The Purchaser Issue 9

38

WHY EMPOWERMENT IS KEY TO SUCCESS ACCORDING TO EPIROC ’S SAMIR GAERTNER

54

TECHNOLOGIES

70

PROCUREMENT DIGITISATION AT NOVARTIS WITH STÉPHANE MOREL

COMPLEXITY, RESILIENCE AND BUILDING THE INTELLIGENT SUPPLY CHAIN, ACCORDING TO EY ’S CHRIS ANDREWS

NICHOLAS TASSONE ON OPERATION WARP SPEED AT COLD CHAIN

As supply chain and procurement professionals, we live and work with risk and disruption, that’s certainly the case more recently. But, there are some circumstances that you simply can’t prepare for. The ongoing crisis in Ukraine is a terrible tragedy for the country and all those involved. For global supply chains it has once again caused widespread interruptions and challenges, the likes of which many have never seen. For most companies the ‘present’ is a balance of caring for partners and employees while also managing business outcomes.

In this issue we speak with Moeco’s Alexa Syniacheva, a Ukrainian entrepreneur who has first-hand experience of the impacts of the conflict. She discusses the implications to the supply chain and outlines how innovative solutions can not

only help solve the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, but also remove logistics bottlenecks worldwide.

Of course, the supply chain and procurement functions have had their fair share of ‘unprecedented events’ over recent years before you factor in the Ukraine conflict – COVID-19, environmental disasters and semiconductor shortages to name a few. Which is why you’ll find most of the contributors, including Syniacheva, in this issue discussing topics like resilience, risk management, forecasting and planning and, perhaps most importantly, the power of close relationships.

We’ve some interesting and important insights in these areas from a host of industries this month, including Cold Chain Technologies’ Nicholas Tassone on how effective partnerships helped drive the Operation Warp Speed vaccine programme; EY’s Chris Andrews on using technology to build greater resilience into the supply chain and much more.

We hope there’s something valuable for everyone during this difficult time.

Matt

Content Director Matt High Creative Directors

Daniel Crawford Steve Shipley

Marketing Director Jack Pascall

Project Director Manuel Navarro

Managing Director Charlotte Clarke Managing Director James Pepper

70 | INTERVIEW NOVARTIS

On driving digitisation and strategic transformation

82 | PERSPECTIVE SUPPLY CHAINS AND UKRAINE

Lessons in resilience and crisis planning, with Alexa Syniacheva

88 | INTERVIEW

NTT GLOBAL SOURCING

On procurement evolution, culture and an innovation journey

100 | DISRUPTOR REMEDIAL HEALTH

Transforming access to affordable medicines in Africa

102 | INTERVIEW

ELDORADO GOLD

On meaningful change, valuable leadership and people power

116 | CITY GUIDE MADRID

Business and pleasure in the Spanish capital

124 | CALENDAR EVENTS

The best events for 2022

GooGle tarGets supplier diversity

In 2022 Google aims to grow its spending with diverse suppliers to $2.5bn, including looking beyond the US to include suppliers from historically underrepresented groups worldwide. The tech company announced its intention to further promote diversity, equality and inclusion across its entire business in a recent blog. Google said its aim is to ‘build an inclusive economy that works for everyone’ and that, as well as maximising spend, it will continue to invest in mentorship and training programmes to help diverse leaders of SMEs to grow their businesses. blog.google

SIX OF THE BEST

The recovery from COVID continues. And, according to KPMG, forward-thinking CEOs the world over are looking to get on the front foot when it comes to mitigating further disruption through innovation. To help them, the consultancy has set out six key trends it predicts will impact global supply chains in 2022. They are: logistics disruption as services return to normal, production delays, concerns around over reliance on a limited number of third parties that can hinder agility and resilience, visibility-focused tech investment, poor spend transparency and the dramatic shift in traditional ways of working.

www.home.kpmg

61%

of supply chain leaders expect the pandemic-driven acceleration of remote work to create a permanent hybrid work model, even at the frontline.

Gartner: Future of Supply Chain Survey

BUILDING BETTER DAYS

More than half the world’s population relies on rice as a primary source of nourishment, yet rice production is responsible for an estimated 12% of total global methane emissions. To help its rice suppliers reduce their climate impact Kellogg Company has launched Kellogg’s Ingrained, a £2m, five-year programme that will advance regenerative agriculture and reward farmers for greenhouse gas emissions they reduce. www.kelloggcompany.com

The headline climate pledges of 25 of the world’s largest companies only commit to reduce their emissions by 40% on average, not 100% as suggested by their various ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon neutral’ claims. This is the finding of the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor which evaluates 25 major companies across different sectors and geographies to determine the transparency and integrity of their headline climate pledges. It said that companies’ headline climate pledges need detailed evaluation and can’t be taken at face value; only one of the 25’s was evaluated as having reasonable integrity.

www.newclimate.org

To become more responsible, businesses must address sustainability across their value chains. This, says Accenture, should focus on three priority areas:

1. Trust through transparency, aided by digital tools like blockchain.

2. Looking beyond net zero by reinventing the value chain around net positivity.

3. Shifting from linear processes to closedloop, circular business models. Accenture

Greenwashin vs reality

MODERNISE TO SURVIVE

To survive, companies must modernise their supply chains. And they should throw all the digital tools available at them to do so, including AI, machine learning and data analytics. Do this effectively, says McKinsey, and supply chains can be more resilient and efficient in the face of future Black Swan events. To be successful in overhauling their IT infrastructure, supply chain leaders should craft a well articulated planning process design, choose their vendors diligently, and define a robust road map.

www.mckinsey.com

SEAMLESS SUPPLY

Aero has partnered with Skyports and pharmaceutical product provider BD Rowa to form a strategic partnership that it says will overhaul health supply chains worldwide by using autonomous air logistics to deliver medical supplies.

www.swoop.aero

TIME TO SHARE

When it comes to planning and visibility, data is king. In the US, the Biden administration is exploiting this through a newly launched pilot programme that will see ocean carriers, ports, logistics firms and retailers share data and information to help supply chain efficiency and tackle ongoing delays. The initiative, Freight Logistics Optimization Works will commence with companies including FedEx and Target sharing information through an online data portal that will give transparency on information like warehouse space, container and shipping schedules and capacity and more.

www.wsj.com

Autonomous aircraft and logistics innovator Swoop

FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith will step down from his role, moving to the role of executive chairman; Raj Subramaniam is announced as the next CEO.

Boston Consulting Group and SAP join forces to deliver tech-enabled sustainability transformations that drive business value for clients.

Union Pacific says using Amazon Business digital procurement tools is enabling it to drive supplier diversity performance across its organisation.

The Association for Advancing Automation finds that industrial robot orders in North America reached a record high in 2021.

The White House announces investment to boost domestic production of rare earth materials following a review of the United States’ critical minerals supply chain.

Apple reportedly asks suppliers to cut production of its iPhone SE as a result of continued disruption from the Ukraine war and inflation.

Complexity, resilience and why the intelligent supply chain is essential to facing future challenges, according to EY’s Chris Andrews

PHOTOS TOM TREVATT

This is a new era for supply chains. It has to be. Two years of crisis mode tell us that the supply chain of the future must be very different. Legacy roles and responsibilities and the stable environment in which the traditional set of linear processes can comfortably exist are gone. The futurefacing supply chain is one driven by a greater sense of purpose and strategic value, strengthened by collaboration, a new style of leadership and cultural evolution, and underpinned by innovative digital technologies that enable enhanced planning, resilience and strategic decision making.

But this isn’t a change spurred by COVID alone. Rather, says EY’s Chris Andrews, the challenges faced during the pandemic accelerated an already-ongoing and digitally-driven supply chain revolution. Andrews is an Associate Partner at consulting firm EY, focused on leading supply chain transformation with consumer products clients, collaborating with them to solve their most complex challenges, transform and re-platform their operations using the latest technologies, and optimise their results by embedding change in the organisation.

“There’s been an ongoing evolution,” he says. “If you look at the previous generation of supply chains, you had a real push towards centralisation, taking advantage of the organisation’s buying and negotiation capabilities, and a real concentration of skills, capabilities and scale within organisations. More recently, the focus has been on utilising the latest digital technologies, taking advantage of the huge plethora of data that’s available and using it to provide real-time visibility and meaningful insights. There’s a real pivot there, with companies now focused on how they win in the market, how they compete globally and locally, and collaborate more effectively with customers, suppliers and their broader ecosystem of supply chain partners.

“Traditionally, supply chains and their people have operated in a batch, linear fashion,” Andrews continues. “It was very much left to right, following standard processes from order to execution and working to relatively rigid structures with limited information. The availability of and access to huge volumes of data has been the big breakthrough. This is because having actionable information at your fingertips, in as near to real-time as possible, meant that many traditional processes were becoming unfit for purpose. As a result, certainly in the years up to the COVID-19 pandemic, you’ve seen supply chain leaders finding the balance between continuing some of the good and relevant traditional processes while understanding how to harness and take advantage of the new capabilities, technologies and tools that are available.”

THE DIGITAL ORGANISATION

Then came the pandemic. A black swantype event will always leave its mark and drive significant change, and so it was for COVID-19 and supply chains. Disruption, added layers of complexity, a need for agility and flexibility, as well as quick and

accurate decision making, exacerbated the transformation landscape, says Andrews. “The real takeaway of the last two years is that the traditional linear supply chains required an incredibly stable environment in order to be efficient. That’s gone. The supply chain built on a linear set of steps joined by people, process and data is dead. And that fact is unlikely to change.

“During the pandemic, companies reached the realisation that they must make a significant step change in terms of how they structure their operations, how they invest in technology and the skills they need to build and transform, or they won’t operate,” he says. “Really, I think we got to that breaking point a few years ago. What COVID-19 and all the disruption that came with it has done, is accelerate the need to be a more nimble, digital organisation and a supply chain that is able to sense and understand everything in its internal and external world, and adapt quickly to that environment.”

Several future-facing challenges typify that environment, says Andrews, with the modern supply chain characterised as a function in which leaders and people have a broader focus and new, digitallydriven skill sets, that has a strong sense of the business case and how to add value, finds purpose beyond the supply chain, and is capable of fulfilling highly personalised demand in an optimal, low-impact and sustainable way.

