Meet Vivian: Assistant Operations Manager

When being asked what I wanted to do after graduating from high school, I really did not know what to answer. In a conversation with my teacher, he turned the question around and asked me about what sector I wasn’t interested in. Funny enough, logistics was the first industry that crossed my mind. My father is a truck driver, and I was never interested in his job. However, when I visited an open day on Logistics & Economics, one of the teachers told me more about it and highlighted how dynamic it was. He gave me an entirely different perspective on logistics, and it actually made me super enthusiastic. So I applied!

I started working at NewPort as a Customer Service Representative. I always wanted to develop myself within the organization and gradually started doing extra tasks. After a while, I became Supervisor of the Customer Service Import department, then later of the Specials department. Since July 1st 2022, I fulfill the role of Assistant Operations Manager. In this position, I am able to apply everything I’ve learned over the last couple of years and develop myself even more.

I really like that no day is the same: it can be hectic! I am not someone who likes performing the same set of tasks repeatedly, and at NewPort, I am surprised by a new challenge every day. Likewise, I learn a lot and love how I’ve grown from working with one specific team, to looking at the teams altogether. I gradually expand my vision and task set, and that’s what I’m really grateful for.

My tasks are very diverse! I report to our Operations Manager and I work together with our Supervisors. I regularly check in with them to see whether there are any issues within the teams, and to detect where help is needed. When a Supervisor is on holiday, I take over his or her tasks. Furthermore, I follow specific courses that help optimizing the workflows within our teams, and I build small optimization projects around these improvements. I manage our team’s KPI’s and work closely together with our other departments to, for example, minimize the number of disputes. As you can see, no day is the same.

Ah, difficult question! Adapting to the role of Assistant Operations Manager is already a goal in itself, but I would really like to run business optimization projects and see what I can do to minimize the costs within our Operations department. One of my goals is also to get the best out of my colleagues and help and guide them where needed.