Western Living Lab Tunisia – Third Round table

The CCIS organized a third roundtable as a pilot action for the Techlog project at the Olivier Palace hotel in Sfax. The program of the day was as follows:

Mr karim animated the roundtable with an introduction of the challenge of the logistics and transportation industry mainly in Tunisia. He presented the Techlog project and its goal and its pilot actions and highlight the importance of training in safe driving, eco-driving and digitalization.

The Purchasing Manager of GTI, Mr. Nizar Nouira, expressed his enthusiasm for introducing GTI to the TECHLOG project. Ms. Roua Ben Mefteh, GTI’s Quality Manager, extended gratitude to the TECHLOG team for their dedication. She underscored the importance of training drivers in stress and fatigue management, highlighting the necessity of raising awareness among drivers about stress management and the significance of digital technologies in optimizing costs.

Mr. Lassaad, the Manager of GMS, which has already partnered with this project, initiated his remarks with gratitude towards ISGI, CCIS, and the University of Sfax. He emphasized the pivotal role of driver training in enhancing operators’ performance and qualifications.

Mr. Nabil Karoui, Director of the Port of Sfax at the Office of Merchant Marine and Ports, emphasized the criticality of port security to minimize road accidents and injuries during loading and unloading operations, particularly at the port.

The head of the “Sidi Mansour Training Center,” a project funded by the Tunisian State in collaboration with GMS, STAM, port institutions, and UTICA, took the opportunity to underscore the importance of truck driver training. He announced the commencement of academic training for truck drivers by September 2024 and mentioned the acquisition of 3 simulators, expressing support for the TECHLOG project. The training will specialize in logistics and merchant marine, spanning 3 levels.

Mr. Noomen Guirat, a university professor, emphasized the significance of the project and expressed gratitude to the TECHLOG team.

The base manager of SMTT stressed the importance of training to minimize accidents and the project’s impact on their activities and drivers’ behavior.

Mr. Maher Chakroun, the project facilitator of TECHLOG, highlighted the importance of driver training in optimizing transportation costs. He presented simulator results and training outcomes with indicators and figures. In his second intervention on digitalization, he emphasized the significance of digitizing transportation workflows to enhance management and reduce costs. Drivers are expected to master certain communication and collaborative tools such as Whatsapp, Skype, Messenger, Photo Scanner, Google Map, Google Meet, etc.

Moreover, digital technology plays a pivotal role in reducing CO2 emissions by leveraging business intelligence tools and AI to shorten distances and waiting times, optimize collections, or even select the most suitable vehicle according to the client’s needs.