Supply Chain - December 2021

December 2021 | supplychaindigital.com

MSD

TACKLING THE WORLD’S

GREATEST

HEALTH THREATS

MSD discuss how they will continue to be at the forefront of research to prevent and treat diseases that threaten people and animals

Global Supply Chains

Allianz Global Investors turbocharges its digital transformation and vendor management journey with SirionLabs Through SirionLabs’ smarter contracting solution - SirionOne, Allianz Global Investors has modernized its supplier management processes. The multinational financial services company uses SirionOne to manage time-intensive tasks like contract searching, categorizing, obligation management and vendor collaboration.

It has also been able to manage KPIs, milestones and deliverables while providing greater visibility to their suppliers.

Get Smarter Contracting!

Allianz Global Investors digitizes its supplier management processes with SirionLabs “Allianz Global Investors is leveraging best-in-class technology to supercharge the transformation of its vendor management,” says Helmut Boisch, Head of Vendor Management for Allianz Global Investors, about the key partnership with Contract Lifecycle Management leader SirionLabs.

“The journey with SirionLabs stands out,” Boisch says. The bank uses SirionOne to manage everything from the simple but time-intensive tasks of categorising and searching through contracts, to specifics such as surfacing and monitoring obligations and raising those with vendors. “Those things get managed automatically in SirionOne, the smarter contracting platform,” says Boisch. “That’s just one example, but there are many others for how we use SirionOne.” Other important processes, such as structuring and organising KPIs, creating reporting dashboards for internal stakeholders, and tracking impacts and trends that do not fall within traditional metrics are also seamlessly handled inside SirionOne. But Boisch says the true value of the partnership lies in the “many things SirionLabs is doing to broaden the way that the software can be used”.

“And that’s not even including all of the thought leadership that comes out of SirionLabs,” Boisch adds. “For a software vendor like SirionLabs to not only take the forefront of the development of how one steers a vendor like this, but to also provide the thought leadership and the ecosystem that allows you to connect with

other vendor managers, I think that’s a very, very powerful thing.”

The result is a true, tightly integrated, holistic supplier ecosystem. Boisch is actively working to onboard more of Allianz Global Investors’ suppliers to simplify documentation, improve collaboration and provide greater control and accuracy over documentation and obligation oversight. The company is thus all set to extract the maximum value out of their contracts by evaluating contract performance in its truest sense.

Examples include tracking a certain number of obligations on the part of the supplier, accessing documentation to prove the completion of external audits, or other vital data the firm needs to measure and collect.

“We are always looking at opportunities that require more scope within SirionOne, and how to connect the dots between Sirion and other providers that might be used in complementary departments within our firms,” Boisch says.

“Over time, we’ll continue to expand that.”

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The SupplyChain Team EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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GLEN WHITE

FOREWORD

Supply: the Grinch that stole Christmas?

With supply chains overworked and undermanned, good cheer may be in short supply this Christmas - but the reopening of the US to international air traffic hints at brighter times ahead

“Everyone has an annoying relative who brags about having all their Christmas shopping done early. This year the advice from many experts is you should be that annoying relative” RICHARD HOWELLS, SAP SUPPLY CHAIN THOUGHT LEADER

SUPPLYCHAIN DIGITAL MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY

A couple of short years ago, the only people talking about supply chains were stakeholders. Now, it’s one of the hottest news topics out there. That’s because supply is a hygiene factor: we only notice it when it’s not working properly.

It’s little wonder supply chains are overheating. They have been overwhelmed by the monumental upsurge in online shopping fuelled by the pandemic, and then hobbled by labour shortages at virtually every turn.

By Christmas, ‘supply’ could well be a dirty word, as toys, smartphones, consoles and trainers arrive long after the last of the turkey sandwiches has been snaffled, German software giant SAP has warned.

But there is hope. With the US finally opening its borders to fully vaccinated foreign nationals, airlines can again fill passenger flights with cargo, bringing much needed relief to log-jammed container ports the world over. Let’s just hope it’s not too late to save Christmas.

SEAN ASHCROFT

sean.ashcroft@bizclikmedia.com

© 2021 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

supplychaindigital.com

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CONTENTS

Our Regular Upfront Section: 10 Big Picture 12 The Brief 14 Timeline:

The history of supply

chain management 16 Legend:

Alicia Boler Davis 20 Five Mins With:

Tom Raftery

42

Procurement

Is Technology the Answer to Effective SRM?

26

50

Building a Digital Superhighway

Talking About a Human Revolution

MSD

SAP

72 64

University of Massachusetts Unifying Procurement to Drive Change

Supply Chain

Changing Change Management in the Supply Chain

96

Logistics

2022: The Future of Big Data & AI in Logistics

108 Reckitt

Embedding Quality in a Changing Environment

124 Top 10

Global Supply Chains

136 SSE

Data-driven, Frictionless, Insights and Creating Value

COMING SOON FOLLOW N OW

E DU C ATE • M OTIVATE • E LE VAT E 8

December 2021

About March8

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We recognise, celebrate and champion the achievements and contributions made by women in both business and society.

Our community offers practical and compelling career, financial and lifestyle resources to help women take their careers to the next level and achieve a work-life balance.

A BizClik Media Group Brand

FO LLOW N OW supplychaindigital.com

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BIG PICTURE

10

December 2021

Supply chain

SHORTAGE

will mean a tight Christmas for many UK

There will be no last-minute Christmas shopping in 2021, as supply chains struggle to meet consumer demand.

Supermarkets and shops have warned customers that many items will be in limited stock this year, from iPhones and kids toys to wine, poultry and turkey - even Christmas trees.

A recent study from IBM showed that 27% of consumers started their Christmas shopping in September, some even before.

87% of consumers said they would ‘shop for the holidays’ in 2021, an increase from 81% last year - yet shopping budgets are 13% lower than in 2019. supplychaindigital.com

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THE BRIEF “We are looking at how we can utilise blockchain technology to build an external digital superhighway that will gather and provide information. For MSD blockchain is a game changer” Fredric Brut

Head of Supply Chain for EMEA and APAC, MSD  READ MORE

“Our purpose is to provide the energy needed today, for building a better world for energy tomorrow” Ronnie Fleming

Chief Procurement Officer, SSE 

BY THE NUMBERS Oracle, Supply chain disruptions survey

Supply chain disruption concerns grow in the United States

45%

81%

Of people admit that they never thought about how their products are delivered prior to COVID

Of Americans are prepared to pay a premium for smooth and timely delivery of their items

84%

63%

Of people report that Of people want more delays would cause them regular updates from to cancel an order, 80% brands regarding their say that delays/shortages shipping status, with 59% would cause them to stop wanting more transparency buying from a brand entirely on inventory

READ MORE

“We are here to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world. This is what drives me every day in the decisions I take. It means that we are always looking at better solutions” Valerie Sieurin

Senior Vice President, Global Head of Quality, Reckitt  READ MORE

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December 2021

How vital is the UK construction supply chain to the country achieving net-zero?

Currently, the UK construction supply chain is responsible for 80% of the sector’s emissions. Therefore it will be imperative for the sector to understand how prepared the supply chain is, and where it needs support in order READ MORE to succeed.

Find out more 

Future-proofing quality management Digital capabilities, operational transformation, public value shifts; these are just some of the things shifting the way organisations are managing quality.

“The world we know is disappearing and reorganising in a very different way. For quality leaders, it is no longer about incremental change, but about transformation and defining what the future of quality management will look like,” said Ankur Mehta, director advisory with the Gartner Supply Chain practice.

So how can supply chain leaders future-proof their quality management?

Gartner identifies four key areas of transformation: • Value proposition: predictive quality to unlock value.

• Scope: connected across the ecosystem.

• Governance Model: flexible open-source.

• Implementation strategy: embedded in the business.

“In the future, the role of the quality management department will be more that of a coach or consultant that supports employees in seamlessly implementing quality procedures into their agile working styles,” Mehta concluded.

To find out more, click here

 APPLE Despite being among the many organisations facing supply chain disruptions and shortages, Apple reports a strong financial quarter, with a revenue of US$83.4bn; up 29% yearon-year.  SAMSUNG While the global chip shortage could limit demand for some of Samsung’s mobile customers, the technology company is optimistic for its server and personal computer chip demand, which is expected to be robust in 2022.

 CHINA China continues to face supply chain disruptions, in particular a shortage of shipping containers.

A recent report by Hillebrand, highlighted that for every 100 containers heading to America, only 40 return.  AMAZON Following Amazon’s announcement to its investors that fourthquarter sales are likely to be between US130bn and US$140bn - lower than the expected US$142.05bn Amazon’s shares dropped by 4%.

W I N N E R S DEC21

L O S E R S

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TIMELINE THE HISTORY OF

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Supply Chains, the centre web connecting us around the world, latest disruptions, constraints and shortages have emphasised the significance of these functions to the day to day runnings. In this timeline we look at the history of supply chain management.

1900 S Local supply chains Prior to the first industrial revolution, supply chains were typically local and restricted to regions. As the use of railroads increased so did the distance that goods could be distributed.

1963

1960 S

1950 S

The National Council

Physical distribution

The National Council of Physical Distribution Management was formed.

By the 1960s, DHL joined the growing number of logistics providers, along with FedEx in the 1970s.

In this time, time-dependent freight transportation transitioned to trucks, which led to organisations coining the concept ‘physical distribution’.

Supply chains continue to grow

1963 IBM IBM develops the first computerised inventory management and forecasting system.

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December 2021

1975 IBM First real-time warehouse management system installed.

Between the 1900s and 1950s, global supply chains started to take shape, organisations such as UPS opened their doors.

Industry leaders began to look at improving manual processes, researching the use of mechanisation, and demonstrating the benefits of analytics in military logistics following World War II.

The technological revolution and globalisation

1990 S

The 1990s to 2000s saw the supply chain industry further grow with the invention of solutions such as ERP and advanced planning and scheduling, as well as the increase in global imports and exports; in 2006, US imports from China grew from US$45bn (1995) to over US$280bn.

1982

1996

1997

Supply chain management

Cobot

Keith Oliver coined the term ‘supply chain management’

Amazon goes public, becoming the first internet retailer to secure one million customers

The first collaborative robot (cobot) was invented.

1980 S

2005

2007

Supply chains continue to grow

Council of Logistics Management changes its name to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

Prime

With the development of personal computers, supply chains had better access to planning capabilities, including spreadsheets and map-based interfaces.

By the mid-1980s supply chains were being considered an expensive, important, and complex function. Reflecting this transition, the National Council of Physical Distribution Management changed its name to the Council of Logistics Management (CLM) to represent inbound, outbound and reverse flows.

Amazon launches Amazon Prime offering next day delivery.

2010 Industry 4.0 While the likes of AI, data, and IoT have been around for many years prior to 2010, the last decade has seen an exponential increase in technology adoption and innovation and supply chains have not been left out. Organisations around the world have been driving their digital transformation strategies. supplychaindigital.com

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TRAILBLAZER

Leading in engineering with

ALICIA BOLER DAVIS Senior Vice President, Amazon

E

arlier this year, Amazon set out to hire 150,000 seasonal workers from across the USA, as the global warehouse prepared for the Christmas holidays.

The Senior Vice President for global customer fulfillment at Amazon, Alicia Boler Davis, was proud to offer these new roles, as extra workers will support those already in Amazon and help the company meet customer expectations.

“Our seasonal hiring helps us deliver on our promises to customers while also providing flexibility to our full-time employees during busy periods,” said Boler Davis.

In 2020, sales at Amazon rose 21% over the Christmas period from the previous year and Boler Davies anticipates similar results this year.

Leadership As the Senior Vice President of Global Customer Fulfillment at Amazon, Boler Davies spearheads Amazon’s work in sustainability, product safety and security organisations, as well as global engineering services. Furthermore, she leads more than 300 fulfillment centres, which distribute Amazon’s products, in 16 countries.

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December 2021

TRAILBLAZER

Boler Davies was credited in our Top 100 Supply Chain Leaders and came in at #19, for managing such a variety of tasks.

Maths, science and engineering In middle school, Boler Davies excelled in maths and science. At home, she was known in her family as the one responsible for fixing things.

“Someone said ‘Engineers fix things,’ and I had no idea what an engineer was, but I started telling people in middle school that I was going to be an engineer,” said Boler Davies.

She eagerly set to work and scored multiple degrees in the subject: A BA in Chemical Engineering at Northwestern University, an MA in Engineering Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, another MA in Business Administration from Indiana University and she completed a course in Executive Leadership Harvard University.

By 2018, Alicia Boler Davis was recognised as both The Most Powerful Female Engineer and Black Engineer of the Year.

Asking for a raise When employed as a plant manager, Boler Davies felt she deserved to be compensated more and considered asking for a raise, but it was seeing the wage paid to her second in command which pushed her to do so.

“When we brought him in and I saw his salary I almost fell out of my chair,” remembers Boler Davies. She put together a business case as to why she deserved to be paid more and she got it.

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December 2021

“Confidence, curiosity and courage have carried me through my career” Boler Davies encouraged guests at Fortune magazine to push for a raise, acknowledging it is a tough subject to broach.

“This is what I’ve done, this is what I bring to the table and I think I deserve to be compensated for that,” she summarised.

Fundamental habits “In many ways, I am where I am, because of how prepared I was to succeed when I finished my programme,” Boler Davis told the 2018 graduating class at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in her commencement address. “Many of the fundamental habits for success remain the same, hard work, dedication and perseverance.”

Boler Davies’ future will remain on the trajectory she set it on from middle school - fixing things with a fierce curiosity.

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FIVE MINUTES WITH...

TOM

RAFTERY

Global VP, futurist, and innovation evangelist at SAP

SAP’s Tom Raftery talks about pandemic-driven step-changes in supply chain tech, and how plant science was the springboard for his current future-gazing role Q. YOU STUDIED PLANT SCIENCE. HOW DID YOU GET FROM THERE TO YOUR CURRENT ROLE?

» I like to be at the cutting edge of

things. In the 1980s and early 90s, a lot of groundbreaking stuff was happening in biology, which is why I chose plant science at the University College Cork, because it had a very good molecular genetics department.

My third- and fourth-year project was to find a way to genetically fingerprint plants. It was really interesting stuff. And of course to do a lot of that, I had to get familiar with computers, and that’s when I caught the computer bug.

When I later returned to the university to do a PhD my hobby became computers, and I started teaching people in the university how to use them, and then did the same for local companies. What began as a hobby then overtook the PhD project. I ended up setting up a computer company and everything went from there.

