CHAIN - December 2023

DECEMBER EDITION

Empowering scientific innovation with strategic sourcing and procurement

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DECEMBER 2023

FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to the December 2023 edition of CHAIN Magazine!

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ith the festive playlists in full swing and decorations adorning the office, Christmas is well and truly on its way here at iThink Media.

As our early Christmas present to you, we’re thrilled to bring you five exclusive interviews and a wealth of industry insights for this month’s instalment of CHAIN. For our cover interview this month, I speak with Brian Whitlock, VP of Strategic Sourcing & Procurement R&D at Bristol Myers Squibb about how the global biopharmaceutical company puts patients first by developing life-changing medicines. Brian shines a light on the roles of strategic sourcing and procurement as drivers for scientific innovation (p6).

I chat with Priscilla Bueno, Chief Transformation Officer at Craft about the company’s comprehensive approach to international supply chain innovation. Priscilla shares her insights into Craft’s relationshipdriven approach to global logistics and the importance of leading-edge technology within this endeavour (p24).

Bart Coppelmans, Director of Industry Solutions, Global Head of Supply Chain & Logistics at HERE Technologies joins me to discuss the company’s innovative deployment of the latest location intelligence technology to empower its users to optimise their businesses, transform data systems, enhance supply chain visibility and ultimately strive for a more sustainable future (p38).

Janaina Ruas Filiponi, Europe Head of Supply Chain & Sustainability at SLB, tells me about the company’s heritage of innovation and journey to embed sustainability into the supply chain function – inspired by its vision for a decarbonised, sustainable future (p66).

I sit down with Joan Baylina, Supply Chain Director and David Peix, CEO at Towa International, to explore the philosophy, strategy and partnerships underpinning the company’s global expansion and cultural transformation. Joan dives into Towa International’s evolution from a local to an international organisation while David offers his perspective on how the company is tackling challenges in the pharmaceutical industry (p98).

Our features this month cover the case for deploying augmented reality in global supply chain networks as a catalyst for transformation (p56) and the British startup that has secured funding to help businesses prevent supply chain cyber-attacks (p86).

Last, but by no means least, we are thrilled to welcome Ievgen Demchenko, Chief Technology Officer at Zenfulfillment, as the guest in our new recurring feature In the company of… (p122).

We hope you enjoy our latest edition. As always, if you would like to be considered as an interviewee or if you have a story for us to include, please do get in touch.

From all of us at iThink Media – we hope you have a relaxing Christmas and we wish you all the very best for 2024.

Editor

Director

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d.harris@ithink.media

Senior Digital Designer

Director

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t.barnes@ithink.media

Ben Craske

Daniel May

Danielle Harris

Tom Barnes

+44 (0) 203 890 1189 enquiries@ithink.media All rights reserved. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of material published in CHAIN Magazine. However, the company cannot accept responsibility for the claims made by advertisers or contributors, or inaccurate material supplied by advertisers.

CHAIN magazine is a product of iThink Media Ltd. Company Registration Number: 10933897. Company Registered in England and Wales

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DECEMBER 2023

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6

We speak to Brian Whitlock about wielding strategic sourcing and procurement to empower scientific innovation putting patients first

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Priscilla Bueno on the comprehensive approach to supply chain transformation at Craft

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We sit down with Bart Coppelmans to discuss the innovative approach to location intelligence at HERE Technologies

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Will AR transform global supply chain networks?

66

Janaina Ruas Filiponi explains how SLB is embedding sustainability into the supply chain for a greener future

86

British startup to strengthen supply chain security

98

Joan Baylina and David Peix discuss the strategy and philosophy behind Towa International’s transformation

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In the company of… Ievgen Demchenko of Zenfulfillment

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Ievgen Demchenko

Joan Baylina

56 6

Janaina Ruas Filiponi

Haydn Brooks and Daniel Saul

Bart Coppelmans

Brian Whitlock

Priscilla Bueno

6 24

38 98

66

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COVER STORY

DRIVING SCIENTIFIC INNOVATIO WITH STRATEGIC SOURCING AN PROCUREMENT Brian Whitlock, VP of Strategic Sourcing & Procurement R&D at Bristol Myers Squibb on putting patients first by developing life-changing medicines.

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ON ND

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Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) is a global biopharmaceutical company with a mission to transform patients’ lives around the world by discovering, developing and delivering innovative medicines. ach year the company invests billions of dollars into Research & Development (R&D) and here to tell us more about the sourcing and procurement strategies empowering their endeavours is Brian Whitlock, VP of Strategic Sourcing & Procurement R&D at BMS. Brian has been at BMS for nearly nine years and leads a global team of sourcing professionals that manages third-party 8

relationships and sourcing strategies for the corporation.

“We’re a very large and complex organisation, supporting approximately 9,000 scientists worldwide which, as you can imagine, keeps us quite busy,” begins Brian. “Moreover, we’re enabled by thousands of suppliers. My team’s responsibility is working closely with our stakeholders in R&D, understanding their needs, seeking opportunities to

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partner externally with key providers and delivering a worldclass pipeline.”

Brian has worked in the life sciences industry for 23 years and his professional journey has greatly influenced his contribution to BMS. “I earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry from George Mason University,” recalls Brian.

“It was in the winter break of my sophomore year when I responded to a job advert on the university career portal page, posted by a local organisation called Covance 10

Laboratories Limited. They were looking for part-time laboratory technicians and I knew very little to nothing about drug development at the time. I said to myself this would be a great opportunity for me to exercise my scientific abilities and learn a little bit about what it means to work in a professional laboratory environment versus just academia.

“So I responded to the job board and started with Covance two months later back in 2000. I was a lab technician doing genetic and molecular toxicology, which is basically a means by which we do cell-based assays to test whether a

“As a leader in R&D, we are big advocates of innovation and it's ingrained in our DNA” of my career. I’ve always had this yearning to know more and to learn more. I spent a lot of time networking, trying to understand what other groups did and how the work that I was doing fit into the broader drug development process. drug is harmful to the human body and what is its safety profile. I did that for about four years while I was earning my degree.”

Brian explains the most valuable takeaway from his experience at Covance was that it showed him what he wanted to do for the long term.

“Going into college I was set that I was going to work in a lab and I was going to do really cool science for my entire career,” says Brian with a smile. “But it took four years for me to realise that it’s not what I wanted to do for the rest

“Shortly after I got my undergraduate degree, I left the labs and went into a quality assurance role where I could interact with several different groups, build a greater appreciation for what they did, again, and start to put those puzzle pieces together. To make a long story short, I took a number of progressive leadership roles at Covance from relationship manager, to site lead, to division leader. I earned my MBA along the way because I had a real affinity towards the business side of drug development and getting involved in shaping an organisation. I 11

relished the chance to work with clients to deliver their portfolios.

Over the course of what ended up being just over nine years of tenure at Covance, I really wanted to get more into business strategy.

“In 2009, I left Covance when my wife and I moved to California, where I joined Amgen. This was my first entrance into a strategic sourcing role supporting R&D and over the course of five years at Amgen I ended up supporting most facets of the R&D value chain. By 2015, I had experience as a supplier, a sourcing professional but also as a stakeholder myself – what I call the trifecta. I was only in R&D during my final year at Amgen before BMS recruited me, and the rest is history.”

So how does BMS approach strategic sourcing while executing innovation and supporting highlevel company objectives in the process?

“BMS is considered a top quartile strategic sourcing and procurement organisation,” says Brian. “That means we have a multitude of capabilities that we enable the business with, whether it’s core sourcing, setting up sourcing strategies, delivering on those sourcing strategies or 12

ultimately partnering with leading third parties in the industry to further our business and to benefit patients.

“Another aspect of our sourcing capability is supplier diversity. We’re a massive proponent of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) at BMS. And that's not only D&I within our own employee base but with suppliers, patients, investigators, partner companies and small businesses.

In fact, BMS was just inducted into what's called the Billion Dollar Roundtable (BDR). This is a cross-industry group where the companies are recognised for sustaining a billion dollars or more of spend with diverse businesses.

We take a lot of pride in D&I with our suppliers and are happy to celebrate our BDR induction with our peers, employees and diverse businesses.

“As a leader in R&D, we are big advocates of innovation and it's ingrained in our DNA. Every day we work towards discovering or inventing new therapies that can benefit patients. Procurement plays a crucial role in this innovation.

People less versed in procurement may see it as merely negotiating, trying to drive costs down and getting contracts in place. In reality, a big portion of what we

do is understanding the trajectory that our stakeholders are on and helping them look around the corner, as I call it. Essentially we are very proactive as an organisation so we can not only help stakeholders foresee challenges before they bear consequences, but more importantly help be their eyes and ears in addition to the plethora of scientists in our organisation. What are the emerging technologies? Are there shifts in the way the industry can deliver medicines to patients?

How can we help our stakeholders

unearth those opportunities and then go after them?”

But Brian reiterates that the strategic sourcing, partnerships and R&D efforts he and his team facilitate all serve the overarching mission of BMS: to put patients first.

“We recognise there are very serious illnesses that plague mankind and there are patients waiting for life-saving medicines every day,” says Brian. “The mission of our organisation is 13

“We have really embarked over the last two years with an intense focus on bringing more medicines to more patients faster” to serve those patients. Over the course of the last couple of years now, BMS has recognised significant industrywide challenges, not only within our own pipeline and long-term trajectory, but also through several external forces – whether it’s geopolitical strife, supply chain challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, or 14

legislative and regulatory changes.

These are the headwinds that not only face our organisation but face our entire industry. But the one constant is that patients still need life-saving medicines.

“We have really embarked over the last two years with an intense focus on bringing more medicines

to more patients faster. There are a few ways that we’re focused on enabling this. Every group within the corporation is focused on adapting and helping the company enable that vision statement, but it’s of particular importance in R&D. On the research side, it's about how do we bring in new capabilities?

How do we leverage technology to help us improve the probability of technical and regulatory success (PTRS)? What we are aiming to do right now is to achieve a 20 per cent success rate of our early molecules that make it through the

pipeline. If we can hit 20 per cent, we will be an industry leader.

