Next up in our ‘Learn from the Masters’ series, which features answers to your burning supply chain-related questions from our talented business consultants, is Jay Foster. Jay may have only been with Kinaxis for just over a year, but he’s already made himself invaluable to the team! How did you come to find yourself in a supply chain software business consultant role – what was your path to here? Business consultant is one of my favorite jobs in my entire career. Found myself specifically here by accident, a Lemony Snicket sort of path. What’s the biggest lesson about supply chain management you’ve learned? It has a zillion moving parts with a Sisyphean chance of real accomplishment akin to pushing a pea up Mt. Vesuvius with your nose. What advice would you give to anyone considering a career in supply chain? Supply chain is the pulse of a company. It is the very heart of providing goods and services to customers. Despite all the complexities, moving parts, and seemingly conflicting demands, at the end of the day you are intimately involved with the success of the company. There is little more satisfying and rewarding than that. If you had to name three priorities for a company looking to evolve their supply chain processes, what would they be?
- Get honest with yourself.
- Set clearly measurable, attainable, and sustainable goals.
- Hire competent people, give them authority, enable them and get out of their way.
Mr. Fantastic. If you know who he is then you’ll understand. What’s the one app on your phone that you can’t live without? Not a one. However, the ones I would like least to lose are the ones surrounding travel (airline and hotel apps interactive maps, etc.).
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