PEOPLE, PURPOSE AND PERSONALISATION

“There are some structural challenges being driven by consumer behaviour and a shift towards omnichannel fulfilment, as well as mass personalisation and the need to deliver products that are tailored towards specific individualised needs,” he states.

“Those two put a massive amount of complexity in the front end of the supply chain and require companies to really use data to their advantage. Leaders should also be considering questions around purpose. Specifically, what’s the purpose of the supply chain? There’s a significant and complex transformation required and, if a supply

chain doesn’t have a clear set of goals and objectives and a very precise view of how it will unfold, then it’s not a compelling place to be and it won’t attract the talent necessary to drive forwards.”

As much as any technology, people, culture and leadership will play an important role in the future supply chain, says Andrews. In particular, it will require the evolution of the traditional supply chain leadership model. “Previously, transformation was contained and had an end point,” he adds. “Leaders had to implement a supply chain programme, a tech adoption, a change

“

The focus is on utilising the latest digital technologies, taking advantage of the huge plethora of data available and using it to provide real-time visibility and meaningful insights

programme and then it would effectively become a steady state. Today, transformation is continuous. With that in mind, the modern supply chain leader must be able to drive that ongoing evolution while managing robust and strong execution, while also typically managing the largest

workforce and cost footprint within an organisation. That adds a level of end-toend responsibility around being an effective business partner for Commercial, Finance, customers and suppliers, procurement and other business stakeholders – it’s a multifaceted, highly flexible and dynamic role.

“Supply chain relies on the quality and skills of the people involved, particularly their ability to solve crises or overcome situations they’ve not encountered before. So, although the processes and ways of operating need to be different, success will rely on defining the workforce of the future supply chain,” Andrews comments. “That will undoubtedly involve data science, advanced analytics and machine learning, business architects, collaboration and business partnering but, given that the environment and technology has fundamentally shifted, we’re likely to see a move towards a more strategic view of which capabilities companies want to build and differentiate in house, and which they seek to automate or outsource. There’s now a real opportunity to build the digital brain of the intelligent supply chain, but it will require innovation and a very different set of skills.”

Such a digital brain, composed of digital tools including planning and optimisation, the greater use of data, digital twins and cloud solutions, will be a key enabler in the future. Many of these technologies will help supply chain leaders build greater resilience and flexibility into their supply chains, the need for which was highlighted during the last two years. “In terms of coming out of that period and building agility and responsiveness, the pandemic has made leaders understand that they can make choices. To be agile, you cannot prioritise everything – we saw some herculean efforts during the disruption and

great examples of supply chains being able to respond very quickly, flex up and down their factories and production in response to changing conditions. With the dynamics in the market and the optimisation capabilities now available, leaders are able to make conscious choices on where and how to build agility and flexibility across their supply chain.”

PLANNING, OPTIMISATION AND OMP

Planning and optimisation technology is a priority, says Andrews, highlighting the importance of cloud-based solutions that give organisations the ability to ingest data

“

The pandemic accelerated the need to be a more nimble, digital organisation and a supply chain that is able to sense, see and understand everything in its internal and external world ”

Right from the heart. Straight to the point.

OMP helps companies facing complex planning challenges to excel, grow and thrive by offering the best supply chain planning solution on the market. We want to empower, motivate and inspire supply chain professionals like you to outperform your goals, outsmart the competition and outclass yourself. No matter how complex your supply chain planning challenge, we will get you there.

The

shortest route to supply chain planning excellence.

Integrated planning

Unison Planning™ is more than just a tool. It’s a state of mind. A smart approach built on an integrated planning tool covering all supply chain functions in a single model. Just imagine: at long last, you can achieve perfect horizontal and vertical synchronization at the same time. Covering all functions, from network design and demand management right down to scheduling. And spanning your entire supply chain, from source to delivery.

Clever services

But Unison PlanningTM has so much more to offer than technology alone. After all, supply chain planning is still a people business. That’s why we’ve added a layer of clever services to complete our offering. It all starts with advisory, where we design a concept that really matches what you need. During implementation and support, you enjoy the experience and proximity of a team of seasoned experts who know our software and your industry inside out. What’s more, our user engagement services facilitate quick onboarding and show you how to use the tool to its full potential.

In the cloud, reality-based

Finally, we offer our solution in the cloud. Safe, secure and scalable. Just the way you want it. Impeccable data management and integration ensure you work with real-time data. At all times.

and market information, process it efficiently, set out several potential scenarios and then make demand, supply and balancing decisions almost instantly. One such example is OMP, which offers a digitised supply chain planning solution that helps companies tackle the most complex of planning challenges. OMP understands that today’s supply chain leader must add business value quickly and under pressure, while keeping processes and operations aligned against risk and disruption.

Its Unison Planning platform is a complete, end-to-end solution that integrates with the entire supply chain and, explains Global Alliance & Excellence Manager at OMP Maarten Arnouts, provides the ability to make informed tactical and strategic decisions. “Our integrated platform covers source, make, deliver and demand – that end-to-end capability is something that we believe is absolutely critical to making value-based decisions. Equally important are the decision making capabilities we offer. In supply chain there’s both shortterm decision making, so what’s running on your line, when it’s leaving your factories and so on, and the more tactical and strategic decision making that’s becoming increasingly important. From our perspective that covers everything from a couple of days into the future, to in-depth planning of the next years ahead; it’s all embedded in our platform. On top of being an end-to-end solutions provider we work with companies like EY in

a consulting capacity to bring the right models and practices to customers.”

Like Andrews, Arnouts and his colleague Paul Delbar, have seen the requirement for advanced planning and optimisation technologies increase in line with an evolving market. Says Arnouts: “The supply chain is more connected than it’s ever been. Twenty years ago we saw a very siloed approach, whereas today everything is closely connected – it’s why you see disruption impacting everyone in every location worldwide. With that in mind you have to have visibility and

“

Leaders should also be considering questions around purpose ”

an agile way of acting upon the information that comes from one single source like our platform.”

“The business context of supply chains has changed dramatically,” Delbar agrees. “As a supply chain leader you oversee global networks, local distribution centres, local plants, the outsourcing of some of the functionality of your production and more. The ERP systems of old stop at the boundaries of your enterprise, they’re blind outside and so organisations need advanced planning technology where you can have normalisation of data, an

integrated decision process and, from that, actionable insights. We’re effectively building a digital twin of the supply chain; it’s about being able to represent the real world in the technology where you can anticipate and simulate different scenarios and act on the information quickly. People are rapidly realising that if they can’t foresee, predict and prevent issues from happening, then it’s too late to address them during execution.”

A planning solution is the enabler of this digital visibility, many of which are available. However visibility, says Delbar, is

nothing without the ability to contextualise information and from it provide actionable insights. “You can quickly get to the point where you have so much information that you only want the key things at the top where humans need to interact and make decisions. If you were in the supply chain at the turn of the century, it was all about can we optimise X, Y and Z and run it more efficiently. Now, we want to model the entire world. Resilience is about knowing everything, simulating everything and bridging the gap between what we’re discussing at a business level and the execution. The

technology is incredibly powerful, but it’s only an enabler, what is often missing is the insights and the alignment with the business objectives and strategy, which is why we work with companies like EY to bring complementary and augmentative skills to the table; when we work together it’s a case of one plus one equals three.”

CONTINUOUS TRANSFORMATION

The scale of transformation required by organisations to meet future challenges is significant. “Many supply chain leaders have experimented,” says Andrews, “but now it’s time to place the big bets. Broadly speaking, supply chain is in the early stages of its digital revolution; most organisations now have a good understanding of what architecture they should aim for and the priority solutions that drive the greatest benefit. Successful collaboration with technology companies and third parties will be really important. These are large transformations and most will need a strong ecosystem of partners, working collaboratively across many different parts of an organisation to manage a series of complex changes.

“At the same time, there has to be a focus on cultural change,” he continues. “People in supply chain have all the skills and raw ingredients to make this transformation a success, but without a clear vision and purpose as to how their individual contributions support the greater goal it can be very challenging. If I write a digital supply chain strategy today, it will change

“ Supply chain leadership is a multifaceted, highly flexible and dynamic role ”

rapidly over the coming years, so leaders have to focus on driving this change now. At the same time, they should be thinking about the strategic goals and how to enable delivery of those. It’s something that should

be continuously reviewed and updated in order to be successful.”

www.ey.com

Portfolio

i nnovative and ins P ired items for work, leisure and sustainable living

O-BOY

We all need to escape, but life’s lessons remind us not to stray too far. That’s certainly true for Hadrien Dorchy who, while windsurfing in Cape Verde could well have been lost at sea were it not for a boat that happened to be passing. Spurred by this, he invented O-BOY, a dust-, shock- and waterproof smartwatch that relies on a satellite network rather than phone network and includes safety features like sending a pre-written message and GPS coordinates to four personal contacts, or a distress signal to the nearest emergency station should the worst happen.

www.o-boy.com

Portfolio

i nnovative and ins P ired items for work, leisure and sustainable living

LOEF CAMPER VAN

Why sacrifice your home comforts just to get out into the wilderness? The question, we imagine, posed by Loef’s team of designers when building this luxury camper. Based on an extended MAN TGE van, the Loef spans 24ft and –apparently – ‘handles like an agile big cat’. Its Scandi-inspired interior includes two entertaining areas, a wraparound five-person sofa, dining and cooking space and a ‘wellness area’. Outside is a pull-out charcoal grill and outdoor water outlet, while power comes courtesy of a 100-Ah lithium battery, a 2000-watt inverter and 320Wp solar cells.

www.loef-hamburg.de

Portfolio

i nnovative and ins P ired items for work, leisure and sustainable living

BANG & OLUFSEN BEOSUND EMERGE

Size isn’t everything. Why would it be when the near-impossiblyslim Bang & Olufsen Beosund Emerge wifi speaker can fit anywhere and fill any room with its full-range, ultra-wide sound? It does so thanks to a revolutionary driver system that gives omnidirectional low frequencies regardless of where it's facing, an integrated bass port that guides low-end sound to the back of its 6.7cm footprint, and Active Room Compensation, which optimises sound based on the room you’re in.