“On the development side of R&D, we are focused on reducing the cycle time it takes from a product that goes into the clinic to the time that product is approved by a regulatory body and then commercialised to patients that we serve around the globe. Our aim is to reduce that cycle time down to six and a half years, on average, to bring those medicines to market which would be a tremendous value driver for the corporation, for 15

our shareholders and ultimately for our patients.

“So those are the company aspirations and procurement has played a fundamental role in understanding those needs and the trajectory of the business, so we can explore the stakeholder’s ideas to meet these objectives.

We are far more than just an enabling function or a sourcing organisation, we are a thought

forward. He highlights BMS’s collaborative efforts with Syngene and IQVIA as emblematic of the business’s strategy for embracing partnerships.

“BMS has been a partner with Syngene for 25 years,” Brian explains. “We were one of the first biopharmaceutical organisations to partner in India back in the late 1990s. Many other businesses went to other geographies,

“BMS and Syngene have a relationship focused on research activities, laboratory activities that support clinical development, as well as early phase manufacturing capabilities” partner that leans in with our stakeholders to forge solutions for these challenging times. What we do best is we tap into the external market, we find ideas, tap other thought leaders externally and bring those into the organisation so that we can turn those ideas and best practices into our own solutions as well.”

On the topic of tapping into external partners and thought leaders, Brian stresses that the company’s partnerships are an empowering force driving BMS 16

whether it was Europe, North America or Asia, but BMS invested heavily into our partnership at Syngene, which is a company based out of Bangalore, India.

It is a relationship that we have nurtured and incubated. BMS and Syngene have a relationship focused on research activities, laboratory activities that support clinical development, as well as early phase manufacturing capabilities. Our relationship involves over 700 dedicated scientists at Syngene who are helping progress the BMS portfolio.

For more details, visit www.syngeneintl.com or write to us at bdc@syngeneintl.com © 2023 Syngene International Limited, All Rights Reserved.

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“IQVIA is a very large and sophisticated global drug development organisation,” says Brian. “We do a multitude of activities with IQVIA focusing on their positions of strength. IQVIA support a number of facets to delivering our clinical portfolio.

In the industry, IQVIA is very well known for data, whether it's patient or real-world data. Beyond their data expertise, we also have a strong commercial relationship

with IQVIA as well that helps inform our value access and pricing, our brand teams and our broader commercial leadership.”

Looking ahead to the future, Brian shares his vision for where he and his team can best support BMS as an organisation moving forward in a holistic array of endeavours that go far beyond the traditional sourcing or procurement functions.

“We do a multitude of activities with IQVIA focusing on their positions of strength. IQVIA support a number of facets to delivering our clinical portfolio”

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“For me and my team, our focus is enabling our stakeholders,” summarises Brian. “When I speak to my organisation, I ask what does success look like? Yes, we have savings objectives. We have supplier diversity objectives. We have compliance and employee engagement objectives. Those are all incredibly important. But at the end of the day, what does the organisation look to procurement to do most fundamentally? In short, it is to enable the business.

We help it move with speed and flexibility. We identify and nurture strategic partnerships. This is what my team has been focused on and what our primary focus is for the near future and in perpetuity.

“Now savings, diversity and innovation all come with inherently robust and strategic partnerships within the business. We do not lead conversations with ‘Okay, we must save $10 million,’ or ‘We need to go identify a diverse supplier’.

It's about understanding the needs of the business. I think 21

that has really been our recipe for success: we do not come to the table with a hidden agenda. We're transparent. We are authentic. It's about what does the R&D organisation need and sometimes it's helping them understand what they need.

“With Bristol Myers being such a large complex biopharmaceutical organisation, what we’re trying to do is to operate in a more nimble and more effective manner, which ties directly to our company mission of transforming patients’ lives. One of the things that procurement can achieve, not only within my segment of procurement but procurement more broadly, is simplification.

How can we reduce contract cycle times? How can we enable the business to buy against pre-negotiated relationships? What does a self-service procurement model look like? How do we help the organisation navigate risk? All of these questions are essential for our future work in procurement.”

For more information visit bms.com.

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e u l a V Added BEING PRESENT: A WORK IN PROGRESS

“What I really try to spend my time on, and it's a work in progress, is to be more in the moment,” says Brian. “I strive to live life and be present. We should take those experiences and use them to shape who we are and who we want to be, to make the most of the rest of our limited time on this earth.

“For instance, I attended the Chief Procurement Officer Summit in Miami in early November.

Traditionally I have declined these opportunities. I’d tell myself that I'm too busy. But I'm really starting to make a shift this year by spending less time just blazing through my emails or frantically tackling my to-do list.

I am working on taking a step back, networking and seeking to understand the learnings and challenges of others. What I've started to appreciate is that this shift is making me a more holistic and effective leader. It's been very fulfilling.”

Connect with Brian

GIVING BACK

“I'm a little past the midpoint of my career,” says Brian. “So I am now looking at how I can give back beyond just the day-to-day in my job.”

For Brian, this entails working with non-profits in his local community in New Jersey, USA. But he recalls how it was his 12-year-old daughter who provided him with the inspiration to act and helped him begin his journey of giving back.

“My oldest child is 12, she’ll be 13 in January 2024,” says Brian. “In 2021, she started a food drive in our neighbourhood. She did it all by herself. She made her own fliers and seized the initiative. We helped where she needed it, say with driving around, but she ultimately owned it. She collected over 800lbs

of food and donated it to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.

“Seeing my daughter’s efforts actually led me to getting more involved in the nonprofit sector myself. I now sit as a member of the Board of Trustees for a local organisation called NonProfitConnect New Jersey. As an organisation, we provide leadership and resources to either existing or prospective nonprofit leaders, but also to existing or prospective board members for local nonprofits. I spend a lot of my evenings working for the organisation.

“It’s incredibly rewarding and it’s also an eye-opening reality check. There are people out there who really need help and resources, so working with NonProfitConnect New Jersey has been a fantastic way of giving back.”

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BUSINESS INTERVIEW

Priscilla Bueno, Chief Transformation Officer at Craft discusses the company’s comprehensive approach to international supply chain innovation.

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Craft is a Brazilian multinational specialising in international transportation, focused on the consolidation and negotiation of contracts in ocean, air and land to all stakeholders of the logistics industry.

Founded in 1997, it has operations in 10 countries and 35 offices spread across South and North America.

Based on solutions of scale, Craft optimises and ensures quality, frequency and control of every shipment by connecting its 1,100 specialists to global networks specialised in each modal through technology and people. It is the founder of its own procurement centres in Asia, Europe and the United States (LP Global and WSL) and is known for its close relationships with its customers and partners.

Craft offers exclusive routes and services that only a neutral 26

“Craft is a company that is unique in a way that it’s never been afraid to react quickly and go wherever the industry needs”

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wholesaler with significant volume and flexibility can provide.

Here to tell us more about the supply chain innovation and technological strategies at Craft is Priscilla Bueno, Chief Transformation Officer.

Priscilla sets the scene by explaining how Craft wields a relationshipdriven approach to global logistics, 28

drawing on the company’s rich heritage of operating in complicated and challenging circumstances, and elaborating on her role leading the transformation strategy at the company.

“According to a Gartner Future of Supply Chain Survey, whilst 95% of supply chains must quickly react to changing conditions, only 7%

are able to execute decisions in real-time. Craft is a company that is unique in a way that it’s never been afraid to react quickly and go wherever the industry needs, in order to improve the ease of doing business in the complex environment of international logistics, which is even more challenging in the South American market, where we were born into,” says Priscilla.

“But moreover, we understand the meaning of relationships in order to act effectively in such circumstances, on all key points of the supply chain, and the way our teams are built clearly reflects that. Based on both these factors, the best use of technology accelerates our model in not only operational excellence, but more importantly, commercial innovation as well. Whilst several 29

“First and foremost, Craft believes that each one of its people is key to ensuring longlasting relationships and partnerships in all of our markets, at all levels” Priscilla Bueno, Chief Transformation Officer

industries are struggling to power up their supply chain capabilities, Craft already has in its DNA the capacity to offer such skills ‘as a service’, with a modular and flexible portfolio of solutions to logistics providers.

“With our stronghold in market and product intelligence, combined with a fine-tuned grasp of the movements of transportation around the world, we expand our capability towards a more modern and scalable model, where the business and all its connections are still at its core – which is where transformation really thrives. My role is not only to put together a strong technology team, but also to oversee people & purpose, communication & marketing, governance, agility and education and connect them to all areas of the business – while inspiring change only in the areas where we 30

know we will benefit from them as a company. That is, it’s not change for the sake of it, but rather a movement to connect and ensure that every company and person that is part of our ecosystem feels like they have prospered more with us as a part of it.

“Our five business and innovation drivers are sustainable growth through international and product

expansion, excellence in operations and fast delivery of complex data in a simple manner, governance and security with a focus on the value chain, people development and intra-entrepreneurship and business transformation through technology. With these five drivers in our everyday actions, we honour what we have built so far and seek to enhance it. In light of this, my role is to be an interpreter between all valid

interests in the everyday business, a crucial position in the facilitation of transformation.”

So how has Craft taken these five drivers and deployed innovation within its supply chain strategy in recent years?

“From the building of every one of our products in the South American markets, we have pioneered in 31

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expanding the concepts of a neutral consolidator beyond the LCL groupage,” explains Priscilla. “Based on solutions of scale, Craft optimises and ensures quality, frequency and control of every shipment with specialists in each modal. With that in mind, we founded our own procurement centres for ocean and road transportation in Asia, Europe and the United States (through the brands LP Global and WSL). From Asia, we are the largest procurement centre in our markets. With initiatives such as these, and human-centric work, we offer exclusive routes and services that only a neutral wholesaler with significant volume and flexibility can provide. And furthermore, while 75% of supply chain leaders believe engaging in circular economy activities is important, and only 1 in 5 use such principles, our business model is built entirely on offering one of its key models, with optimisation and consolidation of movements as our main offer.