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December 2021

Q. YOUR JOB DESCRIPTION ISN’T SOMETHING YOU TYPICALLY SEE ON A BUSINESS CARD. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE WHAT YOU DO?

» A lot of what I do is to observe

what is happening in technology, and then I project trends. Another way of looking at it is I foresee the logical conclusion of things. Take the energy industry, for example. Think of where it was with oil, gas and coal up until very recently, and how now it’s transitioning to renewables. I will study this sea change and project forward, to chart where it's likely to go from there.

Similarly, if you look at the automotive space. Until recently most cars had internal combustion engines but now, electric vehicles are just starting to take hold and things will change quickly from this point.

So it’s all about charting the future, by drawing on the past and present.

That's what it is to be a futurist.

“ AS HUMANS, WE’RE ALL FALLIBLE, WHICH IS WHY I DON'T REALLY HAVE IDOLS”

FIVE MINUTES WITH...

Q. WHO DO YOU SERVE?

» I serve two constituencies: my

colleagues in SAP, but also SAP’s customers.

I serve my colleagues by helping the organisation decide on what kinds of products we need to develop to meet the demand likely to be out there in 5-10 years’ time.

But then I also do a lot of talks as well for third-party conferences, and also for the leadership teams of our big customers at their events.

Q. YOU LIKE TO QUOTE THE NOVELIST WILLIAM GIBSON, WHO SAID: ‘THE FUTURE IS ALREADY HERE, IT’S JUST NOT EVENLY DISTRIBUTED.’ DOES THAT APPLY TO SUPPLY CHAIN TECHNOLOGY?

» Yes, it does. Take the Internet

of Things (IoT). The uptake of this varies hugely. Imagine a large manufacturer, for example. They might have 100 identical machines in their manufacturing facility. Now, the cost of putting sensors on all of the machines will probably be too high, so they might have sensors on five, and use that data to extrapolate what's going on with the other 95.

Cost is always a big factor in the adoption of technology, yet the cost of IoT tech is dropping all the time, so in five years' time that manufacturer might have sensors on all 100 machines.

But looking at the wider picture, a lot of companies haven't deployed any IoT tech at all, so you also have that aspect of it too. There’s a spectrum of tech deployment across entire sectors.

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December 2021

And of course there is always a geographical aspect to the adoption of technology. Countries in the developing world will not adopt at anything like the pace of those in the developed world.

Q. WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN BEING IN FIVE YEARS’ TIME?

» We're seeing huge changes at the

moment, such as the ditigisation of supply chains - mostly kick-started by the pandemic. The thing about such changes is they take time, because it involves multiple stages. But the changes will become more obvious over the coming years, until every aspect of the supply chain is digital.

But digitisation won’t happen evenly because a lot will depend on where companies were when Covid kicked in. Some had already embarked on digitising their supply chain, but others hadn’t, and are now struggling to keep up. Some have made no start at all, and are in deep trouble.

The companies with the best supply chains will be the ones that survived.

Just look at Apple. The reason Tim Cook became CEO of Apple is because he was a supply chain guy and he made their supply chain super efficient.

“ TECHNOLOGY IS LIKE ANY TOOL. IT'S LIKE A KNIFE. YOU CAN USE A KNIFE TO BUTTER BREAD, OR YOU CAN USE IT TO STAB PEOPLE”

Q. IS TECHNOLOGY ALWAYS A GOOD THING?

» No, of course not. It's like any tool,

it's like a knife. You can use a knife to butter bread, or you can use it to stab people. It’s the same with technology.

As long as it's used for what it's developed for, then it does good.

In the context of supply chains, if you think back to how things were pre-pandemic, supply chain tech was optimised by lowest cost, which meant supply chains were fragile, because there was no form of backup in place. Inventories were bare minimum.

So then when the supply chain was disrupted, they broke down. The takehome lesson for organisations was that supply chains need to be more resilient.

Q. WHO INSPIRES YOU, PROFESSIONALLY?

» I've been asked this before and I

never know how to answer it, because everyone is fallible. Take Elon Musk. He has achieved some incredible things, but then his attitude to unions is, shall we say, unfortunate. And I feel his stance on cryptocurrencies is cavalier. That’s just one example of a notable person who’s fallible. I could give you many. supplychaindigital.com

23

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26

December 2021

MSD

BUILDING A DIGITAL SUPERHIGHWAY

WRITTEN BY: LEILA HAWKINS & CLARISSE DIAS DA MOTA PRODUCED BY: TOM LIVERMORE

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27

MSD

We speak to pharmaceutical leader MSD (Merck in the US and Canada) about digitising the supply chain and their global blockchain innovation programme

M

SD's origins go all the way back to the 17th century, when Friedrich Jacob Merck purchased a drug store in Germany, which later evolved into a drug manufacturer. Today it is not only one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies but is also one of the world's biggest companies in any sector, ranked 69 on the 2021 Fortune 500 list.

Five years ago, MSD began a digital transformation programme, with the aim of accelerating growth and modernising operating models across the business, including the supply chain.

Paolo Migliari, Executive Director Supply Excellence and Head of Connected Channels Global Blockchain Programme explains that the patient is at the core of the digital project. "Everything we do in terms of digital transformation should be patient-centric.

Whatever we build in our digital portfolio must have the patient at the centre."

MSD has a "plant to patient" programme with four key priorities: leveraging data to enable automation and move towards more advanced analytics; streamlining decisionmaking and ways of collaborating; focusing on growth drivers; and innovating with Blockchain technology to create additional value.

A key goal is to get products to the patients as fast as possible, as well as reducing overall cost and friction. "We are building solutions

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December 2021

to make the supply chain more secure and of higher quality, by helping other institutions help with patient adherence" Migliari adds. "The aim is to create an ecosystem that will allow usto make this possible."

Within MSD's digital transformation is a digital logistics programme. Fredric Brut, Head of Supply Chain for EMEA and APAC, explains: "Supply chain transparency and real-time visibility of inventory positioning and movement, driven by increased value of freight, time and temperature sensitivity of the product portfolio, and potential for freight diversion, offered an opportunity to engage in more real-time alert track and trace technology.”

In 2015 MSD began to review its technology, and invited TransVoyant on board as a partner to provide IoT capabilities.

TransVoyant provides a consolidated data platform that helps MSD track products through IoT (Internet of Things) monitoring services, that offer real-time visibility and responsiveness in terms of shipment position, temperature, light and other critical aspects of shipping.

"TransVoyant is a key partner for us," Brut says.

"We leverage their digital technology in a cloudbased platform, to drive data integration, return shipment visibility, lane risk assessment and predictive analysis. It's a really great application and service for us to track our products through. and with some 3rd party warehouses”.

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See. Understand.

Improve.

TransVoyant provides real-time transparency and live situational awareness enabling actionable intelligence for end-to-end global supply chains.

� �

P

redicting Supply Chain Behaviour Using Big Data, ML/AI, and Blockchain

Jim Butera, Vice President of Customer Growth, explains how TransVoyant provides real-time actionable intelligence to supply chain professionals TransVoyant’s world-class Continuous Decision Intelligence (CDI) platform tracks over one trillion events per day to provide supply chain professionals with live transparency, real-time situational awareness and predictive insight. The company’s customers are forward-leaning companies with complex global supply chains that need to ensure their high-value/ high-consequence goods are delivered on time and in proper condition. Top tier pharmaceutical, automotive, consumer goods and industrial supply companies are lining up to work with them.

Since 2012, the company has analysed big data streams with its proprietary ML/AI models to help predict arrival times, anticipate delays due to global events, measure lead times, optimise capacity, labour, and inventory. This enables customers to proactively find opportunities to cut costs, improve customer service and anticipate disruptions.

Data-Driven Insight To provide the type of out-of-the-box intelligence in which TransVoyant specialises, you need:

•

Enterprise Data. Orders from ERP, inventory from warehouse management, and shipments from transportation systems.

•

Trading Partners Data. Intelligence that is collected from outside of the four walls of the enterprise but that remains relevant to the company’s industry.

•

Risk Events. Natural disasters, epidemics, and geopolitical upheaval: anything that surrounds and could impact a company’s supply chain.

TransVoyant immediately brings two out of three sources to the table: trading partners and risk event data. Fused with its customers’ enterprise data using a private blockchain, applies ML/AI, automation, and customers get actionable supply chain intelligence.

Self-Service Software As TransVoyant continues to evolve and mature, its clients increasingly use its platform to achieve unique, company-specific supply chain insights—all without TransVoyant’s help. “It’s a new paradigm given my 20+ years in the enterprise software space”, Jim says. It has never been easier or more cost-effective for customers to digitally transform their supply chains”.

learn more

MSD

A good example of how real-time information is key in achieving a secure supply chain is how it supported MSD during the Suez Canal blockage in March 2021.

"With just one click we could check where our products were. At the time we had 12 shipments going from Europe to Asia Pacific, and fortunately, they had already passed the canal, but we were able to immediately identify and ensure this."

The use of IoT has provided MSD with several clear benefits to date. "In less than 18 months and to prevent loss of product in transportation we have tracked 7,000 shipments, reduced shipment expenses and inventory discards, optimised the sales when supply is constrained, increase our company reputation from missed customer commitments and made insurance premium cost reductions," Brut explains. The total sales value of benefits is above average, he adds.

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December 2021

“ WE ARE LOOKING AT HOW WE CAN UTILIZE BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY TO BUILD AN EXTERNAL DIGITAL SUPERHIGHWAY THAT WILL GATHER AND PROVIDE INFORMATION. FOR MSD BLOCKCHAIN IS A GAME-CHANGER” FREDERIC BRUT

HEAD OF SUPPLY CHAIN EMEA & APAC, MSD

Building a digital superhighway

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To date, all manufacturing sites, including critical CMO Partners, have been enrolled and are utilising the complete digital portfolio, or are engaged with the IoT device use, as the global implementation is finalised.

Next step will be to use digital logistics data as an input source and with a supply chain control tower, reduce resource intensity and mitigate logistics disruption. We want to also facilitate the integration to other data sources and ecosystems to improve collaboration within the logistics networks.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of supply chain visibility. “At the start of the pandemic, due to restrictions imposed in many countries, across the world, we saw massive supply disruption that rippled through the entire chain, causing shortages of different products in many locations. From this experience, many organisations and governments see the importance of supply chain resilience.

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December 2021

Through digitalisation, and a trusted network ecosystem, organisations can make use of connected devices and leverage the application of digital twins in their supply chain operations. This will allow a bird’s eye view of the end-to-end supply chain, enabling real-time alerts of potential risk events, quicker decision making, and greater flexibility to react to sudden shocks globally, ensuring patients and customers of MSD can continue to rely and trust on a stable supply.

In a post-pandemic world, the behaviour of consumers (and patients) has changed as well, the shift in frequency/channel of purchase will require a corresponding change in supply chains. So digitalising our supply chain will allow for the organisation to better cater to this paradigm shift – for example supply-replenishment, connectivity with e-commerce platforms (direct to consumer model for prescription medicine),” Brut says.

MSD

FREDERIC BRUT TITLE: HEAD OF SUPPLY CHAIN EMEA & APAC INDUSTRY: PHARMACEUTICALS

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: SWITZERLAND Brut joined MSD in 2013, initially as the Head of Global Logistics & Operations for the EMEA region. He has moved into several senior roles while here before becoming Head of Supply Chain for EMEA and APAC in May 2020.

Before MSD, he spent five years as Head of Operations and Supply Chain for Walgreens Boots Alliance, one of the largest pharmacy retail companies in the world.

Brut is Non Executive Board Member at Sitel Group (BPO, Digital transformation) Brut describes himself as an inclusive leader, inquisitive, self-assured, and dedicated to empowering people.

“ SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSPARENCY AND REAL-TIME VISIBILITY OF THE INVENTORY IS KEY” FREDERIC BRUT

HEAD OF SUPPLY CHAIN EMEA & APAC, MSD

Daniel Laverick, VP, Head of Digital and Data Solutions at Zuellig Pharma, tells us about innovations in blockchain technology and working with MSD.

Laverick focuses on developing customerfacing innovations to enable secure ordering and ensuring the pharmaceutical supply chains are visible.

Zuellig Pharma was founded nearly 100 years ago, and has grown to become one of the largest healthcare service provider groups in Asia, valued at US$13 billion.

Key products include the online ordering portal eZRx, and eZVax, a solution that provides governments, local health authorities and the private sector with end-to-end vaccine management.

The latter is primarily used for the COVID-19 vaccine currently, but Laverick says the plan is for this to be used for any vaccine in the future.

Another important service is the eZTracker solution, which uses blockchain-

based technology to drive transparency and visibility in the supply chain for product authentication. eZTracker’s partnership with MSD began in 2020 when eZTracker was deployed in Hong Kong to enhance the traceability of Gardasil®9, MSD’s HPV vaccine.

Laverick explains how eZTracker works: “As the vaccines move through various handover points in the supply chain, the products’ data points are loaded into eZTracker’s secure blockchain ledger, and this ensures it can’t be tampered with.

Users such as healthcare professionals and patients are able to verify the authenticity of the vaccines by scanning a unique data matrix code on the product pack.”

Collaboration between the two companies has grown since then. “We work closely with MSD’s Connected Channel globally, as well as the regional teams, on expanding the use and outreach of eZTracker” Laverick says. “It really is to support the initiative that MSD has, to go from plant to patient and track and trace its product and material movements.”

Zuellig Pharma recently completed a project to explore how blockchain technology can be leveraged further to provide more visibility around inventory and streamline ordering processes. Next, Zuellig Pharma is looking at ways MSD can have a self-operated node to be in control of the data the blockchain contains.

“We have a very strong partnership with MSD” he adds. “We look forward to continuing to build on this, and seeing how we can support digitally enabled end-to-end supply chains, and the vision to track from plant to patient.”

Learn more

MSD

PAOLO MIGLIARI TITLE: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SUPPLY EXCELLENCE INDUSTRY: PHARMACEUTICALS LOCATION: ITALY

EXECUTIVE BIO

Paolo joined MSD in 2019 to set up and lead the Connected Channels blockchain programme and to drive MSD’s engagement in the blockchain sector and PharmaLedger consortium.

Paolo has over 20 years’ experience in pharmaceutical data analytics. He combines the use of technology with a deep knowledge of the pharmaceutical market and its dynamics acquired through consulting activities for several large pharmaceutical companies and many years in business development in companies such as Aegate, CegedimDendrite, IMS Health and Codd & Date.

