As an Account Management Representative with UPS Capital, UPS’s supply chain insurance and finance service company, Kyle Laflamme uses his several years of experience and knowledge to protect customers’ supply chains, assist with claims and provide the best possible service.

His international trade journey began as an Algonquin College student, studying international business through the college’s FITT-accredited program.

“That’s what really peaked my early interest in international trade. I’ve always found the prospect of exploring new markets fascinating, from learning different languages to negotiating logistical challenges, so it’s just been a natural fit for me from then on.”

Thanks to his Algonquin professors and the FITT course content, Kyle built the foundation he needed in international business to launch his career.

“My professors were all very knowledgeable, approachable, and professional. Much of what I was taught I still actively use today years later, so they’ve had a direct result on my success thus far.”

The International Market Entry Strategies course was the most intriguing to me because it encompassed so much of what it takes to get a project off the ground (logistical considerations, laws and regulations, social norms and working conditions, finance, etc.).

“This not only prepares one for international market entry, but also crosses over into many other facets of business as well, from project management to cross cultural negotiations. I’d absolutely recommend FITT’s courses to anyone interested in international trade, they’ve been very beneficial.”

Quickly building an impressive list of career accomplishments

After graduating and working in financial advisor and quality assurance roles in Ottawa, Kyle moved a couple of years later to Montreal to take a position as an Account Specialist, working primarily with business owners in the U.S.

“I ended up moving to Montreal and later accepted a position in a company that needed someone with my theoretical knowledge of international trade. I was responsible for many different sorts of tasks at this company, but the international trade aspect was what interested me the most, so that’s where the majority of my focus was directed.”

Building upon that experience, he next took a job with Wholesale Payments Direct, a new payment processing company at the time. Within a few months he worked his way up from Lead Generation Manager to Director of Operations. Taking on a multitude of challenges, from acquiring new customers, creating sales strategies and handling logistics to building new internal policies and procedures, overseeing payroll and improving data management practices, the position allowed Kyle to stretch his wings in a way he’s continued to do ever since.

“I’ve always been a firm believer in coming up with solutions for complicated challenges as opposed to finding reasons what things can’t be done. Many of my favourite moments stemmed from applying this philosophy to scenarios when logistics and/or communications seemed to have broken down. Reassuring the client that I will fix their problem and then actually pulling it off always produces a great sense of achievement for me, especially when you consider that deadlines are always that much tighter when you have to factor in international time zones and different customs regulations for each country and whatnot.”

In his next role as a logistics specialist and customer service representative with Diebec, he also had the opportunity to help the company improve how it approached acquiring new business, which he found professionally fulfilling and an exciting chance to apply his knowledge to something new.

“One of the most interesting projects that I’ve been involved in was working with senior management to come up with pricing proposals to acquire international business. I’ve always had a knack for Excel, so on one hand I was brought onto the projects for being able to design pricing solutions for our prospective clients, but also because I was the resident expert on the additional costs we faced for shipping internationally as well as what the costs were when a mistake was made. Factor in the tight deadlines and the amount of money that hung in the balance, and that made these project right up my alley.”

“The senior management really took me under their wings and helped actualize my theoretical knowledge by mentoring me and encouraging me along the way.”

The continuous process of professional training and achievement

Even with his many years of career experience and success, Kyle makes an effort to keep learning and expanding his horizons and appreciates how much he’s learned along the way.

“When I first started my career, I wish that I properly understood how fast things can take a turn for the worst if you haven’t prepared adequately for the task at hand. In domestic business, if a simple mistake has been made, it’s usually easily fixed with a phone call or an email.”

“With international business, a simple mistake can mean a package gets held up at customs, a disagreement arises over where the responsibility of risk transfers over in the event of a damaged shipment, possibly losing a client because of a language barrier, etc. It’s much more important to do your research beforehand because there are so many little details to consider that can have a huge impact on your company’s bottom line and your reputation.”

In 2018, he graduated from Concordia University with a BA in philosophy, and intends to pursue a Master’s degree in the future, either in business analytics or business administration.

He also recently met a goal several years in the making by earning his CITP (Certified International Trade Professional) designation, and is excited to see his hard work come to fruition.

“The CITP®|FIBP® designation was a big pull-factor for our college program, so upon graduating I had always intended to apply. Once I found my way into a company that allowed me to gain the necessary experience and knowledge to develop and serve their international market, applying for the CITP®|FIBP® designation was the next logical thing to do, since this is the direction that my career is heading in. It’s very pleasing to see my work and study throughout the years come to fruition.”

He now sees a great deal of value in his designation moving forward, both in his current work and as a potential avenue towards exploring the myriad opportunities available at a company the size of UPS.

“I’m excited to see what doors will open, and what value can be generated from leveraging this designation.

I foresee the CITP designation opening a lot of doors for me internally within my company, given that we’re such a large international transportation company, and also will help provide our clients with confidence knowing that my advice and work is backed by knowledge attained from pursuing accreditation from a recognized international organization like FITT.

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Dealing with rising logistics costs

From sourcing materials to storing goods to shipping to your customers, logistics costs add up. They can be a major part of your business’s expenses, and they seem to be continually rising. If you’re not looking at how you can scale back your logistics costs, you’re hurting your business’s bottom line. While tackling these kinds of costs might seem overwhelming, there are some things you can do to manage your business’s logistics costs.

Understand your logistics costs

Reducing your logistics costs begins with evaluating them. Until you understand how your business is spending money on logistics, you can’t understand how to reduce logistics costs. Take the time to understand how much you are spending on packaging, shipping, labour and storage. Know how much each container costs you to ship, and how much you are spending on logistics for each item in your inventory.