“Innovation then arises naturally from how we manage our solutions, with exclusive hubs and contracts, multiple points of entry and how we are applying technology in order to successfully control allocation, track and trace in real-time with 98% accuracy, people training and reskilling to

adapt to artificial intelligence and machine learning. We also promote innovation competitions internally and accelerate winning initiatives.

Our most recent ones included developments in customer experience, product enhancement, people development in direct coordination overseas and robotic process automation in customer care.

“Craft always seeks to apply efforts using an ambidextrous mindset. We look to the present and to the future simultaneously, in order to embrace all three horizons of innovation, which are: 1. Optimising core operations for efficiency, reducing resource consumption and enhancing sustainability within existing business processes.

2. Exploring adjacent opportunities and markets, investing in sustainable services to capture emerging trends and foster longterm growth.

3. Pursuing radical innovation and disruption by investing in transformative technologies and business models.

“Balancing these three horizons through aligned management enables us to drive value creation while actively contributing to a more sustainable and competitive future.”

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“As Craft navigates transformative change as a company, Priscilla adds that strategic partnerships are essential for promoting growth and commercial success” Priscilla emphasises the importance of technology within the innovative transformation strategies at Craft, but stresses that it is people who ultimately wield these solutions for the benefit of the business.

“Technology and people play a key role in terms of providing us with the necessary framework and sustainable base for change,” says Priscilla. “And it works because we are able to connect the business to their developments. In return, our technology teams drive us towards an agile mindset, in keeping with our data-driven fluency in check, 34

ensuring that all our developments are cloud-first, and effectively guiding us with the best use of new market developments arising from game changers such as the fast advance of artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, machine learning and process and/or task mining. As such, we are building skills to analyse data on the fly and execute real-time decisions.”

As Craft navigates transformative change as a company, Priscilla adds that strategic partnerships are essential for promoting growth and commercial success.

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“First and foremost, Craft believes that each one of its people is key to ensuring long-lasting relationships and partnerships in all of our markets, at all levels,” says Priscilla. “It is at our core to address problems and to connect our entire ecosystem in a neutral and problem-solving manner – whether they are freight forwarders, customs brokers, inland air and ocean carriers, insurance companies, terminals and all other players in the logistics chain – into a perspective where international logistics is made approachable and connected towards the prosperity of everyone involved.

That goes much beyond just our core business and that’s why today about 30% of our team is focused on relationships and sales alone. Another 25% is focused on product intelligence and relationships with providers and our core partners around the globe, which we call ‘product specialists’. Hence it is not by chance we control 90% of all business generated in each country we are located in, which differentiates us greatly. We take relationships personally and believe that they are the key to the sustained growth we continue to see year on year.”

To learn more about Craft, visit www.craftmulti.com 37

BUSINESS INTERVIEW

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Bart Coppelmans, Director of Industry Solutions, Global Head of Supply Chain & Logistics at HERE Technologies on representing reality digitally to radically improve the way the world moves, interacts and lives.

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HERE Technologies is a global leader in enterprise-grade location platforms and services. he company launched over 35 years ago and created the world’s first digital map – today it offers truly global coverage as the world-leading location data and technology company.

In the four decades since HERE launched, it has gone from creating static, physical representations of the world around us to enabling advanced, dynamic and dataorientated location services and technologies providing real-time

insights to modern users and businesses. HERE has a commanding presence in several verticals, spanning industries including automotive, transport and logistics (T&L), mobility, manufacturing, retail and the public sector. Beyond the company’s own dedicated platform and tools, its technology and solutions are ‘under the hood’ for a multitude of applications around the world.

Here to tell us more about the company’s innovative approach to location

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intelligence which empowers its users to optimise their businesses, transform data systems, enhance supply chain visibility and ultimately strive for a more sustainable future is Bart Coppelmans, Director of Industry Solutions, Global Head of Supply Chain & Logistics at HERE Technologies.

Bart and his team are responsible for creating industry and growth strategies in key verticals, 42

consulting with customers and partners on how HERE can support them in overcoming their challenges by building new propositions for clients or developing joint projects with them.

“We are customer-facing and incredibly focused on supporting our customers and partners overcoming challenges in the transport and logistics (T&L)

Bart Coppelmans, Director of Industry Solutions, Global Head of Supply Chain & Logistics

space by implementing location technology,” begins Bart. “When we see a trend in the market or a need from our customers, we incorporate that back into our internal product portfolio roadmap. Our responsibilities don’t stop there – we support our customers while implementing new propositions into the market through close collaborations.

Partnerships are essential for us because of the importance of a

broader ecosystem as no one can do this alone. We need ecosystem partners both for connecting the dots and having our solution services embedded into broader propositions and software applications.”

HERE Technologies works with its partners and customers to help optimise their operations. From using its geocoding and search tool to identify locations and determine if deliveries have arrived, to planning and analysing optimal trucking routes and calculating estimated arrival times or total costs of transportation – HERE Technologies 43

empowers its customers to make informed decisions while planning, distributing and analysing their operations in a way that improves efficiency and effectiveness.

One of the crucial areas HERE Technologies supports its partners and customers is with planning, optimisation, monitoring and driver support solutions.

“Our goal is to help players find the most efficient way to deliver their goods utilising our truck routing as well as tour planning and optimisation tools,” says Bart. “Our diverse range of tools supports clients in several ways.

For instance, imagine a scenario where your vehicle is out on a job and you get a last-minute order from a customer that wants sameday delivery, and you want to meet your service level agreement (SLA) while also delivering on time. Our platform offers dynamic replanning, so customers know which vehicle might need to be recalled to the warehouse, if they need to adjust their planned route to take a detour and what impact will this ultimately have on the actual delivery time.

“Another thing we do is if certain shipments and fleets are in execution, we support our 44

customers with accurate routing.

How long will it take drivers to reach a destination? What is their estimated arrival time and will delays or traffic impact it? Do they need to reroute to save time and still arrive when their recipient expects? We assist drivers out there in the field with accurate driver navigation, alerting and support.

But we also help the back office by providing accurate up-to-date fleet location overviews and sending alerts if ETAs change.

“Lastly, our planning optimisation and ETA solutions help our clients operating in urban areas which are becoming increasingly congested. If you look at urban delivery systems and distribution within cities, last-mile delivery is getting more crowded by the day.

We see growing needs among T&L companies for further optimisation before their drivers go out into the field. HERE helps them create different areas and districts, organise their networks more effectively, be more dynamic in the process and optimise delivery to their customer base accordingly.”

Bart highlights the importance of HERE Technologies’ collaboration with proLogistik Group, a Germanbased international IT company specialising in warehouse

“proLogistik is a key partner for us in terms of using our software. They developed an end customer application called Active Smart Tour with our technology under the hood, which is focused on enabling more efficient fleet operations and transport planning” management systems, transport management systems and fleet planning and optimisation solutions. “proLogistik is a key partner for us in terms of using our software.

They developed an end customer application called Active Smart

Tour with our technology under the hood, which is focused on enabling more efficient fleet operations and transport planning,” explains Bart.

“Smart Tour uses our mapping, geocoding and tour planning products as an algorithm to calculate multi-vehicle and multijob routing optimisation.”

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SAVING WORKING TIME, KILOMETRES AND MONEY IN TOUR PLANNING Innovative route and tour planning with artificial intelligence (AI) renders the work of a freight forwarder immensely easier. Tour planning is subject to great challenges today after all. The sustained shortage of skilled workers makes it difficult to find experienced route planners, while the high complexity of the task is characterised by a variety of parameters such as delivery times, traffic conditions, and customer priorities. Increasing cost pressure requires optimisation of routes and resources to reduce fuel costs and minimise vehicle maintenance costs. Outdated system landscapes further strain efficiency by rendering real-time data integration and automation difficult. Large amounts of knowledge in route planning also are distributed among just a few heads, typically leaving a company if those employees depart.

TOUR PLANNING WITH AI SOFTWARE SOLUTION • For logistics service providers in the logistics, trade and industry • Tour planning for local transport (deliveries and collections) • Considering current and past influences • Automatic planning of collection shipments in active operation • Scheduling for support of tour planning and monitoring • Comprehensive tour monitoring

The active smart tour transportation software offers a solution to the challenges described. It uses selflearning algorithms for optimal route planning based on coordinated destinations. The software contains important parameters from the transport management system (TMS), such as fleet, vehicle availability and driver skills. Basic scheduling rules are also defined as the basis of the software’s calculations. This includes, among other things, restrictions on which areas may be served by which fleet component. In addition, optimisation targets are set for route planning, such as:

• Shortest transport distance • Scheduling of all orders • Balanced use of the vehicle fleet • Optimal cost-benefit ratio The artificial intelligence then takes over all further tasks.

It will consider not only the available resources but also delivery windows, real-time traffic data, goods receiving times and evaluation of historical traffic flows. Using this as a basis, the software compiles a complete route schedule.

A dashboard will display the most important key figures for planning, for example the number of tours, tour status and trip kilometres. The dispatcher can also view the shipments of each individual tour and easily adjust the schedule with a drag and drop function.

The software shows bookings for individual shipments as well as estimated times of arrival (ETA) and the probable unloading time per stop in an overview. The dispatcher can change both the stop sequence within a tour and the tour assignment of individual shipments based on these values. The calculation will be adjusted to any manual change immediately.

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Once the vehicles are on the road, the dispatcher can follow their route progress in real time using the monitoring function. In this process, ETAs are recalculated continuously, and the dispatcher will be informed proactively if there are any deviations from the plan. Orders received during the day can also be scheduled completely automatically using the algorithm in the monitoring feature.