“ EVERYTHING WE DO IN TERMS OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SHOULD BE PATIENT-CENTRIC” PAOLO MIGLIARI

EXECUTIVE DIRECTO SUPPLY EXCELLENCE, MSD

MSD

Another key element of MSD's digital journey is the use of blockchain technology.

"Imagine a future where we digitally connect to our external partners," Brut says. "We are looking at how we can utilise blockchain technology to build an external digital superhighway that will gather and provide information, even make decisions based on algorithms built into the blockchain. For MSD, blockchain is a game-changer."

Blockchain is a team effort, Migliari says, and for this purpose, MSD is part of a research and innovation consortium called PharmaLedger where the company has heavily invested to build the collaboration and network with 11 pharmaceutical companies and 17 other entities, including patient representative organisations, research, and academic organisations. It is a three year expedited co-creation effort

between the industry and healthcare stakeholders. The project is sponsored by the pharma industry – EFPIA and the EU Commission with a total EUR 22 million funding.

Industry collaboration is the key success factor in the journey to unleash the power and potential of blockchain technology.

MSD has been championing this challenge with the creation of a Global Blockchain Consensus Board. The forum, which has so far brought together 14 of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world to facilitate progress in blockchain adoption, has no cost, is open to all industry members to join and operates under a legal framework and anti-trust compliance.

"In terms of the ecosystem we have to engage in mindful supply chain partnerships," says Brut. "For instance, MSD is also partnering with wholesalers, distribution partners and clinics in Asia Pacific and Canada to seek rapid customer integration, demonstrate the benefits achieved, and meet the transformation agendas of governments while leveraging the digital twin and blockchain capabilities.”

If we talk about applications on top of blockchain-enabled networks, our goal is expand our business case portfolio and the deployment of solutions under major capability areas, such as product traceability and anti-counterfeiting; eLeaflet; inventory visibility; and auto-order management, Testing on Importation among other possibilities at the supply chain domain.

In clinical trials we explore eRecruitment, eConsent , IoT use in trials and more through the consortium.

Geography is equally important, as it can dictate the partnerships, choice of network, with the most useful applications (i.e. anticounterfeiting in emerging markets and eLeaflet for paperless markets). supplychaindigital.com

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1891

YEAR FOUNDED

Biopharmaceutical INDUSTRY

74,000

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

$48bn REVENUE

This can be achieved with technology.

The objective is to have a foundational stack with a modular architecture, to join existing networks vs creating our own, depending on geography and aligned strategies.

Zuellig Pharma supports the physical distribution, warehousing and order fulfilment of MSD products in the Asia Pacific region, through blockchain-based solutions. An example of this is the mobile application used in Hong Kong for MSD’s Gardasil®9, HPV vaccine. It was created to enable healthcare providers and patients 40

December 2021

to verify the provenance on a unit level and report suspicious packs and with that help increase safety in a region challenged by counterfeit medicines.

In APAC, MSD and Zuellig Pharma are co-developing and testing a trusted network to which MSD expect will attract more of its Pharma peers. The partnership with distributors and wholesalers adds enormous value to the traceability of pharmaceutical products, without the partnership of Zuellig Pharma or other distributors the final benefit to the customer and patient would be reduced.

MSD

“WE CALL IT CONNECTED CHANNELS BECAUSE WE NEED TO BE SURE THAT THE ECOSYSTEM WE ARE BUILDING, STARTING FROM THE MANUFACTURER AND ENDING WITH THE PATIENT, IS CONNECTED” PAOLO MIGLIARI

EXECUTIVE DIRECTO SUPPLY EXCELLENCE, MSD

Having a robust, external partner network is part of MSD's Connected Channels programme. "The reason we call it Connected Channels is because we need to be sure that the ecosystem we are building, starting from the manufacturer and ending with the patient, with partners, stakeholders, pharmacies and doctors in the middle, are all able to be connected with each other" Migliari explains.

Connecting these different actors must require little effort - it could be via an app on a smartphone, or a system used to manage a clinics. "It's so patients and healthcare practitioners can really take advantage of what we are building as an added service and can be part of that value creation as well."

Migliari says they are ensuring data will be correctly managed and secure and will also enable patients to take ownership of the data. The architecture must have “privacy by design” as its core concept and data must be self-sovereign for the people using it.

“It's really an environment where all the partners and stakeholders own their own data and understand how this data is used."

Migliari emphasises that it's important for pharmaceutical companies to collaborate with each other. "Pharmaceutical companies absolutely must compete, but we also need to really take advantage of collaboration,

within legal parameters, especially in the case of logistics. All pharmaceutical companies should collaborate to be sure that the genuine product will arrive as fast as possible to the patient."

Collaboration will also help to reduce counterfeit products, another key aim of the aforementioned PharmaLedger. "Once we have all the pharmaceutical companies and supply chain partners on board it will really change our approach and make the environment easier to use and also more secure," Migliari says.

He hopes the concept will become widely adopted. "The idea is great, and this digital ecosystem will be of advantage to everybody as the purpose is to be patientcentric. I believe that is an objective of all pharmaceutical companies."

MSD’s digital innovation journey is the walk of the talk. It started with a good look into its own operations and infrastructure and in finding the right partners to digitalise logistics. Now it continues to evolve towards an outward focus and the creation of a common utility network which the industry can adopt, and customers and patients can benefit from.

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IS TECHNOLOGY THE ANSWER TO EFFECTIVE SRM? Duncan Brock (CIPS) and Nitin Salvio Dsouza (Publicis Sapient) discuss technology’s role in effective supplier relationship management (SRM) WRITTEN BY: GEORGIA WILSON

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FEATURE PROCUREMENT HEADER

P

ut simply, “if your suppliers fail, you fail,” says Duncan Brock, Group Director at CIPS. Businesses during the pandemic were quick to discover that “finding alternative sources for goods that failed to show up wasn’t easy. If you’re sourcing halfway across the world and expect to find sources closer to home, that is not always possible. When your suppliers’ suppliers failed, you may not even have known until weeks later which made finding a solution more difficult.”

Agreeing with Brock, Martin Wabara, Head of Supplier Sales for GHX Europe comments: “it is fair to say that 2021 was like no other year! Many organisations have had to evolve how they operate inside and out. This has led to a change in how people build and cultivate relationships. Many would agree that

managing these relationships will now require enhanced use of technology to further understand and respond to customer needs in the new remote and hybrid-remote era of working.”

By adopting an effective supplier relationship management (SRM) strategy, organisations can assess and support suppliers in their obligations to fulfil the contract terms. “By breaking down the processes in the relationship, the procurement team can measure success at each level and criteria to deliver the right outcomes for the business,” added Brock.

The basic components when it comes to managing your suppliers include a deep dive into their ethical conduct, accountability, governance, how effectively they communicate, their willingness to collaborate and be open and resourceful. supplychaindigital.com

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Unify Systems.

Optimize Suppliers.

Empower People.

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PROCUREMENT

“ There are benefits for both sides. Buyers can learn from their suppliers and consider innovative approaches and this also broadens their outlook in their particular market. Suppliers can benefit through support from their customers when times are difficult, especially if it’s a David and Goliath situation where a large corporation works with a small business”

NITIN SALVIO DSOUZA TITLE: DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN LEAD FOR EMEA APAC, PUBLICIS SAPIENT Nitin Salvio Dsouza. Digital supply chain lead for EMEA APAC, Publicis Sapient driving the next generation consumer focussed, cost effective supply chains at global retailers and CPG firms.

DUNCAN BROCK TITLE: GROUP DIRECTOR AT CIPS CIPS is the largest professional body in the world for procurement and supply management. We train in all aspects of procurement and supply management and our qualifications are accredited around the globe. As Group Director at CIPS, I head up the CIPS for a business team supporting corporates in a range of services to make improvements to their teams and operations in procurement and supply. We exist for the public good and are a non-profit, supporting buyers and professionals at all levels and many roles.

DUNCAN BROCK

DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN LEAD FOR EMEA APAC, PUBLICIS SAPIEN

• Cost efficiency: close collaboration, results in more accurate forecasts, and honest decision making on how to improve production and procurement efficiencies.

• Technological advances: suppliers and buyers can advise each other on the latest developments.

• Market development: shared ideas can create new markets.

• Risk reduction: understanding suppliers results in fewers risks of fraud or modern slavery that could be hidden deep within multiple supplier layers.

• Sustainability: ethical initiatives such as sustainability can be shared with suppliers and encourage development. Good supplier management of supply chains can help to reduce waste and carbon emissions.

MEET THE SPEAKERS

The benefits of effective SRM

MARTIN WABARA TITLE: HEAD OF SUPPLIER SALES FOR GHX EUROPE I’m Martin Wabara, Head of Supplier Sales for GHX Europe. I’m ultimately responsible for ensuring the growth of GHX ecommerce purchase to pay solutions and service utilisation with a wide range of suppliers throughout Europe

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PROCUREMENT

In order to be effective in SRM, “trust, collaboration, coordination, and transparency are vital ingredients of supplier relationship management. Successful supplier relationships have a multiplier effect on extracting joint value for both parties and driving competing advantage,” says Nitin Salvio Dsouza, Digital Supply Chain Lead for EMEA APAC, Publicis Sapient.

Agreeing with Dsouza that open, transparent, honest communications, alongside a willingness to collaborate is crucial to effective SRM, Brock sees technology being a great enabler for increasing the processes speed, such as automation for transactional procedures. “It can make supply chains more transparent so

businesses are less likely to be the victims of fraud or inadvertently finding slavery further down the supply chain. Businesses now have more data than ever before but don’t know how to use it. By harvesting supply chain data, businesses can find new markets or can be notified of any red flags that can increase risk for their operations,” said Brock.

“Technology is a key enabler of a successful SRM,” added Dsouza. “At Publicis Sapient, we work with leading retailers, designing and building tools based on supplier experience through the lifecycle; from source to contract, contract to procurement and procurement to payment.

We have developed next generation supplier relationship solutions that enable

What is Supplier Relationship Management?

Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) a ‘soft skill’ for procurement and supply managers. The process involves a relationship formed between buyer and supplier that is subject to goods or services being purchased and supplied.

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PROCUREMENT

sharing of highly useful, actionable data in real time, whether it's for consumer insights for demand planning, or inventory data for replenishment. We ensure the systems make every interaction between the supplier and client have the least amount of friction possible. We automate processes to reduce the cost of operations, such as self-service catalogue set up, pricing and promotion.

We work with clients in providing tools to self-certify, following best practice audit requirements and enabling companies to verify adherence to standards and provenance.”

But is technology alone the answer?

“Technology is one of many elements,” adds Dsouza, who explains that “it certainly is key

to effective SRM, when implemented in the right ways, but it does not operate alone, in a bubble. Strategy and culture are also vital.”

Which is why organisations that are looking to ensure that their SRM is sustainable should invest time and effort into not only technology, but also people and processes. “Buyers need to be keenly aware and understand the benefits of enabling a sustainable supplier relationship. It is important to source and procure wisely, selecting the right partners who meet the goals, objectives and values of the company,” says Dsouza.

“The next step is to enable the right mechanisms when sharing information, ways of working, financing and putting in controls that can augment the relationship. Also key

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PROCUREMENT

“ I think they are interchangeable. Management implies an imbalance in the relationship where the buyer has the upper hand and has to ensure the supplier is meeting their targets for instance.

During disruptive times, a supplier can hold just as much power if the one essential component they are supplying but not delivering holds up your production line” DUNCAN BROCK

DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN LEAD FOR EMEA APAC, PUBLICIS SAPIEN

is setting up the right operating model that drives governance, with a focus on making the relationship work. Senior stakeholders need to be involved.”

Adding to Dsouza’s comments, Wabara says: “We also need to get much better at using data in our processes. The supply chain stands to benefit hugely from greater levels of data analytics, which enables both greater insight across the supply chain for customers and suppliers as well as allowing for data-driven efficiency savings by driving down human error and speeding up order processes. This improved sustainability derived from better data use will also lead to more sustainable practices throughout the supply chain, as logistics becomes streamlined and waste is minimised. With COP26 showing that the world is expecting an urgent shift towards more sustainability, getting data analytics right will be critical both for supplier management and the wider transformation of supply chains into more efficient and sustainable structures.” supplychaindigital.com

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Talking about a ‘human’ revolution WRITTEN BY: MARK JACKSON

PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE

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SAP

Dr Tom Janoshalmi, SVP in Customer Success at SAP, talks Fifth Industrial Revolution with humans at its heart and a resilient and ethical value chain

W

ith organisations across the world being held more accountable for the labour practices and environmental consequences of the goods and services they procure both by customers and governments, a key question businesses should ask is how ethical is your supply chain, says Tom Janoshalmi.

“I’m a passionate believer of how every supply chain needs to be designed to be resilient and to be transparently sustainable,” says Janoshalmi. He feels that in today’s world, there is a “clear need to have a consolidated, single view of who organisations serve, their business partners, whether that’s customers and suppliers.”

SAP is a German multinational software corporation based in Walldorf, BadenWürttemberg. It develops enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. As Senior Vice President in Customer Success Janoshalmi’s role is to look after the next generation cloud delivery programme for a wide range of clients.

“What makes me proud is the impact that we can have both on our customer's businesses, but also on people's lives,” he says.

“It’s really fascinating to see that transactions that are processed through 52

December 2021

SAP systems and technology can impact so many lives whether it’s a pharmaceutical company that produces vaccinations and that’s how we will save lives, or whether it’s an airplane manufacturer which makes sure that flying becomes safer because we process data in a very different way, or whether it’s an energy and natural resource company which is shifting completely towards future energies or a carbon neutral footprint.”

Now, management teams are not just looking into how the current global crisis is impacting their company, but that their business processes are future proof. This has to take into account the new business environment. With more people working and buying remotely, the Covid pandemic has accelerated technology shifts with most transactions now taking place online.

“ What makes me proud is the impact that we can have both on our customers' businesses, but also on people's lives” DR TOM JANOSHALMI

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

Dr Tom Janoshalmi

SAP

Talking about a ‘human’ revolution

“Even customers who previously didn’t have an e-commerce focus are now pivoting business models and business processes towards these online transactions,” he says.

Janoshalmi believes that this digital transformation lends itself to a new data strategy that can remodel business

“ What is coming next is really to buy better,” he says. “If I had to use just two words, then it’s really to buy better” DR TOM JANOSHALMI

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

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processes to establish “responsible supply chain practises and processes that will ultimately make the organisation more competitive.”

Bluntly put, this requires a business to know precisely what is going on not just within its HQ, but throughout its supply chain.

“For a supply chain to be environmentally responsible and ethical the company needs to have full control of the end to end processes and not just on paper, but within a system to make sure that the process is compliant with these requirements,” he says.

