Program kickoff!

Welcome, dear network, to this personal newsletter where I will be sharing my journey through this international program. I will be posting each month to share what I've learned and how I'm making the best out of it.

I had the pleasure to meet my #international team during the kickoff week at our site in Venlo, the Netherlands, from Feb 13th to Feb 17th.

I began my journey from Matamoros, my hometown, where I took a flight to Mexico City and had a 7 hour layover, it was quite exhausting but I entertained myself well enough until Alejandra Aguilar met me there from her Monterrey flight. It was the first time meeting and we spent some time getting to know each other, she's charismatic and joyful. We would both arrive at Dusseldorf but she did it through Amsterdam and I did it through Paris, so we parted ways.

I boarded my flight to France, which went without much trouble, and I arrived to Paris in the afternoon. I was there for 4 hours but I got my passport stamped so I would say it counts! Funnily enough I sat in the next plane besides a Mexican residing in Germany, Edgardo made the flight very pleasant and it felt very short, it was nice meeting him.

Upon arrival to Dusseldorf, Germany I was surprised to find that there was police blocking all exits. Now I know there was a suspicious vehicle parked in the vicinity and they were ensuring there was no bomb threat. At that moment I was saved by the kindness of other travelers, particularly Rushikesh Apté who helped me find my way out through the underground train all the way to the central station. I wish him well.

My arrival to Venlo was not without a last challenge. The train from the central station was cancelled and I was advised to go to another station to catch it, this is where I met a dutch for the first time in person. And all I can say is, it was amazing. I approached Levin at the platform and asked him if he was heading to Venlo by any chance, he responded he would pass by. And we started talking about each other until we boarded towards the station where we would take the train to Venlo.

He spent 10 years in Canada but had returned to the Netherlands. I had not eaten very well in the last crazy hours, and he was so kind as to gift me an apple, a bar and a chocolate, I could not be more grateful.

We parted ways when we arrived to Venlo and he was able to board his train to Eindhoven.

Meeting him had such an impact in my day that he deserves to be commended for his actions and giving me a great first impression of Canadian and Dutch alike.

Can you believe this is just my travel story? 30 hours of travel, but I met great people and I would do it again.

Now, onto the program.

The first day we had a lot of great introductions and I got to meet most of my fellow professionals. I was able to speak to some of them during breakfast prior to our day at the Venlo site. Which began with an introduction by the accelerate team ( Ralph Schouren , Henny Bergsma , Femke Hamers & Lianne Decrauw-Brunken ) regarding our agenda and the structure of the team.

Then Guillaume B. , APAC Executive Vicepresident, shared his experience within DSV and going through a #development program, as well as some business administration advice.

Brian Ejsing , CEO of #DSV Solutions division openly talked to us about several topics and we had the #opportunity to ask questions. He emphasized that providing opportunities for #growth within DSV is important for the company. And pertaining to Mexico, the impact nearshoring is already having in our country.

Maren Smeets , a graduate from the previous iteration of the program, talked about her experience and motivated us to do our best and to work together.

Ronald Poort , from Global Business Development provided important insights on what his department is doing and what the context is for every industry we operate on, as well as the advantages and challenges brought by giving sites and countries a lot of empowerment in their operation management.

Tobias De Neef , from DSV Sigma, talked to us about all the tools available to improve the work and systems within the company, I am particularly interested in Power Apps and Power BI, and how I could integrate Power Automate with these and other Microsoft applications.

After these talks we were provided with a year overview of the whole program and what it entails. And let me tell you it is a world of information, but it revealed the challenges and goals I will be able to achieve within the program and how to combine this with my day to day job. It will be divided into 4 modules throughout the year, comprising different assignments and projects in groups or individually. And I am certain I will grow and learn from this #experience.

We finished Monday with a tour of the under armour facility and autostore system, an automated storage perfect for fulfilling e-commerce customers' needs, it is a brilliant and innovative way to approach B2C logistics. As well as doing a kind of speed dating to get to know each other better, I talked to Matiko Masinga from South Africa, and Xia (Zia) H. from the UK, they unfortunately could not come to the meeting but we had engaging conversations and I hope to meet them soon.

We had dinner during the afternoon with all the team, I got to know some of them much better.

Yulieth Sánchez from Panama relayed her passion for exploring nature that I also have, but in a more observational way. We showed each other some pictures of our nature adventures. She has a quiet voice with a lot of elegance to it.

Femke and Ralph exchanged conversation about work and life in the Netherlands.

We all had a particular moment where we talked about the restroom wallpapers and I found a new way of hand drying with a rotating towel, I shall investigate further.

That was the end of day 1 out of 5.

Tuesday began with conversation over breakfast with Khamil Naidoo from South Africa and looking at the DSV trucks pass by on the adjacent road. Khamil is a very energetic and fun guy, there was always something interesting he would share.