AUTOMATED AND EFFICIENT FUNCTIONS • Automatic planning of tours under consideration of pre-defined restrictions • Constant updates of the expected arrival and departure times (ETA) • Monitoring of the tour progress in tour monitoring • Automated planning of collection shipments • Simple connection to any existing third-party software possible via standard web service interface • Individual specification of optimisation targets by route, time or costs • Resource planning on driver and vehicle levels

AI DELIVERS SUPERIOR RESULTS • Considerable cost savings of up to 30 per cent through resource and route optimisation • Time savings in route planning of up to 90 per cent • CO2-savings due to shorter distances • Relief of the dispatchers through automated route formation • Multi-level notification on progress to the final recipient • Adjustment of running tours in real time • Consideration of real-time traffic information and weather data

MAKE A FREE CONSULTATION APPOINTMENT > 47

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Bart elaborates on some of the ways HERE Technologies leverages location intelligence to optimise business operations and help their clients overcome the challenges of a siloed data landscape.

“Let’s take the T&L industry as a demonstrative example,” explains Bart. “There are many different stakeholders involved and there are several layers of subcontracting to consider. If you have a company that wants to transport a shipment from A to B, there could be eight to 10 different players involved from freight forwarders through to third-party logistics providers working to get the shipment from one place to the other side of the world. We support every one of those players across their different business processes, from planning and monitoring to driver support and analytics.

“Our location services help to overcome the challenges of a siloed data landscape because we operate as a horizontal player reconciling all the different parties involved, including the various transport 49

management, fleet management, planning and driver application systems they might be using. Our location platform acts as the glue and central source of location truth supporting them simultaneously, making it easier to connect these seemingly disparate systems or players because we have built several data connectors and data integration layers.

“It all starts with our partner’s and customer’s operational data. Often clients have multiple systems in place across a certain region. This is a challenging topic because it's hard for them to make connections even if the data is high-quality.

That's where we come in. We support our customers with a database and tools like geocoding, search and autocomplete mechanisms to improve accuracy for planning purposes. We also have tools and support in place to help our customers improve the quality of the data gathered even further.”

Bart describes how HERE Technologies embraces pragmatism in its service provision by identifying growing needs among its customers and adapting its offerings accordingly.

“We have our base map and base database that can display a range 50

of attributes,” says Bart. “But we now also see a growing need among users for customising the experience. They might want to work with their own operational data, customer addresses or points of interest for example. So, we are opening up our platform environment and our tools so we can support customers by connecting their operational data with the latest location intelligence data, services and technology

– customised and tailored to fit their core operations and business needs.”

One of the recurring conversations Bart has with customers focuses on how HERE Technologies' location data and technology can enhance their supply chain visibility and lead to benefits for businesses.

shipments, assets or vehicles, it improves your bottom line by reducing costs and waste,” explains Bart. “If customers identify certain inefficiencies in their process, and do so early on, they can achieve business benefits. Our platform is supporting the end-to-end workflow, thereby identifying breaks in the chain.

“In general, if you have better visibility and control of your

“To use a tangible example, users can see if they have a certain driver 51

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AS A DRIVER OF THE FUTURE IN LOGISTICS Artificial intelligence (AI) has recently enjoyed great media attention once more thanks to ChatGPT. AI comes into play precisely when massive amounts of data and parameters need to be evaluated since it not only maps complex relationships but can also learn from experience.

Hardly any task in logistics can rival scheduling in complexity. Hardly any other area has as much potential for optimisation by mathematical calculations alone. This is because the sum of possible options for optimal planning, under consideration of all relevant parameters, exceeds the human planning horizon by far.

ADVANTAGES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN ROUTE PLANNING • Efficient route optimisation • Saving costs and optimising resources • Faster deliveries and shorter waiting times • Real-time adjustments to traffic conditions • Better customer satisfaction • More sustainable logistics solutions • Reduced complexity of route planning

Noticeable savings potential Significant cost savings of up to 30 per cent are achieved in route planning by optimising resources and routes with artificial intelligence. Time savings of up to 90 per cent and noticeable CO2 savings from shorter distances also bring about clear results.

AI-controlled scheduling at the push of a button Active logistics customers are already using the AI software solution active smart tour today to help them plan their optimal tours. The challenge here is in putting multiple locations to be visited in an order that leads to repeat visits of only the first station while keeping the total distance travelled as short as possible and making the first and the last stations identical. Only eight stops already lead to 40,320 possible tours. 20 stops result in an incredible 2,432,902,008,176,640,000 possible combinations. This task is virtually impossible for the human mind to solve.

A self-learning algorithm, on the other hand, can solve it easily in just a few minutes. It will consider not only the available resources but also delivery windows, realtime traffic data, goods receiving times and evaluation of historical traffic flows. The smart tour software uses this basis to compile a complete tour schedule very quickly. The application also offers the possibility of monitoring all tours in real-time in order to make important decisions quickly where critical events occur.

Orders received after the original planning can also be planned using the algorithm. The application will check independently which vehicles are in the vicinity of the order and calculate the best option from this.

MAKE A FREE CONSULTATION APPOINTMENT >

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out in the field, finishing a delivery at a specific endpoint, they can then analyse if there are more pickups in the area in the coming days and determine the most efficient and cost-effective course of action – whether that might be to instruct them to remain on location or arrange another driver to take the job.

“Of course, there are also concrete benefits in terms of KPIs,” adds Bart. “For instance,

understand factors like dwell times of shipments or where they are, precisely. Comprehensive oversight and clear supply chain visibility allow users to compare their intentions in the planning process to what actually takes place out there in the field. This delivers benefits to their business by enabling them to adjust their operations, potentially saving millions in costs and efficiencies.”

HERE Technologies not only optimises business operations and

“We offer customers tools to profile their vehicles within our platform so they not only see estimated arrival times but the overall financial cost and emissions outputs from journeys, adjusted to the specific details of their fleets” our customers are measuring ontime performance. But what is the actual time of arrival compared to the estimated arrival time? There's still a lot of manual back and forth in the T&L industry in terms of claims and penalties related to whether deliveries are on time – but with our location technology users have a clear timestamp for arrival.

“Last but not least, with location data and intelligence you have rich insights in general across your entire supply chain to truly

enhances supply chain visibility, the company also embraces its ability to drive sustainability and work towards a greener, safer future through the services it provides.

“Sustainability is a crucial topic for us at HERE and a fundamental development area internally,” says Bart. “We are working with car makers and commercial vehicle manufacturers to investigate how we can support their transition to greener vehicles. But we also develop the tools in our platform to 53

enhance sustainability, for instance with electric vehicles (EVs).

“EVs have different total mileage ranges and considerations in terms of factors like total load capacities and more,” explains Bart. “Customers have to organise,

CASE STUDIES Built with HERE: Active Logistics > HERE Tour Planning: Fleet modernisation and active logistics > HERNAV: Driver application powered

by HERE > 54

plan and execute transportation accordingly and we support our users by helping them adjust with optimised EV routes, plotting recharging stations and other last mile delivery considerations, for instance.

“We offer customers tools to profile their vehicles within our platform so they not only see estimated arrival times but the overall financial cost and emissions outputs from journeys, adjusted to the specific details of their fleets. This allows businesses to calculate their impact on the environment and emission footprint, which they can then factor into their planning and optimisation processes. In the near future, I hope to see the industry getting rewarded for adopting solutions where they can optimise

routes based on a greener emission footprint.

ADDED VALUE

“We welcome the fact that sustainability is rising higher and higher on the strategic agenda in the industries we serve and that we are in a strong position to help our users strive towards greener, safer and more environmentally beneficial goals that protect our future.”

Wrapping up our discussion, Bart stresses the importance of industry collaboration – vertically, but also horizontally.

“If you look at the transport and logistics industry, and other global industries in general, I think we need more organisational and operational level collaboration,” insists Bart. “There are still a lot of players working in silos with their operations. Of course, these companies have to consider margins and be realistic when they’re offering competing services – but I think that if we want to overcome global challenges, we really need that transparency and end-to-end collaboration across the board.”

Learn more about HERE Technologies at their website here.com.

PODCASTS Bart recently listened to a fascinating podcast called ‘Exploring the Money Trail with Mckinsey’ by McKinsey and Maersk Growth.

“This episode of the podcast I found particularly fascinating because it engaged with investments in supply chain technology, the rise of startups and the industry areas where the most progress is unfolding,” summarises Bart.

For readers interested in learning more about supply chain digitisation and the role of location technology within it, Bart recommends listening to a recent Supply Chain Brain podcast featuring his colleague Charlie Maynard.

Connect with Bart 55

AUGMENTED REALITY

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THE POTENTIAL OF AR FOR THE SUPPLY CHAIN INDUSTRY Exploring the case for deploying augmented reality in global supply chain networks.

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WITH THE LAUNCH OF THE META QUEST 3 IN OCTOBER, WE ARE SEEING A NUMBER OF DISCUSSIONS ACROSS MULTIPLE INDUSTRIES ABOUT THE POWER OF AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) TO TRANSFORM THE WAY WE LIVE AND WORK. This launch, which took place ahead of other major releases such as Apple’s unveiling of their Vision Pro, expected for early 2024, highlights how we are starting to see this kind of technology become more and more accessible – and its potential for revolutionising industries.

In recent years we have seen technologies such as the Internet of Things, AI and machine learning bring major benefits to the supply chain industry. The digital transformation of the industry is no small task due to its reliance on manual processes, 58

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but digital technologies hold huge potential. When we examine augmented reality and its future impact on the industry, there is a lot to look forward to. Whilst it may not be an industry that immediately springs to mind as providing a use-case for AR/VR, Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta’s Quest 3 could have huge benefits 60

for supply chain logistics and the movement of goods from A to B. Ultimately, the technology offers unprecedented opportunities to optimise operations, streamline processes and enhance training and decision-making capabilities.

By harnessing their power, the logistics domain is poised to reach

new levels of productivity and innovation.

For example, let’s examine it in use within the fields of training and safety. If you allow trainees to practice on key equipment simulations in digital environments, outside of the real world, you are able to free

up experienced staff to continue working without causing delays.

What’s more, it eliminates the risk of equipment- or human-based training incidents.

