Home Depot veteran Hakala to join PWC Logistics
Rosa Hakala, vice president of international supply chain for Home Depot, confirmed Tuesday that she is leaving the Atlanta-based retailer to join PWC Logistics, where she will be in charge of developing and expanding the company's logistics services for the retail sector.
Kuwait-based PWC, the 15th-largest logistics company in the world in terms of revenue, has not announced the move yet internally or to the public, but word of her job transfer has been leaking out within the logistics community after she notified Home Depot of her decision.
A PWC official did not respond to an e-mail by press time. Hakala said she will start work for PWC in July as senior vice president of retail.
Hakala is credited with developing one of the best supply chain operations in the world at Home Depot, one of the top three importers in the United States. Under her watch since 1999, Home Depot has expanded its imports from 36,000 forty-foot equivalent units to more than 200,000 FEUs, while reducing the number of ocean carriers it uses from 22 to nine to gain operational efficiency.
As one of the largest importers in the world, Home Depot has a reputation for developing innovative strategies to improve the flow of international shipments. This year, for example, the home improvement store plans to directly ship 3,000 containers from Asia to retail stores, bypassing the company's U.S. distribution centers, Hakala said at a dinner in Atlanta hosted by the Global Logistics Institute, a trade group promoting the benefits of outsourced logistics. By using better planning techniques, suppliers are building pallets at the point of origin for specific stores, thereby enabling the containers to continue by truck or rail to the retail destination without stopping at a distribution center for deconsolidation and repacking of a trailer for final store delivery.
Hakala has also played a large role in supply chain security, helping Home Depot become a top-tier member of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and serving as chairperson of the security steering committee for the Retail Industry Leaders Association. She worked for 16 years at ocean carrier Sea-Land Service, the company that pioneered containerized shipping before it was bought by Danish shipping conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk in 1999, prior to joining Home Depot.
PWC had $3 billion in revenues last year and is rapidly rising from its roots in the Middle East, where it started as a public warehouse company, to become a major global logistics player. PWC acquired large freight forwarder GeoLogistics last year and has made it clear that it is looking for other expansion opportunities. The company's stated goal is to be a top eight global logistics provider with more than $8 billion in revenue by 2008.
A key to PWC's strategy is its investment in technology and top logistics personnel. Among the key people recruited by the company is Rick Anchen, who previously held top executive positions at Menlo Worldwide and UTi.
Hiring Hakala is 'a real coup' for PWC, said Kieran Ring, the head of the Global Logistics Institute. 'She has single-handedly made Home Depot's supply chain lean and mean.'