Supply chain execs share expertise
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 3/29/2006
Day Two opened with the Executive Forum featuring a pair of top executives sharing their supply chain skills with an audience of approximately 200 show attendees.
Jon Wettstein, vice president of operations at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Paul Matthews, senior vice president for logistics services at The Limited (parent company of Bath and Body Works and Victoria's Secret), gave prepared remarks and then answered questions in a discussion session moderated by Sandy Towle of ARC Advisory Group. A third presenter, Jose Mejia of Lucent Technologies, was unable to attend because his company is in the midst of a merger. Wettstein described his role in moving coffee "from tree to cup" and explained how Green Mountain successfully opened a new DC at its headquarters in Waterbury, Vt., in August 2004. Opening the new DC, he said, taught him the importance of creating dedicated project teams, working with experienced systems integrators and allowing sufficient time for planning and implementation when tackling such large projects. Matthews focused on bringing supply chain management into the company boardroom. Supply chain managers need to get better, he said, at succinctly articulating what it is they do, educating others in the company about the importance of supply chain operations. They also need to shift their thinking, he said, to prepare them to sit at the executive level: They need to think not just in terms of costs and efficiencies but also in terms of revenues, stock prices, tax savings and risk management. "The key message I would leave with you," Matthews said, "is that the lines between supply chain management and business strategy are blurring." Conference attendee Larry Gerke, logistics specialist for Les Schwab Tire Centers, said he particularly enjoyed Matthews' presentation because his company has recently made a "huge effort" to include supply chain professionals on executive-level boards, and Matthews' remarks reassured him Les Schwab is moving in the right direction.
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