In fact, a recent case study conducted by NSC’s WORK to ZERO initiative observed up to 32 per cent reduction in reported 61

“IT EXPERTS FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD CAN USE THE META QUEST 3 OR VISION PRO TO PROVIDE EMPLOYEES WITH INSTRUCTIONS AND TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDANCE, SAVING TIME AND RESOURCES ON TRAVEL OR IN-HOUSE OPERATIONS” near misses and safety incidents, faster training and a 100 per cent reduction in Lost Time Injury (LTI) after using VR-based safety training and technology.

According to PwC’s Seeing is Believing report, VR training will contribute $294m to the global economy by 2030. Significant strides are being made when it comes to developing offerings on proficiency, training, and virtual port or terminal visits.

The Meta Quest 3 can also come in handy when it comes to monitoring and visualisation. A truly global supply chain means that warehouses, distribution centres or manufacturing 62

facilities can sometimes be located in hard-to-reach destinations. The rise in friendshoring and nearshoring in recent years is seeing companies choosing to bulkstore goods closer to home or with trusted allies – or indeed in high-growth potential markets. We’re seeing these trends occur as trade becomes more standardised and as businesses demand greater resilience from their providers.

This can make operational planning and optimisation from afar difficult and mean in-person visits can prove costly to an organisation.

With the use of AR, logistics managers can test different layout configurations, storage strategies and workflow designs without having to be physically present. This enables teams to test and identify the most efficient approaches to dynamics like warehouse management, reducing operating costs and improving their overall supply chain performance.

The ability to collaborate from afar is something that many organisations struggled through during the 63

COVID-19 pandemic, and it holds real benefits for the logistics industry. In addition to optimising warehouses remotely, AR enables remote experts to provide realtime assistance to workers onsite. Say, for example, a smart warehouse was experiencing technical problems, with the help of AR, IT experts from anywhere in the world can use the Meta Quest 3 or Vision Pro to provide employees with instructions and 64

troubleshooting guidance, saving time and resources on travel or inhouse operations.

Something else we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that a business’s ability to stay agile and adjust to global disruptions has never been more important. AR and VR technology provide businesses with the tools to forecast and plan for real-life scenarios, creating virtual settings to test the supply

chain's responsiveness to various market conditions and demand fluctuations. In moments where a quick response is vital, VR can facilitate more efficient collaboration with suppliers and partners across different geographical locations, to help streamline decision-making and problem-solving processes.

If we can use this mixed reality technology to mimic real-world

scenarios in a consequence-free space, and test what’s possible for our industry, we can create a medium to share with customers and investors, boost trust and accelerate innovation. All of this will benefit the logistics industry in turn, and offer the community greater opportunities to come together, collaborate and build a more resilient end-to-end digital supply chain.

Source: DP World

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B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W

The global technology company driving the future of energy towards sustainability Janaina Ruas Filiponi,

Europe Head of Supply Chain & Sustainability at SLB, on the company’s journey to embed sustainability into the supply chain function and the role the supply chain plays in its vision for a decarbonised, sustainable future.

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In the last century, global technology company SLB has evolved and adapted to the ever-changing demands of the energy industry, its customers and partners.

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ith a heritage of innovation behind the company, SLB positions itself as an early adopter and pioneer of new mindsets poised to tackle the dual challenge of guaranteeing energy security and affordability while reducing carbon emissions to meet our net zero goals.

focusing on decarbonisation and technology innovation to address the world’s energy needs and forge ahead with global energy transition. The new chapter for the legacy Schlumberger brand underscored the company’s commitment to decarbonisation, digitalisation, new energy systems and innovation in the oil and gas In October 2022, Schlumberger industries. SLB’s bold vision is to announced its rebranded name, SLB, accelerate the energy transition as part of the company’s new identity with sustainability at the core of its ambition.

Here to tell us more about the supply chain digitalisation, innovation and performance underpinning SLB’s new chapter is Janaina Ruas Filiponi, Europe Head of Supply Chain & Sustainability.

Janaina’s background is in engineering and she has been at the company for over 20 years, working in various departments, starting in operations and now business functions. Today Janaina heads up the supply chain department for SLB’s European operations and oversees the region’s sustainability endeavours.

She orchestrates sourcing, supplier management, materials, logistics and regulations alongside taking charge of the internally focused sustainability strategies for that geography.

The two main layers to Janaina’s role are intrinsically linked, since 69

enacting change with sustainability goals in mind almost always winds its way to a supplier, procurement policy or logistics strategy of some kind, she explains.

“I’m personally very passionate about sustainability. As my awareness about overall sustainability developed, it made sense for me to start embedding sustainability into our supply chain discussions. For example, if we want to go ahead with changes to a solar project, switch the LED lights in our offices or transition our fleet to electric vehicles or electrical forklifts – everything was naturally linked to supply chain discussions,” summarises Janaina.

It means we also get to work on our sustainability in terms of our ongoing community engagements and human rights policies across our supply chain.”

SLB embraces innovation across the board as a global technology company and it is also particularly prevalent in the supply chain strategies it has been rolling out since the rebrand last year in 2022.

“Innovation has been embedded into the DNA of SLB, for a very long time,” describes Janaina. “It’s built into the company and with the new chapter where SLB is being guided by sustainability, decarbonisation and a global energy transition, we understand that change 70

won’t happen without determined and focused innovation efforts. If businesses and companies continue to do things as they are today, the pace of change towards reducing emissions or reaching net zero will be too slow. Therefore, innovation and new mindsets are imperative.

“So if we consider innovation at SLB from a supply chain perspective, our mission is trying to understand from the business and operations sides what our internal demands are and where we need visibility to recognise opportunities for improvements in terms of the goals we’re striving towards. Once we identify the places to focus on, we usually have a supplier linked to them.

“We work in the world of data, technology and AI. Everything can have better visibility, more innovative approaches and improved effectiveness”

“Just over two years ago, we introduced our Supplier Innovation Program (SIP). Here we engage with our top 15-20 suppliers worldwide and as a business, we challenge them to propose a win-win supply chain innovation for us both to adopt.

“After we consider these presentations, we fine-tune our focus towards a few of the most promising proposals and start those projects on the ground. Not only does this catalyse innovation, but it also strengthens our relationships with our high-level suppliers and these relationships evolve into collaborative partnerships.

“SIP started as a global initiative but now we’re cascading it down to the regional divisions of SLB,” continues Janaina. “For example in Europe, we are rolling out the SIP approach to our specific suppliers. But supply chain innovation at SLB is not just limited to the global or continental levels, although the bigger picture perspective is of course crucial.

We also explore innovation at a granular level and encourage teams to suggest efficiency improvements that affect our daily processes and operations. That can come in the form of a different way we do tasks or new approaches to apps and data with enhanced visibility.

“We work in the world of data, technology and AI. Everything can have better visibility, more innovative approaches and improved effectiveness. We instil this mentality into our teams. Consider our operations in Europe where we have about 6,000 suppliers. If we aren’t embracing innovation 71

and efficiency in the supply chain department, missed opportunities and inefficiencies soon multiply out and interactions become more complicated across the board. We want our people to work on valueadded tasks with less time spent on menial or transactional tasks.”

Janaina explains how digitalisation and performance are two core components of SLB’s supply chain innovation.

“At one level we help our clients on their journey towards excellence in performance and digitalisation, so it makes sense for us to embrace them as a company as well,” says Janaina. “More specifically we are currently focusing on the digitalisation of our data. We have a tremendous volume of transactions every single day and if we weren’t digitalising this process, it would hinder visibility and have knock-on effects throughout the entire business. Digitalisation is key for our supply chain and company growth.

“When it comes to performance, it is a mindset for us at SLB embedded into our brand and how our teams operate. So for instance, if we consider the supply tender process, today we are trying to implement new ways of thinking within the existing sourcing process.

We’re building in factors such as 72

security, sustainability or energy consumption.”

SLB champions sustainability by deploying advanced technological innovation, facilitating decarbonisation and striving towards new energy systems. But Janaina describes how these externally directed endeavours have been reflected by internal development as well. She highlights two major initiatives related to training and visibility that have been particularly impactful at SLB within its supply chain.

“Even before our rebranding in 2022 and that shift towards greater emphasis on sustainability and the global energy transition, we recognised a need to improve our internal awareness in terms of sustainable initiatives,” states Janaina. “In the past two years, we’ve been working incredibly hard to develop our awareness and training related to sustainability. It was a huge, multifaceted effort to keep the entire business aware of our sustainability initiatives.

“We started at a global level by developing formal training programmes with supply chainspecific modules. Over time we refined our training efforts and enhanced our courses by

partnering with universities and research centres to advance our awareness even further.

“Many of our key stakeholders, managers and supervisors are being invited to enrol in these 2-3 month training programmes.

“We’ve now turned our attention more broadly towards engagement to capitalise on this momentum, but in a fun, compelling way. We partnered globally with a science education platform that works with companies to highlight the subject of sustainability, based on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change data, but in an accessible and entertaining way. In our region we also launched a Sustainability

Roadshow where we engage in a fun and interactive way with a short inperson workshop focusing not only on the company global directions and priorities but also our own sustainability initiatives to reach all levels of the organisation. That has been successfully ongoing since June, involving several different countries.

“The second pillar of our efforts towards sustainability centres on visibility regarding our emissions. As with any company, we have better control over our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions since they are internal. But it is the scope 3 emissions where the greatest potential impact lies.

“Even though this is the most challenging area to catalyse change, 73

as a company we have committed to reducing our scope 3 emissions and partnered with CDP Worldwide to improve SLB’s environmental impact with external accountability.”

Janaina describes how SLB has asked its key suppliers to disclose their emissions for several years now. “It's not an easy exercise and we don’t expect details from all our suppliers because some might not have the bandwidth or maturity for now,” she admits. “But it is possible for some of our key suppliers, and for the others, we built frameworks to help them advance their capabilities so they can offer insights. It's critical to work in collaboration with our key suppliers on that journey.”

Due to the global nature of SLB’s operations, Janaina explains that the company recognises its messaging related to sustainability needs to be adjusted to the diverse countries and cultures where they are based.

