Supply-Chain-March-2021

March 2021 | supplychaindigital.com

NTT Global Sourcing The Power of One

Women in Supply Chain DISCOVER HERE

GoDaddy Tuning in to Change LEARN MORE

UPS

Delivering

What Matters Philippe Gilbert, President at UPS Supply Chain Solutions, on delivering what matters most in the pandemic and beyond FIND OUT

FIND OUT

APEX Helping Customers Thrive Through Disruption READ NOW

READ NOW

SupplyChain Digital Magazine is proud to launch a celebration of women in Global SupplyChain.

Brought to you in association with:

A BizClik Media Group Brand

Creating Digital Communities in SupplyChain

EDITOR'S LETTER

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

RHYS THOMAS EDITORAL DIRECTOR

SCOTT BIRCH CREATIVE TEAM

OSCAR HATHAWAY SOPHIA FORTE HECTOR PENROSE SAM HUBBARD MIMI GUNN JUSTIN SMITH

Is There Life on Mars?

PRODUCTION DIRECTORS

NASA’s latest rover has touched down, and it’s hard not to think supply chain should share some of the credit

PRODUCTION MANAGERS

There are complex supply chains, and then there is the Perseverance Rover. NASA’s latest mission to search for extra-terrestrial life touched down on Martian soil in February, and though Hollywood’s little green men have been ruled out, we may have evidence of complex organic material in the coming years. As the first hi-definition images of Mars were beamed back to our blue dot, it was hard not to think of the web of suppliers, manufacturers and procurement specialists who ultimately made the journey a reality - and realise how critical supply chains are to the modern age of discovery.

Back on Earth, and supply chains are saving the world.

The vaccination effort is now well underway, with 270m+ doses already administered. In the US, President Joe Biden has stood by his word to back supply chain with an executive order to create a more resilient and secure supply chain for critical and essential goods. Biden hopes his order will also bring greater stability in jobs, domestic manufacturing and closer ties with economic allies.

Already it has helped speed up the process of securing enough COVID-19 shots for every adult in the country.

The administration expects to have this in place by May, two months earlier than previously forecast.

GEORGIA ALLEN DANIELA KIANICKOVÁ OWEN MARTIN PHILLINE VICENTE

VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER

KIERAN WAITE

DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCERS

SAM KEMP EVELYN HUANG MATTHEW EVANS TYLER LIVINGSTONE

DIGITAL MARKETING EXECUTIVE

MATILDA PILKINGTON PROJECT DIRECTORS

TOM LIVERMORE JAMES RICHARDSON KARL GREEN MEDIA SALES DIRECTOR

JAMES WHITE

SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR

JASON WESTGATE MANAGING DIRECTOR

LEWIS VAUGHAN

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

STACY NORMAN PRESIDENT & CEO

GLEN WHITE

Good news wherever you are in the solar system.

SUPPLYCHAIN DIGITAL MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY

RHYS THOMAS

Rhys.Thomas@bizclikmedia.com © 2021 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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CONTENTS

08 The Big Picture

The White Cliffs of Dover

10 The Brief

See how COVID-19 has affected us all

12 Global News

From Switzerland to Japan, see what is happening across the globe

14 People Moves

08

Who's going where?

16 Timeline

Lab to Jab

18 Legend

Motor magnate Henry Ford

20 Five mins with...

Daniel Weise

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22 4

March 2021

42

CONTENTS

54

22 NTT Global Sourcing The Power of One

42 UPS

Supply Chain Solutions: Delievering What Matters.

54 APEX

Helping Customers Thrive Through Disruption

64 Intelligent Automation Tech to Boost Talent

74 GoDaddy.com

Tuning in to the Dynamics of the Change in Procuremnt

90 Cloud & Cyber

Navigating the Challenges of COVID-19

98 Kearney

Cost. Service. Agility.

Supply Chain's New Trokia

112 J-Tec Material Handling Driving Growth in Asia

128 Amcor

Smart Sustainable Packaging

64

98 supplychaindigital.com

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+ 1200 CHARTERS

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in 2020 www.apexglobe.com info@apexglobe.com

Apex Logistics Increases Air Charters by 225% in 2020 Apex Logistics International increased total air charters from 500+ flights in 2019 to over 1200 charters in 2020. While some 50% of usual airfreight was deeply disrupted by the pandemic, the constant disruption forced the airfreight supply chain industry to immediately adopt an innovative approach, focusing on results over processes, making fast, smart decisions, and embracing outside trends quickly and effectively.

In 2020, E-Commerce sales jumped by more than 30% as consumers who followed stay-at-home orders and social-distancing measures discovered convenient and reliable online shopping options with faster delivery times. Spiked demand for time-sensitive personal protective equipment (PPE), consumer electronic devices, groceries and essential products, combined with the halt in ocean vessel movement, kept aircrafts flying during the pandemic.

Apex responded swiftly to the challenge by expanding commercial airfreight capacity and scheduled charters by over 225%. This move to increase dedicated charters supported retailers with flights that allow for faster recovery at destination, virtually eliminating terminal delay issues. This model extends to origin and destination services, where they control these processes by utilizing their own Container Freight Station (CFS) facilities.

While many outsource this work to 3PLs, Apex delivers these critical services in house.

Although industry challenges on both supply and demand side may likely persist through 2021, Apex is committed to meeting and exceeding customer needs with continued expansion of services to do what they do best, deliver passion.

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BIG PICTURE

White Cliffs of Dover Dover, England

The UK’s iconic White Cliffs of Dover have become a barrier once more. Paperwork and processes following Britain’s departure from the EU are disrupting supply chains, slowing the flow of goods and causing logistics headaches at UK-EU customs. The Port of Dover is a vital link between the UK and mainland Europe - and supply chain managers have demanded answers before further restrictions come into play this summer.

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THE BRIEF “We now are very focused on reducing supply risk and members of my team have goals set against that - we call it ‘joining forces” Keith Tice

Chief Procurement Officer, GoDaddy  READ MORE

“Delivering what matters is the purpose. That's what we do and who we are – why we exist.”

BY THE NUMBERS COVID-19: Survey findings

30

Fulfilment centres form DHL Supply Chain’s new European Fulfilment Network

100

MILLION VACCINES

Amazon has pledged to “leverage our operations and expertise” to aid new US President Joe Biden in delivering 100m vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office

Philippe Gilbert

President at UPS Supply Chain Solutions,  READ MORE

“The fundamental equations of being a CPO or running a supply chain have not changed.”

Suketu Gandhi

Partner and Global Product Leader, Digital Supply Chain and Plan, Kearney  READ MORE

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March 2021

Insights from 1,200 supply chain professionals surveyed: 2021 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index

45% 52%

Say that Do not envision environmental a global sustainability economic plans remain recover before on track 2022

14%

Believe their business will operate the same as pre-COVID

INTRODUCING… Procurement Magazine

That looks snazzy…

Snazzy it is, my friend. This is the new Procurement magazine, sister to Supply Chain. It’s packed with exclusive executive interviews and insight on the trends affecting all things procurement.

It looks great, where do I ‘procure’ a copy?

I see what you did there, very drole.

This gold is not for sale, you can just visit the website and read the magazine, plus get daily news and insight too. Subscribe and get it all straight to your inbox.

So who is in the launch mag?

Exclusive interviews with (takes deep breath) Arvind Kumar of NTT Global Sourcing, John Wookey from SAP, David Loseby from Rolls-Royce, Jan Grothe from Deutsche Bahn, and many more.

Impressive, it’s like a Who’s Who of the procurement industry.

We should have thought of that for our marketing strategy. Thanks. You will still get great procurement coverage in this magazine of course, but why not have the best of both worlds?

Go subscribe.

 UPS The American giant posted 21% revenue growth in Q4 2020, climbing to $24.9bn.

The strong quarter capped a record-breaking year that saw revenues reach their highest level in company history.  XPO LOGISTICS Another record breaking result, XPO Logistics posted its highest ever quarterly revenue in Q4 2020, up 12.8% yoy to $4.67bn.

However, the performance could not offset earlier losses, and full-year revenue fell 2.4%

 CAR MANUFACTURERS Global auto behemoths including Nissan, Honda and Volkswagen have been forced to halt production over a shortage of semiconductors. The chips are vital to safety and entertainment systems in modern cars.  WAYFAIR The homewares retailer is just the latest business to suffer stock shortages due to ocean freight disruption, even as it posted 55% yoy revenue growth for full year 2020. Chairman Steve Conine expects it will be summer before inventory levels are restored to normal.

U P S MAR21

D O W N S

GLOBAL NEWS 2

UNITED STATES

Walmart invests $14bn in supply chain Walmart is investing $14bn in automation technologies to modernise and increase the capacity of its supply chain. In an earnings call, CFO Brett Briggs said: “Over the next few years, we're going to step up capital investment, primarily in the US, to improve the customer experience, support growth and drive efficiencies.”

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UNITED STATES

Biden backs supply chain An executive order by new US President Joe Biden has been welcomed by the nation’s supply chain managers. “Resilient American supply chains will revitalise and rebuild domestic manufacturing capacity, maintain America’s competitive edge in research and development, and create well-paying jobs,” the order reads. “They will also support small businesses, promote prosperity, advance the fight against climate change, and encourage economic growth in communities of colour and economically distressed areas.”

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March 2021

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IRELAND

BT establishes new procurement division BT has established a new procurement division, BT Sourced, with headquarters in Dublin. Slated to open in April, BT Sourced will act as a standalone procurement company within the BT Group and is expected to play a major role in BT’s transformation.

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SWITZERLAND

Kuehne+Nagel confirms biggest ever acquisition Kuehne+Nagel has agreed to acquire Apex International for an undisclosed sum, expanding air freight capabilities and strengthening its growing presence in the APAC territory.

The Swiss logistics giant will buy a majority share in the Asian freight forwarder from private equity firm MBK. It will be Kuehne+Nagel’s biggest acquisition to date.

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6

JAPAN

DHL wins Japan COVID-19 contract DHL wins the contract to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to Japan, expanding its role in the global inoculation effort. The first batch was delivered in February

by DHL Global Forwarding, with further shipments to be delivered by air from the company’s global forwarding hub in Belgium in coming months.

AUSTRALIA

Woolworths begins major DC build Primary Connect, the supply chain arm of Woolworth Group, has begun building works on its new AUD$184mn Heathwood Distribution Centre (DC) in Southeast Queensland.

supplychaindigital.com

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PEOPLE MOVES JEFF BEZOS FROM: AMAZON TO: AMAZON WAS: CEO & FOUNDER NOW: EXECUTIVE CHAIR

Jeff Bezos, the founder and Chief Executive of Amazon.com, Inc., is to step down and transition to the role of Executive Chair later this year. Amazon announced that its founder would step down from the role in Q3 2021. He will be replaced by Andy Jassy, currently CEO of Amazon’s burgeoning cloud computing business Amazon Web Services (AWS).

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March 2021

ROBERTO CANEVARI FROM: UNILEVER TO: ESTÉE LAUDER WAS: EVP SUPPLY CHAIN EUROPE NOW: EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

Roberto Canevari has been appointed Executive Vice President, Global Supply Chain at Estée Lauder. He will begin his new role beginning 1 May, taking over from Gregory F. Polcer, who is retiring after 13 years with the company. Estée Lauder president and CEO Fabrizio Freda describes Canevari as “a highly respected and talented supply chain expert and global leader”. Canevari joins from Unilever.

DENNIS MULLAHY FROM: MACY'S TO: MACY'S WAS: CHIEF SUPPLY CHAIN OFFICER NOW: NOW: ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES The Chief Supply Chain Officer of iconic retailer Macy’s will take up a new split role alongside Chief Stores Officer Marc Mastronardi. The pair will share the duties of outgoing Chief Operating Officer John Harper, who will not be replaced on his departure this August. “I am confident that these changes in reporting structure will enable us to be nimbler and more efficient as we move forward,” said Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette. supplychaindigital.com

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TIMELINE LAB TO JAB Supply chains are vital to the vaccine effort. Here are the key links along the way, from laboratory to administration

1

2

3

13 Jan

24 Feb-16 Mar

14 Jul

Moderna and National Institutes of Health scientists target genetic sequence for use in vaccine

First small batch of the vaccine shipped to researchers, world’s first Phase I trials begin

Phase I/II clinical trial data published

16

March 2021

4

5

6

18 Dec

20 Dec

6 Jan

US becomes first nation to approve Moderna vaccine with emergency use authorisation

McKesson fulfils first roll out of the vaccine to healthcare centres in the US

European Commission authorises vaccine in Europe

269m Doses given

56m

Fully vaccinated

0.72%

Global population fully vaccinated

VIA:

Our World in Data supplychaindigital.com

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LEGEND

Henry Ford

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it”

M

otor magnate Henry Ford revolutionised the way the world moves in the truest sense. Though he will be remembered for the Model T, an icon of American industrialism and the mass adoption of the motor car in the early 20th century, his real innovation was the assembly line.

Its impact on supply chain - a term which will not come into use for decades after his death in April 1947 - is undeniable, and transformed manufacturing and supply chain forever.

His vision of the assembly line, the first of which began rolling in 1913 at the original Ford plant in Michigan, is the

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March 2021

embodiment of modern supply chain philosophy: that the value chain in its entirety is far more than the sum of its disparate parts. When each segment works in tandem towards a common goal, the result is limited only by the imagination.

Ford’s supply chain, which relied on hard working, but well-paid men, tied from dusk til dawn to the production line, has been supplanted by robots and other automation systems, the digital transformation of which will continue to evolve more rapidly in the coming years.

But the process remains largely the same: raw material input, a chain of processes and systems to refine and shape them, and the finished product ready for the end user. He was a global visionary and one of the first to believe consumerism was the way towards greater equality and access to the latest goods, from the scions to a noble house all the way down to the most unfortunate of the hoi polloi.

His mantra, “Businesses that grow by development and improvement do not die,” is the fundamental driving force behind modern capitalism, and is as true for today’s modern supply chain as it was more than a century ago. If Ford were around today, no doubt he would embrace the advance towards innovation and pioneering supply chain intelligent automation, digital transformation and ESG fundamentals that drive today’s leading organisations. There is much of his DNA in the supply chain leaders of today

FIVE MINS WITH...

DANIEL WEISE MANAGING DIRECTOR AND PARTNER, BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP (BCG) & AUTHOR

Q. WHO ARE YOU?

» Hi! My name is Daniel Weise, a BCG Managing Director and Partner based out of Düsseldorf, Germany. Within BCG I focus on procurement and supply chain work, leading our global procurement practice and being part of BCGs global Operation Practice area leadership team.

