Cubic Transport Services process improvement manager Judy Meharry has announced she is retiring from the freight and logistics industry.
Meharry says someone once asked her “what is logistics?”
“When I explained, they put it much more succinctly as ‘moving stuff around’ and I have used the phase ever since!”
Cubic general manager Dave Anderson describes Meharry, who joined the firm 13 years ago as an awesome team member
“She has been a great mentor for our team,” he says.“I valued the attention to detail that Judy has and her gift for design, documentation and implementation of processes.
“Every organisation needs someone such as Judy and we were lucky to get the real thing!
Meharry says her first job was at the Whangarei Harbour Board now known as Northland Port.
“I became involved in the port improvements that were being undertaken for the New Zealand Oil Refinery that had been built at Marsden Point,” she says.
“Later in Auckland, I took up a position with New Zealand Forest Products (now Carter Holt Harvey),” she says.
“I had a number of interesting positions in management and sales with the company over 20 years, predominantly in logistics.
“In 2002 I joined Cubic Transport Services to manage a new 3PL the company had set up to transport all inter-island freight for Goodman Fielder and Bluebird.
“When the ownership of Goodman Fielder and Bluebird changed, my role moved into assisting with finding the best and most cost effective logistic options for all Cubic Transport customers, including Bluebird.”
“Around the same time I was also a consultant working as part of a team on reviews of logistics for large manufacturers,” she says.
Meharry says the changes to coastal shipping that resulted from transport deregulation attracted her to the new opportunities that were opening up for moving goods around New Zealand.
“At Carter Holt Harvey I was working for manufacturing facilities, but the big challenge was moving the product to the customer in the best and most cost effective way,” she says.
“I was lucky to be involved at a great time of change in New Zealand transport and being in positions where I could implement exciting changes to the way products were either brought into the manufacturing site or delivered as finished goods to the customer,” she says.
When asked what has provided the most satisfaction during her career,
Meharry replied: “When I could present the customer with a summary of the savings made after convincing them to make changes.”
