (ENG) 70 72 70 72
286 - James Kingston (RSA) 72 77 70 67, K.J. Choi (KOR) 72 67 73 74
290 - Justin Rose (ENG) 73 73 72 72
291 - Trevor Immelman (RSA) 72 73 69 77
292 - Luke Donald (ENG) 72 74 71 75
293 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 75 76 73 69
Don’t think your division / branch gets enough mention? Expressions is YOUR newsletter. Please send photo’s
(with captions) and articles (100-150 words) to the editor by emailing s.valentine@fedex.supaswift.co.za.
<Expressions>
Page 7
FedEx Express Opens New Asia Pacific Hub in Guangzhou, China
February 9, 2009
FedEx
Express
(FedEx), a subsidiary of FedEx Corp.
(NYSE: FDX), and
the world's largest express transportation
company, began operations at its new
Asia Pacific hub
located at the
Baiyun
International Airport in
Guangzhou, China on Feb. 6,
2009. This hub is now the company's largest outside of the
United States.
The new FedEx Asia Pacific hub
is strategically located in the
heart of Guangzhou's Pearl River
Delta " a major international cen-
ter of
product i o n
a n d
trade in
t h e
region.
T h e
h u b
links
t h i s
d y namic
e c o nomic
region
to the FedEx global
network,
facilitating
further development of
surrounding industries
such as high-tech electronics.
"The launch of our new
Asia Pacific hub is a
significant milestone
for FedEx and reinforces our long-term
commitment to this
region," said Michael L.
Ducker,
president,
International, FedEx Express. "As
part of the FedEx international
growth strategy, we are continuously enhancing our operations
in markets that are critical to
powering the global supply
chain. Through our new state-ofthe-art hub, we are well-
becomes
l a r g e s t
F e d E x
Express hub
outside
of
the United
States
Lets Play
A hot and windy day in Durban saw adults and children
alike gather at Access Container Park in Durban to receive the new consignment
of soccer balls destined for
clubs and schools in our
less privileged communities.
positioned to better serve customers around the world doing
business in China and the
broader Asia Pacific markets,
strengthening global commerce."
The new FedEx Asia Pacific hub
represents a US$150 million
capital investment and will be
the center point of the company's operations in the region
for the next 30 years. There will
be 136 flights per week into and
out of the new hub, providing
access to more than 220 countries and territories served by
FedEx.
The first flight that arrived at the
new FedEx Asia Pacific hub
originated from Indianapolis
International Airport. The MD-11
aircraft landed at 11:07 p.m. at
Baiyun International Airport from
Charles de Gaulle International
Airport in Paris.
"The FedEx role as a global logistics facilitator is to connect the
world. The new hub will enhance
our competitive edge in managing the volume of trade that will
be routed to and within this
region over the next few decades," said David L. Cunningham
Jr., president, Asia-Pacific,
FedEx Express. "The first FedEx
flights signaled the beginning of
another chapter in our commitment to strengthen the region's
competitiveness by providing
customers with access to trade
opportunities in Asia and around
the world."
The new FedEx hub offers several unique advantages. The
facility features its own ramp
control tower " a first for an international air express cargo company facility in China. This enables FedEx to better manage
and control its aircraft movements, delivering even higher
standards of efficiency and reliability. It is also equipped with a
dedicated customs clearance
facility and advanced package
and sorting systems capable of
processing up to 24,000 packages an hour at the start of operations.
FedEx will decommission its
facility at Subic Bay, Philippines,
but will continue to maintain its
presence in the country, where
Manila and Cebu will remain
integral parts of the FedExAsiaOne network.
For more information go to
h t t p : / / n e ws .v a n . f e d ex .c o m /
node/12730
a Million
(Left) Break time! Kids from the beneficiary school enjoy a quick snack. (Right) Neil
Tovey, Vaughn Bishop (Supersport), Storme Valentine and Vinesh Devnund with a
ball signed by Supersport United.
A newsletter for the Southern African GSP’s
ISO Updates
Welcome to our
world!
each and every one of you
purple people play a vital
role in our maintaining this
standard.
Words by Samantha Mullens
March is a busy month for the ISO Department, with the launching of the
QAISO competition, and the imminent
external audit.
If you need to know more regarding
Qualifier or ISO, please contact Lize
Cooper or myself.
Congratulations
to
Dale Johnson,
our
CXM director on the
birth of her
daughter
Jessica.
Further to that, we have our Internal
Auditor Training in March, and would like
to take this opportunity to welcome our
newly trained Internal Auditors and ask
that you give them your full support:
Mark Royeppen
Florah Mamphiswana
Arveen Singh
Yolande Strydom
Claudine Perumal
Jody Welthagen
Charlene Fester
Wayne Marks
We cannot reiterate enough how important I.S.O is to our business, it keeps us
a “Cut Above” the rest in terms of Quality. It is not only our responsibility to
keep the Certificate in reception, but
CENTRAL
CHURCH
METHODIST
Thanks to all of you who contributed to the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. 19 boxes of goods were
collected and I'm sure it's going to make a huge difference in the
lives of those
who receive
it.
Back (L-R): Jody Welthagen, Mark Royeppen, Wayne Marks, Yolande Strydom, Lize
Cooper, Arveen Singh
Front (L-R): Claudine Perumal, Charlene Fester, Samantha Mullens and Florah
Mamphiswana
Sponsorships
Regards
K a r
Kruger
e
n
Some of the refugees who benefited from
the generosity of Karen Kruger and her
friends.