Q. IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT IS THE BIGGEST TREND DRIVING CHANGE IN SUPPLY CHAIN CURRENTLY?

» Looking back to our client work

in the recent months and next to the ongoing drive to reduce cost I see three key topics. The first is concerned with building resilient supply chains and managing risks proactively. Secondly, sustainability is climbing ever higher up the agenda, especially for procurement and supply chain teams now focusing heavily on scope 3 upstream emissions - starting from baselining emissions, to target setting, to making it happen and organisationally anchor those activities.

Lastly, the trend towards digitisation is unbroken. In our recent book Jumpstart to Digital Procurement, Wolfgang Schnellbächer and I describe, based on our recent case work, how digital transformation has the power to revolutionise the way procurement and supply chains operate, and how automation and artificial intelligence empowers teams. Jumpstart to Digital Procurement is a hands-on guide to how companies can grasp the opportunities offered by digital transformation.

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March 2021

Q. WHAT’S THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE FACING SUPPLY CHAIN IN 2021?

» Transparency. Let’s take two

examples to illustrate this. One: the current shortage of ICs causes standstills for many production lines across industries. An end-to-end view is the pre-requisite to manage the current situation successfully and take the right actions across the entire value chain. Two: managing supply chains for low emissions requires a look across tiered supply chains.

Partnering with the right suppliers across the tiers will be key to unleash the full decarbonisation potential and embark on the best abatement curves.

Q. WHAT’S YOUR

PERSONAL MANTRA?

» “Life offers chances, it’s up to

you to take them.” This line really speaks to what I aim to do in my professional life. It is now the time act on sustainability and take the right decisions.

Q. WHAT ARE THREE THINGS YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT?

» Hiking boots, my mountain bike

and, finally, the COVID-19 vaccine available for everyone so that we can start to live more freely once again.

DW

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NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

NTT Global Sourcing: The Power of One Arvind Kumar, Global VP of Indirects at NTT Global Sourcing, on partner ecosystems and how a novel approach to indirect sourcing delivers true value WRITTEN BY: RHYS THOMAS PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE & CAITLYN COLE

Arvind Kumar

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March 2021

It is 4 am in Houston, Texas, when Arvind Kumar checks his emails and preps for the day ahead. The Global Vice President of Indirects at NTT Global Sourcing has an important call with a team in India, 11 hours ahead, and will be working right through to the early evening. It is a demanding role, but one that Kumar relishes. He is an executive energised by the prospect of big picture programmes and an emphatic champion of bringing businesses together to achieve through collaboration that which would be impossible alone.

Kumar’s values very much align with the shared philosophy of the NTT Global Sourcing team, a 60-strong global outfit that was assembled two and a half years ago

by CEO Mark LeNeve to advance the role of sourcing within NTT and centralise the group’s buying power. Commanding upwards of $30bn in annual spend, it is a powerhouse of procurement.

From the outset, the startup identified three core areas that would need to be modernised and reformed to excel in the modern landscape, and to realise the vision of the group’s top executives. NTT GS’s primary directive is to leverage the group’s combined influence and unify the hundreds of companies and entities that operate under its banner. “Our whole focus has been to

NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

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accurate, risk-free, reliable, repeatable and costoptimised operation by providing predictive and collaborative analytics.

Arul C.T, founder and CEO of HelixSense, holds more than 25 years of global experience in automation and venture exits calls HelixSense a “disruptive digital transformation company”. HelixSense aims to leverage technology and literally disrupt and reimagine how companies manage their assets.

Integrated Facility Management HelixSense provides stakeholders with real-time insights on assets, allowing one to take a proactive stance and mitigate risks with data-driven decision making that extends the life cycle of assets and improves returns.

Helixsense’s very own platform “Hsense” integrates people, processes and technologies. Arul describes the entire digital asset management process using four simple words -Connect, Compute, Monitor, Control and a four-step process to bring digital transformation.

Using unique edge analysers, the HSense platform collects data from assets and makes them self-reporting.”

Using the cloud only for secondary analytics, “HSense” orchestrates digital asset management, while following maintenance standards and allowing for highly reliable risk mitigation.

The process consists of IT-OT integration where “big data” is collected by connecting IT databases and building management systems to “HSense,” integration of people with process standards such as ISO55K and SMRP practices, analytics and AI with structured, relevant and auditable data. AI-powered reports alert on trends and predictions providing actionable insights.

Another game-changer is Helix’s R-FIT IOT ready to fit technology which accelerates transformation, creating Return on Investment (ROI) from the start.

Combining the Internet of Things (IoT) and operation technology, HelixSense’s Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) replaces traditionally siloed functions with a fully integrated digital ecosystem that leverages data for the betterment of all stakeholders, resulting in

Digital Twins “A digital twin is a digital representation of a physical object. In the case of building construction, a digital twin can tell you how to build, help you collaborate between stakeholders and assist you in maintaining and managing with optimum eff iciency. We are currently building a number of digital twins (cobots) to assist managers and technicians in using virtual reality. Our digital twins can also provide reports and prescribe risk mitigation actions.

“HelixSense partners with NTT Global Sourcing on their transformation road map. NTT supports us with an extensive global customer base. We collaborate to create new joint revenue models for our customers,” says Arul.

NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

“NTT has created a meeting platform which allows everybody to work together seamlessly.”

Arvind Kumar

Global VP of Indirects, NTT Global Sourcing

bring the strength of NTT as a group into one programme. Our job is to make sure we bring projects into a central focus area that can help us drive the big picture value and give back to the various operating companies across the group.”

First, NTT GS established a common platform through which these decentralized

entities could bring their initiatives together.

Better planning and strategic sourcing allows for the consolidation of spend across the business and its categories. The team also identified roughly 200 best-in-class vendors with which to build long-term partnerships.

Kumar’s role with this newly minted procurement division is indirects, a broad remit that encompasses payment solutions, everything to do with real estate – from land acquisition and construction through to lease back and infrastructure built for data centres – and managing all the facility workplace services around the globe. It is also involved in the digital transformation programmes within the group, though “there's a slight difference in our approach,” Kumar explains.

The implementation of new digital platforms such as SAP Ariba are group-level decisions that roll down to the company level.

In this regard – in the traditional definition of digital transformation – Kumar’s division has little involvement. “But what we do in

Arvind Kumar; An insight into NTT Global Sourcing

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March 2021

NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

2018

NTT Global Sourcing Inc. founded

60

Number of Employees for NTT Global Sourcing Inc.

80+ Projects

$100m Estimated Savings

contributing to the digitalisation efforts is to look at the pre-existing programmes and processes across the group and within the categories that we manage. We also ensure there is automation, enforce digitalisation, and transform the category and processes from legacy to next-generation.”

Ecosystem of value This process of upscaling and reshaping legacy systems is also evident in Kumar’s approach to indirect sourcing. Traditionally, procurement is a one-way process of assessing and negotiating terms with a vendor to supply a product or service. Kumar’s model has upended this linear structure, instead creating an ecosystem of partners with an economy of shared capabilities, ideas and revenue generation opportunities.

“I’m very passionate about this,” Kumar says.

“I truly believe there's a larger picture that a lot of procurement organisations don't realise. The supplier partner ecosystem we are building on a strategic level provides vast opportunity to create and add incentives to businesses within

Executive Profile:

Arvind Kumar Title: Global VP of Indirects Industry: Strategic Sourcing Arvind Kumar joined NTT Global Sourcing when it was established in 2018, and oversees the group’s indirect sourcing as Global Vice President Indirects. His remit covers payment solutions, real estate construction, land acquisition, and managing all the facility and workplace services for NTT Group globally.

An experienced executive, Kumar’s 20-plus year career has seen him work with market-leading organisations in banking, real estate, sourcing, and telecommunications, among others. Prior to joining NTT, he held several senior roles at French multinational Capgemini, including Global Head Workplace Transformation / Furniture & Fixture Standardisation, and Regional Chief Procurement Officer for India, UAE and APAC.

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March 2021

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our group, and for partners to work together to generate new income and business. I am a big proponent of building a supplier ecosystem, depending on certain projects, initiatives or categories, and promote collaboration with NTT in the middle of it as an incubation hub.”

Kumar envisions NTT Global Sourcing as the “choirmaster” of this global network,

standing with an overview of the entire ecosystem, driving strategy and aligning these partners to work together – the upshots of which are beneficial to the entire value chain. “Not only does it help us generate better value with the partners, but also for our partners to work together in collaborative programmes,” Kumar says. “As a result, NTT supplychaindigital.com

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NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

has created a meeting platform, which allows everybody to work together seamlessly.”

He explains that today, partners that never knew each other before aligning with NTT are now working closely in conjunction to create new business and revenue opportunities.

At the same time, these collaborative projects strengthen NTT’s supply chain and develop go-to-market solutions that benefit the group’s existing and new clients.

Building the future This complex network of partners will soon be enshrined in a major capital project that has been in the works for some years and, in many ways, sits at the heart of NTT’s future. In Sunnyvale, California, the group is readying the unveiling of One NTT Vision Campus, a smart, sustainable building that is a physical manifestation of its capabilities

“ [One NTT Vision Campus] is a living, breathing showcase of our ecosystem partners and what they deliver together with us.”

Arvind Kumar

Global VP of Indirects, NTT Global Sourcing

NTT Global Sourcing

supplychaindigital.com

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NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

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Partnering to create flooring solutions that support consistently branded, predictably budgeted and flawlessly executed, user workplace experiences.

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March 2021

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NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

Community impact

Supporting local partners is central to the One NTT Vision NTT is a global conglomerate, but remaining local and supporting the communities it works in is central to the One NTT Vision. Arvind Kumar, Global VP of Indirects at NTT Global Sourcing shares more: “I think it's our responsibility as a strategic sourcing arm of a company to maximize the benefit for everybody in the supply chain,” says Kumar. "We do that by making sure the vision and mission for a company gets translated to everybody that's in that combined team, whether internally or externally, because in many cases these are an extension of NTT.

At the same time, we must keep a focus on impacting the community.

“I strongly believe when you do projects in my space, in real estate, we should always look to local partners, local players who are in the community, because they need a lot of help through COVID. It’s a combination of taking the big boys that we work with and integrating it with the smaller partners in the community that are in a five, 10, 20-mile radius of our office. We want to bring value to them and make sure that they're sustainable, make sure they get through this hurdle, and give them an opportunity to truly live and breathe. At NTT these are the missions and values we stand by, the One NTT Vision, and that touches all these elements as a company.”

supplychaindigital.com

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NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

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March 2021

NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

Arvind Kumar: Sunnyvale, the one NTT vision substainable campus

and future goals. Upon its mention, Kumar is instantly energised.

“That is a very special project, very dear to my heart and the work I do every day because I've always wanted to be part of a sustainable, smart building programme.

This is the vision of our CEO, bringing NTT companies together in one common real estate platform, one common office, but also make it a smart and intelligent workplace which focuses on employee experience, sustainability, wellness – all the key measures that today are important. At the same time, it has state of the art technology in terms of sensors, automation, IoT, and so on. And on top of that, it is a sustainable building, which means we have a solar captive fuel cell hybrid system with backup power being managed to back up the building and save utility energy costs.

“This is a living, breathing showcase of our ecosystem partners and what they deliver together with us, how we use it

internally, and how we give back to employees.

And also it becomes a showcase to show clients what we can do for them with these kinds of platforms and technologies as a solution provider.”

For Kumar, the central role NTT Global

“The key for sourcing organisations in the future must be a solutions-driven approach.”

Arvind Kumar

Global VP of Indirects, NTT Global Sourcing

supplychaindigital.com

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NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

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March 2021

NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

Sourcing played in the Sunnyvale project illustrates how his division deviates from the traditional procurement function.

“Sunnyvale is a classic example of how we brought that spirit to life and really demonstrated that we go above and beyond standard procurement negotiation and other sourcing activities. We were also there

advising, guiding, developing the strategy, supporting the business, integrating the partners, bringing the ecosystem, creating this whole smart building concept of the One NTT Vision.”

The outbreak of COVID-19 threatened to derail this construction project, and Kumar vividly recalls the onset of the virus.

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NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

“ I truly believe there's a larger picture that a lot of procurement organisations don't realise.”

Arvind Kumar

Global VP of Indirects, NTT Global Sourcing

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Returning from Sunnyvale to Texas on a flight last February, he awoke the next day to find companies shutting down, airports beginning to empty out, and individuals and businesses standing still, not quite sure how to react.

“Now imagine, I'm running a construction project in Sunnyvale, I'm sitting in Texas, and we are in the heart of COVID. But we still have a timeline to meet, and we are pressured, and there's a cost impact associated with shutting down, then reopening, and other delays.”

Here, indirect sourcing came into its own.

“We played a big role, as you can imagine.

In terms of procurement, we needed safety gear, PPE, masks, hand sanitiser – all of these things that were in short supply. On the other hand, we also had to help our clients

NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

procure these things, so we used our supply chain to support them through that process.”

In the end, construction never stopped on the One NTT Vision campus. “We are close to completing the building and looking ahead to the big launch,” Kumar says. “We never stopped. We actually pulled through the supplychaindigital.com

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NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

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March 2021

NTT GLOBAL SOURCING INC.

Arvind Kumar: Expresses his opinion on small businesses during these difficult times

times and really made it happen against all odds. We kept people-focused, kept people safe and positive, and ensured that the business could continue.”

With the global vaccine effort now well underway, Kumar believes we should remember the lessons learned during this turbulent period. “The key for sourcing organisations in the future must be a solutiondriven approach, focused on the value the supply ecosystem brings to the company when you build strategic partnerships. I think we need to look at a larger focus on that because in the next world that we're living in post-COVID, the supply chain partners and suppliers can add a lot of value in terms of not only managing the cost structure but being resilient to these activities.”

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UPS INTERVIEW

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March 2021

UPS INTERVIEW

UPS

Supply Chain Solutions:

Delivering

What Matters Philippe Gilbert, President at UPS Supply Chain Solutions, on delivering what matters most in the pandemic and beyond WRITTEN BY: SCOTT BIRCH

P

hilippe Gilbert is in a sunny mood. We chat freely about looking forward to the time when we can once again sit outside a café in Paris in his beloved France. For now, those plans are on hold as the world copes with the COVID-19 crisis, and UPS is doing its part in delivering precious vaccines and saving lives and livelihoods.

Gilbert openly discusses the trials and tribulations of the last year, and how UPSers (as the company likes to call its 540,000 employees) have gone above and beyond to deliver what matters most against the backdrop of the pandemic.

