This fireside chat recap is from Day 3 of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week. Day 3 focuses on food/perishables and consumer packaged goods.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Strategic trends in global supply chain
DETAILS: Key trends emerged in the global supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic as suppliers, manufacturers and distributors collaborated to ensure critical supplies were distributed all over the world.
SPEAKER: Kathy Wengel is the executive vice president and chief global supply chain officer for Johnson & Johnson.
BIO: Wengel is the executive vice president and chief global supply chain officer for Johnson & Johnson. She leads all aspects of the supply chain across Johnson & Johnson’s three business sectors: Consumer Health, Medical Devices and Pharmaceuticals. Her responsibilities include enterprise supply chain strategy, innovation and deployment, planning, sourcing, manufacturing, distribution, and customer service.
SPEAKER: Matt Waller is the dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas
BIO: Waller, is the dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, Sam M. Walton Leadership Chair and professor of supply chain management.
KEY QUOTES FROM WENGEL:
“Clearly, supply chains have become not only the drivers of end-to-end collaboration with suppliers, manufacturers and distributors, but even across a bigger societal ecosystem, if you think of policymakers, politicians, the world community and how it thinks of and begins to understand the supply chain at a global level due to the pandemic.”
“In a world that changes so much, we all have a responsibility from a trend view to not only continue to strengthen our operations in our supply chain with implementing advanced technologies, whether that’s driving efficiencies, but ultimately, we also have to begin driving much better connectivity and integration across the whole ecosystem.”
On global trends: “The pandemic has even further accelerated new channels for access, new levels of speed and agility, but coupled with a resilience of how those work together. Personalization — everyone of us wants not only personalized products, but personalization of ‘I want my box on my porch at this time.’ Transparency and social impact of what supply chains do, not only what we do and how we work.”