The Logistics Students Annual conference enters the fourth industrial revolution
The Logistics Students Annual conference enters the fourth industrial revolution
Twenty-four-year-old Ms Kgaogelo Mogano advising students
Puleng Maphisa
The fourth industrial revolution is slowly taking over the work environment, and most employees have been replaced by robots as was demonstrated to over 500 first year to B.Tech degree students registered for Logistics during their conference on 15 March 2019.
The Department of Logistics hosted the Fourth Annual Conference under the theme: “Cruising digitally into logistics and supply chain management”. The conference aimed to inform students about the technological changes that are currently taking place in the market. The main presenters were industry experts such as Ms Rebecca Setino, the Procurement Executive at Bombardier South Africa, Ms Rakgadi Matseto from the National Treasury, Mr Amukeleni Hlaisi, the Vice President for Supply Chain Management at Sasol, Ms Kgaogelo Mogano from McDonald’s and Mr Velile Mguni, a private supply chain management consultant. Notably, Mr Hlaisi and Ms Mogano are both VUT alumni from the Department of Logistics.
Mr Mguni, the founder and senior consultant at Velile Supply Chain Projects and Consulting (Pty) Ltd, has been in the logistics and supply chain management environment for more than 20 years and has offered training to different organisations. He took students through the process of supply chain management and alerted them to changes that are currently taking place in the market. He specialises in assisting logistics professionals in obtaining professional certifications in logistics and supply chain management.
Twenty-four-year-old Ms Kgaogelo Mogano who obtained her BTech degree in Logistics in 2017 spoke from her heart, motivating students to be passionate about their studies and be prepared to face the work environment with its challenges. She attested that she is now a supply chain consultant at McDonalds South Africa where she has started working on multi-million-rand accounts for several strategic suppliers.
2018 Top students and delegates
The conference ended with a question-and-answer session as well as entertainment from Mr Malungana the Poet, the B. Tech Logistics students’ drama production and a presentation from the VUT Enactus Team. Earlier, Prof Roy Dhurup, the Acting DVC: Resources and Planning had opened the event by thanking the presenters for availing themselves for the occasion.
The four top performing Logistics students from 2018 were given awards in the form of tablets.