EUROPE EDITION FEBRUARY 2020 europe.businesschief.com
Procurement: a truly international operation
PROCUREMENT TRANSFORMATION Ian Jones on the bespoke innovations evolving the company
Charting a course for energy transition
City Focus
PORTO CEOs in Europe
FOREWORD
W
elcome to the February edition
transformation journey and procure-
of Business Chief Europe!
ment strategies in the supply chain
This month’s issue is packed with a number of great names that are innovating across Europe today, including: Twint, BRD, Eramet and Hindustan Zinc Ltd. In our coverpiece this month we speak with Ian Jones, Head of Procurement at Arriva UK Bus, who details the company’s procurement transformation journey in the transport sector. We also hear from Mark Smith, Head of Procurement Strategy and Transformation, BP GBS and Alex Thomson, Head of Procurement Services, BP GBS, on how Compass is ensuring efficiency and effectiveness within the multinational oil and gas company. Elsewhere in the issue, Ninian Wilson, Global Supply Chain Director and CEO of Vodafone Procurement Com-
space. “I’m a great believer in continuous improvement and striving for things that seem impossible,” he says. Read on to find out more. We also speak to the CEO of Holvi, Antti-Jussi Suominen, who shares his insight and advice on creating diversity in the workplace and the rise of his challenger bank. Finally, Business Chief takes a look at the top 10 CEOs across Europe, as well as a closer look at the fine city of Porto. Do you have a story to share? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch and you could be featured in our next issue. Enjoy the read! Amber amber.donovan-stevens @bizclikmedia.com
pany, discusses his organisation’s e u r o p e . b u s i n e s s c h i e f. c o m
03
Driving insurers
digital future into a
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EUROPE EDITION
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CONTENTS
10 From Habbo to Holvi: AJ Suominen on leadership and diversity
26
38 Embracing behaviours in a new technological age
DIGITAL INNOVATION IN LOGISTICS WAREHOUSES
48 72 City Focus
PORTO
60
84
CEOs in Europe
CONTENTS
100 BP
118 Vodafone Procurement Company S.a.r.l.
136 Hindustan Zinc
158 Eramet
170 Twint
184 BRD - Groupe Societe Generale
10
Transforming the procurement approach in transportation WRITTEN BY
SEAN GALEA-PACE PRODUCED BY
CHARLOTTE CLARKE
FEBRUARY 2020
11
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
A R R I VA U K B U S
Ian Jones, Head of Procurement at Arriva UK Bus, discusses his company’s procurement transformation journey in the transport sector
W
ith a drive to deliver value-adding innovative procurement and supply chain solutions, Arriva UK Bus harbours clear
procurement transformational goals in the supply chain space. Ian Jones, Head of Procurement at Arriva 12
UK Bus, oversees the company’s procurement strategy and believes that sustainable long-term improvement within procurement and the wider supply chain is fundamental for success. “Over the past five years, we’ve really focused on transformation. When I first joined Arriva, there was a centralised procurement team in its infancy and a regionalised purchasing function,” he explains. He commenced building a synergised category management procurement team with supporting programme management, data extraction and categorisation underpinned with proactive analytics. “All the transactional activity was undertaken in five regions, each with their own purchasing team,” says Jones. “However, we felt we could achieve more leverage, control and compliance by centralising all activity through one location, FEBRUARY 2020
13
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
A R R I VA U K B U S
“ Our journey isn’t at an end yet; it’s fix and fly. The plane is in the air and you’re fixing it as you go — we haven’t stopped” 14
— Ian Jones, Head of Procurement, Arriva UK Bus
FEBRUARY 2020
harnessing the power of strategic procurement in collaboration with purchasing. By implementing that, it enabled us to drive spend to first and second tier suppliers because of the control from the central location.” Prior to Jones’ tenure, Arriva UK Bus operated with five regions all creating Purchase Orders (POs). However, since switching to its centralised purchasing approach, Jones acknowledges its influence and believes it has enhanced efficiency significantly. “Our current approach drives process
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘MAKE YOUR BUS START’ 15 efficiency and we’re consolidating POs, providing greater ability to expedite,” explains Jones. “By communicating with the supply base instead of sending multiple POs at different times of the day, we can drive supply chain efficiencies via defined order cut off times which provides the opportunity for greater organisational alignment and ensuring resource availability at optimal times. The supplier then has the ability to pick for the consolidated order and then sub-pack, rather than pick, pack and dispatch on multiple occasions.” e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
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As part of Arriva’s procurement
it’s all about the ‘why’ and ‘how’ strat-
transformation journey, the first step
egy. The first thing we did was develop
was to get the right procurement
a why. We took inspiration from Simon
environment in place. This meant
Sinek, and we aligned our mantra with
a focus on people, data, holistic
his. His reasoning was that organisa-
spend management, process and
tions and people that understand their
policy. Secondly, Arriva looked at the
‘why’ are very successful,” explains
purchasing side of the organisation
Jones. “People in procurement can
before finally considering further
often give you the what, which is the
supply chain optimisation. Jones
delivery. However, they often scratch
believes that establishing these core
their heads on the why and the how.
first steps was essential to laying the
We’ve developed that why and how
groundwork for his company’s trans-
and linked it to the business’s strategic
formation journey to succeed. “To us,
pillars. There’s been lots of work and
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Ian Jones Ian Jones BA (Hons) MCIPS is Head Of Procurement at Arriva UK Bus. The role assumes responsibility for the management of all the business’ direct and indirect spend. He has more than 20 years’ Procurement experience within the profession after undertaking senior roles in Local Government, Manufacturing, Retail and Transportation. Prior to joining Arriva he was in the Procurement Leadership Team at Home Retail Group. He has an extensive track record of delivering multimillion pound/euro benefits for organisations whilst transforming teams.
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
17
A R R I VA U K B U S
18
FEBRUARY 2020
this is ongoing to develop category managers and help them acquire softer skills to aid in the transition towards our strategic contract management programme as it’s linked to our journey through the stages of the procurement maturity curve.” Jones believes that strategic contract management is a core component to optimising the supply chain in order to better understand supply chain performance and manage risk. “The way to do that is by managing contracts in the right way and talking about innovation,” he says. “Our journey isn’t at an end yet; it’s fix and fly. The plane is in the air and you’re fixing it as you go — we haven’t stopped, we continue to deliver value for the organisation.” With technology becoming increasingly influential to operations in the supply chain space, Jones believes that procurement and purchasing teams can’t operate effectively without harnessing data efficiently. “We’ve developed a range of inhouse bespoke solutions in terms of technology,” says Jones. “We have a data scientist who has helped us develop these solutions. We operate e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
19
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21
a comprehensive project tracking
“ We’ve developed a range of inhouse bespoke solutions in terms of technology” — Ian Jones, Head of Procurement, Arriva UK Bus
tool, running circa 100 projects every year. This supports programme management, business communications, financial reporting and automated MI. It’s a key conduit between finance and procurement portraying the breakdown of the value that’s delivered by region.” Such bespoke equipment includes a sophisticated spend categorisation tool and an engineering parts usage anomaly tracking tool. “The spend categorisation tool is intelligent enough to e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
A R R I VA U K B U S
“ The benchmark in the retail industry is set; people want things and they want them now” — Ian Jones, Head of Procurement, Arriva UK Bus
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objective is to examine these positive and negative ‘outliers’ using the various views available to ultimately establish if an efficiency opportunity exists. This enables all the standard questions to be taken out of the equation because fleets vary by volume, variant and specification.” In a bid to provide the company with an added layer of control, procurement has also built a part number extraction tool. The tool provides us with the ability to ensure that parts are purchased from contracted suppliers, thus driving compliance and ensuring extract and categorise spend infor-
the right part and quality are delivered,
mation from free text strings, from this
this is in addition to other tools we
we build automated MI dashboards
utilise.“This tool is vital because safety
that deliver pertinent spend informa-
is essential and this helps to ensure
tion in a range of formats to support
the first tier preferred suppliers
category management and the busi-
secure the volume,” says Jones.
ness. It’s extremely sophisticated,”
Arriva places considerable trust on
explains Jones. “With our parts usage
its supplier relationships as it seeks
anomaly tool, it allows us to identify
to drive continual value, more than
extraordinary usage of engineering
just transactional interactions. “This
spare parts within particular depots,
is the next stage of the transforma-
vehicle types, and events relative to
tion,” says Jones. “We have built a
other depots, across various different
supplier contract management pro-
views using statistical significance
gramme focused on 25 segmented
to three standard deviations. The
suppliers. In order to achieve this, e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
23
A R R I VA U K B U S
Arriva are working with suppliers such as Cordant Cleaning, PSV Glass and SSE in a bid to drive innovation, continuous improvement, enhanced quality and environmental standards. “We’re looking to work together with our partners on key initiatives,” says Jones. “For example, we have a big waste and recycling agenda and with Cordant being an extension of our business they can support us in further increasing our recycling volumes because lots of our recycling comes 24
from vehicles. It’s about health and safety as well as corporate social responsibility. All of our supplier
“ We were proud to be the first major transport operator in the UK to purchase 100% renewable electricity” — Ian Jones, Head of Procurement, Arriva UK Bus FEBRUARY 2020
partnerships are important and we were proud to be the first major transport operator in the UK to purchase 100% renewable electricity from SSE Business energy.” Looking to the future, Jones has a clear idea of what he anticipates the future of the supply chain space to look like. “The future will be about immediacy, with products delivered to locations just-in-time in a cost-effective and efficient manner through sophisticated technology,” he says.
25
“The benchmark in the retail industry is
significant area of interest. Over the
set; people want things and they want
next few years, we’re going to be con-
them now. It’s the same for us - if
tinually assessing our fleet as the
we’ve got a vehicle off the road and we
industry moves towards more zero
need a part, we want it sooner rather
or low emission vehicles or zones.”
than later.” With ambitions on becoming the mobility partner of choice, Arriva strives for its customers, passengers, public transport authorities and partners to choose the firm every time because of its trust to deliver high-quality, reliable and sustainable services. “The environment is another e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
LEADERSHIP
From Habbo to Holvi: AJ Suominen on leadership and diversity
26
As BBVA-backed digital banking service Holvi continues to build momentum, we catch up with its CEO, Antti-Jussi (AJ) Suominen, who shares his insight on building sustainable diversity in business WRITTEN BY
AMBER DONOVAN-STEVENS
FEBRUARY 2020
27
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
LEADERSHIP
C
reating the foundations for diversity and inclusion is an essential component to building
a forward-thinking company that seeks
to create lasting solutions for its customers. Entrepreneur Antti-Jussi (AJ) Suominen, CEO, Holvi, has worked across the entirety of his career to provide companies with the relevant tools to promote diversity. As a BBVA-backed digital banking service, Holvi operates across Europe. Here, he speaks with Business Chief 28
about how his experience supports the fintech company’s growth.
YOU’VE BEEN THE CEO OF SOME MAJOR NAMES, FROM HABBO HOTEL THROUGH TO HOLVI. COULD YOU TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR CAREER EXPERIENCE? I was driving new business growth for B2B and B2C companies, including Sonera, Nokia and Elisa. I was also building and running new businesses and have facilitated innovation in the mobile and online services domains in both corporate and startup environments. My background in a range of diverse industries (and most recently in online gaming and mobile commerce) plays FEBRUARY 2020
29
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
LEADERSHIP
“ IT IS ESSENTIAL TO KEEP DIVERSITY AT THE CENTRE OF A FAST GROWTH BUSINESS OTHERWISE YOU CAN LOSE SIGHT OF WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO ACHIEVE: INNOVATION” — Antti-Jussi (AJ) Suominen, CEO, Holvi
30
an essential role in accelerating
and effort to execute but it was one
Holvi’s transition from a fast-growing
of the most rewarding parts of my
fintech company to an even more
career. At the beginning of June 2019,
customer-centric online service.
we opened our new branch office in Germany and made the country our
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS OVER THE YEARS?
second home market. Since our
Recently, it would have to be scaling
customers, we made the decision
up Holvi with over 150,000
to go "all in" for our customers.
mission is to make life easier for our
microbusinesses served, and growing Holvi to a 100+ employee company. The scaling has taken a lot of time FEBRUARY 2020
HOW HAS DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION FACTORED INTO YOUR WORK FROM
31
THE START OF YOUR CAREER UNTIL NOW?
treat diversity as a box-ticking exercise,
They are two things that I have always
they now rightly view it, and inclusion,
taken very seriously throughout my
as a route to success. It’s important
career. I think that it is essential to
that employees of a company think
keep diversity at the centre of a fast
differently and approach situations from
growth business, otherwise you can
different angles, and I think there is
lose sight of what you are trying to
definitely more of a focus on ensuring
achieve: innovation. To ensure we are
other voices are heard in comparison
getting a holistic view, Holvi has built
to 20 years ago. The corporate approach
a sustainable culture where more
towards diversity is clearly transitioning
than one voice is heard.
from reactive to proactive, which is of
Whereas many businesses used to
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
LEADERSHIP
“ WITH HOLVI, SOLE TRADERS NO LONGER NEED TO FILL OUT LENGTHY SPREADSHEETS AND USE GUESSWORK TO UNDERSTAND THEIR FINANCES” — Antti-Jussi (AJ) Suominen, CEO, Holvi
course a positive change, but one that can still be improved. We’ve come a long way but there is always more that can be done.
HOW DO YOU ENSURE THAT THE WHOLE OF A STAFFING BODY IS ONBOARD WITH INCLUSIVITY INITIATIVES?
32
Culture is very much based on values. When hiring and inducting new people, values need to be explained from the outset to avoid onboarding talent that does not uphold the standards and principles of the company. Everyone at Holvi understands the importance of diversity to building an inclusive culture. Our team consists of more than 25 different nationalities and we always look to hire openminded, curious people who are keen to learn new things and meet new people. As we have expanded across Europe, this approach has proved invaluable to understanding different FEBRUARY 2020
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WORK HAS CHANGED, SO HAS BANKING’ 33 markets, and the needs of our
periods when companies grow to
consumers across the continent.
multiple locations.
