From 17-Year-Old Youth Worker To Leading The Way As A 25-Year-Old Logistics Coordinator
As AMCO’s first ever Apprentice back in 2014, Jack Rule continues to demonstrate what can be achieved to the next generation of Supply Chain and Logistics professionals with his infectious enthusiasm, endless passion, and undeniable commitment. At AMCO we feel Jack stands out as the blueprint to success for any young individual that wants to succeed in what is a challenging and ever-changing Industry, but ultimately a rewarding one.
Jack’s positive attitude, dedication to learning and ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking has been an invaluable example to all young people starting out in a Logistics Career at AMCO. However, it’s his effect on employees at all levels of the Business, including Senior Management, that highlights the real magnitude of Jack’s contribution that benefits both AMCO as a Business and its Customers.
According to Logistics Business Magazine, between 2015 and 2021, around 49% of Logistics employees moved from one Logistics Company to another, and 25% left the Industry altogether. So, Jack’s 8 years to date at AMCO is a testament to his loyalty, high level contribution and his commitment towards reaching AMCO’s corporate goals – it’s what sets him apart from the majority.
Jack’s Journey Powered by Enthusiasm
Right from the off, Jack impressed and excelled in his Apprenticeship Role at AMCO’s warehouse facility in Worcester. He predominantly handled the picking process and booked customer stock onto the Warehouse Management System (WMS). As a 17-year-old, his attitude towards learning multiple warehousing processes and systems, along with his devotion to completing his Apprenticeship was fully respected by his fellow colleagues. Taking on a full-time role and studying at the same time takes real drive and dedication.
After learning the ropes and establishing himself as a very effective and popular member of the warehousing team, Jack’s thirst for knowledge and appetite for career and personal development led him towards AMCO’s UK Transport Department. He was humble enough to start again at the bottom of the ladder as a Trainee, in a new team with new processes and systems to learn.
Some of Jack’s key tasks included filing POD’s, booking loads with Third Party Carriers, and supporting AMCO’s Logistics Coordinators when required. His communication within the UK Transport Team and level of collaboration with other departments and Business suppliers shone through, to the benefit of all involved. In addition, Jack still had an Apprenticeship to complete, which he did as Transport Trainee.
Moving up the ranks, Jack’s contribution to the UK Transport Team and his rising statue within the wider business earnt him the recognition he deserved, with promotion to UK Transport Coordinator. It was in this role Jack really started to put a stamp on the Business.
He quickly enhanced the Coordinator Role with his knowledge bank and previous warehousing experience. He reached out and collaborated with third party transport companies and AMCO’s Planning Team to improve working processes. He also organised warehouse movements thanks to his previous warehousing experience, which was beginning to pay dividends. Jack’s development of the Transport Coordinator Role paved the way for future Coordinators, who have worked to Jack’s improved processes ever since, continuing to apply them to the same high standards to benefit AMCO customers.
At this point in Jack’s career, AMCO considered him as a Logistics professional with his teeth in the game, someone that could offer more at an operational level despite his age. Jack’s foresight and innovation made him an obvious choice for a role that focussed more on preventative tasks than reactive ones. Jack was again promoted, this time as Planner in the UK Transport Team.
Jack’s flare for dealing with issues before they become issues is became a major asset to AMCO the Business and its customers. It’s a trait that’s hard to come by in the UK Logistics industry. As a natural practitioner of Kaizen, he’s always seeking to improve existing ways of working, wanting to continually improve all functions of the Business, involving AMCO employees, suppliers and customers striving for improvement.
Today, Jack is AMCO’s Senior Planner & Logistics Coordinator based out of our flagship logistics and warehousing centre, AMCO Park, in Redditch, Worcestershire.
Jack’s Rise, Powered By Passion
Enthusiasm is one thing, but it requires a massive amount of passion to forge a career in Logistics, especially at the rate Jack is going. Passion provides an individual with a true love for what they do, something they feel emotionally connected to, and that’s our Jack!
Jack has a passion to learn, to get the best out of AMCO’s systems and the people that use them. In each of the roles Jack has undertaken during the eight years he’s spent at AMCO, he has 100% percent applied himself to learn each system inside out, to the point of developing them to better suit AMCO’s requirements.
For example, Jack’s curiosity and exploration of our vehicle management platform Webfleet, led to streamlining AMCO’s invoicing process. Previously handled manually, AMCO’s invoicing process now invoices customers directly from a centralised system, automatically. Perhaps even more importantly, it now invoices without human error, eradicating invoice queries and saving time.
In addition, innovation prevailed when Jack created our now widely used ‘Fuel Consumption Report’. This has enabled AMCO as a Business to identify key areas of improvement in our UK Transport and European Road Freight Operations. From report findings, a number of actions have been taken that’s resulted in less fuel consumption, reduced CO2 emissions and vehicle maintenance, as well as improving driver behaviour, making our roads safer for everyone.
From a customer perspective, Jack set-up a Geofencing system. This now provides AMCO customers with a much-improved customer experience, giving them real visibility and peace of mind when seeking estimated times of arrival on deliveries.
It’s fair to say, Jack has worked with pretty much every system AMCO use, improving them and improving the way we use them. Some more well-known than others, such as Trutac and CarLO to name a few.
Jack’s Future, Powered By Promise
A far cry from his Apprenticeship days, Jack now manages a team of four people, including an Apprentice. As ever, he continues to be a role model for both young and experienced employees across the business at just 25 years old.
To rubber stamp his commitment to the cause and lead by example, during the first wave of Covid-19 he was the only member of the UK Transport team not to be placed on furlough. Although customer requirements were comparatively lower than usual, a significant volume remained. Jack took responsibility of the whole department, he had customer expectations solely in his hands during this period. This is a typical example of Jack’s shear commitment to the Business and the Senior Management Team. He is still growing into his current role, and in true Jack form, he’s already in the process of taking on more commercial responsibility for a number of AMCO customers.
Ever hungry to learn more, Jack has just completed his Level 3 Leadership, further enhancing his influence within the Business whilst persisting with his own career development. It’s been a progressive eight years for Jack, where will he be in another eight?