[00:00:01] Welcome to your Spanish Play Now presented by Better Global Logistics and Supply Chain Now. This is the program we give to Spanish-speaking people in the ever-changing logistics industry. Join us as we discover the inspiring stories of our guests and learn from their collective experience. Our goal is not only to entertain you, but to foster your passion for this exciting industry and support your professional development along the way. And now, here is today’s episode of Supply Chain Now in Spanish.
[00:00:35] Good morning and welcome to another episode of Supply Chain Now. Today I have a very, very interesting guest Tatiana, thank you very much for being with us. Tatiana González de Cosío Supply Chain, Mars Weekly’s director for North Latin America. How are you doing? How did it go?
[00:00:53] Very good, Enrique. Thank you very much for the invitation, for making me part of this great project you are carrying out.
[00:01:00] It is a pleasure for us to have you and such a recognized company with so many famous brands. I see you have the fans back there watching you this one and well, thank you. If you want, to begin with, I would like you to tell us a little more about your childhood. Who is it? Who is Tatiana? Where did you grow up? How did you align yourself to have the successful career you had?
[00:01:23] Thank you very much, Enrique. Well, look who’s here, Tatiana. Tatiana Este was born in Mexico City. I am Mexican, Mexican, I have been living in the city of Queretaro for many years. The truth is that it was more of a family decision almost 40 years ago, so it was not my decision, but my parents’, and here I have had the opportunity to grow, to study of course, and to develop professionally. I am currently married, have been married for almost 13 years, have a daughter who is almost 11 and since she has become very relevant, I also have a four-legged daughter.
[00:02:01] More than ever.
[00:02:03] Is that so?
[00:02:04] Hey, they’re much better ported, but it’s almost almost the same job. At the end of the day.
[00:02:09] We don’t care much. It is not.
[00:02:11] Mine, yes.
[00:02:13] No, it is not. She is a very cute dog. The truth is that everyone in the house loves her and is happy that she also helps us to accompany us as a family.
[00:02:23] Of course it is, of course it is. Well, again welcome to the show and again thank you. Going back in time a little bit, could you share with us some experience, maybe something that you remember when you were a child growing up in Querétaro, something that you could share with us?
[00:02:36] Well, yes, the truth is that there are many experiences, it is from when we talked previously and of the things that for me have always been very very relevant, of what I would say, has been forming me and I think it is part of what I am today and what I also seek to transmit not only to my daughter, but also to my work team. It’s something I learned from my parents. When you want something in life you have to have this desire, this ambition. But beyond that, being able to set the direction that is required to achieve it and then the discipline and this, and it’s something that I think accompanies it, it accompanies me in life, that’s just the truth. I believe that every project I have had, maybe short term, maybe long term, has been like that. And this one, even a little while ago with my daughter, this one told me mom, to go to Singapore you have to be a millionaire. And I would tell him it costs less if you want to go tomorrow. I believe that we can establish that desire and that objective very clearly, define the path we want to follow and then the discipline to achieve it, either by saving or by establishing the plan very well. So, for me that is something that has accompanied me and beyond being a very particular situation, it is what has forged me much of what I am today.
[00:04:01] Well, a clear and good objective and a discipline to go with it, I think that’s a good recipe for success. And well, this one has definitely worked for you I don’t think you’ve been around for more than 20 years with more or almost 20 years. Tell us a little bit before we get into more, which is obviously a big part of your professional life, if not all of it. If you want to tell us a little bit about what you studied? How you started to align yourself with the supply chain, logistics, etcetera.
[00:04:31] Sure, look, now that’s a lot into this desire. The truth is that it is also worth making changes along the way. I started studying Political Science and Public Administration. I loved what I was doing, but I also saw that it wasn’t something where I was going to be able to or where I could really perform what was most appealing to me. Then I made a change of direction, I ended up studying, I chose to study administration. From companies. Then I finished my degree in Business Administration and I think that since I was very young I always had it clear, very young in my career or in my professional studies, I always saw very clearly that I wanted to be in the corporate world. I had a first experience in another very, very different industry, also far away from the supply chain. That is the simple truth. It was a much more financial role in the automotive industry. But soon after I had the opportunity to return to Querétaro. This work was not in Querétaro and this really at that time and I think it is still one of the companies that attract the most attention and that can generate the best projection in Querétaro, without a doubt Smart. So I had the opportunity to participate for a position, it was already a position within the supply chain and that’s what opened the door for me, right?
