Case Study: Interim Supply Chain Process Transformation Lead

Scope

Altum were engaged by a FTSE 100 FMCG in the summer of 2021 to provide an Interim Supply Chain Process Transformation Lead. This role is critical in establishing (based on the organisations best practices) a set of standard business rules for end-to-end supply chain processes in the context of a large ERP transformation. Key responsibilities included: establish a rule book describing the standard global business rules for the group supply chain; manage a diverse team of functional experts with a wide scope of supply chain processes; lead the groups functional experts through MS Dynamics processes and transform their input into a complete set of ERP relevant rules; ensure the solution is meeting the business requirements; champion and advocate the MS Dynamics standard process into the functions; influence and manage stakeholders towards standardisation

Challenges

Candidate Skillset; In order to hit the ground running and understand the complexity of the organisation, we needed to source candidates that had experience across E2E supply chain, ideally within an FMCG environment, that had the gravitas to hold a senior position but ready to be hands to get into the detail and deliver. It was also going to be largely beneficial if the candidate was familiar with changing ERP landscapes.

Candidate Attraction / availability; Despite identifying a strong pool of candidates with the relevant experience in the initial longlisting faze (circa 20). Many of these were unavailable due to other contract commitments. COVID 19 impacted the sector quite severely and many programmes that were either put on hold or cancelled are now gaining more traction. As the world is opening up for business again the candidate market is extremely buoyant and these skills are in high demand.

Location: As a result of the pandemic all positions within the organisation had been moved to remote. However due to the length and nature of this global programme we needed to identify individuals that were able to and willing to travel when things began to open back up.

Outcome

To access the skills required we sought to identify candidates from consulting backgrounds rather than those with senior in-house supply chain experience. Using both our direct and indirect network we were able to quickly identify those that had the relevant skills and seniority for the role but were also available for a new contract assignment. From this we conducted telephone and VC conversations with each to brief candidates in full and assess them on suitability based on previous experience. We presented a diverse shortlist of four candidates that we felt met the brief and the client (Vice President for Supply Chain) selected three for interview. We appointed the first choice candidate onto an initial 6 month contract; £1300pd to start in July 2021.