Rounding his third year of being part of TOC, Papa Dieng, International Specialist, has been a vital part of TOC’s operations since August 2013. The Senegal native and former resident of Paris, France made Indianapolis home in 2008. He graduated from Indianapolis’ Kelley School of Business with a degree in Supply Chain Management and Human Resource Management where he also received certification as a Green Belt Six Sigma. Dieng started his career with TOC doing a little bit of everything – air imports, exports, ocean imports, exports – and has made his place as one of TOC’s International Specialists also involved in managing the Midwest Consolidation.
Get to know Papa Dieng as he shares his role and favorite part of being part of the TOC operations team:
Describe your role at TOC.
I work at TOC as an International Specialist. I handle air imports and exports, ocean imports and exports for customer groups and I also handle the Midwest Consolidation from Germany.
What is your favorite part of your job?
I like the interaction with the customers. I especially like when my customers experience a shortage of product and at the last minute they contact us to move cargo from anywhere to their warehouse on short notice, and with a tight deadline. It is a challenge for me and I like that. I also like being around my coworkers. We share every aspect of the job and we all learn from each other.
How do you see the industry changing and evolving as it relates to your role?
TOC has been changing and evolving since day one. Since I have been working at TOC, I feel like I grow every day. I am still learning if not from my colleagues, or new customer processes, it would be from a new line or new program. In the past, I only handled air shipment to ELP (for any customers). Due to the fact that we are growing so fast, more customers’ demands and new lines (Midwest consolidation), desk changes are always expected from Management and I know that we are not stopping with the changes or evolving because the sales team is putting more and more work on our plates.
How do you see TOC continuing to change and evolve as the industry changes?
When I first started, we were maybe about 20-25 employees and now we are at about 40-42 employees just here in the Indianapolis office. We have now TOC EUROPE, TOC MEXICO and the LANSING warehouse in Michigan to match our customers’ demands and allow us to be more available for them. In this industry, technology is very important. We moved from an older version of tracking to Cargo Wise, which has been very efficient with the work we do, and our customers have access to an online portal to have better control of their freight movement. We house a variety of technology tools and provide the necessary equipment needed to do the job efficiently.
What do you think the most important thing is for your clients to know in terms of operations?
It is very important for TOC’s clients to know that we are always available for them. TOC is willing to confront any transportation challenge to make the customer happy and reach a solution. Even though it may be a challenge that you think may not have a solution, we are always here to provide options to the clients to achieve their goals.
“Papa is a shining star on the Operations Team”, says Greg Scheevel, Director of Global Development. “We have great future career plans for Papa within our organization should he choose to continue his dedication to learning and serving. He has an excellent connection to the clients he serves, which is invaluable to TOC’s continued growth strategy.”
At TOC Logistics, we believe in working with talented and innovated individuals to provide high quality services to every client. We have the experience, results and client satisfaction to substantiate our promise that we are client focused and solutions driven.