[00:05:53] I mean, did you have any prior experience of how you fall into the supply chain? I mean, were you interested in something or did you know something or was it really something? So you are given the opportunity and you took it with the attitude that.
[00:06:06] No, I had no idea. That is the simple truth. My experience has already been, I tell you more, on a very financial side I am offered or well, the role opportunity opens up. It was a customer service role. In fact, the friend who was on the team says to me hey, a position is going to open up this one pass me your resume. And he still told me Are you looking for a name? But never mind, you pass me your resume.
[00:06:32] It has not changed.
[00:06:34] But I want to clarify, I want to clarify. I have been looking for a name because the team was ten people and there were nine women, so we need to give it a little bit of balance.
[00:06:44] That’s a very good clarification, because otherwise everyone would say well.
[00:06:48] No, no.
[00:06:48] Again.
[00:06:49] No, no, no, no, no, it wasn’t that, but I didn’t help them in that balance at that moment, because I was left with the position and the truth is that I started to learn many things. What’s more, I’ll tell you a story about something. When I was studying in college, I remember perfectly, it was a marketing exam and it was very early in my career and I remember perfectly the question that said what is logistics? I did not know how to answer it, I did not know how to answer it. My biggest frustration at the time was.
[00:07:22] Funny.
[00:07:23] I couldn’t and this one I came out of the exam kind of frustrated by that and immediately I well, I already ran to my book and said in the glossary it has to be that it’s logistics and I was never told what it was like.
[00:07:36] Life happens, doesn’t it? It turns out that one question you couldn’t answer later was basically the foundation of your entire career. So you came into this customer service department, learned a little bit about the brand, by the way, an extremely successful company with an incredible brand. And well, I guess from everything you’ve told me, also an admirable culture, right?
[00:07:59] The truth is that if it has marks, it has things that really make it unique, make it unique. Of course, brands make unique brands. We have very strong brands, beautiful brands in the pet segment with brands such as Pedigree Whiskas or in the Mark Regle segment with Sneakers, Milky Way, and of course, Skittles. The brands are, are. They are beautiful, aren’t they? But the other things that make brands unique is the very clear purpose we have as. As a company. And this purpose. I don’t know how familiar you are with it, but it’s basically the world we want. Tomorrow starts with the way we do business today and it’s amazing how you can live it and be so tangible in every single thing we do, not just in every decision we make, but in every action we take, where it’s oriented. It is fully grounded in this purpose.
[00:09:01] Hey no, and a very powerful purpose and well, it tells you a little bit about the company’s long-term vision. Not always build the future based on your actions today, but going back to your career. So why did you go into the first area and how did you gradually perform and develop to get to the position you have now?
[00:09:22] Look, I was in customer service for a month, which must have been about a year. It was a direct service to a certain group of customers. They were customers, so our manager assigned us, so that’s when I started to learn this software, everything that had to do with order management, delivery to customers, compliance, treatment and communication with the transport lines. Shortly after a year in the same customer service function, I was invited to take over the coordination. From the area. Then I no longer saw a group of customers, but worked with the whole team and basically it was the product available. Assign it to sales orders according to priority of delivery dates and so on. Not yet, of course. All very, very much within the logistics area. Subsequently, the truth is that this is an opportunity and I am very, very grateful that they thought of me. But a position opens up. At that time he was already an exclusive supply chain planner for the chocolate segment. Today it was 100% chocolate that I saw and that was it, because I no longer saw the customers’ orders, but rather to make sure that the product was ready when the orders arrived. The customer service team will be in charge of managing it, right? And this was also a very interesting job. At that time we still did not have a plant in Mexico and we did not produce anything. In Mexico everything was imported at the time, as my job was a total relationship with our affiliates of Maxwell Smart Canada. For the emergence there is no.
[00:11:16] I imagine that the new position is also interesting, I do not know exactly what year, but well, I imagine that when Supply Chain begins to take a little more interest and boom also within companies.
