This time in our "In the spotlight": Frank Bloo; Frank works as a Data Analytics consultant at Districon. In this edition he likes to tell you more about his experiences and what data means to him.

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Who are you?

Hi there! My name is Frank Bloo and I have been working a Districon for more than two years now. Right after finishing my study Business Information Technology at the University of Twente I joined Districon as a Data Analytics Consultant. Why? Because I can combine my passion for logistics, data and technology on a daily basis during challenging projects.

My experiences

Data, data and even more data!

Why I enjoy my job? Because every day is different, there is a high amount of variety of work and challenges. However, there is one topic that comes along every day: data. On a daily basis, I work on setting up a logistic operation, but only digitally. Interestingly, physical logistic operations and digital operations can face the same kind of challenges. For example, making sure there is enough capacity, or setting up transport from A to B. So where my colleagues work on physical warehouses, I work with data warehouses.

One of the cool things about setting up a digital operation is that we have lots of different tools and technology at our disposal to get the job done. We carefully select the tools and technologies for each project given that each project requires a different approach. After all,  a project where we need to analyse datasets with billions of data points requires a different approach than a project with just thousands of data points.  

BigMile

In the past two years, I have spent a large part of my time setting up BigMile. I have seen the project grow to the start-up it is today. The software of BigMile allows clients not only to calculate their CO2 footprint but also to gain insights and analyses.

What makes working at BigMile cool is that we have a great team of likeminded people who want to improve BigMile every day. There is a broad range of challenges that we need to solve. The fact that BigMile is being adopted by our customers to help them to reach their sustainability goals gives me satisfaction.

Do you want to work at BigMile? Check the vacancies!

Nigeria

		One of the most memorable projects that I have done at Districon was a business question for which we need to visit Nigeria for three weeks. The question of our client was complex and required us to research and analyse different topics in a short amount of time. Not only did we need to analyse all the provided data, but we also had to understand the Nigerian market and culture.   If then your laptop breaks at the second week of the project, you know it is going to be even harder…

Vision for the future

Data. Data. Data. I can’t make bricks without clay. - Sherlock Holmes

The world of supply chain, and especially supply chain analytics, will keep changing in the future. Data volumes will keep growing faster and faster every day, just like data velocity. This will provide supply chain in general lots of opportunities to improve and to become more efficient. The impact of data will not only be on a strategic level, it will also have a higher impact on an operational level. 

There have been lots of developments in the field of AI and ML in the last couple of years, and it won’t stop today. One of the developments within the field of AI and ML that caught my eye is Reinforced Learning. These amount of models are capable of taking decisions by themselves and to learn from the outcomes of that decision. Hence after training such models over and over again, they might outperform humans. This technology can support daily operations in for example inventory management and route optimisation.

Exciting times are coming!

Which colleague will be in the spotlight next?

Next up is Ilona Norbart. Together with her colleagues, llona makes sure that everything within Districon keeps running smoothly. She is always of great help! Ilona, take it away!