UPS is one of the world’s largest package delivery companies with 2020 revenue of $84.6 billion, providing integrated logistics solutions for customers in more than 220 countries and territories. It delivers 24.7 million packages every day.

The company is flourishing in challenging times – buoyed by its best ever quarterly results, fuelled by increased business with Amazon, small and medium sized businesses, and the busy holiday season. But there is much more to UPS’s success than simply increased demand for its services – UPS has embraced the digital opportunity and tailored its solutions to deliver for its customers.

“Visibility in the supply chain is an element where technology has a key role to play,” says Gilbert.

“When you are a customer, you are dealing with primary suppliers. But it's also interesting to understand how they source from their vendors and the supply chain risks associated with their secondary, and tertiary vendors.

“We can strategically incorporate predictive modelling, which enables us to leverage artificial intelligence machine learning to shorten delivery time and increase resiliency.”

When the pandemic really forced the entire world into lockdown in March 2020, this impacted UPS’s capacity to use passenger flights for package deliveries. Add to that the essential movement of personal protective equipment (PPE) and prices for shipping soared. supplychaindigital.com

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Listen Now

UPS INTERVIEW

“The digital revolution is underway and supply chain is no exception” The reduced air freight capacity saw UPS advise customers to look to alternatives – diversifying transportation modes on the cross-border side – such as sea/air, less than container load (LCL), and rail.

“Those products existed in the UPS Supply Chain Solutions business unit,” he says. “A lot of customers wanted to make sure that their freight coming from Asia was able to reach either the Americas or Europe. Utilising various transportation modes is part of the supply chain reconfiguration. It was set before the pandemic, but accelerated by COVID-19.”

The trade dispute between the US and China caused many customers to look at shifting their production, or at least reviewing their production, from China to Southeast Asia – countries like Vietnam and Indonesia.

“We also saw a desire from customers to shorten the supply chain by near-shoring.

I think it's going to prompt more and more

PHILIPPE GILBERT

PRESIDENT UPS SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS,

interest in shorter supply chains in the Americas and in Europe. It's something we are following closely, and also talking about with our customers. We can help them solve those complex supply chain problems.”

One key aspect of ‘new normal’ business that we keep hearing about from senior executives is the increasing need for collaboration. Rather than losing ‘control’ of processes, collaboration with trusted service providers can support economies of scale, greater flexibility, reduced risk and more expertise.

“We are talking with a number of service providers to see how we can together support our customers,” says Gilbert. “Innovation is a key element of success and we are focusing supplychaindigital.com

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UPS INTERVIEW

The UPS Movement

on more competitive and more profitable areas. So for us it's improving the supply chain resilience, by driving innovation, to get better market price and provide better service.”

Many businesses have had to adapt and pivot to survive, and many of those are going on to thrive. UPS is no exception. Gilbert identities innovation as essential to any business that wants to emerge from this latest global crisis, and cites the financial crash of 2008 as a reference point. He says that a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report showed that the most innovative companies entering the 2008 crisis outperformed the rest of the pack.

“We are always pushing for innovation,” says Gilbert. “We are putting in place advanced automation, technology, and digitisation.

We are developing ways to further optimise our facilities and back office, enhancing our productivity and return on invested capital.

“This is the digital revolution that is underway 48

March 2021

and supply chain is no exception. I think that COVID-19 has sped up what we wanted to do and what a lot of people wanted to do in this arena.”

COPING WITH CRISIS With the sourcing and delivery of PPE, UPS has been involved from the get-go. It supported efforts in the US, Europe and Asia.

Gilbert says that saving lives has been their focus and priority. When we spoke in January, that focus was shifting to also include the vital delivery of vaccines. The company’s experiences between March and September 2020 made the leadership realise their new purpose statement.

“At UPS, our purpose is very simply stated.

It is: ‘moving our world forward by delivering what matters.’ So we can unpack it in many, many ways, but moving our world is what we do every day,” says Gilbert.

UPS INTERVIEW

“Delivering what matters is the purpose.

That's what we do and who we are – why we exist. It's why people are coming to work every day and why our customers value us. Delivering what matters does not describe what we do, but why we do it.”

Delivering the vaccines has been a major challenge, especially the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine which needs to be transported at -70 degrees Celsius.

Gilbert says being able to handle the logistics of the vaccine rollout at such scale is something that UPS is rightly proud of. It used UPS Premier tracking technology, which utilises GPS and RFID tracking technologies to monitor both location and temperature throughout each package’s journey, to help make sure not a single vaccine shipment goes to waste. UPS also invested in dedicated freezer farms and adapted services and tools to be able to control the temperatures.

“ We are going to be local when we need to be local. So we are Chinese in China. We are French in France.

Therefore, we need to be recognised as a global player, but with local knowledge and expertise” PHILIPPE GILBERT

PRESIDENT UPS SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS,

RECORD RESULT United Parcel Service Inc, better known as UPS, posted a 21% hike in revenue in Q4 2020, boosted in no small part by a growing relationship with Amazon. In 2020, Amazon paid UPS $11.3 billion, accounting for 13.3% of all revenue. In 2019, that figure was 11.6%.

“Our financial performance in the fourth quarter exceeded our expectations, and I thank all UPSers for their extraordinary efforts to deliver industry-leading service through the holidays,” said CEO Carol Tomé. “I’d also like to thank our customers who worked with us during this challenging year. As we look past 2020 into the new year, we are optimistic. During the fourth quarter, we began transporting COVID-19 vaccines and we stand ready to deliver hope and health to people around the world.”

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UPS INTERVIEW

Philippe Gilbert CV Philippe Gilbert is UPS’s President, Supply Chain Solutions, responsible for Global Logistics and Distribution, Global Freight Forwarding, and Coyote Logistics (a UPS Company).

Most recently, Gilbert served as Regional CEO of the Americas for DB Schenker Logistics, based in Miami, Florida. In this role he led air, ocean, CHB, land and logistics in the United States, Canada, and eight countries in Latin America. He was previously Regional CEO for West Europe from 2013 to 2015, based in Paris, France.

From 2005 to 2013, Gilbert served as Executive Vice President for GEODIS Wilson, the freight management division of international logistics provider, the GEODIS Group. There, he managed an integrated network of 57 countries around the world and more than 80 agents.

Gilbert also held leadership roles in the logistics space with Circle International / Eagle Global Logistics (EGL) and Saga S.A. He is a member of the Board of Directors of UNICEF USA. Gilbert earned a Finance degree from Institut Superieur de Gestion (I.S.G.) in Paris, France, and is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

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“The supply chain needed to make sure that the cold chain was preserved,” he says. “And then, of course, the deployment and distribution of the vaccine with great precision. I would say that the pride and excitement that UPSers have for being a part of getting vaccines delivered around the world has been quite amazing – and not just for the management, but for all the UPS employees around the planet.

“And that goes back to our purpose – everybody feels very, very proud helping to save lives.”

UPS INTERVIEW

DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN Businesses are looking at easier, more efficient, ways of doing business – less time performing manual processes, less time analysing documents. They want their supply chains to be seamless, and that means digital, and agile.

UPS has invested a lot in its technology to deliver a next-generation digital supply chain. In 2020, the company rolled out a new suite of digital engagement tools to enable customers to harmonise their supply chain with forwarding, brokerage and supply chain visibility.

“Businesses want an experience that is faster than picking up the phone to call us with questions. So in October, we launched the UPS Forwarding Hub which allows customers to manage their air freight, ocean freight, and customs brokerage in a single interface with an interactive dashboard – from quote to book to pay to track,” says Gilbert.

“You cannot manage what you cannot see, so in 2021 we are going to really roll out our suite of digital tools, including UPS Supply Chain Symphony – a customer-facing visibility and business intelligence portal that supplychaindigital.com

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UPS INTERVIEW

“ Delivering what matters is the purpose. That's what we do and who we are – why we exist. It's why people are coming to work every day and why our customers value us. Delivering what matters does not describe what we do, but why we do it” PHILIPPE GILBERT

PRESIDENT UPS SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS,

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UPS INTERVIEW

integrates customer supply chain data from various GPS systems or partners, giving our customers enhanced control on their data and real-time visibility.

“This technology is very much the eyes and ears of our customers’ supply chains, enabling them to monitor their entire supply chain with one sign-on. We can make sure that our customers have better information, and better decision-making processes, within the supply chain. We will continue to incorporate new technologies and further enhance this experience for our customers.”

As for the future, Gilbert is candid about where he sees both the impact of COVID19 and the opportunities for UPS and its customers. He cites B2B customers who have pivoted to B2C, for example, in specific vertical markets. He also sees a reduction in CapEx, with companies prioritising where they are going to spend their hard-earned money.

He also says sustainability and diversity, inclusion and equity are crucial.

Gilbert says he thinks some challenges are here to stay, and that the global supply chain could be permanently affected.

“We have to be able to establish footprints for the long term,” says Gilbert. “We are going to be local when we need to be local. So we are Chinese in China. We are French in France.

Therefore, we need to be recognised as a global player, but with local knowledge and expertise.

“I think we need to have in mind the commoditisation created by digitalisation, by newcomers into the field. Traditional logistics players need to demonstrate value. For us, the differentiation is technology enabled, end-to-end products that are sensitive to our customers’ needs.

Digital transformation is definitely going to be the future. COVID has just accelerated its adoption.” supplychaindigital.com

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APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

HELPING CUSTOMERS THRIVE THROUGH DISRUPTION Fueled by passion, enriched by experience and empowered by technology, Apex Logistics is helping customers thrive through disruption WRITTEN BY: LAURA V. GARCIA PRODUCED BY: JAMES WHITE

A

pex says they deliver passion, they mean it. Apex Logistics’ rich corporate culture takes a forwardthinking mindset that launches customer commitment to a whole new level where supply chain resilience and risk management aren’t just buzzwords but are ingrained in everything they do, from the ground to the cloud.

At its core, Apex is rooted in laserfocused risk management, an unrelenting commitment to quality, and an aggressively proactive customer-first approach. Providing an unmatched customer experience, they find themselves strategically placed to help customers through the repercussions of the global pandemic so they can not just survive, but thrive, because managing disruption is what Apex does best.

What’s unique about Apex is the thoroughness in which they approach every task. From the designing of their incredibly powerful platform that lends insightful supply chain visibility with actionable data, down to their extensible knowledge on the safe loading practices that safeguard client supplychaindigital.com

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APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

Sean M. Francisco APEX talks about technology in International Logistics

shipments, no stone is left unturned in their efforts to keep their clients ahead of the curve so they can thrive even through disruption.

Sean M. Francisco, Chief Operating Officer for the Americas at Apex, speaks to their unique stance in the market, “Most industry players are generally categorised to be either a traditional organisation, a startup or a technology-based company. What I love

“ WHERE APEX IS UNIQUE IS IT HAS THE SIZE, THE INFRASTRUCTURE, AND THE BUYING POWER TO BE ABLE TO REALLY DELIVER VALUE FROM A MARKET COMPETITIVE POSITION” SEAN M. FRANCISCO COO, APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

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about Apex is that we’re all three. It started off as a traditional organisation delivering critical marketplace services. But we're still a fairly young company, so that allows us to pivot and adopt newer technology to advance the internal and external supply chain experience. The ability to have nimble and interconnected networks of data, people, and processes has accelerated our growth.”

“Where Apex is unique is it has the size, the infrastructure, and the buying power to be able to really deliver value from a market competitive position. And it has the technology to help customers push and pull inventory in response to real-time supply chain needs.”

Fueled by passion “More than a company culture, a global movement.”

It’s often said but rarely lived up to. At Apex, however, passion really is more than

APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

SEAN M. FRANCISCO TITLE: COO INDUSTRY: LOGISTICS LOCATION: UNITED STATES

Enriched by experience Decades of industry experience have afforded Apex intricate knowledge of the risks that lay within supply chain logistics and the mitigation tactics and business model strategies that may be used to ward against them.

Leveraging these tactics and fueled by their company culture of always looking for

EXECUTIVE BIO

a motto; it’s in everything they do. It’s reflected in their attention to details, their “out-of-the-box” thinking, and their customer-first approach. Apex’s value-led decision making takes their employees wellbeing to heart and creates a culture that breeds passion and nurtures employees, so they remain driven and committed to delivering unparalleled quality, exceptional customer service, and growth.

Every client has unique needs and challenges, and Apex stands at the ready with a global community of experts who are always looking for better ways to do things.

Sean M. Francisco is a 30+ year veteran in international supply chain, commencing his career immediately out of college at one of the world’s current top freight forwarders.

Throughout his career, Sean worked his way up through several positions ranging from operations to branch management to corporate product leadership, providing a wide scope of supply chain and logistics knowledge-base, which have proven to be invaluable assets in his current role as Chief Operations Officer at Apex Logistics International Inc, Americas.

APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

better ways to do things, Apex values every experience as a learning experience that better informs their tomorrows.

Empowered by technology Francisco explains, “We have a mindset that we will use technology to enable customer resiliency and flexibility in the face of constant market risk and change. The solutions born out of that mindset, such as being able to 58

March 2021

easily divert orders in process, enable decision making throughout the order lifecycle.”

This focus on leveraging technology to give customers a vantage point over their end-to-end supply chain led to the creation of a game-changing order management system. Apex’s unrelenting attention to detail is reflected in their platform’s capabilities, providing their customers with true endto-end real-time visibility, exception alerts,

APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

“ MORE THAN A COMPANY CULTURE, A GLOBAL MOVEMENT” SEAN M. FRANCISCO COO, APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

revised eta’s and tracking right down to item level detail. It’s risk mitigation at its best.

Apex’s holistic view over the entirety of their supply chain allows customers to save time while shifting from reactive to proactive actions that lessen the impacts of disruptions on their organisation.

“So we're really excited about it, and we've had great collaboration with the world’s largest and most influential Fortune 500 companies to help us on this journey. I don't see a limit right now. We will continue to grow with individual, small, medium and large size customers and the industry.”

partners, we worked closely with clients every step of the way to help determine the best steps forward.”

“What the Coronavirus has done is really elevate our industry, bringing to light that we don’t just move goods and materials through commerce. We are a vital part of the world’s lifeline.”

“People started paying attention to sectors that historically have been paid little mind. All of a sudden, the impacts of supply chain are more visible. People want to gain an understanding of the supply chains of perishable food, toilet paper, PPE and of course, the vaccine.”