[00:11:30] I’ve always seen it as interest and boom, that’s the truth. Maybe.
[00:11:33] Because I also, but, but in general, well, I think after the pandemic we are people in general.
[00:11:39] More common.
[00:11:40] Now I think you understand a little bit more about the relevance of what we do and the importance of this. And well, as you say it has always been important, but. But well, I think there has been a revolution both technologically and this of many others, not in supply chains.
[00:11:58] Well look, without a doubt I’m talking about this now, it was 2005, 2006, that is, it’s a little while ago then, but I had some very interesting things in the role because at that time we began to run scenarios of capacity to set up a production line of sneakers and Milky Way in Mexico. Then you are faced with situations and conversations that are very different from the ones I had been having.
[00:12:28] Hey, and well, a brief parenthesis here what is it? What is your favorite chocolate candy? And I asked you before we started recording, but I think it would be interesting to know.
[00:12:38] Of course. Look, I love it. Well, the Milky Way fascinates me.
[00:12:42] This is a classic.
[00:12:43] The Milky Way is a classic. The Milky Way. The truth is that I like them all and it depends on a theme of moments. I love this theme of the little bit by little bit by little bit of the weeklies. Well, it fascinates me, doesn’t it? This Twix is a brand. Well, delicious. East. My husband buys them. Really? I think every week I get so much done the east house. Do I think about candy? Well, the fishing boats, particularly the fishing boats. This shower, the seats.
[00:13:13] Blue.
[00:13:13] They are a delight. So this ends up being more a matter of moments of art.
[00:13:19] Hey, and well, for us and maybe for those who listen to us, not necessarily in Mexico, well, there was also a very important commercial opening. I remember when I went to school there wasn’t one, you couldn’t buy a Milky Way, in fact when you went by chance and someone brought it to the United States or you went with your cousins or something, that was it. It was quite an event, wasn’t it? I imagine that this has also touched you. And then I worked for a company that imports and distributes them. It would have been a source of great pride.
[00:13:49] Just like what you describe Enrique, because when I was younger, before I started working, before I even dreamed of working more, suddenly the Milky Way package would arrive at the house and my mom and dad would put them in the closet. In other words, no, it was not.
[00:14:05] Velación, it was a light as medicine almost. Well, here you have your square and day.
[00:14:11] And so it was then this one. Now, now, now, now. It’s still an illusion, I don’t keep them in the closet anymore, my dad doesn’t keep them in the closet anymore either. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I give it to him from time to time.
[00:14:23] To my grandfather. Many times I keep them in the closet, even when I could buy them in the store or wherever, but…. But well, going back a little, a little to the point, I think the brand has a very important roots in Mexico, because all the kids of our generation maybe had the illusion of trying them, so it has grown exponentially. But tell us a little bit more, they didn’t have a plant in Mexico yet, this one.
[00:14:50] Not the chocolate part, we did not have a plant in Mexico. This plant started production. Yes, I do. It does not fail around 2010 and.
[00:15:02] You were touched by the whole process as well.
[00:15:04] Note that partially because I ran the line capacity scenarios. I was part of the project for approval processes and and mainly, but a little later I moved to another role. So I was no longer the one who gave continuity to that. He took on a very logistical role, responsible for the entire warehouse and inventory control. This is then also very much within the scope of Supply Chain. But I get out of the planning part to go to more of an operational part, don’t I?
[00:15:46] So you liked the change? Because, well, they are, I mean, you have been in various stages of your career, but the change from planning to something already operational is a big change too, isn’t it?
[00:15:57] Look if I liked it, I could possibly think that at that moment I lacked a little time in planning. I would have liked to be the one to bring all these capacity scenarios to life a little bit and see them running within me, within my responsibility. The truth is that while the time I was in the planning position I enjoyed it immensely, it was. It was a time of very good results for the chocolate business. Also at that time I think I made my best friends from work. They are from that era. So this one I missed time there, a little bit. Today I have the opportunity again to be very close to that. So I am also happy about that.
[00:16:41] Tell us more then how we got there, how you got to your position now and then we’ll talk a little bit about that too.
