thoughtleaders
Finally, the summit is really a capstone event for what we,
as a center, do all year long. This industry involvement has
built a network of high-profile public and private partners
we work with almost every day. This powerful and collective
industry voice helps us spread the word about the event to
a broader audience than we ever could alone.
QHow is it that you’ve been able to do something no ther state has either tried to do or accomplished
successfully?
A Other states have held conferences. Many even have a focus on transportation, so doing that is nothing new.
We think the summit has worked because it really is the
“industry’s event,” and we’ve positioned it that way. This
focus has created an event that has proved to have real value
to their businesses and is worth the investment of their time
away from the office. The companies are the ones with the
jobs and cargo. Their success is our success.
ness for companies in our state. We work with two categories of businesses: those that already have a presence in
Georgia and those that might be interested.
There are some similarities, but each company’s needs are
quite different, which makes the job interesting and fun. I
get to see every day just how dynamic and far-reaching the
logistics industry truly is. Our role is to provide focused
expertise, specific industry data, connections to state
resources, and an extensive cross-sector industry network.
If it involves freight or logistics, the center is there to help
businesses connect, compete, and grow.
QDescribe your center’s broader mission and advocacy role, and do you find yourself in competition with
other states?
A We are an industry-focused component of the Georgia Departmentof Economic Development and
are the leading resource for fueling logistics competitive-
QThe summit is really in its second inning. If you can look three to five years out, where do you see it going,
and do you see it having an expanded role in shaping the
state’s future?
A The summit will certainly continue to grow, and with that growth, it will play a role in the economic development of Georgia.
It’s hard to look out five years and guess what it will look
like. Our goal is to host 2,000 for the 2013 Summit, and we
will continue to listen to the industry to make sure we are
delivering what they need. The fact that in 2012 we welcomed attendees from 28 states and seven nations is a great
indication of things to come.
Peter Surtees
WHILE AT KIMBERLY-CLARK IN 2001,
Peter Surtees helped pioneer the concept of
collaborative supply chains in Europe. Under
this model, two or more companies share
warehousing space and transportation capacity to serve mutual customers. The practice
reduces costs for manufacturers and provides
more frequent replenishment for retailers.
Surtees joined Kimberly-Clark (KC) in
1994, following 15 years working in the
third-party logistics services industry.
During the past 18 years, he has been employed in a number of key positions within KC’s supply chain organization,
leading up to his current role as European supply chain
director–consumer products. He is currently responsible
for KC’s physical logistics operations, sales and operations
planning, and customer service organizations in Western
and Central Eastern Europe, as well as several business
streams within the supply chain organization.
Unilever in Holland in 2001. I am not aware
of any pre-2001 consumer product collaborative supply chain initiatives, so I like to
think that KCE and Unilever were the trailblazers for what is becoming the norm in
Europe.
Bearing in mind the leading-edge nature of
the proposal, the biggest challenge was the
internal sales pitch. We wanted to sign a
long-term contract to build a distribution
center with another consumer product company and a third-party distribution company to reduce
inventories, cycle times, and costs while improving on-shelf
availability. Not necessarily the most intuitive sales pitch I
have had to make. However, KC encourages and rewards
innovation, and it wasn’t long before we gained the
approval to proceed. The rest is history—the collaborative
partnership is still in place and continues to deliver benefits.
QAt Kimberly-Clark, you pioneered collaborative sup- ply chains in Europe. What was the biggest challenge
in getting that initiative started?
A To put my answer into context, Kimberly-Clark Europe’s (KCE) first collaborative venture was with
QWhy should other supply chain and logistics man- agers consider the shared supply chain approach?
A Consumer product supply chains are focused on cycle time, reducing inventory, and aligning demand with
electronic POS [point of sale] data to optimize on-shelf availability. Availability is the ultimate KPI [key performance