Stepping up to the COVID challenge “The pandemic has impacted every aspect of our lives, and the fight against the Coronavirus continues. At Apex, we started by creating six working guidelines to help minimise the spread and help ensure a healthy and safe working environment for our employees, telecommuting, office distancing, PPE supplies for employees, travel suspension and transportation options for employees that depended on public transportation. We then looked to experts for guidance in each of those areas.

“Covid was unlike any disruptions we had faced before, unlike a labour disruption at one particular port or a volcanic eruption in a particular region. This impact was global. As businesses had to pause and determine how to best move forward, we felt that we played a vital role in the supply chain. So, as trusted supplychaindigital.com

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APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

2001

Year Founded

425

Number of Employees

60

March 2021

APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

“People are no longer just focused on airlines and the ocean liners, which have done a tremendous job under these conditions, but the entire chain. This includes infrastructure and ground handling, trucking companies and delivery agents.

Companies are now working in a much more collaborative manner because, at the end of the day, everyone is fighting the same thing.”

“WHAT THE CORONAVIRUS HAS DONE IS REALLY ELEVATE OUR INDUSTRY, BRINGING TO LIGHT THAT WE DON’T JUST MOVE GOODS AND MATERIALS THROUGH COMMERCE. WE ARE A VITAL PART OF THE WORLD’S LIFELINE” SEAN M. FRANCISCO

COO, APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

Tactical risk management Apex has built risk management into their business model, acquiring the assets that allow them to take control and mitigate the risks that most threaten the safe movement of their customer’s goods.

Francisco on Apex’s risk management efforts, “When you look at the entire logistics chain from a risk management viewpoint, you must look for potential threats such as loss, damage, or theft, and even weather patterns using statistics to identify higher probability locations. You must ensure you have suitable security processes in place at every location. A robust vetting process for service providers further ensures that you limit opportunities and keep shipments safe.

“In many of the larger airports, where you not only have higher activity of cargo, but supplychaindigital.com

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APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

you also have a higher probability of theft, we've taken control over two key elements.

One is ground handling work. With this, we build up and then break down the airline's unit load devices. We prefer to operate our own ground handling services or container freight station services. Then we transport those unit load devices from the airport to our facility. So we remain in control from one secured area to the other.

“Wherever feasible, we operate our own trucks, as to not contract out a critical step.

Again, we want to control the environment that a package is moving in. It's these types of tactical movements that allow us to minimise risk within the logistics chain.

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“ MOST INDUSTRY PLAYERS ARE GENERALLY CATEGORISED TO BE EITHER A TRADITIONAL ORGANISATION, A STARTUP OR A TECHNOLOGY-BASED COMPANY. WHAT I LOVE ABOUT APEX IS THAT WE’RE ALL THREE” SEAN M. FRANCISCO COO, APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

APEX LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL INC.

“We also directly engage with our clients to ensure a full understanding of how they are moving their goods or materials throughout the supply chain. We want to know how we can partner to ensure that we eliminate any grey steps within the process and ensure that we always have visibility and control over documentation and the physical movement of the goods.”

Apex takes a dynamic approach to all that they do, evolving with technology and quickly adapting to the everchanging landscape of today’s highly interconnected global supply chains.

Their expansive global presence and deep industry involvement as a member

of the World Cargo Alliance allows them to provide valuable insights and thought leadership, helping to keep their customers ahead of the curve. Offering an uncompromising customer experience, relentless precision and attention to detail, Apex focuses on quality control so they can deliver on-time, safely and securely.

A word of appreciation goes out to all staff, clients and business partners who have done a tremendous job of assisting Apex and it’s customers to not only survive but to thrive through all that has come their way.

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INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

INTELLIGENT

AUTOMATION:

TECH TO BOOST TALENT Intelligent automation technology must be a tool, not a replacement for people in the modern, agile, resilient supply chain WRITTEN BY: RHYS THOMAS

D

ynamic, responsive, resilient. These are the three pillars upon which the supply chain of 2021 must be built. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses and exacerbated the need for digital transformation and technological overhaul. But putting aside for one moment the compounding issues the virus placed upon supply chains in the past 12 months, organisations were already under mounting pressure to respond to a raft of new challenges. Rapid globalisation continues to test even the most experienced supply chain managers and procurement executives, tasked with seamlessly blending the global and hyper-local. Geopolitical shifts have also thrown up new hurdles.

Brexit remains for many a murky and largely uncharted strait, while new US President Joe Biden’s domestic supply chain reform has thrown a welcome spotlight on the sector, promising a change of pace and prominence from the previous administration.

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INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

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INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

“ Here the IA journey can help level out the balancing act of moving beyond largescale automation” DWIGHT KLAPPIC RESEARCH VICE PRESIDENT AND GARTNER FELLOW, GARTNER

In short, the past 12 months have changed the game. Where once intelligent automation (IA) was a nice-to-have technology, a background project that organisations could come to terms with, in their own time, now IA is a must-have, says Jonathan Wright, IBM’s Global Head, Supply Chain for Business Transformation Services.

“Businesses that leverage intelligent automation are poised to address today’s workforce dislocation, supply chain challenges, and customer service

disruptions—and to thrive in tomorrow’s recovering market,” he says. “IA uses automation to optimise repeatable tasks and enhance ‘higher order’ tasks within a company, completely transforming supply chains. Whether it is leveraging IA to enable supply chain professionals to make more informed decisions or implementing IoT sensors on shipments for better visibility and tracking, every step of the supply chain has an opportunity to be transformed.”

Short term benefits of IA include improving singular processes, such as demand planning, by leveraging data science and machine learning (ML) to improve forecasts and reduce bottlenecks,” Wright says. Over time, IA has the capability to refocus a company entirely and refine workflows across planning, sourcing and manufacturing to produce better long-term business decisions. supplychaindigital.com

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INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

Aye, robots Intelligent automation can take many forms, and the question of what, exactly, the term entails is a topic Dwight Klappich often encounters. In his role as Research Vice President and Gartner Fellow, Gartner, and an authority on emerging technologies in supply chain management strategy, he defines intelligent automation as “some combination of cyber, physical and digital system”. Here the IA journey can help level out the balancing act of moving beyond large-scale automation. Purpose built infrastructure, bolted to the floor is enormously efficient at its task, but when demands require even small deviations, they are simply too rigid.

“There’s still place for large-scale,” Klappich says. “But now, with the use of mobile robots, we can introduce automation at a much lower cost, and accelerate the time to value - the payoff. A conventional system might eventually bring the variable cost per unit down to zero, but that could take as long as, for instance, seven years to realise.

Robots, on the other hand, can be up and running in months, and the payback might be only a year later. A client I was speaking to recently expects its fleet to grow 4-5x in the next couple of years, and with how easy robots are to scale up or down, you need very little of that traditional large-scale investment to do that.”

But it’s not just about direct cost comparison; modernised systems almost always squeeze at least a few cents the right way up the balance sheet. Instead, IA “can impact revenue by enabling businesses to meet customer needs seamlessly and consistently, particularly during periods of uncertainty,” says Wright.

This is as much about improving the experience for an organisation’s human 68

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Willing but unready 60+% of companies surveyed have plans to invest in Intelligent Automation However An equal 60+% say they are not organisationally prepared for its adoption Gartner

INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

Dwight Klappic TITLE: RESEARCH VICE PRESIDENT AND GARTNER FELLOW COMPANY: GARTNER INDUSTRY: INFORMATION SERVICES

workforce as it is raw efficiency. “For example, a building that adjusts temperatures or lighting based on conditions can improve occupant experience, operational efficiency, and asset utilisation,” Wright adds. Robots also feed neatly into this largely ‘hidden’ benefit. Klappich recalls a recent client who bought a fleet of robots to move goods from receiving to the warehouse, but they also had an issue of waste removal, such as broken pallets stacked at the end of aisles. “They used to have people on

Dwight Klappich is a recognised authority on supply chain management strategies, business process improvement and applications with an emphasis on supply chain execution business applications. He has 40 years of experience in the practical application of software and emerging technologies that address the needs of the extended supply chain.

For 13 years, he has led an annual primary research study that delves into how supply chain organisation business users view both mature and emerging technologies, exploring how supply chain business users are responding to the dynamics in the market.

Prior to joining Gartner, Klappich was Vice President of Research with Meta Group and before that, Vice President Manufacturing Marketing for Ross Systems. Previously, he held positions with supply chain management vendors Xelus, Manugistics and Distribution Management Systems. Klappich received a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Massachusetts.

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INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

Jonathan Wright TITLE: GLOBAL HEAD, SUPPLY CHAIN FOR BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION SERVICES COMPANY: IBM INDUSTRY: INFORMATION SERVICES Recognised for his thought leadership and work in supply chain and operations, Jonathan Wright has spent his consulting career transforming global operations for large multinational corporations. His experience in digital strategies, analytics, customer service, supply chain and operations, procurement/ cost reduction programmes, and order to cash spans numerous industry sectors, including retail, consumer products, telecommunications, travel, and healthcare.

Prior to joining IBM, Wright worked for EY, and spent 17 years with Accenture.

He has consulted across many industries including aerospace, telco, hi-tech, healthcare, retail and consumer goods.

Before life in professional services, Jonathan spent five years working for Exxon across multiple divisions. He describes himself as a strong supporter of equality in the workplace and in wider society.

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“ Companies that IBM calls ‘automation achievers’ get much better results by using IA for higher-order or ‘expert’ workflows” JONATHAN WRIGHT

GLOBAL HEAD, SUPPLY CHAIN FOR BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION SERVICES, IBM

forklifts hauling this trash to the compactor, but now these same robots handle it, freeing those people to do something more useful and less arduous. This particular organisation hadn’t considered that originally, but it was a simple case of doing a proof of concept, putting the robots in training mode, and the next thing you know, it’s doing that new task.”

Where does that leave us?

Not all, in fact very little, automation is concerned with a 1:1 replacement of the people in supply chain. “It’s tempting to think that you can just install IA and walk away – but that’s not the case,” says Wright.

They are tools to remove the rote tasks from daily work routines and do the things robots simply do best: increasing accuracy, removing human error from big data crunching, and computational tasks that the human brain, for all its ingenuity and initiative, simply lacks the processing power to perform.

“Companies that IBM calls ‘automation achievers’ get much better results by using IA for higher-order or ‘expert’ workflows – like handling massive numbers of complex customer inquiries simultaneously – rather than merely routine or mundane tasks,” Wright

INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

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“ It’s tempting to think that you can just install IA and walk away – but that’s not the case” JONATHAN WRIGHT

GLOBAL HEAD, SUPPLY CHAIN FOR BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION SERVICES, IBM

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INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

adds. “You need the proper training – either internally or through a third-party provider like IBM – to give employees the agility and flexibility needed to work with automated workflows, skills that will ultimately help them work smarter.”

To this end, as supply chains ‘outsource’ more of their processes to IA technology, organisations will need to reshape themselves to fit the new mould. Klappich draws an analogue to the evolving role of IT over the past three decades.

What we believe will happen over the next few years is a new organisation is going to emerge under the auspices of what we’re referring to as Chief Robotics Officer. The role is going to be much like how IT has evolved over the last 30 years. Inthe 80s90s, IT was bottom-up, but we believe as this proliferates there are going to be more opportunities for a CRO. “Look at it as a three-leg stool: the skill sets this executive will need are IT skills, business skills, and engineering skills - the perfect employee being someone with strengths in all three. That’s probably unrealistic to find that uber-person, so we envision a zig-zag career path where someone might join the company in engineering, but are encouraged to move upwards and sideways through the organisation, honing and picking up new skills in IT and business.

The founder of a robot company I was speaking to recently told me that if a company has a Robot Engineer on staff, that’s not necessarily a great thing. What is really needed is a person who knows how to solve business problems using the robots - those are not synonymous skills. That’s that threelegged stool, getting three systems to talk to one another through automation. Otherwise, being frank, no amount of automation and technology is going to move the needle.” supplychaindigital.com

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GoDaddy: Tuning in to the dynamics of change in procurement Keith Tice, Chief Procurement Officer, walks us through the comprehensive transformation that has radically upgraded GoDaddy’s procurement processes WRITTEN BY: WILL GIRLING

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've been with GoDaddy just shy of eight years: I came in May of 2013, just as GoDaddy was beginning a new transformation,” states Keith Tice, Chief Procurement Officer. “When I joined the company, procurement essentially did not exist here.” It’s a bold conversation opener, and one which perfectly anticipates the details of both Tice’s and GoDaddy’s accomplishment, which saw a function primarily managed by business stakeholders and a legal contracts team become a developed, dynamic, and digital process of its own.

Founded in 1997, GoDaddy’s stature as one of the US’ foremost internet domain registrars and web hosting companies has only grown over the years. Now with over 20 million customers worldwide spread across almost 60 different markets and 9,000 employees in 14 offices speaking roughly 30 languages to 74

March 2021

PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE service them, this Scottsdale, Arizona business is one of the internet age’s most enduring global success stories.

Although Tice arrived with a significant challenge to overcome when he first joined, his expert level of experience gained from over 20 years of work in purchasing gave him the clear vision needed to begin overhauling procurement at GoDaddy. “I brought a mindset that focused on how we structure, separate and categorize the various spend aspects of what we're doing, particularly in terms of understanding suppliers and how they fit in the company,” he explains. Integrating this mindset required good oversight and command of data, something which was made difficult by legacy infrastructure. Tice’s goal was to spearhead a digital transformation that would go above and beyond the solutions he’d worked on previously.

GODADDY

GODADDY

“ When I joined the company, procurement essentially did not exist here” KEITH TICE

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, GODADDY

The first step of Tice’s plan required a broad evaluation of GoDaddy’s supplier network, “prior to my arrival the company had about 10 times the number of suppliers that we have today.” Following a six-month period of rationalizing the available data, he made the decision to shift away from difficult-to-manage Excel spreadsheets to an integrated platform that provided a single pane of glass visibility into the

Keith Tice: Insights to vendors and suppliers @ GoDaddy.com

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GODADDY

KEITH TICE TITLE: CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER LOCATION: ARIZONA, UNITED STATES INDUSTRY: INTERNET SERVICES

• Why are you doing this?

• Why this vendor in particular?

• Why does it cost this much?

• Why are we paying for that?

• Why is it necessary?