I have been lucky to work in
when people are required to change
WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO OTHER C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES LOOKING TO DIVERSIFY AND BECOME MORE INCLUSIVE WITHIN THEIR COMPANIES?
the way they work. Diversity comes
Naturally, every leader wants to help
in many colors and it always takes
shape the culture of their organisation,
time to adapt to change. Whether
to leave their mark in some way. But
it be changing the working language
a great leader understands that they
of a company to English, as the
don’t want to create a homogenous
number of people from different
culture where everybody looks and
language groups grows, or respecting
thinks the same. My advice would be
different national holidays or vacation
that cultivating a sustainable culture
organisations that are international and diverse by design, but of course there are always some challenges
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
LEADERSHIP
doesn’t happen overnight, but if you
we offer straightforward business
are willing to invest in creating a more
banking for the everyday sole trader.
diverse culture then you will reap the benefits in the long term.
WHAT GIVES HOLVI ITS COMPETITIVE EDGE? The idea of setting up a business is the scariest part of becoming a sole
34
WHAT ARE THE KEY BENEFITS USERS OF HOLVI GAIN? • Holvi is free, easy to use and intuitive; it’s even easier and more reliable than Excel. • Fast and clear: with Holvi, sole
trader. Because we did it ourselves,
traders spend less time with their
we can totally understand why.
finances and always have real time
Finances annoyed us, so we took care
overview and control over their
of it. Today, our mission is to eliminate
business.
the stress from finances and to make
• Our Holvi business account is
it as simple as possible for our
designed to save our customers
customers. And in addition to that, we
time and help them.
speak plain English and don’t confuse our customers with jargon. In short,
FEBRUARY 2020
• Easy to use: unlike Excel, Holvi is made for your needs.
35
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
LEADERSHIP
36
“ A GREAT LEADER UNDERSTANDS THAT THEY DON’T WANT TO CREATE A HOMOGENOUS CULTURE WHERE EVERYBODY LOOKS AND THINKS THE SAME” — Antti-Jussi (AJ) Suominen, CEO, Holvi
FEBRUARY 2020
need to set up a payment branch in that country, and then apply to the local regulatory framework. Therefore, there are always different approaches when considering regulation. However the product itself is predominantly uniformed because our customers across Europe face similar issues.
AS HOLVI GEARS UP TO EXPAND TO THE UK, WHAT CAN BRITONS EXPECT FROM THE COMPANY? Holvi helps solve real problems. Many of our clients don’t know much about business accounting and need a service that helps them understand their finances so they can take control of their own finances. With Holvi, sole traders no longer need to fill out lengthy spreadsheets and use guesswork to
DO YOU MODIFY YOUR SERVICES FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY TO SUIT THE CUSTOMER BASE?
understand their finances. That’s what we do.
Local regulations across Europe are a challenge for fast-growth fintechs like Holvi. Cross-border innovation is currently being restricted by the issue of local IBANs, which add another layer of local regulatory compliance. In order to receive a local IBAN, you e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
37
TECHNOLOGY
38
g n i c a r b Em s r u o i v a h be in a new l a c i g o l o n tech age WR ITT EN BY
AM BE R DO NO VA N- ST EV EN
S
orus, h lC ia c o S , O T C , n se n e Tim Chri st ge m e n t a g n e e e y lo p m e e th w explains ho u ances of n e th s d n ta rs e d n u rm platfo unic ation m m o c e e y lo p m e to r e employ
FEBRUARY 2020
39
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
TECHNOLOGY
S
ocialChorus has earned its name as one of the top employee engagement plat-
forms by working with CEOS to maximise the delivery of information to employees
in what is an increasingly misaligned environment.
SocialChorus was founded by Greg Shove and Nicole Alvino in 2008, and as the company started to gain momentum, Shove was on the search for a CTO who wanted to transform the company, taking its consulting-based foundations and making it a truly staff-led business. Tim Christensen's belief in creating genuine value in people’s day-to-day lives 40
aligned with Shove on a philosophical level, and so he joined the team to create a software that would achieve this. He explains: "Initially we didn't have a firm idea of what we desired the product to be, but we knew what we wanted it to do: improve a person's day. "Christensen, who hails from a working class family, reflects that over the last 30 years very little has been divested to the blue-collar worker, despite the continued evolution of technology. “For this reason, we wanted to build a product that didn't discriminate against position or function; one that promoted equality and added value into every worker's day." Reflecting on the five years since, Christensen shares one particular milestone he is particularly proud of: increasing the product’s daily users from a few hundred to over half a million. "It's very FEBRUARY 2020
“ Our support team will not be satisfied with anything less than SLA 100%” Tim Chris tensen, CTO, SocialChorus
41
rewarding to see that it is working and making an impact,” he says “This has always been about reaching as many people as possible, and my personal satisfaction is seeing this impact on an individual level." Considering SocialChorus’ success, Christensen explains that, while there are several platforms designed for internal communications, knowledge management and collaboration, there is no concrete space in enterprise that connects knowledge and news. "From e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
TECHNOLOGY
nt a w 't n o d e w , y n a p m o “ As a smaller c , s e r u t a e f f o r e b m u n r to win on scale o � y t li a u q n o in w o t we want Tim Chris tensen, CTO, SocialChorus
42
a workflow perspective, we aim to
CEOs and workers when delivering
make the communicator more effec-
information. "For example," Christensen
tive, assist them in telling the right story
explains, "a CEO may communicate via
and we will assist in its delivery and
email, or workers may receive informa-
amplifying the goals of the communi-
tion when congregating in the break
cator." This, he explains, benefits the
room. Our role is to amplify these mes-
worker. "If we can make their lives eas-
sages in a way that enhances prefer-
ier in two minutes each day, then we've
ences, and not just discard them." This
been successful, because we're look-
often becomes an oversight that has
ing at it holistically, both from the
caused many companies to lose out on
worker and from the communicator."
delivering an optimised service. "Some
Within this, SocialChorus must
competitors want to push organisa-
embrace the existing preferences of
tions to use one centralised platform,
FEBRUARY 2020
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SOCIALCHORUS – BRAND VIDEO’
but if marketers enjoy using Marketo,
"Real success is getting customers to
or engineers enjoy using Slack, or if a
engage with the content, not getting
grocery teller uses a break room, then
them to engage with the content on
that needs to be respected. For exam-
our platform."
ple, if you get your information in the
To carry this attitude with confidence
breakout room, then a digital display
and success, the platform must be
may be the best way to communicate
accompanied by exceptional service,
information, or by sending it to their
which Christensen believes the team at
personal email. By pushing users to
SocialChorus has in spades. "We have
move to a different platform altogether,
a great deal of pride in all that we do.
another hurdle is placed between the
For example, our support team will not
communicator and worker, and that is
be satisfied with anything less than
not solving the issue," says Christensen.
SLA 100%, and they will be disappointed e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
43
TECHNOLOGY
with even 5% less. This sort of attitude is present across all of our departments, and prospective clients can see this from us when deciding between us and a competitor — they can see how much we care. As a smaller company, we don't want to win on scale or number of features, we want to win on quality." While competitors have larger teams, Christensen explains that having a smaller team rewards a much higher quality due to the close-knit dynamics and collective conscientiousness, 44
and this is reflected in positive customer feedback that deems SocialChorus the best in the market. "It is rewarding to know that we have an excellent product,” he says, “it doesn't just give out features, it solves real problems." Christensen forecasts that this year will bring a number of new challenges:
a message while traveling to an airport
"I will likely begin working on new trans-
and have the service transcribe and
lations and transcripts, as well as low
translate it to go into an article to be
band-width usage." One of his key
distributed to workers, say perhaps, in
challenges is to connect the CEO
Zimbabwe, where there is a weaker
with employees in demographics with
internet connection. This would give
low technology, or in other instances,
these workers the same access to
where the CEO may not speak the
information. As data is only growing
same language as employees. "I would
in value, Christensen shares that the
like to be able to have a CEO record
next step in the company's growth is
FEBRUARY 2020
“ It is rewarding to know that we have an excellent product� Tim Chris tensen, CTO, SocialChorus 45
to build upon SocialChorus' analytics capabilities in order to deliver insights and intelligence, not only to discover trends, but to be able to identify why they change and how to respond to it. Paired closely with this, machine learning will be used for auto transcriptions and translations, and AI will enable recommendations and relevancy, for speed and tuning.
Tim Christensen, CTO, SocialChorus e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
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S U P P LY C H A I N
DIGITAL INNOVATION IN LOGISTICS WAREHOUSES
48
FEBRUARY 2020
Business Chief takes a look at how three leading logistics companies are digitalising their warehouses WRITTEN BY
49
GEORGIA WIL SON
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
S U P P LY C H A I N
W
ith technology evolving at an exponential rate, and the logistics industry needing flexible
solutions for its complex operation, we
take a closer look at some of the successful deployments of digitalisation within the warehouses of leading logistic companies around the world.
UPS Founded in 1907, UPS has been “breaking barriers throughout its 100+ years as 50
a leader in global commerce”. Within the company’s international supply chain and freight operations, its key services include: logistics, distribution, transportation, freight (air, sea, ground and rail) and freight forwarding.
SUPER HUB To combat the challenges that come with providing efficient and on time delivery during peak seasons, UPS uses new technologies within its warehouse facilities to create operational precision and network efficiencies. “Our transformation initiatives are enabling UPS to perform at high levels, even as we handle nearly double the average daily FEBRUARY 2020
51
package volume as the rest of the year. We are confident we will sustain these high levels of service and we’re ready to take on even more customer shipments in the coming weeks,” commented David Abney, CEO and Chairman of UPS. The new technologies UPS is harnessing include: • Advanced analytics; UPS has developed a peak volume alignment tool (PVAT) utilising advanced analytics to efficiently manage loads by synchronising its volume demands and e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
S U P P LY C H A I N
capacity. In addition to PVAT, UPS is
developed a bluetooth audio device
utilising advanced analytics to bet-
that gives its employees processing
ter forecast its package volume that
instructions as they scan packages.
needs to be processed. • Network planning tool (NPT);
technology, UPS has been utilising
by utilising advanced analytics,
innovations for its drivers too. These
artificial intelligence (AI) and opera-
include mobile tools to improve
tions research, UPS has developed
onboarding and effectiveness, via
its NPT to help coordinate trac-
a delivery helper app. UPS has also
tor-trailer movements between its
developed UPSNav to provide drivers
sortation hubs to reduce bottlenecks.
with higher levels of accuracy and pre-
• Dynamic Sort Instruction (DSI); 52
In addition to its new in-house
cision when making deliveries.
to increase employee productivity
As a result of UPS’ global deploy-
and reduce training time, UPS has
ments of automation, AI and advanced
FEBRUARY 2020
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘DB SCHENKER INTRODUCING DIGITAL PICKING’ 53
“ Delivering automation possibilities for logistics and warehouse operations is a foundation for building the next generation supply chain” — Xavier Garijo Member of the Board for Contract Logistics, Schenker AG
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S U P P LY C H A I N
analytics, UPS has seen between 25%-35% higher efficiency.
DB SCHENKER With over 140 years of experience supporting the global exchange of goods, DB Schenker strives to provide its customers with “innovative supply chain solutions to challenge the status quo”. DB Schenker provides its solutions for land transport, air freight, ocean freight, contract logistics and supply chain management. 54
ROBOTICS POWERED BY AI To provide flexible solutions within its warehouses to drive productivity, DB Schenker has been utilising the combination of AI and robotics with the help of Gideon Brothers — a global manufacturer of autonomous robots. With the digital age becoming increasingly complex, DB Schenker strives to offer its clients a strategic advantage. “DB Schenker continuously explores opportunities to integrate innovations from visionary start-up companies,” commented Xavier Garijo, Member of the Board for Contract Logistics at Schenker AG. FEBRUARY 2020
“ This is a technological leap, self-driving machines, powered by vision and AI, will succeed where earlier technology failed” — Matija Kopic CEO and Co-Founder, Gideon Brothers
55
“Delivering automation possibilities for
and stereoscopic cameras, to pro-
logistics and warehouse operations is
vide next generation robotics vision.
a foundation for building the next gen-
In addition to its next generation
eration supply chain.”
robotic vision, the robots can move
“This is a technological leap,” commented Matija Kopić, CEO and
800kg and have a hot-swappable battery system to minimise downtime.
Co-Founder of Gideon Brothers. The
“Self-driving machines, powered
robotics developed by DB Schenker
by vision and AI, will succeed where
and Gideon Brothers utilises a visual
earlier technology failed,” added
perception based robotic autonomy
Kopić. “It will become ubiquitous in
system that combines deep learning
industrial environments.” e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
S U P P LY C H A I N
“ The future is exciting. The future is about innovation and making sure we continuously improve” — Oscar de Bok CEO, DHL Supply Chain 56
DHL Speaking with Oscar de Bok, CEO of DHL Supply Chain in January’s edition of Business Chief, de Bok highlighted the need for flexible solutions as supply chains become increasingly complex and the importance of a large global company such as DHL having a strategy that utilises digitalisation and collaborative robotics. Between now and 2025 the company aims to invest US$2.2bn into digitalisation of its logistics and robotics. FEBRUARY 2020
ROBOTICS From cleaning robots to robotic arms within DHL’s warehouses, its operations are seeing the benefits of digital automation to enhance its workforce. Cleaning robots (Neo); developed by Avidbots, DHL has deployed its cleaning robots in multiple standard warehouses, to reduce the need for people to complete repetitive and tedious tasks. ‘Follow me’ robots; designed by Effidence, it is a simple trolly that follows an associate will they pick items to help transport the load. Once it is full you can simply press a button to send it on its way, while another replaces it. Robot arms (Sawyer); Sawyer is a robotic arm developed to sense its surrounded removing the need for it to be static and caged. This robotic arm can be moved to where it is needed to complete repetitive and mundane tasks.
