David Watkins, in his recent role as Director & Head of Supply Chain Management for a public utility company, was recruited to lead and transform the supply chain organization in support of the company’s strategy. Upon arriving in this role, David developed and presented his 90-day plan to senior leadership which they approved. His first step was to assess the maturity of the supply chain organization and to re-align and integrate that into the company’s strategic plan for growth and optimization.
According to David, his plan was comprised of four primary action areas:
David Watkins, Global Procurement and Supply Chain Executive
- Spend visibility: Gather the data in whatever format it is in, clean it up by any means necessary, and gain visibility quickly.
- Stakeholders: Get to know and build trust with the key stakeholders. Understand the organization and culture – how things get done.
- Org Assessment: People, Processes, and Technology. Assess current Supply Chain process and functional gaps and create mitigation strategies to achieve operational execution and world class.
- Quick Wins: Develop and accelerate cost reduction activities to achieve quick payback and results. Create a sense of urgency and accountability.
David’s assessment of the supply chain function concluded that it was not producing the desired results. “The company also had an exceptionally low tolerance for change,” said Watkins. David then “set the transformation journey into motion,” realizing that the only solution would require a reorganization of the team to align with business objectives. David realigned sourcing, procurement, contracting, and logistics & materials management to the business units, resulting in a streamlined Supply Chain Management Department.
He championed an overarching analysis of supply chain capability, building a blended unit of operational team members and supply chain strategists. David worked closely with the executive leadership and held seats at multiple operations tables, identifying efficiencies as well as gaps in supply chain processes and support. “I established a supply chain vision that aligned with that of the company in order to create value for the business by optimizing the enterprise-spend for the acquisition and logistics of quality goods and services at competitive costs.”
David then shared this vision with his entire team, helping them connect the dots to how each of their roles and actions aligned to that vision, and ultimately created a balanced scorecard to track progress.
These actions helped David and his team to deliver $18.3 Million in cost savings against one year’s target of $10 Million and continue that trajectory. “I felt that a bold approach was required. I also knew that my role was as an influencer and that a collaborative process would yield ultimate and long-term success. To do this required the ability to build, communicate, and execute a vision for strategic and operational change and to create a sense of urgency throughout the organization that significantly contributed to the return on investment in the team (or the company’s EBITDA, or the company’s earnings per share).”
Watch full video interview below.
Contact David Watkins via LinkedIn or his Career WebFolio.
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