ECU Worldwide Thailand’s Digital Initiatives Drive the Company Forward on their 20th Anniversary

As ECU Worldwide (Thailand) celebrates their 20^th anniversary, we had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Viraj Nobnomtham, Managing Director of the Company and other executives about ECU Worldwide Thailand’s latest goals, the origin of the ‘Geography Simplified’ slogan, and their upcoming services. As well as how ECU Worldwide Thailand adopts cutting edged technology to improve the Company and its services. 

Geography Simplified

Recently, the Company changed their name from ‘ECU Line’ to ‘ECU Worldwide’ in attempt to reflect the image of a complete logistics service provider and an expert of LCL ocean freight. With its new identity, ECU Worldwide emerged with the tag line; ‘Geography Simplified.’

“The tag line is an idea from ECU Worldwide headquarters. The purpose of this tag line is to create ‘One World, One Office’ meaning; to connect ECU Worldwide around the world as one under our very own platform,” said Mr. Nobnomtham explaining the idea behind their latest slogan.

There are many difficulties that crop up when trying to have one platform have coverage around the world, due to the complications and limitations in each region. For example; the complicated documentation process in Thailand. However, ECU Worldwide have raised themselves above these obstacles and sent their IT team to the Land of Smiles to optimize the system and eventually made the platform work optimally.

“This platform is allowing us to work from anywhere. Because the data is kept on the Cloud and every office around the world has access to it 24/7. This platform also makes office expansion simple. In the past, you had to set up a complicated computer network. Now, we can connect to the central platform of ECU Worldwide through the Internet. Therefore, we can easily provide services by an Internet accessible device. Importantly, the platform also allows our customers to make orders from anywhere on earth as well,” said Mr. Nobnomtham.

Improving LCL Trade

Today, many businesses are affected by economic fluctuations. But Less than Container Load (LCL) services, which is the primary business of ECU Worldwide, are still steadily growing. Commenting on the Company’s solid global LCL growth, Ms. Ratchawan Lertpipopmetha, Senior Sales Manager of ECU Worldwide (Thailand) said, “Trading wars between the United States and China have made an impact around the globe which is slowing down the growth of all kinds of businesses. However, ECU Worldwide (Thailand) is continuously growing. This year, we have expanded with three more Direct Service routes from Thailand. In total, we now have thirty globally connected Direct Service routes.

“Our sales department is working very hard to maintain regular customers whilst introducing our complete service package to new customers. Moreover, our headquarters gathers Big Data and analyzes it to further improve the Company’s management and services,” Ms. Lertpipopmetha continued.

ECU Worldwide also counters the global economic slowdown with its expanding export services to the United States. “2019 is a good year for the US market in the Asian region. Due to the trading war between the United States and China, many manufacturers have moved from China to South East Asia, especially Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand; proving even more growth for our US trade routes during this economic crisis,” said Ms. Sara D’Anzeo, Transatlantic/Transpacific Trade Lane Manager.

“ECU Worldwide is focusing on the Thai and South East Asian market. Hence, the reason that I am constructing marketing plans here and affirming to our customers that we will be by their side during the economic downturn. In the past, it may be difficult to reach customers given the time and distance, but now the platform brings us closer to customers than ever before,” Ms. D’Anzeo continued.

One World, One Office

The platform which ECU Worldwide developed to optimize its performance and to offer more convenience to customers is comprised of two programs; TOPAZ and ECU 360°. The former is an inhouse program for organizational use that records shipping data from the origin to the destination on the Cloud, which ECU Worldwide branches over the globe are granted access to such data 24/7.

Revealing the advantages of TOPAZ, Ms. Chayanit Ketutassa, Senior Operations Manager said, “Data sharing on the Cloud brings stability to the data. We can examine every step of the process and become more accurate over time with this program. In the past, we had to manually input this data, which meant mistakes could happen more easily due to human error. Furthermore, the program is reducing processes such as manually filling information to customs.”

The latter program is a front facing program for customers. “ECU Worldwide’s customers are able to make their own user accounts. Once logged in to the ECU 360° platform, customers can take several actions such as; booking for capacity, checking for service rates and receiving Bill of Landings. We can work closer to customers by granting them the ability to customize services from both within Thailand and globally. Currently, ECU 360° is available in many countries and will be available in Thailand in late 2019,” Ms. Lertpipopmetha revealed.

ECU Worldwide also developed an NPA Survey; an emailed survey system to assess customers’ satisfaction and further improve its services.

ECU Sustainability

ECU Worldwide is supporting the environment with their ECU Go Green campaign; aiming to spread awareness of energy reduction and paper reduction. The Company also held environmental activities such as planting trees, recycling food containers and using cloth bags instead of plastic bags.

Recently, ECU Worldwide headquarters initiated a project of planting one million tress within five years. Which Mr. Nobnomtham revealed that ECU Worldwide (Thailand) is ready to be part of this project by holding social responsibility activities in the form of planting trees to preserve green areas.

Furthermore, as part of their 20^th anniversary celebration, the Company has joined #recoveringubon project, which is organized by Triple i Logistics Public Company Limited, by giving away essential items to help Ubon Ratchathani province to recover from a recent natural disaster.

At the center of an ongoing evolution of technology and riding a wave of economic fluctuations is causing logistics industries to continuously adapt themselves or be left in the wake. ECU Worldwide (Thailand) stands as a testament to what dedicated planning and execution can accomplish, and on the eve of their 20^th milestone year in operation they are on the path to becoming the best LCL service provider in Thailand.