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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
60
S E S S E N I S U B W O H E V E I H C A T S E B N CA M R E T G N LO Y T I L I B A N SUSTAI ain
pply Ch u S , r o t c e ir D anaging M l, e e S plains d r x a e , h e r a Ric w la e d , able K & US) in (U a s t s ic t u s is a g o d il L u & es c a n b iv t u c e x e a ul l h e v g n lo e h t how c -le r o igned f s e d l e d o m s s busine W RI TT EN BY
R IC H A R D S E E L
FEBRUARY 2020
61
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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
I
n today’s highly-competitive business environment, even the largest, most profitable organisations struggle to maintain
business longevity. To increase their chances
of long-term success, companies must transform themselves into sustainable enterprises, capable of adapting to changing priorities, markets and customer demand. European organisations often lead the way. KPMG’s latest Change Readiness Index ranks business action on rapid change based on an 62
‘Enterprise Sustainability’ metric, which takes into account factors such as carbon emissions per unit of GDP and the energy mix used by the business community. The ranking places Switzerland first overall, and in terms of Enterprise Sustainability, for the second consecutive year. European countries fill five other places in the Enterprise Sustainability top 10. There are three areas around which discussions and debates about the sustainable enterprise tend to be focused: the environmental impact or footprint of the business, the need to create a sustainable business model and why a sustainable workforce is critical. The focus on reducing environmental impact by reducing energy FEBRUARY 2020
63
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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
a b le n i a t s u s a g n i “ Build ly n o l l i w e c r o f k wor , r e v e w o h , k r truly wo he t n i e n o y r e v e if itted m m o c s i s s e bu s i n nge ” a h c o t n e p o a nd — Richard Seel, r, Supply Chain to c e ir D g in g a n a M US), delaware & Logistics (UK &
usage, emissions and introducing ‘smarter’ practices in the workforce is important. However, businesses also need to make certain that their specific business model is sustainable. They need an approach that sustains resources within the business over time.
CREATING A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODEL From the outset, planning for the long-term is key, which is becoming increasingly difficult when factors
64
such as market demand and competition are constantly shifting. To achieve longevity, organisations need to apply sustainability principles in everything they do. Resources — both people and other assets — are crucial. Sustainable businesses focus on making those resources sustainable over time — and that means being willing and able to adapt the business model to match changed priorities. In line with this, true sustainability is often about understanding the market landscape and ensuring the business proposition FEBRUARY 2020
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘AR METALLIZING ENSURES SUSTAINABLE GROWTH WITH MICROSOFT DYNAMICS’ 65 is aligned to shifting customer
involve the combination of historical
demand. To be sustainable, smart
data, data analytics and key algo-
organisations must reflect on
rithms to quickly detect anomalies
addressing customer and societal
and notify the relevant people quickly,
needs, often without even knowing
enabling businesses to reduce costs
in advance what the optimal solution
by addressing and resolving any
might be. In today’s age of automation,
inefficiencies in the process, as well
building a sustainable business
as stay compliant by quickly identify-
model will almost certainly involve
ing where it may be in breach of the
digital transformation.
rules and rapidly rectifying this.
That could mean the introduction
These examples highlight the
of machine learning and AI-powered
sustainability benefits that digitally-
systems that diagnose problems in
driven innovations can bring to
advance, enabling quick intervention
businesses. However, when organisa-
and problem resolution. It could
tions move to digital technologies, e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
they need to have a ‘Plan B’ in place to be able to keep the business up and running in the event that systems and networks are brought down or experience a security breach. A recent cyber — attack on Norsk Hydro, a global aluminium producer, forced the company into desperate measures. The entire workforce — 35,000 people — had to switch to pen and paper as a result. Production lines shaping molten metal were switched over to manual functions, and in some cases, long66
retired workers came back in to help colleagues run things “the old-fashioned way”. a key role here in indicating just how
A SUSTAINABLE WORKFORCE
positive and sustainable workplace
Every business can look to reduce
culture is. Businesses need insights
their environmental impact and make
into their workforce that span levels,
changes to their business model to
departments and entities — and it’s
drive long-term sustainability. However,
important to link talent data with
if they do not put practices in place
enterprise information. The answer
to cultivate sustainable employees,
is a global system of records able to
they risk undoing that good work.
harmonise data generated by different
To drive a more sustainable work-
sources, providing key insight into
force, leaders must cultivate an
problems or issues. It is this type of
environment that helps people
reporting which drives sustainability.
to be empowered, productive and resilient. Technology can play FEBRUARY 2020
Companies must apply the digital mindset to HR and workplace processes
e e y o l p m e n e “ Wh p u t ’ n s i g n i e b well ss e n i s u b e h t , r to pa the s s o r c a s r e f f su in ” a h c e u l a v e r i ent — Richard Seel, r, Supply Chain Managing Directo US), delaware & Logistics (UK &
67
to support productivity and growth — or risk becoming obsolete. SAP SuccessFactors, a leading cloud-
attrition rates make organisations more sustainable. This approach to building a sustain-
based HR solution, is an integrated
able workforce will only truly work,
environment encompassing all HR
however, if everyone in the business is
processes that is driven by data and
committed and open to change. There
analytics — and the ideal path to
must be business-wide sponsorship to
sustainable smart HR.
creating and maintaining a sustainable
By helping to ensure employees are happy and have greater wellbeing at work, organisations can
work culture — and this may involve cultural and operational change. As we look to the future, it is likely
increase long-term business viability.
that predictive analytics will become
Employees that are happy are less
ever more important in maintaining a
likely to leave, and the resultant lower
happy, sustainable workforce. As an e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
ns o i t a s i n a g r o , ity v e g n o l e v e i les h p i c n i r “ To ac p y t i l i b ina a t s u s y l p p a o need t o” d y e h t g n i h t y in ever — Richard Seel, r, Supply Chain to c e ir D g in g a n a M US), delaware & Logistics (UK &
68
FEBRUARY 2020
example, an employee applies for maternity leave through the organisation’s HR system. This employee ‘life event’ triggers the HR department to start offering communications specific to that employee, so for example, asking: have you thought about childcare vouchers? Have you thought about the return-to-work programme or our part-time working options? In rolling out concepts such as this one, employee wellbeing is prioritised. Ultimately, the strength of a company lies in the health of its people, especially in the professional services industry where human capital is the company’s added value. When employee wellbeing isn’t up to par, the business suffers across the entire value chain, making burnout a business critical challenge, and driving down overall levels of sustainability into the bargain. But businesses that focus on a sustainable workforce and ally that with a sustainable business model and environmentally-friendly business practices are likely to be here for the long-haul.
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69
CITY FOCUS | PORTO
Business Chief takes a look at Porto, an ascendant economic powerhouse complete with Portugal’s greatest qualities
72
MARCUS LAWRENCE
POR WRITTEN BY
FEBRUARY 2020
RTO City Focus
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CITY FOCUS | PORTO
T
he historic Atlantic city of Porto traces its roots back to the 5th Century BC,
with its Celtic founders having been
succeeded by the Romans some 200 years later. So named for its role as a key port dur-
ing the Roman occupation, Porto is home to the outlet of the Douro, an 897km-long river whose source resides in northern-central Spain. Since its origins in ancient times, Porto has become Portugal’s second-largest city, its centre is a UNESCO Heritage Site and, along with Lisbon, it is one of the country’s two global 74
cities as designated by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. World Population Review estimates that Porto’s 2020 population sits at 1,312,947, with around 93% of residents being Portuguese nationals. As a growing European tourism hotspot with a solid economic outlook and thriving business, that figure is set to steadily grow over the coming decades at a rate of 0.2-0.35%.
BUSINESS While port, the city’s eponymous fortified wine, remains its most famous and favoured export, the past century’s industrial growth in Porto and the surrounding region has established it as one of the country’s key business hubs. The
FEBRUARY 2020
75
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CITY FOCUS | PORTO
“ The past century’s industrial growth in Porto and the surrounding region has established it as one of the country’s key business hubs” corporate landscape in and around the
2018, PCB (which operates largely under
city is diverse and thriving, with giants
its Millennium brand) served 2.3mn
from myriad industries basing their
Portuguese customers and had 546
global operations in the region.
branches across the country. According to Forbes, the company’s market cap
76
PORTUGUESE COMMERCIAL BANK
reached US$4.2bn in May 2019, and it
Portugal’s preeminent banking institu-
boasted 15,794 employees worldwide at
tion, Portuguese Commercial Bank
the time.
(PCB), is headquartered in Porto and was founded in 1985. At the close of
FEBRUARY 2020
As a major Portuguese investor, PCB takes pride in its approach to
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘PORTO AND THE NORTH AS NEVER SEEN BEFORE’ 77
sustainable financing. Having signed the
management and renewable energy
Letter of Commitment to Sustainable
generation. Founded in 2005, the firm
Financing in Portugal as part of its
posted revenues of €612mn in 2016
wider sustainability strategy, it has com-
through its 692 employees. The group’s
mitted to investment in opportunities
primary eucalyptus pulping arm, Celbi,
which promote and develop solutions
produces over 770,000 tonnes of pulp
that will facilitate the realisation of
annually, while its Celtejo factory pro-
Portuguese carbon neutrality by 2050.
duces over 200,000 tonnes of bleached pulp each year.
ALTRI
The firm’s integrated forestry pro-
Another major player based in Porto
gramme enables sustainable operations
is industrial conglomerate Altri, a
from a wood sourcing perspective, as
firm focused primarily on eucalyptus
well as providing an avenue for self-
pulp production, strategic forest
sustained renewable energy production. e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
CITY FOCUS | PORTO
Residual biomass and the energy potential of lignins (core polymers found in plant cell walls) both offer means of producing energy. Burning lignin-rich residue leftover from the pulping process produces steam which in turn drives a generator. Tree waste from the pulping process is burned in biomass boilers to similarly produce steam and spin a generator. Altri says the energy produced by these methods 78
is sent directly to the grid, cutting into the share of coal-based electricity found in Portugal’s energy network.
FEBRUARY 2020
“ Standing over the city is the Romanesque cathedral with its staggeringly beautiful stonework bordering intricate blue and white tile images”
MOTA-ENGIL Basing its operations in the Norte Region of which Porto is the capital, Mota-Engil is a group focused primarily on construction, port operations, water and waste management, and logistics. In 2019, the group reported an annual turnover for FY18 of €2.8bn. This sum was predominantly generated through operations in Europe, Africa and Latin America, with a presence in 28 countries across those markets. Considered to be a rising star on the global construction stage, Mota-Engil was named at #71 on Deloitte’s Top 100 Global Powers of Construction list in 2018, as well as
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
79
CITY FOCUS | PORTO
“ Altri’s integrated forestry programme enables sustainable operations from a wood sourcing perspective, as well as providing an avenue for self-sustained renewable energy production” being named an Empresa Socialmente Responsable (Socially Responsible Company) by the Mexican Center for Philanthropy. Its impressive performance looks set to continue, with Mota-Engil announcing in December 2019 that it 80
had secured fresh contracts worth a total of €450mn for construction projects in Mexico, Honduras and Angola.
TOURISM It comes as no surprise that one of Europe’s oldest cities is replete with historic sites, museums and iconic landmarks waiting to be delved. Currently in the midst of a tourism boom, the city has become particularly tourist friendly; Porto boasts a low crime rate, particularly for a major city, friendly locals and a high frequency of English speakers. In terms of things to do, the aforementioned port industry thrives not only on the quality of its wine but also on tourists’ FEBRUARY 2020
appetite for vineyard tours, river cruises along the Douro (itself bordered by typically verdant and quaint vineyards) and wine tasting afternoons. Another tranquil way to spend a few hours is the Lello Bookstore, an architectural marvel built in 1906 by engineer Xavier Esteves that has since become renowned as one of the world’s finest book shops. Standing over the city is the Romanesque cathedral with its staggeringly beautiful stonework bordering intricate blue and white tile images, a highly recommended visit to its ornate Gothic cloister, and remarkable views over the city, river and coastline. Traditional Fado performances are considered an essential cultural touchstone, and the city has no shortage of daily shows. The melancholic and passionately delivered genre is best experienced in smaller venues where the consuming acoustics can have their full effect. Such soul-enriching experiences emblematise the serenity, beauty and zest of Porto at large.
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T O P 10
84
FEBRUARY 2020
CEOs in Europe Business Chief ranks the top 10 CEOs in Europe according to company revenue, with reference to Statista and Forbes’ 2019 Global 2000 ranking of the world’s largest public companies WRITTEN BY
AMBER DONOVAN-STEVENS
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85
T O P 10
196,000 NO. EMPLOYEES
Paris
HEAD QUARTERS
$46.8bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS
86
10
Jean-Laurent Bonnafé BNP PARIBAS
Jean-Laurent Bonnafé is the CEO of French banking group BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank. Before joining the company in 1993 as an investment banker, he studied engineering at the École Polytechnique and the École des Mine. He became CEO in 2011 and remains widely credited for the successful acquisitions of Paribas, BNL and Fortis. Today, BNP Paribas operates across France, Belgium and Italy and has a market capitalisation of US$68.7bn
FEBRUARY 2020
09
José Antonio Álvarez SANTANDER
Santander is the 30th largest company in the world, according to Forbes, and CEO José Antonio Álvarez, ranks as the ninth most wealthy CEO in Europe. Álvarez joined the bank in 2002 and became CFO two years later. The group has grown exponentially since then, evolving the Banco Santander name through acquisitions and rebranding, creating branches in Poland, the UK and the US. Álvarez became CEO in 2015 and an Executive Vice Chairman in January 2019.
87
188,000 NO. EMPLOYEES
Boadilla del Monte HEAD QUARTERS
$53.68bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
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T O P 10
08
Noel Quinn HSBC HOLDINGS
Noel Quinn has been the interim CEO of HSBC holdings for a little over six months. Before taking up the position, he was appointed Chief Executive of Global Commercial Banking in December 2015. HSBC is listed on both the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges and, from 2011 to 2015, he was based in Hong Kong, filling the position of Regional Head of Commercial Banking for Asia Pacific. Today, HSBC is the seventh largest bank in the world with total assets of over US$2.56trn, the largest bank in Europe and the second largest company on the London Stock Exchange.
