Tre tendenser indenfor supply chain ifølge GARTNER 2018: Total Customer Experience, Scaling Digital Supply Chain og Circular Supply Chain.

Dette er et uddrag af en artikel som Lærke Kartvedt, redaktør, Dansk Indkøbs- & Logistik Forening har udarbejdet for DILF magasinet, September 2018. Link til den fulde artikel er nedenfor:

For 14. år i træk har Gartner frigivet sin liste over top 25 supply chains. DILF har igen i år fundet tre “eksperter”, og fået dem til at kommentere dette års trends og give deres syn på listen. DILF har denne gang fået to nye stemmer på banen i form af Søren Grubbe fra Nilfisk og Martin Berg fra Valcon. DILF har ligeledes fået sidste års kommentator, Thomas Touborg fra PANDORA, til at medvirke igen i år.

Total Customer Experience

Gartner beskriver, hvorledes en mere avanceret Total Customer Experience (CX)-ledelse er i spil hos mange af virksomhederne rangeret i Supply Chain Top 25. Bliver kunden skuffet, har de mange andre kandidater. Martin Berg fra Valcon citerer “Kunderne ønsker information om produkter og ydelser så dyb som Wikipedia’s og så hurtigt og nemt at finde som Google”.

Martin Berg fremhæver firmaet ROCKWOOL, som et selskab der er fremtrædende i dansk industri inde for customer experience (CX). “Et industriselskab som ROCKWOOL har investeret massivt i at forbedre Customer Experience. ROCKWOOL har implementeret en website, som differentierer sig fra andre B2B websites. Den høster kvalificerede leads og genererer handlingsorienteret information om kunderne. Deres løsning henvender sig både til B2C og B2B og forskellige segmenter. Det er en simpel platform set fra brugeren, men den bruger sofistikerede værktøjer som kunstig intelligens (AI), og “machine learning” via intelligente søgeværktøjer, chatrobotter og personalisering af indholdet.”

Scaling Digital Supply Chain

Digital supply chain er en anden af de store trends i Gartners 2018 Top 25 undersøgelse.

Martin Berg fremhæver Grundfos som en virksomhed med mange piloter indenfor augmented reality. “En virksomhed som jeg vil fremhæve, der er langt med forskellige piloter, er Grundfos. Grundfos eksperimenterer blandt andet med Augmented Reality (3D briller) til træning af deres operatører”.

“I dansk perspektiv, tror jeg, at selvom der er meget snak omkring digitalisering, så er mange danske virksomheder stadigvæk i en meget tidlig fase, (…) For ti år siden talte vi meget om Danmarks som videns-nation. Glem det, det er så meget “last christmas”, for viden er kun noget værd, hvis vi kan putte det ned i et produkt, som vi kan sælge og eksportere. Danmark skal i stedet for satse på at blive verdens førende produktionsland, og konkurrere på andre faktorer end billig arbejdskraft, og her spiller digitalisering og robotics naturligt ind.”

Det er heldigvis ikke engagementet i danske virksomheder, der mangler, mener Martin Berg “Trenden omkring digitalisering i produktionen med robotics automation, augmented reality, robotics, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) og automation af lageret, ser jeg, at mange danske virksomheder er i gang – bl.a. gennem det store nationale forskningsprojekt MADE Digital. MADE Digital er en dansk pendant til Tysklands Industrie 4.0, og målet er at gøre Danmark til verdens førende digitale produktionsland.”

Link til den fulde artikel: Gartner Top 25 - Artikel - DILF Magasinet - September 2018

Rettidig omhu på toppen af en konjunkturcyklus?

Vi rider på toppen af en meget lang positiv konjunkturcyklus og tiden er nu til at varetage rettidig omhu. Den væsentligste del af de fleste virksomheders omkostningsbase ligger på indkøb og ændringer i konjekturen giver udfordringer men også store muligheder.

Der har været en positiv udvikling seneste mange år, men eksempelvis CRB Raw Industrials Spot Price Index viser at vi nu er på vej under ligevægt i den cykliske udvikling. Råvare indekset er under 12 måneders glidende gennemsnit, hvilket indikerer en snarlig vending. En række råvarer (metaller, fødevarer, etc.) er allerede i en nedadgående retning men også med forventning om øgede fluktuationer.

