Logistics Bureau's Senior People
Logistics Bureau's success is built around the experience, motivation and expertise of its team. Whether in South East Asia or Australasia, Logistics Bureau's consultants, and management team members are dedicated to delivering results quickly, efficiently, on time and on budget. The following key staff head our Operations and lead a team of over 35 Supply Chain professionals.
Rob O'Byrne - Group Managing Director
Co-Founder. Commenced business with Logistics Bureau in 1997.
Born and educated in Jersey (Channel Islands, UK), Rob moved from London to Sydney in 1993 following 20 years in senior Supply Chain and Logistics roles at strategic and operational levels. He began building a reputation as a no-nonsense consultant who delivers results.
Rob is excited about the direction that Supply Chain and Logistics management are heading and uses his expertise in Supply Chain Strategy improvement and Cost To Serve to help clients remain competitive and cope with the demands of the new economy.
Like all of Logistics Bureau's senior staff, Rob is very much 'hands on' and spends much of his time managing Logistics Bureau's major projects in Australia and SE Asia.
Probably due to his Irish heritage, Rob has an interest in Irish Sport Horses through his sister's Tullow Stud in Victoria. Other pursuits include collecting antiques and learning the piano. He has a Master of Science in Logistics from Cranfield University.
Rob is a very enthusiastic and active speaker at many industry events through the year across the Region. Previous and upcoming speaking engagements can be viewed at Conference Engagements.
Rob can be contacted directly at +61 417 417 307 or Email
As a Cranfield graduate, Rob is keen to assist in promoting the University. If you would like to read about scholarship opportunities at Cranfield currently being offered in Australia, please go to Australian Alumni Scholarship
John Loty - Non-Executive Chairman
John, a former General Manager and Corporate Counsel, is particularly interested in people, their values and the development of people skills as well as promoting the need for 'systems thinking' with emphasis on discovering what works (the strengths of individuals).
He has over 35 years extensive industry experience (including 15 years as a barrister and mediator). John believes that positive approaches are all part of the 'new way of thinking' and learning that will be the formative influence in the optimal business and leadership improvement and development strategies of the 21st century.
John's business interests beyond Logistics Bureau extend to SCILnet on line Supply Chain & Logistics Training as well as The Australian Appreciate Inquiry Network
John can be reached on +61 411 809 404 or Email
Mark Powell - Non Executive Director
Mark brings to Logistics Bureau over 25 years operational logistics management & consulting experience. His previous roles have included Stores Board Director Logistics – Tesco plc and President SCM Tibbet & Britten Canada – Wal Mart.
Mark has a MSc Logistics from Cranfield University UK, and an MBA from Cardiff Business School.
His contribution to Logistics Bureau is to provide specialist advice in the area of retail Supply Chains and Supply Chain Strategy.
Colin Airdrie - Managing Director Logistics Bureau Asia - Bangkok Thailand
Colin Airdrie has more than 35 years of operational logistics management and consulting experience, and has specialist industry knowledge of Asian markets.
Before joining Logistics Bureau, Colin spent nine years in Asia, over this time his positions included in-house and third party logistics operations with a nationwide network in Thailand, Logistics Director for several operating companies in Shanghai and Regional Development Director of Li & Fung Distribution in Hong Kong, managing projects in Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia.
His appointment as Senior Director Logistics for China Resources Vanguard saw Colin responsible for the development of a supply chain supporting retail operations in the Pearl River Delta. This was followed by an appointment to the role of Vice President Supply Chain with the Homeworld Group, based in Tianjin and operating across the whole of Northern China. During this period, he developed a supply chain strategy for this major retail group and designed and built major distribution facilities”.
Colin's training and development skills are also highly sought after and he has designed and delivered public courses in inventory management and warehouse operational management.
See our new Training Courses running in Bangkok:
Cross Cultural Negotiation Skills - Bangkok
Successful Inventory Management - Bangkok
Outsourcing Your Logistics - Bangkok
Warehouse Design & Operations - Bangkok
Colin can be contacted directly at +66 81946 4490 or Email
Artie Leslie - Managing Director of Benchmarking Success
Benchmarking Success (BMS) is a subsidiary of Logistics Bureau.
Artie has more than 23 years of operational logistics and supply chain experience in “blue chip” FMCG companies. Operational roles have included senior management responsibility for Supply Chain, Change Management, Manufacturing, Planning, Engineering, Procurement and Physical Distribution. In his most recent corporate role Artie was responsible for Group Supply Chain Development for a multi-divisional global food and industrial products business. It is interesting to note that during this period Artie was a member of a BMS Business Improvement Peer Group.
After a general management consulting role, Artie became a Managing Partner in BMS in early 2004. Since joining BMS he has developed the Manufacturing element of the BMS best practice model and incorporated it into the COFS™ Diagnostic. The ability to assess the Manufacturing contribution to supply chain performance, has now been applied to several significant industrial manufacturing operations.
Artie has tertiary qualifications in Applied Science and Biology and a Graduate Diploma in Logistics Management (Monash University). He speaks at national and international supply chain and logistics conferences, as well as industry related forums.