It looks smart too; for which you can thank B&O’s use of pearl-blasted aluminium and natural oak.

www.bang-olufsen.com

Portfolio

i nnovative and ins P ired items for work, leisure and sustainable living

TCL NXTWEAR AIR

Work, watch and play anywhere. A statement perfectly suited to the modern, hybrid working world and brought to life by NXTWEAR AIR from TCL. These second-generation smart glasses are designed with two key themes in mind: portability and comfort. They’re 30% lighter than their predecessors and stacked with innovations that let you bring your own entertainment wherever you go. Dual 1080p Micro OLEd displays create an immersive viewing experience akin to watching a 140-inch screen four metres away; the specs also feature dual stereo speakers and can act as a second screen for your laptop when working.

www.tcl.com

Portfolio

i nnovative and ins P ired items for work, leisure and sustainable living

SANDBOX SMART R2

A smart, app-driven coffe roaster. Who knew? The folks at Sandbox Smart, that’s who. The R2 coffee roaster simulates heating with a direct fire using a 900 quartz tube that provides stable and even bean roasting quality and its minimalist design includes a ‘bean viewing window’, through which true aficionados can watch their beans roasting. With that in mind, you can make subtle adjustments during the roasting process depending on your personal preference – Sandbox Smart’s smartphone app lets you change the rotating time and adjust temperature, fan power and drum speed to achieve the perfect cup.

www.sandboxsmart.com

Fall in love with procurement

Global enterprise spend could total $4.5bn in 2022, an increase of 5.1% from 2021. With the average organisation estimated to have an average 110 software-as-a-service applications, that’s a hefty weight on the procurement team’s shoulders.

Which is where Tropic comes in, complete with its promise to make you ‘fall in love with procurement

for the first time’. Companies of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 500 businesses, use Tropic’s click-andapprove approach, to buy and manage software, manage contracts, monitor usage and turn the procurement process into a competitive advantage. In tandem, Tropic also provides users with relevant data and an ‘assisted purchasing’ option that can realise savings as much as 23% savings.

The business was founded in 2019 by David Campbell and Justin Etkin and has seen increased growth as a result of the global COVID pandemic, which shone a light on the need for better software procurement processes and a proliferation of the need for digital tools.

www.tropicapp.io

“We are committed to continuing to transform the broken process for software procurement”

ONE SUPPLY CHAIN

SUPPLY

Why empowerment, personal development and creating strong, regional supply chain teams is key to success, according to Samir Gaertner

© EPIROC

the old way of doing business may still work –just – but it’s rapidly becoming obsolete. To survive in an increasingly competitive and complex environment companies and, perhaps most importantly, their supply chains must evolve and adapt to whichever changes are thrown at them. In the case of the supply chain specifically, those challenges have grown exponentially over the last years: conflict, pandemic, global disruption, accessibility, sustainability and effective corporate social responsibility (CSR), to name a few.

According to Samir Gaertner and his supply chain colleagues at Epiroc, to survive and thrive in such an environment you build a regional and customer-centric supply chain that’s driven by empowered and highly capable people, a strong culture and vision and is enabled by the latest digital technologies. The business, which develops and provides innovative and safe equipment and solutions for the global mining industry is currently undergoing such a transformation, driving a customer-focused evolution of its worldwide supply chain to a faster, more agile and efficient group of regional teams under one strong umbrella.

Gaertner joined Epiroc in June 2021, assuming the role of Regional Supply Chain Manager – EMENA (Parts & Services Division and Tools & Attachment Division). He is an respected leader with some 20 years’ experience across industries and strategic roles, including finance and, latterly, supply chain. He explains: “My position at Epiroc is a senior role, responsible for leading more than 400 people in the EMENA region with end-to-end responsibilities for our customers. At the same time, in Sweden we also host two of Epiroc’s main Global Distribution Centres (GDCs), which are under my responsibility – a third is being developed in Belgium.

“My team currently consists of managers and senior managers leading groups at a regional and country level; the EMENA region is divided into four supply chain operations teams that group together several countries,” Gaertner says.

“Overall, Epiroc’s regional EMENA supply chain is responsible for 31 countries and a broad operational remit that includes controlling stock and stock levels in our global, regional and local distribution centres, handling compliance and guidance for dangerous goods, global transportation contracting with key strategic partners, import and export

trade compliance and the purchase of materials and stock for our locations and customers.”

Including those in the EMENA region, Epiroc serves customers in more than 150 countries worldwide, making for a complex global supply chain in an already challenging industry – the geographically diverse and often hard to reach customer locations in the mining, infrastructure and minerals industries mean that the availability of parts and supplies to maximise customer productivity is crucial. In short, downtime for

© EPIROC

Epiroc’s customers must be kept to a minimum and, in an industry where operations are often situated in areas with poor logistics and transportation capabilities, this makes managing an effective supply chain a complex beast.

“In addition, recent years have proven quite challenging for supply chain

leaders and their teams worldwide,” adds Gaertner. “Conflicts, pandemics and uncertainty have driven change and pushed us to develop even further the capabilities and strategic decisions that are needed to ensure our business can continue as close to normal as possible, without interrupting the important work of our customers.”

In such an environment, Epiroc’s regional supply chain locations are crucial, working in one, global and unified way in accordance to the company’s values but with regional responsibility and a local proximity to the customer that is essential. The business continues to evolve its supply chain to give greater responsibility to each region, work that Gaertner is playing a key role in.

“Historically, the company has had a global approach to its supply chain, with some gaps between our various GDCs and our customers,” he says. “Already today we’ve changed that approach, with us getting far closer to our operations being handled from global to local with our own teams, which in turn allows us to have a more consistent way of working with our customers and businesses. At the time I joined, I recognised the

“RECENT YEARS HAVE PROVEN QUITE CHALLENGING FOR SUPPLY CHAIN LEADERS AND THEIR TEAMS WORLDWIDE”

great work that had already been carried out in terms of both strengthening the global supply chain but also in highlighting the important role that greater regionalisation will play in the success of the business. Chiefly, this revolves around the regionalisation of the supply chain under one global umbrella enabling us to act more effectively and respond far more quickly to our customers. We’ll also be able to develop much closer relationships with them.

“Last year, we started this regionalisation work for the EMENA region and, at the point I came on board, teams were being formed and roles and responsibilities developed and put into practice,” continues Gaertner. “We still have a long way to go, but have already seen a great

deal of success over the past year in terms of bringing businesses together towards the broader objectives of this work. So, for example, we’re already operating in EMENA with divided sub regions and teams in place and as a result have seen some very positive feedback from our customers. Our opportunities lay in developing and empowering our teams even more.

Practically speaking, this means taking our local resources closer to the customer to act as the base of our supply chain teams, working together as one and adopting an even greater customercentric way of working.”

Working as one is a crucial aspect of Epiroc’s transformation work, says Gaertner. This is particularly true when

“THE REGIONALISATION OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN UNDER ONE GLOBAL UMBRELLA ENABLES US TO ACT MORE EFFECTIVELY AND RESPOND FAR MORE QUICKLY TO OUR CUSTOMERS”

transitioning from a complex and global network to a series of smaller regional teams that must act independently and in the best interests of their customers, but still as part of one effective and singular Epiroc team. “Perhaps the biggest challenge during this process is bringing the teams closer together regardless of distance, and making the EMENA supply chain team key to our global operations,” he states. “Personally, I’m a big fan of people empowerment and development. I believe that, regardless of location or role, every team member in the business should understand that they are part of one team, one company

and one key focus: the customer. We’re driving that focus every single day.

“Any global operation has its challenges,” continues Gaertner., “but a company’s culture should work in both good and bad situations. In going through this transformation we’re reinforcing a key part of our company culture - ‘Dare to Think New’ - while being customer centric and respecting all our employees and our families. As part of this evolution we’ve recently started, and will continue to develop further, a strong teamwork environment within each of our regional teams through the launch of ‘ONE’

© EPIROC

Epiroc safeguards its business with trade compliance software from AEB

Who do you trade with? What do you deliver? Which countries are involved? What are your products used for? Export control software from AEB secures your business transactions worldwide – from offer to delivery. Straightforward, efficient, reliable.

supply chain strategy. This is based around success in accomplishing efficient and highly operational teams in every location that we work in. As a company we want our supply chain team members to come to work wanting to make a positive change to the world every day, and to do it as one strong unit.”

There is no better time to evolve and strengthen a supply chain. The recent disruption caused by the COVID

which companies have to adapt to the wider needs of the world and its people when it comes to topics like sustainability, C02 emissions, safety and accessibility. At Epiroc we’re ensuring that we’re taking significant steps ahead by promoting a series of innovations and key launches that are revolutionising our business in this respect.

“Sustainability is a key consideration for us moving forwards,” he adds. “In my

pandemic, and which many companies are still feeling, taught valuable lessons in terms of the necessity for being flexible and willing to change areas previously thought of as set in stone. At the same time, a shift to remote work and online decision making has transformed the way in which companies and their suppliers interact and do business, says Gaertner. At Epiroc, he explains, COVID taught him and his supply chain colleagues the value of being more strategic, and of thinking outside the box to drive problem solving.

But, Gaertner says, it’s not just pandemic disruption that’s shaping the future of supply chain: “Perhaps now more than ever you’re seeing an environment in

opinion, the supply chain plays a vital role in any company’s sustainability efforts and so we’re taking all the steps necessary to make sure our workflows and processes are delivered in the best and most sustainable way. Whether that’s partnering with the right suppliers and forwarders to help achieve the right service level to our customers, through to CO2 emissions and control through structured working processes, we have to continue to adapt to and act upon what the market shows us. I’ll give you just one example of many: we’re recently changed some of our truck routes in Sweden to use vehicles that run on vegetable oil instead of diesel, which reduces our CO2 emissions by 97% on these routes.”

“OUR OPPORTUNITIES LAY IN DEVELOPING AND EMPOWERING OUR TEAMS EVEN MORE”

“EVERY TEAM MEMBER IN THE BUSINESS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE PART OF ONE TEAM, ONE COMPANY AND ONE KEY FOCUS: THE CUSTOMER”

Technology, too, plays an important role in the supply chain evolution, says Gaertner. In particular, he cites the important lessons learned about the role of digital during the pandemic, which saw Epiroc adopt new innovations to ensure efficiency and no loss of service level. A welcome result of this was also a better ability to act quickly and a reduction of time and materials waste across the supply chain.

