COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT OF LOGISTICS CENTERS IN SOUTHERN FINLAND

This paper is a description of the ESLogC project (Development of the Logistics Center System in Southern Finland) activities and a summary of the main results. Part I, Competence Management and Development in Finnish logistics Centers describes the process and the methods of competence management and development carried out in the ESLogC project as well as the results of competence identification, competence assessment and competence acquisition carried out in the project. Part II, Finnish Logistics Education is a study of the present state of logistics education at Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences in Finland and its development needs based on the results of the competence assessment survey. The competence demands in the future logistics centers include following five main competence areas: 1) supply chain management, 2) operations planning, competence management, 3) IT operated operations measurement, follow-up and assessment, 4) competence management, 5) cooperation. Based on future competence demands, the clearest weaknesses of current logistics center personnel are related the tasks dealing with sustainable development. Other weaknesses are related to reclamations, language skills, shipment process control, customer and stakeholder relations, competence management and unit operations as well as economics. The competencies that can be ensured through university level education are the development of logistics solutions according to the company strategy, competence management and ensuring the customer and stakeholder interests whereas the operative tasks are best assimilated through work-based learning.