Author: Stefan Dinu

Building Supply Chain resilience is pivotal to thriving during times of crisis and disruption. In this episode, we speak with Dirk Holbach, CSCO and Corporate VP of Laundry and HomeCare at Henkel, about creating the type of teams that can help a supply chain leader in the Covid era. Given the pace of change and the amount of disruption, it is essential to have adaptable, flexible, and emotionally intelligent leadership and teams. Here we discuss the skills needed and how to hire and retain the right people. 

About the speaker

Dirk Holbach has more than 20 years of experience in supply chain, operations, organizational development, network optimization, purchasing, and sales. He has held various roles on a local, regional and global level at Henkel. He is currently the Chief Supply Chain Officer and Head of World-Wide Supply Chain (manufacturing, planning, logistics, EHS, quality) for Laundry & HomeCare with net sales of 7 billion EUR. His responsibilities include overseeing 6,500 employees in 33 factories and 47 logistic centers in North/Latin America, Western/Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East Africa, Asia-Pacific. Dirk was responsible for the definition and execution of the 2017 – 2020 transformation plan for global footprint with on-going rationalization in mature markets and expansion in emerging markets, including M&A. At the forefront of Henkel’s digital transformation journey from 2011-2020, Dirk has been concerned with transforming their global supply chain operations into an Industry 4.0 digital-enabled supply chain. 

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This episode focuses on the role that compassionate leaders play inside the organization. Why is it crucial for leaders to understand the bigger picture and lead their teams with humanity and compassion rather than managing and imposing change? Creating a culture of trust, where collaboration and interaction with one another are pursued on a daily basis, will help your organization thrive through times of uncertainty and crisis. Sharing with us their take on compassionate leadership and personal experiences are Liesbeth Geels, VP EMEA Supply Chain at Starbucks, Stephanie Crowe, Head of Global Learning at Worldline, and Marian Temmen, Sourcing and Supply Chain Executive at PVH Corp (Co-founder of Craekker at the time of recording).

About the speakers

Liesbeth Geels is a hands-on, improvement-driven, and committed leader who believes developing people and building relationships are the cornerstones for success. She is experienced in enabling growth, leading transformation, continuous improvement, creating and sharing a vision, coaching people, and positively influencing performance to accomplish tangible results. Liesbeth has devoted over 18 years to Starbucks and is currently VP EMEA Supply Chain. 

Stephanie Crowe leads leaders to multiply the impact of their people for 10x ROI. As Global Head of Learning at Worldline, her teams employ creative learning methods to fire up talent from the front line through executive leadership so they can multiply their talent. Steph helps the business thrive in disruption by leveraging the enormous potential of its greatest asset: its people.

Marian Temmen is a progressive change agent at heart and has been working at the intersection of global supply chain, procurement, and value chain optimization for the last 15 years. He has been steering major transformational turnarounds and M&A integrations across Europe and Asia, translating complex commercial needs into high-performance and agile solutions in dynamic environments. Marian is particularly passionate about a compassionate and emotionally intelligent leadership culture of empowerment and is keen on driving this new agenda into the future. 

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In this episode with Stuart Whiting, Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain – Logistics & Planning at Schneider Electric, we discuss the essential role that customers play in shaping supply chain decisions. Do you truly know what your customers want? Have you thoroughly mapped out their buying behaviors? And have you put the organization in the eye of the customers? We answer these questions and explore the impact of customer-centricity in the new era of disruption.

About the speaker

Stuart is a senior supply chain executive with commercial, operational, and general management experience spanning country, regional, and global digital transformation roles within market-leading multinational corporations. He is currently the SVP, Global Supply Chain at Schneider Electric. Stuart is a proven leader in strategy formulation, alignment, and operational execution of complex transformations in parallel to day-to-day enterprise management. Such leadership has seen Stuart deliver continually improved customer and employee satisfaction results and a reputation as an inspiring, challenging, but fair people leader who believes strongly in his team members’ coaching and support.

