Metro Great Place to Work 2

Metro is officially a Great Place to Work

Nov 8, 2023 | ,

Every member of our team has a critical role in building the trust, confidence, and satisfaction that creates the customer relationships which have seen us thrive for almost 50 years. Being certified a ‘Great Place to Work’ demonstrates that we care about our employees and support them, while encouraging them to grow with Metro.

We’re proud to announce that we have been awarded ‘Great Place to Work’ certification, which is an honour that is granted to those businesses that provide exceptional employee support, positioning Metro alongside leading employers including, Accenture, Cisco, DHL, KPMG and Vodafone.

The global ‘Great Place to Work’ certification process surveys over 10 million employees, from more than 10,000 companies in nearly 100 countries annually. To be awarded their certificate, companies must demonstrate outstanding employee experience, high trust in management, strong teamwork and employee retention, among other criteria.

A large part of the ‘Great Place to Work’ evaluation is based on confidential surveys in which employees assessed Metro in 20 areas based on their personal experiences across dimensions like caring, community, justice, pride, leadership behaviour and respect.

Having amassed over 30 years of data, the ‘Great Place to Work’ certification process is one of the most respected and comprehensive measures of workplace culture and talent management best practices.

Paul Moss, Metro’s HR Director, “becoming a great place to work starts with a culture that enables all people to have the opportunity to reach their potential. It is our behaviours, our beliefs and how we develop our people that defines how we do business.”

“That commitment to developing our team has served as Metro’s foundation for nearly five decades and it is an honour to be recognised by this ‘Great Place to Work’ certification, because it’s what our people say about their experiences and opportunities that achieved it.” 

“From a business perspective, ‘Great Place to Work’ certification is a globally recognised process that’s backed by honest feedback by employees, which means it is a great way for us to attract and demonstrate to new talent the benefits and opportunities for personal and professional development, and what they can expect from our company and culture.”

If you, or someone you know, would like to work with a progressive colleague-focused business, please EMAIL Paul Moss a CV, with covering letter.

brainstorm 2

Unleashing creativity and collaboration

Oct 24, 2023 | , ,

In an ever-evolving business landscape, staying ahead of the curve requires constant innovation and foresight, and a crucial step in achieving this is through internal workshops that challenge the status quo and stimulate new ideas.

Metro’s Technical Solutions leadership team recently hosted colleagues in a cross-functional workshop, to enhance internal cooperation and cultivate initiatives for our 2024 roadmap. 

The workshop was followed by team building activities and a post-event dinner, to foster camaraderie and collaboration among colleagues, that will prove invaluable for Metro’s future success.

Representatives from the Metro board kicked off the session by presenting an overview of the organisation's strategy and goals for 2024 and beyond, providing a solid foundation for the workshop. 

Technical Solutions is focused on four key areas and delegates were reminded that their output had to incorporate at least one of the following characteristics.

- Digitalisation: The continued adoption of digital technologies that improves processes and creates new opportunities

- Digital twin: Creating indistinguishable digital counterparts to the physical supply chain.

- Platform Engineering: Accelerated development in customer facing applications.

- Big data: Integrate, manage, and analyse to uncover and deliver business value.

The workshop provided the ideal platform for participants to unleash their collective creativity and explore initiatives and ideas that aligned with Metro’s long-term goals. 

The output was really thoughtful and impressive, with a wide range of creative ideas and improvement considered. The most worthy now forming apart of our development roadmap for the next 12 to 18 months including the following.

1. The automation and semi-automation of multiple manual processes, including further innovation of existing ML and AI technology deployed in our customs application, CuDoS.

2. Further development to our ocean freight visibility and enhanced visibility on air and road freight shipments.

3. The migration of additional existing applications to our new technology stack, delivering a curated set of applications that will increase end users’ productivity.

4. Advanced business intelligence – leveraging our extensive data to provide customers with on demand reporting and analytics, that deliver actionable insight to drive supply chain performance.

Metro is leading the industry in developing the technologies and platforms that simplify supply chain management, with visibility, environment and customs modules, together with integrations of critical digital trade documents, including electronic bills of lading (eBL).

By investing in days like this, Metro is positioning itself for a positive future, driven by innovation, collaboration, and a shared vision for future success.

EMAIL Ian Powell for further Information on our digital capability and how this can benefit your global trade and business growth ambitions.