That is where SAP can help. “We help them realise that goal,” he says.

SAP works with thousands of organisations in both the public and private sectors.

In recent years with greater consumer awareness and governmental regulation, the ethical supply chain has become a greater priority for businesses, together

SAP

with compliance goals and sustainability benchmarks. For instance, Janoshalmi states that the UN has 10 criteria with which to measure supply chain sustainability, ranging from environmental responsibility to labour practises, human rights and corruption. SAP works to ensure that not only are its clients compliant to current regulations, but to future proof them from inevitable changes both within the regulatory sphere and consumer’s ethical demands.

“Most recently we have been looking at the next generation cloud delivery that would make our customers, platform and infrastructure totally future-proof,” he says.

“Cloud is the pivot making sure that there is resilience in the supply chain.”

Janoshalmi confesses to always being fascinated with supply chain challenges. His academic background is about technology and innovation.

DR TOM JANOSHALMI TITLE: SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS INDUSTRY: COMPUTER SOFTWARE LOCATION: AUSTRALIA

€27.34bn Revenue in 2020

1972

102,000+ Number of employees

#1

Software company in Dow Jones Sustainability Index for 14 years

200m+

Subscribers in SAP’s cloud-based user base

EXECUTIVE BIO

Year founded

Tom Janoshalmi is member of SAP’s Global Executive Team, responsible for SAP Customer Success’ Next Generation Cloud Delivery program, reporting into the Executive Board. In his current role, Tom focuses on developing and implementing strategies for high customer impact from their investment, delivering the SAP technology promise fast and safe at customers, in the new experience economy.

Tom has a 20-year track record of leading successful business transformations with Global Fortune 500 companies. Since joining SAP, Tom has held several leadership positions, including Chief Growth Officer at Digital Business Services, Line of Business General Manager in America, Asia Pacific, Greater China.

He also served as Director of Corporate Strategy & Portfolio and was member of the Corporate Development Executive Committee responsible for short and midterm strategic technology business plans and M&A strategies.

The key to achieving supply chain stability is to ramp up the speed and resilience of the infrastructure, while increasing the usability of the application, thus creating inherent intelligence to allow clients to solve complex problems.

“When you combine the agility and the speed that your infrastructure can provide with the intelligence of the application, then these processes can be redesigned so that they are truly future-proof or resilient,” he 56

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“ Cloud is the pivot making sure that there is resilience in the supply chain” DR TOM JANOSHALMI

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

SAP

says. “At the same time they can provide the right answers to ethical challenges.”

Recently, SAP conducted an Agile Procurement Insights Research together with Oxford Economics. They discovered that roughly half of the executives interviewed said they do not regularly refresh their risk mitigation plans to address potential disruptions. Such outmoded plans do not reflect current business reality. “We’re seeing the

implications of it now with the global crisis,” he says.

For Janoshalmi what was even more interesting was that only a third of those interviewed felt that either their procurement or supplier risk management capability was highly effective.

To achieve an efficient supply chain you need to keep a good inventory. In the research mentioned above, only half of the executives had real-time or near real-time supplychaindigital.com

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SAP

“ By 2025, which is not that far away, 60% of human tasks will be automated” DR TOM JANOSHALMI

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

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What Is SAP?

visibility to their inventory levels. This affects management’s ability to pre-empt and respond to any issues.

“The impact on inventory levels is also not monitored real time,” he adds.

“Therefore their ability to respond is negatively influenced or impacted by these missing capabilities.”

Instead of relying on the past, companies need to have supply chain architecture that is future-proofed to the new business reality. Janoshalmi believes that this will be increasingly automated.

“Automation will redefine supply chain architectures,” he says. “By 2025, which is not that far away, 60% of human tasks will be automated.” In addition roughly 90% of large enterprises will generate revenue from data as a service.

Janoshalmi believes that the near future will see innovative partnerships to create more efficient ways of managing order fulfilment. This will focus very much on the individual customer or consumer, capturing what they value and expect. supplychaindigital.com

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“This shift is directly impacting supply chain social responsibility and ethical value chains,” he says, with the most successful companies understanding and delivering upon customer expectations.

This will make businesses both more efficient and competitive.

He sees AI as playing an important and positive role in driving this process forwards, allowing humans to focus more on the higher value added cognitive activities.

“60% of the tasks might be fully automated in the near future, but human beings will still be in charge of designing the sustainable supply chains,” he says.

“Technology clearly needs to be an enabler to this change, not an impediment. Human beings can spend more time thinking.”

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It is this which Janoshalmi describes as the Fifth Industrial Revolution, placing the human being at the ethical heart of business.

“There’s no stopping the Fifth Industrial Revolution,” he says. “Technology driven, new efficiencies and new capabilities described the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

And now we are looking at the Fifth, which is how we humanise all of this change. A really significant part of this human centric, industrial revolution is making sure that processes are ethical.”

SAP works with partners to make supply chains more ethical and more transparent. One cooperation is with FRDM, a provider of supply chain mapping technology for companies and governments, established by Janoshalmi’s close business friend Justin Dillon.

SAP

“ There’s no stopping the Fifth Industrial Revolution”

JUSTIN DILLON TITLE: CEO & FOUNDER COMPANY: FRDM INDUSTRY: COMPUTER SOFTWARE LOCATION: UNITED STATES

DR TOM JANOSHALMI

Through its mapping FRDM provides companies with supply chain transparency to mitigate risks, such as human trafficking, forced labour and environmental concerns.

Dillon created FRDM to address the issue of forced and child labour within the supply chain, an issue upon which he feels most strongly. Like his friend, he is driven by a strong sense of a moral purpose, believing that we can drive change more through influencing what people buy more than through charitable activities.

“We believe that we can change the world through the power of our purchases far more than the power of our donations,” says Dillon. “We just need technology to help us align our values with the things that we buy.”

Dillon believes that a key part of managing risk is to ensure that the values of your suppliers more closely align with your own.

“Your supply chain is a business risk. It’s an operational risk, but it’s also a reputational risk. So part of our job is to help uncover and connect all those dots,” he says.

He believes that by meeting these risks head on, and by focusing on the positives within an organisation you can become stronger.

“A lot of my work is to help organisations think differently around what types of problems they’re taking on. Look at the talent, the backstory, the origin story of why

EXECUTIVE BIO

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

Justin is an award-winning entrepreneur, author and Founder/CEO FRDM (pronounced freedom). FRDM is an enterprise software company trusted by Fortune 500 companies to identify, measure and mitigate risks of modern slavery deep in their supply chains. Their mission is protect people and planet by through a global network of values-aligned buyers and sellers.

In 2008 Justin first entered into the world of business and human rights by directing the theatrically released in the film Call + Response, which opened public consciousness to the fact there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. The “rockumentary” featuring celebrities, musicians, journalists and activists was released around the world and became one of the top grossing documentaries of 2008. He then produced and appeared in the CNN documentary Common Dreams, with Grammy and Academy award winner Common.

SAP

“ Your supply chain is a business risk.

It’s an operational risk, but it’s also a reputational risk” DR TOM JANOSHALMI

SVP IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SAP

you’re here as an organisation. What kinds of problems can you address in the world?” he says. “By doing so, it makes you stronger.

It makes you more talented, and makes the world a better place.”

Janoshalmi is currently seeking more technology or services partners, like FRDM, to help make supply chains more ethical.

“We need to work with our customers and our future customers, [to persuade them] that they need to invest in building transparent and resilient supply chains,” he says.

Janoshalmi realises that there are major challenges ahead if his dream of a more ethical supply chain is to be realised, but he also believes that there is both an opportunity and obligation to make this happen.

Governments and international organisations, such as the UN, have regulatory control mechanisms already in place, including the public disclosure of the reduction of slavery in supply chains. But ultimately the message for both organisations and consumers is really simple.

“What is coming next is really to buy better,” he says. “If I had to use just two words, then it’s really to buy better.”

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SAP

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CHANGING

CHANGE MANAGEMENT MANAGEMENT CHANGE

IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN 64

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SUPPLY CHAIN

Managing change correctly is arguably more important than the change being implemented WRITTEN BY: HELEN ADAMS

Fraser Hill Shell

Aniket Bhatt Zersent

O

ver the past two years, the way humans work has fundamentally changed.

The daily commute has been exchanged for the kitchen table, handshakes have been replaced with ‘You’re on mute’ and office-appropriate attire sits at the back of the wardrobe.

For many businesses, there are clear economic benefits in enabling staff to work from home, such as not having to fund the office coffee machine (and worse, organising a rota for someone to clean it). The lockdown caused by the Coronavirus pandemic has led CEOs to consider a new way of doing things. Senior leaders within organisations have had to contend with leading change management online - from guiding employees to use more professional Zoom backgrounds to updating monday boards.

The change to work from home has not been easy, yet it has been essential.

Change is not always an option Prior to this, perhaps the greatest change to workplaces was the introduction of the internet in the 1990s, or the arrival of the computer a decade earlier. It was the role of senior leadership then to encourage team members to adapt to this new technology, as they themselves tried to navigate drop-down menus and contend with the dial-up tone. supplychaindigital.com

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Interos maps supply chain in 3D and real time.

You can know every single thing about how all your partners do business.

Or you can read it in papers.

SUPPLY CHAIN

“ The biggest reason people renounce change? Fear” FRASER HILL

GENERAL MANAGER DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, SHELL

Now, instead of hiring employees from minority groups as a box-ticking exercise, change management in many businesses focuses on building a diverse and inclusive culture and welcoming new talent.

In addition, many businesses are rushing to prove their environmental credentials, from setting firm net zero deadlines, to installing compost bins in the kitchen.

However, change management is not just guiding social transformation or technical

development, but supporting those resistant to change. ESG ratings first started in the 2000s and forced many people to look at elements within their organisation that they might prefer to ignore.

Change can be embraced or rejected by employees The arrival of emails met fierce resistance from employees who preferred phone calls. The rising popularity of ESG has been met with debate by many who are unfamiliar with certain aspects, so how can team leaders conduct effective change management in this zone?

Aniket Bhatt of Zersent, a cloud-based software company which offers ESG culture transformation, knows that the world is constantly changing - and so are people. supplychaindigital.com

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“According to McKinsey, 70% of change programmes fail to achieve their goals,” explains Bhatt. “Rapid technological advancements have disrupted the workplace more than ever. However, the resistance to change is a natural reaction, as change often creates anxiety and uncertainty. Change at work is feared for various reasons – fear of the unknown, fear of failure, criticism, and fear of being out of control. Managing fear and uncertainty should be a leader's top priority. Adapting to change in the workplace is necessary to endure, grow and succeed in a constantly evolving workplace.”

ESG policies might include implementing a car share initiative to reduce emissions, 68

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hiring more workers with disabilities or managing relations with shareholders.

Brandi Ford, Vice President at ISN, a contractor and supplier management company, knows that simply having ESG policies within an organisation is not enough.

“While most companies have ESG policies in place, fewer are actually tracking ESGrelated data at their organisations and throughout their supply chains to ensure their policies are impactful”, says Ford.

“Organisations may need to overcome several obstacles to incorporate their suppliers into their initiatives and track sustainability KPIs. Obstacles might include a lack of awareness or education.”

SUPPLY CHAIN

Alongside ESG policies, many workplaces have introduced professional development workshops, covering subjects such as antiracism or mental health first aid, to increase employee awareness and to reduce the fear surrounding such subjects.

A business that refuses to change is doomed to fail Fraser Hill, the General Manager of Digital Transformation at Shell, spoke at BizClik Media’s Procurement and Supply Chain Live in September. At Shell, Hill is accustomed to change, where he leads digital transformation across the supply chain. As one of the world's biggest oil companies, Shell claims its

emissions peaked in 2018 and the company is now working to reduce emissions from its operations, including in the production of oil and gas, as well as increasing energy efficiency, capturing any emissions which remain and offsetting them. Shell aims to be net zero by 2050 and is moving on from oil by investing in wind, solar, electric vehicle charging and hydrogen power.

Founded in 1907, Shell has seen a great deal of change, from women entering the workforce to joining The Valuable 500, an initiative to ‘create an environment where people with disabilities can excel’. But according to Hill, now is a time of absolutely necessary change for the business. supplychaindigital.com

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“Managing fear and uncertainty should be a leader's top priority” ANIKET BHATT CO-FOUNDER, ZERSENT

“No better example than the current energy transition as we move to deliver our goal of Net Zero by 2050”, explains Hill. “But in general, I would say that a business that is not constantly changing is one doomed to failure as it will be overtaken by the competition.”

Change can be embraced or rejected by employees - how does Hill deal with workplace change?

“That is essentially a communication problem”, explains Hill smoothly. “The employees need to buy into change because they believe in it, not because you are ordering it. Ultimately some won't like the change, but if you treat them as you would stakeholders, with honesty, integrity and respect, then you are more likely to bring the group with you.”

In Hill’s experience, there is one primary reason for people to renounce change.

“Fear”, says Hill decisively.

Leaders can conduct effective change management, from reigning in those who are overly-keen to instantly transform, to those who are confused, hesitant or outright defiant.

“Have a plan, then double the time and triple the budget that you think that you will need”, suggests Hill.

Leadership is key As Hill mentioned, a business which refuses to change will be outpaced by those who

adapt, embrace developments - and prepare for the next wave. Essentially, successful change management requires strong leadership. Those in senior positions who feel apprehensive must support employees who are fearful. Leaders need to find middle ground with those who oppose the change in question and ensure that they know their hard work is still valued. In addition, any new employees who arrive as a part of that change, must feel welcome.

“Effective change management, necessitates effective communication”, continues Bhatt. “However, when managing change, a leader should exercise a two-way conversation rather than just one-way communication. It's at this point in your communication strategy that you'll require a feedback loop. The feedback loop conveys the message that the organisation is open, transparent, and focused on its employees. It fosters trust and assists organisations’ in overcoming change-related resistance and stress.

Communication will aid in getting your message out, but a feedback loop will assist in understanding resistance and developing execution plans to overcome them.”

Change is inevitable, but how change management is conducted is dependent on those leading the change and uniting the team. supplychaindigital.com

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UMASS: Unifying Procurement to Drive Change WRITTEN BY: RHYS THOMAS PRODUCED BY: GLEN WHITE

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Our services include a wide range of areas such as signage, point of sale displays, training materials, branded merchandise, consumer-facing communications, and more.