With regards to the adoption of specific technologies, Gaertner highlights the importance of working with strategic technology partners such as AEB. “In an ever-changing world it’s important to work with partners that can support us on being compliant and achieving our sustainable ambitions - this can be needed at various stages of the supply chain from order entry and handling through to transport, communication and

“WE WANT OUR SUPPLY CHAIN TEAM MEMBERS TO COME TO WORK WANTING TO MAKE A POSITIVE CHANGE TO THE WORLD EVERY DAY”

document flows. We chose to work with AEB due to their fulfilling a very important role in trade compliance, which is crucial to our success. Collaborating with AEB has ensured our shipments are fully compliant, that our communication is better and more efficient and that we are growing Epiroc in a sustainable and compliant way.”

Growth across all areas will continue for the foreseeable future. There is, as Gaertner concedes, still work to be done in nurturing and developing Epiroc’s regionalised supply chain network. But, reflecting on current achievements and the strong foundations upon which the business is built, he is confident of further success.

“Through our work on empowering and developing our teams, we are far more comfortable in our ability to make faster and more robust decisions than ever before,” he says. “For any further disruption or conflict, we now have the ability to bring our global operations closer to the local resources and our customers in those locations so that we can continue to fulfil their needs in the most sustainable way for our business, partners and the market. We’ve made huge progress, but we know from experience that it’s a long journey. I’m confident that we have the right team and culture in place to finish that journey and that we will make our supply chain team one strong unit. Doing so will allow us to act more strongly, be more sustainable and put Epiroc at the forefront of the industry.”

www.epiroc.com

Samir Gaertner

© EPIROC

KATHLEEN CHAN CALICO

What do you do when, as an entrepreneur at the helm of two small fashion companies, you can’t find the solution you need to manage your supply chain? You take a leaf out of Kathleen Chan’s book and start your own.

In Chan’s case the result is Calico, a tech firm that helps ecommerce brands manage their supply chain, starting with design and moving through manufacturing. Calico’s AI workflows allow fashion brands to collaborate and work with a global network of factories, manage an intelligent product database, vet potential partners on criteria like sustainability and get their products to market through a streamlined supply chain process.

Brands using Calico have reduced expensive production errors and accelerated time to market by 25%. The startup has recently raised $2m in seed funding, including investment from Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures venture capital firm. Said Williams: “We’re excited to partner with this world-class team on their mission to help brands take back control of their supply chain”. www.calicoai.com

t he P ower of Partnershi Ps

“ the su PP lY C hain has evolved signifi C antlY, it ’ s a C areer in whi C h You ’ re alwaY s learning , and have to be able to ada P t to and understand ever Y thing that C an P ossiblY ha PP en ”

Say what you will about the complexity of the modern supply chain and, as a result, the challenges facing today’s supply chain leader, but disruption, pandemics, technology adoption, managing a globally diverse network of suppliers and products, dealing with greater volumes of data, and responsibility for driving sustainability make for a heady and challenging mix that define a landscape like few others. Yet, cut through that complexity

and there’s something far more simple – more human, even – that can define success: partnerships, the fostering of close relationships and effective communication.

It’s a lesson that has served Nicholas Tassone well through a distinguished career in supply chain and, most recently, helped both he and his colleagues at global insulated thermal packaging solutions specialist Cold Chain Technologies (CCT) play

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a crucial role in delivering Operation Warp Speed, the US government’s public-private partnership to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.

SUPPLY CHAIN EVOLUTION

Of course, these fundamental aspects of a successful supply chain have existed well

before they were so ably demonstrated during the incredible global disruption seen as a result of the pandemic. For Tassone, they have been honed over more than 20 years’ supply chain experience across several sectors, including the material and manufacturing environments, and which – perhaps quite fittingly –started on the warehouse floor. He recalls:

“My early days were in the warehouse

VIP is a high energy-saving product with low basis weight, fire retardant, eco-friendly and higher K-value, especially applicable for cold chain logistic active and passive boxes.

“ it was C hallenging . we were talking about several different materials and the use of both refrigerated and froZ en Pa C kaging solutions ”

working with raw materials. One day there was an opening for the supply chain role in that organisation and, because of my experience with and knowledge of the materials, the inventory positions we needed, the min-max levels we wanted to achieve, I was asked if I wanted to take on the role. I did. Some 25 years later, I’ve never looked back.

“I moved through several roles from there, including as a purchasing manager in the textiles industry, working in materials management in the high-tech electronics sector, VP of operations and materials for a jewellery box manufacturer, and supply chain for Whirlpool before joining CCT,” he continues. “That broad experience, working across departments and for small and larger companies, having P&L responsibility and so on, really gave me the training, knowledge and understanding that has served me so well today. Over that time the supply chain has evolved significantly, it’s a career in which you’re always learning, and have to be able to adapt to and understand everything that can possibly happen. I think you’re now seeing most corporations fully appreciate the benefits the supply chain leader and team can bring to their organisation, and that makes the job pretty exciting.”

Nowhere was the value of the supply chain more keenly demonstrated than during the COVID pandemic. For most organisations, disruption, the ability to show resilience, flexibility and the agility necessary to

mitigate risk as it happened became the norm. This was true of CCT also which, because of its experience in shipping critical product loads, including medicines, worldwide was well aware of the complexities in managing a sensitive and time-dependent supply chain. The business and its first- and secondtier suppliers were deemed Essential Business due to their manufacturing of

products required for the distribution of life-sustaining and life-saving pharmaceutical products.

DELIVERING WARP SPEED

Then came Warp Speed. The government programme, launched in May 2020, was formed to encourage private and public partnerships to enable faster approval and production of COVID-19 vaccines; the primary goal of the programme was to produce and deliver 300 million doses of safe and effective vaccines with the initial doses available by January 2021, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. At the end of 2020, CCT was announced as one of the chief suppliers of speciality thermal packages for the storage and transfer of vaccines under

Operation Warp Speed. The company provided its EcoFlex range of specialist containers for the transportation of vaccines at -20 degrees Celsius, as well as conditioned PCM gel packs to maintain the storage temperature at refrigerated levels for 30-day periods.

Strict temperature control requirements, stringent and demanding deadlines and the need to ensure vaccines were safely transported and ready to administer in the right quantity and at the right time presented several logistical challenges.

“There were plenty of sleepless nights, I can tell you,” jokes Tassone. “I was involved, with three or four others in the business, very early on in the discussions. We were brought together and very frankly

talked about the opportunity and were asked if we did not have the supply network set up, could we set it up quickly and be sure we could deliver. It was challenging. We were talking about several different materials and the use of both refrigerated and frozen packaging solutions – Pfizer [not part of Operation Warp Speed] and Moderna required the frozen

packaging, while all the other manufacturers used refrigerated.

“We made the calls, I assessed my entire supply base and I knew that we could deliver, but that it was a project that we would absolutely have to commit everything to – we faced having to place some incredibly large purchase orders to even

meet the timelines that were in place and we were aware that the vaccines were already being manufactured so they had to be out at specific times,” he continues.

“At the same time, space to ramp up manufacturing was crucial. Our existing location in Tennessee was 97,000 square feet at the time, but we knew we needed more so it involved some real focus on working with real estate contacts and ultimately finding and developing a new 255,000-square-feet cold chain facility. Like all supply chain challenges, it’s all about timing and having the ability to manage through some absolutely incredible moments – in my 30 years or so, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

RELATIONSHIPS, PARTNERS AND SUCCESS

It was during Operation Warp Speed in particular that Tassone relied on the strong relationships he and his supply chain team had fostered with CCT’s key partners. He explains: “There’s so much that can be said for building and nurturing supplier relationships. I really think it’s key to every operation you carry out – if you don’t have strong partners, and the ability to lean on them and work with them through the most challenging times, you’re going to struggle. And there are many examples of where those relationships paid off during this time. For example, our materials suppliers were crucial including from our corrugate suppliers. Pratt, a key Tennessee corrugated supplier that we had begun working with only two years earlier, answered

Design. Manufacture. Warehouse.

Packaging experts for over 50 years

the call from CCT and when asked if they could dedicate time and equipment to us they immediately set up a management call, asked what was needed and confirmed they were willing and ready to support Operation Warp Speed needs. Likewise, Triple P, our primary Massachusetts corrugated supplier was also quickly able to ramp up and support the Operation Warp Speed programme. They were able to turn tooling in days when they normally had a several week lead time in order to help achieve our manufacturing goals.

“Our film supplier Donahue Corry was able to reduce 20-week lead times down to a much more manageable 12 weeks, allowing us to be ready when called upon to supply. We have a partner that has worked with the company for a good number of years providing us with expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging materials,” Tassone continues. “Because we had that early buy-in we were able to pull the supply chain together very quickly and react to the demands of Warp Speed. It was the same story on the

“ in m Y 30 Y ears or so , i ’ ve never seen an Y thing like it ”

manufacturing front. After confirming our new facility we needed the necessary equipment to begin production and, really, all our suppliers pulled off something pretty miraculous in terms of getting it to us. As an example, one had a 17-week lead time on their equipment – they were sold out, but we couldn’t start Operation Warp Speed without this particular item.

Ultimately they reached out to all their customers, told them the importance of the programme and one of their customers gave up their equipment after placing the order 14 weeks earlier, allowing the supplier to dedicate the equipment to us. During critical times, being able to pull on these kinds of relationships really is critical.”

That Operation Warp Speed was a success relies as much on relationships and partner collaboration as it does the work that Tassone and his supply chain team have carried out over the five years he has been with the business. He joined the business in 2017 and currently holds the role of Senior Director of Global Supply Chain, a broad position that includes responsibility for establishing cold chain divisions worldwide, logistics and freight, raw materials and inventory, and purchasing.

“When I joined, the business was commencing its lean journey,” Tassone explains. “I’d experienced working in

a ‘job shop’ environment at Whirlpool – being really focused on schedules, getting customer orders out and so on – and CCT was running that job shop mentality. But the supply chain team’s ability to quickly adapt with the team, to bring the company more into that lean mindset, focus on setting up firm schedules and consignment programmes with vendors, was going to be key.

PRATT INDUSTRIES SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING & DISPLAY SOLUTIONS

From our humble beginnings in the 1980s, we have rapidly grown to become America’s fifth-largest corrugated packaging company, feeding our ever-expanding network of strategically placed sheet plants and display facilities that stretch from New York City to Los Angeles and Mexico to the Canadian border.

“It’s a very specific supply chain we operate, particularly when it comes to the materials and components we work with, and so the cold chain world generally requires you to operate a very local supply base,” he continues. “Corrugate doesn’t travel well – you can’t buy it internationally, it doesn’t travel well on the ocean. Similarly, EPS contains a lot of air so, again, it doesn’t travel well.