Jeg lægger hovedet på blokken og spår at vi senest i 2020 ser ind i en større konjunkturnedgang. Spørgsmålet er om virksomhederne er klar til både at imødekomme disse udfordringer og ikke mindst udnytte disse muligheder? I en konjunkturnedgang vil direktionen naturligt kigge mod indkøbsfunktionen som en af de vigtigste løftestænger til at komme godt gennem krisen. Det kræver at indkøbsfunktionen er klar og har rebet sejlene.

En række virksomheder er begyndt at se ind i hvorledes man åbner op for "next level of value". Dvs. hvordan kommer man videre fra en ren cost out/prisforhandling over til hvorledes øger vi værdiskabelsen med udvalgte leverandører i f.eks. produktudviklingsfasen?

Andre virksomheder gennemfører assessments af den samlede indkøbsområde, hvor kompetencer og potentialer på de enkelte indkøbskategorier revurderes.

Og endelig er forbedrede Artificial Intelligence (AI) værktøjer til spend analytics med til at sikre en markant bedre kategorisering, øget transparents på master data og dermed øget sikkerhed for potentialerne

Indkøbsfunktioner der ønsker at stå stærkt når konjunkturerne vender har styr på tre ting:

Kategoripotentiale - Fuldt potentiale for det adresserbare indkøbsspend
Kompetenceudviklingsområder - Nuværende niveau, nødvendige forbedringer og investeringer
Spend cube med analytics værktøjer – Markant øget transparents på indkøbsdata

”Intet tab bør ramme os, som kan undgås ved rettidig omhu, bør være et løsen, som går gennem hele organisationen”, skrev A.P. Møller til sin søn Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller i 1946. Det er stadigvæk aktuelt her i 2018.

[Denne artikel er først posted på LinkedIn i Sept 2018]

B2C - Back to Consulting - after 12 years in the industry

After more than 12 years in industry, I have decided to back to consulting: I am leaving ROCKWOOL to pursue new opportunities after the summer break. I will join VALCON management consultancy as a Partner (Executive Director) in their Supply Chain Practice.

It has been seven fantastic years with ROCKWOOL, and I have enjoyed working with great colleagues around the world. My former job as Group Supply Chain Director bought me to Beijing, Singapore, Mumbai, Moscow, Paris, London and Toronto, just to mention a few of the more exotic places, and I learned a lot from working with our local management teams in diverse cultural settings. I am very proud of having worked for such a fantastic company with a great value proposition: Unlocking the natural power of stone to enrich modern living, making buildings fire-resistant, fighting energy poverty and reducing CO2 emissions, amongst others.

Now I am really looking forward to 'sharpen the saw'. At VALCON I will be working with clients across different industries on solving their challenges. VALCON has a unique and strong corporate culture with bright and dedicated colleagues. Since its start in 2000, the company has grown with 15% per year to 300+ employees, a turnover of 500 MDKK and with an increasing share of large international assignments. Together with my fellow partners, my job is to continue this growth and further strengthen VALCONs position as large regional player delivering 'The HOW' in our consulting approach. It feels like coming home, and I am really looking forward the new adventures. If you are curious about what VALCON is all about, check out the web page www.valconconsulting.com

My mobile number (+45 22 56 94 58) remain unchanged.

What makes Silicon Valley so innovative?

Three suggestions to the recipe of the secret sauce of innovation

Silicon Valley has fostered some of the World’s largest corporations that have changed the technology and the way we live. Companies like Apple, Google, Cisco, Oracle, Uber, Tesla, etc. is born here. What’s the secret behind this innovation that is disrupting one industry after another?

