Jardine Logistics participated in the service awards contest organised by the Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries to test its own capability and service quality, an executive said. Vice-president of marketing and quality management, Vera Tang, said another reason was to raise awareness of the importance of the logistics industry to the economy. Jardine Logistics won a subsidiary award in the Hong Kong Awards For Services this year. The company was among three entrants to receive the Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries Innovative Service Award. The other winners were Bank of East Asia and SMEloan Hong Kong. 'The award is a great encouragement to Jardine Logistics as our achievements are being recognised,' Ms Tang said. Jardine Logistics offers comprehensive training to staff in its efforts to achieve continuous improvement. Some training programmes are organised by the parent company, Jardine Matheson. The duration of training ranges from one hour to two weeks. Some courses are conducted in Macau, the mainland and overseas. Jardine Logistics defines supply chain management or logistics as 'the effective management of the transportation, storage, distribution of goods, as well as related information from pre-production to end users so they can arrive at the right form, right time and right cost'. Third party logistics can be defined as the outsourcing of transportation, warehousing, inventory management, distribution and other value added services such as pick and pack, assembly, repairs and reconditioning. One of the company's strengths was IT capability, which enabled seamless connectivity with its customers via the Internet, Ms Tang said. She said most Asian enterprises were not yet ready to accept the logistics concept. 'A key obstacle is that they hesitate to share their company information with the third party logistics provider,' she said. The trading and manufacturing community was getting to know the benefits 'logistics management' could bring to them, Ms Tang said.