With that in mind, a large amount of our work has been around establishing strong local networks that are optimised with key suppliers who we work with closely. Elsewhere, we use a lot of chemicals which adds complexity in terms of managing logistics and transport schedules. When I joined the business we also identified several key raw materials that we were sole-sourced on, which can have an

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“ if You don ’ t have strong Partners , and the abilit Y to lean on them and work with them through the most C hallenging time , You ’ re going to struggle ”

impact if there are issues with that supplier. To mitigate this we’ve done a lot of work around ensuring we’re dual-sourced for our essential materials and components.”

TECHNOLOGY, VISIBILITY AND TRANSFORMATION

Increasingly, the management of complex global supply chains and logistics operations is requiring companies to invest in digital technologies, in particular to provide greater transparency and visibility. CCT is no different, says Tassone, discussing how the harnessing and use of greater volumes of data allows for better forecasting. “For me, digital transformation is all about visibility,” he says. “It’s about using the data in our system to

allow us to source materials, organise freight operations and plan our work well in advance. It’s ongoing for us too – we implemented a new ERP system in July 2020, for example, from which we’re seeing a lot of advantages.”

Amar Chahal, SVP of Global Marketing, Strategy & Corporate Development, at the business agrees, explaining that the benefits of digital adoption also extend to customers. “Leveraging digital technologies in the supply chain has many benefits, from determining environmental impacts and giving reassurance that medication will be delivered on time and in the best condition, through to having realtime visibility and the ability to take action

should something change, reducing costs and managing inventory, and improving customer satisfaction. Our customers want assurance. That means not just knowing the status of their shipment at destination, but throughout the entire journey. There’s many variables that can impact shipment delivery, so having ‘visibility assurance’ is critical, particularly for life-saving

medicines. Integrity and safety of the product is vital for the same reasons.”

Of similar importance for the business is a growing focus on sustainability, a subject that is becoming increasingly important for packaging providers.

“There’s a growing need,” says Chahal, “particularly for those materials that can

“ it ’ s a ver Y s P eC ifi C su PP lY C hain we o P erate , Parti C ularlY when it C omes to the materials and C om P onents we work with ”

be recycled at the curb side, thus reducing environmental impact. Consumers and businesses worldwide are realising the impact of their decisions on the environment, and so it’s important we work hard to make a difference. We’ve recently made an acquisition of Packaging Technology Group (PTG), a leading provider of sustainable curb side recyclable thermal packaging solutions for the life sciences industry. This will both broaden our portfolio and see us make a greater contribution towards a greener world.”

the business will build on its successful delivery of Operation Warp Speed while continuing to increase its operations network. “I don’t want to say Warp Speed was flawless, but it worked very well for us. The supply network we established performed well and really demonstrated the importance of our relationships across the network. Moving forward, the focus is on becoming a more global organisation. For my team, that’s about setting up the supply base effectively for all our divisions globally. Our job is to create that network for the business to provide it with the ability to grow.”

www.coldchaintech.com

Sustainability and technology

adoption will be key focus areas for the business over the coming years. Specifically with regards to supply chain, says Tassone,

Stéphane Morel discusses being part of the team driving procurement digitisation and being in charge of the complete revision of the strategic procurement processes at Novartis

WORDS TOM WADLOW

It took just one talk to his class in business school to convince Stéphane Morel that procurement was the career path for him. A master’s degree and 25 years of professional experience later, and there is little that the Frenchman hasn’t seen when it comes to the inner supply chain workings within organisations in the automotive and, most recently, healthcare sectors.

Today, Stéphane is based in Barcelona. Here, he serves as the Global Process Owner (GPO) for Strategic Procurement as part of the Lean Digital Core programme at multinational pharmaceutical company Novartis. He is also driving forward two key digitisation projects in order to help in bringing the company’s procurement organisation to the next level.

“I am also back in the classroom,” he adds. “Several years ago, I was asked by a colleague to deliver a lecture and I found myself enjoying the experience, so I have done it ever since. It provides a fantastic opportunity to reflect and think about your own job. For me, it stirs the passion, energy and empathy I have for procurement which, at least I hope, comes across to the students.”

Stéphane was also involved in establishing Novartis’s internal Procurement Academy in 2019, and still coaches on his favourite topics:

‘7 Steps Strategic Sourcing, Category Management and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)’.

HALF HUMAN, HALF MACHINE

Stéphane is a firm believer in the fact that there is an enormous upskilling task to be carried out when it comes to future proofing procurement skills for the digital age. He explains that his vision of future procurement is framed around the core principles of sustainability, innovation, productivity and technology through collaboration, a context which demands a symbiotic blend between human and machine.

“I really don’t like how often we see this conversation framed as human versus machine,” he explains. “We should not be asked to choose between one and the other. Rather, it should be about how we can combine the best facets of human

strategic thinking and nuance with the operational performance and intelligence of technology.”

This, ultimately, will better enable the profession to continue to perform and deliver value in an ultra-‘VUCA’ world – one defined by extreme volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. “There is a lot of firefighting going on at the moment,” Stéphane adds. “The new inflation and supply crisis has immediately followed the pandemic, which itself is still causing disruption – there simply has been no let up for procurement professionals. What does this all mean? In simple terms, it means that we have less time and energy available to focus on strategy at a time when it is most needed.”

“IT STIRS THE PASSION, ENERGY AND EMPATHY I HAVE FOR PROCUREMENT”

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LONG LIVE THE CATMAN

However, in spite of the challenging backdrop, Stéphane believes that, as in any other crisis, there are great opportunities to make changes. This is his overriding focus as a GPO for the Novartis procurement function – to unlock the power of digital, especially in the areas of category management and supplier relationship management, a task which is drawing on all of the experience he has compiled to this point.

“I am a big fan of digitisation,” Stéphane says, “although I must admit that the image of a few headless chickens running around everywhere often comes to mind – it isn’t always easy. But for quite some time now I have been fortunate enough to be able to jump right into the data, digital and technology of procurement. Digitising category management and supplier collaboration is proving to be a fascinating and complicated journey.”

Indeed, the first of the two digitisation projects has succeeded so far thanks to a clear direction instilled from the Novartis leadership team from the very beginning, as well as the full commitment of the whole project team. Stéphane is a longstanding advocate of category management, commonly dubbed ‘Catman’, as a procurement discipline.

“I was first trained on it in 1997 and have been one of its strongest supporters ever since,” he notes. “However, many attempts

have been made to give it a death sentence over the years without providing a better alternative. The term, I believe, has been misused and while of course there are issues and challenges, especially in the VUCA world we are living in, it can still

serve a huge array of purposes. My view? Long live the Catman.”

Digitisation, Stéphane believes, is the key to unlocking Catman’s full value. Last year, Novartis began its Catman

“THE WORLD IS CHANGING RAPIDLY AND THAT MEANS WE CANNOT AFFORD TO DRAG OUR FEET”

digitisation journey with key partner Cirtuo, successfully completing an initial pilot last year and now at the end of the deployment after several phases. This involves integrating and deploying a revised category management framework using Cirtuo’s software platform – by mid 2022, Stéphane expects to have migrated the vast majority of the procurement categories, which between them account for more than 80% of Novartis’ third-party spend. Meanwhile, by this time more than 150 category managers will have been trained to use the new framework through the digital platform.

The upshot is that Novartis is moving from a not yet fully standardised Catman approach supported by PowerPoint and Excel to a unified, even more collaborative and AI-guided platform provided by Cirtuo. “There has been a high level of engagement across our teams so far,” Stéphane says. “We now have a standard methodology and collective way of working, and category managers are being constructively and positively challenged in their way of thinking and current level of understanding of their category. Cirtuo artificial intelligence outputs and the direct connection to supply market intelligence are two good advantages. We will continue to improve the Cirtuo platform with regular tech enhancements, as well as automated spend integration. We have also just kicked off the work to integrate Cirtuo with other existing procurement platforms.”

On category management…

In Stéphane’s eyes, category management fulfils a wide-ranging remit across organisations. If interpreted and deployed properly, it allows procurement functions to:

> Align, orchestrate and collaborate with the business and other functions.

> Analyse internal and external data to provide valuable insights.

> Connect the dots between business strategic goals and needs, and the market’s most capable suppliers.

> Define and approve a strategy to optimise spend, generate value for the business and patients (at Novartis), and create a competitive advantage.

> Drive the implementation and tracking of initiatives agreed with the business.

> Ensure efficient operationalisation including buying channel strategy and contract management.

> Ensure risk mitigation and compliance.

> Collaborate and further integrate strategic suppliers (SRM modules) for high value delivery.

CONTINUING THE JOURNEY

There is a lot of exciting work ahead. By the end of 2024, Stéphane wants to integrate the platform with demand forecasting, including sales and volumes, product launches, clinical trials and more, along with more predictive market intelligence that would automatically provide intel on key trends.

“This is potentially game-changing for us,” he says. “But there is a whole lot of work to do to untangle the complexity and challenges that lie ahead. And we must move fast. The world is

changing rapidly and that means we cannot afford to drag our feet with this – what works on one day may not be relevant the next.”

Furthermore, the project with Cirtuo is developing alongside the digitisation of supplier collaboration and innovation, with the Catman developments primed to support the setting of key SRM goals.

“We are building on the momentum of 2021’s pilot success by expanding to more key suppliers,” Stéphane adds.

“Our plan is to continue to strengthen supplier collaboration and innovation.”

Concluding the conversation with a broader lens, Stéphane outlines that the whole purpose of these projects and the revision of processes is to deliver value to the Novartis business and its internal and external stakeholders – from employees and shareholders to customers and suppliers. “It is about creating business impact,” he says. “Our plan is to continue delivering productivity and innovation at scale, as well as driving sustainability so that we effectively and successfully support the Novartis mission of reimagining medicine.”

www.novartis.com

“DIGITISING CATEGORY MANAGEMENT AND SUPPLIER COLLABORATION IS PROVING TO BE A FASCINATING AND COMPLICATED JOURNEY”

SUPPLY CHAINS AND THE UKRAINE CRISIS

SUPPLY CHAINS THE UKRAINE

HOW THE UKRAINE CRISIS HAS IMPACTED SUPPLY CHAINS AND LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT RESILIENCE AND CRISIS PLANNING, ACCORDING TO MOECO’S

ALEXA SYNIACHEVA

ver the last few weeks there has been a lot of speculation as to how the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine will impact global supply chains. We are now starting to see some of the fears that have been expressed become realities.

