News

Volta Trucks Delivers Volta Zero to ATC Computer Transport & Logistics

Volta Trucks, a pioneering force in the realm of all-electric commercial vehicles, has recently returned to the arena of innovation in the world of electric vehicles. Joining forces with ATC Computer Logistics, Volta has delivered the Volta Zero to ATC Computer Transport & Logistics London office as part of its Pilot Program. This move marks the commencement of customer trials for the all-electric Volta Zero across Europe, following the company’s resurgence to market.

Volta Trucks’ commitment to accelerating the transition to more sustainable fleet operations is evident in its latest collaboration with ATC Computer Transport & Logistics. The partnership signifies a pivotal moment in the journey towards greener transportation solutions.

ATC Computer Transport & Logistics, a leading Global transport and logistics specialist catering to some of the worlds biggest tech clients, is now evaluating the all-electric Volta Zero as part of Volta Trucks’ Driving Experience Programme.

The Volta Zeros will join ATC’s existing green fleet, operating from their hub in Weybridge, South of Heathrow, and servicing clients in and around London city.

ATC is aways focused on anticipating the critical needs of our clients, and sustainable, green logistics is high on their list of priorities. ATC Logistics pride themselves on delivering the highest possible industry-leading standards ensuring safer, greener logistics solutions whenever possible. Piloting the new Volta Zero as part of ATCs fleet, is taking a significant step towards a more sustainable future for their clients, vendors, and partners and aligns perfectly with ATCs mission.

In addition to the greener logistics, The Volta Zero Driving Experience Programme offers fleet operators the unique opportunity to test-drive the all-electric medium-duty truck in real-world scenarios and experience some the unique design features, like  its centrally placed driving seat, and wider 360 visibility and the viability of deeper integration into the ATC operations, paving the way for a smoother transition towards greater electrification.

Carla Detrieux, Business Development Director at Volta Trucks, expressed pride in seeing the Volta Zero in action as part of the Pilot Programme, highlighting the company’s commitment to sustainable and safer cities.

Rainer Hoerbst, Head of Green Logistics at ATC, commended Volta Trucks for providing a solution that aligns with their sustainability goals and looks forward to evaluating the benefits in the coming months.

The collaboration between Volta Trucks and ATC Computer Logistics and services represents a significant milestone in the journey towards sustainable logistics solutions. As the Volta Zero hits the roads of the UK, it not only showcases the potential of all-electric vehicles but also sets a precedent for innovation in the commercial transport sector. Stay tuned for more updates as we follow alone with the drivers and users of  Volta Trucks throughout the pilot and continue to drive Innovation in the industry.

ATC Attend Jobs Fair as Part of Supply Chain Skills Week 2024

Minister of State Jack Chambers officially opened Supply Chain Skills Week in Ireland on the 26th of February. 

Speaking about the Logistics and Supply Chain Sector, Minister Chambers said “The Logistics and Supply Chain sector underpins Ireland’s economy. It is vital to the success of Irish businesses and to the life of Irish citizens and communities. International crises such as COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and recent events in the Red Sea continue to highlight the critical importance of this often-invisible process, without which the economy does not function.” Gov.ie 

We have previously spoken about the recruitment challenges that our industry faces. In our blog, “Navigating the HGV Driver Shortage Crisis”, we shared our view that education, among other initiatives, is the key to encouraging more young people to consider a career in our industry. For this reason, ATC actively participates in a variety of apprenticeship programmes in Ireland and across Europe to open the door to young men and women who are interested in educating themselves about the supply chain and logistics industry whilst gaining practical hands-on experience and a chance to secure a job upon completion of the programme. 

We were delighted to see Minister Chambers announce the opening of the Logistics and Supply Chain Week, as its purpose aligns with what we are trying to do here at ATC.  