Once you understand where your logistics budget is going, you can begin to look at how to pare back on those costs. Break apart the fixed costs that you don’t have the power to change and the variable costs. By knowing which costs you can influence, you can begin to identify where you can save money in your supply chain.

Understand your inventory

When it comes to reducing logistics costs, many experts will suggest maintaining higher inventory levels. Carrying higher inventory levels means less frequent supply shipments and you don’t risk paying more for last-minute supplies. Unless you evaluate and understand your inventory, your supply needs and your space, it can be difficult to maintain higher inventory without running the risk of overstocking.

Know which items move faster than others and what you should have more of on hand. Monitor the flow of your inventory, and keep an eye on peaks in demand that call for increased inventory. Evaluate your inventory space and determine whether you could be shelving your inventory more efficiently to store more items in less space. Be sure to keep and regularly evaluate your inventory data so you can make better decisions on your inventory levels to save on shipping and storage logistics.

Plan regular shipments

Consider when you order items or contract shipments for your business. If you are waiting until you need to ship something or until you need something in stock, you’re spending more on shipping than you need to. When you’ve analyzed your supply and inventory needs, you can begin to contract your shipping in advance to save your business money on shipping costs. Many companies will offer savings when you contract multiple shipments at once or when you contract for shipping further in advance.

When logistics companies have orders on the books in advance, they can better manage how they’re filling their shipment containers to lower their costs, which means your costs are lower. Contracting logistics in advance, or working with the same companies for supplies and shipments over and over again, can help you develop good working relationships with your logistics partners. When you have those solid relationships, you can work with your partners to lower costs, and they likely will reward you for your loyalty with better pricing over time.

Involve everyone in logistics savings

If you’re committed to keeping your logistics costs low, you’ll need to involve every team in your business. That’s because nearly every department impacts your logistics costs. Product developers can look at supply or design options that will lower your supply logistics costs and your product distribution costs. Your marketing team can keep a calendar of initiatives that are likely to bring a surge in business to help you beef up inventory in advance. Your warehouse team can find efficiencies in their operations or in their storage methods.

When all of your teams are aware of how they play a role in logistics and keeping the costs low, they can contribute to this goal on a consistent basis.

Logistics is an expensive part of every business, which makes keeping logistics costs in line essential to maintaining your business’s profits. Keeping those costs low involves constantly monitoring data that will help you make better decisions, planning your logistics as far in advance as possible and involving your teams in moderating logistics costs. By actively tracking, evaluating and controlling your logistics costs, you can save money and better protect your business’s bottom line.

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Dr. Kannan Vanumamalai, CITP®|FIBP®, is the Marketing Manager at Kheeran Inspection Services Inc. in Edmonton, Alberta.

With twenty years of international trade experience and an exceptional academic background in trade, Kannan’s skills and knowledge are equaled only by his passion for his work.

Kannan’s career started when, after completing both his Bachelor’s and his Master’s degrees in commerce, he became a management trainee with Varadhalakshmi Mills Ltd in Madurai, India.

At the end of his trainee period, the company decided to give him the opportunity to select the area of business in which he wanted to specialize.

“I chose international trade,” he explains.

I realized that, for an international trade professional, each work day will be a lively day composed of lots of challenges, problems, solutions, decision making situations, rules, regulations and so on.

Kannan spent a total of just over five years at the company, under the title of Executive (Purchase and Imports).

With the sole responsibility for all man-made fiber imports, he monitored inventory, made purchases when needed, ensured all documents and licenses were in place and guided it through all customs clearances to get materials to the mills when needed.

After a brief stint taking care of exports for another mill, Kannan returned to the import side of trade as an Assistant General Manager (Imports) for Machado Sons P Ltd—a leading Custom House Agents company at the port in Tuticorin, India.

In the role, he was able to expand on his previous import experience by combining responsibilities for customs clearance and import documentation with a broader-scale marketing role.

His new duties included bringing in new customers, providing them guidance, updating customers with any changes in the import policies/rules, ensuring customer satisfaction and retention, and promoting the company’s import clearance services.

Kannan also expanded his educational credentials during the thirteen years he spent in the role. Since it required a greater focus on marketing than his previous positions, he earned his MBA with a focus in marketing, as well as his M.Phil in international business.

He then followed those up by earning his Ph.D in Management in 2011 from the Birla Institute of Technology in Mesra, India, with a focus on international logistics and marketing.

In 2011, Kannan also received two international awards. First, he won ‘The Emerging Economies Doctoral Student Award (EEDSA)’ from the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), USA for his contributions to the subject ‘operations management’.

He then also received the ‘Highly Commented Award for Excellence 2011’ from the Emerald Literati Network in the UK, for a research article he had published in ‘Benchmarking: An International Journal’ the previous year.

On top of these awards, he has published several articles in reputed management journals, and is a regular presenter at Indian as well as international conferences on topics related to international logistics, shipping, export/import, services marketing, etc.

In 2013, Kannan transitioned to his current role, which allows him to focus on international marketing full-time.

Balancing everything from market research studies to product development to client satisfaction, budgeting, accounts management, and training, he has found the opportunity to excel in a role where he can draw from all of his education and experience.

When Kannan learned about FITT and the CITP®|FIBP® designation, he immediately recognized the benefits it could have for his career and decided to apply.

I understand that the CITP®|FIBP® designation will bring international recognition to my knowledge and experience in international trade. I also realize that it will help me to develop networking with other international trade experts.

Kannan described his reaction to earning the designation as “elated.” He says he hopes it will help him toward his goal of gaining a top-level management position in a global corporation in the shipping, freight forwarding or international logistics industry.

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