I
n 2000 the Schindler Group, of Switzerland, producer of elevators, escalators switched its focus from being a machine manufacturer to a service provider. A decade later it faced qual- ity concerns and it was losing competitiveness. Sabine Simeon-Aissaoui, was appointed head of supply chain Europe in 2014 and spent two and half years reinventing the supply chain and cut- ting complexity. As head of supply chain Europe, she is responsible for an operating revenue of 1.2 billion CHF and runs an organization of 1200 people with 13 direct reports, four manu- facturing plants and four distribution centers. This incorporates planning, strategic sourcing, material management, production, distribution to the last mile, returns and spare part manage- ment as well as service to any brand of elevator. Founded in 1874 in Lucerne, today the com- pany’s Swiss engineered elevators, escalators and moving walkways move 1 billion people per day and it is at the forefront of optimizing urban transportation and facilitating the development of smart cities.
How did you arrive in this position? “After a brief spell with a healthcare company in the quality department- recommended for females in those days - I soon realized that I needed a greater challenge.
In 1996 I joined electrical device company, Hager. I wanted to start on the shop floor and I was given the task of automating the production line. It was a big project for my age but it gave me the chance to learn everything about indus- trialization and it gave me confidence to man- age people, even though they were not directly reporting to me. It was a three-year project at the end of which I was headhunted by Schindler to work on the industrialization of its main factory in Europe. I was later asked to move to purchas- ing and logistics which was my first contact with supply chain and for which I first went through a six month training period.
Around 2000 our focus was on core business and reducing investment. At the same time Schindler was in the process of moving from manufacturing
highly customized products
to more standard commodity products. This stretched our volumes which if we had wanted to meet with our customized style of manufac- turing would have required significant invest- ment. Therefore we decided to collaborate with
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SUPPLY CHAIN MOVEMENT, No.29, Q2 2018
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