Trade Secrets

Andre Teixeira, VP of Global Supply Chain at Jamieson Wellness, joins Anne Robinson, Chief  Strategy Officer at Kinaxis, to discuss Jamieson Wellness’ bold approach to operationalizing sustainability. Watch now to learn how Jamieson Wellness has become a leader in sustainability by leveraging data to make better economic and environmental decisions.

• Andre believes that everything that moves across the globe is supply chain driven, including people, goods, and resources from the earth. Because of this, decisions need to be made by looking at the environment and social aspects tied to economics. “Just by its very nature, supply chains are consumers of the earth’s natural resources. So, anything we can do to improve the supply chain is ultimately in service of humanity and in service of Mother Earth.” – Kinaxis CEO John Sicard, quoted by Anne Robinson (3:37)
• Jamieson Wellness has a commitment to the planet, people and its communities. Its targets include reducing plastics by using recyclable plastic in 50% of its packaging, reducing 75% of its landfill and bringing sustainable raw materials to its products.
• Andre believes that the secret to augmenting the S&OP and IBP processes with sustainability lies in data. Supply chains, by nature, are constantly monitoring KPIs, benchmarks and information which should be leveraged to make better decisions holistically. Explaining what this might look like from a practical perspective, Andre explains, “So, when you have a bill of materials with products and descriptions, and quantities, how about having the environmental impact of those items in your bill of materials? How are you projecting your YOY, projecting your inventory levels today? We look at units, we look at dollars. How about projecting your carbon emissions with your level of sales, with your forecasting? And you are going to get that level that I have clarity on where I am and what kind of scenarios, we can use to mitigate those carbon emissions that I foresee.” (8:10)

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain management. Our software is trusted by global brands in every industry to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. For more news and information, please visit kinaxis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Join Dr. Harish Krishnan, Professor of Operations and Logistics at UBC Sauder School of Business, as he speaks with Anne Robinson, Chief Strategy Officer at Kinaxis, about how supply chain practitioners can automate routine tasks without creating bottlenecks for decision makers. Listen now to learn how technology is reshaping roles in the supply chain industry and how automation and human judgement can be applied holistically.

• Dr. Harish states that there are two types of work that we get: tasks and decisions. He defines tasks as routine work that can be specified in advance. Decisions, however, are based on data and context. Dr. Harish believes that tasks are easier to automate, and decisions require human judgement. (02:24)
• Dr. Harish states that technology can help augment decision-making by providing better data. While data can help inform decisions, we still need the right talent to make those calls. Dr. Harish comments, “As we think about talent and training and so on, we really need to think about how we enhance those skills, how do we get more people with those skills, but I think the task-based skills are becoming less important than the decision-making skills.” (5:00)
• While automation can increase efficiency, one risk that we can run into is over-automating tasks, creating bottlenecks in other areas. He states, “The point here is that as you automate certain tasks, you are putting pressure on the human element in some way.” (9:45)
• Automation has shifted the role of supply chain practitioners. Automating routine tasks removes the need for people to accomplish those jobs which results in more value-based, decision-making positions in supply chain. Anne states, “You want somebody who has got domain expertise of supply chain and an understanding of business dynamics, and these other pieces of it that will allow them to focus in a different kind of way.” (10:55)
• Bio of Dr. Harish Krishnan:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/harish-krishnan-b0982a14

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain management. Our software is trusted by global brands in every industry to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. For more news and information, please visit kinaxis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Sustainability has become an increasingly important area of focus for corporations over the last 20 years. So, what role does supply chain planning play in improving it and reducing CO2 emissions? In this podcast, Stefano Picasso, former VP of Integrated Supply Chain at Carlsberg and Matt Spooner, Industry Thought Leader at Kinaxis,talk about building a more sustainable future.

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain management. Our software is trusted by global brands in every industry to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. For more news and information, please visit kinaxis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Managing Director of the Ferrari Consulting and Research group, Bob Ferrari, joins Alexa Cheater, Director of Product Marketing at Kinaxis in this episode to discuss the current shortage of supply chain talent. Watch now to see how the effects of these shortages have been felt critically, especially when it comes to companies struggling to transform digitally and employees shifting their priorities. Learn how to find and retain top supply chain talent in our latest video podcast.

