Spreading the News!

Tue, 10 Dec 2013 17:07:00 GMT

Spreading the News, Clare Davies, Tom Sheehy, Smiths News

Logistics staff and students were delighted to welcome visitors from Smiths News to the University.  Clare Davies, Operations Director and Tom Sheehy, Regional Director gave a fascinating presentation on the challenge of newsprint distribution in the UK.

‘Nobody wants an out of date paper’ said Clare, ‘newspapers are the most perishable form of product with the shortest shelf life’.   Students were intrigued to learn how the company, day in, day out manages the challenge of getting papers to 30,000 retail outlets across the UK, within a maximum of 8 hours of rolling off the printing presses.

The lecture was given added poignancy by events in the previous 24 hours.  The sad news of the death of Nelson Mandela had led to a one hour delay in paper production and a volume surge overnight, and this, together with dangerous storm conditions had made getting the news out that day particularly challenging.   After the lecture, students joined Clare and Tom for a round table discussion in the Business School boardroom.

Smiths News are one of the 23 companies backing the NOVUS Trust Supply Chain Undergraduate Scheme – a unique programme at the University that guarantees graduate employment to students on successful completion of their Logistics & Supply Chain Management degree.  Students also benefit from an industry mentor and Clare and Tom took the opportunity to meet with their students while on site.

Spreading the News, Clare Davies, Tom Sheehy, Smiths News Spreading the News, Clare Davies, Tom Sheehy, Smiths News

Pictured above: Clare Davies meets mentee Dino Soeyono & Tom Sheehy and student Azell Banton

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