We began with the PRINCE2 Foundations training provided by Andreas Tautner.

The very first thing he clarified is the definition of a project. The manual says a project is a temporary organization set up to achieve a business objective based on an agreed business case. But Andreas also added further depth to the definition by clarifying that a project is also an investment in a change, and that this change was made by people for people.

So we should not lose focus on caring for the investment and the people that make it work. We went over specific elements of the methodology, starting with the principles.

Once we finished the first day of training, the accelerate team set up a cooking activity for us. It was an Italian themed dinner, and we had a blast. This activity further allowed us to connect and bond with each other, which strengthened our team.

In this activity I got to know Brendan Currie at a better level. We worked together cooking Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms and we did a great job. USA and Mexico relations definitely increased that day. And though he doesn't like mushrooms I convinced him to try one of our creations, he did not enjoy it, but that's understandable. I personally love mushrooms and I can vow for how good they were. Brendan is the life of the party and has a great sense of #leadership. We all had a great night and everyone's food came together to make one of the most delicious dinners I've ever had. And that was the end of day 2.

For Wednesday we continued with our #PRINCE2 Training, diving deeper into the concepts and processes. We learned how to make a quick business case for decision making and several other documents that are required for this method. One particular and funny concept for Risk Management is how you handle threats through the FATARS acronym (Fallback, Avoid, Transfer, Accept, Reduce, Share). We also worked together in teams to put some of these elements into practice.

By noon we went out to visit Venlo's city center. Which was filled with flags in preparation for the carnival celebrations that would be held during the weekend.

We visited several stores, I bought and ate some chocolates that were delicious and we spent the rest of the night at a local pub playing games and sharing more about our countries.

Zan Teo shared how easy it is to walk around Singapore and getting what you need close to you. He's a serious guy but with a very good smile and demeanor, he's just refreshing to talk to. Sivabuthr Than aka Tony from Thailand talked about how similar our love for spicy food is among our countries, and would share different details about his life that I found really interesting, he's reserved but he talks very upfront and I was learning something new about him every day. And that was the end of day 3.

On Thursday we went through the last day of training with our instructor. We talked about all possible questions regarding the methodology in preparation for our online exam, which I arranged for a few days ago.

Now I can confidently say I am certified in the PRINCE2 Foundations project management methodology.

With the knowledge acquired I expect to make better projects for this program and DSV.

Once we ended the day we all decided to rent some bikes and go to the nearest town in Germany, it was a very long ride there but we made it, a resident even came out of his house and took a picture for us. Zsuzsa Luka from Denmark was guiding our way through the streets and letting us know when and where to turn. I was able to share many conversations with her regarding life in Denmark, she's always approachable and a great presence for the team.

My legs were killing me upon our return to the hotel, but the day was not over since the coordination team had prepared another activity for us at a nearby Arcade place. We played in some escape room making points in groups, it was very entertaining and awesome, we almost got first place. Then we played laser tag in groups, I had the greatest accuracy with almost 50%, and my team won that one. I wrapped the day up with a pool game against Ralph, but he got lucky every time.

I also cooked the food they provided us there in a grill in the middle of the table. Everyone seemed to like it, carne asada is the north of mexico's specialty. That was the end of day 4.

For our final day we had a tour of the New Balance facility, with a huge autostore, the size was massive, we were able to see the flow of goods from receipt all the way into the autostore and then towards the shipping process. For an e-commerce operation the methods were on point. It provided me with further understanding of what can be accomplished within #logistics.

After the tour we were briefed on the coming year once again, with an emphasis on Module 1 which ends before June. Our first assignment will combine Sales, Rate handling and Project Management to deliver 3 products, this will be done in groups. I was put together with Anggie Juliana Garcia from Colombia, she's always smiling and has a lot of drive to make things happen, as well as Alexis Hormazábal from Chile, an apparently serious but actually great guy with an eagerness to share and learn, I believe we will do a great job working together. I will let you know of our advancements in the next newsletter.

It was overall a great week, full of new people, new experiences, new knowledge and new goals. I am excited for module 1 and I will be making everything work together nicely with my day to day job. A special appreciation to my manager Patricia Rizo for being open and supporting me to make the best out of this program, she's a great leader, and kudos to the Matamoros team. Another greeting to Xavier Escarcega and Rene Alexis Arias Macias from regional quality management, I shall make our department proud and share everything about quality with the international team, everyone is from different departments so I'm sure I will learn a lot too. Thanks to José Alberto López Cedillo as well for coordinating everything related to this program in Mexico and selecting me to have this opportunity, we will continue working closely. And to every single person making this possible.

Thank you as well, dear network, for reading all the way over here, next newsletter should be shorter. I will leave you with some pictures from my Friday afternoon and my return trip right below. Until next time!