LEADERSHIP
terminal operators know when cargo will be cleared and when it’s scheduled to leave the terminal, then instead of simply stacking containers five high at random, they can make efficient decisions about how to process those containers. IL: What are the first things you check on each morning? Our daily performance reports come out at 8 a.m., and I’m right there at 8:01. We’re a self-funding company, and our performance directly impacts our ability to reinvest. Then I look at sales—how are we doing and how can I help? I also look at how the programmers are doing on development projects. What kinds of roadblocks are they running into, and how can I help them work through the design issues? IL: If you could trade places with anyone for a day, alive or from history, who would it be? I’d love to step back to the days when Nikola Tesla was working on that new thing they called electricity. Edison got most of the credit because he was better at raising money, but it was Tesla who came up with the real technical breakthroughs. I’d like to see how we could have made it easier and faster for people to adopt electricity, and then see how we could apply those principles to digital platforms. IL: Outside of work, how do you like to spend your time? I love outdoor sports. I row competitively at the master’s level, in the winter I go snow skiing, and I love hiking and camping, particularly with my boys. I’m an avid sailor. And I like gardening. In addition, I work with the Washington Council for International Trade to advocate for free trade. And I love doing things with my kids and grandkids. n Thirst for Knowledge One of the most important qualities Bryn Heimbeck seeks in his direct reports is a passion for learning. “Global supply chain management is complex and becoming more so by the day— wonderfully so,” he says. Case in point: “I was in Vietnam recently, and I was amazed to discover that there’s an enormous Latino community there. People need to learn to deal with these new levels of globalization.” Team members also need to understand Trade Tech’s platform, the solutions the company has built on that base, and the impact of new technologies. “There are all sorts of things on Amazon Web Services that are enhancing the scalability of our platform,” Heimbeck says. “You can’t sell what you don’t know how to use, or help customers learn how to use it. We’re in a dynamic revolution. I need people who are driven to learn.”
IL: What keeps your customers awake at night? My biggest customers worry about accounting. That’s a tough function in global trade, because it always takes at least two offices to complete a transaction. You can have cost and revenue at origin, or cost and revenue at destination, or a mix of the two. Keeping track of that is a chore, and it’s prone to errors. I’ve watched companies go into bankruptcy or forced acquisition because their books weren’t in order. But when all your transactions take place on a single platform, you get a paradigm change. You have origin and destination doing accounting on the same shipment files, with all the data visible to everyone who needs to see it. No one neglects to enter cost or origin data because they assume someone else has done it. As you make these processes easier, you eliminate the worry and everyone can sleep at night. IL: Among the challenges your company faces today, which do you find most interesting? For the past six months we’ve been automating our own accounting processes, applying Trade Tech to Trade Tech. Customer service agents and salespeople shouldn’t be administering accounting. My goal is to have one person at a high level watching what the machine is doing. IL: What characteristics make you an effective leader? It starts with humility. I try to be nice to people but hold them accountable for achieving their goals. I focus on the community. And, most important, I stress equality among cultures, ethnicities, and genders. We’re a multinational company. Each and every one of us is important. We might have an American flavor, because that’s where the leadership is right now, but that’s going to change over time. IL: Besides automating accounting, what new and interesting things are you working on at Trade Tech these days? One of our teams is in the early phases of a project for a customer with precise demands for data in the origin process— making the booking with the carrier, getting confirmation, and coordinating with the warehouses. I think we can automate 90% of that process. Next year, we plan to automate the U.S. Customs clearance process. Finally, we want to use that clearance data to get better information to the ports. If
September 2024 • Inbound Logistics 11
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