You can learn more about Bob Ferrari and the Ferrari Consulting and Research group here: https://theferrarigroup.com/

Summary points:

• Bob noted that the signs of the supply chain talent shortages started before the pandemic, though COVID did exacerbate the effects. In addition, the advancement of cloud-based technology and the need for more digitally inclined staff contributed to these shortages.
• The last three years have been full of nonstop disruptions, causing businesses to pivot their business models and product strategies.
• Millions of employees voluntarily exited the workforce over the past 3 years due to shifting priorities for reasons like work-life balance, dual income, childcare, and more. Additionally, baby boomers retired, taking institutional knowledge with them.
• Bob emphasized the need to hire based on skills-based dimensions starting, “we want people with skill sets that could change when the jobs change, that have certain traits that we know are akin to these kinds of roles, you know, and hard skills and collaboration skills and soft skills, all of those dimensions.” 
• Bob stated that workers seek a sense of purpose in their work, family, and communities based on their values such as climate change, sustainability, and diversity – and that businesses and managers should seek to humanize their workforce by making these needs a priority.
• Bob stated that automating mundane, inefficient, and redundant tasks can help improve employee satisfaction so there is more time for managers to help their employees grow their analytical, team leading, collaboration, and communication skills.

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain management. Our software is trusted by global brands in every industry to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. For more news and information, please visit kinaxis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

A recent survey conducted by boom! asked supply chain practitioners what they need to thrive in a supply chain management career. 

Four themes emerged from the survey results, including leadership, professional support, job-specific tools, and the work/life balance. 

Morgan says it’s critical for leaders to learn what talent needs and provide the support to succeed. “It’s about being human,” she says.

In a competitive talent market, Morgan says people seek new jobs if they’re not making enough career progress, or to get access to tools like digital supply chain technology for planning. They also value employers offering hybrid, remote and flexible work environments.

LINKS:

What the Thriving Supply Chain Professional Needs to Succeed survey results 2022: https://boomglobalnetwork.com/onewebmedia/What%20the%20Thriving%20Supply%20Chain%20Professional%20Needs%20to%20Succeed%20-%20boom%21%20report%202022.pdf

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain management. Our software is trusted by global brands in every industry to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. For more news and information, please visit kinaxis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Paul Giamberardino has over 20 years in supply chain management for industries like consumer-packaged goods, healthcare and now telecommunications. 

In this episode, Paul says he’s pleased that in recent years, supply chain is no longer just “a cost center to move equipment around” but “we've really tried to change that to be a competitive advantage, an area that adds value for the organization,” he says.

Regarding “technology enablers” for the supply chain: Whether it's IoT, Blockchain, 5G, Paul says they're going to enable supply chain practitioners to get better at what they do and help supply chain move past pure execution of orders to more end-to-end orchestration.

Adapting to new processes over past few years: Change management, building trust in new tools has been a big lift. People were used to ingrained ways of doing things and now have to trust that new systems will give them the outcomes they’re used to. 

“Can’t run a supply chain staring at a computer”: Rogers has  a mix of office and logistics/distribution employees. “We’ve gotten away from touching and feeling the supply chain like we used to.” He says there’s no substitute for seeing the operations and through the lens of the customer. 

Evolution of supply chain becoming a strategic differentiator: Rogers has introduced new services like weekend deliveries , creating a competitive supply chain advantage. This has driven more corporate investment in talent, systems, facilities.

Learn more about Paul here. 

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain management. Our software is trusted by global brands in every industry to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. For more news and information, please visit kinaxis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

As a spin-off enterprise of Novartis, Sandoz aims to become a competitive, global generic pharmaceutical company. Kevin Cook, Sandoz VP of Supply Chain North America, explains that Sandoz is seeking to be an independent entity by the third quarter of 2023 and to get to that point, it needed advanced supply chain planning to match its productivity and delivery goals. The company has been undergoing a digital transformation using RapidResponse from Kinaxis for the past few years. Allen Jacques and Kevin Cook discussed how the planning process is evolving for Sandoz.

Key quotes from Cook: 

“…we look really for efficiencies, productivity opportunities internally on how do we automate our processes better, how do we bring information and analytics to be more of as a DIY application than having to rely on IT…” 

“And now we're kind of on this journey of how we actually start to link to our suppliers and our customers on a more of an end-to-end basis, and how do we unlock the value of the entire supply chain from us as manufacturers to ultimately our patients and providers. How do we go about that journey of bringing information about our supply into the broader supply chain world, making the supply chain run better, making it more real resilient, more visible, and at a lower cost, while at the same time meeting patient needs in a better way.”