Tice’s next move was to transmit the idea that each and every vendor is “expendable”, acting as a challenge for them to proactively justify GoDaddy’s spend through competitive service and delivery. “Step three was then

EXECUTIVE BIO

company’s spend with each supplier. “I needed to figure out what makes sense for GoDaddy, and I did that through a series of interviews with internal stakeholders about why they have certain vendors performing certain tasks for us.” Tice used the ‘five whys’ as his model:

Keith grew up in a very small town in the northern high plains of Texas. After attending college at Tarleton State University, Keith began his career working in the protein industry for IBP, Inc., which is now a part of Tyson Foods. The goal Keith had set after leaving Tarleton was to establish a career in Procurement. His first role came in 1997 with The Dial Corporation, not a part of Henkel. Keith initially managed Procurement for the Armour Star Brand of food products, a division of The Dial Corporation. As he progressed through the various functional areas within Procurement for Dial/Henkel, Keith was recruited to build a Procurement function and organization at GoDaddy.

Starting in May 2013 the transformation and building of the Procurement organization with GoDaddy began as a team of three focused on IT requirements alone.

Today, the organization and team Keith has built is managing all third party spending through the efforts of 12 staff located around the world.

Drive Demand.

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Turning results into revenue. Performance marketing focused on business outcomes.

Learn more

GainShare: Transparency and Accountability in Performance

Bryan Walkey, CEO of GainShare Performance Marketing, discusses the company’s partnership with GoDaddy alongside its mission and culture.

With a career spanning over 30 years, Bryan Walkey is the CEO of GainShare Performance Marketing.

“I joined the firm full-time four years ago, but I've had an association as an advisor to the firm for over 30 years. Before joining as a partner and CEO, I had worked with Gainshare to coordinate teams and delivery in both Toronto and Chicago. The goal today is to drive seamless delivery and results across teams, tactics, and markets.”

Known as Northern Lights Direct for more than 35 years, the company recently rebranded as GainShare Performance Marketing. “We started in DRTV, and so we felt it best to change our brand name to better represent who we are today. We now do so much more than direct response TV. As a performance marketer, we coordinate the customer journey across all channels, and we wanted to ensure we showcased that scope.”

GainShare’s relationship with GoDaddy Discussing GainShare’s partnership with GoDaddy, Walkey explains, “GoDaddy is a performance culture, and they're looking for a high return on their ad spend, and we help them accomplish that and acquire customers in the most efficient way possible.

We provide strategy, media planning, buying, optimization, and analytics. We work with a number of their teams, including performance & brand video, creative and business intelligence.”

“With GoDaddy, it is truly a collaborative effort.

We feel like we're part of their team. Because they're a performance-driven company, they hold us to account every day, every week, and every month. We're in contact with them multiple times a day, measuring daily and continually optimizing.

At the end of the day, it is all about performance,” he adds.

What makes GainShare different from its competitors?

“As a performance marketer, we provide transparency, accountability, and we're driving return on investment, return on ad spend,” begins Walkey. “There's been a lot of moaning in the marketing community about procurement driving the price to zero. Well, we believe it’s essential to drive the cost of marketing and investments directly to the bottom line.

We are excited to work with CMOs, CFOs, and Procurement equally because we're focused on business outcomes,” he continues.

“We talk about return on investment, return on ad spend, we profess transparency and accountability, all things that resonate with both procurement and finance. We deal with the marketing team on the things that are important to them. And we plan and answer procurement on the things that are important to them as well. So, it's a true business relationship.”

gainshare.com

GODADDY

$3.32bn Revenue in FY 2020

1997 Year Founded

9,000+ Number of Employees

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GODADDY

to renegotiate and/or add the right suppliers categorically across the company to service our business needs adequately, not just the way people perceived our needs,” continues Tice. “That shift, while difficult, put us in

“I brought a mindset that focused on how we structure, separate and categorize the various spend aspects of what we're doing, particularly in terms of understanding suppliers and how they fit in the company” KEITH TICE

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, GODADDY

a position where the relationships with vendors have become very strong. To take us to the next level of innovation, we needed to bring in vendors that could change the game for us: new technologies and new ways of working.”

In addition to consolidation, GoDaddy’s digital roadmap meant that the daily admin of procurement needed to modernize. Dispensing with rote manual tasks that introduced margins for error as information was traded from one system to another through automation was key, as was incorporating spend analytics and e-procurement platforms. Of course, no tech-based transformation story of the last 12 months could avoid the effect of COVID19, and it is in this regard that Tice adds special praise to GoDaddy, “I really have to emphasize how well the company did moving everyone quickly from the office to remote working.” However, the challenge supplychaindigital.com

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Digital Transformation — Driving IT Growth in the Next Normal.

These are unprecedented times for businesses everywhere.

Zones has what it takes to strategize and execute your digital transformation. Our IT solutions and services will ensure maximum return on technology investment, reduce modernization costs, optimize operations for a more effective workforce, and enable scalable cloud infrastructure for future growth.

Learn more

Partnership goals: Zones LLC and GoDaddy on DT

Zones LLC is a strategic partner of GoDaddy. We chat to Sean Hobday, SVP of Global Business Development, about digital transformation on a global scale.

Sean Hobday, SVP of Global Business Development for Zones LLC, has had an exciting 12 months. The company is a strategic partner to GoDaddy - the internet domain registrar and hosting company based in Arizona.

Zones offers a wide variety of solutions. At the company's core, Global Supply Chain as a Service (GSCaaS) has been in overdrive since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.

Hobday says, "Making sure that businesses and enterprises can get the IT hardware, software, and solutions that they need domestically within the US, but also all around the world, has been a critical differentiation to ensure clients’ success for Zones during COVID." Hobday describes the relationship Zones LLC has with GoDaddy as evolutionary because it has grown significantly since the companies formed the partnership.

From working on projects in one location for the global internet and hosting company, Zones LLC now handles much of the corporation's IT logistics worldwide.

"GoDaddy approached us because they had a business problem in one of their locations, and they needed

quick fulfilment of hardware to support a small office.

We were able to do that efficiently and effectively."

He continues, "GoDaddy is a company that continually acquires smaller companies within their space around the world to enhance their growth. We were a good fit because Zones has offices and fulfillment centers in key locations to align globally.”

Flexibility in the current working climate is also essential; Hobday points out. “We make sure that at our core DNA, we have the right flexibility and processes frameworks that allow for adaptability to help clients succeed in their digital transformation” The work-from-home mandates have been challenging; however, it is essential for businesses to navigate the complexity, Hobday states. "The solutions that we offer bring tremendous and immediate value to ensure GoDaddy's business continuance with a distributed workforce.”

He adds, "As our partnership grows, we'll be able to address and fortify other solutions within data center, security and networking areas as well.

zones.com

GODADDY

Keith Tice: Talks to us about user experience @ GoDaddy.com

was far from being merely a technical one: procurement, he states, is strongly rooted in person-to-person negotiation on both sides of the table. Reflecting on the beginning of the pandemic, Tice claims that he genuinely feared the effects of losing this important aspect, “I was becoming increasingly worried that the effectiveness of my team was going to start to decline because they just don't have that ability to work with the vendor one-on-one.”

Despite his concerns, GoDaddy’s saving grace turned out to be the ready availability of conferencing software like Zoom. Tice’s team quickly adapted to the new paradigm and didn’t miss a beat; turning in a 2020 84

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performance that was equal to or better than the previous year, Tice states that he was pleasantly “shocked” by the results.

“It’s gotten to the point now where I've recently hired two new permanently remote employees. I didn't hire them with any intention whatsoever to move them into one of our hub offices. Whatever the new normal looks like, I don't see my team going back to how things were unless specific needs arise.”

The spirit of embracing change at GoDaddy is easily visualized by its recent rebrand that features a slick image of the word ‘go’ shaped into a heart. “With our logo change, we're thinking about over 20 million customers out there: what’s their

GODADDY

“ To take us to the next level of innovation, we needed to bring in vendors that could change the game for us: new technologies and new ways of working” KEITH TICE

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, GODADDY

philosophy and what can we do to support them? ‘Go’ exemplifies all that we want them to do; it captures that entrepreneurial spirit and it's paying homage to the importance of humanity and joy that we wanted in that logo.”

Focusing on CX (customer experience) is a big part of fulfilling the renewed promise of that logo. “A few years ago, if you went to GoDaddy with the intention of buying a domain, adding hosting or email, or any of the various products that we're offering, you would have found a front of site architecture that was cumbersome,” says Tice. Subsequently, this was improved by reducing the amount of clicks customers supplychaindigital.com

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EPAM and GoDaddy Join Forces to Help Small Businesses Succeed After a decade of strong growth, internet pioneer GoDaddy recognized the need for a strategic partner to help navigate the ever-increasing pace of digital transformation and constantly evolving customer demands.

“We needed a highly-skilled workforce that could hit the ground running,” says Keith Tice, Chief Procurement Officer at GoDaddy. “We trust EPAM’s quality of service, their people, attention to detail and leadership. They are a partner we can grow with.”

EPAM offered what GoDaddy was looking for: the ability to accelerate roadmaps, re-prioritize technology plans, transition to a modern AWS Cloud architecture and engage the right mix of professionals to get it all done seamlessly.

GoDaddy started as a domain registrar and is now the world’s largest services platform for entrepreneurs around the globe. GoDaddy is the place where entrepreneurs and small business owners come to name their idea, build a website, attract customers and sell their products and services online. Today, GoDaddy has more than 20 million customers.

Over the years the need for engineering resources at GoDaddy has grown dramatically.

The small business owner that once came to GoDaddy for just a domain name and hosting services, now looks to the company for everything from eCommerce to social media marketing.

In 2020, GoDaddy and EPAM kicked off projects to modernize GoDaddy’s eCommerce platform and deliver a more streamlined single sign-on experience for its online customers.

Previously, the customer sign-on and signup experience was focused on security more than convenience. GoDaddy wanted both. Already, A/B testing has shown significant success in changes delivered by EPAM. GoDaddy’s customers now have easier access to the company’s products in a highly secure environment.

Meanwhile, EPAM engineers on the eCommerce project team are ensuring that the existing architecture is seamlessly supported as they build a more scalable and flexible platform that will further GoDaddy’s ability to offer solutions that meet customers’ unique needs. At the same time, GoDaddy gets the tools they need to be more agile in responding to demands.

As GoDaddy continues to grow, company leaders wanted to ensure that whatever project they initiate to help their customers, they would have the right partner to make it happen. EPAM is excited to be a part of this journey helping GoDaddy and its customers build businesses globally that will grow and thrive as we all discover new ways to harness the power of digital.

Learn more

GODADDY

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GODADDY

“ Go’ exemplifies all that we want [customers] to do; it captures that entrepreneurial spirit and it's paying homage to the importance of humanity and joy that we wanted in that logo” KEITH TICE

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, GODADDY

need to perform to find what they need.

GoDaddy also introduced automated chatbots to streamline its communication channels and ensure queries are resolved diligently. “We’ve brought in chat automation so that our customers can come in, get what they need, and then move on. Speaking with a GoDaddy care representative is a fantastic experience, but, at the end of the day, running their business is what's important for our customers.”

This sense of technological pragmatism combined with a refreshingly adaptable mindset will form the bread and butter of GoDaddy’s approach to procurement in

2021. However, Tice has grander visions for his department beyond cost reduction, value creation and capital management. “We now are very focused on reducing supply risk and members of my team have goals set against that - we call it ‘joining forces’. I've also moved our organization into becoming more of a strategic advisor to the business as a whole. We now understand their roadmaps and where they're headed, and we're able to align suppliers and or technologies to match that.” As digital transformation continues to accelerate there will still be challenges, particularly relating to properly onboarding and training new remote-based team members, but Tice is certain that “every dollar spent” will enhance procurement’s influence, build supplier relationships, and facilitate its growth. Times are changing, he reasons, and those who can’t keep up with the new program are in danger of being left behind.

supplychaindigital.com

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FEATURE HEADER

CLOUD & CYBER: NAVIGATING THE CHALLENGES OF

COVID-19

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CLOUD & CYBER

Sally Miller, DHL Supply Chain, CIO North America, Retail, talks remote working, the use of cloud technology to navigate COVID-19 and cybersecurity WRITTEN BY: GEORGIA WILSON

C

“

OVID-19 has had a huge impact on the supply chain industry. At the most basic level, our industry was challenged at the outset of the pandemic to put in place measures to protect employees in an uncertain and constantly changing environment,” says Sally Miller, DHL Supply Chain, CIO North America, Retail.

In response to the outbreak, “logistics providers had to support their customers in adjusting their supply chains rapidly to either drops or surges in demand. The sudden lockdown of production in certain regions or customer sites, the repurposing of manufacturing and supply chains to support essential goods and supplies, the rapid shift to online buying and the changes in consumer buying behavior were arguably the biggest issues faced” explains Miller.

Whilst the pandemic has posed many challenges for the industry, “at the same time, it has been an opportunity for contract logistic providers to demonstrate the value we bring for customers. The accelerated shift to e-commerce and an increased appreciation of flexibility and redundancy in the supply chain are two trends that are likely to persist even as we emerge from the pandemic, and our expertise and capabilities will play a central role in helping customers adapt to that new paradigm.”

THE RISE OF REMOTE WORKING IN SUPPLY CHAINS

While many employees in back offices and support functions were able to work from home, Miller explains that “most of our frontline staff still needed to be physically present in sites. This brought the value of automation and robotics into sharp relief.”

DHL found collaborative robotics to be useful in multiple ways. “They allowed us to help our associates to process the higher volumes while still supporting social distancing and other safety measures in the warehouse.

And they could easily be redeployed across different sites to address sudden spikes in demand.” While this was already a priority focus for DHL Supply Chain, “the pandemic has helped to further strengthen the business case.”

Miller also reflects on the company’s use of video conferencing tools during the pandemic, “we have learned a lot about video conferencing tools – identifying the tools best suited to our ways of working and putting in place the necessary bandwidth to allow people to work seamlessly from home.” She adds that “perhaps the biggest adjustment has been in ways of working, in helping our workforce to find ways of ensuring collaboration and engagement in a digital environment.”

SALLY MILLER supplychaindigital.com

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CLOUD & CYBER

THE ROLE OF CLOUD TECHNOLOGY IN TACKLING THE CHALLENGES OF COVID-19

From an operational perspective, Miller explains that “cloud technology was already playing an important role in ensuring that data from sites (including those that were deploying automation and robotics) could be shared with our regional and global teams and that we could apply data analytics to improve processes and efficiency.”

A cloud enabled supply chain management system that involves not only warehouses, transportation, yards and labour, but individual components too such as robots and smart glasses that can record, coordinate, and orchestrate each component from a single integrated view. “COVID-19 has accelerated the need for such cloud-based automated supply chains to quickly address sudden demand and supply shocks, delays, and interruptions,” says Miller.