1. The high quality of knowledge coming from top universities like Stanford and University of California. In San Francisco Bay Area, more than 50 current Nobel Prize winners live here. But there are other great clusters of knowledge in USA (think of Harvard or MIT in Massachusetts), so high caliber knowledge cannot be the only reason? Let’s look at the second ingredients:

2. The World’s strongest investment system. Venture capital in Silicon Valley are representing one third of all US investments in new enterprises. And probably also attracts too much capital, critics say, calling foreign companies or foreign investors “tourists” with “stupid money”. But there are also other areas like New York where there are strong venture capital communities within e.g. fin-tech, so cash abundance can also not be the only reason? Let’s look at the third ingredients:

3. The mindset and mentality of the multicultural environment in Silicon Valley. There is a strong willingness to share knowledge and ideas, not being afraid of protecting own intellectual property rights. Also there is a high degree of risk willingness. “If you don’t risk, you don’t gain”, a former Google employee explained. Failure is accepted and filing for bankruptcy is not stigmatizing. Talents apparently think bigger in Silicon Valley:

Innovation is enjoying breaking the rules. It’s aiming to disrupt, not just optimize. And it’s being impatient, making speed a disrupter in itself. Speed is everything. Fast forward.

Innovation Center DK in Palo Alto @ICDK_SV shared some of these insights of the innovation ecosystem in Silicon Valley.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn.

In the ROCKWOOL Group, you can expect to work with dedicated managers who reflect the Groups strong leadership traditions and our five core values. They are visible in the ROCKWOOL Way of leadership that we foster throughout our organization.

Recently we updated our external global career page with some testimonials, here's the one for the supply chain area:

"WE HELP TO LOWER CO2 EMISSIONS"

"In Group Supply Chain we work cross-functionally and holistically with all aspects of our business. Supply Chain touches many functions such as sales, marketing, finance, production and logistics. It is our job to ensure that all functions look at our business through the same pair of lenses.
Our company is a leading player in driving the energy efficiency agenda. We help to lower CO₂ emissions and we make it possible for millions of people to save money and live comfortably while reducing their energy bills. I am happy to contribute to these endeavours and to work with top professional colleagues across the globe.
Our ROCKWOOL Group values of passion and entrepreneurship shine through in our daily efforts to improve the supply chain by simplifying and streamlining our product offerings and making our company even more efficient. My personal ambition is for our supply chain function to add clear value for our customers and to help us become an even more customer-oriented company in the future."

Martin Berg joined the ROCKWOOL Group in 2010. Martin is our Director for Supply Chain & Contracting.

Link to ROCKWOOL global career page

Japan's struggles to keep up growth and innovation

Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, Japan

This summer I visited Japan for the first time. It has been my country number 56 to visit, including dozens of times to many other Asian countries, but my first visit to Japan. The development in Japan has been remarkable since the end of the Second World War, but with emphasis on "has been". Japanese economy has not really grown since the economic bubble busted in 1991, almost a quarter of a century ago. China overtook Japan as the second largest economy in 2010, and Japan faces a decreasing population, expected to decline from current 127 million to as low as 90 million people in 2050 with 40% above 65 years old.

Yet, Japan is a super advanced society with one of the highest standards of living in the world. And the Japanese (men) are still hard working. In Hiroshima I met Masato and his family. He is the managing director of his own manufacturing business with twenty employees. He bought his own company 11 years ago and has since grown it with 30-100% per year, with export customers in many countries. As such, Masato is the living example of the dedication and hard work that has made Japan so successful: "I know I make sacrifices now, but I make good money now". I asked him, so what are your plans for the weekend? He replied: “I will work today, Saturday, and tomorrow Sunday, I go to Tokyo for a meeting”. I felt embarrassed when I told him how long (3 weeks) holiday many people in Europe take every year.

Shinkansen high speed train

Onboard Shinkansen (the famous high speed bullet trains), the very symbol of Japanese efficiency and technology, I met Hiroshi, a retired IT engineer, now working as an independent consultant advising organizations on it-security. We discussed the implementation in Japan of a national identification number, similar to what Denmark has had for the last four decades with the CPR-number. "I am a workaholic", he told me, "I have always worked, so why should I stop now?". Hiroshi is not alone: 'Ghosts' continue haunting Japan incorporated, according to Wall Street Journal. Former chief executives continue to stay on the payroll serving as 'sodanyaku' or 'komon' meaning advisor or councilor. A recent dispute was on the 79 year former chief executive of Toshiba now serving as an advisor for the current chairman, despite being more than a decade ago he left his executive position. This makes it very difficult for new executives in charge to change wrong decisions of the past

Japan has been at the leading edge of technology but are now struggling to keep pace. Once Sony was the world’s leading electronic brand, but it has now been overtaken by Samsung and Apple. Once Japanese cars ruled the world, but now many European car manufacturers are again taking the technological lead. Japan is one of the most homogeneous countries in the World and most people speak little English. Combined with the old corporate governance codes, this may hinder the needed innovation to really move the country forward. As my good friend Soulaima Gourani puts it: As a country you should not ending up like Japan where more diapers are sold to elderly than to babies.