“The beauty of a tool at Kinaxis is that it's separated from SAP, we have freedom to basically adjust parameters around capacity and demand and supply chain nodes, and basically run lots of what-if scenarios that are interconnected across all of our nodes.”

Other points:

• Sandoz is focused on understanding who all its digital partners are and what their needs are, and building stronger, connected relationships from end-to -end. 
• Novartis has 17 instances of SAP, whereas Sandoz has one planning solution that sits on top of all of them: RapidResponse. It “helps us communicate and see things on a real-time basis,” says Cook. 
• Sandoz hopes to leverage these newer technologies to further develop its serialization and track-and-trace capabilities, which will open up visibility and new ways to see demand, plan and create better access to its products in the markets.
• Cook says he would hope to counter any fears that giving a distributor full visibility of its supply chain could risk losing that distributor; rather, he would ideally see it used to build trust by demonstrating reliability and enabling collaboration to see issues earlier than ever to resolve challenges.
• On the predictive side, Sandoz is using models based on historical data on stock-out trends, financial/economic info in certain markets and more to determine probability of being awarded future tenders. Cook says they are starting to see trends of outages than can be responded to now with inventory builds, and planning. 

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain management. Our software is trusted by global brands in every industry to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. For more news and information, please visit kinaxis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

• Mohan Sodhi conducted a survey project to determine what mid-to-senior level supply chain managers are expecting from three of the most popular new emerging technologies mentioned in the Gartner Hype Cycle: artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain. 
• Sodhi expected to learn that each technology had unique constraints and questions from the supply chain managers. Instead, he learned that supply chain managers saw all three as “indistinguishable” on the survey. 
• Supply chain managers aren’t certain what these emerging technologies will do for their supply chain, based on their expectations and priorities. Each technology goes through a path of discovery to “a peak of inflated expectations” before landing in the “trough of disillusionment.”
• Sodhi says true learning begins after this “disillusionment” phase as supply chain managers learn more about what each technology can do. 
• To accelerate through the inflated expectations and disillusionment stages, managers can make a list of requirements and what they want from their supply chains, and what they cannot currently do, and share that with consultants and vendors to help distinguish which technologies best meet those needs, thereby moderating expectations.
• Sodhi recommends sharing information within your supply chain about what you’re actually expecting from this new technology and the mutual benefits that may go beyond your own company and help your market sector. 
• Robinson recommends companies interested in starting a supply chain planning transformation learn as much as possible from consultants and vendors through activities like customer conference calls to learn which technologies are the best fit for problems you’re trying to solve. 
• Sodhi says his top concern for supply chain transformation going forward is planning for survival in the next 10 to 20 years given global warming and other factors. This will mean sharing critical information with others in the industry, even competitors, to help supply chains as a whole survive whatever comes next. 
• Link to visit Professor Sodhi’s report: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/poms.13694

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain management. Our software is trusted by global brands in every industry to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. For more news and information, please visit kinaxis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

• Global disruptions have led to critical changes in inventory management
• The importance of agility in becoming less dependent on unreliable plans
• Economic growth driven by inventory build-ups
• Impact of the bullwhip effect

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain management. Our software is trusted by global brands in every industry to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. For more news and information, please visit kinaxis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

• Cell-based gene therapy
• Biomedical research and treatment
• Autologous- when patient’s own cells are modified outside the body and reintroduced to the patient
• Allogenic- cells isolated from a healthy donor. 
• Cell therapy aims to treat diseases by restoring or altering certain sets of cells or by using cells to carry a therapy through the body. With cell therapy, cells are cultivated or modified outside the body before being injected into the patient. The cells may originate from the patient (autologous cells) or a donor (allogeneic cells).
• Gene therapy aims to treat diseases by replacing, inactivating or introducing genes into cells— either inside the body (in vivo) or outside of the body (ex vivo).
• Some therapies are considered both cell and gene therapies. These therapies work by altering genes in specific types of cells and inserting them into the body.

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain management. Our software is trusted by global brands in every industry to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. For more news and information, please visit kinaxis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.