SupplyLogic: Driving Procurement Innovation at UMass Phil Schoonmaker, CEO, SupplyLogic discusses why to leverage partner services and how these services are helping UMass to modernize their procurement function There are two sides of marketing –the go to market strategy and the execution of that strategy. The business critical execution management is where SupplyLogic comes in.Phil Schoonmaker, CEO, SupplyLogic explains that it is vital for organizations to look to a provider such as SupplyLogic for its services. “The only way to truly optimize marketing execution is to partner with an expert like SupplyLogic. Given the events of the last couple of years especially, more and more companies are coming to this realization. Organizations are frustrated by supply chain disruptions, disorganized data, inadequate technology, and most recently a dramatic reduction of internal staff to manage these categories,” says Schoonmaker.

Working With the University of Massachusetts “Anytime an organization changes the way that it manages an important aspect of their business, one of the biggest challenges is the transition from the status quo to the new model. We are working with David Cho, Chief Procurement Officer at UMass and the stakeholders across the university system on implementing a phased approach so that this new model, while innovative, is not disruptive. As a company, we

are dedicated to a client-first approach and continually seek and incorporate feedback, in this case from all the campuses, to ensure we are exceeding expectations,” explains Schoonmaker.

SupplyLogic began its partnership with the university in early 2021 and at the most fundamental level is helping the university manage one centralized procurement strategy, rather than individual procurement silos. This includes an optimized and right-sized supplier panel; previously UMass worked with over 400 suppliers, which made it very difficult to aggregate spend to get the best pricing. The new panel includes a mutually agreed-upon set of suppliers with priority on MA-based businesses, diversity, and sustainability. Additional aspects of the solution include onsite client services, program management and state of the art technology to automate previously manual tasks and workflows.

SupplyLogic’s managed services enable organizations to do more, with less, by providing an innovative, data-driven, transparent, and truly optimized solution. This ‘do more, with less’ mindset and capability helps partners like UMass achieve their goals quickly with less budget, time and risk.

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David Cho, Chief Procurement Officer and Managing Director, UMass

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UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

CPO David Cho on transforming the University of Massachusetts’ procurement functions, and the ‘better, faster, cheaper’ philosophy to deliver value

T

1863

Year Founded

24,163

Employees including students

18,615

Employees excluding students

$3.4bn Revenue

he University of Massachusetts is a world-class public research university committed to advancing knowledge and transforming lives. Through its world-class educational programmes, groundbreaking research enterprise, and its impactful community service and industry engagement activities, UMass harnesses the revolutionary spirit of Massachusetts to deliver an unparalleled student experience.

With four comprehensive campuses, a top-ranked medical school and a missiondriven law school, each campus offers a dynamic educational experience in a uniquely Massachusetts location, from the coastal town of Dartmouth to the international hub of Boston, from the vibrant mill cities of Lowell and Worcester to the bucolic hills of Amherst. Though separated geographically, the campuses are unified through a central goal of preparing students to contribute to their communities, thrive in a new economy and change the world by providing a broad range of rigorous academic programs and opportunities.

However, not everything shared this central spirit. Until 18 months ago, the university’s procurement function was fragmented, with each campus responsible for its own procurement, accounts payable, sourcing, and contract management activities. That began changing in fall 2019, when David Cho, who was the CPO of BlackRock, was recruited through a national search to join UMass as the first-ever system-wide Chief Procurement Officer.

Hiring a CPO followed the recommendation supplychaindigital.com

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WEI is an innovative, full service, customer centric IT solution provider.

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WEI: Value Added at Every Step of the Procurement Process Value-added reseller WEI strengthens its partnership with UMass and how it is empowering procurement organizations to unlock value beyond just price More than an IT solution supplier, WEI is a valuable problem solver and key supplier to the University of Massachusetts’ procurement organization. WEI has worked on several projects with the university’s newly appointed CPO David Cho. “I met David close to 18 months ago when he started,” says Greg LaBrie, VP of Technology Solutions, WEI. “The pandemic slowed that project down, but fortunately we were invited to participate in the UMass procurement process that we’re now involved in.”

Cho unified the university’s procurement function and processes under the Unified Procurement Services Team (UPST), and enacted a new strategy to work more closely with suppliers to extract more value - a philosophy wholly aligned with that of WEI. “When organizations that we work with open up and collaborate with us, that’s when we’re at our best,” says WEI COO Todd Grubbs. “Now

we’ve created a regular cadence to meet with the UPST, and have a vision going forward that is not a hunt-and-peck type of model, but has a cohesive strategy. Our pre-sales group and our architects will meet with them frequently to discuss price, lead times, strategy and vision all at the same time. And that’s how UMass is going to get the technology solutions they’re looking for.”

Together, WEI and the UMass procurement organization are unlocking value that goes beyond price, LaBrie adds: “UMass’ new vision, to standardize the procurement process, and standardize technology and procedures across the campuses, allows students and faculty to go from campus to campus and benefit from the same technology. That makes a big difference to their people, and it also provides all that data back to the procurement organization about the devices, people and how they’re leveraging the environment.”

The partnership between WEI and UMass has also been an emphatic win for promoting spend with diverse suppliers, says Grubbs.

“When UMass supports someone like us, who are a minority business enterprise, that helps us scale, that helps us hire from the minority community, and that helps us support minority suppliers ourselves,” he adds. “The effect of UMass making that commitment is exponential in the diversity community.”

Learn more

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

of a comprehensive shared services plan, a collaborative, system-wide, cross-functional project that was released in April 2019 and endorsed by the UMass Board of Trustees.

“The outcome was very similar for each of these separate functions at the campus level, but business was conducted in six different ways, with different operating procedures, and even the same technologies were configured differently,” Cho says. His first challenge was to unify these disparate organisations and harmonise a “patchwork” of policies, procedures and technologies into a standardised system for conducting business. The new centralised organisation driving procurement efficiency for UMass is known as the Unified Procurement Services Team (UPST).

“The premise of this was to create a shared services environment to support the campuses,” says Cho, whose newly unified team now manages close to $1 billion in annual spend and more than 17,000 active suppliers. “The good thing is we had the opportunity to deepen the

procurement competencies of the folks in these legacy organisations, who can now go deeper, instead of being generalists,” he says. The team reduced in scope from 70+ to 50 specialists, but “we built competency frameworks specific to the function, and we can plan training paths for each individual and role to build more domain expertise”.

With the mandate to create a functioning shared services organisation while still maintaining business-as-usual support for campus procurement activities, the UPST had their work cut out for them.

Unfortunately, within three months of becoming operational they had to face the COVID-19 pandemic and its ripple effects on the system. UMass experienced a $240m revenue shortfall. They shifted their focus to supporting UMass in meeting specific short-term objectives, such as health and safety goods and services, and remote learning equipment, that needed to be addressed instantly. But when the initial dust of the pandemic had settled, so too did Cho’s focus.

“Better, Faster, Cheaper” The procurement harmonisation project is underpinned by a philosophy to derive more value at every point, something Cho characterises as “Better, Faster, Cheaper.”

“It’s about ensuring that we have more strategic partnerships, and that we're getting the best value in reducing operational risks,” Cho says. “We’re faster by using catalogues, for example, and pre-negotiating a lot of framework agreements so that people can point, click, and buy, just like we do every day in our personal lives. To be cheaper, we’re using market intelligence benchmarks that come not only in the form of price points, but operating procedures, best practices, and really using that market intel to its full extent.”

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

“ We are now closer to being a datafirst organisation”

David Cho

DAVID CHO

TITLE: CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, UMASS

EXECUTIVE BIO

COMPANY: UMASS Cho is the Chief Procurement Officer for the University of Massachusetts, Unified Procurement Services Team (UPST) that provides strategic sourcing, contracts, supplier management, procurement operations, accounts payable, travel services, and customer services to the various campuses within the UMass system.

Before joining the UMass System, he was the former Global Head of Sourcing and Vendor Management at BlackRock where he led Sourcing and Vendor Management (SVM) for the World’s largest Asset Management firm. SVM covers all third-party sourcing for technology, HR, marketing, L&C, professional services, and corporate services.

Over Cho’s 25+ years of work experience, he has maintained COO roles for emerging alternative asset management companies, and also provided strategy and operations management consulting services to regional, national, and global companies during his stint at KPMG, Archstone Consulting, IBM, Deloitte Consulting and JP Morgan Chase.

Cho is a graduate of Boston College and completed the MIT Sloan Executive Program in Technology, Operations and Value Chain Management.

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UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

UMass: Unifying Procurement to Drive Change

“ We're capturing this low hanging fruit, but once we realise those recurring savings, we need to continue to optimise and extract costs and inefficiencies out of the system so that it's something that we can confidently harvest year over year” DAVID CHO

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, UMASS

The results of Cho’s and the USPT’s efforts have been immediate. An initial target of achieving $16.5m in annual cost reduction was eclipsed within the first 18 months of operation. The UPST delivered $33.9m in savings through 100+ initiatives, within those 18 months, across each of the five UMass campuses.

“The key to that is data, and we are now much closer to being a data-first organisation,” Cho says. “We are utilising techniques that private equity firms might use for optimising their portfolio companies. We're factoring in methods that you would use for mergers and divestitures, and all these different tools and approaches.”

Cho expects to see twice the amount of financial benefits in the next year, but the ultimate goal of his initial five-year plan will not necessarily follow a linear path. “It doesn't mean we have to continue to double the output that we're getting from supplychaindigital.com

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a cost reduction standpoint,” he says. “We're capturing this low hanging fruit, but once we realise those recurring savings, we need to continue to optimise and extract costs and inefficiencies out of the system so that it's something that we can confidently harvest year over year. We may not necessarily maintain that growth trajectory annually, but I am confident that it's something that we're going to be able to benefit from on an ongoing basis.”

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Procurement with Purpose Beyond the mechanics of cost-saving, Cho and his team are driven by their contributions towards the UMass mission of providing affordable and accessible world-class education. This is procurement with purpose. “That’s why I think many of the leaders who joined us, particularly from the non-higher-education verticals, are so excited about this, because the mission really resonates,” Cho explains.

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

MICHAEL E. DURKIN TITLE: DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PROCUREMENT Michael describes himself as a “dynamic procurement leader, educator, manager and coalition builder”.

These attributes have helped him establish and grow the capabilities of the UPST strategic sourcing team which handles, category management, strategic sourcing, contracts and supplier management needs.

He is passionate about adding value to people and processes through efficiency, effectiveness, and driving best business practices.

Prior to rejoining the UMass System as a part of the UPST Leadership Team, he held a variety of leadership positions with the University System of New Hampshire, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Merrimack College, Stonehill College and with the National Association of Educational Procurement (NAEP) of New England.

BRIAN L. GIRARD

MEET THE TEAM

TITLE: DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT OPERATIONS Brian is a leader known to have the proven ability to influence and manage stakeholders, innovate and drive process improvements throughout the supply chain to capture optimised cost benefits and budgetary control. Brian continues to leverage his over 25 years of experience in Procurement and Supply Chain within both the public and private sectors, to lead harmonisation of UMass procurement operational processes.

He currently oversees the Procurement Operations function which encompasses Accounts Payable, Bank Card (Procurement Card Operations), Travel and Expense, Process Improvement, and Procurement Compliance teams. With his team, he continues to focus on streamlining internal business practices to ensure operational process efficiency and effectiveness.

AMANDA ONWUKA TITLE: DIRECTOR OF SERVICE & QUALITY Amanda’s focus is to ensure that UPST continues to put its best foot forward as it progresses in its maturity journey as the harmonised procurement services centre for the University of Massachusetts system.

Within her UPST portfolio are the Customer Services, Procurement Technology, Data Analytics, and Training & Communications teams. They support the operationalisation of the harmonised processes while ensuring resources are available to support enhanced change and communications management.

Prior to joining UMass system, Amanda worked as a management consultant with KPMG leading and providing strategy and business transformation services to global and national companies.

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UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

“ We are utilising techniques that private equity firms might use for optimising their portfolio companies” DAVID CHO

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, UMASS

Technology adoption and an overarching digital transformation have been crucial to UPST’s results. The organisation leverages tools like Jaggaer for daily procurement activities, Salesforce for case management,

and Tableau for business intelligence, among others. But in Cho’s mind, technology alone will only get you so far.

More important is to prioritise, harmonise, and modernise policies and targets, upgrade procedures and processes to align with the policies, and ensure the team has the core competencies to operate within them.

“When you have all those pieces together, the rollout of technology enablement becomes much more elegant, and it gets you to the outcomes and the output that you're looking for,” Cho says, pointing to ensuring applications are uniform across both desktop and mobile devices to enable flexible work, as an example. “The more important thing is being able to leverage your suppliers’ technologies, as well. We can't be

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UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

“ The good thing is we had the opportunity to deepen the procurement competencies of the folks in these legacy organisations, who can now go deeper, instead of being generalists” DAVID CHO

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, UMASS

everything to everyone. It’s not just about building the catalogue, for instance, but how do we leverage their platform? Some of our partners’ data on the things we buy is better than the data we have in-house. So we can leverage that kind of intelligence.”

The Power of Partnerships A good example, Cho says, is the partnership with Huron, with which UMass’ investment has risen over the past 18 months. “They've been terrific in looking at where we are today and where we want to be tomorrow,” Cho says. “What’s really vital is that it's not just what they know, it's how they deploy. It's how the team we work with at Huron take in that input from us and understand the particular outcomes that we're looking for.

To be able to factor in change management, very gracefully as part of the underlying sense of processes and services that they're delivering, has been tremendous.”

Another key supplier, SupplyLogic, provides “intelligence that we can't build,” Cho says, which is helping the organisation towards its supplier diversity objectives.

Taking print services as an example, the UPST can leverage SupplyLogic’s platform to discover veteran-owned suppliers, supplychaindigital.com

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CONGRATULATIONS David Cho & The UMASS Procurement Team Thank you for your business over the last 35 years!

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UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

“ We're also incorporating inclusion and equity into all of our competitive processes” DAVID CHO

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, UMASS

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minority-owned businesses, womanowned businesses, and other diverse partners in the local community. “This is really valuable to us,” Cho says. “That's an area where we can leverage our partners’ technologies to get that visibility, and to make those kinds of important decisions.”

Enhancing the diversity of suppliers is a key objective of the University of Massachusetts, and by extension the UPST, and although the central procurement organisation is barely 18 months old, Cho is happy with the progress it’s already made.

The university’s spending with diverse suppliers is “trending in the right direction,”

LISA A. CALISE TITLE: SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE AND TREASURER

EXECUTIVE BIO

COMPANY: UMASS Lisa A. Calise is the Senior Vice President for Administration & Finance and Treasurer for the University of Massachusetts. She has been with UMass since February 2017. In her role, Lisa oversees the University’s financial and operational departments including Treasury, Insurance and Operations, Budget and Planning, Enterprise Risk Management, Human Resources, Controller’s Office and the University-wide Unified Procurement Services Team (UPST).