[00:16:46] Well, look how I’m getting there. There was an important change and here I would like to tell you about it because it was one of the things, I think it is one of the most transcendental things that has taken place. After building in Play I move to demand planning, then I move to like the other side of the del. I’m going to call you from the desk, to work much closer. Well, with the customers, with our marketing teams, with these teams that are where the demand is being generated. And the truth is that the movement helps me to generate a tremendous perspective on the business. Do you understand many of the things that from the side of your plan maybe you question, they start to have many answers when I’m sitting down and understanding the whole demand part, right? Then I was in demand for a while also already completely to chocolate ice cream and in the end the truth is that I ended up rounding very. When you integrate your comprehensive demand plan, it is already very much a process of that I don’t think of the whole Payment Operations Planning Strategic. Sorry to say it in English, but well, that’s what the acronym means and this one. And being in this role I was in a very, very shallow but very broad aspect of understanding the business.
[00:18:10] Of course.
[00:18:11] And in the middle of last year, the position of Supply Chain Director was opened for more regulations and the truth is that I was very grateful that they invited me to participate and here I am.
[00:18:24] Well, first of all, many congratulations. I think not from the little we’ve had the pleasure of talking and the little you’ve told me, I think it’s no surprise to anyone. You were definitely the best candidate for the position after all the different stages you had throughout your career with. Well, as you said, you don’t have the opportunity to see from one side the other side, then the warehouses, then a little bit the customer service, then the demand and well, congratulations and a pleasure again thank you. Obviously, without a doubt, one of the best companies to work for. We had talked a little, it is a great culture, in fact they have won several awards worldwide, you do not see work deadlines, etcetera, but they have five principles. You told us a little about one of them, could you tell us a little more about this topic and maybe a little more about the culture. And what have you learned working in a culture like the one you work in?
[00:19:23] Of course, the truth is that it is difficult to talk about brands and not talk about the five principles. Principles is the truth, the way we do business, the way we work, the way we make decisions. And I mentioned to you a little while ago, it is not this purpose of the world that we want. Tomorrow starts with how we do business today. For in the five principles is just how we do business today, not to create this world we want tomorrow. These principles are global. It’s not something from Mexico, is it? It’s a U.S. thing. So it is also something that unites us, regardless of geography, culture, generations. Because the principles that the Marx family decided or coined many years ago also unite us among segments. I was talking about before we started, it has a pet business segment and also a business segment of Confessions and speaking. The principles are common no matter what segment you are in. So, really the principles, then, are the heart of our success. This is something that guides us and enables us to make decisions. So, in addition to give you reference here are five principles. We start with quality, responsibility, reciprocity, efficiency and freedom. These are the five principles. And something that becomes amazing is, of course, you see them on the office wall, but more relevant is when in a conversation is is. That’s what we put at the center of the conversation as well.
[00:21:10] Or what is what. What was that you were saying? No, they are not. It’s not really the poster on the wall. You are actually using them on a daily basis. People talk about them, comment on them, live them and well, yes, it has added. You use them to make decisions of all kinds. Well, it is not clear.
[00:21:30] Now let me, I’ll share with you. For me what is even more relevant with the five principles is that I wish I could have written them, right? But, but they define me personally and incredibly not the level of. Well, if you have also taken them as your own flag and say this reflects me, resonates with me and I also live under the same five principles, because I think they transcend a business issue and are perfectly things that you can take for your personal life. And in my case it is. That is the simple truth. This is it. Well, I would say, personal and professional empathy also makes me feel a real, as we say in Mexico, a real Martian.
[00:22:16] Of course it is. And that’s a good thing. I had not heard the term, but. But it makes a lot of sense. Tatiana Any particular experience maybe in your very successful and long career with Mars, something that maybe you could share with us that you learned so that our audience could learn a little bit from maybe some experience, some mistake, something, something that marked you? Maybe.