“Logistics and Supply Chain Skills Week aims to encourage students, new entrants, and career changers to consider education and careers in logistics and supply chain and to inspire an industry-wide discussion on the challenges and opportunities of building resilient, future-proof, and sustainable supply chains.” Fleet.ie    

As part of this initiative, I was delighted to attend the careers fair in the Glenroyal Hotel, Maynooth, last week. Our team members also participated in the careers fair at Ballymun Civic Centre, where we met with a diverse group of candidates and shared with them the current job opportunities we have available in Dublin and across Europe. Be sure to visit our career page, where our current job openings include HR Generalist, Supply Chain Security Manager and Administrator in Frankfurt. 

 

Sarah Casey 

Talent Acquisition Specialist 

2023 in reflection

Those who have followed ATC for years will recognise this blog’s title. As a team, we always like to take some time to reflect on the year gone by and to celebrate the stand-out moments that have occurred in what is a very fast-paced environment. Today, we’re only too happy to share these highlights with you. 

 

Expanding Our Team Across Europe 

Last year, we wrote about our industry’s challenges regarding recruitment – particularly driver shortages. While these challenges remain, we are pleased and blown away to report that our employee numbers grew to 200 by the end of December 2023.  

The roles added are not just driving positions. They span across the various departments and locations of the business, including Technical Services, Transportation, Finance/HR, and Business Operations. We have added experts in several vital business areas, including Sustainability, HR, Safety, and Security. You can view our current open positions on our Careers page. 

Furthermore, our team now comprises 31 nationalities speaking over 40 languages. Having a diverse team is something I am very proud of. 

 

Growth in Apprenticeships  

Apprenticeships have also supported our team’s growth in 2023 and brought tremendous energy into the business. As our Innovation Lead, Drené, said in May, “Now more than ever, we want to encourage people to get involved in this vital sector of Logistics and Supply Chain to support the growing demand for services”. 

Coming into the new year, we are affiliated with multiple apprenticeship programmes with 8 apprentices and 3 interns across 5 programmes, in 4 countries. Most recently, we announced the appointment of our first female mechanic apprentice, Jazmin Szymlowska. 

Team Building Initiatives  

As our team grows, holding cross-location team-building workshops and having fun days/events throughout the year is even more essential. Highlights that stand out for 2023 include: 

• St Patrick’s Day celebrations 
• The start of summer ice cream day & BBQ 
• Christmas Jumper Day 

 

In addition, it’s also important to us that we give back to our communities and support local charities. Thanks to our Social and Events team, ATC participated in many charity runs in 2023, including: 

• Daffodil Day 
• Darkness into Light 
• Breast Cancer Awareness Month 
• ‘Movember’ 

We look forward to continuing and growing these initiatives in 2024. 

New Locations 

Our footprint across Europe has grown substantially over the past 12 months to meet the needs of our customers, with physical offices now located in Ireland, Germany, Netherlands and most recently, London in the United Kingdom and Madrid in Spain. 

We also extended our services with local teams in several European locations, including France, Italy, Poland and Sweden, and a new team in Berlin. Keep a look out on LinkedIn as we are partial to posting a selfie on location in front of some famous landmarks! 

TAPA Approval 

Critical to our operations is security. We have been a Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) member for many years. In 2023, we were re-assessed for two accreditations – FSR Facility Security Requirements and TSR – Trucking Sustainability Requirements. 

Led by our Business Operations Manager, Ann Roe, we excelled in both assessments and received certification for another three years. You can read more about TAPA and these certifications in our blog “ATC Receives TAPA Stamp of Approval”. 

 

DCW Frankfurt Exhibition

Represented by our Sustainability Manager, Rainer Hoerbst and our Data Centre Project Manager, Lize Simon, ATC took our first stand at Data Centre World in Frankfurt last May, where one of the key discussion points was sustainability in our industry. 

Naturally, this felt like a good fit for us as it allowed us to showcase our sustainability initiatives among over 300 delegates. Lize provided excellent feedback on this event, which you can read in our blog, “ATC Exhibit at DCW Frankfurt”. 