Lisa was most recently the Chief Financial Officer at Watertown-based Perkins School for the Blind, focusing on global services and education for those living with blindness and deaf blindness.

Before joining Perkins in 2010, Lisa served the City of Boston for over a decade, most recently as the Director of Administration

with both a short and long-term plan to build a more robust diverse supplier base.

“We're also incorporating inclusion and equity into all of our competitive processes,” Cho adds. “That’s not something that was mandated by any government programme.

We have imposed those requirements on ourselves to build accountability. We're also pushing strategic providers that act as primes to provide more visibility into their second-tier level spend, so that as dollars flow to them, they also make their way to diverse suppliers. That is very impactful.”

The UPST has performed above expectations throughout its first 18 months,

and Finance, and previously as Chief Financial Officer and CollectorTreasurer and Budget Director, implementing efficiency improvements and managing the City’s finances through challenging economic times.

Prior to coming to Boston, Lisa served in the White House Office of Management and Budget as a budget examiner.

A Massachusetts native, Lisa obtained her B.A. from Boston College and a Master's Degree in Public Management from the University of Maryland. She recently served as a member of both the MBTA Finance and Management Control Board and MassDOT Board.

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

“ We're also incorporating inclusion and equity into all of our competitive processes” DAVID CHO

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, UMASS

and as it matures further, Cho is confident that procurement will provide further savings, and reroute vital value and resources into the university’s educational programs.

But Cho is quick to highlight that the work of UPST, its future ambitions, and its ability to deliver transformational results is a holistic effort, achieved through collaboration with various UMass stakeholders.

“Being able to promote this level of change in coordination with the campuses couldn’t have been done without leadership sponsorship,” Cho says. “We've been 94

December 2021

empowered. We have UMass President Marty Meehan's backing, the support of all the campus chancellors, the campus Administration & Finance (A&F) Vice Chancellors and the UMass Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance (CFO) and Treasurer, Lisa Calise.”

“I’m so proud of all that we’ve been able to accomplish in such a short time, and under such challenging and unprecedented circumstances,” says Calise.

“The collaborative approach between the system and campuses, especially between

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

the A&F leadership, has been paradigmshifting for the university, and enabled us to leverage the university’s buying power to benefit the campuses. Our team – driven by exceptional leaders like David – will continue to experiment, innovate and push the organisation to realise every efficiency and ensure that we are delivering on our mission in the most competitive manner possible.”

According to Cho, the UMass campus leaders are “encouraging us to do more and continue to move the agenda forward. With 75,000 students and

24,000 employees, UMass is the largest university and third-largest employer in the state of Massachusetts. So there are many priorities, and being able to have that one vision that leadership endorses, is just tremendous. What really makes this incredibly powerful is that egos are checked at the door and it's all about just doing the right thing.”

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LOGISTICS

2022:

THE FUTURE OF BIG DATA & AI IN LOGISTICS In this roundtable, we speak to leading executives from DP World, DHL Global Forwarding, Blue Prism, and Interos to discuss Big Data and AI in Logistics

H

WRITTEN BY: GEORGIA WILSON

istorically supply chains have produced large quantities of high value data; optimising this data, analysing it, and learning from it, is a challenge many organisations face. By harnessing Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to manage supply chain functions, specifically logistics in this case, organisations can forecast demand, increase accuracy, better understand buying cycles, estimate future warehouse capacity, and solve complex operational challenges.

In the five years: How has the logistics industry changed and what does the current landscape look like as 2021 comes to a close?

JB: The current industry landscape for logistics has become one of interconnectivity and complexity.

Globalisation and digitalisation have acted as connecting forces upon enterprise supply chains, intertwining industries and the organisations that work within them. While worldwide connectivity has its benefits, it does also mean that supply chain resilience 96

December 2021

is made more fragile as disruption events can ripple through the web of thousands of organisations.

One example of this is the semiconductor – or ‘computer chip – supply chain, which is right now highly disrupted. The semiconductor supply chain is extremely complex and globally interconnected, with the production of a single computer chip often requiring more than 1,000 steps passing through international borders over 70 times. This interconnectivity and globalisation of the supply chain has exacerbated disruption borne from the pandemic and has led to shortages of semiconductors in UK industry, hampering important sectors such as auto production.

MB: Global logistics has become complex due to Covid-19, causing urgency and bottlenecks throughout the supply chain.

For example, the Suez Canal situation was made worse due to existing industry constraints. There have been further supply chain disruptions, such as lack of container

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LOGISTICS

availability and rising ocean freight costs, that have had a sudden and unexpected impact on logistics.

To promptly manage urgent merchandise exceptions when there are disruptions, visibility and transparency become imperative and real-time solutions are needed to provide quality insights. Today, there are still significant hurdles that can’t be ignored. To overcome these, DP World has derived a long-term digital technology plan through SeaRates, a freight-rate spot marketplace, married with CARGOES Flow, the enterprise tracking tool for intermodal shipments. What these solutions provide is supply chain visibility with a real-time optimisation engine that enables alternative routes, mitigates delays as well as monetary risks.

Longer supply chains face additional challenges beyond delays, such as working capital that limits cargo owners ability to move quickly and at scale.

This is inherently true of cargo owners in developing economies that struggle to find the funds to operate a business with fluidity. Hence, another product we launched was CARGOES Finance.

The objective, to enhance business for importers, exporters and logistics companies around the globe by providing access to financing for receivables and payables.

DS: It’s no secret that good logistics is underpinned by data. The ability to effectively forecast demand, manage supply, manufacture and distribute effectively, all this relies on strong and reliable historical supplychaindigital.com

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LOGISTICS

Drew Sonden TITLE: EMEA PRODUCT LEAD COMPANY: BLUE PRISM INDUSTRY: COMPUTER SOFTWARE LOCATION: UNITED KINGDOM For the last 15 years, Drew’s career focus has been on helping organisations deliver digital transformation, allowing them to reshape the way that they operate and the way that they engage with both their customers and their employees.

Jennifer Bisceglie TITLE: CEO & FOUNDER COMPANY: INTEROS INDUSTRY: COMPUTER SOFTWARE LOCATION: UNITED STATES Jennifer is the founder, CEO, and driving force behind Interos’ revolutionary new vision for enterprise resilience. With over 25 years of industry experience managing risk in the global economy, Jennifer recognises the emerging power of artificial intelligence and led her company to create the Interos Platform: a game-changing technology that automates the discovery and response to third-party risk in every tier of global supply chains.

A sought-after expert on supply-chain risk, Jennifer has been called on to share her expertise with news organisations including the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Bloomberg, Business Insider, CNBC, Forbes and others. She’s regularly appeared before professional organisations and congressional committees, including the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, the Homeland

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Security Governmental Affairs Committee, and the U.S.– China Economic Security Review Commission.

Mike Bhaskaran, TITLE: COO, LOGISTICS & TECHNOLOGY COMPANY: DP WORLD INDUSTRY: LOGISTICS & SUPPLY CHAIN LOCATION: UNITED STATES Mike Bhaskaran is the Chief Technology Officer for DP World.

He is responsible for driving the digital transformation of all parts of our value chain globally and operates all aspects of our technology presence, driving global business process improvement and systems implementation.

Mike has valuable experience in Blockchain, e-commerce technology, and driving innovative digital capabilities in complex supply chains at scale. Mike started his career within Engineering before moving into Distribution Operations and Supply Chain at Dell Computer Corporation. Prior to joining DP World, Mike was the Chief Supply Chain Officer at Staples Inc. Before that he worked various other global organisations including Amazon, The Gap Inc, Starbucks Corporation and Beyond the Rack Inc, where he was responsible for all technology infrastructure and software development efforts.

Mike has a Masters in Industrial Technology & Engineering from Utah State University in the USA and an MBA from Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University in the USA.

LOGISTICS

and live data, with the most successful companies the ones who are able to leverage data on one part of the supply chain to impact others. It can be something as simple as ordering logistics capacity based on production volumes, or more complex analysis like adjusting product lines to account for variables like weather or political forecasts.

It’s perhaps ironic then, that over the past few years, the biggest change in Big Data is that companies are becoming more circumspect about its potential. This is understandable when we consider the claims that some vendors were making with respect to the transformational potential of Big Data platforms.

From an AI perspective we’ve seen organisations shift to a much more discrete application of AI solutions, applying the

technology within narrow bounds that offer proven results. For example, we have one customer, a US logistics firm which uses AI decisioning in conjunction with Blue Prism to deliver more effective vehicle maintenance.

Our intelligent automation platform gathers IoT sensor data from their fleet of over 14,000 vehicles and feeds this to an AI that identifies maintenance issues. This allows Blue Prism to generate personalised maintenance schedules for each vehicle – and to send live alerts to drivers of trucks in danger of critical failure.

We have several firms who combine NLU with Blue Prism to more effectively manage customer engagement. Customers engage via text channels such as email, the Digital Workforce picks these messages up and shares them with the AI toolsets.

These identify sentiment and intent from the messages, allowing Blue Prism to triage

them, pass them to the appropriate team or, where possible, to automatically resolve the customers’ issues.

Both of these examples reference the third big change that we’ve seen in the market which is that businesses are becoming ever better at using technologies like AI and Big Data to augment the power of the core Blue Prism intelligent automation platform. Whilst technology is a long way from being able to make subjective decisions, AI and Big Data do allow us to apply a lot more nuance to logical business processes and meaning that intelligent automation can do more to free up the time, effort, and capacity of the human workforce.

How can Bid Data and AI help supply chain organisations become more resilient?

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operational resilience in their supply chains.

For example, with the right signals and data sources, organisations can anticipate labour shortage trends and preemptively evaluate the benefits of increasing inventory where needed. Furthermore, AI can help enable more seamless inventory management. For example, a manufacturer with geographically diverse suppliers, who monitors and identifies growing case counts in one region, could shift order commitments to a less impacted region while building safety stock. With the right data, mapping and monitoring, the supply chain team can evaluate conditions faster and move more quickly to lessen costly impacts.

The current disrupters to the UK’s supply chain are complex, but this complexity can be managed for organisations with smart operational resilience solutions that make use of AI and big data.

LOGISTICS

MB: Data is crucial. Containers have a vast volume of products, and commonly, delays can occur throughout a customer’s supply chain. Data provides solutions and insights.

Take, for example, a customer waiting for its shipment to arrive, assuming it will be on time. The reality is that supply chains are unpredictable with variables that can be unforeseen, as we all now know. Big data, AI - and I’ll also add document digitisation leveraging blockchain - can provide customers with supply chain visibility and velocity, enabling a procurement manager, for example, with the opportunity to go and find new alternatives. From a visibility perspective, it could be the decisive action required to optimise supplier or route. From a velocity perspective, digitising signatures, identification, and documentation processes from liner to gate can accelerate a container through a port, where data

becomes interoperable through various stakeholder systems.

All things being equal, the idea is to reduce delays and port congestion by digitisation that provide insights and actions to be taken by the responsible parties from port communities to customs and beyond in real-time and predictively.

We heavily invest into our stackability matrix strategy through ports, which is an AI exercise consisting of looking at how containers are stacked, what potential damage could occur, as well as safety and efficiency of movements. For example, making sure heavy merchandise is not added on top of lighter ones, to reduce the number of moves a container makes through the port. We do this through AI, and it becomes crucial for just in time customers that look to limit on-hand supply and materials to store, but request as needed. supplychaindigital.com

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DS: Even restricted to the limited definitions that I outlined, Big Data and AI are both incredibly powerful capabilities, however they are predominantly limited to generating insight. A Big Data platform may be able to highlight that, counter-intuitively, a business should reduce production of a particular product because it performs better in the market when it is viewed as exclusive by consumers. An AI computer vision engine may be able to highlight defects in components invisible to the human eye.

However, these insights are useless unless they are acted upon. With intelligent automation, we can not only commission insights without human instruction, but we can also act appropriately on the results: reducing supplier orders and slowing down the production line in the first case; automatically routing defective components to a recycling unit so they can be dismantled and the materials effectively reused.

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The power not just to generate novel insights, but to act on them in real time gives us huge scope to effectively navigate an increasingly fragmented and complex supply chain landscape. It enables leaders to achieve greater operational productivity, agility, and resilience. This is more relevant than ever today, as we see businesses facing huge challenges, not just with the worrying and ongoing lack of logistics capacity, but also shortages in a range of crucial raw materials such as silicon chips and sheet aluminium.

Ultimately, AI, Big Data, and Intelligent Automation can all deliver multiple layers of value when applied to a single challenge or business issue, but it is when they are applied within the context of a top-down digital transformation programme that we really see the most significant benefits. As the market matures, I’m starting to work with an ever larger number of customers

LOGISTICS

who are automating by exception – mapping out their end-to-end supply chain processes and asking not ‘what can I automate’, but instead starting out with an automation-first mentality and ruling out those activities that are truly subjective, or rely on human-to-human engagement.

As We look towards 2022. How do you see Big Data and AI evolving?

JB: As the adoption and popularity of AI/Big Data solutions continues to increase and more businesses start to see the benefits – smarter logistics, faster responses to emerging supplier risk, and a deeper knowledge of their extended supply chain – the next front will be predictive analytics and true digital twins, accurate digital models of organisations’ entire extended supply chains that can enable companies to game out various risk scenarios. These could

include cyber-attacks or labour shortages impacting critical sub-tier suppliers deeply embedded within the supply chain and would enable businesses to presolve problems before they happen. As AI and Big Data solutions begin to dissolve the barriers that keep supply chain information siloed, such as widely differing formats for supply chain data, this level of predictive insight will become much more feasible.

MB: Procurement, business-to-business commerce and container stacking will be key in 2022. For example, I see African coffee farmers identifying new roasters in different markets from leveraging big data to find these opportunities. Through Dubuy, a B2B e-commerce platform, we’re providing new market access and matchmaking opportunities for suppliers of goods, commodities, food items, clothing, and technology.

Solving stacking challenges will be a critical part of solving many supply chain challenges with automated infrastructure and AI at the helm. Our Boxbay system is a good example of this. A standard port, for example, can stack four to five containers high depending on the load.

Boxbay can stack 11 containers high. This significantly reduces the space required to manage a port and the time for a haulier to come and drop off or pick up the container as they will not have to wait for other containers to be moved around.