“In my region we cover over 20 countries, so we created a framework where we could organise ourselves a bit better based on locations. We formed a sustainability SteerCo where we define the direction and priorities in each place. In turn, we adapted different communication strategies to approach our colleagues. To give better transparency and visibility in what we are implementing in the region, we developed an app where

“Teamwork has been an empowering force that propels many of our teams towards collective success”

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we provide visibility on all our ongoing projects, their status or progress and who is involved in them.

“This has not only helped us to fulfil that internal demand from our people to have transparency in what was happening across the company, but also it has helped us to track the sustainability projects at a higher level.

“We divide these endeavours into three broad categories. The first is our internal sustainability and emissions.

The second is focused on the social side, in terms of our community and human rights work. The third pillar focuses on how we are helping our clients either on the new energy side or how to decarbonise their emissions.

“With the support of many different teams in place, we put all these systems in place so we have transparency from the top down, but also the bottom up. For instance, on the same portal employees can upload ideas for new projects and volunteer themselves to participate in some of those projects. So our engagement is thorough and clear, and we can track what is happening.

“Communication is a key element in any successful endeavour, especially one as complex as sustainability. Timely and transparent information sharing across teams and stakeholders is vital to fostering

collaboration and results. The more education and information that flows towards our teams, the more initiatives and ideas emerge, driving sustainable practices and resilience.

“By leveraging the power of communication, I believe that we can create a more informed and motivated sense of community, engaged towards a more sustainable future.

But Janaina reiterates that major projects like reducing scope 3 emissions and educating its staff on sustainability or deploying supply chain digitalisation and performance require teamwork, partnerships and collaboration.

“Teamwork has been an empowering force that propels many of our teams towards collective success,” says Janaina. “To achieve many of those results, I’m lucky enough to work with a cohesive team and different stakeholders who have been instrumental in helping to achieve our aspirations. The more we work on collaboration across different teams, the more we are able to tackle challenges, overcome obstacles and achieve what would not have been possible without that synergy.

“We cannot solve these profound global challenges by ourselves,” says Janaina. “These issues are very complex, and we rely on allies to help us.

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Introducing Entro: Your Partner for Energy and Environmental Improvements that pay off Are you seeking to embrace energy efficiency practices and unlock the potential of sustainable growth for your business? Look no further than Entro, a leading independent expert consultant on energy efficiency and sustainable buildings.

With more than 30 years of experience, we are here to help you navigate the energy transition, reduce risks and achieve your climate targets. Further, we are thrilled to present our innovative “no-cureno-pay” business model, designed to deliver tangible energy savings and cost reductions without any upfront expenses.

At Entro, we understand the importance of energy savings for businesses today.

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Whether you are a corporation, a real estate developer or a facility manager, we have the knowledge and experience to assist you with energy and environmental improvements that pay off on your sustainability journey.

One of our key selling points is our commitment to achieving significant energy savings for our clients. Our estimates suggest that, in most cases, we can obtain substantial reductions in energy use. We understand that committing resources to energy-saving initiatives can be challenging when the returns on investments are uncertain. That’s why we have developed a risk-free approach that ensures you only pay when you see measurable energy savings.

Here’s how it works: Entro conduct a comprehensive assessment of your energy usage, identify areas for improvement and implement tailored solutions. Throughout the process, we provide ongoing support from experts, establish remote monitoring, create digital twins and apply AI light to ensure the desired results are achieved. Our fee is directly tied to the energy savings you realise. So, the more energy you save, the more you benefit, both environmentally and financially.

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With Entro’s “no-cure-no-pay” business model, you have the freedom to prioritise energy savings without straining your budget. We believe that sustainability should be accessible to all businesses, regardless of their size or financial capacity. Our model allows you to make significant progress towards your sustainability targets while remaining cost-effective.

By partnering with Entro, you get more than just a consultant. You gain a trusted ally committed to your success.

Our team will work closely with you to identify energy-saving opportunities, implement energy-efficient measures and optimise your systems. We are dedicated to helping you achieve long-term energy savings that positively impact your bottom line and the environment.

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Visit our website at www.entro.us to learn more about how Entro can help your business thrive sustainably through energy savings.

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“Entro helped us understand our habits better and with their assistance we reduced our consumption considerably at our Aberdeen facilities in the first year – it has been a very successful partnership” “For example, we work closely with Entro – an energy efficiency company from Norway – to reduce our consumption at some of our facilities. We kicked off the project with them at our operations in Aberdeen, Scotland. We have a ‘no cure, no payment’ deal in place with Entro. They visited our sites and deployed their expertise to analyse where we could decrease our energy consumption. From there, we agreed that if they achieved a certain drop in consumption for us within a specific period of time, we would pay them a portion of the savings.

“Entro helped us understand our habits better and with their assistance we reduced our consumption considerably at our Aberdeen facilities in the first year – it has been a very successful partnership.

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“We hope we can build on this partnership and expand it to other SLB facilities in Europe.

“Another example of a productive and valued partnership is our work with Red Wing Safety. Red Wing is our PPE provider and we collaborate not only on safety but sustainability as well. For instance, we have been developing more sustainable

overalls and boots that will benefit both companies and work towards goals we are both trying to achieve – always keeping safety front and centre.”

So what does the future hold for SLB? “I trust there will be a lot of exciting developments in the coming years,” says Janaina. “I envision further

“Red Wing is our PPE provider and we collaborate not only on safety but sustainability as well”

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growth related to energy security as this is such a crucial topic. But I also think we are well positioned with the right concepts and right mindset to grow in the right direction, helping our clients but also positively impacting the planet as well.

There’s a tangible feeling of excitement here at SLB for this new chapter in the company’s rich history. We’re looking at promising new relationships with many different stakeholders, providers and clients that may evolve into collaborative partners – it’s very fluid and stimulating to witness and be a part of, especially on the new energy and decarbonising side of the company.

“SLB is an innovative company, and we know there are a tremendous amount of opportunities for us to work towards. There is no way that the global energy transition and the drive towards net zero will happen without innovation and that’s embedded into our DNA as a company.”

Learn more about SLB by visiting slb.com.

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Personal passion meets professional purpose During the height of the Covid pandemic, SLB gave employees time off to help them cope with the demands and challenges of lockdowns. Janaina recalls using this opportunity to take on additional training and professional

development related to sustainability since it was a cause close to her heart.

“At a personal level, I wanted to better understand the situation before us,” shares Janaina.

“It opened my eyes and once you have that awareness, you can’t ignore it. It just so happened that at the time SLB was focusing more attention on sustainability and everything fell into place for me to embrace the second layer to my role related to sustainability beyond the underlying supply chain dynamic.

“Beyond that, being able to be more aware of the sustainability cause and passing that to my family and kids has been rewarding. I’m a very proud mum of two and they started to talk more about the topic and take the small actions in our daily lives that shows their own early awareness about the theme.”

Book Janaina is currently reading Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve More by Chris Bailey and highly recommends the

book to anyone grappling with all the information, priorities and distractions we juggle in modern daily life.

Wellbeing Janaina believes in finding ways to nurture well-being.

“Our mental health is super important,” she insists. “Recently I’ve been more committed to making time for my mental health, which for me meant tweaking my schedule so I can exercise at the start of the day, every day, as much as much as feasible, even if on busy days that means only few minutes.

My current year-to-date average daily is around 50 minutes per day. I’ve built this habit over the past year. I realised that if I make exercising a habit it is easier for me to actually keep track of it.

Besides the physical benefits of the exercise, it also helps me to cope with so much information ongoing (i.e. such as online training, webcasts, podcast, etc) and overall has been incredibly helpful for my mental wellbeing.”

Connect with Janaina

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Empowering scientific innovation with strategic sourcing and procurement

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Ulyses Camacho, President and Chief Operating Officer, and Brenda Rapp, discuss how Brenda a build plan Rapp, discuss how a build plan procurement and supply chain procurement VP journey. and supply chain VP company’s impressive supply chain transformation Brightspeed Tom Maguire, Brightspeed and COO SAP's Vice President of Sales, COO Digital Supply Chain, charts herTom Maguire, and

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SECURITY

British startup se prevent supply ch

Risk Ledger will use the series shore up their security and

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ecures £6.25m to hain cyber-attacks

s A funding to help businesses d strengthen supply chains.

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Organisations have been laserfocused on protecting their own networks, applications, physical premises and people against cybersecurity attacks but have neglected their exposure to suppliers. ver the past 3 years, a staggering 73% of organisations have been affected by a third-party security breach. Helping these businesses toughen their resilience against such attacks, cybersecurity business Risk Ledger has announced it has raised a £6.25m series A funding round to strengthen supply chains.

The funding round was led by UK investor Mercia Ventures, which joins Seedcamp, Firstminute Capital, Episode 1, Village Global as well as 88

Finnish VC Lifeline Ventures as investors. To date, Risk Ledger has raised a total of £9.8m in venture funding.

Recent cyber-attacks on the Metropolitan Police and NHS Trusts through their supply chains have the potential to compromise the UK’s national security and private citizen data. A threat alert by the National Cyber Security Centre is also warning of increased state-sponsored attacks against UK critical national infrastructure. Supply chain attacks are on the rise, and can have severe impacts, as

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“The unique ability of Risk Ledger to map relationships and interdependencies in the supply chain allows organisations to understand where they sit within their own supplier ecosystem” Haydn Brooks, co-founder and CEO, at Risk Ledger

Pictured: Co-founders Haydn Brooks (left) and Daniel Saul (right)

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the Solarwinds, Log4J and MOVEit Transfer attacks have shown. According to recent research by KPMG, 73% of the surveyed organisations had experienced at least one significant disruption, caused by a third party, within the last three years, while 85% said that their business considers thirdparty risk management (TPRM) a strategic priority. The cost of global supply chain attacks is expected to reach $46bn this year (Juniper Research).

Organisations are increasingly trusting others with critical business functions and sensitive data, meaning vulnerabilities can appear anywhere in the supply chain, from suppliers to partners.

Traditional, point-in-time cybersecurity risk assessments make for poor-quality data that goes out of date fast, offering little protection.

