The ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, as well as the ongoing oil price hikes, has affected the supply chain and operations of logistics company Ninja Van, according to its chief commercial officer Sabina Lopez-Vergara.
“The changing consumer behavior also plays a big role, there’s a big push to return to office and a lot of the expenses that people were saving prior going to the office were used to shop online mostly. There are a lot of shifts when in terms of priority in expenses,” she added before giving the local media an exclusive sneak peek of its newest site located in Cabuyao, Laguna.
Although she expects the growth of Ninja Van in the Philippines to be temporarily muted from the changing landscape, Lopez-Vergara sees a positive outlook for the company’s performance moving forward.
After initially launching in Singapore back in 2014, the Ninja Van Group has since expanded to Southeast Asian markets, landing in the Philippines back in 2016. From a handful of employees, it now has a 8,000-strong workforce servicing over 21 million shoppers.
Recently, the group invested $50 million to automate its regional parcel sorting hubs, which includes the newly introduced 21,000-square-meter site in Cabuyao. This automation technology has essentially reduced the company’s parcel contact points and allowed it to process parcels three times faster than before.
“This is the largest currently in the region for Ninja Van. We’ve seen a really big increase in capacity. We’re moving a lot of these parcels faster throughout our system,” she added.
In an internal document, Ninja Van says that it continues to strive in creating an environment that not only allows employees to realize their potential, but maximize their competencies and support their wellness. The Group plans to continue innovating and enhancing its services and products to be at the forefront of the latest trends in the industry.
The operational improvements also marked Ninja Van’s sixth anniversary in the Philippines. Most of the hardware used in the Cabuyao hub, including the double-deck cross belt system (CBS) and wheel sorter system (WSS), are provided by the Chinese logistics automation system integrator Shanghai Simba Intelligence Technology.
“These tech-driven innovations drive our mission to bring speedy deliveries and easy issue resolution for our shippers, whose trust and partnership enabled us to grow in the last six years,” said Ninja Van chief operating officer Vin Perez.
With the CBS and WSS, Ninja Van is able to automatically weigh, measure, and scan parcels, with speeds of up to 2.2 meters per second. The numerous sensors provides real-time parcel data to increase accuracy and efficiency of parcel sorting and tracking.