DS: Up until recently, the ability for organisations to leverage AI and Big Data has relied on the recruitment of specialist technical resources such as data scientists.

The transformational capabilities of the tool sets were without question, but deploying them effectively required significant time, resource, and investment, supplychaindigital.com

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meaning that only the largest or most focussed businesses were able to take advantage.

What we are beginning to see is a marketplace that offers highly capable AI and Big Data tool sets that are accessible with a much lower technical threshold. From a supply chain perspective, this offers us the capability to undertake much more complex forecasting activities, which seamlessly link variables from each step of the process from availability of raw materials, logistics capacity, and demand impactors. Big Data allows us to collate and present the data required, whilst AI tools offer the capability to make nuanced predictions based on a variety of scenarios.

There is no doubt that the capabilities of AI and the benefits they can bring to organisations will continue to advance. As digital workers become smarter, we see human workforces and their digital counterparts become more and more intertwined. The future workforce will be a seamless and equal blend of digital workers, human employees, and existing systems, all working collaboratively in a way never seen before. These new unified workforces will create greater employee and shareholder satisfaction, whilst, most importantly, providing customers with even better experiences.

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RECKITT

Embedding Quality in a Changing Environment WRITTEN BY: MARK JACKSON PRODUCED BY: TOM LIVERMORE

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We chat with Valerie Sieurin, the Senior Vice President Global Head of Quality at Reckitt, about how she has transformed the company’s Quality systems and Quality culture, as well as its continuing commitment to creating a better future for all

I

t is quite a task to implement systemic cultural change in a multi-billion company, but that is precisely what Valerie Sieurin undertook when she accepted the role of SVP Global Head of Quality at Reckitt.

Based in Slough, Reckitt is one of the world leaders in developing hygiene, health and nutrition products. Its list of world famous brands is endless including; Air Wick, Calgon, Cillit Bang, Clearasil, Dettol, Durex, Enfamil, Finish, Gaviscon, Harpic, Lysol, Mortein, Mucinex, Nurofen, Nutramigen, Strepsils, Vanish, Veet, Woolite and more. The company has a 200-year legacy and currently generates revenues of more than £14 billion, from its operations in 60 countries, where it employs over 43,000 people.

Valerie Sieurin was tasked with embedding a new culture of Quality across Reckitt, leading a global team and building strong internal partnerships to ensure Quality standards are embedded throughout the product life cycle, from marketing to procurement to manufacturing, and distribution to sales.

“Every day we sell more than 20 million products across the world,” explains Valerie.

“My role is to design and implement a Quality strategy to ensure we are providing everywhere and at every moment products supplychaindigital.com

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that are safe , trusted and preferred digital transformation in Quality by our consumers, ” she said. which includes implementing a Valerie, who has a master’s new AI system for planning and degree in food science and food scheduling quality control testing Employees processes from her native France, in manufacturing, a new cloud worldwide has previously worked for major solution for consumer relations, companies such as Danone and Cadbury and most recently the launch of an Schweppes. She has worked in a variety enterprise Quality Management system. of roles at local, regional and global levels, All of these transformation projects as well as having lived in three different were made possible thanks to strategic countries. She has undertaken global partnerships such as with partners, roles for close to 15 years, placing her in SmartQC and Veeva Systems. an ideal position to implement a Quality For Valerie however, digitalisation is not transformation within Reckitt. the end game per se, but a means to drive “This gives me quite a wide view of forward Reckitt’s purpose. “We see digital organisations and different markets,” she says. transformation as a way to achieve this Valerie explains how the journey to the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier new culture was driven in parallel with a world,” she explains.

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VALERIE SIEURIN TITLE: SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL HEAD OF QUALITY

Initially Valerie with her team identified those areas where Reckitt could improve its performance in pursuance of its overriding goals, the technology that could help them accomplish this, and the partners that could help drive this technology transformation. “As a Quality professional, you are always looking at what you can improve and combine with the strengths which you want to maintain.

Continuous improvement is part of the DNA of the Quality leader.” she explains. “But, with my team, we did not want small incremental improvement, with the new technologies available we had the ambition to leapfrog.

“We focused on two areas. The first was consumer relations to move from answering complaints to driving advocacy and win consumer preference. The second was

EXECUTIVE BIO

COMPANY: RECKITT As a global leader at Reckitt – a world renowned home of health, hygiene and nutrition brands - Valerie Sieurin is responsible for over 2,000 members of staff working across Quality worldwide. At Reckitt, Quality leaders are increasingly seen as strategic business partners. The disruptive leader is driving a culture change across the organisation, overseeing end-to-end Quality, coaching people to bring their best and driving consumers advocacy in the pursuit of excellence.

Valerie Sieurin is an ambassador for creative solutions and innovation in product, processes and Quality systems. She has initiated a digitisation journey of quality at Reckitt and championed new ideas from everyone to make the Quality team even more agile, connected, embedded and predictive.

She is also extremely passionate about sustainability & inclusion across Reckitt and the community.

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Title of the video

“ We are here to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world. This is what drives me every day in the decisions I take. It means that we are always looking at better solutions” VALERIE SIEURIN

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL HEAD OF QUALITY, RECKITT

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eliminating repeated failures. Our vision was to make the organisation more predictive in order to avoid such errors, and to support this cultural transformation through technology.”

To enable this transformation, Valerie and her team have built a very strong partnership with the Reckitt IT department.

In order to transform its consumer relations, Reckitt worked closely with its project partners to design a cloud-based system to enable them to connect everywhere with consumers, using all media from emails to social media.

“Now our consumers can contact us from any place and at any time,” she explains. “We can bring insights to the business to improve our products and service and delight our consumers, which ultimately will drive consumer advocacy and increase love for our brands.”

RECKITT

The second cultural to connect all of our Quality transformation concerned Reckitt’s management processes and be Quality processes and systems. more efficient,” she explains.

The aim was to connect all the The transformation began with Products sold across company’s Quality processes improving efficiency in Reckitt’s the world everyday to increase efficiency and, as a Quality Control laboratories, which consequence, revenue. Valerie believes that she refers to as a ‘Lean lab Programme and Quality transformations can directly impact lately renamed as LabEx for Laboratory a company’s business success: reduce time Excellence’. “We quickly identified that to market and improve first time right as two implementing lean methodology wasn't examples. enough, it was a good step to start improving Previously Reckitt had Quality systems a laboratory, but it wasn't enough,” Valerie which were not connected with other says. We needed to enhance our programme systems within the organisation and with technology and that is when the therefore inefficient. This is why Valerie relationship with SmartQC commenced. The and her team decided to partner with end game is to have paperless laboratories Veeva Systems to develop a solution that will be fully integrated to the overall using the latter’s Quality management business systems. When systems are platform QualityOne, which Reckitt is connected, this will improve product release now implementing. “This will enable us times and get products to customers faster.

20mn+

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Cloud Applications that Drive Transparency & Trust Throughout the Product Journey 1000+ Customers • 4500+ Employees • $1.5B+ Revenue • 165+ Countries

Helping companies bring high-quality, safe, and sustainable products to market faster without compromising compliance.

"Agile - Empowering - Strategic" www.industries.veeva.com

Reckitt Embarks on Quality Cloud Transformation with Veeva Why Consumer Goods leader Reckitt is partnering with Veeva Systems to transform its quality processes for greater operational agility Consumer hygiene, health and nutrition leader Reckitt is partnering with Veeva Systems to realize Reckitt’s vision for Quality’s digital transformation.

By adopting Veeva cloud solutions, Reckitt is establishing a modern technology infrastructure that allows people and processes to operate with agility and speed, without compromising quality and compliance.

Reckitt selected Veeva’s QualityOne software to replace disparate legacy systems and streamline activities, data, and documents into a single source of truth. This digital transformation effort improves collaboration throughout the organization, and enables greater transparency and agility.

“We’re taking the opportunity to reduce complexity, because that is the enemy of progress and growth, and simplifying our processes with this intuitive platform. The system is not only user-friendly, but its ease of use allowed our team to re-imagine the process,” said Breda Quinn, Global Transformation Quality Director at Reckitt.

“Veeva is an excellent technology partner for us.

They are agile and empower us to focus on all the right things. They’re driving the strategic thinking and inspire, and motivate us, to think long-term.”

Partner to Industry, Customers: What Sets Veeva Apart from Other Vendors Unlike transactional technology vendors, Veeva takes a partnership approach to its customers’ digital transformation journeys. This includes maintaining deep expertise in industry challenges.

For example, Veeva employs “a unique team of strategists who have joined Veeva directly from industry; they are the voice of our customers” said Veeva strategy leader Ed Van Siclen. “And when we get it right -- the collaboration between our product organization, our customers and the strategy team -- we create magic.”

Additionally, Veeva solutions are appreciating assets that allow customers to keep pace in a rapidly evolving business environment. “As a cloud-based, SaaS technology provider, we deliver software-at-speed,” Van Siclen said. “We add features three times a year and become an appreciating asset for our customers.”

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RECKITT

Streamlining processes within their decision making within laboratories leads to greater a more agile supply chain. efficiency, while improving “Now there are a lot of different Generates revenues of more than business, and maintaining technologies that are available to standards to ensure customer us that we have started piloting confidence in their brands. Valerie and deploying. SmartQC for believes that the introduction of these new example, is a digital twin that enables us technologies and systems will provide the to plan and schedule our testing more Reckitt teams the access to the data in a efficiently. We are also looking at piloting digital format that they need to enhance and implementing SmartQA, which will

£14bn

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“ Now we are able to have our consumers contact us from any place and at any time” VALERIE SIEURIN

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL HEAD OF QUALITY, RECKITT

digitise quality assurance activities and ultimately improve product release times further. In our pharma factories we have hundreds of test methods for our products, so it is complex to manage the lab operation. These new technologies really enable our people to focus on what is important, adding value.”

The transformative process is not one Reckitt could have undertaken on its own.

Valerie places great importance on the role played by their partners.

When working out which companies Reckitt should work with, Valerie always initially asks the question, “what don't we know?”. Then she identifies where Reckitt can collaborate with potential partners and those companies which could join them on their journey of transformation.

For Valerie the transformative process is continuous. As she observes “the technology of today will be obsolete soon,” which she finds “fascinating.”

Consequently, it is vital that companies such as Reckitt are choosing the partners who are innovative, invest in research and could evolve with them in order to improve the quality of both their processes and also their products in order to maintain both efficiency and customer confidence in their brands. “This is why we have partnered with Veeva Systems. This is also why we work with SmartQC,” she says.

However, for Valerie improving efficiency and maintaining brand confidence is only part of a bigger picture. She believes that Reckitt serves a far greater purpose than would appear on any financial balance sheet.

This is what motivates her.

“The reason why we exist is our purpose,” she says. “We are here to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world. This is what drives me supplychaindigital.com

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#1 leading digital planning and scheduling solution for QC laboratories Smart-QC is deployed in over 150 labs worldwide and our solutions are used by 10 of the top 15 largest companies in the life science industry. Most cResults’ clients have already witnessed massive levels of improvements within their organizations.

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By cResults the maker of Smart-QC, Smart-QA and FDAAWARE

RECKITT

every day in the decisions I take. We huge objectives and we are all working are always looking at better solutions together on achieving them by 2030,” to fulfill our purpose.” she says.

Operates in As such, Valerie is energised by Reckitt has targeted reducing Reckitt’s sustainability initiatives which greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its lie at the heart of both the company’s operations by 65% by 2030, as well as Countries ethos and its global impact. To achieve using 100% renewable energy and reducing these the company works closely with local its overall energy usage by 25%. This should communities to forge a brighter future. lead to a 50% reduction in its product “We are engaging together with our carbon footprint in the same timescale, partners with 22 million people through with the ultimate goal of being carbon programmes, partnerships and campaigns,” neutral by 2040. she explains. “Our objective is to have a lasting The company has partnered with impact on people and communities, and also the WWF to preserve and restore 2,100 to deliver the UN’s Sustainable Development kilometres of freshwater across two major Goals in which we are engaged.” river basins in the Amazon and Ganges. In These initiatives are also designed to reduce addition, one of its brands, Air Wick, is also Reckitt’s own carbon footprint. “We have working with WWF to raise awareness of

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1819

Year Founded

Manufacturing Industry

43,000

Number of Employees

£14bn Revenue

“ This is for the good of the people, the consumers, but as well for the planet” VALERIE SIEURIN

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL HEAD OF QUALITY, RECKITT

the importance of nature and how we can all do more to protect and restore it.

Valerie believes that neither Reckitt’s culture of Quality transformation nor its sustainability drive would be possible without the strong and clear leadership provided by the CEO, Laxman Narasimhan and company’s senior management.

“This transformation in Quality is only possible because of the leaders across the world that are engaged in this transformation,” she says. “We are driving innovation in the areas of hygiene, health and nutrition, continuing, improving and working on our sustainability goals in order to have a positive impact in the world.”

The aim behind the current transformation of the company’s Quality processes is to ensure that all of the disparate parts of Reckitt’s global family are connected and working together to achieve its purpose to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world. This requires a state of constant evolution.

“This is for the good of the people, the consumers, but as well for the planet,” Valerie says.

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TOP 10

Global Supply Chains Over the past two years, supply chains have been stretched. In a show of gratitude, here’s our Top 10 global supply chains who have kept the planet running WRITTEN BY: HELEN ADAMS

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hether it be a flood or a pandemic thrown in the works, these top ten supply chains keep turning out essential goods.

Modern supply chains are aiming to be more inclusive and diverse than ever before, while continuing to eradicate slavery and irresponsible souring, while creating a lower carbon footprint across the business.

Yet more importantly, supply chains are preparing for the next supply chain disaster.

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10

Cisco Systems Founded: 1984

Revenue: $49bn In 2020, Cisco Systems was named #1 in the IT industry for Green Supply Chain CITI Evaluation.

“Minimising environmental pollution is an essential part of environmentally responsible supply chain management”, said Edwin de Boer, Vice President, Supply Chain Transformation, Supply Chain Operations at Cisco Systems. “Like all work in supply chain sustainability, addressing pollution requires rigorous data collection and analysis, working with suppliers to drive change, and partnership with organisations to advance shared goals.”

09 Toyota

Founded: 1937

Revenue: $247bn At Toyota, supply-chain management is at the core of operations strategies. Within this, Toyota’s Supplier Partnering Hierarchy lists these business elements as essential: • Mutual understanding and trust • Interlocking structures • Control systems • Compatible capabilities • Information sharing • Joint improvement activities As Toyota is the world’s biggest car manufacturer, its accelerating revenue proves these business elements are vital for a healthy supply chain to run efficiently.