Risk Ledger offers an innovative social network approach to supply chain risk management, allowing organisations to use the platform as both clients and suppliers, able to share

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with connected organisations a single profile of their controls across 12 security domains, including ESG and financial risk. This reveals relationships in many directions and allows for a unique visualisation of the entire supply chain ecosystem, and the uncovering of critical interdependencies, concentration risks and single points of failure well beyond immediate thirdparty connections. It also results in more accurate and real-time data, giving organisations the ability to make better decisions to protect their business from supply chain threats.

“The unique ability of Risk Ledger to map relationships and interdependencies in the supply chain allows organisations to understand where they sit within their own supplier ecosystem and how different incidents may impact their organisation given those interdependencies,” comments Haydn Brooks, cofounder and CEO, at Risk Ledger.

Risk Ledger has seen rapid adoption over the past two years and today counts over 5,000 organisations with 17,000 users 92

“Risk Ledger has se over the past two yea over 5,000 organisatio across large public s services organisati

een rapid adoption ars and today counts ons with 17,000 users sector and financial ions as customers”

across large public sector and financial services organisations as customers. Client bookings have consistently doubled year on year, or more, since the company launched its platform in 2020.

Risk Ledger's growing international client base includes many organisations in sensitive sectors such as critical national infrastructure, financial services and the public sector, which face heightened regulatory scrutiny and need to demonstrate how they effectively limit the risks emanating from their suppliers.

Speaking about the value Risk Ledger provides, the former Divisional Information Security Officer at the UK Health Security Agency, David Malkin, states, “Risk Ledger provides us with a more holistic, real-time view of our complex supply chain, helping to identify and remediate potential vulnerabilities and issues early.”

The new funding will fuel future product development to equip Risk Ledger’s clients with tools to combat supply chain security attacks and allow Risk Ledger 93

to deepen partnerships within key industries. Mercia Ventures invested in Risk Ledger from its Northern Venture Capital Trust (VCT) funds and Adam Lovell of Mercia Ventures adds, “Thirdparty risk is a major security concern for companies as it’s a factor over which they traditionally have little control. Risk Ledger offers an exciting new approach 94

to third-party risk management.

Haydn and Daniel have made remarkable progress in developing the business to date and have a very clear view of the way forward.

We are delighted to support their ambitious growth plans.”

Risk Ledger’s mission is to build a global network of connected organisations all working together

to defend-as-one – detecting, responding and ultimately preventing cyber-attacks in real-time. Risk Ledger aims to enhance security through collaboration and the exchange of information.

“As we push forward towards our vision, our platform will open up new capabilities within

supply chain security,” summarises Haydn Brooks. “Integrations and future product releases will allow organisations to both understand and react to security incidents in their supply chain, reducing the impact of such incidents and ultimately leading to a more resilient world.”

Source: Risk Ledger 95

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rom local to global:

THE IKIGAI BEHIND TOWA INTERNATIONAL’S TRANSFORMATION Joan Baylina, Supply Chain Director at Towa International shares insights into the strategy and philosophy behind the company’s global expansion – with added industry perspective from David Peix, CEO.

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Towa P

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Pharma

IN 1951, TOWA PHARMACEUTICAL WAS FOUNDED IN OSAKA, JAPAN, AS A FAMILY-RUN COMPANY MANUFACTURING THERAPEUTIC SOLUTIONS AIMED AT IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE AND PROMOTING EQUITABLE ACCESS TO MEDICATION. ast forward to 2020, Towa Pharmaceutical entered the global stage when it founded Towa International. This became the company’s international hub, a wellestablished off-patent medicine platform with a commercial presence in Europe and the US and an indirect presence in more than 60 countries – along with a strong R&D+i Center and manufacturing capabilities.

With this expansion, Towa International was born and the company established a new headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.

The onset of this historic internationalisation milestone triggered a

period of transformation in the past three years.

Here to tell us more about the philosophy, strategy and partnerships crucial to the company’s journey since 2020 is Joan Baylina, Supply Chain Director at Towa International.

Joan began his career in the food industry at DANONE, in a variety of manufacturing and supply chain roles. He moved to Nissan, where he spent more than 15 years in various local and global roles of increased responsibility in manufacturing, engineering and technology within supply chain, as Director of Supply Chain Strategy.

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“AT TOWA INTERNATIONAL, WE WORK TO RESEARCH, DEVELOP, MANUFACTURE, MARKET AND DISTRIBUTE GENERIC AND VALUE-ADDED MEDICINES (VAM) THAT CONTRIBUTE TO IMPROVING PEOPLE’S HEALTH” Since 2021, Joan has been the Supply Chain Operations Director for Europe and the US at Towa International. When he arrived at the company, Joan brought with him a strong portfolio of experience in senior management, end-to-end supply chain, manufacturing and engineering operations, alongside a proven performance record in global strategic and cross-functional projects.

“At Towa International, we work to research, develop, manufacture, market and distribute generic and value-added medicines (VAM) that contribute to improving people’s health,” begins Joan. “In turn, our products allow greater availability and better management of treatments for healthcare 102

professionals, supporting the sustainability of health systems in the countries where we operate.

Towa International currently has a direct presence in the United States, Spain, Portugal and Italy, and we distribute our medicines to more than 60 countries through strategic alliances with the firm objective of increasing our international presence to reach the maximum number of patients.

cultural transformation to move from a local manufacturer to becoming a global company.”

So how has the company embarked on its transformation journey in the last three years?

Joan explains there have been three main focuses behind the transformation: strategy, ikigai and people.

“With the birth of Towa International in 2020 we established our new headquarters here in Barcelona and opened a state-of-the-art production plant and R&D+i Center with more than 30,0000m² of facilities – equipped with the sector’s most advanced technology, meeting the highest quality standards. During 2021 we established the foundation on which to build our positioning, essence and values – initiating a full

“For Towa International, its people are the key and vital element for the achievement of its objectives,” says Joan.

“Therefore, we prioritise ensuring opportunities for personal and professional growth in a pleasant and safe environment within an international context. Our purpose as a company ‘to generate true smiles in people’ starts within the internal environment of our company.

For this reason, we know that developing the talent and commitment of our people is a determining factor in achieving our current objectives, but also, and above all, in facing the challenges that the future will bring. The new People and Culture Department of Towa International, has built a totally new company within 3 years 103

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starting with the People model based on Flex and Health.

“Towa International is aware that the People and Culture Department is the foundation of the business’s success and is one of the main strategic components of the company.

During the last three years, we have worked on some essential bases such as People Policies and we have taken several steps towards developing our work model where we promote a culture based on respect, self-responsibility, ethics and flexibility where people choose to stay. These values will enable us to grow our business in a sustainable and responsible manner, always keeping people’s health and well-being at the centre of our priorities.”

The company’s focus on its people cannot be understood without appreciating the historic Japanese philosophy Towa International champions in its operations: ikigai. The concept of ikigai refers to a motivating force, reason for living or sense of purpose.

At Towa International, the company’s ikigai is dedicated to promoting the health of 105

as many people as possible and generating genuine smiles.

With people and philosophy front and centre, Towa International embarked on its transformation journey in 2020 by expanding its presence in Spain while consolidating the company’s core strategy for manufacturing, supply chain and R&D. This entailed introducing innovation and digitalisation throughout the company’s supply chain processes, from beginning to end.

“We want to be an active player contributing to the international 106

sustainability of health systems by providing high-quality medicines,” says Joan. “Our transformation unfolded at our plants, in the supply chain, within our R&D efforts and through forging strategic alliances.

“We began our journey by opening the new headquarters and R&D+i Center in Barcelona, where we established our Excellence Center for research and development of innovative modified-release medicines. Here, we focus on developing new products in their initial stages before manufacturing batches for clinical studies in

“WE WANT TO BE AN ACTIVE PLAYER CONTRIBUTING TO THE INTERNATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY OF HEALTH SYSTEMS BY PROVIDING HIGH-QUALITY MEDICINES”

our pilot plant. Once we receive approval to produce investigational drugs from both the Spanish authorities and the FDA we move on to the registration of the specialties, developed for the different business areas including the commercial subsidiaries in Europe and the United States and for our clients, thus having a worldwide reach.

“Our state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, also here in Spain, is one of the largest facilities of its kind in the country. We equipped it with the sector’s most advanced technology meeting the highest quality standards because in

everything we do, we want to do it in the best way possible.

We comply with the Correct Manufacturing Standards of the European Union (EU-GMP), as well as equivalent guidelines such as the ICH, EMEA Guidelines and Guidance for Industry (FDA) among others.

“We want to be an active player contributing to international sustainability – we are increasingly aware of sustainability and of growing and acting in a sustainable way. In 2022, we increased our investment in our dedicated photovoltaic installation to ensure our facilities are supplied with renewable, green energy – moving us away from relying on the carbon industry. It was originally built in 2015 and is one of the largest of its kind in Spain.”

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Beyond these significant investments in facilities, Towa International incorporated innovation and digitalisation into its supply chain as part of the transformational journey.

“We have structured all the processes within our supply chain”, says Joan. “It begins at our plants and ends with customers, including everything in between such as our warehouses, distribution centres and more.”

As Joan explains, there are three main axes to the innovation and digitalisation of the supply chain at Towa International. The first axis is the digitalisation of all internal processes, but also how the company engages externally. The second axis is digital integration across all Towa’s global sites. The third axis is securing endto-end visibility to improve performance and ensure the company is providing the best service possible to customers and patients.

“The first axis began with trying to understand and 108

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manage the data that we have in our plants,” says Joan. “Using the Internet of Things (IoT) we started to connect all our facilities, general maintenance equipment, rooms, climate areas, office, lights, air – all to be connected so we have all the data in our hands. Once we 110

achieved the full digitalisation of our internal processes and assets, we started our process to digitise the supply chain. We now know exactly where medicines are in the process, we can see the qualities and we have full oversight of the parameters in place at our plants.

“For us, the manufacturing plants needed to adapt with a longer strategic vision in mind, based on five priorities: sustainability, flexibility, speed, technology and personalisation. With these five priorities, we achieved a system where at anytime, anywhere,

we offer a compelling value proposition and a seamless consumer experience. We improved our plant management, flexibility, real-time control and quality inspection. In short, we created a smart plan and fully integrated it into our supply chain.

