“We wanted to ensure that we were front-line focused with resources directed to the market.”
the end-to-end supply chain from innovation, sourcing and pro- curement, manufacturing, quality, engineering, suppliers, to relationships with our customers. The organization has 10,000+ permanent employees plus several thousand through our part- ners. About 80% of manufacturing takes place in our 20 facto- ries globally and we have over 70 distribution centres. Our head office is in Amsterdam but, apart from procurement, for rea- sons of scale, HR and legal, the rest of the business is organized in the markets within our five global areas. Total costs of supply amount to 3 billion euro and home hygiene net revenue in 2020 looks like being around 7 billion euros.”
How did RB2.0 change the home hygiene supply organization? “From 2020 we called it Hygiene and designed it to be an auton- omous business with optimum functionality that leveraged ben- efits across different market areas. We created a hygiene execu- tive leadership team which was small and as ‘head office-like’ as possible as we wanted to ensure that we were front-line focused with resources directed to the market.
I was very clear about how I wanted to organize supply: It had to be a business-enabling function. From September to December 2017 I met one day each week, every week with the executive leadership team to discuss and form a concept. By January we had a vision, mission and an organizational structure in place. Our first priority was to better connect with our customers. Secondly, we wanted to generate efficiencies and in order to unlock value to invest in innovation. The clear target for my organization is to deliver in excess of 50 basic points across margin improvements annually. Thirdly, we had to fully support our sustainability journey. And fourthly we wanted to create bespoke digital solutions to drive value, rather than digitalize the entire global business as part of a cultural journey. We wanted to be clear about what problems needed solving, measure them and if the solution worked, to scale up around the rest of the world and avoid the ‘not invented here’ paranoia.”
How did you bring the rest of the organization up to speed to PORTRAIT
Work and travel “I live near the Vondel Park in Amsterdam and our office is close to Schiphol airport so it’s easy to get to by bus or car, but for the last 12 months I’ve mostly been working from home.”
Vacation “Together with my family we love exploring new places and enjoy a mix of sightseeing and activities, such as sailing or skiing.”
Clothing “It’s fairly similar for home and the office: jeans and shirts.”
Hobbies “As well as spending time with family and friends, I love sports and good food.”
Music/Books “I like all sorts of music, but my favourite is rock.
I recently read, ‘The man who solved the market: how Jim Simons launched the quant revolution’, by Gregory Zuckerman. It’s describes, quite scientifically, how a mathematician pioneered the algorithm era (and made billions doing so) but with a humorous touch.
I’m looking forward to the new book by Barack Obama. I find him one of the most inspirational speakers for his ability to create an impact with words and combine wisdom, authenticity and feelings.”
Inspiration “People! I call myself fortu- nate to get inspiration from family, friends, colleagues and partners. I learnt early on that your own horizon is always somewhat limited. When the right connections are in place life is much richer.”
ensure complete integration and not segmentation? “In the first quarter of 2018 we engaged with colleagues around the world to present the strategy, do Q&As and ensure that business priorities were synchronized. It was important that everyone knew that we are one team. Take up went faster than expected and so by the second quarter we were already getting traction. We had already appointed both commercial and cate- gory leaders in the five regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, EMEA and South Asia, to ensure that every unit was fully integrated with supply and with each other. For example, a global buyer of a commodity will work jointly with R&D to make sure that it has the right specifications in terms of efficacy and agility for the supply chain. On top of that, to make sure that the buyer is not working in a silo, procurement leaders in all markets report into supply and so become integrated into this team. In this way we unlock value but don’t limit the space and magic our great procurement teams provide! Also, we designed an end-to-end Gross Margin program, spon- sored by finance and supply, with 60 parameters and published these in a book. Its aim is to allow the areas to run their own businesses within the structure laid out. For example, in the hygiene business the impact of COGS, as a percentage of gross sales, is high so every decision taken is crucially important. By looking at the program the individual markets can analyse where the opportunities lie and choose which one to chase. With this structure you support the buy-in of the market teams as you provide insightful value. Also, the category leaders share information with colleagues in businesses in other parts of world which creates healthy competition and this has also gen- erated further gross margin improvements.”
Y
ou said that the old brands were not performing well. How did you rejuvenate the innovation pipeline?
“In 2018, we realized that consumers show less brand loyalty and instead are keener towards experience and values. We ana- lysed each of our brands: what is its purpose, and what does it stand for? We wanted to be sure that everything coming out of our innovation funnels was delivering so it now has to fit a
15
SUPPLY CHAIN MOVEMENT, No.40, Q1 2021
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
