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Any landing you can walk away from is a good one...

... this one is particularly good. From the Herald yesterday

Battered pilot Bob Robertson waits in shock for rescuers to cut him free from his plane after it disintegrated around him.

The 34-year-old had a miraculous escape after his 1960s light plane lost power and crashed on to a motorway.

Firefighters had to cut Bob free from the wreckage of the aircraft after it clipped a building and crashed on to the busy road in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

He suffered head, arm and leg injuries and was airlifted to hospital.

How does your cockpit completely rip off, and you end up sitting up waiting for help. WOW!!

Log Book & Work Time Changes

Below is a brief video that Agoge Training has made to summarise the changes in Logbook and Work time rules effective 1 October 2007. If you would like a free high quality copy please contact Jim on 0800 42 46 43.

Too Much time thinking...

What is my Holy Discontent? What is it that I am placed on this planet to achieve? Not why do I exist; I know that, rather what I’m going to be known for.

I found myself asking questions like the ones above a couple of times in the last week. The first was at a funeral I attended last week. They lady who had died was a lovely lady and raised two great sons on her own after her husband died. They said she was caring and loving and kind and generous.

As I considered these things I was reminded again that they are attributes I really want to have. But, for me personally, they are not enough. I really want to make an impact on this world or more specifically this region. OK well maybe a significant dent.

The second time was on the flight to Melbourne. I listened to an audio book of Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels. In the book he asks what is it you bugs you the most? What really annoys you? What lights a fire in your belly that you can’t ignore? As I consider these things there are a few things I know a few things for sure.

I know it includes agoge, but that agoge is a means not an end.

I know that it is not about me.

I know that it is about people reaching their full potential, leadership I guess.

I know that my heart aches for justice and mercy and those in poverty.

I know even now my hard work is preparation for the cause.

I know I will give my time and money and energy.

I don’t know yet exactly how it all comes together, but I am also confident that it is a work in progress and in time it will be revealed. I think it has to do with showing, enabling and equipping people to make a difference without giving up their day jobs, but by doing more than just sending a cheque.

Transport & Logistics Bodies

One of the most noticeable elements of the Australian T&L seen is the fact that so many of the industry bodies are actually working together.

The have a body called the Australia Logistics Council which is a government and industry partnership to raise the profile of the T&L industry. They deal with all modes of transport and logistics except self loading transport (an Aussie term for passenger transport).

This body along with its many partner bodies has developed the T&L brand. They realised that everyone calls Transport, Road Transport, Aviation, Logistics, Supply Chain by different names. This dilutes the industry and most people think it is just smelly old truck drivers.

T&L is a brand aimed at encouraging younger people into the industry. T&L incorporates Rail, Warehousing, Road Transport, Stevedoring, Transport Administration and Logistics, Aviation and Maritime.

The also have a strong push to get more women involved in the industry.

The lesson for NZ is simple: We (Road Transport, Warehousing, Maritime) are competing against each other for the same pool of people rather than working together to make the industry more appealing to young people.

There is career path in T&L.

In fact I think we should use T&L to describe the industry in NZ. I’m sure the Aussies wont mind, they steel most of our stuff.

Excess baggage here I come - Melbourne Day 2

Went exploring this fine city, caught a wrong train, missed a bus and walked for about an hour. Oh well. The buses trains and trams are an amazing network. I suspect if you know where you are going rather than just following your nose they would work a heap better as well.

Late yesterday afternoon I went to the Melbourne Observation Deck (tallest building in Australia). Stunning views and a beautiful day. And I finally worked out which way North is so I will do heaps better today.

Oh and I brought some books. 22 of them in fact (15 for me). I was worried at one point that they might have to physically remove me at closing time.

I know 15 books sounds excessive, but they are books you simply don’t find in NZ and I am not here often.

Today I have a rental car and am going to the freight expo. I ran out of time to get to an automated sorting depot yesterday.

Transport & Logistics (NZ vs Aussie)

Greetings from Freight Week 2007 in Melbourne. I thought I would start my reports on the week by giving you a quick insight into Transport & Logistics in Australia.

Firstly, Australia has some very similar issues to New Zealand.
• The average age of their drivers is 48 (NZ in their 50’s)
• They are struggling to be seen to be sexy enough to attract Gen Y’s and now Gen Alpha.
• They have reasonably high interest rates (although they are 2% below NZ)
• The cost of fuel is high.
• Unemployment is at all time lows.
• The industry is going to double by 2020.

Next, they actually bundle all of transport and logistics (T&L) together and I’ll post more on that later. In Victoria alone they have 330,000 people employed in T&L and it makes up 14% of the Gross State Product. Nationally, T&L employs 4.5% of the Aussie workforce, is 15% of GDP and the industry contributes A$76 billion to the ecomony.

Finally, the Linfox CEO spoke at lunch and said they would not be acquiring much in the next 18 months (He said they are preparing for large Asian acquisitions) Anyway the issues they face in the next 18months is higher fuel rates and higher interest rates, and they appear to be preparing to weather the storm of a slowing economy.