Awards

• 2006 Best Marketing Paper – Anzam Awards co-authored with Dr. John Gattorna.
• 2018 Gartner SCM Power of the Profession Awards Winner for Customer Innovation “How buying behavior, advanced analytics and digital capabilities help build a customer-centric logistics platform.”
• 2020 Gartner SCM Power of the Profession Awards Winner for “Business Win of the Year” and “Supply Chain Breakthrough of the Year” for SMART Logistics.

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The creation of a diverse, supportive, and stimulating work environment is critical for every business’s success. In this episode, we discuss the topic of diversity with Beth Morgan, Founder and CEO of boom!, the global community for aspiring and experienced female supply chain professionals, Dirk Holbach, CSCO of Laundry and HomeCare at Henkel, and Allison Bales, Senior Manager Supply Chain & Strategy Development, Laundry and HomeCare, Henkel. What role do women play in driving transformation projects? How do you create a diverse environment? Progress has been made, but much still needs to be achieved. 

About the speakers

Allison Bales

Allison began her career with Henkel in 2010 as an intern. After graduating in 2012, Allison was hired into the purchasing division in Arizona as a purchasing manager. In 2015, she relocated to Henkel’s Global Supply Chain Office in Amsterdam and took over the role of Global Category Lead for Bleach, Enzymes, and Amines. Changing positions once again, in 2018, Allison moved into the Laundry and HomeCare Supply Chain as Senior Manager of Strategy and Development, focusing on organizational effectiveness, people development/training, and project management. Allison holds an Industrial Engineering degree from Arizona State University, and she is originally from Kansas City, Missouri, USA.

Beth Morgan 

Beth Morgan is CEO and Founder of boom!, an online network connecting a cross-industry community of female supply chain professionals worldwide. Launching in September 2019, and with members spanning 40 countries, boom! provides inspiration, learning, and mentoring designed to help aspirational women develop their personal and professional skills and build the network they will need to become future leaders. For over two decades, Beth has worked in the supply chain sector, most recently as Research Vice President at SCM World, a Gartner community for global Chief Supply Chain Officers and their teams. 

Dirk Holbach

Dirk has more than 20 years of experience in supply chain, operations, organizational development, network optimization, purchasing, and sales and has held various roles on a local, regional and global level at Henkel. He is currently the Chief Supply Chain Officer and Head of World-Wide Supply Chain (manufacturing, planning, logistics, EHS, quality) for Laundry & HomeCare with net sales of 7 billion EUR. His responsibilities include overseeing 6,500 employees in 33 factories and 47 logistic centers in North/Latin America, Western/Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East Africa, Asia-Pacific. Dirk was responsible for the definition and execution of the 2017 – 2020 transformation plan for global footprint with on-going rationalization in mature markets and expansion in emerging markets, including M&A. At the forefront of Henkel’s digital transformation journey from 2011-2020, Dirk has been concerned with transforming their global supply chain operations into an Industry 4.0 digital-enabled supply chain. 

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In this episode, we host Yossi Sheffi, MIT Professor and Director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL), to discuss his latest book: “The New (Ab)Normal.” Defined as a must-read for Supply Chain Executives, we explore where the desire for writing this book came from and the advice that leaders can gain from it. What does the future of supply chain look like, and what are the significant trends that will characterize a now irreversibly-changed reality? 

About the speaker

Dr. Yossi Sheffi is Elisha Gray II Professor of Engineering Systems and Director of the MIT CTL. He is an expert in supply chain management and is the author of five award-winning books. He published his sixth and latest book, ‘The New (Ab)Normal,’ in October 2020. Under his leadership, MIT CTL has launched many educational, research, and industry/government outreach programs, including the MIT SCALE network involving six academic centers worldwide. In 2016, MIT CTL launched the online supply chain management MicroMasters program, reaching more than 350,000 learners worldwide.

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Successful delivery of a Covid-19 vaccine in early 2021 would be an unprecedented achievement in vaccine development history. While vaccine trials are still underway, the supply chain race is on to determine how to inoculate 70% of the world’s population, a population of over 5.5 billion people. This panel discussion explores how the pharmaceutical industry can collaborate with key stakeholders to build a robust supply chain from the ground up. This is in a market where the sheer speed of execution and monumental volume are top priorities, yet demand grossly exceeds supply. 