“For those who have been working from home, our earlier integration of cloud-based solutions eased the transition, as we were able to ensure that people across multiple locations could continue to access the tools and data they needed. DHL Supply Chain is an early adopter in building a cloud network that will allow investing companies to minimise capital

“ COVID-19 has accelerated the need for such cloud-based automated supply chains to quickly address sudden demand and supply shocks, delays, and interruptions” SALLY MILLER

DHL SUPPLY CHAIN, CIO NORTH AMERICA, RETAIL

expenditure and optimise material flows and shipping channels by migrating all supply chain processes into the cloud,” she adds.

When asked if cloud technology has grown in priority since the outbreak or if such threats have only emphasised the importance that was already there, Miller comments that it is “most likely the latter. We were already aware of the value that cloud technology brings and how and where it made sense to apply it in our networks. As part of our overall accelerated digitisation agenda, we had identified various applications where the cloud could support our customer and back office operations.”

However, one area in which the business case for cloud technology has been strengthened is “ business continuity management,” adds Miller. “We saw during the pandemic the value of being able to maintain stable operations in an unpredictable, volatile environment. Cloud technologies helped ensure that we were less vulnerable to potential disruption at single locations.” supplychaindigital.com

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CLOUD & CYBER

“ We saw during the pandemic the value of being able to maintain stable operations in an unpredictable, volatile environment. Cloud technologies helped ensure that we were less vulnerable to potential disruption at single locations” SALLY MILLER

DHL SUPPLY CHAIN, CIO NORTH AMERICA, RETAIL

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THE IMPORTANCE OF CYBERSECURITY

With many organisations converting to digital at an accelerated pace, Miller explains that “cybersecurity is undoubtedly going to remain a key priority for supply chain organisations, particularly as we advance our digitalisation agendas. This relates to all aspects of your IT and digital networks.”

With the increased sophistication of cyberthreats, Miller adds that “companies worldwide have had to ready themselves in recent years for a new reality where supply chain disruptions are no longer restricted to those of a physical form. Cyber-attacks have the potential to disrupt or, at its worst, cripple the logistics and supply chain operations of an entire business across different geographies. Any deployment of new technologies and digitalisation brings with it the need to be vigilant to cybersecurity-related risks.”

CLOUD & CYBER

DHL americas innovation center

SECURITY CHALLENGES IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN

“The primary considerations are data security and the risk of operational disruption,” states Miller. “Cloud solutions can actually help to reduce the risk of operational disruption – both through the fact that data and systems are not typically housed at a single site and through the fact that cloud providers have significant specialised expertise in managing these risks. In addition to this, companies can mitigate risks of disruption in the way that they design their networks and measures they put in place to monitor risks in real-time and back-up data.”

When it comes to data security, Miller highlights the need for organisations to have robust data protection strategies in place. “Many business models are built on

data. As many companies are increasingly going through a digital transformation, the amount of data is growing steadily. Big data is becoming an asset with commercial and strategic value. Its importance raises the need for protection, especially for personal data. Using and storing large amounts of data implies a large responsibility.”

Miller also adds that “a combination of vigilance, preparedness and flexibility,” is also important when it comes to data security and protecting the supply chain from cyberthreats.

“Vigilance is necessary to ensure that you remain up-to-date on emerging risks and that your workforce can also act as a first line of defense. Preparedness ensures that your organisation has the measures and training in place to address threats and can supplychaindigital.com

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“ Perhaps the biggest adjustment has been in ways of working, in helping our workforce to find ways of ensuring collaboration and engagement in a digital environment” SALLY MILLER

DHL SUPPLY CHAIN, CIO NORTH AMERICA, RETAIL

react quickly to potential threats. Flexibility – particularly in terms of building redundancy into your networks and the ability to transfer core processes and data between different sites and systems – builds in a natural defense by allowing you to react quickly to minor disruptions and ensure business continuity.”

FUTURE IMPACT OF COVID-19 FOR THE SUPPLY CHAIN

When it comes to the future impact of COVID-19 for cybersecurity and cloud technology in the supply chain, Miller contemplates that “the main impact of COVID-19 in this area is likely to be largely a philosophical one. Prior to the pandemic, many organisations, particularly with extensive supply chains, were already actively integrating cloud technology into their networks. Everyone was also highly aware of the risks associated with cybersecurity and the need to protect data and minimise the possibility of disruption to your operations or those of your customers.”

Miller believes that “while the cloud has played a role in supporting moves to greater remote working and companies have had to reinforce protocols that protect employees and organisations,” this isn’t a new priority for supply chain leaders. Many companies “were already prioritising measures in this area.

COVID-19 has simply elevated the overall focus on resilience and business continuity, of which cybersecurity was a part.” supplychaindigital.com

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KEARNEY

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March 2021

KEARNEY

Cost. Service. Agility.

SUPPLY CHAIN’S

NEW TROIKA Suketu Gandhi, Kearney’s Global Leader in Digital Supply Chain and Plan on Sense and Pivot and supply chain’s new troika; cost, service, and agility WRITTEN BY: LAURA V. GARCIA PRODUCED BY: CAITLYN COLE/ GLEN WHITE

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hat was at first thought to be a one-time disruption, the ultimate black swan event, has now become the new normal. The hardwon lessons of COVID-19 have shown us that moving forward supply chain resilience will be as imperative to business as cost and performance.

Suketu Gandhi, partner and global product leader, Digital Supply Chain and Plan is helping companies the world over set a new plan for the “new normal”. Gandhi shows clients the way to achieving their targets by building agile supply chains that leverage today’s best tech to sense and pivot with fast, informed decision making.

Real resilience is far more than performing “what if” scenario analysis and disaster response planning. It’s about increasing capabilities and building lighting fast reflexes, so you can respond to fluctuations in demand and an ever-changing business landscape with dynamic resource and capacity planning.

As CEOs, COOs and CPOs now look to restructure their business model with the supplychaindigital.com

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KEARNEY

“ Our success as consultants will depend on the essential rightness of the advice we give and our capacity for convincing those in authority that it is good” ANDREW THOMAS KEARNEY

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aim of increasing organisational resilience and agility, produced in partnership with MIT Technology Review, Kearney offers a comprehensive resilience stress test.

Speaking with clients such as Mars and Johnson and Johnson, MIT and Kearney took a tech-centric view of data needs and how AI can help.

The report says that at the core of company efforts to increase resilience and agility there should be two strategic priorities; decreasing complexities and using data to increase visibility at every node in the supply chain, and developing action plans to efficiently respond to change and disruption.

Gandhi walks us through.

Reducing Complexity Complexity must be managed, not expunged.

“You have to step back and look at your business a few years out and think, what are the three things I should do? What are the structural changes that I should make?

KEARNEY

SUKETU GANDHI TITLE: PARTNER AND GLOBAL PRODUCT LEADER, DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN & PLAN COMPANY: KEARNEY INDUSTRY: MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY

LOCATION: CHICAGO

EXECUTIVE BIO

You must be very deliberate in the choices that are made based on the options that are available,” Gandhi says.

“One of the key dimensions is finding commonalities and what can be done to standardise further. The more common you can make things, the easier manufacturing, assembly and sourcing become. Although it seems quite logical, unfortunately, we don't find people doing that.”

“Another key element is inbound and outbound transportation, what we call geography. Where do you manufacture?

Where do you sell? Now that's a simple question, but then you must also look at the geographical boundaries you cross and how many political boundaries as well. And that second question, political boundaries, is a loaded one because that can cause issues.

Brexit is a good example of that.

“The other part of geography is that countries like China and India are going to start insisting that if you sell in their

Suketu Gandhi is a recognized industry leader and subjectmatter expert in digital transformation, IT strategy and enterprise architecture, technology’s role in retail, the Internet as a channel, outsourcing and offshoring, IT organization evolution, and the use of technology for highly mobile assets. He is frequently published on digital transformation topics in outlets ranging from MIT Sloan Management Review to the Wall Street Journal. Suketu’s consulting work focuses on the impact of digital on business models, customer experience, operations, and IT. Suketu is a partner, based in Kearney's Chicago office.

We Make It Happen Aera Technology is the Cognitive Automation company that makes business agility happen.

With our partners, we deliver the digital platform that integrates with your existing systems to make and execute business decisions in real time.

Aera Technology: redefining agility in supply chains

Gonzalo Benedit, GM EMEA, Aera Technology on how Cognitive Automation is redefining agility in supply chains, as well as the company’s partnership with Kearney With 15 years of experience in various enterprise software leadership roles, Gonzalo Benedit joined Aera Technology in 2020 as General Manager, EMEA. “Aera is a digital platform that enables Cognitive Automation for large enterprises, such as FORTUNE 500 companies. So pretty large scale organisations operating mostly within the Consumer packaged goods (CPG), pharma chemicals and discrete manufacturing industries. At Aera Technology, we help them to digitise, augment, and automate decision-making at scale,” says Benedit. Whilst Aera Technology is headquartered in Mountain View, California, the company operates worldwide, with more than 450 colleagues across Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Empowering leaders with Cognitive Automation When asked: what makes Aera Technology’s Cognitive Automation platform unique? Benedit believes “its uniqueness comes from the fact that it’s a single platform that is able to address the core dimensions that are critical to deliver Cognitive Automation at scale: data, science, process, and change.”

Breaking down the four core dimensions, Benedit adds that “when it comes to data, Aera Technology is able to build a single data model. We’re able to connect with all the transactional systems of an enterprise and build a single end-to-end data model. When it comes to science, we help our customers to apply and deploy deterministic

logic, machine learning (ML), and simulations. In terms of process, it’s about digitising the way decisions are being made in a certain company, division or country. Last but not least, the fourth dimension is about change on which we not only deliver an intelligent experience that allows users to easily engage with the platform, but also generate a digital record of all the decisions that have been made and the context under which those decisions were made.”

Aera Technology’s partnership with Kearney After recently announcing a strategic alliance with global consulting firm Kearney, Benedit explains that Aera Technology is “incredibly excited about our partnership.

This means a lot to us, and I would say there are two core components to this partnership - transformation and opportunity. For us, it’s an amazing opportunity working with Kearney; it gives our customers access to incredible experience built throughout almost a century, so that’s invaluable. Combine that knowledge with our ability to deliver at a very fast pace, Cognitive Skills, and a digital platform for Cognitive Automation, together we can enable self-driving enterprise. That’s a pretty unique value proposition for our customers.”

MEET AERA

KEARNEY

1926

Year founded

3,500+ Number of employees

$1.4 bn Revenue USD (2019)

country, then you must manufacture in their country. You have to give back some of what you take. So those are the type of political considerations you must take into account when building a strategy. You must decide where to manufacture, understand costs, service, agility and resiliency and put it all together.

When looking to drive out complexity, Gandhi warns to set boundaries and suggests leaving the customer out of it, as customer-facing changes may have you in an unending loop. “What we have found is 104

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that having that as a constant is absolutely critical. Don't change that proposition because otherwise, you end up with a situation of circular logic, and you never reach an end.

“If you start to look at things like changing features, then you have to consider if the customer will be willing to pay for it and you start to go around and around. New product development starts to fight with supply chain, who fights with the CPO, who fights with sales and marketing, and you never make your way out of it. That's why I say,

KEARNEY

emerging because the CFO used to call the CPO only to reduce cost. Whereas now he has to be a part of the discussion of risk. Our strong perspective is boards are going to start asking this question regularly.

“The fundamental equations of being a CPO or running a supply chain have not changed. The math is still the same, but the granularity, however, has changed. It used to be that people would look at things at a country level, then geographical, then segment, then region. Now you’ve got to be at a customer individual order level. That's the level of granularity needed.”

Gandhi says another change has been a move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to technical solutions, “There was this view

“The fundamental equations of being a CPO or running a supply chain have not changed. The math is still the same, but the granularity, however, has changed” SUKETU GANDHI

PARTNER AND GLOBAL PRODUCT LEADER, DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN & PLAN, KEARNEY

leave that constant, don't mess with it and move forward.”

“However, no amount of effort will protect you against every shock. That's the first thing we tell people; you can’t protect against everything. So, what are the choices you want to make? And that becomes a CPO, CEO and CFO question.”

Cost. Service. Agility. Supply chain’s new troika.

The emergence of supply chain’s new troika.“So now we have a new Troika

that says a general solution for one is easily applicable to the other one. Now, what we are finding is that as we get into the world of artificial intelligence and machine learning, AI allows you to identify the parameters that matter.

“For example, if we buy a standard shoe, versus an athletic one, one may be sold on price and the other one on features. That quite significantly changes how supply chain should look at it. And so now general solutions lose their power because it's easy to find a very specific solution.” supplychaindigital.com

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Lastly, Gandhi points out the maturement of risk tolerance, a factor Sense and Pivot looks at, shifting from implicit to explicit.

Sense & Pivot Kearney started on the Sense and Pivot journey almost three years ago after spotting the trends around the difficulty of forecasting, the inflexibility of distribution centres, manufacturing facilities and transportation networks.

However, there was still resistance to change. Gandhi says, “What COVID did was fundamentally accelerate the trend. What we thought would take another year to two years all of a sudden just came to life.

It’s what I call the shift left phenomenon; years became months and months became weeks.”

Just how unpredictable the world can be was a hard-earned lesson. Supply chains quickly realised they need to adapt and perform against plan despite the business challenges brought on by the disruptions and the limitations that lay within the supply chain. Sense and Pivot helps organisations to mitigate the impacts of risks such as extreme weather, geopolitics and unpredictable changes in consumer demand, creating a dynamic, highly responsive and resilient supply chain.

Gandhi says the companies should be asking is if they are set up to sense the right information in order to pivot assets.

Real-time information can be pulled from a myriad of resources such as business partners, social media, manufacturing facilities (for machine capacity or handling times), or even point of sale information.

This information can then trigger an action or inform decision making. The trick is in aligning the right data to the companies goals.

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“ No amount of effort will protect you against every shock.

That's the first thing we tell people; you can’t protect against everything. So, what are the choices you want to make?”

SUKETU GANDHI

PARTNER AND GLOBAL PRODUCT LEADER, DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN & PLAN, KEARNEY

KEARNEY

Suketu Gandhi from Kearney talk about resilience in Supply Chain

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Sense and Pivot is aimed at companies unique organisational objectives, such as cutting costs, meeting new demand requirements or achieving scalability. By leveraging advanced technology to sense information signals, Sense and Pivot goes beyond the collecting and analysing data and improves business performance by creating opportunities for proactive actions and well-informed decision making.

At one customer, using advanced analytics and sensing daily inventory consumption demands at the SKU and store level, the company is able to pivot and quickly adjust shipments to reallocate inventory, 108

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reducing stockouts, returns and inventory waste, increasing it’s annual operating income by 10%.

