James Kent
Heading up logistics in the UK for one of the world’s most recognisable coffee chains sounds like a challenge, but it is one Coventry graduate James Kent takes in his stride.
As logistics manager UK&I James and his team of three look after approximately 1,000 Starbucks stores in the UK by ensuring these stores receive daily deliveries on time and in full 365 days of the year.“A lot of our stock is fresh and made to order,” says James.
“This stock all needs to be in place before operations start in the morning. If this system breaks down, and it does, we are never warned. We need to work closely with customer services, marketing and communications to make sure any issues are communicated well. We don’t want any problems to impact on our customers. We then look at recovering the situation.”
“The best part about working in logistics is that every day is different. Getting products from one place to another may sound easy, but the amount of issues you can have is quite significant. I never go into work thinking this is going to be a dull day, it’s always going to be something different.
This isn’t James’s first foray into the world of logistics. At Nestle he was logistics manager for the UK and Ireland where the focus was on ecommerce.
“I was responsible for the fulfilment of orders,” James explains. “This gave us different challenges. We were delivering ambient products all through a parcel network. You don’t have quick communications channels, you have different parcel hubs. It was B to C business; single parcels to individual doors all around the country.”
At United Biscuits, James held an international strategic logistics role, with his focus on Nigeria, Romania and Pakistan.
“I was dealing with logistics and customer services in the international hubs. The role though was split in two, firstly hub development, which included leading a warehousing project in Nigeria.
“The second half of the role involved dealing with the export of biscuits out of the UK. This included international container shipping, which came with its own challenges. A war could break out, or the ship could be seized, we then had to deal with getting the ship back.”
It was during his year out in placement while studying that James developed his passion for the supply chain and logistics.
“Originally I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a career. I did a one year placement in the logistics department of an automotive parts company and fell in love with it. I was fortunate to get a scholarship to do my Masters and did it in logistics at Coventry University.”
James credits the university hugely with helping him achieve his career goals.
“The key thing with the university is it allows you to choose a career path by giving you a lot of options to look at and the opportunity to explore many different avenues. If one of those avenues is one that you’re really interested in, the university will always allow you to explore that.”