Logistics is a very dynamic field which is also reflected in continuous changes that take place in training activities and employment structures. This innovation guide collects experiences in these fields enabling lessons to be learnt or further developments to be encouraged. In this final chapter some common trends in the cases are briefly described. The chapter focuses on two closely related issues :

• What triggers innovations?
• What are common trends in cases?

With regard to these two questions we see four important trends that emerge from the cases:

1. Logistics is a growing activity. This leads to a demand for more structured employment initiatives in this field, including training. These initiatives can be at various levels: company level, level of training providers, sectoral level.
2. Within logistics a number of new developments are taking place which also demand employment and training interventions. In this respect we can mention the following issues emerging from the cases: the increasing attention to safety and working conditions, the need to optimise logistic flows within broader supply chains and the increasing importance of ICT.
3. Traditionally, some groups of companies and workers have been difficult to impact on through training and structured HRM-policy. Examples are small and medium sized companies (SMEs) and lower qualified workers. Some cases reflect a specific response towards the needs of these groups. This brings us to the next point.
4. Creative training solutions are required to meet the increasing need for new skills and qualifications. First, it is important to align training programmes with existing work place practices, to ensure that the training is perceived to be relevant. Second, it is important to offer flexibility in training provision in order to meet the specific demands of companies and individual trainees. This flexibility can be in terms of content, time, place and pace. The use of ICT as a training tool can be a way to provide this flexibility.

All these four trends are closely related. An example can make this clear. In Sweden an initiative is taken to offer theoretical training for safe forklift driving by using a supportive e-learning course ("E-Truck"). The contents are in line with requirements developed at sectoral level by the Swedish employer's organisation. The use of e-learning offers flexibility in place and pace and is an attractive method for this target group.

The four trends are also presented in figure C10. The first three trends are triggers corresponding to the logistics activities which demand further development of training and employment arrangements. These three trends act as triggers for the fourth set of trends above.

Figure C10. Common trends in the innovative cases

Logistics as a growing activity
Logistics is a growing activity. Within strongly growing logistics companies employment and training structures have to develop as well. In a growing organisation, a certain formalisation becomes necessary to structure the organisation, as well as the career paths. Required (and missing) qualifications become more apparent. An example is Hays in Greece. An important basis to develop their training activities, was that they developed logistics job profiles for their workers. In these job profiles, important issues for their customers to improve quality of service are also incorporated. The new training activities are strongly linked with mobility patterns in the company, which increases the attractiveness for workers to participate.

However, logistics as a growing activity also requires answers from other actors. Sometimes new institutions have to be created to supply the companies in this field with personnel and continue to train them after they start to work there. The two cases in Belgium (LOGIS/GLOBIS in Flanders and Forem in Wallonia) are both examples of institutions that are created to serve newly developing logistics companies, by training and testing workers who often worked in heavy industry and mining in the past. The strong emergence of logistics activities demands creative responses to the strong need for (re)training. The assessment room of GLOBIS and the cooperation with regional partners of FOREM represent such responses. The assessment room of GLOBIS offers a relatively cheap way to assess the ability of job applicants to work in warehouse functions, and also a way to determine relatively weak points of people already working in these jobs, which leads to a demand for training. The assessment is carried out in simulated mini-warehouse. FOREM develops training for unemployed and workers in this area, keeping close contacts with other actors in a region, such as companies, employer's organisations and a university. Training for unemployed is kept very up to date by incorporating experiences from in-company training of employees and developments foreseen by the various partners. In Italy the growing logistics activities in the region of Emilia-Romagna led to the creation of an institute which coordinates research, training and professional services in logistics. This institute is funded by and co-ordinates the actions of several actors in the region.

The strong growth of logistics activities increases the need for structuring the issue of qualifications on a more sectoral level. In the past, logistics qualification issues were less structured, because logistics activities were scattered around several sectors and did not receive too much attention. The growth of these activities has led to new initiatives for structuring:

• In Portugal the automotive sector has carried out a major assessment of its present state concerning human resources and the availability of and need for qualifications. Logistics has been considered as an area in which the largest discrepancies between needed and available qualifications exist, which should lead to new initiatives in the training infrastructure.
• One of the cases in France describes the integration of logistics jobs definitions in the collective agreement of the transport sector. This is a recognition of the growing importance of these types of activities, leading to a clear position in the social dialogue. Job definitions are developed for more than 20 jobs in logistics on the basis of an analysis of what is happening in the companies. Moreover, a link is made with the training courses that exist for these types of functions.
• Another French case describes the inclusion of jobs in logistics in a standard national system of job descriptions (R.O.M.E.) with a very sophisticated and worked out methodology.
• In the Netherlands the market for logistics training courses is made more and more transparent by initiatives from sectoral and employment organisations to come to a uniform certification system (case EVO).
• In Denmark social partners have taken the initiative to develop a specific course for experienced workers in the warehouse to attain the diploma for warehouse worker of the vocational education system, so that these workers can signal more easily what qualifications in the field of logistics they have.

