Chief Executive Officer (Group CEO), FM Logistic
Jean-Christophe Machet (FM Logistic) : Les entreprises toujours en proie aux difficultés
Ce mardi 30 novembre, Jean-Christophe Machet, président du groupe FM Logistic, présente son plan 2030 avec la logistique au ...
About Jean-christophe Machet
Jean-Christophe Machet, CEO of FM Logistic, has discussed the company's expansion and strategic priorities in various interviews. In July 2023, he stated that India is already one of FM Logistic's top three markets and that the company is "ready to invest today for long term" there, noting the group operates 95 sites with 5,000 employees in the country. He described the company's strategy as based on multi-customer tools and investing in a control tower to improve efficiency and sustainability, with a three-pillar agenda focused on social responsibility, green tools, and solutions to save CO2 emissions and costs. Machet has also spoken about the evolution of logistics following the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of mutualization and omnichannel distribution. He said in 2021 that the crisis "exacerbated weak signals" such as e-commerce and omnichannel retail, and that FM Logistic offers carbon evaluations to clients to work on reducing emissions. He has advocated for closer cooperation with public authorities to promote logistics careers and address hiring challenges, noting in 2019 that the company aimed to create 750 permanent jobs in France that year and calling for state-enterprise partnerships to train workers.
Transcript (7 segments)
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Host0:08
Good morning and welcome to Good Morning Business. At 7:45 we welcome Jean-Christophe Machet, CEO of FM Logistic. Hello, thank you for being with us. This French specialist in logistics, transport and logistics, a family business. You have 29,000 employees worldwide, and you have presented your strategy, your 2030 plan. Logistics is at the heart of the system today, especially right after this crisis. We don't know exactly if it's completely over, but it has created major changes. What changes has this crisis caused at your company, and how is it starting to orient your strategy for the coming years?
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Jean-christophe Machet0:48
So this crisis has exacerbated weak signals that were already present, like e-commerce which exploded, like consumer pressure, in a way a lobby for e-commerce. E-commerce is the omni-channel UFO, meaning customers today, consumers, want to have the product when they want, where they want, by going to stores and supermarkets, by having it delivered home, by being able to pick it up at a collection point. This means that manufacturers, industrialists and retailers have realized that logistics would have to evolve because they had to address customers through all these channels. This crisis we have been living through for 18 months leads us to constantly reinvent the supply chain and also the consumer delivery chain. And as consumption habits have changed during this pandemic, we had to find new distribution channels, and e-commerce combined with in-store sales constitutes a new paradigm for us.
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Host1:51
And so your job, Jean-Christophe, is to tell your clients, who are industrialists and manufacturers, 'We are able to serve your customers through all the distribution channels you need.'
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Jean-christophe Machet2:04
That's exactly it. That's the definition of omni-channel logistics that we want through a sustainable supply chain. That's essential, that's important. It's the other trend that emerged during this crisis and is now an urgency: customers are asking you to account for your carbon footprint. We present our carbon footprint to our clients, and we do for each of our clients an evaluation of the carbonization of their supply chain to work together on initiatives and investments to reduce emissions. How do we make a supply chain greener? Concretely, we have two ways to do it. First, we invest in tools that are greener. For example, we work on hydrogen projects, we will deliver in cities with electric vans. That's the first topic. The second topic, and it's in the DNA of our group FM Logistic, we try to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads. We make sure they are better filled. So we have large platforms located 50 km from European and world capitals. We put five, ten, fifteen clients in one platform to massify and have vehicles filled. You know, if you scanned on the highway today, you would see that 13 to 15% of vehicles on the road are empty, and the other 85% are only filled to 70%. Our job is to mutualize.
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Host3:33
So it's incredible because the crisis has shone a spotlight on your profession. Logistics is 10% of GDP, and there are many magnificent French companies like yours. I recall you have 29,000 employees who have been in the spotlight because we realized the strategic importance of your profession. Moreover, you are going to recruit another 2,000 this year, including 400 in France. Do you manage to find workers? Because we know that these jobs are considered difficult and require little qualification. Is that all true?
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Jean-christophe Machet4:04
Thank you for the question. It allows me to salute the sector and our employees who have demonstrated their resilience during the Covid crisis. We have been in the Covid crisis for 18 months. We had 100% of our employees present to ensure that products were on the shelves. So yes, we recruit, we train, we develop operators. But also, it's about being better organized, planned, and it's also about automation. We have just developed with the University of Compiègne an exoskeleton, for example, to reduce the difficulty of the work. The health of our employees at work is essential. Moreover, we were recently recognized in a Forbes ranking among the 750 companies worldwide where it is good to work. That is a real pride that we share with our teams and managers. So, FM Logistic with 4 billion euros in revenue, can we remain a family business? When you have 21,000 employees, you want to remain a family business. That's good because it's a considerable differentiating asset: the long-term vision. But also a family business with values that our three founders instilled 54 years ago. Today, it is a considerable differentiating asset to recruit young people and offer them a long-term, evolving project where we offer internal promotions in France or internationally. There are positions and careers at FM Logistic.
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Host5:39
Thank you very much, Jean-Christophe Machet was back on our set this morning.