[00:22:44] Thank you Enrique. Give me, give me a chance and you tell me if I can come back a little bit because you mentioned this part of best place to work and I wanted to just connect the part of the five principles. And it is this perhaps Place to work. Then when. When I start with this theme of doing what we say, tomorrow starts with what we do today, the first thing is to start with ourselves, not with our associates. And from there it also follows, well this, this taste I’m going to call it this way because it’s the best place to work and it becomes so relevant, right? And it is from there that Mars creates or shapes certain programs that help us and enable us in this to be the best place to work. I’m going to call it parenting, but it’s obviously motherhood. But we don’t leave out parenting because in the end it is, it is, it is, it is a matter of two.
[00:23:46] Of course.
[00:23:47] So everything we as, as an organization can do to support our associates to continue to build a successful career while still being able to also build and develop as dads, right? Programs also, of course, for the development of our associates and something of which I am particularly and personally very proud right now. We have just launched in Mexico at Mars Greeley Land, a program that attracts new talent and when I say new, it’s young talent that we want to make sure we can give them the tools to have a successful career. In addition, the program is called M. It’s July, which stands for Mars Supply Leadership Experience and this was a whole selection process of really a lot of candidates from different universities around the country and what we are looking for is for them to have the opportunities to work and get to know different roles within the supply chain so that they can help them to have a career. Accelerated and good growth, develop more successfully.
[00:25:05] Hey, thanks so much for sharing that. I am glad you mentioned it and I was also going to tell you about all these types of initiatives and programs that they have, such as this one, which looks very interesting, to attract new talent, we can put the links, maybe in the interview notes so that people who are interested can obviously also get there. And I imagine there will be information online about all this, how to apply, how to get there, how to contact, right?
[00:25:32] Of course, I don’t have the data right now. Exactly, but send it to me.
[00:25:36] And we put it, we put it in the interview notes, because as you say it’s very very interesting. And well, very good opportunity for anyone who is listening to us. Yes, yes.
[00:25:48] Yes, the truth is yes.
[00:25:49] Some challenge, tell us now an experience. Maybe along the way you have learned something, some challenge you have faced in your role.
[00:25:57] This or along trajectory or right now in the role, because the list can be in your.
[00:26:04] Totally, totally for you. You tell us what you would like to share a little bit with the audience in terms of something they could learn from what you have experienced.
[00:26:17] Of course. Thank you. Look, if I think about it as a trajectory, I think that the biggest challenges have been in EM in the times of the organization, where we have been in merger or integration processes, and I still go back a little bit to give you context. It’s the business. Originally it was only chocolates with the global brands we mentioned a little while ago, such as Milky Way and Snickers and Eminem. In 2016, Marsh acquires a Mexican company known for many these Turing chocolates with the iconic Turing Bunny and.
[00:27:03] So Bunny.
[00:27:05] The bunny too.
[00:27:06] Of course. Pretty good at almost Easter, isn’t it? The one that was wrapped in gold color.
[00:27:13] It is still wrapped in gold color and wrapped in gold color. Then, in 2016 Max acquires Turing chocolates and is. And well, at the end we were already in the chocolate business and it is like how we make sure to generate a merger and business integration that is the most mutual for the company, the one we are acquiring, respecting its essence as a company and at the same time having this capacity to adapt, to change, to learn, because undoubtedly, they were doing a great job, right? And then in 2019 comes the integration of Max Chocolate business with more Wiggly to become more realand Then comes again these disruptions that these integrations generate no? And again, I used to know a pure chocolate business. Now you also have to know a candy business and the particular requirements of the portfolio of brands and equipment. Also ways of working, agreeing on how we are going to do things. Maybe it’s not your way or mine if it’s not one in the middle of the road.
[00:28:30] A totally different business, that is, you add to it and well, maybe Turin being chocolate, maybe it was easier, but now you integrate it with all the brands that are not based on chocolate and it’s a different world.
[00:28:42] I can imagine exactly when I think about this, for me it is one of the most disruptive things that I have had in my career, but at the same time it has given me more growth, I do not remember very well in one occasion when I was not yet in the leadership team at that time and they said no, well, we are already one business, right? And because the leadership team was already very well integrated and then I had to go and tell them and say hey, maybe you, you, you, you, you lead a business, but not me, but not three yet, because I still have a way of working from the chocolate side, from Turin and from the other side, right? So from the point of view of elevating these types of situations that sometimes are not necessarily easy to have the conversation, but which are some of the biggest challenges that I have faced in my career.