Artie can be contacted directly on +61 408 493 257 or Email
David Riddle - Deputy Group Managing Director
David joined Logistics Bureau in 2001 and had 9 years operational experience in the Finance sector in the UK prior to moving to Australia. Following his relocating to Sydney, David spent 15 years in senior management positions in the apparel and cosmetics industries in both retail and wholesale channels with Myer GraceBros and two major American multi national companies before a transition to supply chain consulting. Since joining Logistics Bureau David has been involved and managed numerous projects related to customer service and call centre optimisation, transport & distribution outsourcing and supply chain alignment in the retail sector. David also leads our tactics team in services such as these Consulting Services - Tactics
David can be contacted directly at +61 417 486 166 or Email
Steven Thacker - Director Benchmarking Success
Steven joined Benchmarking Success in 2009 after many years as a customer of Benchmarking Success with 3 different companies, most recently as Supply Chain Director with Ingram Micro, the world’s largest IT distributor.
Steven has been involved in the Supply Chain industry for nearly 30 years and has occupied senior management positions in organisations for over 20 of that. As well working within Australia, Steven also spent several years based in and working in Asia and so brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from operating in the Asian environment as well.
Steven has a key role in Benchmarking Success focused on developing our range of services.
Steven has a Grad Dip in Logistics Management from Monash University as well as a Masters in Business (Supply Chain), also from Monash University.
Visit here for a summary of our Benchmarking Services. Or here to visit the Benchmarking Success website.
Steven can be contacted directly at +61 408 120 758 or Email
John Cole - Manager - Senior Leadership Team Member
A large portion of John’s career has been in the domestic Express Freight market, with the majority of this spent with Mayne Nickless (11 years) and Star Track Express (9 years). John has held a range of middle management roles with the main focus in Customer Service and Account Management. During his time with Star Track Express, John was involved in the first major roll-out of integrated sortation and Trace & Track technology in the Australian freight market.
John joined Dawson Consulting in 1999 to lead the Freight Optimisation business unit leading projects across all industries, but chemicals and bulk commodities were strongly represented. John moved across to Logistics Bureau in 2007, with the acquisition of Dawson Consulting.
In the past 5-7 years, John has built a strong track record in the resources and energy sectors for companies such as Rio Tinto, Pilbara Iron, Iluka, Blue Circle Southern Cement, Newcrest Mining, Dyno Nobel and Stuart Petroleum.
Projects have focused on designing and validating logistics channels for the supply of remote and semi-remote mining and energy operations in Australia and Central Asia. This work has entailed;
Assessment of equipment infrastructure requirements;
Supplier sourcing and benchmarking;
Operational and cost modeling.
John can be contacted directly at +61 411 706 726 or Email
Mal Walker - Manager
Mal commenced his career as an engineer at Colby Handling Systems before entering management and supply chain consulting with TTC, P Breed and Partners, Symonds Henderson and Deloitte Consulting. In more recent years, Mal has worked in 3rd Party Logistics with Exel/DHL in a number of capacities including Solutions Design and Global Account Management.
With qualifications in engineering, Business Administration and Logistics, Mal has over 30 years experience in the industry with a solid track record of domestic and international supply chain assignments across a range of supply chain and logistic disciplines. His specialities include supply chain design and strategy, feasibility studies, materials handling, distribution centre design, vendor managed and postponement inventory strategies, international supply chain development, project management and implementation.
Mal can be contacted directly on +61 (0) 412 271 503 or Email
Mal is one of our more multi talented team members and can often be seen behind the drum set of the Transmission Band
Chris Keller - Manager
Chris is part of our Sydney team and manages many of our optimisation projects focused around network design and cost to serve.
Chris has an MBA and a background in Accounting and Management.
Chris has more than 5 years background in leading analysis, planning and systems development within the 3PL industry. and over 3 years in management consulting for our major corporate customers.
His consulting experience also includes Business Process Outsourcing, Customer Contact Solutions, Commercial Property Maintenance, Transport and Logistics, Commercial Refrigeration and Financial Services.
You can contact Chris directly on +61 414 912 251 or Email
Jonathan Zhang - Manager
Jonathan Zhang joint Logistics Bureau in early 2007 with his well seasoned blue-chip corporate background. Past 20 years have seen Jonathan in senior management positions with large corporates including Mitsubishi Corp, Pacific Dunlop, Electrolux and Orica Consumer Products, etc., and actively involved in corporate development schemes within Asia Pacific region.
Jonathan’s expertise fields include global sourcing, strategic procurement, joint venture management, international sales and distribution, international logistics and global supply chain deployment.
With his unique cultural and professional background, Jonathan has been extremely active in both strategic and operational consulting covering manufacturing (consumer and industrial), wholesale and government sectors with strong physical presence in Australia, New Zealand, Greater China and South East Asian countries.
As a qualified tutor of CIPS certification program in Asia and the Vice President of CSCMP Australia, Jonathan is passionate about delivering his consulting service with the strong coaching skills. He has a MBA from Melbourne Business School, Australia and Bachelor of Arts, Economics (International Business). Golf and Chinese calligraphy occasionally take priorities in Jonathan’s busy consulting life style.
Jonathan can be contacted directly on +61 402 088 567 or Email.
Visit here for an Introduction to Logistics Bureau - Supply Chain & Logistics Consultants
Visit here to see our full range of Supply Chain & Logistics Consulting Services
Have you visited our Supply Chain & Logistics Benchmarking company - Benchmarking Success