89
235,000 NO. EMPLOYEES
London HEAD QUARTERS
$64.3bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS
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T O P 10
469,600 NO. EMPLOYEES
Moscow HEAD QUARTERS
$112bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS
90
07
Alexey Miller GAZPROM
Alexey Miller is the Chairman of the Management committee of Russian energy company Gazprom, the 40th largest organisation worldwide. The public joint stock company was founded in 1989 and is majority-owned by the Russian government, with the remaining shares listed across the London, Moscow and Frankfurt stock markets. Gazprom is currently in the process of moving its headquarters to the Lakhta Center skyscraper in Saint Petersburg. Miller is the longest serving CEO featured in this top 10.
FEBRUARY 2020
147,000 NO. EMPLOYEES
Munich HEAD QUARTERS
$114.8bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS
91
06
Oliver Bäte ALLIANZ
Oliver Bäte has been Chairman of the Board of Management (CEO) of Allianz since May 2015. He originally held the position of COO when he joined the company in 2008, serving as CFO from 2009-2012. Bäte graduated from both the University of Cologne and the New York University Stern School of Business. According to Forbes, as of 2014, Allianz is the largest insurance company and financial services group in the world, specialising in a number of products ranging from general insurance to asset management.
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T O P 10
298,683 NO. EMPLOYEES
Stuttgart HEAD QUARTERS
$190bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS
05
Ola Källenius
93
DAIMLER
Ola Källenius became CEO of Daimler in May 2019. Known for its automotives, Daimler is known for its eponymous brand along with Mercedes and Smart. Källenius started out with the company in 1993 and has since held a number of roles, representing the company across Europe and in the US. From 2010 to 2013, he held the position of Chairman of the Management of Mercedes-AMG GmbH. From 2013, he sat as a member on the executive board of Mercedes-Benz Cars, responsible for sales. At the start of 2015 he was appointed to the board of management for Daimler AG, and from 2017 managed the “Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development” division. He succeeds Thomas Weber, who had previously held the role since 2004.
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T O P 10
104,000 NO. EMPLOYEES
Paris
HEAD QUARTERS
$209.4bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS
94
04
Patrick Pouyanné TOTAL
Patrick Pouyanné is the current CEO of the French oil and gas company, Total, and has held the role since 2014. He graduated from École Polytechnique in Paris with a degree in engineering, and joined Total in 2000 after it acquired the petroleum company, Elf. Total, which was founded in 1924, has emerged today as one of the six supermajor oil companies in the world. In September 2015, Pouyanné was decorated as a Knight of the Legion of Honour.
FEBRUARY 2020
03
Herbert Diess
VOLKSWAGEN GROUP
Dr Herbert Diess is the Chairman of the Board of Management of the world’s largest automaker, Volkswagen Group. The Group is home to a number of automotive brands such as Volkswagen, Porsche, Bugatti and Audi. Diess has been CEO since 2018, having succeeded Matthias Müller. Diess holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a doctorate in Assembly Automation, graduating from Munich Technical University in 1987. In 2018, Diess was named among the “Best CEOs in the World” by CEOWORLD magazine.
656,000 NO. EMPLOYEES
Wolfsburg HEAD QUARTERS
$278bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS
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T O P 10
02
Bob Dudley BP
Bob Dudley is the American-born CEO of British oil and gas company BP. Dudley’s BP career dates back to 1998 when it acquired his previous employer, oil company Amoco. He has since remained with the supermajor and is due to retire this year, preceding Bernard Looney. BP Chairman Helge Lund said: “Bob has dedicated his whole career to the service of this industry.” Helge also acknowledged that Dudley was appointed CEO during one of the most challenging times in BP’s history. 96
FEBRUARY 2020
73,000 NO. EMPLOYEES
London HEAD QUARTERS
$303.7bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS
97
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘OIL & MONEY 2019 - DAY 2 KEYNOTE, BOB DUDLEY, BP’
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T O P 10
01
Ben van Beurden ROYAL DUTCH SHELL
Ranking in first place is Bernardus Cornelis Adriana Margriet “Ben” van Beurden, CEO of oil supermajor Royal Dutch Shell, the largest public company in Europe. Achieving an annual revenue of over US$388.4bn, the British-Dutch company ranks in ninth place on Forbes’ Global 2000. With a career spanning over 35 years, van Beurden became CEO in January 2015, 98
succeeding Peter Voser, making him the second Dutch CEO of the company since its creation in 2004. The company continues to operate through its three major segments: Upstream, Downstream, and Corporate. Shell has won countless awards, and ranked across a number of Forbes awards for Best Employer 2019 in the following categories: New Grads, Diversity, Women, and in the America and Canada regions.
FEBRUARY 2020
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘OIL & MONEY 2019 - DAY 2 KEYNOTE, BEN VAN BEURDEN, ENERGY EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR’ 99
81,000 NO. EMPLOYEES
The Hague HEAD QUARTERS
$388.4bn REVENUE IN US DOLLARS
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100
Charting a course for the energy transition through procurement WRITTEN BY
MARCUS LAWRENCE PRODUCED BY
CHARLOTTE CLARKE
FEBRUARY 2020
101
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As BP’s procurement transformation goes from strength to strength, we speak with Mark Smith and Alex Thomson to discuss the pivotal role that Compass is playing on its enhanced operations
P
rocurement and digital transformation have become intrinsically linked in recent years. While the former has become more
central to business operations for organisations around the globe, the latter seeks to disrupt dated strategies and technologies that have become 102
increasingly incompatible with the demands of modern business. The combination of the two delivers profound benefits for organisations that can master such fine alchemy; offering agility, flexibility, leanness, sustainability and readiness for both business and geopolitical landscapes that are evolving faster than ever before. At BP, the launch of its proprietary Compass platform forms the backbone of procurement transformation within and beyond its Global Business Services (GBS) division. The platform, developed with scalability and flexibility in mind, enables integrated, end-toend, digitalised procurement processes. Offering ease of use, visibility, artificial intelligence (AI), automated source-to-pay (S2P) functions and a portal for external stakeholders, Compass is revolutionising the way procurement operates at BP. FEBRUARY 2020
Server room at the Center for High-Performance Computing. Photo © BP Images
103
Formulating BP’s new ACTIVE fuels. Photo © BP Images
Serving as the glue of the transformation, Compass brings vital components together from across the organisation to foster collaboration and visibility like never before. “Procurement and supply chain have been thought of as linear processes in the past,” says Mark Smith, Head of Strategy and Transformation for BP’s GBS Procurement organisation. “You start with a strategy, you end with a contract, you place an order and then, at some point, you’ll go back and restart. In the modern world, you’re e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
“ You’ve got to be efficient, but you’ve got to be effective. A number of companies have gone for efficiency – and that’s very good for function – but you’ve got to balance out the effectiveness of the output” 104
— Alex Thomson, Head of Procurement Services, BP GBS
constantly in all parts of that process. “There might be new and emerging technologies that force you to rethink a strategy you devised six months ago; there might be changes to your demand patterns that come out of your ordering behaviour, necessitating a review of your supplier portfolio.” Enabling effective management of these concurrent processes, Smith says, is Compass’s raison d’etre. “The process’s execution may exist in different systems, such as SAP Ariba or some of our legacy environments, but Compass provides end-to-end digital integration of all elements of procurement in one place.” Highlighting other factors driving the firm’s procurement transformation, Smith begins with the seismic shifts in the global energy market. “The world will require significantly more energy to support population growth and the prosperity that everyone is looking to drive,” he says, “but that energy needs to come with lower carbon. To do this, BP needs access to new ways of doing things, disruptive thinking and new technologies.” In procurement, this challenge can be tackled by optimising
FEBRUARY 2020
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BP GBS – MARK SMITH, HEAD OF PROCUREMENT STRATEGY ON PROACTIVE OPERATIONS’ 105 the mechanics of its supplier inter-
technologies emerge, such as new
actions – a key component of the
battery technology or alternative forms
Compass platform.
of power and energy.” Smith summa-
Another considerable factor is the
rises: “The thrust of the procurement
attraction and retention of top-tier
transformation is around three things.
talent, both internal and external to
The first is people, the second is about
the organisation; the training and
enabling the organisation with the
development of whom can drive the
with the correct tools, and the third is
sharpest innovations which will assist
about combining both people and
in future-proofing the company as
tools together in order to harness BP’s
the wider industry evolves. “As the
data to drive value.”
world changes, the requirements are
Unlocking the nascent power and
changing,” says Alex Thomson, Head
enabling qualities of BP’s data has
of Procurement Services. “We must
required innovative but pragmatic
be agile and able to adjust as new
thinking, and Compass is the result e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
of such an approach. “We’ve thought
a similar fashion to a sale, with the
innovatively about our entire end-to-
related work being distributed to the
end process,” says Smith. “If you think
stakeholders concerned promptly and
about it, sales is the mirror image
accurately. In sum, the sales-esque
of running a procurement exercise,
process delivers vital data to the
and so we’ve used a sales platform
right specialists as required, provid-
repurposed in reverse to run our pro-
ing both democratisation of data and
curement processes.” Opportunities
enhanced visibility.
are funnelled through Compass in
While the benefits to efficiency are
E X ECU T I VE P RO FI LE
Mark Smith 106
Mark Smith is the current Director of Strategy and Transformation for GBS Procurement in BP (having previously held a similar position in Downstream Procurement since 2012), driving the Procurement operating model, systems and process transformation. Overall, Mark has over 17 years’ experience in functional strategy and business transformation, specialising in Procurement within oil and gas. Working with organisations such as Shell, Chevron, Babcock, Centrica, Taqa, Husky and Seadrill, Mark has experience across the Procurement lifecycle from Category Management to Source to Pay in Upstream, Downstream and Corporate and Functions supply chains. Mark holds an LLB (Hons) and Masters degree in IT from the University of Nottingham. He is married to Jackie and has two children, and recently completed his fifth marathon.
FEBRUARY 2020
clear, Thomson stresses that focus-
of the output. What you then enable
ing solely on making processes more
from the supply market to the users
efficient is tantamount to wasting
is appropriate for the output quality
opportunities. “You’ve got to be effi-
you need.” Through Compass, BP is
cient, but you’ve got to be effective,”
able to connect the end-to-end chain
he explains. “A number of companies
from strategy and category strategy
have gone for efficiency – and that’s
through to execution and the place-
very good for function – but you’ve
ment of commitment in the supply
got to balance out the effectiveness
market. “That adds efficiency to
E X E CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Alex Thomson Alex Thomson is currently the Global Head of GBS Procurement in BP. He leads a cross-regional, crossfunctional team that manages BP’s global Corporate categor y demand, covering areas such as IT and Business consulting, as well as being accountable for BP’s source-to-pay activities. Alex has over 30 years’ business experience in BP in a wide range of business roles. These include managing the performance of chemical businesses, leading strategic change in IT and Procurement and executing the delivery of major M&A projects. Immediately prior to his current role, Alex was Head of Country for BP in Malaysia and led the GBS Asia operation in Kuala Lumpur, supporting BP businesses and functions worldwide.
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107
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Mitigate risk through robust supply channels to maintain technical integrity and timely delivery
PROCUREMENT 4.0 – ARE YOU READY? Procurement has been at the forefront of adopting cloud-based digital platforms enabling efficient transacting processing. This transition to cloud that started with indirect purchasing has accelerated to direct materials. Key purchasing functions have gone a step further by building an ecosystem of solutions offering rich automation and intelligence lowering transaction costs by an average of ~30%. Some industries like oil and gas have lagged in digitalization due to a mix of high regulations, significant variations between upstream and downstream and history of acquisitions. Figure 1. lists some of the typical challenges these industries face in their procurement value chain.
• • • •
• Under-exploited early payment discounts • Delayed payments
• Blocked invoices • Lack of invoice status visibility
• • • •
• Supply Chain Financing • P-cards
• Receipt Settlement • 2-3-4-way match
Supply chain disruption due to supplier risks Incorrect spend categorization Poor savings visibility / category Absence of fraud prevention Dashboards Categorization Spend Analysis Sourcing Strategy
Process Activity Capability
• eRFx
• Challenges
Resolve • Lack of control in text based requisitions
• e-Invoicing • PO-flip
Pay
Identify
Assess
Receive Invoice
Pay
Source
Transact
Procure
Contract
Approve
Request
Evaluation
• Tender Mgmt • Qualification
Enable
• Limited category strategy • Unstructured cost reduction initiatives • Lack of collaborative platform • Insufficient buyer productivity
• Cumbersome vendor collaboration • Vendor Managed Inventory
• Lack of decision support for approvals
In our experience, such companies can accelerate their digital transformation journey by adopting an approach based on four key principles – a clear view of applications at the core, automating and optimizing in parallel, AI as a central part of data operations and building an agile culture. Digital Core: Transitioning from a jigsaw of legacy applications to a user-friendly digital platform starts with a clear definition of process that need to be part of the core and those that need to be part of the surrounding ecosystem. User experience needs to be at the center of this decision and supported by seamless data and process flows. We recommend associating productivity and cycle time KPIs with user experience to make this a quantifiable benefit. Automation: Process variability and disjointed workflows are prevalent in most organizations. While in an ideal scenario, streamlined processes are first developed and implemented, driving automation in parallel can release investments and capacity required to drive larger transformation programs. Looking ahead, these automated KPI driven processes form the cornerstone of the new solution. AI and data: The challenge of combining meaningful data for analysis and transaction processing has long existed. A bill of material that is common across supply and demand, item master with the right attributes, and supplier masters with well-defined descriptions are examples of elusive essential building blocks. This is one area where AI is playing a significant role in both helping clean current data sets and merging information from new data sets to provide meaningful reporting with a significant positive impact across procurement KPIs. Agile mindset: Most large companies have followed a traditional waterfall approach with multi-year timelines and complex program structures. Even companies claiming to
• Automated Approval Workflow • Exception Management
• e-Requisition • Guided Procurement
• Performance Management • Classification
Negotiate
• Bidding Process • Reverse Auction
• Rudimentary quote comparison • Manual sourcing process • Poor identification of sourcing opportunities
Contract • • • • •
Onboarding Contract Lifecycle Mgmt. Digitize Contracts Clause Standardization Approval Workflow
• Low contract compliance • Cumbersome contract obligation mgmt. • Long contract lead time
Fragmented process • • • • •
Maverick buying Non-compliant spend Disparate / fragmented landscape Un-intuitive UI Ineffective knowledge-sharing
• Supplier performance not linked to procurement decisions • Poor supplier risk assessment
© Infosys Consulting
adopt agile are largely adopting the waterfall-based QA stage-gate process. Adopting agile requires the upfront allocation of the right team with end users, solution developers working in close co-operation and acceptance of imperfect product versions as a natural part of developing the solution. This fast iterative cycle and close co-operation cuts the project delivery time significantly and has been proven to enable radical simplification of end-to-end processes. In summary, a mix of clear vision, new technologies, and an agile mindset is already enabling leading purchasing functions to accelerate procurement digital transformation. The timing is right for all organizations to accelerate their journey to procurement 4.0.
