Overview
Over recent years, globalisation and the introduction of new technologies have accelerated the structural change of the manufacturing processes in Finland and in many cases the production has been shifted from Finland to countries having smaller production and employment costs. The geographical location of Finland cannot be changed but the location-related disadvantages can be avoided by developing logistics systems as a part of international networks. The EGLO programme aims at supporting the global competitiveness of Finnish-based companies by promoting logistics research and development activities.
The goal of the EGLO programme is to support the global competitiveness of Finnish-based companies by promoting logistics research and development activities. EGLO focuses on the structure and operation models of the networks as well as on the development of the controlling systems.
The development of logistical preconditions in order to enhance the competitiveness of companies can be successful only in projects where the results become a part of the daily business. Projects in EGLO can, for example, cover production or subcontractor networks, delivery, purchasing or after sales activities.
The anticipated results of the projects are:
- developed network structures
- tools for planning of the networks
- advanced operation models
- more efficient operations in existing networks or new co-operation networks
- practical applications of existing theoretical models.
Besides the companies' projects, the aim in the early phase of the programme is also to start one or a few international research projects, whose results can be subsequently applied in projects with enterprise networks.
The simply focused programme area and lean organisation model aim at providing the best agility in responding to the rapidly changing needs of enterprises. EGLO provides the following added value for its participants:
- neutral platform for networking and support of the Ministry, steering committee and co-ordinator of the partner search
- support to face and deal with bigger development risks
- opportunities to change best practices and experiences
- support to find national funds for financing for company projects, funding of up to 33% of total costs, and for research projects under certain circumstances even up to 100%.
The EGLO programme has a steering group consisting of the main funding parties and experts of different companies. The chairman of the programme comes from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The EGLO programme will be carried out as an independent development programme by the Goods Transport and Logistics Unit of the MinTC.
The programme co-ordinator is responsible for practical implementation of the programme.
Funding
Research projects run from 1 to 3 years, may have total funding for EUR 100 000 to 150 000 /year and can receive funding up to 100%. Enterprise network projects can, except in special cases, receive up to 33% funding from the EGLO programme.
The expected volume of the total programme in three years is EUR 5 million including all modes of financing.