All in all, a very interesting day yesterday and I came away with a few ideas about what NZ could do better to improve the Transport & Logistics employer brand.

Whats your hobbie?

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

- Dave Barry

Melbourne Day 1

Got into Melbourne around 6pm on Sunday night. Immediately I noticed the infrastructure. They actually have a motorway that goes from the airport to the city without have to drive through the suburbs, unlike Auckland!

Secondly I noticed the architecture, both old and modern. It is astounding and visually cool.

Yesterday I caught the train to Caulfield and spent the whole day at the careers day at Freight week so haven’t really explored yet.   

Then last night went and found some dinner and a Music shop that was open late. I couldn’t help myself I brought some old music that I have been missing for years I am a CD and MP3 boy now and have no mechanism for playing tapes and dear I say it records that I own. Dire Straights (I think I originally brought this album in the form of a record), Howard Jones, Crowded House and Lighthouse family.

I listen to Dire Straights as I type. It’s been a while.

Today is a day off so I am off to explore this fine city in day light. I am hopefully going to con my way into a transport business with automated sorting (geeky logistics thing). I will I am sure buy some books and drink much coffee.

RFID tags

There are a lot more issues for supply chain companies that are looking at implementing RFID into their process than just the cost of the tag.

They need to consider investment in technology, current system integration, and the bandwidth to handle huge volumes of tags in one spot (like a truck driving through a entrance, and a reader capturing all tags)

Back in 2003 the Auto ID Centre in the US did some predictions on the price of RFID tags into the market place.

It is interesting to look at the chart produced by the Centre almost 5 years ago. They envisaged two scenarios: (1) By 2008, EPC tags have come close to reaching the mythical "5-cent" tag, and there would be "fast adoption"; (2) tag prices stay higher, and there is "moderate adoption.”

Clearly the adoption of RFID has been slower than expected and at best is their second prediction.  We are a while away before we really see RFID become a significant force in the tracking of products.

NB: RFID means Radio-frequency identification (see wiki) and are small tags that generate a genreally unique radiowave, which can be read by devices without having to scan bar code etc. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.

  Hattip: SCDigest

Major Air Traffic Problem...

Not sure what airport this is but the Air NZ ATR at a foreign airport doesn't mean it is real.

Hattip: umami

Artist is: Homato

A wise life?

When you boil it all down, this is what you've got.
... You can live a wasted life.
... Or you can live a wise life.

Getting There - Steve Farrar (Pg 11)

Getting on board

In response to the question "How long would an executive last who didn't agree with where the organization was headed?" the answers range from days to minutes.

- Less is more (pg 31)

Do you love life?

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.

- Benjamin Franklin

Book Review: The Dip by Seth Godin

This book is simply a timely reminder about the importance of sticking through something to become the best in the world, or about quitting. Here is a great excerpt:

Hannah Smith is a very lucky woman. She's a law clerk at the Supreme Court. She's the best in the world.

Last year, more than forty-two thousand people graduated from law school in the United States. And thirty-seven of them were awarded Supreme Court clerkships.

Those thirty-seven people are essentially guaranteed a job for life after they finish their year with the Court. Top law firms routinely pay a signing bonus of $200,000 or more to any clerk they are able to hire. Clerks go on to become partners, judges, and senators.

There are two things worth noting here. The first is that Hannah Smith isn't lucky at all. She's smart and focused and incredibly hardworking.

And the second thing? That any one of the forty-two thousand people who graduated from law school last year could have had Hannah's job. Except they didn't. Not because they weren't smart enough or because they came from the wrong family. No, the reason that most of them didn't have a chance is that somewhere along the way they quit. They didn't quit high school or college or law school. Instead, they quit in their quest to be the best in the world because the cost just seemed too high.

This is a very short book about a very important topic: quitting. Believe it or not, quitting is often a great strategy, a smart way to manage your life and your career. Sometimes, though, quitting is exactly the wrong thing to do. It turns out that there's a pretty simple way to tell the difference.

In addition to being smart and focused and incredibly hardworking, Hannah Smith is also a quitter. In order to get as far as she's gotten, she's quit countless other pursuits. You really can't try to do everything, especially if you intend to be the best in the world.

Before we start on the quitting, though, you probably need to be sold on why being the best in the world matters so much.

Lesson: If I want to be the best in the world it means quitting a heap of things that wont get us there and working really hard on the things that will.

The Dip
Seth Godin
Genres	Marketing, Success, Business
Pages	80	easy read
Readability	1	(1 = Easy, 5 = Hard)
Enjoyment	4	(1 = Never Read, 5 = Remarkable)

Grafism

Grafism (Gr' af 'ism) – noun

Used to describe someone with one or more of the following traits;

1. casually changeable,
2. overexcited; overstimulated; flamboyant;
3. resulting from originality of thought, expression, etc
4. obstinate in your opinions

And I didn't even know it was a real word.

Work time and logbooks

As of 1st of October some of the rules around work time and logbooks are changing considerably.  These changes will affect most transport companies at some level.  Below is a summary of the changes and when they take affect.

