Supply Chain Movement issue 30 – Digital & Trends

Contents Supply Chain Movement 30 – 2018 Q3
Date of appearance: September 21st, 2018

6 | News & background

Innovation is crucial to long-term survival. Few companies nowadays would deny that, but innovation doesn’t just happen by itself – as lego knows from its own bitter experience. Fons Trompenaars, keynote speaker at inNowvate: “Innovation is nothing more than finding solutions to difficult problems, but in reality it seems as if we do all the things that stand in the way of innovation.”

10 | Snapshots

12 | Profile Chris Tyas, Nestlé

Supply Chain Management is dead, according to a recent report by Harvard Business Review. But before everyone starts polishing up his or her CV, it’s anything but, retorts Chris Tyas, Senior Vice President Supply Chain, of Nestlé. With 41 years in the business he has witnessed phenomenal change and doesn’t believe that, even in today’s digitalised global end-to-end supply chain, technological innovation can replace the human element. “Technology certainly alleviates the day-to-day hard slog, but its key asset is that it frees up supply chain people to make the next step forward. And there is still a long way to go.” He says that the era of supply chain, when more CEOs will emerge from operations, is just beginning! We met him at Nestlé Headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland, when he was also presented with the award for No 1 Supply Chain Executive DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) in recognition of his business success and contribution to the sector.

18 | Management: The promise of blockchain

Blockchain holds great promise. It is predicted to result in faster, more transparent and more efficient supply chains that are possibly fairer and more sustainable too, so it’s not surprising that everyone is talking about blockchain. But the technology is still in the early stages of development and there are many challenges to overcome. What is the best way for companies to get started with blockchain?

24 | Trend vision Transwide

A leading global player in the chemical industry wanted to achieve full supply chain visibility as well as automating the workflow. Besides that, the company was keen to improve the performance of the entire transport chain. Fabrice Maquignon, Ceo of Transwide & Teleroute (part of Alpega group), explains how a transport order management platform has helped the chemicals giant to tackle these challenges.

25 | Facts & Figures

26 | Trend vision DSV

Long payment terms are an ongoing issue in the supply chain and third-party logistics world according to meinderdjan botman, Chief Commercial officer of DSv Solutions. Until supply chain finance is fully embraced and rolled out, credit periods will continue to be a topic of much discussion in various contracts and, if anything, they will probably get even longer. botman: “everyone is still focused on amassing as much cash as possible.” that is why DSv is taking an innovative approach, helping companies to reduce their working capital and create more investment opportunities.

28 | Management: Analytics, more and better data

The ever-better quality and availability of internal and external data is enabling companies to predict their future with increasing accuracy. In the next phase, those predictions will be used to support – and perhaps even automate – crucial decision-making processes. Are autonomous supply chains in sight?

35 | Trend vision Amber Road

The regulations governing global trade change from day to day. on one hand more free trade agreements are coming into force while on the other duties and tariffs can rise unexpectedly. Exporting companies can’t change the policies made by politicians but they can change trade lanes to take advantage of preferential rates. By keeping up to date with the changes in real time and ensuring that goods meet the strict rules of compliance, globally operating companies can save millions of dollars.

36 | Top 27 Supply Chain Executives DACH region

Who is the most influential supply chain leader in germany, Austria and Switzerland (the ‘DACH’ region)? To answer this question, Supply Chain media applied its methodology to produce the top 27 Supply Chain executives in the DACH region. During the first edition of the european Supply Chain excellence Summit in Dresden, germany, Chris tyas of Nestlé was announced as the region’s top-ranking supply chain executive.

42 | Tools & Technology

Mercateo has developed a tool that breaks down the costs of the various types of purchasing processes and provides insight into currently untapped savings potential in indirect purchasing. And with its new generation of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors for supply chains, Pharox offers easy-to-manage systems that are scalable, transferrable and can fit into a standardized process.

45 | Supply Chain Agenda of Mourad Tamoud

The immense rate at which technology and innovation accelerates leaves many in supply chain breathless. As executive vice president for global supply chain operations of Schneider Electric, Mourad Tamoud aims to keep pace by implementing a tailored, sustainable and connected 4.0 supply chain.