[00:29:36] And whatever you learned or what tools you could share with us obviously to do it successfully. What would you suggest to deal with such a complex problem with so many people involved?
[00:29:49] Look, I think there’s like a lot of ways to open it, right? I think the most important thing is just to be open to change and. Be open to listening to different ways of doing things and understand why they do it the way they do it. And also helping, trying to give the perspective of why we were doing it the way we were doing it, right? And generating or working to generate collaboration so that we reach A1A1 or a decision that is the right one for the whole business. I think that’s it, that’s the bottom line. And the other one I would tell you is that you need to take away this perspective point, maybe a very functional one, and start looking at it from a bigger, bigger perspective, not a more holistic one.
[00:30:43] Hey, well, excellent recommendations, right? Be open to change, listen, help to understand, work to collaborate, think bigger, not for the benefit of the whole business, not just your part.
[00:30:57] Exactly.
[00:30:58] Hey, changing this one a little bit the line of questioning and I’m going to change here a little bit. If only you could go back in time. And there are two questions and two ways to ask them. But if you the Tatiana of 20 years ago, before she entered March, I could give a recommendation to the Tatiana of now that it’s a little different than how it was written, but I think sometimes it lends itself to another kind of introspection. What would Tatiana, who had not yet entered March, tell you? I had the illusion of chocolates, like any good Mexican, but what? What recommendation would you give?
[00:31:37] From 20 years ago to today? Boy, this is a tough one. Well, maybe I would say to myself that it is this learning to take things with, with a perspective of this, of the longer term, not of the no, of the no of the moment. I feel that is more like what the one from now would be answering to the one from 20 years ago, isn’t it?
[00:32:05] But hey, come back. So again you go back to as you said, you don’t live by the five principles and I think you mention it again. It is not again to think about it. In other words, tomorrow’s world starts today, doesn’t it? That I realize that what.
[00:32:18] It is said if you look, I would tell you possibly the same thing that I tell myself every day I keep telling myself today no and it is something that. That thank God the environment in which I live and work allows me to do so? No, but I think it’s this issue of being able to give me not to be so hard on myself for being wrong, isn’t it? To be able to know that I am vulnerable and that this is not a bad thing and to know that I am going to make mistakes. But what do I do with it? How do I learn from that? To do better to do things differently going forward? Possibly for me that is one of the most, most important things. Many times we are taught, sometimes we are taught to succeed, but when things don’t necessarily go the way you would like, the question is how should we react? And we are not always so clear about this learning, but rather we learn it along the way.
[00:33:20] No? Totally agree and well, thank you very much for sharing it. It is one more teaching and learning experience for those who are listening to us. Tatiana, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today before we say goodbye to the show, is there anything else that maybe we didn’t touch on that you would like to share with our audience? We talked a bit about attracting new talent and it’s a great launching pad for something else you might want to share with us.
[00:33:51] Well, first of all I would like to thank Enrique again for the invitation and the space. The truth is that this is a very pleasant conversation to share with you. The truth is that well, first they do not follow in social networks so much of so much. In addition of course there is also mine on LinkedIn, they are in my name and it is a little bit long because it is González de Cosío, it is a last name and then comes Apodaca, they are both on LinkedIn and this one and I think possibly the other one that I would share is No, no, it doesn’t have one. You’re not born ready for a leadership role or a big one, are you? Of course. Maybe we all want it when we are kids, but we have a hard time with it. When we are young, what is the best way to measure the impact that we can have on our direct team, on the families of our direct team and even on the company, right? So let’s give ourselves the opportunity to go beyond generating this objective and put this vision of. Long-term. He also turn to see everything there is.
[00:35:02] Surrounding.
[00:35:03] From us to be able to achieve it and for and the people we touch?
[00:35:07] Once again, thank you very much. It is a pleasure to have talked to you, a pleasure to have you here. And well, for all of you who listen to us, if you are interested in talks like the one we had today with Tatiana. Don’t stop listening to us. Subscribe to the channel again Enrique Alvarez Supply in Spanish Tatiana thank you very much. Have a nice day.