Key Changes

Work time and logbooks

• From 1st October 2007, instead of recording ‘on-duty’ time and ‘driving hours’ separately, all time spent working must be recorded as ‘work time’.
• Drivers must take a break of at least 30 minutes after 5.5 hours of ‘work time’, regardless of what kind of work they were doing.
• In any 24 hour period drivers can work a maximum of 13 hours then have to take a break of at least 10 hours.
• Drivers can still work up to 70 hours before they must take a break of at least 24 hours.
• Failure to produce a logbook can result in a fine of up to $2,000/individual, $10,000/company, and 35 demerit points.

Chain of Responsibility

Employers or those that control drivers can face fines of up to $25,000 if they knew, or should have known, that a driver under their control did, or was likely to, breach work time provisions.

Key Dates

• 1st October 2007 - 2 new logbook formats released (general and taxi), and all work time provisions become law.
• 1st April 2008 - All existing logbook exemptions expire.
• 1st July 2008 - Only new format logbooks may be used.

Freight Week 2007 (www.freight2007.com.au)

Andrew Nicol here

I am heading to the Freight Week 2007 (www.freight2007.com.au) in Melbourne starting the 17th September 2007.

If any people from New Zealand or Expats stumble across this post, give me a call or drop me a line and I’ll buy you a beer.

I am attending the following sessions

• Freight Careers Day (Mon)
• Freight Expo (Wed)
• Safety Day (Thu)
• Innovate/Collaborate (Fri)

Interested in catching up and discussing the implications to the NZ market.

Email:   andrewn [at] viewpoint [dot] net [dot] nz  (spam avoidance)
Phone: +64 7 957 7609
Or post a comment with your email address

   

Doing good part 2...

This from Indexed today.

Faith means doing good stuff

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

– James

Give it a try

If you didn't want anything in return, nothing at all, what's the most generous thing you could do for your best customer, your best friend, your most important prospect? Give it a try.

- Seth Godin

Are you in the top 10% of performers?

Michael Port wrote this recently.

Business Week polled 2,000 executives and middle managers with the intent of getting a picture of the future state of work. Overall the results were pretty positive. Although one result was shocking, sad, and funny all at the same time.  It turns out... "Over 90% of respondents believe they're in the top 10% of performers." Huh? Houston we have a problem. Apparently, 80% of these folks are kidding themselves.

It made me think about 2 things:

1. How many of my team think they are in the top 10% of performers? I think it would be significantly more than 10%. They may be in the top 10% of the jobs they do, but not in the top 10% of the company.
2. It also made me think of the "differentiation" process that Jack Welch used at GE. Reward the top 20% stunningly, look after and develop the middle 70% and remove the bottom 10%.

Food for thought and discussion I think.

Book Review: Freakonomics (Levitt & Dubner)

Imagine for a minute a parent buys a new car seat. They opt for the most expense one with a 6 point safety harness almost roll cage type characteristics. The head off and have it installed by an expert. "Theirs is a gesture of love, surely, but also a gesture of what might be called obsessive parenting. (Obsessive parents know who they are and are generally proud of the fact; non-obsessive parents also know who the obsessive parents are and tend to snicker at them)"

And with that quote I introduce the book Freakonomics. It is a book that looks at how we act verses the data. A child is more likely to die in you neighbours pool than if you purchase a cheaper car seat. It explores the myth of how much money drug dealers make, attributes a drop in crime with the legislation of abortion in the US, and investigates how teachers cheat to improve the schools performance.

It also looks at what makes a perfect parent (from a statistical viewpoint), and highlights some things statistically that matter and don't matter as far as your child getting ahead.

4 things that matter:

• The child's parents are highly educated.
• The child's mother was 30 or older at the time of the first child's birth.
• The child's parents are involved in the PTA.
• The child has many books in her home.

4 things that don't matter:

• The child's parents moved into a better neighbourhood.
• The child frequently watches TV.
• The child's mother didn't work between birth and kindergarten.
• The child's parents read to her nearly every day.

I'll leave it to you to read and consider these things for yourself.

My key lesson: Correct analysis of numbers and data can turn up a heap of facts that I have never before considered. 

Freakonomics
Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
Genres	Society, Provocative thought.
Pages	306	one relaxing weekend
Readability	3	(1 = Easy, 5 = Hard)
Enjoyment	4	(1 = Never Read, 5 = Remarkable)

Are you in the top 10% of performers?

Michael Port wrote this recently.

Business Week polled 2,000 executives and middle managers with the intent of getting a picture of the future state of work. Overall the results were pretty positive. Although one result was shocking, sad, and funny all at the same time.  It turns out... "Over 90% of respondents believe they're in the top 10% of performers." Huh? Houston we have a problem. Apparently, 80% of these folks are kidding themselves.

It made me think about 2 things:

1. How many of my team think they are in the top 10% of performers? I think it would be significantly more than 10%. They may be in the top 10% of the jobs they do, but not in the top 10% of the company.
2. It also made me think of the "differentiation" process that Jack Welch used at GE. Reward the top 20% stunningly, look after and develop the middle 70% and remove the bottom 10%.

Food for thought and discussion I think.