There have already been some serious shortterm implications. Yet, as it becomes clearer that the war is likely to last months and possibly even years rather than weeks,

and that Russia has severed many of its economic ties with the West – at least for now – the longer term outcomes for global supply chains are becoming apparent.

The war is clearly a tragedy for everyone involved. Personally, I am the Ukrainian CEO of a Berlin-based startup, who has already taken time out to ensure that my family has safely left the country and to help my fellow Ukrainains. Yet I run a technology business whose main product has been designed to improve safety and efficiency in the supply chain.

The war has once again made me ask questions about the resilience of the supply chain and how my startup can help solve those problems that will emerge in the future.

IMMEDIATE ISSUES

The immediate problems facing the West are around resources. Russia and Ukraine between them are huge providers of key resources like natural gas, oil and wheat. And this will have an impact on global prices as time goes by.

Ukraine also produces 90% of the semiconductor-grade neon used in the United States, while Russia provides the US with more than a third of its palladium –a rare metal that’s a key component of semiconductors.

Away from materials, the war is also significantly slowing down the movement of goods. The closing of air space in the region means that goods moving from China to Europe or the US may need to be rerouted or use slower or more expensive modes of transportation. Factor into this too the number of goods that are now holed up in ports as authorities try to work out how the sanctions against Russia impact on the movements of their goods.

TRACKING IS KEY

In the short term, there clearly is chaos in the way that goods and supplies are moving across Europe. In recent years

technology has enabled logistics providers to add trackers to transported goods, which deliver ongoing information as to their passage.

Here is how this works in more conventional times. Express delivery tracking typically relies on a proprietary network of checkpoints and back-end systems: inbound and outbound scanners at the warehouses and sorting centres, GPS trackers on delivery vehicles, and air freight schedules. This system works well when one can assume these checkpoints are operational and there is normal working infrastructure. Typically this is all under the control of the one company.

Currently, due to massive infrastructure disruption, the majority of goods inside Ukraine are being transported in a loosely

“I HAVE ALREADY TAKEN TIME OUT TO ENSURE THAT MY FAMILY HAS SAFELY LEFT THE COUNTRY AND TO HELP MY FELLOW UKRAINAINS”

defined network that makes tracking anything almost impossible. It includes everyone from commercial shipping companies and volunteers with cars who deliver goods from either the Moldova/ Ukraine border or the Poland/Ukraine border to the final destination.

There are no barcode scanners, no ‘normal’ working infrastructure, and few (if any) defined processes. Fortunately, Ukrainians are very good at achieving results in a highly chaotic environment, but this isn’t sustainable long-term.

shipping container may be separated into boxed shipments destined for secondary destinations (such as Kyiv or Vinnica), and from there individual boxes are delivered to hospitals or civil defence groups.

So how can the goods be tracked? The default in conventional times is nondisposable GPS trackers. These deliver basic information such as location to the logistics company. The key problem for these generally – and this is even more exacerbated in the current situation – is their high cost. What makes them totally unsuitable for use in Ukraine is that they rely on the recipient to return them, which is a massive bind at any time, and virtually impossible currently.

The solution we worked on and launched a year ago is a disposable tracker. We wanted a tracker that could give information such as location (like every 4-6 hours), temperature, humidity (5-minute intervals), vibration shocks and more, yet didn’t need to be returned, but rather, just recycled by the recipient. Crucially, the implementation of Moeco trackers does not require a lot of time and staff training.

Another challenge is what actually happens to the goods when they finally reach Ukraine. Simply tracking them to ensure their arrival is virtually impossible. Upon arrival in Lviv, for example, the initial

Initially this innovation was designed to take logistics tracking to a new level, but as is obvious, it is ideally suited to help logistics companies as they face the new issues caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It is, for example, possible to track not only the direct supply of medicines to Lviv, but also further distribution by city too.

“‘SELF-TALKING’ CARGO IS THE WAY WE CAN SOLVE NOT ONLY THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN UKRAINE BUT ALSO TO REMOVE LOGISTICS BOTTLENECKS IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN AROUND THE WORLD”

Pallet/package level conditions monitoring and visibility is in high demand and obviously not just in the war zone. It reduces dependency on human work and critical infrastructure, and scales quickly. In other words, you don’t need to hire more people as the shipping volumes go up.

We think that ‘self-talking’ cargo is the way we can solve not only the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine but also to remove logistics bottlenecks in the supply chain around the world.

CONCLUSION

The way forward for Russia, Ukraine and indeed the entire world is not clear. In many ways the conflict has underlined the resilience of the supply chain in that global trade traffic as a whole hasn’t been too badly disrupted. Further goods that have been bound for Ukraine have, sometimes against the

odds, found a way through.

I think ultimately the conflict will mean that the world looks again at supply chains: how efficient are they? How can we improve them? And, how can we ensure the minimum disruption if a similar conflict occurs?

I am a great believer in the way that people come together and harness technology to solve problems. And that is what I think we are going to see in the coming months and years with the supply chain.

Alexa Syniacheva Co-Founder and CEO of Moeco

Alexa is Co-Founder and CEO of Moeco. Her experience is focused on leading-edge solutions on a global scale. She was a business strategy advisor for several startups in fintech, blockchain, AI, and IoT. Former Head of Business Development at Diginex Limited, Alexa helped the company find US partners and enterprise customers, search for good tech projects, and take care of the portfolio startups. She is an active member of the blockchain community and a “super-connector” in the tech industry of Silicon Valley.

LEADING THE JOURNEY

LEADING

NTT GLOBAL SOURCING’S PULAK

BHAUMIK ON PROCUREMENT

TRANSFORMATION, THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE AND PARTNERSHIPS AND HIS INNOVATION JOURNEY

Who says that when Charles Darwin uttered his famous line, “it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one responsive to change”, he wasn’t gazing into the future with an eerily exact description of life as a modern procurement leader? Certainly not Pulak Bhaumik, who uses Darwin’s words as a succinct and accurate response to a question on the complexities of successful leadership in the evolving procurement environment over the course of his impressive and successful career in the profession.

“Being an effective leader is about constant change,” he elaborates, looking back on close to 20 years’ experience across a broad range of supply chain and procurement disciplines.

“You’ve got to have speed and agility, but also a laser-sharp focus to thrive, certainly in today’s technology-enabled procurement environment. My experience comprises domains like construction, finance, banking, pharmaceutical and now IT with NTT, and it’s contributed to me having a strong understanding of the dynamics of business, the different traits, priorities and client cultures that I believe are necessary for the modern procurement leader. I’m also fortunate to have worked with many of the finest CEOs and managing directors, who have helped me understand the importance of having a good oversight of everything.”

Bhaumik is a versatile and highly knowledgeable procurement professional with an eye for people, change management and leading initiatives that contribute to business excellence. Nowhere are these traits more apparent than in his work at NTT Global Sourcing, where he has held the role of Director Procurement and Head Global PMO for more than two and a half years.

Bhaumik Director Procurement and Head Global PMO NTT Global Sourcing Inc

Pulak

PROVIDING STRATEGIC DIRECTION

NTT Global Sourcing is a hotbed of procurement innovation and plays a pivotal role in the success of global technology and business solutions provider NTT.

It was established in 2018 as an innovative, startup-like procurement-specialised business unit to help drive impactful financial results through cross-company collaboration, developing and nurturing key strategic relationships and partnerships and demonstrating best-in-class sourcing practices. On a practical level, this sees NTT Global Sourcing lead on centralised price negotiations and the execution of

complex agreements with global vendors for all those products and services necessary to the successful functioning of the NTT group of companies. All activity falls under the central vision of becoming a trusted sourcing innovator for everyone within NTT globally.

Says Bhaumik: “We have robust processes in place at NTT Global Sourcing, even though we are just three years old. It allows us to havea significant amount of control for all the NTT operative companies, all under the company-wide One NTT vision, which is built upon collaboration, commit ment, change and communication.

“WE HAVE DEVELOPED A CULTURE OF INNOVATION, TRANSFORMATION AND ADAPTATION TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES”

“My role is about providing strategic direction and leadership to NTT’s sustainable procurement ecosystem by taking key initiatives that bring transformation, innovation and smart building technology implementation for our company and all NTT’s group companies. As a transformational leader my procurement priorities are centred around assessing the business enablers and solutions that can bring about meaningful and competitive growth for NTT. Typically, this means a real focus on solutions and technologies that co-create equal opportunity, growth and excellence

for all participants in the entire procurement chain. That’s key to our business.”

ONGOING TRANSFORMATION

NTT Global Sourcing has developed significantly since its establishment in 2018. Such rapid and ongoing transformation, says Bhaumik, is reflective of the continuously evolving procurement landscape more broadly: “Transformation is necessary so you don’t remain incumbent; the world is very volatile at the moment with many of the developments and changes we’re seeing being completely new to us

so, with that in mind, being able to manage change is key to success. For all businesses digitisation and new, emerging technologies are propelling rapid change.

“For us procurement leaders, it’s important to be bold, ferocious, motivated, aggressive when necessary, quick to adapt and able to collaboratively drive problem solving for the business,” he continues. “To do that you have to be aware of new trends emerging and understand how they will not only impact your future perspective, but also how you can make scalable solutions for them. I’ve been fortunate in experiencing transformation in

by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our business evolution has been fuelled by the pandemic,” he states. “We’ve recognised that a gain sharing model - where investment by both us and our partners provides the best innovative solutions through our ecosystem - is key to our success. Our goal is to move ahead in the race, which is why we’re focused on sourcing the best of the best with absolutely no compromise on quality. The aim is to source innovative products that are world-class. Key drivers for us are transparency and supplier relationships/ experiences and focusing on sustainable procurement. My role in this is to be the catalyst for effective transformation.”

large and complex organisations; it’s made me understand how important today’s procurement leaders are in strategic decision making processes for the business. It’s a more strategic role now, focused on business objectives and a dedication to creating, owning, leading and delivering on a culture of change.”