Speaking of sustainability, another highlight for us this year was being shortlisted for a Fleet Transport Award under the ‘Environment and Sustainability’ category in recognition of our ongoing work towards being carbon neutral by 2030. 

 

Roll-out of HVO to Fleet 

It would be remiss of me not to include the introduction of HVO into our fleet as a massive milestone of 2023. After a rigorous trial, we introduced HVO to replace diesel in most vehicles. The key findings from our trial were outstanding, and I encourage you to look at them here when you have time. 

As Rainer said in his blog, “While we have adopted HVO 100 as our bridging fuel for now, ultimately, we will be transitioning into the electrification of our fleet for the short and mid-range transportation and hydrogen technology for mid to long-haulage operations.” 

In that vein, we introduced several battery-electric light goods vehicles into our fleet in 2023 and look forward to announcing more new additions very soon. 

 

The Life of the ATC Honeybee 

Before I move on from the subject of sustainability in this blog, another lovely story that I have personally found fascinating is that of our onsite Honeybees, which are said to be thriving according to the latest instalment from our beekeeper, Nessa. You can read the newest update from October 2023 here. 

 

Leadership Team Graduation  

Education is something that I am deeply passionate about and committed to driving forward in ATC. We partnered with the Irish Management Institute on a Leadership Development programme for our current and future leaders. Our inaugural cohort graduated in late 2023. 

The objective of this program was to prepare participants for increased autonomy and responsibility, empowering them to lead high-performing teams, enabling them to build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, improving their self-awareness, communication, and presentation skills, and encouraging their engagement in a bias-free and informed decision-making process. 

Our Innovation Lead, Drené, shared her reflection on this course, which is available in our blog “Congratulations to Our Leadership Programme Graduates of 2023”. 

Enterprise Ireland Leadership 4 Growth 

From my point of view, I’ve had the privilege of participating in the Enterprise Ireland Leadership 4 Growth programme over the past 12 months. “Leadership 4 Growth is targeted at CEOs from all sectors committed to leading their well-established businesses to even greater global growth. Leadership 4 Growth requires extensive commitment from participants.”  

There have been many stand-out moments, which I’ll talk about in a separate blog, but one that comes to mind is commencing our 3rd module as a group in New York back in October. 

Once again, on behalf of the team, I thank you for joining us on this journey and look forward to sharing more highlights with you in 2024. 

 

Keith 

Congratulations to Our Leadership Programme Graduates of 2023

Earlier this year, a group of leaders from different departments were invited to participate in a customised Leadership Development Programme delivered by the Irish Management Institute (IMI). 

 

The objective of this program was to prepare participants for increased autonomy and responsibility, empowering them to lead high-performing teams, enabling them to build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, improving their self-awareness, communication, and presentation skills, and encouraging their engagement in a bias-free and informed decision-making process. 

 

Drené Potgieter, Innovation Lead at ATC, has shared her reflection on the programme below, which includes her insights on the knowledge acquired and experiences shared. 

  

What were the key takeaways you all took from participating in the course?

 

The primary takeaway was that through this programme, we could delve into management and leadership topics, fostering a shared understanding of these subjects. 

 

We engaged in crucial conversations as a team and established a consensus on communication, performance management, escalation paths, cross-training, clients, and organisational structure. These discussions were facilitated by subject matter experts who guided and contributed to the conversations with their valuable insights.  

 

The relationships developed over these eight months were particularly noteworthy, considering that some of us might not have interacted as extensively during the day, given our locations across four countries. One of my colleagues extended this sentiment in a noteworthy way; “It created a bridge between a group that was not there before and empowered them to solve challenges together.” 

 

 Another critical outcome was “ATC Voice”, a companywide employee survey designed to listen to the teams’ preferences on different matters instead of imposing our ideas from a leadership level. 

 

 

Describe the level of commitment involved.

The program spanned eight months but consisted of seven days, with three days conducted on-site at the IMI. All participants attended these full-day sessions and were joined by ATC’s senior team. 