Robin Goswami Senior Vice President, Global Head – Energy (Oil and Gas) Practice, Infosys Ltd.
Robin Goswami is a Senior Vice President and heads the Energy (Oil and Gas) practice in Infosys. Goswami has been instrumental in building the oil & gas practice in the organization since its inception to its current stature. He is a transformative leader with over two decades of experience in the IT industry. He is also a member of the board of directors of two companies - an IT consulting firm acquired by the Infosys Energy practice, and a global consortium that sets data exchange standards for the Upstream Oil & Gas industry.
© 2019 Infosys Limited, Bengaluru, India.
“ The world will require significantly more energy to support population growth and the prosperity that everyone is looking to drive, but that energy needs to come with lower carbon. To do this, BP needs access to new ways of doing things, disruptive thinking and new technologies coming from the supply market” — Mark Smith, Head of Procurement Strategy, Performance and Transformation, BP Downstream
110 processes and visibility of information
is to move to a world where we’re using
as to where work is progressing along
much more guided buying, with con-
that continuum, as well as improving
sumer-like technology that allows end
the output because you can see
users to self-serve,” he says, noting
the quality and whether it’s meeting
that such innovations are revolutionis-
users’ needs.”
ing procurement’s position within the
The modular aspect of Compass
wider organisation. “Like many procure-
means that this solid foundation can be
ment organisations out there, we’ve
built upon and modified to reflect trends
really struggled with the notion that,
for years to come. One such element
every time you need or want some-
to be infused into the platform’s
thing, you have to go to procurement
capabilities is automation, with Smith
and they will slow the process down.
highlighting the S2P function as one
While we still have a way to go on that
area to benefit from the emergent tech
journey, we’re starting to see more use
thus far. “The intent of automating S2P
of self-serve catalogues, quoting and
FEBRUARY 2020
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BP GBS – MARK SMITH, HEAD OF PROCUREMENT STRATEGY ON ACCESSING INNOVATION’
O U R PART N ERS
112
“Infosys are our partners responsible for developing and maintaining two key modules of our Compass platform: opportunity and case planning. The huge advantage we get from those two modules in Compass is in our ability to workforce plan, prioritise and operate our activities at scale. From those modules, we are able to assign resources to those activities, track them to completion and check their status. One of the things we’re really excited about as a development for this year, and into next year, is our work with Infosys to improve the user experience around the way cases f low through the procurement operation.” — Mark Smith
“App Orchid, with its AI capabilities that automate parts of the contract cycle, is a great example of BP using new ideas from smaller companies to increase effectiveness and efficiency in an agile way. BP has scale while companies like App Orchid have more agility and ideas of what’s possible with emerging technologies, and co-venturing brings together the best of both worlds.” — Alex Thomson
FEBRUARY 2020
113
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
buying. The net effect of that is the creation of more space in the organisation to work through the innovation agenda.” While the automated S2P features have been in operation for a few years, the firm has more recently incorporated intelligent contract reading and analytics-focused AI into Compass, enabling seamless document scanning and archiving in a way that draws value from the respective data. “We’ve been working out a proof-of-concept to allow you to conduct those searches 114
with natural language processing. For example: ‘What was my caustic soda usage in the last ‘X’ months?’.
extra-organisation communications
Compass gives us a platform to inno-
with suppliers, the intricacies of pro-
vate from while adding capacity to the
curement have evolved to the extent
organisation,” adds Smith. “We’ve also
that multiple teams, with complemen-
added collaboration technology that
tary capabilities, are found along the
allows people to work on documents
operational chain. This increases the
together in real-time, along with 360
risk of silos with poor communication
degree views of all our interactions
which in turn hamper progress. “In the
with particular strategic suppliers.”
past, you would have your procurement
Collaboration at scale is an ascend-
team who were down the corridor, and
ant necessity for organisations, but
they would have conducted the entirety
Smith says that this is particularly
of the procurement process,” Smith
acute in increasingly complex pro-
explains. “In reality, much of that now
curement environments. Whether it is
is, and should be, operated at scale
internal teams liaising for a project, or
on the behalf of the entire enterprise.
FEBRUARY 2020
Since the implementation of
“ A lot of the effort that goes into procurement is effort that most of our workforce would rather not expend” — Mark Smith, Head of Procurement Strategy, Performance and Transformation, BP Downstream
Compass, our teams have seen innumerable benefits, including: the effective distribution of work, improved management of team activity backlogs and the balance of resources. Compass has created a better experience for all those working in and around procurement. The fresh degree of visibility and comparability that BP gains between its vendors and suppliers affords it opportunities to optimise costs and quality through partner selection, while simultaneously illuminating more sustainable options. “We
have been working specifically with some of our IT suppliers on reducing their carbon impacts,” says Smith. “Some of our cloud providers, for example, are big power users, and so we can work with them to understand the source of that power and whether renewable is an option.” Thomson echoes this sentiment, adding that growing data demands from all industries will see data centre power consumption continue to rise. “It’s not a binary case of using this e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
115
visibility to decide who we will and won’t deal with,” he says. “It’s about being conscious of footprints as we buy closed requirements, and encouraging sustainable strategy.” Compass, through its document scanning functions and end-to-end digitalisation, has also seen a marked shift towards paperless operations,
“ It’s not a binary case of using this visibility to decide who we will and won’t deal with, it’s about being conscious of footprints as we buy closed requirements and encouraging sustainable strategy”
the sustainability benefits of which speak for themselves. 116
“We have been able to elimi-
— Alex Thomson, Head of Procurement Services, BP GBS
nate what amounts to around a million paper invoices from suppliers each year,” enthuses Smith. “That’s a very tangible example of
in reacting to things we would have like
how Compass is reducing our envi-
to have better foreseen, or in manually
ronmental impact.”
collecting information that allows us to
Implementing such an exhaustive overhaul of procurement functions
make better decisions.” This effort, he enthuses, is better
naturally conjures concerns around the
spent on creativity and value added
ease with which a workforce will cope
tasks. “The organisation is somewhat
with the shift, but Smith is confident
frustrated by the drains on its ability to
that BP’s procurement teams have
act in a creative capacity because of
been receptive and supportive. “A lot of
the challenges in the data landscape
the effort that goes into procurement is
and the manual activity required
effort that most of our workforce would
to keep our operations running. We
rather not expend,” he says. “Such as
want to be orchestrating rather than
FEBRUARY 2020
117
executing those processes. As we
communication, collaboration, sus-
enter this world, we’re extremely pas-
tainability, and vendor management.
sionate about using technology to
Thomson says that flexibility, however,
move us into that creative space while
is the chief boon of the GBS-led pro-
helping the organisation to upscale in
curement transformation. “Being able
a way that, where necessary, supports
to adjust as requirements evolve is vital,
that journey.”
especially as supply markets around the
The sum of all these factors, Smith
world change pretty fast. Being able to
and Thomson highlight, is a shift in
take advantage of that through procure-
procurement’s capacity to enable
ment is a hugely positive change.”
the energy transition. Compass has revolutionised procurement within BP in many aspects: visibility, ease of use, e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
118
FEBRUARY 2020
Vodafone Procurement Company: transforming the approach WRITTEN BY
SEAN GALEA-PACE PRODUCED BY
CHARLOTTE CLARKE
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V O D A F O N E P R O C U R E M E N T C O M PA N Y
Ninian Wilson, Global Supply Chain Director and CEO of Vodafone Procurement Company, discusses his organisation’s transformation journey and procurement strategies in the supply chain space
T
ransformation. It’s the major trend of the supply chain industry. And with good reason — it is essential to achieving sus-
tained long-term success. Ninian Wilson, Global Supply Chain Director and CEO of Vodafone Procurement Company, has been with the organi120
sation since 2009. He initially joined in an IT role before transitioning into his current role in 2016. As one of the first objectives upon his arrival, Wilson helped establish a transformation strategy for the organisation. The strategy, called ‘Our House’, was created with a clear mission statement: to be the best digital supply chain management (SCM) team in a connected world, powered by people and partnering to create value through innovation and ecosystem management. There are four main rooms of the house: the kitchen, games room, garage and dining room. “The kitchen is owned by the Chief Operating Officer. The best things happen in the kitchen, so naturally that’s where we run operations from,” explains Wilson. “In the garage, we have our innovation centre where we incubate small companies that can create value, whether FEBRUARY 2020
121
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V O D A F O N E P R O C U R E M E N T C O M PA N Y
“ Our House’ is built on solid foundation blocks around health and safety, purpose and inspiring our people” — Ninian Wilson, Global Supply Chain Director and CEO, Vodafone Procurement Company
that’s increased revenue, profit or taking costs out of Vodafone. The games room allows us to trial new things. For example, we try new technology to use internally in supply chain management. If it works, we scale it. If it doesn’t, then
122
we simply turn it off. Finally, we have the dining room, which represents our supply chain management sales. We work with external clients; not just for Vodafone. We invite those external clients into the dining room to see what we’ve developed and to support them in their procurement activities.” With that clear plan in place, Wilson believes the reason the house strategy has been successful is because it allows the different categories to be split up and looked after individually, while also enabling staff to take responsibility for their respective areas. “‘Our House’ is built on solid foundation FEBRUARY 2020
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ARCH SUMMIT 2019_NINIAN WILSON – CEO, VODAFONE PROCUREMENT COMPANY’ 123 blocks around health and safety, pur-
With technology beginning to take a
pose and inspiring our people,” he
firm hold in the supply chain industry,
explains. “When I first joined, our staff
Vodafone Procurement Company has
decided to renovate the house, took
become more data-focused, building
ownership and transformed it by chang-
inconsiderable digital visibility into
ing some of the themes. It’s great when
supply chain operations. “We’ve built
people feel that the whole SCM organi-
a procurement control centre here in
sation is their house and they own it.”
Luxembourg that gives us a view of
Vodafone Procurement Company
every single purchase order from the
oversees its procurement opera-
operating companies in near real-time.
tions in Luxembourg via a centralised
We can then map all of our perfor-
procurement model. The organisa-
mance metrics into that near real-time
tion manages 83% of Vodafone’s
platform,” says Wilson. “We’ve added a
overall spend and supports all 24
tremendous amount of digital visibility
of Vodafone’s operating companies.
into our supply chain operations, AND e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
VMware helps power Vodafone’s network cloud of the future.
telco.vmware.com VMware is part of Dell Technologies. © 2019 VMware, Inc. VMware and Realise What’s Possible are trademarks of VMware, Inc.
Vodafone: Building a Network Cloud of the Future Worldwide, communications service providers (CSPs) are adopting software-defined virtualised platforms and services as they evolve their mobile networks for the upcoming introduction of 5G. That’s because Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) streamlines the design and deployment of networking services and automates their operation—all while enabling scale and cost-efficiency. Vodafone Group—with mobile operations in 25 countries and fixed broadband operations in 19 markets—is working with VMware to support its global rollout of virtual network functions. Vodafone is using NFV and software-defined networking technologies across apps and networks to accelerate its delivery of cloud-based network functions. “Virtualised, cloud-native network functions are a critical element of our Group-wide program as we continue to transform how we build, operate and evolve our networks and services,” says Matt Beal, director of technology strategy and architecture at Vodafone Group. “Reducing the time and cost to deploy and operate services, using automation and convergence in standardised cloud environments for both our network and IT businesses, is a critical part of our technology and operational transformation strategies.” VMware helps CSPs like Vodafone create new revenue streams, open new industry opportunities, drive down costs and improve overall customer satisfaction by enabling them to become nimbler and more responsive. VMware provides an optimal infrastructure for all telco applications and services: customer-built, packaged, virtualised, cloud-native and software as a service (SaaS). With this infrastructure, CSPs can deliver those applications securely to any endpoint across a telco distributed cloud, including private and public cloud, branch/edge, micro data centre, gateway or end user. Companies like Vodafone can roll out multiple applications on a common NFV infrastructure, rather than building new platforms for each innovative service. The VMware-based virtualised infrastructure also provides a common architecture spanning network and IT operations, further improving operational efficiencies and overall economics. With VMware, CSPs have the flexibility to choose from several certified VMware Ready™ for NFV virtual network functions, providing confidence in pretested and pre-certified solutions that can reduce deployment risk. “Vodafone’s selection of VMware to support network transformation highlights how we are a proven, strategic software innovator that can help CSPs successfully deliver new services faster while driving down costs,” says Shekar Ayyar, executive vice president and general manager, Telco Group at VMware. “Our VMware vCloud® NFV™ platform is an agile and flexible virtualised infrastructure platform. Combined with Carrier-Grade Support, this will provide Vodafone with an open platform for new service development today, with an architecture that will support 5G deployments in the future.”
