I did a supply chain and logistics degree at RMIT and then started working at Simplot just over two years ago. I’ve had two roles since, first as a supply chain planner, then onto to be a logistics officer. I’m working sideways across divisions to get more experience across the board.
It’s an exciting place that opens many doors.
The culture in supply chain is very inclusive and really supportive.
The challenge in the current role I’m in now can be quite challenging and I love stepping up to that. It’s very team focussed and it feels like more of a family, you feel like you’re coming home rather than going to work!
Currently I work on new product development projects. When I was a planner it got you working with different parts of the business so you got to see a wide variety of what other roles do and how they impact your role.
My role covers all aspects of managing the supply relationship with customers across Retail, Foodservice and Ingredients. One of my key focus areas is to develop and effectively maintain Customer Supply strategies within Australia, and to ensure customer satisfaction is achieved through accurate and timely managed solutions for both our internal and external customers. The lynchpin of my role is managed communication and an ability to foster outstanding relationships between internal business units and external customer bases.
My education background was transport economics, now better known as Logistics. I was looking for something diverse with a lot of opportunities and no set stream; I wanted the opportunity to work globally and with multiple facets and variables. Supply chain was one of those industries where I’ve used my background moving forward to increase my skill set and work in various business operations.
Diversity, no day is ever the same or boring. You are continually working on new issues with new people across multiple teams, there is great cross functional collaboration. There is always heaps of opportunity to grow and develop, I am still learning more every day. I have worked in Supply Chain for more 20 years, and had over 10 different roles. I love what I do every day, delivering results and making a difference.
A key customer based in the Philippines came to us for help as they were facing a significant supply issue and the risk of a factory shutdown due to a potential out of stock of a manufacturing ingredient. This would have had huge financial impact on the customer, closure of manufacturing
plant and subsequent employment risks. The customer sought our support to deliver a high volume of product to the Philippines in an extremely tight time frame. We liaised with the customer both in the Philippines and Australia and pulled a cross functional team together. In order to meet the customer’s required deadline, we sent product by road to Brisbane so that it could meet a ship at Brisbane which had already departed the Melbourne Port at the time we received the order. In total, we moved 54 containers, 500 tonnes of stock. I led a cross functional crisis management team which included team members from DC Operations, Transport and the Commercial Teams. Not only did we exceed the customer’s immediate expectations, but Fonterra was also able to satisfy the customer’s future inventory needs. All contributors to the process were recognised locally as well as by the Customer’s Global Account Director.
The variety it’s so diverse and there are different customers and different challenges every day, no two days are the same. There’s such diversity across the channels and customer base. In the last 24 hours I’ve done a presentation on shelf availability, reviewed the 12 week supply outlook internally, been out to the distribution centre to see some changes made there, relative interaction with customers and how we can change the way we process orders and shipments, then into some stores to see on-shelf availability in real time, then chatting with NZ and addressing some opportunities there, then giving customers supply updates and following up in meetings, then I get on a plane to fly to Melbourne to talk to Coles tomorrow.
We have a focus on availability; my role is to help bring together sales, supply chain and customers to make sure we are collaborating well to get the best availability out there for consumers. Bringing people together to work as one and ensure we are delivering to our customers.
Every day is interesting; we’ve challenged ourselves as a business to be a high performer in driving consumer availability and our supply chain director has really challenged us all. It’s pushing to get the best results and it’s great to see it come to fruition.
In the last 12 months, the business has really taken a focus on continuing to drive for improved availability to our customers and consumers for a business this size, our biggest challenge has been getting that aligned internally and across the customer base, regaining confidence and credibility in the market for Nestle’s position as a global supplier. Focusing on consumer and delivering product availability, we’ve been able to galvanise people together and the results are starting to show. That said, there’s no end game with supply chain, it’s a journey. We are also breaking some new ground with a new vendor replenishing planning team and on shelf availability projects with customers. If you want a challenging career, supply chain is something to investigate. It’s like a value chain end to end, linking all parts of the business to get a result, so you can buy our products, whenever, wherever you want them.