However, none of it can be accomplished without the right people doing the right things.

Gandhi On People “We love technology. Absolutely. Who doesn’t? But you don’t want to over-index on that either.”

The Building resilient supply chains report states “Initiatives to drive digitalisation and supply chain resilience must include components of people and process change

KEARNEY

“ So now we have a new Troika emerging because the CFO used to call the CPO only to reduce cost. Whereas now he has to be a part of the discussion of risk” SUKETU GANDHI

PARTNER AND GLOBAL PRODUCT LEADER, DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN & PLAN, KEARNEY

management. This is a critical step for ensuring that data and insight drive real decisions at every stage of the value chain.”

Gandhi recollects a saying that is all too fitting, “a colleague of mine told me if processes and software could rust, that would be wonderful because then we would rebuild. Unfortunately, they don't.”

The signs of an outdated process in need of a redesign are harder to see than rust on a machine part. But processes can no longer be allowed to become stagnant.

“It used to be that you would design a strategy and you went to sleep and then just executed it every day. And hope that

in three years, you got to look at it. That model is dead. Now we have a continuous design and execution model. That’s a big change, and that’s the essence of Sense and Pivot.

Gandhi points out that just as it takes a skilled driver to drive a fast car, as technology expedites how we do business, the need for leadership and expertise matters even more.

Because, of course, the faster you go, the harder the impact.

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J - TEC MATERIAL HANDLING

J - TEC MATERIAL HANDLING

DRIVING

GROWTH

IN ASIA

Process know-how, open control systems and independence from suppliers is leveraging business growth for J-Tec Material Handling in South-East Asia

WRITTEN BY: JANET BRICE PRODUCED BY: THOMAS LIVERMORE

O

pen control systems, an independent approach to suppliers and the skill to design tailor-made solutions is helping J-Tec Material Handling leverage its growth throughout South-East Asia.

Just three years after the Belgium-owned company - a wholly-owned business unit of its parent company Katoen Natie - put down roots in Rayong, Thailand they are driving growth across SEA as a process engineering partner to clients in the food and chemical industry.

“Part of our business plan focused on the possible synergies with Katoen Natie who have been in Thailand (and Asia) for more than 20 years,” said Arnaud Nelissen Grade, Sales Director Asia at J-Tec Material Handling.

“Aligning ourselves with Katoen Natie allows us to share resources like IT and HR more efficiently. But more importantly, it has resulted in a closer cooperation between the existing business units here which now makes our group quite unique in the region in terms of what we can offer to our clients. supplychaindigital.com

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“ In terms of growth we just got started, but we've already exceeded most company targets and expectations that we set up three years ago.”

ARNAUD NELISSEN GRADE SALES DIRECTOR ASIA, J-TEC MATERIAL HANDLING

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“We were also attracted to Thailand because it is a big market with a lot of investments going on in the food and the chemical industry. On top of that, J-Tec previously had some success with significant projects in Thailand - so we felt that we could easily build on those to gain momentum.”

For more than five decades, J-Tec has focused on its customer-centric approach and has retained its competitive edge in handling solids and liquids due to the fact it is totally supplier independent and offers clients open control systems moving away from the more standardised approach of most of their competitors.

“This means we can guarantee a customised solution for every challenge,”

J - TEC MATERIAL HANDLING

ARNAUD NELISSEN GRADE TITLE: SALES DIRECTOR COMPANY: J-TEC MATERIAL HANDLING LOCATION: ASIA

said Nelissen Grade who bridges the gap between Europe and Asia as he spearheads the rapid growth in the region.

Speaking from J-Tec’s Asian headquarters in Rayong, he said: “We don’t offer a onesize-fits-all approach; instead we listen to the client and use our in-house knowledge and tools to develop a tailored solution for their project.

“J-Tec acts as a partner during the complete process: from the conceptual design, on through detailed engineering, procurement and manufacturing, up until installation and commissioning, and if required training and maintenance.”

He pointed out the open control systems mean clients are not ‘handcuffed’ to J-Tec

EXECUTIVE BIO

INDUSTRY: INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION Arnaud holds a Master Degree in Industrial Engineering from GroupT Leuven Engineering School.

Graduating in 2009, he spent most of his career abroad, mostly in China for Jan De Nul and in Rotterdam for Fabricom, working in various project and construction engineering roles.

After earning a Postgraduate Degree in Business Administration, he joined J-Tec in late 2014 where he immediately contributed to J-Tec’s success as a Sales Engineer.

In 2016, he moved to Thailand to spearhead J-Tec’s business development in SEA. Since then, he has devoted his time to putting J-Tec on the Asian map, taking the lead in Sales, HR and Strategy, establishing J-Tec Material Handling Ltd. as the regional HQ and focusing on building a sustainable foundation for J-Tec’s growth in the future.

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J - TEC MATERIAL HANDLING

“We have all the experience and all the competencies in-house at J-Tec but we just need to keep working on how to effectively apply this in Asia without really rushing it.”

ARNAUD NELISSEN GRADE SALES DIRECTOR ASIA, J-TEC MATERIAL HANDLING

if they want to extend the factory or system in the future. “Instead, we believe in delivering quality and that keeping this promise means J-Tec will hopefully be involved again in the future” he said.

Supplier independent Independence from suppliers is one of J-Tec’s key differentiators. “If we look back 50 years, J-Tec started as a representative of certain brands of component manufacturers. Over the years the projects became more complex and we evolved towards an engineering company,” commented Nelissen Grade.

“We knew our competitors and at that time, we made a very clear decision to start designing our own systems and become completely supplier independent in order to offer that additional flexibility.

“Today, in contrast with many of our competitors, we don't produce our own equipment. Most of the equipment in our systems are purchased from third parties, OEM for standard equipment and independent manufacturers for custommade equipment that we design ourselves, but is then manufactured by these third parties.

“The way we make a difference is by leveraging this strategy. We always focus on finding the real optimal process design for

any given application, which will then define which original equipment manufacturer (OEM) equipment we will source and where to source it. If it doesn't exist or if it needs to be custom made, we will design it and have it fabricated, typically in the region where the project is located.”

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Arnaud NelisseN Grade talks J-Tec Material Handling

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J-Tec is a company member of EHEDG The European hygienic engineering & design group.

“We are involved in several relevant associations related to our industry, the most important one being EHEDG. J-Tec is an active, contributing member of EHEDG and has been assisting in the development of the industry standards with regards to hygienic design for Dry Material Handling for more than 10 years now. Such collaborations help us stay up-to-date and highly relevant in what we do.”

1970

J-Tec Material Handling was founded in 1970.

140+

Number of employees

€50+mn Company revenue

Three-dimensional experience One way in which J-Tec is turning to technology to give them a competitive edge is offering customers a virtual tour of a proposed factory development. “By using the power of Virtual Reality (VR) we are able to elevate a factory design from a flat plan to a three dimensional experience,” said Nelissen Grade.

“It enables us to show the customer and let them discover their future factory before it's even built which also helps us in the design of our systems. If our engineers and our customers can walk around a realistic 3D representation of the plant, we can discover potential problems, find alternative solutions and adjust the design much faster and more efficiently which benefits both J-Tec and its customers.

“A small thing like being able to visualise their factory also adds an element of wonder for the customer,” he said.

Commenting on J-Tec’s digital transformation to Industry 4.0, Nelissen Grade said: “Like many companies, we have an Industry “4.0” plan that is being rolled out to improve and expand our services during and after projects.

“We are developing several technologies involving the use of big data related to the supplychaindigital.com

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systems we build. This can, in turn, lead to remote monitoring of certain metrics and KPIs, preventive maintenance and the further expansion of our internal know-how on how to design the best possible systems with optimal performance using realistic process simulations.

“Furthermore, we have accelerated our remote assistance program, finding ways to support our global customers without needing to be physically present, for example using AR, which has become highly relevant due to the pandemic.”

Future technology trends “For our industry specifically, we do believe and invest in big data and remote assistance and see this as a trend across several industries,” said Nelissen Grade.

“Also, hygienic design, contamination prevention… are big trends and we are continuously developing solutions for our clients in this regard, particularly in infant nutrition.

“Lastly, automation is gaining momentum even in countries with a lower labour cost.

Automation has many advantages such as a higher efficiency and accuracy, improved working conditions… but especially in these COVID times, it limits the required manpower needed in factories and prevents The company's contamination to a large extent.” headquaters are located in Antwerp, Nelissen Grade helped Belgium spearhead the original business plan on the value of J-Tec moving into the Asia market.

Locations worldwide “The ultimate goal was to set up an entity in Thailand that acts as a regional headquarters. We will Year regional take the lead from here for our headquarters in Rayong, further expansion in the region. In Thailand openned

HQ

8

2018

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J - TEC MATERIAL HANDLING

“This means we can guarantee a customised solution for every challenge,” said Arnaud Nelissen Grade, Sales Director Asia at J-Tec Material Handling, who bridges the gap between Europe and Asia as he spearheads the growth in the region.”

ARNAUD NELISSEN GRADE

SALES DIRECTOR ASIA, J-TEC MATERIAL HANDLING

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4 ADVANTAGES OF J-TEC’S OPEN CONTROL SYSTEMS

J

-Tec’s open control systems is just one of the key differentiators setting them apart from most of their competitors. Nelissen Grade explains the main reasons why this gives the company such an advantage.

“The first is flexibility - which is something we're proud of because we are independent. We are flexible in selecting equipment and in the same way, we want to make sure that that flexibility is translated into the control system. More often than not, our main competitors have more standardized control systems that are not very flexible, based on their own equipment. J-Tec is different in that we also have limited standards that guide us, but every system is completely custom made based on specific needs of the project. This results in a more lean control system with smaller and cheaper hardware.

“Number two is that our systems are “open”. We are not like some of our competitors who design “black box” type systems which means the client needs their intervention if they want to expand.

We had an example of this when one of our key accounts in Indonesia actually contacted us. They wanted us to do an expansion to their factory, but in the end, they were forced to go back to the previous supplier because the control system was locked which would be very costly to change. Instead, we offer open and transparent control systems using building blocks that are then ‘assembled’ based on the process design. The blocks themselves may be protected, but the program itself is open-source and can be accessed by our clients directly.

“Number three is the fact that our independence from suppliers means that we work with a large variety of different

suppliers from all over the world. As a result, our experts have gained quite a significant understanding of how to control the variety of equipment. They often have a better understanding of how to control certain equipment as part of a broader system than the actual manufacturer of that equipment. This means that they can correctly use the specific characteristics of each equipment to optimise the performance through automation. And since these programmers are actually involved during commissioning on site, this greatly improves the efficiency, expedites commissioning and avoids all the hassle of finding bugs that would happen when using third-party programmers.”

“Finally, we are able to design a fully comprehensive control system involving all aspects of the production line, even for equipment that normally comes with its own control software. We can use our experience and know-how in using many different systems to program software for that equipment and integrate this in a single control system. As an example, whether the extruder itself is part of our scope or not, we can integrate it in a single SCADA system, avoiding the need for communication between various control systems from various suppliers.”

“In the same way Steve jobs did with Apple - controlling the product design from end to end: hardware and software - we are doing exactly the same with our control systems.”

“All these things means that we are very good at designing and offering control systems that are lean and simple - a single control system for the entire process, regardless of whether the equipment in that process is supplied by J-Tec or not.

J - TEC MATERIAL HANDLING

terms of growth we just got started, but we've already exceeded most company targets and expectations that we set up three years ago.

“One of the targets we had was to grow a local team to perform key client-oriented activities like Sales and Project Management more locally. And so we grew from a fulltime equivalent of two to about 13 people permanently based in the office in Thailand in just three years. We are still actively hiring but with the mindset that we have only got started, so we are slowly building the foundation of a durable business.

“We have all the experience and all the competencies in-house at J-Tec but we just need to keep working on how to effectively apply that experience and competencies in Asia without really rushing it. There's no point coming to Asia just to be in Asia, we need to do it right. That is what we are focusing on right now.”

“When it comes to highly advanced packaging systems, we have worked with Statec Binder on various occasions.

They share a lot of our values such as high quality and an impeccable service.”

ARNAUD NELISSEN GRADE

SALES DIRECTOR ASIA, J-TEC MATERIAL HANDLING supplychaindigital.com

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Partnership with Statec Binder Although we don’t have fixed partnership agreements with any supplier – one of our core strategies – we do have a list of preferred OEM that we tend to work with.

This follows a rigorous supplier selection process to make sure that our approved suppliers can support us and our customers in the best possible way.

“In the same way Steve jobs did with Apple - controlling the product design from end to end: hardware and software - we are doing exactly the same with our control systems.”

ARNAUD NELISSEN GRADE

SALES DIRECTOR ASIA, J-TEC MATERIAL HANDLING

One of J-Tec’s preferred suppliers is Statec Binder who offer high-performance packaging systems for open-mouth bags, FFS machines and related palletising and bagging systems used in a wide variety of industries for packing different products worldwide.

“When it comes to highly advanced packaging systems, we have worked with Statec Binder on various occasions worldwide. They share a lot of our values such as an impeccable service and a high quality and performance level. I hope that the global partnership can continue for many years to come.

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AMCOR

Left to Right Rahul Chande, Ranga Mulabagula & William (Bill) Pfeiffer *Photo taken Example of before COVID-19 an image caption

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AMCOR

SMART, SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING FROM AMCOR Protect, preserve, promote – Amcor Vice President of Procurement and CPO, Ranga Mulabagula discusses the journey to ‘procurement excellence’ WRITTEN BY: JANET BRICE

P

rotect, preserve, promote has been the driving force of global packaging company Amcor for the past 160 years, but they are now heading for the next level of sustainability as they accelerate their digital journey towards procurement excellence.

Amcor is the world’s biggest packaging company – generating close to $12.5 billion in annual sales. Amcor Rigid Packaging (ARP), is the $3 billion business group focused on the rigid packaging market. Originally a beverage-centric packager, the global rigid packaging organisation has now extended its range to develop differentiated products and services to protect food, healthcare, wine and spirits, home care, personal care and technical applications.

PRODUCED BY: THOMAS LIVERMORE Amcor is now focusing on its green credentials following a pledge three years ago to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that its packaging will be reusable or recyclable by 2025. This includes their polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles which could be a game-changer due to their recyclable credentials, current health crisis and concerns over hygiene. Each PET bottle is capped and sealed to keep beverages protected from pathogens like viruses and bacteria.