About the panelists

David Simchi-Levi is a Professor of Engineering Systems at MIT and the Co-Director of Leaders for Global Operations. His research currently focuses on developing and implementing robust and efficient techniques for logistics and manufacturing systems. He has published widely in professional journals on both practical and theoretical aspects of logistics and supply chain management. Professor Simchi-Levi is widely regarded as one of the most well-respected supply chain thinkers in the world. His involvement with various technology firms and research with world-leading manufacturers means his influence is felt throughout the supply chain profession. Professor Simchi-Levi has also published several seminal books which are used by consultants and supply chain professionals alike for reference to this day. 

As the Chief Digital Transformation Officerof TraceLink, Roddy Martin is responsible for guiding TraceLink’s business transformation initiatives through his expertise and insight into change management and end-to-end digital supply chain strategy. As a recognized industry thought-leader and influencer, Martin has over 36 years of experience advising organizations on implementing end-to-end business operating models in their supply chains through digital transformation, segmentation, and change management. He works closely with senior global leaders and executives from multiple industry verticals. He has detailed experience transforming healthcare and consumer products value chains from point-of-sale to the supply network and manufacturing. 

Mirko Senatore has been with Pfizer since 2007, holding several key roles in the EMEA Supply Chain organization that brought him to lead both strategic transformational initiatives and operational teams throughout a 13 years tenure. His current position is Global Supply Chain Lead – Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In this role, Mirko oversees the region’s transformation and follows mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and new product launches, including launching the disruptive Covid-19 vaccine. Mirko holds a Master’s degree in Business Economics from Università Degli Studi di Salerno (Italy), an MSc in Logistics & Supply Chain Management from the Cranfield University (UK), and an Executive MBA from the Quantic School of Business & Technology (US).

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In this session, Marcos Paganini, VP of Global Manufacturing Strategy and Deployment at Johnson and Johnson Consumer Health, shares his best practice advice on defining an E2E smart manufacturing and supply chain strategy. Marcos addresses customer-centricity and how to place customers at the heart of all supply chain operations and aligning teams in terms of their service to customers. Marcos also shares his insight into defining a smart manufacturing global technology strategy, making the correct technology choices, and ensuring that technology exists to serve the customer-centric supply chain and driving efficiencies.   

About the speaker

Marcos Paganini is Vice President of Global Manufacturing Strategy and Deployment at Johnson & Johnson, Consumer Health. Marcos is responsible for process standardization across the global manufacturing and supply chain network, focusing on key technology choices and aligning strategy with customer needs. Marcos leads a culture of innovation and facilitates knowledge exchange across the organization. Marcos has worked at J&J for 13 years covering all regions and many different functions. He’s a digital pioneer and has a proven track record of driving large scale digital transformations across multi-site manufacturing and distribution centers.

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Building Supply Chain resilience is pivotal to thriving during times of crisis and disruption. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Dirk Holbach, CSCO and Corporate VP of Laundry and HomeCare at Henkel about creating the type of teams that can help a Supply Chain leader in the Covid era. Given the pace of change and the amount of disruption, it is essential to have adaptable, flexible and emotionally intelligent leadership and teams. Here we discuss the skills needed and how to hire and retain the right people. 

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The Chief Supply Chain Officer for today’s crisis and tomorrow’s disruptive future needs to be a Chief Integration Officer. In this episode we speak with Supply Chain icon Chris Tyas about the next generation capabilities of the CSCO. Chris’ unique perspective gives us insight into the skills needed to perform through complexity and build resilience into the Supply Chain in order to gain end-to-end visibility. The role of integration and scenario planning is critical.

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In this episode, we speak with Stephan de Barse, Executive Vice President at o9 Solutions about the latest trends in Supply Chain Transformation. Stephan offers us a unique perspective on the Transformation challenges impacting supply chain leaders today, as well as best practice and advice on overcoming them. 

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