Q Let’s start with your career migration. How did you end up in the supply chain profession?
AActually, I got a degree in logistics in college. A pro- fessor of mine [at Central Michigan University], Dr.
Robert Cook, convinced me that logistics was a great field
to go into, and that if you like a fast-paced environment
with opportunities to resolve operational challenges and
work with people, logistics would be a great career choice.
That is ultimately what helped guide me into a career in
logistics.
QCould you tell us a little about the operations you oversee?
AMy current role at Conagra is leading the back end of our supply chain, meaning I oversee our supply chain
planning functions, which includes demand planning as
well as supply and inventory replenishment planning. I also
lead Conagra’s logistics team, which is transportation and
warehousing, and our customer supply chain team, which
is our strategic interface with our customers. I’m involved
in several other initiatives as well, including our corporate
enterprisewide productivity program and our DC network
optimization program.
Q What are some of the biggest challenges you face in today’s market? That is, what keeps you up at night?
A There are a couple of things that keep me up at night. Number one is
the speed at which the supply chain and
our customers’ expectations are evolving
and the challenges of staying relevant
and competing in that fast-changing
world.
Another, more tactical, challenge is
how to enhance the efficiency of our
freight-handling operations. The trucking capacity challenges of the past few
years have really forced us to look at
our distribution centers and examine
our traditional notions about how long
it should take to turn a truck around.
We’re now looking at ways to speed up
the loading/unloading process and move
trucks through our yards faster—including the possible use
of some sort of advance reservation system.
We’ve set some pretty aggressive goals for improving the
speed at which trucks can get in and out of our facilities.
QTurning to your distribution and fulfillment centers, are they internally staffed, outsourced to a third-party
logistics provider (3PL), or a combination of the two?
AIt’s a combination. We operate a number of our own distribution centers, and we also partner with some of
the industry’s leading 3PLs.
QOne of the questions that often come up with 3PLs is how to maintain oversight of their operations and
ensure that you’re working toward the same objectives.
How do you handle that?
A I think it starts with having good strategic alignment of the two organizations, in finding ways to ensure that
what’s good for Conagra is also good for our third parties
and vice versa. We want to be seen as a strategic customer
with our third parties, so we go out of our way to ensure
that they understand not only what we’re doing in distribution but also what we’re doing as a company.
We regularly bring our third parties in to discuss our