But this is just part of the sustainability story for the Australian-American company – which puts customer centricity at its heart – as we learn from Ranga Mulabagula, Vice President of Global Procurement, ARP from their offices in Ann Arbor, US. supplychaindigital.com

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AMCOR

Ranga Mulabagula at Amcor talks about smart, sustainable packaging

“ We are making a distinct difference in a positive way.

Our goal is to make 100 per cent of our products, recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025” RANGA MULABAGULA

VICE PRESIDENT OF PROCUREMENT AND CPO, AMCOR

The journey to procurement excellence started for Mulabagula in 2013 when he was approached by Amcor, who were impressed by the work he was doing at General Motors (GM) managing global commodity purchasing and supply chain teams by leveraging GM scale, scope and using first-time analytical modelling and forecast capabilities to predict supply chain bottlenecks.

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Mulabagula, points out Amcor deploys its expertise and knowledge of customer products and value chains to produce packaging that is more functional, appealing and cost effective for customers and their consumers, and ultimately more sustainable for the environment.

“We are making a distinct difference in a positive way. Our goal is to make 100 per cent of our products, recyclable, reusable, or compostable,” said Mulabagula who pointed out it is Amcor’s aim to drive at least 10 per cent of recycled content across the product portfolio by 2025 along with eliminating all plastics like PVC and PVDC as they are more difficult to recycle.”

As head of global procurement in ARP, Mulabagula is leading the organisation to the next level of procurement excellence, managing six global category directors and 43 co-worker strong global procurement teams with responsibility for a $2+ billion spend.

AMCOR

Mulabagula collaborates with his global teams to define and drive the current (FY20-22) and next Horizon (FY23-FY25) procurement objectives, strategy, priorities, metrics, policies, processes, systems and talent for accelerating the ARP "procurement excellence" journey through collaboration, technology enabled sourcing, master data governance (MDG) and procure-to-pay (P2P) solutions for a sustainable performance and “indirects category” transformation.

“ARP is a major converter in the North American packaging industry,” said Mulabagula. “We convert raw materials into the containers and provide services that brand owners (like Pepsi and CocaCola) want and aspire based on their market segment preferences, technical and functional requirements.

“Our geographical reach is global, being the biggest packaging company in the world. And the biggest converter, not just from a size point of view, but the technical know-how, innovation and value we bring to the table. We deliver through a customer centric approach coupled with excellence in operational, technical and value performance, which is why our customers keep coming back to Amcor.”

RANGA MULABAGULA TITLE: VICE PRESIDENT OF PROCUREMENT AND CPO INDUSTRY: PACKAGING & CONTAINERS LOCATION: UNITED STATES

EXECUTIVE BIO

Ranga Mulabagula has been with Amcor for nearly eight years driving the global packaging company’s sustainable procurement-to-pay excellence.

As Vice President of Procurement in Amcor Rigid Packaging (ARP) he is leading the organisation to the next level of procurement excellence. He manages six global category directors, 43 global procurement teams and is responsible for a $2+ billion spend.

“I'm currently leading Amcor’s global rigid packaging procurement excellence journey while striving to meet aspirational sustainability objectives – that is what’s driving me – I have been part of four acquisitions in the last seven years, which has been a fantastic learning and growth opportunity” said Mulabagula – a results driven supply chain and operations leader.

AMCOR

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201.836.0372

AMCOR

BOTTLE WITH LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT

Drive to sustainability Amcor invests $100 million every year in research and development (R&D) to ensure a top-notch pipeline of innovations to tackle the biggest technical and practical barriers to sustainable packaging as the world moves towards the goal of Net Zero by 2050.

PET bottles often have the lowest carbon footprint and according to Amcor their production results in up to 70 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions than packaging materials like aluminum and glass. “The problem lies in plastic recycling. So, I think once we accurately define and align on the problem, it's not the plastics packaging per se, but the lack of recycling infrastructure, incentivising and educating the end user where the challenges reside and the solutions exist,” comments Mulabagula.

DID YOU KNOW...

*Photo taken before COVID-19

Amcor is the industry leader in the use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) PET with over 15 years of experience.

PET, which stands for polyethylene terephthalate, is a thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family. It is extruded or moulded into plastic bottles and containers for packaging many different product categories including foods, beverages, personal care, dairy and spirits and wine products.

PET bottles are lightweight, shatterproof, re-closable, resealable, reusable and infinitely recyclable (with existing technologies including chemical recycling).

PET bottles often have the lowest carbon footprint and according to Amcor their production results in up to 70 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions than packaging materials like aluminum and glass.

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AMCOR

*Photo taken before COVID-19

1860 Year Founded

$12.5bn Revenue in US Dollars

47,000 Number of Employees

10% Target for PCR across its portfolio by 2025

230 Global presence in 40 countries with 230 sites

$100m Invested every year in research and development (R&D)

1,000+ Packaging assessments are carried out each year

83,917 Tonnes last year tonnes of recycled plastic resin (PCR)

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AMCOR

“The basic needs of packaging have not gone away, which is to protect, preserve, promote but sustainability and end of life requirements are added and enhanced” RANGA MULABAGULA VICE PRESIDENT OF PROCUREMENT AND CPO, AMCOR

AmLite HeatFlex Recyclable | Recyclable flexible retort packaging

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AMCOR

*Photo taken before COVID-19

“One example, US recycling rates of highvolume plastic bottles are still in the lower thirties, meaning, we are talking significant amounts of waste going to landfills that should not be there. And our challenge as a packaging industry is to accurately define the problem, align with key stakeholders in the value chain and take a leadership position across a multipronged solutions approach to address this issue,” he said.

One example of Amcor’s sustainable products is the ESL (aseptic/extended shelf life) plastic bottles which are revolutionising the packaging of dairy and juice. Amcor’s barrier technology protects against ultraviolet light, maximises the product’s flavour and provides up to a year of shelf life.

Master Data Governance Amcor’s digital transformation is being accelerated with the Master Data Governance (MDG) process along with a P2P solution 136

March 2021

through SAP Ariba. “The biggest opportunity for any P2P program resides where the fragmentation or non-standard materials or services is the maximum – if you do it right that’s where the biggest value is,” said Mulabagula.

“The journey started in 2015 with MDG, a process through which we can standardise our materials and services. For example, a product specific application – if we talk about green colored bottles, well, define green? Green can come in different shades and different tones. So, classification and standardisation of that SKU is very important.

And what MDG enables us to do – through the SAP platform – is to standardise material groups to define what the classification criteria is and applies them consistently across the spend.”

“Once the standardisation was in place, we then launched a P2P Ariba program, initially starting off with a high value, high

AMCOR

“ The biggest opportunity for any P2P program resides where the fragmentation or non-standard materials or services is maximum - if you do it right that’s where the biggest value is” RANGA MULABAGULA VICE PRESIDENT OF PROCUREMENT AND CPO, AMCOR

RAHUL CHANDE TITLE: DIRECTOR, PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS AND TACTICAL EXECUTION INDUSTRY: PACKAGING & CONTAINERS

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: UNITED STATES Rahul Chande is an executive member of Amcor Rigid Packaging procurement leadership team (PLT) and a champion for digital procurement transformation.

Since September 2015, he has led a global team of 14 professionals to successfully manage a portfolio comprising of digital transformation, global master data and analytics and tactical procurement operations.

He brings more than 20 years of industry and big four consulting leadership experience; in creating business cases for change and leading executive mandates for digital supply chain and procurement transformation.

Previously, as Associate Partner with Deloitte Consulting, Chande successfully

problem areas in “Indirect Categories”; maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) management and then scaling to secondary packaging, professional services,” said Mulabagula who points out ARP is coming to the end of their first leg of the journey to digital procurement excellence.

“Once you have that visibility and transparency, then everything else comes into play in terms of putting in processes, operational resources and dash boards for compliance, consolidation and making sure we deploy back end robust procurement commodity strategies and processes to maximise the value return for our spend,” he said.

implemented 12+ full lifecycle, technology enabled, global supply chain and procurement transformation programs at leading consumer and industrial products organisations. He helped his Fortune 100 clients achieve up to 200 per cent ROI leveraging digital technologies and deployment of center led governance and managed services models; with robotic process automation, advanced analytics, visualisation.

A “published” playbook of business processes, rules books, policies, standard operating procedures, roles and responsibilities, training guides and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure progress was critical to Amcor’s MDM/ P2P journey.

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AMCOR

“ Our geographical reach is global, being the biggest packaging company in the world. And the biggest converter, not just from a size point of view, but the technical know-how, innovation and the value we bring to the table”

WILLIAM PFEIFFER TITLE: SENIOR DIRECTOR, PROCUREMENT AND LOGISTICS INDUSTRY: PACKAGING & CONTAINERS LOCATION: UNITED STATES

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March 2021

RANGA MULABAGULA VICE PRESIDENT OF PROCUREMENT AND CPO, AMCOR

For example, given this unprecedented visibility and transparency, ARP streamlined and consolidated the supply base by 75 per cent during this transformational journey, while deploying robust supplier onboarding processes across it’s spend.

ARP digital procurement transformation journey has reached the “advanced basecamp” stage in its roadmap. ARP has achieved 70 per cent automation of indirect procure to pay processes, significantly improved indirect spend under management to 95 per cent, adherence to negotiated contracts with

EXECUTIVE BIO

William Pfeiffer is a performancedriven senior leader with more than 20 years of comprehensive experience and recognised success in all areas of Supply Chain Management including Procurement, Transportation, Logistics, Customs, Material Planning and Plant Operations.

Pfeiffer is an innovative, ambitious change agent with a demonstrated track record in the development and execution of business strategies to improve productivity and profitability. Proven ability to develop accountable, collaborative, engaged, result driven teams focused on continuous improvement.

He is highly effective and skilled in strategic sourcing, negotiations, contract management, supplier development/ quality, packaging, demand forecasting, production planning, inventory control, physical distribution, data mining/analysis, cost reduction, cash flow improvement, program/ project management, process and system/ technology deployment and improvement.

*Photo taken before COVID-19

AMCOR

“Ensuring sustainability throughout the entire life cycle and end of use of product is equally as important, hence these requirements are accelerating the sustainability journey in the industry and driving unique business and technology partnerships with strategic vendors.”

*Photo taken before COVID-19

preferred suppliers and sourcing improved to over 75 per cent.

Commenting on how Amcor has risen to the challenges of providing packaging during the pandemic, Mulabagula said: “The basic needs of packaging have not gone away, which is to protect, preserve and promote but sustainability is being added and enhanced even prior to the pandemic”.

DID YOU KNOW...

AGILE IN THE FACE OF COVID-19 “It's been a challenging, but at the same time, very rewarding experience given the paramount importance of safety and health of our co-workers,” said Mulabagula.

“We started off importing PPE and masks from China. And we were the first organisation in Amcor to import and manage this complex supply chain to keep our plants and facilities running. So, we didn't miss a beat from a business continuity point of view, but we realised this was not a sustainable solution in the long term.”

Asset lifecycle assessment Asset is an Amcor tool that helps brand owners assess and accurately communicate their carbon footprint of their packaging products backed by independent verification and labelling from the renowned “Carbon Trust”.

Amcor is driving awareness in sustainability packaging with their Asset lifecycle assessment tool. Detailed packaging lifecycle reports provide fact-based criteria to identify lower environmental footprint options, enabling brand owners to make informed packaging decisions. The company conducts on average 850 packaging assessments for its customers each year.

“So, in collaboration with a strategic vendor we started our own new product line at our New Jersey facility, where we now make our own face masks that we commissioned in 12 weeks. And that was a record by itself.

“I'm really proud of what the team has accomplished, working tirelessly and seamlessly with stakeholders to rapidly install a new manufacturing line. We are now self-sufficient in our face masks and have started charitable donations to local nonprofitable organisations in communities we serve and operate. So that's been a fantastic and rewarding journey and a new experience for all of us at ARP.”

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AMCOR

*Photo taken before COVID-19

DID YOU KNOW...

GLOBAL ORIGINS MAPPED OUT FUTURE FOR AMCOR

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Amcor’s 160-year history touches almost every corner of the world as the founder Samuel Ramsden, a stone mason from Yorkshire, travelled to Australia in the 1860s to make his fortune by opening a paper mill in Melbourne.

Around the same time, in St Louis, Missouri, Judson Moss Bemis founded bag manufacturing J M Bemis & Company, which by the end of the 19th century was among the largest enterprises of its kind in the world.

March 2021

Amcor was historically known as APM, or Australian Paper Manufacturers, for more than a century, and in 2019 it acquired the Bemis & Company.

These two complementary companies have gone on to create the global leader in consumer packaging, with the footprint, scale and capabilities to drive significant value for shareholders and deliver the most sustainable innovations for the environment.

AMCOR

“I'm currently leading Amcor’s global rigid packaging procurement excellence journey while striving to meet aspirational sustainability objectives – that is what’s driving me – I have been part of four acquisitions in the last seven years, which has been a fantastic learning and growth opportunity” RANGA MULABAGULA VP OF GLOBAL PROCUREMENT, AMCOR

“This is a unique service from Amcor and important to our customers, who can be assured their product assessment is verified and validated by Amcor and Carbon Trust,” said Mulabagula.

Competitive advantage But what other factors are giving Amcor the competitive advantage? “We continue to focus on value creation for customers and markets – developing unique technologies to serve customer needs, pursuing acquisitions that expand our presence in emerging markets, and help improve the industry structure so we can enhance the value delivery across the packaging value stream.”

“We work closely with brand owners to make sure we are aligned with their corporate sustainability goals and promote our capabilities to accelerate their journey towards this important objective. So that collaboration, innovation, consolidation and communication leads to significant opportunities for customers and Amcor,” he said.

Alliance with Oakwood packaging Amcor works with many vendor partners but the partnership with Oakwood Packaging

is a unique one. “We buy secondary packaging but the relationship is broader than a typical “buy-sell” arrangement. We provide strong value for one another through collaboration in catering to markets we operate and customers we serve.”

“We are also embarking on a journey to make these products more sustainable – how can we drive more recycled content in the bags? Can we collaborate and standardise end of use solutions after consumption of these bags?

“So, there is significant opportunity in terms of re-using the products and also making sure we are putting sustainable materials in these products to start with,” said Mulabagula.

Another partner crucial for Amcor’s digital procurement initiative is Grainger who provides MRO parts and services through P2P enabled Ariba catalogs.

“I believe our ongoing digital procurement journey has set us up beautifully to take the next logical step in deploying future ROI driven solutions (ex: robotics process automation, machine learning, AI tools) in alignment with both internal and external stakeholder needs,” said Mulabagula.

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