Koen Verhoeven

Transport planning at Versteijnen: decisiveness is key

Koen Verhoeven – Transport planning

It’s been a bit of a struggle these past few months. Koen’s department had to cope with low staffing levels on a regular basis due to the pandemic and, as team leader, one of Koen’s tasks was to make ends meet. ”We currently have a strong team with planners who achieve great results every day and drivers who make a difference with excellent communication and a tight daily schedule. As team leader, I make sure the planners have the facilities to do their jobs well and provide backup when a problem arises.”

The ability to solve problems is an important factor in Koen’s work. And especially the ability to make decisions. ”It’s sometimes a case of deciding what we can and can’t do. What impact does a decision we make have on the customer? As transport planning team leader, you’re constantly hammering out these kinds of decision.”

In addition to making decisions, stress resistance is an important trait as a transport planning team leader.

”An email here, a phone call there, requests that are jumbled up. There are days when things are not under control,” says Koen. ”Recently, a driver was unable to cross a bridge because the load was too heavy. The pallets under the load, which consisted of Tesla batteries, were also too large to transfer to another truck on the spot. Eventually we sent an extra driver and a little later an extra heavy forklift to solve the problems. On those days, more is asked of you and decisiveness and stress-resistance come into play. It can also be nice to have a bit of action.” But the quieter days are also welcome. ”When the day is nice and calm it means that everything is under control. That’s a bit more relaxing.”