Bhaumik has embraced this strategic role with considerable success at NTT Global Sourcing, contributing to the organisation’s transformation which, he states, has been partly driven by the disruption caused

“IT’S A JOURNEY AND WE HAVE TO MAKE IT AS EXCITING AND INNOVATIVE AS WE CAN”

BUILDING ONEVISION

An example of the potential of this approach can be found in the recent launching of the NTT OneVision Center, a new hybrid work space in Sunnyvale, California that is the result of close collaboration between NTT Global Sourcing and NTT Research, which conducts research and innovation projects in technologies that promote positive change for humankind.

The NTT OneVIsion Center facility represents a post-pandemic vision of the modern workplace, complete with spaces dedicated to collaboration, new and innovative layouts and state-of-the-art health monitoring capabilities. The building uses an open space design with circulation routes that encourages people to move, connect and share and uses living walls to help purify the inside air. Sustainability is an essential part of the

“MY ROLE IS ABOUT PROVIDING STRATEGIC DIRECTION AND LEADERSHIP TO NTT’S SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT ECOSYSTEM”

project, too. OneVision Center will be carbon negative by returning energy to the local municipality of Sunnyvale, while NTT is currently working towards LEED certification - the globally recognised symbols of sustainability leadership and achievement.

NTT Global Sourcing played a key role in the development of the project in collaboration with NTT Research by working with local partners to bring the grand vision to life. “It’s a great example of our transformational journey and demonstrates that we really are the number one in terms of our dedication to the approach and methodology in what we do. For NTT Global

Sourcing, it’s a showcase of how we worked successfully to bring technology into our research centre including building solutions, air conditioning, solar, innovative glass, visitor management - everything you can think of. Together, it’s contributed to us driving a real sense of belonging among employees, better experiences and wellness.”

Bhaumik places a premium on close partnerships with suppliers. As an example, he cites work with Rebrand International, a provider of functional signage and branded workplaces. “Three things come to mind when I think of our partnership: consistency, conviction and commitment,”

says Bhaumik. “Rebrand is an exciting partner that we engage in our business globally. In a short timepsan they delivered some outstanding work, which shows their pasion for learning, working and delivering every time. As a result of this success, we’re executing a global framework agreement to support all our NTT group companies.”

PEOPLE AND THE JOURNEY

Success can’t happen without people, and Bhaumik’s passion for supplier partnerships and relationship building extends to those within his own company. He is a firm believer in the importance of culture in driving any transformation and works hard to bring everyone together on a single, united journey. “Culture is the key to success,” he says. “Transformation happens

through people, process and technology, and it’s important to have people who are born to learn, focus, experiment, innovate and motivate others. At NTT, all our companies are aligned in this belief and, because of that, we have developed a culture of innovation, transformation and adaptation to new technologies.

“FOR ALL BUSINESSES DIGITISATION AND NEW, EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES ARE PROPELLING RAPID CHANGE”

“My role as a leader is to bring people on this journey with me and make them feel good about doing business together with us,” Bhaumik adds. “We have several main goals and objectives for the future in terms of how the business progresses, particularly around a greater focus on renewable energy usable, more sustainable initiatives and working on decarbonisation, as well as achieving net zero for our offices, data centres and companies. We have to work hard to go the extra mile to make sure we deliver for NTT; it’s a journey and we have to make it as exciting and innovative as we can.” www.nttsourcing.com

Remedial Health PROCUREMENT AND PHARMACY MADE EASY

According to the World Health Organisation, around 100,000 deaths each year in Africa are linked to the counterfeit drug trade, with more than 30% of medicines sold on the continent deemed counterfeit.

Samuel Okwuada and Victor Benjamin founded Remedial Health in 2020 to tackle this problem by improving access to genuine and affordable medicines in Africa. They’re solution combines the use of innovative pharmaceutical procurement technology, inventory financing solutions and pharmacy operations/patient management solutions which both streamline pharmacy

operations and close the gap between pharmacies and patients.

By using Remedial Health, pharmacies can manage their operations and track orders – which Remedial fulfills within 24 hours. They can also access stored patient records and reporting and make orders on credit to ensure the continuous delivery of healthcare and medicines irrespective of financial constraints. www.remedial.health

lisa ower dis C usses the im P ortan C e of real , meaningful C hange , valuable leadershi P and the P ower of engaged P eo P le

THE POWER

OF PEOPLE

o begin with a question: how do you support a 25-year-old gold and base metals producer to navigate a shift towards a vision for growth? The answer doesn’t just lie in fancy technology, buzzwords like digital transformation or – necessarily – heavy investment. Rather, you create a buzz and collective drive across the organisation by focusing on something far more important: people. In the case of Eldorado Gold Corporation and Executive Vice President, People and External Affairs Lisa Ower, you build a culture of collaboration, you inspire and empower everyone in the organisation from the top down by showing them the value that insightful, ‘human’ and inclusive leadership can bring, and you nurture a company-wide mindset that’s ready to embrace real and meaningful change for the benefit of the whole industry.

Ower, who began her career in the fast-paced world of software, knows the familiar feeling of growth, excitement and possibilities well. She also knows people. Over the course of an hourlong discussion, it becomes quickly clear that her passion and dedication to the subtle art of transforming company culture, people management and understanding what makes us tick are second to none.

Ower is an experienced and respected transformation leader with a love of helping companies and their people succeed. Over a career spanning some 25 years in the HR and M&A space, she has worked across several industries, from her early days in software, electronics and manufacturing through the oil and gas industry – to which she was recruited specifically for her capabilities in building HR and people practices that support business transformation – to her current role at Eldorado Gold. “I told myself I wouldn’t stay with another commodity business,” she laughs, discussing her joining the mining company close to four years ago, “but Eldorado absolutely drew me in with the sheer opportunities I saw. At the time there was a new CEO and a fairly new management team, but perhaps not as many people practices as we would have liked.”

PEOPLE-DRIVEN VISION

“The CEO had a great vision for building a new culture of collaboration and making the business feel like one global company despite the disparate nature of our mining activities, but he needed the people to help evolve that vision and execute on it,” continues Ower. “It reminded me of my software days; there was a real startup feel to the excitement and ambition of the executive team and their desire to actually achieve something meaningful. It was fast-paced, there was a lot of energy and agility, plus plenty of hard work – all those things you do in a startup-type environment – and I couldn’t help but feel drawn to the team and the business. It’s a pretty attractive industry to work in too in terms of the people you work with, the locations and the depth of what gold can do for the world from aerospace or computers, to phones, medicine and healthcare. You can totally attach yourself to its purpose and value in society.”

Irrespective of industry, Ower’s career has been dominated by one thread: influencing positive change by understanding what drives and motivates humans. “I’ve always been attracted to roles that are transformational, or about helping organisations and people evolve through changing culture,” she says. “It’s what drives and motivates me. Of course, it’s never easy, but when you come to a company where everyone from board level and the CEO down really embraces the value of what you do as an HR professional, the sky’s

the limit in terms of what you can achieve. There’s nothing more satisfying than being successful in working with people and culture or seeing how you can move a whole business and its workforce to a place that can be absolutely magical when you get it right.”

To instigate any such transformation, says Ower, you start with a straightforward approach: talk to people. “We thought it was important to start with the miners at the face, everything we wanted to do had to be built on their values,” she explains.

“Our local HR teams in Turkey, Greece and Quebec surveyed thousands of employees, asking them what their job means, what they value the most, how they want to see the organisation develop and so on, for me that’s the only way to really know how to make real change. When we collated all that data we found that, despite their location, everyone had very similar values and ambitions around change and progress.

“But I also realised pretty quickly that we didn’t have a company-wide value set,”

“

i ’ ve alwaY s been attra C ted to roles that are transformational , or about hel P ing organisations and P eo P le evolve through C hanging C ulture ”

she continues. “We all had our own values and were working well, but there was no shared thread across the whole organisation. We had to have that foundational element in order to drive any transformation, so one of the first things we did was co-create with the business a set of values based on the bottom-up approach of our talking to the teams. It took 18 months to make sure we had something that everyone could feel part of and excited by, but it was crucial to set us up for success in terms of where we are today. Those values are collaboration, courage, drive, agility and integrity. They drive everything we do. Our CEO uses them on a daily basis, they’re tied in to everything we work on whether it’s recruitment, performance management, leadership development or anything else. Having a collective approach to what we believe and feel is crucial.”

BEHAVIOUR, NEUROSCIENCE AND LEADERS

Change is a journey. Ower explains that, alongside setting values and objectives for the business, it was equally important to drive behavioural evolution, particularly within the company’s leadership team. A new model, Valuable Leadership, was adopted representing a style of leadership predicated on the new company values. She explains: “It’s great to have values, but it means nothing if you don’t know how to behave around them and what leadership looks like across the company. No matter where you’re working, it should look and feel the same, regardless of cultural nuances or

“ our values are C ollaboration ,

C ourage , drive , agilit Y and integrit Y. the Y drive ever Y thing we do ”

differences. Valuable Leadership is about helping the organisation define what it means to behave in relation to each of those values. It’s a collective of our leaders who all believe in the same things and we’re working hard to model what good looks like so our values are always at the forefront of our minds.”

For that training, Eldorado Gold is working closely with the NeuroLeadership Institute (NLI), using neuroscience to leverage diversity and cultivate insightful leaders that create inclusion, enable employees to speak up productively and help their teams to mitigate bias. In partnership, Eldorado Gold and NLI have developed a leadership pathway around the neuroscience of smarter teams, of speaking up and breaking bias, each of which supports and reinforces the company’s new values and has been rolled out to its leaders worldwide.

The results of this programme have been significant. For example, 81% of direct reports within the business say their leaders are making a greater effort to be inclusive, and 98% of participants said they have spoken up more readily to share an idea, question a decision or challenge a behaviour. Further, at the company’s Kisladag operation in Turkey, Area Superintendent Serdar Sahin used his neuroscience training to encourage open and productive dialogue with his team that resulted in a 13% increase in the capacity of the gold stripping circuit.

Given Ower’s passion for people and culture, it’s little surprise this is a subject close to her heart. “It’s why I originally studied psychology,” she says. “From a young age I remember being fascinated by it, but also thinking that I didn’t want to be a clinical psychologist, I wanted to go into business and use methods like neuroscience to see if we can drive business performance. It’s always on my mind: how do you change peoples’ behaviour, get them to feel part of something bigger than themselves and that they matter? Ultimately, that’s the key thing. We want everyone to turn up to work to feel valued

and understand that they are contributing something that’s intrinsically linked to the success of the organisation.

