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Bernard Langevin Reflects on 35 Years in the Logistics Industry
Come for the opportunities; stay for the people!
According to Bernard Langevin, Intelcom’s Director of Partner Operations, this sums up his career quite tidily.
Joining the team in 2006, Langevin has been with Intelcom for 17 years and holds the title of Intelcom's longest-serving employee in Quebec. As one might imagine, the logistics ecosystem looked a bit different back then, as did the operations here at Intelcom.
Inquiring minds wanted to know – how did this organization evolve to where we are today? Langevin graciously allowed us to pick his brain to share his experience with Intelcom thus far.
Intelcom: the early years
1989 was the year: Langevin entered the logistics industry and began cultivating a fleet and employee base. A decade of experience and a few career moves later, Bernard had established himself as a reference in the logistics space.
A call from Intelcom brought Bernard the opportunity to join the organization to manage their contract with an international courier company and cover deliveries from Toronto to the East Coast.
Bernard was here for many firsts "...The first warehouse, the first scan, the first box, the first van, everything. I remember our first day with a major client, our driver was lost in Griffintown, so I searched for him along Ottawa Street. I found him at last, and when we opened the door to the vehicle, we thought nothing was inside! We couldn't see anything because there were only three or four small packages at the very front of the car! That was day one."
Operations scaled quickly, however, as Bernard shared that day two yielded 15 packages, day three, a palette, and the numbers steadily grew until the first week saw 500 packages delivered. Operations were doubling every month from there. Intelcom evolved quickly.
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Growing together
Over the span of his career, Bernard has worn many different hats. He attributes his longevity with the company to good people and innovative ideas.
"Jean-Sébastien Joly, Intelcom’s President, is a very good friend. I also love the organization's expansion philosophy of always working towards bigger goals. Our technology and how we partner with our subcontractors differentiates us from others in this space."
According to Bernard, the sky's the limit for Intelcom.
"The E-com business – we are not going to see the end of it. Right now, we're at the tip of the iceberg, and there are almost four, five, 10 times more packages that we could deliver. There are a lot of clients who want to have a specialized company to work for them like we do. The possibilities are endless."
It’s all good
Reflecting on his time with the team to date, Bernard doesn't hesitate to express gratitude openly "I thank Jean Sebastien for all these years that we've worked together. And I thank the leadership team for all they've done for everybody."
For folks interested in joining the Intelcom team, he believes there is always room for good people. His thoughts on the employee experience? Charmingly pragmatic.
It's a good environment. We are passionate and we encourage our staff to share ways we can make it even better to work for us. The work conditions are very good.
Bernard Langevin
Director, Partner operations
Bernard Langevin
Director, Partner operations
As Langevin approaches a milestone anniversary in the last-mile business, he has no plans to slow down.
"After 35 years, it's a little bit easier to work. If you are on your first day, it can look intimidating… but not so much now at 35 years. I've seen everything." He grins as he concludes, "I'm young. I've got a few more years in front of me."