V O D A F O N E P R O C U R E M E N T C O M PA N Y
126
to help create that capability we’ve
we have a separate budget to try new
employed several data scientists. It’s
things which may or may not work,”
a truly international operation and the
explains Wilson. “Once we’ve seen,
team helps us to remain focused on
understood and analysed a specific
digitalising everything we do in the
technology, we then create a business
supply chain.”
case for implementation and are rigor-
Although Wilson recognises the
ous on how we implement that new
value of implementing technology,
technology and capability within the
he believes it’s important to not just
organisation.” Over the past few years,
introduce new processes for the sake
Vodafone Procurement Company has
of it. “There are things you should
sharpened its focus on digitalisation
try to see if they work, because it’s
significantly. To Wilson, operations are
important to improve your capabilities
centred around ‘performance manage-
and knowledge. That’s why we ensure
ment and metrics’. “If you think of that
FEBRUARY 2020
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Ninian Wilson, Ninian joined Vodafone on 1 June 2009 as SCM IT Director, and was appointed to the board of the Vodafone Procurement Company in November 2009. From 2014-16 Ninian held the role of SCM Technology Director, and was responsible for all technology sourcing in Vodafone including networks, IT and new product development. In March 2016 he was appointed as Director of Group SCM and CEO of the Vodafone Procurement Company. Prior to joining Vodafone, Ninian held the position of Operations Director for Royal Mail plc, managing the largest workforce in the United Kingdom with full accountability for the delivery of Royal Mail’s customer promise and its transformation programme. Previously, Ninian held senior positions in Cable & Wireless plc. (Chief Procurement Officer & Group Property Director) and was a member of the board of the Caribbean Business Unit and Trustee of the Pension Scheme. Ninian was educated at Aberdeen University and holds a Bsc Hons degree in Geography. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply and a life member of the Institute of Directors. Ninian lives in Luxembourg with his wife Philippa.
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V O D A F O N E P R O C U R E M E N T C O M PA N Y
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FEBRUARY 2020
129
2008
Year founded
250
Number of employees
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
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transactional activity, it’s all digitalised
With continuous improvement a key
and metric driven. The next step we’re
component of Wilson’s mantra, he
working on is adding artificial intel-
believes that you can’t afford to stand
ligence (AI) into our processes,” he
still. “If you win a gold medal at the
says. “In our procurement organisation,
Olympics, you’ve done very well in your
everything is digitally presented on
particular sport, but the people who
scorecards. There’s no PowerPoint
really stand out are the ones who win
presentation. Over the past year, we’ve
consistently and keep on breaking
slowly increased our interest in AI
world records,” he says. “This applies
and machine learning (ML), which is
to us because we want to have a mental-
centered around category manage-
ity where it’s about being excellent at
ment and the tender process. It’s a
what we do and continually improving
work in progress and will enable us
all of our metrics, costs and perfor-
to ensure we’ve covered all the pieces
mance. It’s a mindset which we have
of the value stream and digitalised over
here in the leadership team and in
a three to five year journey.”
supply chain management.” While Wilson believes his organisation is in a great place, he also understands the necessity of striving to be better every year. “It’s so important that we all have the mindset around improvement
“ It’s a truly international operation and we remain focused on how they can help digitalise everything we do in the supply chain” — Ninian Wilson, Global Supply Chain Director and CEO, Vodafone Procurement Company e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
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V O D A F O N E P R O C U R E M E N T C O M PA N Y
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FEBRUARY 2020
and excellence, because we can always do better every year,” says Wilson. “Everyone else in procurement improves, so you’ve got to keep trying to enhance yourself, team and function. I’m a great believer in continuous improvement and striving for things that seem impossible.” Vodafone Procurement Company values its collaboration with other companies. Wilson points to the 12 strategic partnerships which exist
— Name of Person, Position and company
as key network and IT vendors. “Our partnerships are grounded in strong commercial foundations. For example, if we’re working with a technology partner with state-of-the-art technology, then we think about how we manage those relationships so that we both get mutual benefit,” he explains. “Every two months there will be a 90-minute check-in for some of the key technology partners. There are two parts to the agenda; there’s a review of performance and then there’s new releases that the vendor would like to come and talk to us about.” Looking to the future, Wilson believes that Vodafone is built for success in the ever-evolving supply chain industry e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
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“ I’m a great believer in continuous improvement and striving for things that seem impossible” — Ninian Wilson, Global Supply Chain Director and CEO, Vodafone Procurement Company FEBRUARY 2020
135
over the next few years. “We have
and that’s a really positive develop-
a tremendous European platform
ment for the industry. Ultimately,
now, following the acquisitions which
digitalisation and transparency will
we completed last year in Germany
walk hand in hand together and con-
and central and eastern Europe,” he
tinue to transform the supply chain
explains. “In terms of future evolution
over the next five years.”
of the industry, I think we’re seeing more automation of the menial tasks and more AI and ML being leveraged. Blockchain is also becoming more important in the supply chain space e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
136
Aiming for zero waste and maximum metal recovery WRITTEN BY
DAN BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY
RICHARD DEANE
FEBRUARY 2020
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H I N D U S TA N Z I N C
How Hindustan Zinc, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, is aiming to make its flagship Sindesar Khurd and Rampura Agucha operations the most advanced digital mines in the world
H
industan Zinc is India’s only zinc producer and among the world’s top three zinc producers today. A subsidiary of Vedanta
Resources, the company’s flagship operation, Rampura Agucha (Agucha) in Rajasthan, is the 138
world’s largest mine for industrial metal. Allied to this, and strategic to the company’s growth, is the Sindesar Khurd (SK) mine offering a rich source of silver along with zinc and lead. Hindustan Zinc also runs three large smelting operations at Chanderiya, Dariba and Debari in north west India and 10 milling facilities across the country. “How do we drive efficiency to support future growth across our operations?” asks Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer at Hindustan Zinc, Vedanta Resources. “The whole point of our digital transformation is to build a foundation to prepare ourselves for the next phase of growth to support key outcomes of enhanced safety, improved productivity and reduced costs with true technology innovation.”
FEBRUARY 2020
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H I N D U S TA N Z I N C
“The whole point of our digital transformation is to build a foundation to prepare ourselves for the next phase of growth to support key outcomes of enhanced safety, improved productivity and reduced costs with true technology innovation” — Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Vedanta Resources
142
FEBRUARY 2020
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘CORPORATE FILM HINDUSTAN ZINC DIRECTED BY MANEESH JOSHI’ 143 Gorain points out that few mining
business operation models for each
companies work in this way: “We
and every part of a unit operation so
take a very holistic view of this digital
that we can go beyond data analysis
innovation with a portfolio focused on
with a system based approach and
three areas to build that foundation.
official automation.
Critically, the first step is to integrate
“This leads us into the third area.
all of our operating data into one
Digital alone is not going to help us so
platform so it can enable the digital
we must support our subject matter
enterprise with all of the financial,
expertise. Many companies across the
commercial and HR systems.
globe go digital but without strength-
“Secondly, with all the data on a sin-
ening their core know-how, which for
gle platform, we have begun a deeper
us is mining, milling and smelting. The
analytics drive where we’re looking
idea is to leverage digital, which is just
not just at predictive and prescrip-
the enabler to help us in optimising all
tive controls, but also at developing
of our individual operations. Now this e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
Cisco enables digitization of India’s largest underground mine, Hindustan Zinc Limited As the digital transformation technology partner of Hindustan Zinc, Cisco deployed a scalable and secure underground mine network to improve the efficiency of the mine’s operations, extend the life of its assets, and control costs while supporting its present and future demands. In association with Cisco, Hindustan Zinc aims to develop a fully connected, efficient, safe and collaborative mining system.
CLICK TO WATCH: HZL’s mining 4.0 journey powered by Cisco
Welcome to the future of connected mining!
“Digitization is the future and our partnership with Cisco is going to help us move in that direction.” - Barun Gorain Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Hindustan Zinc
145
approach is actually quite deep, com-
asset tracking, people tracking, asset
pared to most companies, and this is
management, short interval controls,
where we see the benefits.”
automated scheduling & task manage-
In embracing Mining 4.0 Gorain’s
ment management,” he says. “We are
team is using the OSI-PI system to
doing this at a scale not seen before in
bring all operating data – mining, mill-
any underground mining scenario, it’s
ing, smelting and power plant – into
a game changer.”
one platform which will eventually be
To change the game, Vedanta has
integrated with SAP. “We are looking
recently inaugurated their Hindustan
to digitally integrate 1,500 people, over
Zinc Collaboration Centre based at
200 pieces of equipment and several
the company’s head office in part-
different outsourced business part-
nership with OSIsoft and ABB to
ners at our flagship SK and Agucha
improve efficiency, safety and sustain-
mines. It allows us to do real-time
ability while enhancing value across e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
The cutting edge of underground productivity and safety True digitalization of underground mines with double digit productivity increase, unparalleled efficiency and increased safety in modern mines. The undisputed leading product portfolio Mobilaris Mining Intelligence™ features: - Real-time Situational Awareness with 3D visualization opens the lid and enables transparency. Everyone, everywhere will know what is going on down below. - Emergency support. Unique functions that dramatically increase mining safety. - Ventilation on demand. Let the presence of machines control the ventilation. - Complete suite for Short Interval Control including shift-planning and work task dispatch. - Traffic Awareness and Vehicle Navigation solutions minimizing traffic congestions. - In-shift Production Monitoring features that shows the true real-time status about the shift. - Totally technology and vendor agnostic. Our unique agnostic approach allows realtime location, tracking and monitoring of vehicles, personnel and any equipment using a mixture of technologies (e.g. LTE, WiFi, UWB, RFID) from various vendors.
LEARN MORE
True digitalization of underground mining With new innovative technology Mobilaris Mining & Civil Engineering takes digitalization of mining operations to the next level. So far, the result has been double digit productivity increases, higher efficiency and increased safety for the mining industry. Many mining companies around the world are facing daily challenges that make the mining operations unpredictable, resulting in a waste of valuable time and inefficient use of machines, assets and equipment. During a normal shift, there are many obstacles that can cause differences between planning and reality, for example machine breakdowns and people taking the wrong decisions due to lack of information.
both empower people by increased transparency, increase productivity by less traffic congestions and a safer work environment”, says Hans Wahlquist, VP Business Development and Strategic Product Management at Mobilaris.” When every second counts
In the case of a stressful situation like a fire or a collapse that requires evacuation of the mine, time is of essence. Rescue personnel and evacuation leaders need to have the best tools available to ensure that the evacuation is done as quickly as possible and according to defined procedures. With Mobilaris Emergency Support, rescue personnel have access to real-time information on “We help mining companies to become aware where in the mine people are located – knowing who is safe and who is not. Studies show that with these of what is going on in the mine, right tools in hand, the time to evacuate people in danger here and now. Every day, all the time. is dramatically reduced. This information makes it possible to take control over the operations and the resources. With our digital In partnership with Hindustan Zinc Ltd solutions people can act upon what Hindustan Zinc Ltd has partnered up with Mobilaris is happening in real-time and make Mining & Civil Engineering to digitalize the Rampura the right decision faster. We offer Agucha mine, their flagship of mining operations. tools for new, more efficient, ways of working”, says Mikael “We feel honored that Hindustan Zinc has chosen us Nyström, CEO Mobilaris Mining as a partner for modernizing their mine operation & Civil Engineering. even further. We will provide solutions for smooth and seamless operations that defines new, more efficient, ways of working“, Says Mikael Nyström, Mobilaris Onboard ™ CEO Mobilaris Mining & Civil Engineering.
A disruptive innovation
The latest product from the Swedish company is Mobilaris Onboard, a unique product that runs on a standard tablet mounted in a vehicle. Just like with a GPS car navigator, Mobilaris Onboard™ makes it easy for anyone underground to navigate to a location or to a moving asset without any specific knowledge about the mine. Without any dedicated infrastructure for positioning needed. “We are confident that Mobilaris Onboard™ will cause a paradigm shift in the underground mining industry. It makes every miner aware of the whole real-time situation in the mine and enables a set of unique tools that will
The partnership includes solutions for situational awareness designed to visualize and support the mining operations in all its complexity, in real-time. By implementing superior real-time 3D visualization with information from various systems and sensors, Hindustan Zinc will have the tools for superior control and planning of their mining operations. Hindustan Zinc Ltd will also be among the first customers worldwide to implement the new disruptive product Mobilaris Onboard™, for navigation underground and a smoother traffic flow.
EXPLORE OUR WORLD
H I N D U S TA N Z I N C
148
Hindustan Zinc’s operations. “The
operations. ABB, as one of the world’s
unique thing here is that we’re con-
top experts in control innovation, is sup-
necting all our operating people with
porting us on this quest.”
OEMs, subject matter expertise and
Looking long-term, the company
our data scientists,” explains Gorain.
vision is moving towards converting all
“OSIsoft and ABB are helping us to con-
of its underground mining operations
nect our operating data across all of our
from batch to continuous with the
mines, mills, smelters and power plants.
support of next generation technolo-
It’s a crucial initiative because, along
gies, including underground hydraulic
with insights, we’ll be able to predict
ored pumping solutions to enable
things in real-time and collaborate in
mining with minimal or no tailings or
a way that allows us to maximise the
waste. “From an extraction or recov-
benefit that digital solutions from SMEs
ery point of view, we’re looking at
can have in helping us to optimise our
completely digitised equipment to aid
FEBRUARY 2020
the recovery of minor, major and pre-
improvement from 81% up to 92%,” he
cious metals,” adds Gorain. “In parallel,
adds. “Silver recovery is forecasted
greater efficiency will come from fine
to rise from 57% to 70% leading to an
tuning via digital means.”
additional 70,000 tons of lead-zinc
Gorain’s team is targeting benefits
metals.” Gorain stresses that enhanc-
on the mining side to improve effi-
ing safety is a key aspect and one
ciency by 15% which translates to
of the major reasons why SK mine is
74,000 tons of extra metal by 2021
considered one of the most digitally
– a huge gain. “Meanwhile, on the
advanced mines in the world. “With
milling side we’re looking at recovery
safety as a top priority, continuous
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Barun Gorain Barun Gorain has more than 25 years of experience in metallurgical plant operations, plant optimisation, capital (growth) projects, technology development, metallurgical consulting and also in technical advisory and board roles. Focused on operational excellence, technology innovation, as well as technology transfer with demonstrated benefits and breakthroughs for projects and operations, before returning to Hindustan Zinc he worked for Barrick Gold and Teck Resources. “I’m a metallurgist by background and combined with my experience with digital innovation I’m in a unique position to be able to understand both worlds so we can take Hindustan Zinc to the next level,” pledges Gorain. “When we look at our business needs for future growth it’s vital to bring these two strands together to make our mining, milling and smelting more efficient to meet our long-term goals and vision.”