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08 Nestle

Founded: 1866

Revenue: $98bn The world’s biggest food company started out as a baby milk formula industry, supporting worried parents of hungry babies - there was arguably never a greater need for a resilient supply chain.

Although there have been some high profile scandals and even Nestlé product boycotts, Nestlé continues to deliver essential ingredients to customers.

Its supply chain survival is crucial - and Nestlé knows it.

Global suppliers aim to ensure that responsibly sourced materials are delivered.

07 Intel

Founded: 1968

Revenue: $77bn Intel works with suppliers across 89 countries, enforcing sustainable rules within its supply chain.

Samsung is continuously working to address the risks of slavery from its recruiters and labour agents.

The electronics industry giant is also determined to value responsible mineral sourcing through the supply chain.

Like many companies, minising its environmental impact is also a priority. Intel engages with suppliers to reduce waste and propel circular solutions.

Supply chain diversity and inclusion are also uplifted at Samsung, with plans to increase spending with diverse-owned suppliers. supplychaindigital.com

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06

Samsung Electronics Company Ltd Founded: 1938

Revenue: $200bn Samsung Electronics has some strict guidelines for its supply chain: • Suppliers must prove that employees are safe, from providing fire prevention equipment to dealing with sewage securely.

• Child labour and ‘inhumane treatment’ are excluded in the Samsung supply chain in the strongest terms, as a minimum wage must be guaranteed with equal energy.

• Finally, South Korea’s biggest company will only conduct business with suppliers who are eco-certified.

05

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd Founded: 1987

Revenue: $362bn Semiconductor process technology company TSMC is proud of its supply chain.

“Suppliers are important partners to TSMC on the road to sustainable management”, said J.K. Lin, Senior Vice President, Information Technology and Materials Management & Risk Management at TSM. Lin aspires to create a responsible supply chain, via elevating ESG standards. “[We want to] drive positive change through the Supply Online 360, an online management platform for a global sustainable supply chain”, concluded Lin.

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04 Alibaba

Founded: 1999

Revenue: $109bn “My job is to help more people have jobs”, said Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba. Ma started the company from his apartment in Hangzhou, China in 1999. Ma created a platform to help SMBs grow their customer base, but Alibaba has become one of the biggest e-commerce sites in the world and Ma’s success is the stuff of legend.

For SMBs struggling to get a foothold in the supply chain jungle, Ma says: “Never give up.”

03 Amazon

Founded: 1994

Revenue: $113bn From Jeff Bezos’ humble garage, Amazon, like Alibaba, has helped entrepreneurs sell to online shoppers.

Amazon’s supply chain resilience covers predicting risks to examining weather data for potential problems. Precise forecasting is enabled through a partnership with Oracle Supply Chain.

However, Amazon shoppers have been encouraged to buy their 2021 Christmas gifts before the end of November, to avoid disappointment due to the various supply chain disruptions.

02

TOP 10

Microsoft

Founded: 1975

Revenue: $41bn As the largest IT company in the world, Microsoft’s supply chain is dedicated to: • Predicting and preventing supply chain delays • Making its supply chain more sustainable

The company also wants to lead positive change. Horrified by the plastic pollution in the oceans, Microsoft wanted to do something to help.

Creating an adaptable supply chain means creative ideas and limitless innovation - these two combined led Microsoft designers to create the Microsoft Ocean Plastic Mouse, made from 20% recycled ocean plastic.

“The Microsoft team wondered, why couldn’t we make a resin out of plastic in the ocean and make a dent there?” said Patrick Gaule, a senior designer in the Windows & Devices team.

“We started formalising this idea.”

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Tim Cook on Privacy

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Apple

Founded: 1976,

Revenue: $275bn In 2001, Apple was one of the first companies to outsource its manufacturing to China - which drastically increased profit. Many other supply chains followed Apple’s success.

However, earlier this year, Apple’s manufacturing factories in Shanxi, China were battered by floods. Unusually heavy rainfall killed up to 15 people and caused the displacement of 2m people.

Consequently, Apple fans (collectively referred to as iSheep) have been warned that there may be a shortage of iPhones available at Christmas.

However, the company is determined to pull through.

"As the Shanxi region turns toward recovery, we want to do our part supporting relief efforts and helping with the rebuilding.

Apple will donate to help affected communities", said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, on Weibo.

“ As the Shanxi region turns toward recovery, we want to do our part supporting relief efforts and helping with the rebuilding.

Apple will donate to help affected communities”

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SSE

DATA-DRIVEN, FRICTIONLESS, INSIGHTS AND CREATING VALUE

WRITTEN BY: GEORGIA WILSON

PRODUCED BY: TOM LIVERMORE

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SSE

SSE’s Ronnie Fleming and Chris Platts discuss SSE’s digital transformation agenda and its commitment to a net zero transition and sustainability that makes a difference

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ogether, Ronnie Fleming, Chief Procurement Officer and Chris Platts, Head of Procurement Operations, have worked for SSE for more than 15 years.

The two have deep roots in the procurement sector working for the likes of Wimpey Construction, Leighton Contractors (Malaysia / Middle East ) Mace Group, United Utilities, Accenture and DHL Supply Chain.

“I am a Chartered Quantity Surveyor by profession,” says Fleming. “I have been in the construction and utility industry for over 40 years, the last 12 have been with SSE. As well as overseeing the procurement for all third party spend across the SSE Group (around £3bn per annum), I’m also responsible for a team delivering post contract commercial support across our large capital projects portfolio. In addition, I look after Property & FM, Logistics, Fleet, and Travel with a team of c460 highly talented people.”

Chris Platts, on the other hand, heads up the procurement operations team at SSE, “I have the pleasure of looking after about 80 people across UK and Ireland which includes our sourcing teams, purchase to pay, data analytics, system support, sustainability, SRM, and innovation. I also lead our large change programmes for the Procurement & Commercial , such as digital transformation and some broader group change programmes.”

Being a leading generator of renewable energy in the UK and Ireland, as well as one supplychaindigital.com

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Data-driven, frictionless, insights and creating value

of the largest electricity networks in the UK, SSE develops, owns and operates low carbon infrastructure for the net-zero transition, including onshore and offshore wind, hydropower, electricity transmission and distribution to grid, efficient gas generation, alongside providing energy products and services for businesses.

Data-driven, frictionless, insights and creating value The mission: ‘A data-driven strategic partner, providing a frictionless procurement and commercial experience with insightful market and supplier information that delivers significant value for each SSE business.’

Making a significant, multi-million-pound investment in new processes, tools, and skills over the next few years, SSE aims to achieve its mission creating a world-class procurement function, by focusing on four core themes: 1) optimising the core 140

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2) data, analytics and insight 3) customer experience and 4) automation.

“This programme is one of many across the group. Our CEO wants to create an upper quartile digital business by 2023, which was set last year,” said Platts.

“We’re one year into our three-year programme and we’ve had two big deliveries focused on optimising the core. We have implemented a new source to contract system and a new system to control contingent workers and professional services engagements in SSE. “We’ve also completed a data strategy that sets the foundations for the digital change; we’re also in the middle of some proof of concepts and trials to introduce machine learning and analytics on commodity pricing impacts, and in the early stages of a mobile app for catalogue procurement.”

Despite this, being successful with a strategy of this magnitude doesn’t come without its challenges. “Big deliveries are

SSE

EXECUTIVE BIO CHRIS PLATTS TITLE: HEAD OF PROCUREMENT OPERATIONS LOCATION: MANCHESTER, UK Chris graduated from Lancaster University in 2003 and began life in procurement at United Utilities in 2004. In 2007 he joined DHL Supply Chain and spent several years in a number of project management, business development, and product development roles. In 2013 he joined Accenture and spent his time working on various procurement and supply chain projects including SSE as a client, which led him joining SSE as Head of Transformation in 2015. Chris is now Head of Procurement Operations and oversees all group procurement and major change programmes on behalf of Procurement & Commercial and leads on some broader programmes across the group.

Chris is married with 3 children. He enjoys cooking, football and cycling.

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Balfour Beatty builds new, sustainable futures Through the targets and ambitions set out in its sustainability strategy, Building New Futures, combined with its commitment to constant innovation, Balfour Beatty is committed to reducing its environmental footprint and having a positive impact wherever it works.

Leading the charge towards a Net Zero Future, together At Balfour Beatty, sustainability has always been at the heart of what we do. We’ve already reduced our direct carbon emissions by 55% over the last decade and last year, we further bolstered our commitment to driving a Net Zero Future, launching our refreshed sustainability strategy, Building New Futures.

We’re focused on three core areas which are the most important to our business – the environment, materials and communities, and have set bold 2030 targets and 2040 ambitions to help us go Beyond Net Zero Carbon, Generate Zero Waste and Positively Impact More Than 1 Million People.

Across all of our operations, we’re already taking action. We have successfully diverted 98.15% of our waste from landfill in the UK and Hong Kong, we’ve joined the United Nations Race To Zero campaign and are also in the process of setting science based targets to reduce our carbon emissions.

We have upped the ante in driving innovative solutions – those that can make the biggest, positive impact on our day-to-day operations.

Last year, we launched EcoNet, developed in partnership with our valued supply chain partner, Sunbelt Rentals. EcoNet runs silently, in the background of our construction site accommodation to effectively manage the energy demand of appliances, reducing emissions across sites by up to 80%.

At St Fergus in North East Scotland, we are working with SSEN Transmission on the construction of a new 132kV substation.

On this project, EcoNet has allowed us to significantly reduce the volume and frequency of fuel deliveries needed for temporary power supply generators during the construction phase.

A similar site without our EcoNet system installed requires delivery volumes of 1,000 litres of diesel per week, on average.

By utilising EcoNet, we’ve reduced our consumption to approximately half this amount - saving 130 tCO2e over the St Fergus project lifecycle.

We’re stepping up. We will play our part, moving our business forward, sustainably, and in doing so we will help build a better future for everyone.

Learn more

SSE

EXECUTIVE BIO RONNIE FLEMING TITLE: CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER LOCATION: SCOTLAND Ronnie qualified as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor in 1991 and comes from a background in construction, where prior to joining SSE, he spent 28 years in various main contracting and construction management organisations working on a wide range of civil engineering and construction projects in both the UK and SE Asia / Middle East. He was previously Director of Procurement & Commercial Operations for SSE Group and in April 2018 assumed the role of Group Director of Procurement & Logistics responsible

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for all procurement and post contract commercial management services across SSE Group. In addition to his Procurement and Commercial responsibilities he also manages our Group Logistics function which entails the control of stock, inventory and distribution of goods from two main distribution centres as well as a network of nationwide depots. In April 2019, Group Property and FM, along with Fleet and Travel were added to his area of responsibility as Chief Procurement Officer.

Ronnie lives in Biggar on the edge of the Scottish Borders (SW of Edinburgh) and is married with three grown up children, 2 cats.

In his spare time, he is a keen golfer and has recently taken up cycling.

SSE

obviously complex,” says Platts. “Having a large number of users in procurement and the wider business means that business change and adoption needs to be carefully through, but we have managed to deliver them on time and under budget. More broadly we recognise that digital isn’t just about the shiny new technology, it’s a cultural change in the function and the wider organisation to consider new ways of working to become more agile in what we do.

“Another challenge has been on the recruitment side. We are looking for resources in some key roles at the moment, but so are a lot of other procurement functions. Labour markets are becoming buoyant post-COVID so we have to consider how we attract and importantly retain talent in the team,” adds Platts.

SSE and its relationship with sustainability When it comes to sustainability at SSE, the utility company is deep-rooted in making a difference. “Our purpose is to provide the energy needed today, while building a better world of energy for tomorrow.. Our vision

“ This programme is one of many across the group.

Our CEO wants to create a quartile digital business by 2023, which was set last year” CHRIS PLATTS

HEAD OF PROCUREMENT OPERATIONS, SSE

is to be a leading energy company in a net-zero world. Our strategy is to create value for shareholders and society in a sustainable way by developing, building, operating and investing in the electricity infrastructure and businesses needed in the transition to net-zero. And our Goals by 2030 are to cut carbon intensity by 60%, treble our renewable energy output to 30TWH/annum, help accommodate 10 million electric vehicles onto the electricity network, and be the leading company in the UK and Ireland championing fair tax and a real living wage,” says Fleming. supplychaindigital.com

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Focusing on the company’s sustainable procurement strategy, Platts emphasises how proud SSE is of what it has achieved over the last 18 months. “SSE has aligned to the ISO 20400 Sustainable Procurement Guidance Standard as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals,”says Platts.

“We have a new Sustainable Procurement Code, which sets out the requirements and expectations for our supply chain – from paying a real living wage to setting sciencebased carbon targets.

“We have also carried out detailed risk and opportunity assessments across our 146

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“ Our purpose is to provide the energy needed today, while building a better world of energy for tomorrow” RONNIE FLEMING

CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, SSE

SSE

SSE and It's Partners “We’re fortunate enough at SSE to have a rich, diverse and highly capable supply chain, which extends to some 10,000 suppliers across the group. We have a significant number of deep and mutually beneficial relationships with our top suppliers including GE , Balfour Beatty, Siemens, Hitachi Energy & Vestas. All of these key suppliers participate in a tailor-made supplier relationship management forum that focuses on safety, delivery, excellence, innovation, and B2B opportunities in the spirit of openness, trust, and collaboration.

“Healthy, sustainable, and highly capable supply chain partners are essential to the delivery of our ambition. The relationships we have and will continue to develop are founded on the principles of integrity, honesty, and mutual trust. We recognise that without our supply chain would not be able to deliver our strategy and targets, and that is why we devote so much time and energy into developing and managing these critical B2B relationships” – Ronnie Fleming, Chief Procurement Officer

entire purchasing categories, allowing us to directly link our sustainable tender criteria and performance metrics to material risks and opportunities, as well as apply proportionally for our suppliers. We also publish a compliant Modern Slavery Statement each year, dating back to 2016.”

Reflecting on SSE’s digital transformation strategy, Platts explains that the challenges from a digital/sustainability perspective have included, "How we can digitally enable our sustainable procurement strategy? How can we assess and track supply chain risk? How do we provide supply chain insight that will

add value to the ESG story? This is why we are currently piloting things like supply chain reporting tools.”

“It’s an extremely exciting time to be a part of SSE. We’re a principal sponsor to COP26 and our purpose is to help to address the climate emergency. Having a sustainable supply chain, which is managed by a digitally enabled, world-class Procurement & Commercial function will be key to delivering our net zero ambition,” concludes Platts.

supplychaindigital.com

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