12 SKARPE TIL MARTIN BERG

Interview i DILForientering, April 2015. Læs det fulde interview på side 16-17 i bladet her: http://issuu.com/dilf/docs/do-15-2_issuu

5 Hvad er dine mest markante karaktertræk?
Når man arbejder med supply chain er det først og fremmest vigtigt, at man har en holistisk og kommerciel forretningsforståelse. På samme måde er det vigtigt, at man kan forstå finans, salg og produktion samt de indbyggede modsætninger, der nogle gange kan være mellem disse områder. Derudover ser jeg mig selv som værende vedholdende og stædig. Hvis jeg møder modstand, forsøger jeg igen, indtil jeg får mine visioner igennem. Endelig beskriver mine kollegaer i ledergruppen mig som positiv og som havende en optimistisk tilgang til udfordringer.

8 Hvad karakteriserer en dygtig leder?
For det første skal man være ambitiøs på sit områdes vegne, og man skal udfordre og stille store krav til sig selv og sit område. Man skal turde tage ansvaret og lederskabet på sig. Endelig skal en god leder turde være ærlig omkring de svære problemstillinger og derigennem opbygge en gensidig fortrolighed og loyalitet.

9 Hvordan motiverer du dine medarbejdere?
Når jeg arbejder med mine europæiske supply chain direktører, sørger jeg for, at vi får noget inspiration udefra. Vi bruger tid på at besøge andre virksomheder også fra andre brancher. En anden ting, vi gør for at udvikle os, er, at jeg inviterer dem med til en europæisk supply chain konference, hvor vi kan få ny viden til vores daglige virke. I forhold til mine projektledere sørger jeg for, at de får direkte eksponering over for vores lokale senior management teams. På den måde får de lov til at arbejde direkte med vores lokale ledelser på et strategisk niveau, hvilket jeg tror er udviklende for deres rolle som projektledere.

12 Hvad, tror du, bliver det vigtigste på agendaen inden for SCM i fremtiden?
Jeg tror, at tre ting kommer til at spille en afgørende rolle i fremtiden. For det første vil der komme et øget fokus på kunderne og deres behov. Der vil komme et fokus på at levere samlede systemer og løsninger til kunderne i stedet for at være en leverandør af bulk-varer. Flere i værdikæden vil
kæmpe om at eje kunderelationen. På kapacitetssiden forudser jeg, at der fortsat vil være fokus på at blive endnu dygtigere til at forecaste kundernes efterspørgsel, således at vi kan møde salget og man ikke skuffer kunderne. Som det tredje vil det være et benhårdt fokus på omkostningerne, og virksomhederne må hele tiden sikre sig, at de er konkurrencedygtige, især i forhold til nye innovative forretningsmodeller.

Kilde: DILForientering, APRIL 2015, ÅRGANG 52, side 16-17, Redaktør Martine Mengers

How to organize a supply chain function to best practice?

Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore

I spend last week with our operating company in South Asia. They run five factories in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and India and sell general building and technical insulation solutions all over the region.

Marina Bay Sands -
insulated by ROCKWOOL products

It was my first trip back to Singapore and Malaysia in 12 years. And as the economy growths with app. 6% per year, the economic wealth in the countries had doubled in the same period. The skyline is changed with many new high rises coming up. Marina Bay in Singapore is particular remarkable, and the city’s new land mark: Three high rises connected at 57^th floor with an infinity pool, bars and restaurants on top.