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The PI System
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Rich visual interfaces and cloud connectivity for better data sharing.
Learn more about what the PI System can do. Contact miningmetalsmaterials @ osisoft.com or visit www.osisoft.com.
“We are looking to digitally integrate 1500 people, over 200 pieces of equipment and several different outsourced business partners at each of our flagship mines. It allows us to do real-time asset tracking, people tracking, peak management, internal controls, automated schedule link up management, you name it” — Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Vedanta Resources mining, automation, digitisation, less
have to lay out the cables and the
man-machine interaction, remote
network on a daily basis. As we go
monitoring and real-time visualisation
deeper underground, the challenges
of people will be a tremendous leap
keep evolving, so these partners make
forward which will also lower the cost
sure we have the best of the best with
of production.”
mobile networking and LTE to access
Underground wireless communications are vital to be able to integrate
all of our data in real time.” Sandvik has been instrumental
new solutions. “It is the foundation,
at the SK mine, where it provides
along with the sensor technology, on
Hindustan Zinc with around 90% of
which everything else is built,” con-
its equipment. “The first phase of this
firms Gorain. “To achieve this, we’ve
digitisation through our collaboration
partnered with Cisco at the SK mine
with Sandvik has now been com-
and with Israeli company Eurotech
pleted focusing on driving efficiency,”
at the Agucha mine. The whole idea
confirms Gorain. Meanwhile, at the
is that networking is something that
Agucha mine, the company is also
doesn’t really finish anytime soon, we
partnering with Mobilaris who are e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
151
H I N D U S TA N Z I N C
A New Mining Paradigm
152
“The existing mining paradigm is not sustainable in the long-term,” argues Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer at Vedanta. “Much of the material generated from mining is waste. For example, with base metals typically 90% is waste. This increases our footprint, heightens risk and can trigger environmental hazards within our communities. We need to ask ourselves why we generate waste in the first place. It’s why we’re pushing towards a new mining paradigm through automation, electrification and digital solutions to help us deliver the extraction of metals with minimum waste. Governments, NGOs and communities are asking the same question: ‘Why can’t we develop a better way of mining?’ We’re committed to delivering the innovation to achieve that goal.”
Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Hindustan Zinc, Vedanta Resources
FEBRUARY 2020
Inside Hindustan Zinc “We are leveraging digital solutions to improve our availability, utilisation and productivity at the Sindesar Khurd (SK) Mine,” says Sunil Duggal, CEO at Hindustan Zinc Limited. “With OptiMine® we will be able to plan, schedule and monitor overall operations in real time. This will add major value and increase our productivity, eliminating bottlenecks, and allowing us to measure and monitor our key performance indicators in real time, proactively addressing problems before they occur.”
Sunil Duggal, CEO at Hindustan Zinc Limited
“SK Mine has embarked on a major digital transformation journey in partnership with Sandvik and Cisco. We are now considered the most digitally advanced mine in India, but we aspire to be the world’s most advanced digital mine by 2022,” pledges Rajeev Bora, SBU Head SK Mines. “We have our unique set of complexities but the ongoing digital program will allow us a step change in safety and productivity.”
153
Rajeev Bora, SBU Head SK Mines “Digitalisation is becoming the new way of working at Rampura Agucha,” agrees Sujal Shah, Director Agucha SBU. “Let us all become the agents for change in t ransforming our mines to become Sujal Shah, digitally advanced Director Agucha operations.”
SBU
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H I N D U S TA N Z I N C
154
FEBRUARY 2020
10.5%
Average zinc-lead grade
Zinc
Reserve base of 105.7mn MT
78%
Share in India’s primary zinc industry
155
providing connections for visualisa-
he concedes. “We want to make peo-
tion and equipment tracking. “They’re
ple think more about how we plan for
helping us to leverage digital to com-
the future across such a large work-
municate in a way that keeps all of our
force. Change management is always
teams aligned,” he adds. “We’re reduc-
an issue, so we are educating employ-
ing the time of the track operations,
ees about how digital is not going to
improving the asset optimisation, and
take jobs away but create new ones
it’s helping us better predict our main-
in safer areas of the business with
tenance needs.”
less physical labour requirements in
Continuous alignment is a challenge that Gorain believes must be met to ensure all teams are looking at one
different roles where technology can support them.” The benefits of new technologies
truth with minimal manual intervention.
are evident with Gorain’s team’s
“There’s always resistance to change,”
recent initiatives on advanced e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
H I N D U S TA N Z I N C
156
“With safety as a top priority, continuous mining, automation, digitisation, less manmachine interaction, remote monitoring and real-time visualisation of people will be a tremendous leap forward which will also lower the cost of production” — Barun Gorain, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Vedanta Resources
FEBRUARY 2020
for one shared truth. Second, we deploy the right analytics solutions to enhance the working environment of everybody across the company. Third, we have to integrate the subject matter teams into the digital way of doing things. These three areas combine to help us identify the right technologies for the right purpose so that our guiding principles - in terms of enhancing safety, productivity, and reduced costs - are in alignment with our vision.” Vedanta and Hindustan Zinc’s vision is to make the SK and Agucha operations one of the most advanced digital mines in the world. “Our goal is to achieve the highest benchmark process controls. “We’ve had great
of recovery and metal extraction in
success at Zawar,” he says. “We
the zinc industry,” says Gorain. “Not
have experienced a 10% increase in
just lead-zinc major metals, but also
crusher throughput, and around a
the minor and precious metals such
3 - 5% increase in recovery, which is
as germanium, cobalt, and silver.” The
really quite remarkable.”
vision for mining in India and a move
Gorain notes that with so many technologies to choose from the problem
towards zero waste looks set to welcome a new mining paradigm.
can be selecting the right one. “To meet this challenge, our three-stage approach has been very useful,” he explains. “First, we must make sure to integrate all the data into one platform e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
157
158
FEBRUARY 2020
159
A UNIQUE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WRITTEN BY
HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY
RICHARD DEANE
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
ERAMET GROUP
Ludovic Donati, CDO at Eramet, discusses the French mining giant’s use of drones, AI, ML and other cutting-edge technologies in order to overcome unique challenges and thrive in a new digital age
A
global digital transformation is underway. New digital solutions, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML),
the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data analytics and augmented reality (AR) are driving a digital revolu160
tion. Across every industry, companies are facing new challenges and exploring new opportunities. But digital transformation is more than the simple adoption of cutting-edge technology; those companies that wish to reap the largest rewards are the ones that look to transform more than their software solutions. “We’re not guided by new technology, but by the new applications of that technology and the new ways of thinking and operating that it enables,” says Ludovic Donati, Chief Digital Officer at French mining and metals giant Eramet Group. Operating since 1880, Eramet is a leading global player in the extraction of metals like nickel and manganese, as well as the processing and manufacture of high-value alloys such as high-speed steels, high-performance steels, superalloys, and FEBRUARY 2020
161
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ERAMET GROUP
“ We’re not guided by new technology, but by the new applications of that technology and the new ways of thinking and operating that it enables” — Ludovic Donati, CDO, Eramet
US$4bn in 2018. The company’s main operations include mines and process-
aluminum and titanium alloys. “We
ing plants in Europe, Africa, Oceania,
also produce special alloys for differ-
Asia and North and South America.
ent sectors like aerospace, nuclear,
162
After obtaining a PhD in chemistry,
defense, and so on. For instance, when
Donati joined Eramet in 2011 and spent
you travel in a plane made by Boeing or
three years in the company’s R&D
Airbus, you are traveling with Eramet,
department as a research engineer.
because we produce a lot of very
In 2014, he moved over to the corpo-
important parts for those companies,”
rate strategy department and, in 2017,
Donati explains. “Eramet is an interest-
was asked by senior leadership to
ing organisation because it’s both a
conduct a study of what exactly the
metallurgical and mining company;
digital transformation of a mining and
we are present all the way up the
metallurgical company like Eramet
value chain.” Eramet employs around
would look like.
13,000 people across 20 countries and reported revenues of more than
FEBRUARY 2020
As the global business landscape is reshaped by the digital revolution,
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ERAMET, EXPLORING OUR WORLD’ 163 a shifting political zeitgeist and a
demand for lithium in things like elec-
worsening climate crisis, Eramet is
tric vehicle batteries, smartphones,
undergoing a unique digital trans-
etc. and, to produce it in quantities
formation in order to employ new
that meet our customers’ needs, we’re
mindsets and technologies to over-
going to use digital to drive efficiency
come new and evolving challenges.
wherever we can.”
“We started by making some proof of
In order to effectively transform
concepts that showed good results.
Eramet’s operations using technology
Then, we decided it was necessary
ranging from IoT and drones to digital
to create a new digital transformation
twins and advanced data analytics,
department,” recalls Donati. “Today,
Donati and his team need to overcome
the crux of Eramet’s strategy is to use
several challenges that are unique to
digital to support being a leading pro-
a company like Eramet. “So the first
ducer of nickel, manganese and also
problem is: how do you digitalise a
of lithium. We’re predicting exponential
mine when it’s in the middle of e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
ERAMET GROUP
“ It’s very important for our operations to be connected, in real time, to our experts” — Ludovic Donati, CDO, Eramet
164
FEBRUARY 2020
a rainforest? Or the middle of the pacific ocean? That’s a challenge,” he reflects. The second challenge is that mining is a relatively old industry, and the skills required by Eramet are set to shift dramatically. “If you’re a miner or a geologist today, tomorrow you’re also going to need to be a data scientist and a drone pilot,” Donati says. “In order to align ourselves, we held a workshop with people from our operations in New-Calédonia, Gabon, Senegal, Norway, Paris — you name it. We sat down with everyone and worked together to define our vision for Eramet 4.0 using three axes.”
SAFETY In locations with environmental threats, Eramet is using IoT and drones to check equipment and monitor operations with e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
165
ERAMET GROUP
166
1880
Year founded
more accuracy and speed. “In New Caledonia, cyclones are quite common, and you need to run regular checks to make sure equipment hasn’t been
€3.825mn
damaged,” says Donati. “Previously, we’d send a car with two people in it to
Revenue in euros
check and hear back in three to four
12,705
to three hours.” The company has also
Number of employees
FEBRUARY 2020
days if everything was ok. Now, with a drone, we can reduce that down to two begun implementing AI-powered collision avoidance technology in its truck fleet, as well as overseer software to prevent fatigue-based accidents.
OPTIMISATION
says Donati. “With all this data, we’re
In addition to reducing fuel consump-
actually building a digital twin of the mine
tion across its entire operation, Eramet
in New Caledonia, so we will soon have
is using AI-powered data analytics to
the possibility to run different scenarios
manage its fleet and process topo-
based on, for example, fluctuations
graphical modeling data gathered by
in the price of nickel.”
drone surveyors. “We’re using drones to do these topographical measure-
REMOTE EXPERTISE
ments and, in 2019, we mapped more
As a way of solving the problem
than 300,000 acres, which is about 100
of changing skill needs, Eramet is
times more than the previous year,”
investing heavily in an operational
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
167
Ludovic Donati Ludovic Donati has been the Chief Digital Officer of the Eramet Group since its beginning in 2017. Eramet is a global mining and metallurgical group employing about 13,000 collaborators with a presence in 20 countries. Since 2018, Ludovic has been the Digital Correspondent of the French Mining and Mellurgy Sector and a board member of the Afnet association. A normalien with a PhD in chemistry, Ludovic joined the Eramet group in 2011, where he held various positions in R&D, investor relations and strategy (CEO’s office). Ludovic was appointed Group Chief Digital Officer at Eramet in 2017 in order to provide the company with a strong, coherent and sustainable vision for digital transformation and to launch concrete achievements from proof of concept to industrialisation in the fields of Mine 4.0 and Plant 4.0. He was nominated for the Next Leader Awards of Les Echos French newspaper in 2018 and won the “Grand Prix de l’Acélération Digitale BFM Business” for Eramet in 2019.
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
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Empowering safer, more sustainable mining As energy costs fluctuate, high-grade ores become scarcer, and profit margins tighten, productive mines recognize that technology is essential to their success. Companies must be smarter, safer, and quicker to respond to change. Their future depends on it. Hexagon recognizes that the competitive edge of its customers depends on empowering an autonomous future by integrating, automating, and optimizing critical workflows. This means smart mines that are efficient to operate, maximize safety and minimally impact the environment.
hexagonmining.com
“ If you’re a miner or a geologist today, tomorrow you’re also going to need to be data scientist and drone pilot” — Ludovic Donati, CDO, Eramet
70 people, 50 of whom are focused on data science and engineering and now we’re working on AI, data sci-
transformation of the way it delivers
ence and ML projects. Our algorithms
expertise to remote locations. “We’re
implemented in our ferronickel or sili-
using remote expertise powered
comanganese furnaces are learning
by AR,” explains Donati. “It’s very
and, every day, they’re becoming more
important for our operations to be
and more accurate.” At the end of a
connected, in real time, to our experts.
successful year of small-scale imple-
We’re collecting all the data from our
mentations and proof of concept tests,
mines and plants and in 2020 we will
Eramet is at a tipping point. Looking
implement remote operations centres
to the future, Donati acknowledges
across our operations.” This, Donati
that the coming year will be one of
explains, allows the company powerful
monumental change for Eramet. “We
insight into the processes of its facili-
did a great job in 2018, running proof
ties, helping to drive efficiency on
of concepts and tests. This year, we
a global scale and enabling Eramet to be
industrialised and deployed a lot of pro-
more reactive to changes in the market.
prietary solutions,” he says. “Next year, in 2020, we will be aiming for full scale
THE FUTURE
deployment.”
