What does a traffic manager do? In Peter ten Broek's case, he doesn't stand at a street corner with a whistle directing cars and trucks! Instead, he helps speed goods for his company, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), throughout Europe and around the globe.

Peter has held his job as European Traffic Manager for ADM for two years. Before that, he spent a year as a trainee learning the ins and outs of the job.

ADM is a leader in global agriculture. The company is based in Decatur, Illinois, USA, but buys, transports, stores, processes, and markets a wide range of agricultural products - including soybeans, corn, cocoa, wheat, peanuts, rice, canola, barley, sunflower seeds, and cottonseed - in countries all over the world. ADM has 470 processing plants in the United States and 260 plants in other countries.

Peter's job is to keep these products moving through and in and out of Europe. From his office in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Peter negotiates rates for warehouse storage and for shipments of goods. He arranges for pallets, bags, and containers for different products. He coordinates trucking and shipping of these goods once they have been packed for transport. And he works with his colleagues at ADM offices around Europe and the United States to make sure that goods are moving as they should.

One of Peter's biggest challenges on the job is creating partnerships with ocean carriers. He makes it his business to understand what the different shipping companies have to offer in terms of schedules and rates. And he works to make sure that these companies understand his needs so that they can help him keep ADM products moving.

The cocoa that is currently being carried in the Boomerang Box from Rotterdam to Norfolk, Virginia, USA is a good example. The cocoa had to be moved within a certain time period. Peter worked with APL staff in Rotterdam to arrange for a schedule that met his needs. Then he had to coordinate with his colleagues at ADM Cocoa to get the shipment into a container, to the port, and onto the ship on time.

As you might imagine, Peter's job requires great attention to detail, as well as a lot of juggling to keep every shipment moving.

Study Questions:

• Learn more about Archer Daniels Midland at its Web site www.admworld.com. Choose one of ADM's commodities and use the library or Internet to learn more about its history and its uses. Write a 2-page paper about what you learn.

• Research the history of cocoa. Choose one of the study questions and answer it.