“The work with the NLI is particularly interesting,” she continues. “You don’t change people by pushing them onto a leadership course and telling them what they need to do as a leader. You do it by getting them to think and learn about themselves, as well as others. If you understand your behaviour or what biases you have that get in the way of good decision making or teamwork, you realise we’re capable of overcoming our challenges and

“ valuable leadershi P is about hel P ing the organisation define what it means to behave in relation to ea C h of our values ”

embracing opportunities together. For me, working on this and setting the standard with Valuable Leadership has been the jumping off point for all of our people practices, from the diversity and inclusion work we’re doing, through our hiring or training programmes to our policies in general across the business.”

DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND GENDER

Diversity and inclusion is an ongoing challenge in the mining industry, not only due to its male-dominated workforce but also as a result of cultural differences found across globally disparate operations. Since transforming its values and leadership model, Eldorado Gold has been at the forefront of driving significant change in this area by embracing ‘inclusive diversity’. Ower elaborates: “For me, you can have the most diverse business in the world, but if you’re not bringing everyone to the table and exploring differing views, then you’re not going to make a real impact. Inclusive diversity means embracing and enabling those different experiences, perspectives and mindsets and letting them all have their place. It’s about leading with inclusivity and is also tied into neuroscience – to feel valued or that you have a stake in the business, you’ve got to be included; you have to have that psychologically safe place to be different.”

The company has actively worked with local organisations and specific programmes and projects to encourage greater gender diversity across its operations.

It has, for example, recently added its fifth female board member, driving change from the top down. It also partners with Artemis Project, a collective of female entrepreneurs focused on disruptive change in global economic, environmental and social development in mining. Artemis Project works to encourage female entrepreneurs, engineers and innovators to channel their skills into the mining industry and drive real change across the sector. “It’s an amazing project,” says Ower. “It’s for women around the world who are incredible in their own right – highly qualified engineers and trained professionals – and we’re

“ we want ever Yone to turn u P to work to feel valued and understand that the Y are C ontributing something that ’ s intrinsi C allY linked to the su CC ess of the organisation ”

looking at bringing some of these women to our Quebec operations through Artemis very soon.

“We’re very cognizant of the fact that there’s both a skills shortage and not enough women in mining, and we’re looking at many ways of addressing that,” Ower continues.

“I think the industry has to look outside

the box of what were once male-dominated positions to really start thinking about ways in which we can develop female talent. Technology and the introduction of new innovations will help that in some ways, and it’ll certainly help to create new jobs. With that in mind, training will be very important and we’re currently working on developing a state-of-the-art training

centre in Greece, with a vision that one day it will be available to potential talent all across Europe. We’ve had some real success stories in our operations when it comes to building new and diverse skills. For example, in Turkey, we have our first female rock truck driver which has historically been very male dominated, and our first underground female superintendent.

“We’re on a journey with diversity and all it entails in different places,” she adds. “If

you look across our operations in Canada, Turkey and Greece you’ve very different cultures and mindsets around the subject so we always have to be aware of that; it’s about thinking what’s going to help move the needle in each jurisdiction. For example, in Quebec there’s a real focus on getting more Indigenous peoples involved in the industry and having more programmes for attracting and retaining female talent. In Greece, we’re focused on getting more women into leadership roles, as well as

“You C an have the most diverse business in the world , but if You ’ re not bringing ever Yone to the table then You ’ re not going to make a real im Pa C t ”

in the mine, and breaking the stigma around that in the country. You can’t change how fast or slow a nation’s progress is toward diversity but if you can change what you have control over, in this case how we behave and what we value in our mines, then you’re going to make a positive impact.”

MEANINGFUL CHANGE

The impact of the changes being made at Eldorado Gold is likely to continue into the foreseeable future, benefitting both the business and the broader industry. The work of Ower and her team will contribute to a new five-year strategy recently set out by the business and focused on several key areas. “We’re on our growth

journey and, for us, people and capabilities will be a big part of that,” she says.

“A key area of our strategy is safety and sustainability, including our commitment to delivering a safe and inclusive workplace – d iversity and inclusion plays a significant role in that. People and capabilities will be a big focus, particularly in terms of recruiting and training to enable our growth plans and new opportunities.

“We really want to drive this business forward. I’ve been doing this kind of work for a long time and I’m still amazed at what can be achieved if you really connect, make that positive change with people and move a business in the direction it needs to go. I’m fortunate that it’s realised here. You don’t always see HR functions have a seat at the table, but here at Eldorado Gold we’re recognised as a key business driver that’s just as critical to operations as any other. It’s very meaningful for me and everyone here,” she concludes.

www.eldoradogold.com

M A D R I D

Spain is committed to entrepreneurship, and at the centre of its strategy is Madrid. The capital is increasingly becoming one of the hubs for innovation in Europe, with a flourishing ecosystem of innovative startups, accelerators, VCs and angel investors.

Madrid also offers the perfect combination of work and play, with amazing spots to relax in your downtime between business engagements. Eduardo Martinez Garcia, CEO & Co-Founder at Toqio, a SaaS global financial platform that lets businesses quickly launch and monetise new solutions for customers, takes us on a personal tour of the Spanish capital.

WORDS EDUARDO MARTINEZ GARCIA

BUSINESS

Like many other European startup hubs, Madrid is also full of co-working spaces. Utopicus combines all of the amenities and traditional co-working offers with beautiful decoration and impressive architecture – it’s also a great spot to do some networking.

Loom is also a great choice if you’re looking for a relaxed office to work from and, if like Toqio your company is also

a Fintech, then Aticco María de Molina is the place for you.

I’d also recommend a visit to The Cube , an ecosystem designed to boost innovation and creativity. The space was built so that corporates and startups could work closely together to develop and create innovative products and services.

THE CUBE LOOM

GRAN MELI A ´

ATICCO MAR I A DE MOLINA

The newly renovated Ritz preserves its classical essence while giving a modern vibe to visitors. From here you can enjoy the beautiful city views while having a cocktail with oysters at the famous terrace bar.

If you’re looking for a more relaxed atmosphere, then I’d recommend staying at the Gran Meliá Palacio de los Duques, a hidden gem in the centre of Madrid that has opted

MANDARIN ORIENTAL RITZ

for a Velazquez theme to decorate many of its rooms and common spaces.

Hotel Urban is another great option close to the city centre. It’s very modern and within walking distance from some of Madrid’s most famous landmarks – stay here and you’ll probably be able to squeeze in a visit to Museo del Prado or the Royal Palace between business meetings.

MERCADO DE SAN MIGUEL

MUSEO DEL PRADO

ROYAL PALACE OF MADRID CASA DANI

EAT / DRINK

If you’re looking for traditional Spanish cuisine, look no further than La Posada de la Villa – it’s the place to go. The restaurant dates back to 1642 and has impeccable service with some of the best food you’ll find in Madrid.

For a classic tortilla, I’d recommend Casa Dani – order it with a coffee for the complete local experience!

When I’m in the mood for tapas, I head to Calle Ponzano , which offers many options when it comes to great places to eat. One of my favourites is La Sala de Despiece, a buzzy bar styled like a market butchers shop, complete with bench and counter seating.

You can also never go wrong with the many markets we have here in Madrid. Even though they are very touristy, Mercado San Miguel and the food hall at Galería Canalejas are great places to grab a bite.

GALER I ´A CANALEJAS

LA SALA DE DESPIECE

EDUARDO MARTINEZ GARCIA, CEO & CO-FOUNDER OF TOQIO

Eduardo is an avid entrepreneur who has set up, run and supported numerous ventures over the last 20 years. He spent his early career in senior positions at Accenture, but has years of experience working globally and with startups. After creating and running a number of innovation businesses in the UK, Spain and South Africa, he cofounded Toqio, a SaaS platform that delivers Digital Banking as a Service. Previously, Eduardo and his co-founder Michael Galvin built a small business SaaS startup, Geniac, which was acquired by Grant Thornton. Eduardo is also an Associate Professor at the School of Human Sciences and Technology at IE University.

TERRAZA CIBELES

ABOUT TOQIO

Toqio provides a SaaS global financial platform that lets businesses quickly launch and monetise new solutions for customers. Founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneurs Eduardo Martinez and Michael Galvin, Toqio enables any business, not just banks, to quickly create and launch game-changing, data-driven, financial products.

https://toqio.co

LEISURE

Madrid has a vibrant nightlife. One experience I’d definitely recommend is WAH, a show that combines music and gastronomy. Trust me: it’s a party you’ll never forget!

Another option to relax is to go to one of the many rooftop bars we have in the city, where you can enjoy some tapas while getting a great view of the capital. One of my personal favourites is the

Terraza Cibeles , located at an iconic building. Order the gin and tonic with Nordés gin – you won’t regret it.

There are also many great bars along the Gran Via , close to Toqio’s office. My tip would be to do some bar hopping in the area as, not only do you get amazing food and drinks, but it’d also be a different way of getting to know the centre of the city.

global events Calender

GARTNER SUPPLY CHAIN

SYMPOSIUM/XPO

6-9 JUNE 2022 | Orlando, USA

Insights, strategies and frameworks for CSCOs and SC leaders to build the sustainable, societal and profitable supply chain required for a dynamic world.

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ISM WORLD 2022

MAY 22-25, 2022 | Orlando, Fl, USA

The ISM World Annual Conference is back in-person. Attendees can be a part of an experience that builds, connects and focuses on you and your role within supply chain.

> VISIT WEBSITE

WORLD PROCUREMENT AWARDS

15TH JUNE 2022 | London, UK

Recognised as the pinnacle of professional achievement, the World Procurement Awards celebrate the most impressive individuals, teams, and organisations in procurement.

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PROCURECON ASIA

5-7 JULY 2022 | Singapore

Asia’s leading summit for CPOs and Heads of Procurement. Your opportunity to learn from and network with Asia’s most progressive procurement leaders in one location.

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DIGITAL PROCUREMENT WORLD

21-22 SEPT 2022 | Amsterdam (+ online)

Where the world’s biggest brands in procurement showcase cutting-edge innovations that will pave the way for the future of the function.

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PROCURECON EUROPE

27-29 SEP 2022 | Barcelona

Benchmark your procurement strategies with CPOs and Heads of Procurement at the world’s largest companies to define how to best thrive in the current uncertain global landscape.

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