Syngenta, which is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, employs 28,000 people in 90 countries worldwide. It is dedicated to the purpose of ‘Bringing Plant Potential to Life’ with the aim of increasing crop productivity, protecting the environment and improving health and quality of life through world-class science. 

Syngenta operates around 3,600 cars in Europe, Africa and Middle East and already works with Fleet Logistics in the UK, where it has a fleet of 155 vehicles. 

Now, under a new four-year-agreement, Fleet Logistics will be responsible for managing Syngenta vehicles – cars, motorcycles and buses – in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. 

This will be supported from a newly established hub set up by Fleet Logistics in Singapore. The company’s major shareholder, international certification provider TÜV SÜD Group, has existing businesses in the region, including operations in Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. 

Syngenta’s APAC fleet comprises mostly work cars used for groweror retailer visits, research and development field visits and production and supply sites. The rest are executive-level cars for senior managers. The vehicles are funded locally by each country and separately by each department. 

“We were managing car sourcing locally on a tactical level prior to appointing Fleet Logistics, with a fleet spend that was very significant for many APAC countries. There were also a lot of hidden costs, like fuel, which we knew could be reduced,” said Shanying Chng, APAC category manager – marketing, professional services, facility, travel and information systems. 

“We wanted to manage our fleet spend strategically and holistically in APAC but found a lack of suppliers who could provide fleet management services independently on a regional level. So we initiated a discussion with Fleet Logistics, our European preferred fleet management company, to bring them into APAC since they already had plans to expand into the region. 

“Fleet Logistics has a unique proposition in the market as they are fully independent which is very important to Syngenta and, as part of TÜV SÜD group, they are able to expand quickly and at low cost across APAC,” she said. 

Shanying Chng said the appointment of Fleet Logistics had already brought in a number of changes in the region. 

“The biggest is having a professional team to help us with the sourcing, provide us with advice and develop a regional fleet policy. Internally, multiple engagements with our local country stakeholders are critical so that they understand Fleet Logistics’ role, especially as using an independent fleet management company is a new concept in APAC." 

The new fleet management service is designed to handle a number of issues, including fleet strategy development, fleet policy, fleet processes and external benchmarking. It will also include vehicle funding, looking at the cost benefits of leasing versus outright purchase, along with the sourcing of third party contracts such as car leasing and fuel cards. 

The success of the new arrangement will be measured by return on investment, with targeted savings of 1:3 for all full-scope services in APAC countries. Savings are expected to come from sourcing renegotiation and from regional fleet policy reviews.  

One of the key objectives of the new arrangement will be to optimize vehicle models to reduce Syngenta’s corporate carbon footprintwhile minimizing the impact on its drivers.

Axel Ernst, global category manager, facilities, utilities and waste at Syngenta, said: “As a trusted and longstanding fleet partner, Fleet Logistics has been pivotal in taking this topic to the right level of decision-making, from both an operational and strategic stand-point. 

“They continue to deliver not only significant savings, but also to reduce our fleet Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), standardise our Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) requirements, provide visibility at global level, and finally enhance our driver experience.” 

Fleet Logistics International sales director, Stuart Donnelly added: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to expand our collaboration with Syngenta internationally, and the experience developed together to support the start of our global operations in Asia-Pacific is really exciting. This is a further step along the journey for Fleet Logistics in creating a truly global network for our customers.”