New developments within logistics as a trigger
One of the issues for the contents of training that has had increased attention in the emerging logistics activities is the issue of safety and working conditions. If workers are regularly exposed to working conditions like manual lifting, noise, extreme temperatures, and dust, there is a chance that they develop health problems and are no longer able to work, which causes large social costs. The same also applies to safety issues. In the warehouse, quite a number of accidents take place. Training can be an important means to prevent such accidents. In France this has lead to compulsory training, including arrangements about how this should be tested and examined. In other countries the attention for more regulation in this field is also growing. Attention is paid to this issue in the country reports of NOVALOG. Another example of the growing attention for safety is the earlier mentioned supportive e-learning course for forklift-driving ("E-Truck") in Sweden, whose contents are in line with requirements made up by the employers organisation in Sweden. In Denmark, social partners have been involved in the development of various tools for companies to analyse their own logistics flows, focused on manual handling. One of the ideas behind this is to improve physical working conditions.

The latter example was also developed out of the idea that companies still can gain a lot by improving their logistics flows and the awareness about various options in this field. Also individual companies acknowledge that workers need better insight in logistics flows and supply chains to perform better. In order to achieve this both management and workers should be more aware of their role within the whole supply chain. An example is the case of a clothing manufacturing company in Ireland in which workers were trained to improve their insight in the logistics chain and their own position within that chain. Especially in smaller companies knowledge about supply chain management are often still poorly developed. To improve this situation several actors, including an industry organisation in Denmark took the initiative for a specific course in logistics for SMEs ("focus on logistics"), with a (modular) structure specifically designed for this group, including an important place for practical homework tasks.

ICT-applications have become more and more important in logistics. ICT-applications are used to optimise processes and perform simulations in the design of the process. Within the logistics processes, the flow of goods is coupled with flows of information by ICT. An example of a new curriculum that incorporates new developments in this area (especially e-commerce) is the case of e-logistics in Austria. However, the increasing importance of ICT-applications is not only restricted to the more "white collar" type of functions. For some cases corresponding to the warehouse function, the need for training for workers for new WMS-systems is an important background factor. In two cases this type of training is carried out in a simulation company (VTL in the Netherlands and DEKRA in Germany). Learning to work with a WMS in a simulation company has the advantage that workers can be trained before a new system is actually introduced in their own company. So the workers can overcome their fear of such a new application and can directly start to work with it as soon as it is introduced in their own company. Moreover, a simulation company is an environment where mistakes have no negative consequences for the production process, but are optimally used to learn from them.

Attention for difficult groups to reach
SMEs have difficulties in developing a well structured HRM- and training policy. They often lack knowledge in this field, but also the constant pressure of the day-to day activities make it hard to focus on this field. However, these companies also are confronted with the type of developments as mentioned above which require human resource management solutions. But in order to do this, they are often dependent on the initiatives of external organisations. Earlier, the Danish initiative to specifically develop a course for these types of companies in the field of logistics was mentioned. Another example is the case about a training course in Ireland ("Business Improvement Through Supply Chain Strategies"), which is also specifically developed for these types of companies by a training organisation in Ireland. Both courses have a lot of similarities which have to do with this target group of companies. An important part of both courses consists of practical assignments which are closely linked to the day to day activities in their own companies. Another similarity is that flexible ways of support are given to overcome problems, especially in the practical assignments. The Danish programme offers a hotline support and in the Irish case trainers/consultants are available to provide support for the development of the participants' projects. Both courses also have a flexible modular structure.

Another type of companies in the field of logistics for which it is traditionally difficult to develop a HRM- and training policy are the temporary work agencies. Because the workload in the warehouse is very volatile, many logistic companies make use of temporary work agencies. These agencies have the problem that if they invest in training, they run the risk that they will only partly profit from the benefits, because the temporary workers can soon leave and in that case investments are lost. However, two cases of Randstad - an important supplier of temporary workers in the logistics area - illustrate the growing importance of training and personal development activities because quality is becoming more and more important for their clients. What also plays a role for such a supplier of temporary workers is that especially in times of labour shortages, training activities can also consolidate relationships with their workers. Moreover, at least in the Netherlands, legislation for temporary work has been liberalised leading to longer careers at temporary work agencies and more training obligations in the collective agreement. Both Randstad cases show that they try to find ways to motivate their workers for training. They do this by stressing the importance of training, by making the course very practical, by requiring employees to at least bear part of the costs, so that they realise that they invest in themselves and functions as an incentive to complete the course, and by offering them ways to make transparent for others what they have achieved by training. The latter is for example done by following training courses which are widely recognised.

This problem for operators in the warehouse accessing training is of a more general nature and is repeated in other cases. The lower educated workers in the warehouse are a group who are often less familiar with training. Some of them are drop-outs from school and have bad memories of school-like environments. It is important for this group that the training is practical and flexible. The Danish example of a course for experienced warehouse workers has the advantage that it is flexible in the sense that they only have to concentrate on missing competences. Already acquired competences are recognised, which avoids the need for trainees to have to spend a lot of time in training sessions for things they already know, which would decrease their motivation. Another important element in motivating participation in this course is that it leads to the generally recognised certificate for warehouse operator of the vocational education system.