BIFA 2018

Metro shortlisted for two freight industry awards

Oct 24, 2023 |

The British International Freight Association (BIFA) have revealed the finalists for the 35th Freight Service Awards, with Metro shortlisted in the Sustainable Logistics and Specialist Services categories.

BIFA is the trade association for the freight, logistics and supply chain management sector and their annual Freight Service Awards are the industry’s most contested and highly sought trade awards, because peer recognition is the ultimate accolade.

Sustainable Logistics 

Metro’s submission for the Sustainable Logistics Award described how a client’s commitment to drive down their operations CO2 emissions and create more sustainable supply chains was supported by three Metro initiatives, that focused on their critical air freight channel.

Over a two-year span Metro created:

1. A cloud-based tool to measure and monitor the CO2 emissions of every shipment.

2. Became the first UK forwarder to invest in the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) programme.

3. Participated in Sustainable Flight Challenges to generate CO2 savings exceeding 37%.

The critical insights gained from the Sustainable Flight Challenges were invaluable in developing the operational templates that are now paving the way for a more sustainable air freight channel for the featured client.

Specialist Services 

This category highlights the value that forwarders add, to enhance the freight element and the difference it makes to their customers.

Metro’s entry outlined how, at a time of limited transport capacity, a car manufacturing client’s finished vehicles were safely shipped to international markets, using a solution that reduced transit times, cut costs, lowered emissions and avoided disruption at destination.

Visibility of critical supply chain milestones and connectivity between Metro’s supply chain management platform and the client's ERP system gave them the confidence to give their dealers direct access to Metro’s visibility tools, providing reassurance on their vehicle orders.

With Metro’s solutions the client could continue delivering customer orders in a challenging environment, with the solution set to continue for 12 months.

BIFA Freight Service Award winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony Luncheon to be held on Thursday 18th January 2024 at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London, EC1.

If you would like to learn more about the solutions highlighted here, please EMAIL Andrew Smith, Metro’s Chief Commercial Officer. 

metro tech

Major system upgrade deployed

Oct 24, 2023 | , , ,

Industry leading operating system CargoWise is now in place, with Metro recently completing a three year project to transition to the new core freight forwarding operations platform.

Headed by our Business Process Solutions (BPS) team of 12 the project’s success is testament to the remarkable dedication and teamwork exhibited by every member involved within BPS and the other Solutions teams. 

Metro began implementing the CargoWise transition three years ago, department by department, with large parts of the business successfully transitioning through the lockdown period, with modular learning, devised by our internal training team.

Our ops teams are constantly executing highly complex shipping transactions across multiple users, functions, offices, countries, currencies and languages, and vast amounts of time, effort and teamwork were necessary to map out the workflows for each department and individual customer. 

The documented workflows standardised best practice in automating and optimising business processes and real-time data visibility.

Critically, through the transition process, we continued to provide our valued customers with an uninterrupted service, by taking scoping sessions, UAT and staff training outside of core hours. BPS further supported their colleagues with an extended period of in-person hyper support, so that each department had ‘go-live’ desk support.

By integrating CargoWise digital processes, business rules and workflows, we can identify and eradicate errors before anything untoward happens, which means that instead of ‘fire-fighting’ operational issues, our colleagues are now free to concentrate on adding more value for our customers.

Customer and supplier integrations accounted for a large part of the transition to ensure all needs were safely catered for. Real-time visibility, detailed financial reporting, performance management and improved data quality speed up processes and decision making, and increases the volume of data we can share with customers, enhancing the way they can view and manipulate this information.

The project has been three years in the planning, training and implementation, with every area of the company being completely reviewed and processes optimised, with the final part of the Metro business transitioning to CargoWise on the 1st October.

Metro’s supply chain management portal, MVT, now boasts compatible modules including customs (CuDoS), DC delivery management, environment, and tracking, with notification engine solutions, which embrace AI, machine learning and automation technology. 

The project’s completion underlines our commitment to establishing and upholding the very best standards and emphasises our dedication to tailoring solutions to meet the specific needs and requirements of our diverse customer base.

Metro are at the forefront of digital freight operations, electronic trade documentation and automated customs brokerage solutions. 

The Metro board continue to invest in technical capabilities and innovative technology, which adds value for the business and our customers. EMAIL Ian Powell, to learn more.

Category: Metro

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