Our good local management at one of
our production facilities in Asia

We recently hired a new supply chain director in South Asia with the responsibility to build up a new supply chain function. We spent the week on discussing how to organize the new supply chain function to best practice. We were completely aligned as to what processes that belong to a supply chain function. Supply chain should take end-to-end responsibility for the processes of sourcing the raw materials, planning the production, and delivering finished products to our end customers. Our vision for supply chain is to drive supply chain excellence end-to-end focusing on the “3C’s” - Customers, Costs and Capacity contributing to higher profitability of the Group

Before the new supply chain organization was put in place, customer service (order process handling) reported to sales, logistics (warehouse and transportation) were either reporting to sales or to production, procurement was reporting to the local factory manager, and planning were either reporting to sales or to production.

After the reorganization into one supply chain function, sales can now focus on nurturing and developing new customers, and then let customer service concentrate on the order handling processes itself. Previously, production planning focused on filling the production line and ensuring good production KPIs, now the new planning function can take a holistic view on balancing the sales forecast, capacity and inventory both on a short term (0-12 week) basis and on a medium term (3-15 months) basis (Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP)). Managing the warehouse both in terms of manning efficiency and inventory accuracy are now organized under a local logistics manager. And finally procurement processes and policies are put in place to ensure that every dollar is spent professionally.

Ambitious ROCKWOOL Group expands into new territories

The Danish stone wool insulation multinational is enjoying strong growth in new and emerging markets as acquisitions take its quality products into new regions

As the ROCKWOOL Group has expanded, so too has the complexity of its supply chain, which has necessitated a solid strategy. As Group Supply Chain Director, Berg explained the Group’s approach to achieving excellence in this area, based around the “three C’s” of cost, capacity and customers.

He said: “We have a strong focus on how cost-efficient our supply chain is. And that is due to the fact that ROCKWOOL products are bulky and take up a lot of space when transporting. So our supply chain is twice as costly as the industry average for manufacturing supply chains in Europe.”

Berg feels the ROCKWOOL Group has an important and active role to play in carbon reduction. He said: “We have the right products to solve one of the biggest challenges, getting to grip with CO2 emissions. Energy savings are one of the most efficient ways of carbon mitigation and are often much cheaper and faster than looking into renewable energies.

Read the full article at: http://s3.wdmgroup.com/Brochure_Widgets/BR_Europe/2014/05-May/w3-EU-May14-ROCKWOOLInternationalA-S.html

Teamwork key to profitable product assortment

The Einstein project: The ROCKWOOL Group has taken an important step forward to increase product profitability and reduce assortment complexity in European markets.

The ROCKWOOL Group has an extensive product assortment with tens of thousands unique products and thousand product groups. Every month, hundreds of unique products are added. According to Dorthe Finne, Supply Chain Development Manager in Group Supply Chain, the large number of products is not a problem in itself.

The project is inspired by the German scientist Albert Einstein, who quoted: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”.


“But several issues derive from an extensive product assortment such as unfocused assortments and high costs. Analysis show that about 80% of the Group’s sales are generated by only 12% of the products, so there is a big potential in cleaning up,” she says. That is why the Einstein project was started, and the results speak for themselves: thanks to the Einstein project ROCKWOOL Germany has managed to simplify its general building insulation assortment significantly and cut down the number of products by 30%. And ROCKWOOL Scandinavia has reduced its production costs by avoiding thousands of product changeovers the last two years, just to mention two examples. Create overview together “The main concept behind Einstein is to bring colleagues from Finance, Production, Logistics, Marketing and Sales together to discuss and make common decisions about the assortment. All parties have a unique knowledge about our products, and when we put this knowledge together we can make better decisions for our business,” says Dorthe Finne. The initiative has been implemented in Scandinavia, Germany, Poland and Benelux, and is well on its way in UK. Einstein is now anchored as a structured approach and a yearly event in the operating companies. So how have our customers reacted? One of our Product Managers in ROCKWOOL Germany and Einstein team member says: “Our customers welcome this clear product assortment with a clear and reliable delivery service. Over the years, the number of product groups and articles increased substantially. This resulted in increased handling and management of our stock, shorter production runs and an unclear product range in our customers’ perspective. Due to the general trend in general building insulation towards better thermal performance, we could skip many products with lambda 40-value and thereby create much better clarity for the customers.” This article is written by our Group Communications department.

Martin Berg,