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“Once we had our internal process digitalised, we started looking beyond the plants and our facilities,” says Joan.

“Beginning with the inbound materials and stock, we looked towards the different components arriving at the plants so we could manage this aspect of the supply chain effectively through digitalisation.

We then extended this to our deliveries and distribution

to facilitate global connectivity.

The objective of the second axis was to review, collaborate, plan, organise and implement integration. Together with Seidor we built a global solution for our systems, processes, procedures, workflow reporting and tools to create a synergy among all the Towa entities around the world.

We wanted to promote and create a cohesive collaboration environment where all our sites

“TOGETHER WITH SEIDOR WE BUILT A GLOBAL SOLUTION FOR OUR SYSTEMS, PROCESSES, PROCEDURES, WORKFLOW REPORTING AND TOOLS TO CREATE A SYNERGY AMONG ALL THE TOWA ENTITIES AROUND THE WORLD” systems. We are getting close to our mission which is to have digitally connected plants, parts, people and processes.”

Once Towa International had all its internal processes digitalised, the next phase was to roll out digital integration to all its sites around the world.

“The second axis in our journey has been business integration”, says Joan. “Here Towa worked with its partner Seidor, a local data and technology consultant, 112

would be working together.

Seidor demonstrated great flexibility and agility to adapt with us as we embarked on not only our technical transformation but our cultural transformation as well.

“With this second axis, the point is to bring everyone together and make sure we are working in the same way. When we share these corporate capacities and synergies across the company, we can offer a tailor-made service to our clients and

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maximise our reach with patients.”

By unifying the systems at Towa International in the second axis, the company paved the way for pursuing its third axis: end-to-end visibility.

“The third axis of our innovation and digitalisation plan has been focused on our supply chain operations, taking them from being a transactional system to a digital operation,” says Joan. “The goal is more than full process digitalisation or deploying the latest technology.

Our objective is to be able to harmonise, improve common processes, increase automatisation, be more efficient and have more reliable information so we can make better business decisions. The overarching ambition is simultaneously improving the performance of the endto-end value chain through planning and orchestrated synchronisation at all levels, avoiding horizons and silos.

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“Towa operates in 20 therapeutic areas with more than 200 products. Without digitalisation and innovation transforming our processes, combined with the support of our partners Seidor, we would never have achieved full integration. Now we have met this goal, we have full visibility of our supply chain network from tier 1 and tier 2 all the way to pharmacies and patients in hospitals.”

Wrapping up our conversation, Joan reiterates that Towa’s transformational journey from a local to an international company in only three years is a tremendous achievement.

“For us, this is the most important thing to celebrate – we are now preparing to arrive on the global stage, and this is an incredibly exciting new chapter for us in the history of the company,” concludes Joan.

For further information and to learn more about Towa International, visit towainternational.com.

INTER-INDUSTRY INSIGHTS When Joan moved from the automotive to the pharmaceutical industry, he embarked on his own learning and research journey to immerse himself in his new sector.

“I find it empowering and motivational to read into the pharmaceutical industry, attend talks or conferences and watch informative documentaries about the latest conversations or innovations in the field,” says Joan. “I throw myself into enriching my knowledge because it not only helps me in my job, but I find it fascinating”.

Connect with Joan

Turn the page and read on for added insights from David Peix, CEO of Towa International.

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Final thoughts

FROM THE CEO David Peix, CEO of Towa International, provides his perspective on the company’s growth and how it is tackling challenges in the pharmaceutical industry.

n the world of pharmaceuticals, where innovation and accessibility are crucial, Towa International reaches millions of patients in search of affordable, quality medications.

Joined three years ago with Japan's Towa Pharmaceutical, one of the largest generics and valueadded medicines companies in Japan, Towa International emerged as part of a bold global expansion plan. Today, it stands as the international hub and as a symbol of the company’s dedication to improving global healthcare. Operating globally, including its American affiliate, Breckenridge Pharmaceutical, three Mediterranean affiliates, a B2C and a B2B business unit. Towa International places a strong commitment to high standards of quality and strict compliance 116

with local regulations where it operates.

Its ikigai, purpose, is to contribute to people's health and generate genuine smiles by ensuring equitable healthcare access for all. Furthermore, the company is deeply committed to sustainability, recognising the importance of environmental responsibility in its operations.

Towa International’s commitment extends beyond supplying generic drugs. The company embraces a holistic approach to integrated health improving people’s physical, emotional and social well-being – a vision that guides all its efforts.

CHALLENGES

Despite its progress, the pharmaceutical industry,

“TOWA INTERNATIONAL, THE INTERNATIONAL COMPANY OF TOWA PHARMACEUTICAL, IS A GUIDING FORCE TRANSCENDING BORDERS TO IMPACT GLOBAL HEALTHCARE WHILE ADVOCATING SUSTAINABILITY PRINCIPLES”

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particularly the generic drug sector, faces several challenges.

One of the principal concerns is a complex supply chain. The pharmaceutical supply chain is intricate, heavily regulated and susceptible to disruptions. Ensuring a consistent medication supply while navigating global logistics complexities is challenging.

Also, overseas active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) production where many pharmaceutical companies, including Towa International, rely on APIs produced outside Europe, exposing them to geopolitical uncertainties and supply chain vulnerabilities.

There is still a long way to go to harmonise and standardise regulation among different markets. An increase in harmonisation will improve access to medicines and reduce the pressures on the supply.

Price is also important, as are surging demand levels. When the demand for medicine increases, generic medications are the only alternative to guarantee the sustainability of the health systems.

However, generic medication cannot only be perceived as 118

price modulators. The different stakeholders will need to find the right balance between affordability and sustainability.

OUR RESPONSE

Despite current industry challenges, Towa International remains committed to global healthcare advancement, sustainability and it has taken proactive measures like forging a resilient supply chain. Towa International invests in a resilient supply chain by diversifying sourcing strategies to mitigate risks and avoiding placing price as the only selection criteria in its operations.

It is important for the company to meet its aspiration of investing around 8 per cent of its net sales in research and development to increase its portfolio. Towa R&D developments are always designed

cost-efficient production methods and operational optimisations.

And as one of the main pillars for Towa, the company’s commitment to sustainable practices includes implementing environmentally responsible measures in its operations, such as reducing waste and carbon emissions, while simultaneously providing equal opportunities to all its employees and embracing diversity as a competitive factor. with a global mindset to reach the maximum number of patients.

As Towa operates globally, it prioritises regulatory compliance with dedicated teams and close collaboration with global regulatory authorities to ensure the highest standards of quality and safety.

Towa invests a considerable number of resources in the digitalisation of its processes and quality assurance system to ensure a consistent response to ever-increasing regulatory requirements.

Regarding the price pressure, Towa believes in affordability initiatives. That means the company never compromises quality for cost. Efficiencies are reached by economies of scale and the company actively participates in initiatives to maintain competitive pricing through

In conclusion, Towa International, the international company of Towa Pharmaceutical, is a guiding force transcending borders to impact global healthcare while advocating sustainability principles. Founded to improve healthcare access, it operates independently worldwide with a holistic approach to well-being.

Furthermore, Towa International's dedicated team, comprising almost 1,000 people, diligently pursues its ikigai – the intersection of passion, skill, societal needs and economic viability. This companywide commitment adds inspiration to its mission of advancing global healthcare through innovation, accessibility and sustainability.

David Peix, CEO of Towa International 119

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at Taco Cabana, share growth’s essential ingredients.

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PROFILE

In the y n a p com of...

Welcome to our spotlight profile feature where we chat with leaders and innovators in the supply chain, procurement and logistics industries.

For this month’s In the company of… we sit down with Ievgen Demchenko, Chief Technology Officer at Zenfulfillment

A brief summary of what your company does and your role Zenfulfillment is a logistics tech company that provides outstanding delivery experiences by combining state-of-the-art software, operational excellence and logistics process automation. My role is to lead the development and align technology strategies with the company’s business goals.

How did you start working in logistics?

Throughout my career, I have gained diverse experience in various domains, including eCommerce, travel, real estate, media, and usergenerated content – with a primary focus on software development.

Seeking new challenges, I joined Zenfulfillment in 2020, driven by the goal of establishing it as a leader in the logistics sector. This challenge extended beyond only software excellence, but also required a strong emphasis on hardware innovation and robotisation.

What has been the biggest highlight of your career to date?

Zenrush, our unique 'next day delivery' service. This service seamlessly combines the latest software trends, AI, and robotisation, underpinned by a deep

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understanding of logistics. It has been incredibly rewarding to build a product that not only embodies cutting-edge technology but also makes a tangible difference in customers' day-to-day lives.

Which emerging trend do you think will be most crucial in your industry in the next ten years?

Without a doubt, robotisation and the deep integration of AI will be pivotal in our industry over the next decade. These technologies hold immense potential for enhancing efficiency in numerous areas. They can significantly reduce delivery times, boost productivity and lower logistics costs. Consequently, this should lead to a reduction in product prices for end customers, making many products more affordable and accessible. The strategic implementation of these advancements will be key to shaping the future landscape of logistics worldwide.

If you could spend a day in the life of another profession, what would it be and why?

I would be intrigued to experience a day in the life of a psychotherapist.

I find the challenge of reverseengineering complex solutions fascinating, and what is more complex than the human mind?

Psychotherapists work with a blend of deep analytical skills and the ability to make a positive impact.

Outside work, what helps you feel like the best version of yourself?

I like to spend time outdoors, whether with my family or alone. We enjoy travelling, hiking and exploring new places. Nature provides a vital recharge from the intensity of my work life. Additionally, I am passionate about reading, as it continually broadens my horizons both professionally and personally.

Before we go: what advice would you like to share with our readers?

While it may sound cliché, really do what you like and like what you do.

Embracing these principles can lead to not only professional success but also personal fulfilment. www.zenfulfillment.com 123

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