 

The remaining sessions were conducted online via half-day Zoom sessions. Additionally, two peer-coaching sessions and a collaborative project spanned the 8-month duration. Approximately 1 hour per week was devoted to the course over the last four months, with a few additional hours dedicated to preparing presentations for the final project day, totalling around 24 hours.  

 

Our group focused on communication, while the other group centred their project on quality. The topics were carefully selected based on the feedback from the ATC Voice Employee Engagement Survey.  

 

The commitment required for this program was significant, particularly given the challenge of integrating it into day-to-day operations. It’s important to mention that all participants, being managers, are heavily involved in operations. The commitment demonstrated by the individuals and the company was commendable, considering the effort required to allocate time amid regular operations.  

 

How did ATC support you in the competition of this course?

ATC funded this programme, and all participants were given the time and support during working hours to fulfil our work.  

 

The company also made a concerted effort to accommodate participants, ensuring flexible and comfortable travel arrangements tailored to our personal lives. Whenever possible, travel plans were coordinated with other internal meetings in Dublin, maximising the efficiency of our time. 

 

Our Managing Director, Keith Young, was a mentor for the one project group, and our HR Director, Michelle O’Neill, for the other group, showed additional development support. Our directors and board members were also present on all in-person days, which again illustrated their commitment and support to us, which has helped us to get to this point today.  

  

We are grateful for this opportunity to develop our leadership skills and grow as a team. We look forward to continuing the practices we have learned during this course and would like to thank the team at the IMI for their knowledge and support. 

ATC Shortlisted for a Fleet Transport Award

We are delighted to share that ATC has been shortlisted for a Fleet Transport Award – the leading awards programme for the Irish road haulage industry.

The category in which we are shortlisted for is “Environment and Sustainability”, sponsored by Gas Networks Ireland.

Our Sustainability Manager, Rainer Hoerbst, said: “Sustainability is a core value of ATC and something we are driving forward within multiple facets of the business to meet our ambitious target of being carbon neutral by 2030, so it was quite fitting for us to enter this category and share our progress to date.”

On behalf of all the team, we want to thank fleet.ie for this opportunity, and we look forward to attending the awards ceremony on the 9th of November.

ATC Honeybees: Season Update

This season, rather than numbering the hives I decided give each one a name. Ailbhe and Roisín are now named members of the ATC Team !!!

 

Incidentally, they were given female names as all the ‘Worker Bees’ in the hive are female (Males or “Drone Bees” are only present from Spring through Autumn, their sole purpose being to fertilise queens )

 

Both hives over-wintered well. Thanks in part to one of the hottest Februarys on record, the queens produced an abundance of new worker bees to forage for pollen & nectar.

 

Conversely, March was the wettest on record in Dublin since 1947. Thus, the bees were kept in their hives unable to leave and forage from the multitude of dandelions erupting from the round-abouts & roadsides around Baldonnell.

 

 

April presented a mixed bag weatherwise with a mixture of cold and warm days. Thanks to, and with the assistance of gentlemen in ATC, netting was successfully erected on the perimeter railing at the back of the building. This better enabled the bees to get to a higher altitude sooner and avoid any unintended interactions with people.

 

Towards the end of the month the Hawthorn, Horse-Chestnut & Sycamore came into bloom. Thanks to warm weather the bees were out and about and Ailbhe went into swarm mode.

 

May was calm & warm bringing the first new queen of the season. Roisín was moved off-site temporarily but will return in the Autumn. There was plentiful supply of nectar & pollen and the bees were busy, busy, busy.

 

This is where the season ceased……. June saw very hot & dry with little or no forage for the bees. The ‘June Gap’ lived up to it’s name.

 

 

July was the wettest on record and yet again the bees were confined to quarters !!!

 

 

Honey gathered in May provided a food source for the bees.

 

August was marked by above average rainfall and storms Antoni & Betty. For another month the bees had limited flying time.

 

 

So what will this year’s honey harvest be like ?

 

 

Check -in late October for pictures and a full update of the harvest….

 

Nessa

 

Beekeeper