This transformation has been defined by its speed and scale. “A year and a half ago, we had no competencies in data science, cloud, analytics etc.,” recalls Donati. “Since then, we’ve built a digital transformation team of about e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
169
170
TWINT: PAYMENTS, JUST BETTER
FEBRUARY 2020
171
WRITTEN BY
AMBER DONOVAN-STEVENS PRODUCED BY
JAMES PEPPER
e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
TWINT
Markus Kilb, CEO of Twint, details how the twinting phenomenon is sweeping across Switzerland
S
ince its creation in 2017, Twint has unified Switzerland through its comprehensive digital cash solutions. Now with over 2
million customers, more than a quarter of the
172
Swiss population are twinting, and this number is only set to accelerate. Championing the success of Twint is CEO, Markus Kilb, who has held the role for a little over a year, citing its unique business model as his original draw to the company. “For me it is an absolute honour and a thrilling experience to lead Twint and shape the future of the payments world,” he says. “Twint is the most complete and compelling value proposition from both a client and bank perspective that I have seen in the Western hemisphere and I knew I had to be part of it.” Kilb has led the company to become not only an integral part of digital payments in Switzerland, but an exciting one, as it remains the fastest growing provider in the region,region with a nearly four-fold increase to transactions from the previous year. Kilb explains that the reason for Twint’s FEBRUARY 2020
173
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TWINT
“Twint’s software is agnostic of operating systems, allowing a full range of peer-topeer payments”
success is that the platform is comprehensive and “trendsetting.” Twint is unique as it integrates peer-to-peer platforms in a way not previously done. “Twint is modified to be used for both Android and iOS and while other platforms are not interoperable, Twint’s software is agnostic of operating systems, allowing a full range of peer-to-peer
— Markus Kilb, CEO, Twint
payments,” and this goes beyond the two platforms. The integration of over 100,000 merchants allows for users to pay for products, book
174
travel and cinema tickets as well
FEBRUARY 2020
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘TWINING WHEN PARKING AND NEVER PAYING TOO MUCH AGAIN’ 175 as store reward points, all through
professionally. “We have a con-
Twint. Loyalty schemes are a key
tinuous improvement program,” he
part of Swiss commercial culture
explains. “We constantly review our
and Twint has ensured that this is
processes to be sure that we are
as deeply integrated into the app
operating in the most efficient and
as it is culturally. Kilb notes that one
intelligent manner possible. We have
particularly popular loyalty card is
also been using a cloud solution from
the “Coop Supercard” from Coop
Swisscom for all of our IT.”
Group, one of the leading retail com-
In addition to e-commerce and
panies in Switzerland. “This deep
physical point of sale, Twint also har-
integration allows everything to work
nesses QR technology, whether it’s for
from one single platform,” explains
users to pay for one of Switzerland’s
Kilb, “and that’s just perfect.” Kilb’s
100,000 parking spaces, or to pay for
responsibility is to ensure that this
a selection of vegetables from a self
service is upscaled seamlessly and
pay stand outside a farm. This simple e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
Over 40 payment methods worldwide and free choice of acquirer. More than 4'400 customers worldwide, and the best time-to-market make us one of Europe’s leading payment service providers. Advanced payment solutions and secure payment technologies - made in Switzerland. Are you looking for a payment solution that thinks ahead? Talk to us!
Datatrans Ltd. +41 44 256 81 91 info@datatrans.ch www.datatrans.ch
but effective solution eliminates the
“It is an absolute honour and a thrilling experience to lead Twint and shape the future of the payments world”
need for cash or offline payment terminals, creating real benefits for a customer by solving day-to-day issues. Another exciting advancement is that Twint is beginning to print its QR codes on other companies’ product packaging. “If a customer is coming to the end of a product that they have ordered before, all they
— Markus Kilb, CEO, Twint
need to do is scan the QR code on the wrapping with Twint and they are immediately linked into the ordering system of this company. Customers
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TWINT
178
FEBRUARY 2020
2017
Year founded
HQ
ZĂźrich Switzerland
70
Number of employees
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Create added value with data Data becomes an important raw material for a company – and the skilful handling of it is a decisive competitive factor.
How data-driven is your business? Do the check and find out
www.swisscom.ch/datadriven
will then receive a final confirmation request before processing the pay-
“We want to position Twint as the preferred means of payment for all people in Switzerland”
ment and shipment of the product.” Twint’s exponential growth is also accredited to its key shareholders and partners, which besides SIX Group and Worldline, largely comprise Swiss banks: Postfinance, UBS, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Credit Suisse, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise and Raiffeisen.
— Markus Kilb, CEO, Twint
“Twint works with direct access to bank accounts, which is pretty unique for Switzerland,” Kilb adds. In addition to this, there is also an additional
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Markus Kilb Markus Kilb is the CEO of Twint AG, and has held the role since November 2018. Kilb’s career started with BMW, as project manager of the Financial Services Division from 1992 to 1996. He worked with Advance Bank from 1996 until 2000, where he was Product Manager for all cards and accounts products. In 2000, he moved to Citibank in order to oversee the credit card business. He has held a number of various executive positions, most notably in 2009, when he became General Manager of Unicredit’s product factory for loans and cards business in Germany.
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TWINT
T W I N T A P P B A N KS
• APPKB (Appenzeller Kantonalbank) • BCV(Banque Cantonale Vaudeoise) • BCGE (Banque Cantonale de Genève) • CS (Credit Suisse) 182
• NAB (Neue Aargauer Bank) • OKB (Obwaldner Kantonalbank) • Postfinance • Raiffeisen • SGKB (St. Galler Kantonalbank) • UBS • BCVS/WKB (Banque Cantonale du Valais)
nine, non-shareholder banks and federation banks that work with Twint. “All of these banks are united by the belief in creating a strong customer value for its customers,” says Kilb, and these partnerships allow for Twint to maintain bank-grade security, as they retain a majority of sensitive data,
• ZGKB (Zuger Kantonalbank)
together forming the cybersecurity
• ZKB (Zuercher Kantonalbank)
for each of the shareholder banks,
hub in Switzerland. Twint has an app available in both an iOS and Android operating system, in order to provide
FEBRUARY 2020
an acquirer for some of the largest merchants in Switzerland such as Coop Group, Datatrans is a proven and essential partner in processing our transactions.” As the payment app continues to accelerate growth, Kilb shares that it is Twint’s clear aim to reach 4 million customers by the end of 2021. Twint has recently brought on new major merchants such as Swiss Rail SBB, that will help the payment provider continue its high standard of professionalism, as well as reaching its midterm goal of conducting 500 million transactions each year. “We want to position Twint as the preferred means of paythe most tailored experience for each
ment for all people in Switzerland. At
bank’s customers. To assist with
the same time we want to expand
creating this bespoke service, Twint
on international cooperation via the
is partnered with Swisscom, which
EMPSA (European Mobile Payment
Kilb describes as “the centrepiece
Association), enabling our customers
of Twint’s value chain” as it not only
to start twinting not only in Switzerland
customises Twint’s services to suit
but across Europe and beyond.”
issuer banks, but is an outsourcing partner for its data centre. Kilb goes on: “Next to Swisscom, the company Datatrans AG is one of the major PSPs in Switzerland and is a key partner for us at Twint. As Twint also operates as e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
183
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FEBRUARY 2020
EMBRACING DIGITAL IN THE BANKING SECTOR
185
WRITTEN BY
SEAN GALEA-PACE PRODUCED BY
JAMES PEPPER
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BRD - GROUPE SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE
Florin Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer, and Eric Ruiz, Chief Information Officer at BRD, discuss the importance of operating with an Agile approach and leveraging technology at their company
A
s one of the leading banks in Romania, BRD - Groupe Société Générale is in the midst of a significant digital transforma-
tion. Technology is considered the lifeblood of the 186
company and is central to operations. BRD is the Romanian affiliate of Groupe Société Générale and operates under its wider umbrella. “It’s a flexible relationship,” explains Florin Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer at the firm. “There’s many banks from different countries all working together and it provides a great opportunity to discuss new ideas and learn from each other. It’s an open banking environment where all banks can work together towards a common goal.” BRD’s digital transformation ambitions are focused on several key areas, such as: evolving towards digital ready architecture (decoupling, API, services), embracing Agility to deliver faster, be better aligned with business teams, leverage a DevOps approach (automation, software factory, cloud) and provide a flexible workplace to employees. FEBRUARY 2020
187
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BRD - GROUPE SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE
“ We were one of the first banks to launch a mobile banking app over a decade ago. It’s great to look back on and we’re proud that we have brought our contribution” Florin Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer, BRD
188
FEBRUARY 2020
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BRD. THE FUTURE IS YOU’ 189 Both Boldescu and Eric Ruiz, Chief Information Officer at BRD, believes in the importance of embracing change
you make decisions. This led to the creation of the Digital Hub.” BRD’s Digital Hub has been devel-
amidst a major shift in culture. “We
oped to allow for better interaction
were one of the first banks to launch
with customers and is a key part of its
a mobile banking app over a decade
strategy to cover several channels
ago. It’s great to look back on and
and better meet individual customer
we’re proud that we have brought our
demands. “Over the past year, the
contribution,” says Boldescu. “The entire
market has shifted in a unique way,”
banking industry is an open and highly
explains Boldescu. “Although change
dynamic environment and in order to
is great, we can’t afford to leave people
meet these challenges, it requires a
behind. We have to ensure we migrate
change in culture. Sometimes you need
the older generation smoothly and
to overhaul the business in order to
make the transition as easy as possible.”
change your perception and the way
With the Romanian market experiencing e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
BRD - GROUPE SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE
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FEBRUARY 2020
“ We value innovation and want to provide its value to our customers� Eric Ruiz, Chief Information Officer, BRD
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17 over
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
Let’s talk Digital
Smart Fintech Customer Digital Experience Identity Access Management Service Oriented Architecture
www.itsmartsystems.eu letstalk@itsmartsystems.eu
1923
high levels of growth over the past few years, BRD has established a more seamless, omnichannel approach in a bid to improve its user experience. “We still have customers that like to come into a branch to do their banking but in Romania, digital is becoming increasingly prominent,” says Ruiz. “There’s
Year founded
$25mn+ Revenue in euros (2017)
substantial competition and some of our competitors might have great ideas so we can’t stand still.” Due to the acceleration of digitalisation in the banking
6,800
industry, Ruiz adds Agile software development (Agile) has become a key
Number of employees
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Florin Boldescu Boldescu has over 20 years’ experience in the telecom and banking industries, in areas including: customer service, product management, business management and digital transformation. He is passionate about people using technology, innovation, enterprise transformation and software delivery models. Recently, he has focused on digital strategy and transformation; currently he oversees the execution of a digital agenda, retail and corporate, with the support of a Digital Hub. The most important product built here is an omnichannel platform, which is going to manage the access to the bank’s services for more than two million customers. e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
193
BRD - GROUPE SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE
component of BRD’s transformation.
194
In a bid to drive operations, BRD
“In order to implement Agile, we first had
has established several strategic
to determine exactly what it is and what
partnerships such as IT Smart Systems
we wanted it to achieve. To accom-
and Backbase. “Our partner, IT Smart
plish this, establishing a step-by-step
Systems (ITSS), has made an impor-
approach was essential,” explains Ruiz.
tant contribution to our digital
“Agile is a new way of working and we’ve
transformation journey and continues
trained our people and paired them with
to show a strong commitment to meet
an Agile coach. It’s a great way to make
our common objectives inside the
processes more efficient and drive real
omnichannel and OpenBanking &
value for our business.”
PSD2 programmes,” explains Ruiz.
E X ECU T I VE P RO FI LE
Eric Ruiz Eric has managed IT at BRD Romania for more than two years, with the ambition of transforming the way IT provides value to the business in its digitalisation and automation objectives. Previously, Eric was dep CIO and global CTO for Russia SG entities, supporting 15.000 employees over 11 time zones. Prior to that, he was CIO and business process improvement manager for the Russian consumer finance subsidiary of SG, enabling it to become number one in car loans in Russia. He also held the position of COO of SG Ukrainian subsidiary, and was responsible for IT/back-office, and the acceptance and administration departments. He was also global middleware manager in New York investment bank subsidiary of SG.
FEBRUARY 2020
“ITSS already helped BRD to digitalise its corporate trade finance business and also set up the PSD2 APIs.” “With proven senior expertise on Backbase Digital Banking, Forgerock Digital Identity and digital transformation in general, IT Smart Systems’ team of professionals work with us in the Hub to help create that omnichannel hyper-personalised yet secure user experience for our customers and employees,” adds Boldescu. “We will continue to strengthen our partnership with IT Smart Systems as a trusted and valuable partner for BRD.” The banking world is showing no signs of slowing down. Due to the significant level of technology at financial institutions, companies now more than ever, are seeking to digitalise their offerings and streamline services for their customers. However, although the acceleration of digital is primarily considered a good thing, it also brings with it the issue of cybercrime. To combat this, Ruiz places considerable value on his firm’s cybersecurity approach. “Every solution we put on e uro pe .busi ne ssc hief. com
BRD - GROUPE SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE
196
FEBRUARY 2020
“ Over the past year, the market has shifted in a unique way” Florin Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer, BRD
the market is controlled by a security team and each has its own security file. It undergoes a penetration test, and if there’s any issues that flag up, we address it,” he explains. “We also conduct a regular vulnerability scanning, internally and externally to ensure our security is where it needs to be.” With the future in mind, both men harbour clear objectives for the next few years. “Our idea for the future is digital and especially mobile-first. We value innovation and want to provide its value to our customers,” summarises Ruiz. “Our ambition is to completely digitalise the customer experience — that’s the plan.”
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