Award-winning young WA entrepreneur wants to see changes in the industry
Transport and logistics Young Professional of the Year, Urszula Kelly will talk about adopting new technologies, better training and improving industry image at ComVec 2018.
ComVec is the heavy vehicle industry’s biennial national conference covering future technology, innovation, government policy, vehicle standards and regulations.
Having started her logistics career in Europe, Kelly founded UC Logistics Australia and iFR8.com.au in Western Australia.
Kelly says that the Young Professional of the Year recognition from the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in Australia (CILTA) award has been an invaluable platform to pursue her passion for improving the industry through safety, innovation, commitment, accountability and transparency.
“As a young professional in the industry, I want to see some changes made,” Kelly says.
“Most importantly, how we can address safety. We have to be constantly aiming for zero harm.
“While we have made great strides forward, we still have failed to address issues that continue to put people’s lives at risk.”
Kelly is mindful that the implications of decision-making in transport and logistics are increasingly open to scrutiny and how technology can impact on that.
“Every time I book a job, I know I have a duty of care for the safety of everyone involved in that operation, but also to the wider community around it,” she says.
“So, when people come up with new ideas and new tech, I ask myself: how is it going to improve safety? How is it going to help us with chain of responsibility laws? Is it going to and reduce fatigue risks? Or reduce manual handling?
“After that you can look at factors such as ease of implementation; getting people trained; can our own people become trainers, or do we have to get outside people in?
“Is it going to be cost-effective to get enough people using a new technology to make it viable?
In spite of, or perhaps because of, her youth, Kelly is something of a pragmatist when it comes to adopting new technologies.
“I’m actually really, really excited about the place that technology has in our industry, but there’s no point in implementing some new and wonderful technology if it doesn’t genuinely make life better or easier.
“Will drivers and others actually use it? Will it be embraced by our customers? Will our customers’ data be safe from cybercrime?”
She is also keen to get to grips with last-mile delivery issues and innovations.
“We are going to have a lot more vehicles on the road and, with drones, potentially many thousands of vehicles in the air,” Kelly says.
“This makes for a very much more complex logistics environment. I think we are seeing some really exciting changes take place.”
Kelly will be at ComVec 2018 at Melbourne Park Function Centre on Thursday- Friday, April 12-13. Details can be found here.