We’re continuing our series on leadership within the booming supply chains of Africa and delving deep into the dynamic and challenging world of the African supply chain ecosystem.

In this episode, hosted by Scott Luton and Mary Kate Love, we’re thrilled to have two exceptional guests with us – Jacques de Villiers, Head of Supply Chain for the Omnia Group, an influential heavyweight in the mining and agriculture sectors, and MJ Schoemaker, President of the Board at SAPICS, where she’s leading from the front to uplift and transform supply chain professionalism through educational initiatives and community engagement.

Listen in as we discuss the hurdles and prospects of supply chain operations, touching upon critical issues like infrastructure, education, and the shifting paradigms from efficiency to reliability in a world where environmental and social considerations are paramount. MJ brings us insights from the upcoming 46th SAPICS conference, focusing on global healthcare, sustainability, and the importance of networking in our era of significant change.

From the fine after-notes of South African wines to the empowering stories of local solutions like WhatsApp-enabled supply networks, we’ll explore how agility, diversity of thought, and mentorship shape future supply chain leaders. Stay tuned for actionable insights and an insider’s look into the continent primed for immense economic growth and supply chain development.

Transcription

SUPPLY CHAIN NOW   |   JACQUES DE VILLIERS & MJ SCHOEMAKER

[00:00:00] Scott W. Luton: Hey, good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Wherever you may be Scott Luton and Mary Kate Love with you here on Supply Chain Now, welcome to today’s show. Mary Kate,

[00:00:41] Mary Kate Love: Doing great. Really excited for this conversation today.

[00:00:45] Scott W. Luton: We are too. we had a great, great warmup session. we’re reconnecting with one dear friend we’ve collaborated with before, and she’s brought a friend. So, Hey, we’re all family by now. So today’s episode, we’re continuing our Supply Chain Leadership

Across Africa Series, which has been one aspect of our mission for years now, because as everyone knows, supply chain is truly

a global problem.

Team sport, it’s really been rewarding to spotlight the sheer brilliance in leadership, innovation,

supply chain management across the continent of Africa. We’ve got a great show teed up today along those lines. And one of the topics Mary Kate we’re diving into is just exactly what is

helping to unleash, I love that word, unleash the full potential of Africa’s supply chain should be a great

[00:01:29] Mary Kate Love: Yeah, I love this. And I love thinking about, you know, how supply chain truly

connects all of us, as you were saying, right. It’s truly the way we’re all connected.

[00:01:38] Scott W. Luton: very true. All right, so let’s bring in our two guests here today. Our first guest is the supply chain leader for an organization that is comprised of a group of companies that manufactures and supplies chemicals, specialist services and solutions to the agricultural, uh, Mining and chemical industries for over 70 years.

Now, man, let’s welcome in Jacques de Villiers, head of supply chain at the Omnia group, Jacques, how you doing?

[00:02:04] Jacques de Villiers: Good morning, Scott. Come get in yourself. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. Looking forward to the conversation.

[00:02:10] Scott W. Luton: I am too wonderful to meet you. And you, of course, you are joined by one of our wonderful repeat guests. Great friend of the show, long time, successful supply chain practitioner and leader, I’ll tell you, she’s helping individuals and organizations over the Unlock success on a variety of levels across the globe. Let’s welcome in MJ Schoemaker, president of the board, say picks, of course, an

organization doing excellent work, helping folks connect, learn, advance, innovate, and network across Africa and again, Hey, the globe, that’s gonna be the theme here today. MJ, how you doing?

[00:02:42] MJ Schoemaker: I’m great, Scott. How are you

doing? Great to see you again.

[00:02:45] Scott W. Luton: You as well. We had a lot

of fun in person in Cape town, uh,

[00:02:49] MJ Schoemaker: I hope to see you this year.

[00:02:51] Scott W. Luton: I hope so too, but You know what, whether I can make it or not, it’s going to

be the place to be. will have to talk about that a little bit

more in today’s episode. all right. So MJ and shock and

Mary Kate, welcome everybody. I want to start with this Mary Kate.

We love learning

a little bit more.

About our guests on these shows. And that’s where we want to

start.

Right. We’ve got some folks that when they’re not moving mountains and global supply chain, global leadership,

they’re staying busy. so Jacque,

we’ll start with you. You’ve got two children and, we hear you spend a lot of

time in outdoor sports and

especially playing cricket.

Is that right?

[00:03:25] Jacques de Villiers: That’s correct. Yes. So my son’s 15 and my daughter’s 11. So great age

to spend time with them in the outdoors.

[00:03:31] Scott W. Luton: Man, those are great ages. We’re a little bit behind you. so let me ask you a question about cricket. If you had to put cricket in a nutshell share maybe something that our audience should know about cricket that maybe haven’t seen the matches, which are really popular in different parts of the world. What do they got to know about cricket jock?

[00:03:50] Jacques de Villiers: It’s a very complex sport to explain in a couple of minutes. it’s very loosely compared to baseball because it’s got a ball and a wooden bat, but that’s about as far as it goes. it’s obviously played by 11 players, and I think The part that stands out to most people you get test cricket that takes five days to play And oftentimes you don’t even have a win at the end so you can have a drawn game

so obviously it’s a massive sport in india and south africa.

It’s also one of our main sports We’ve obviously got beautiful summer days Love being out in the sun

[00:04:21] Scott W. Luton: It is fascinating to watch, the pitcher and I’m not sure what in baseball, they call it the pitcher. I’m not sure what they call that in cricket. the

[00:04:28] Jacques de Villiers: the

bowler, could be the picture Yes

[00:04:29] Scott W. Luton: Okay. So there are so many things moving as they are delivering that, ball Mary Kate is fascinating

to

watch.

Have you ever watched

[00:04:38] Mary Kate Love: and I’ve, I used to play softball and I love baseball, so it’s always, you know, I know it’s not obviously the same sport, but I’ve always thought it’s something I wanted to learn more about.

[00:04:48] Jacques de Villiers: Sorry, Scott. Just the one thing. Of course, in cricket, they also ball up 260 km an hour. So it’s similar to baseball. And in cricket, you can actually aim at the batsman. And if you eat him, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. So that’s a significant difference. baseball. I

know it happens, but it’s not supposed to happen.

[00:05:05] Mary Kate Love: Now I don’t know if I want to play.

[00:05:07] Scott W. Luton: man. All right. by the way, Jacques and MJ, don’t let Mary Kate downplay her

athleticism. She is a championship winner in softball and

other sports. So we’ll have to have that

conversation later. So MJ, speaking of sports, mountain biking, you were telling us pre show about this really cool, event that you participated in and you raised money for a very noble cause.

Tell us more about that.

[00:05:31] MJ Schoemaker: one of the biggest, actually most scenic cycle races in the world actually is the Cape Town Cycle Tour. So you basically start in the city of Cape Town and you cycle all the way around the peninsula. So you do 109 kilometers with the elevation of 1200. meters yeah, there’s 30, 000 people that take part.

So it’s quite big. the professionals, obviously they start as the sun is rising and they finish in two and a half hours. likes of me will finish maybe in five hours, five and a half hours. And you have the option then to also, register with a charity and then you can raise money for them.

And then you send out a link to everyone and say, please sign up. You don’t pay per kilometer or anything like that. You just want to donate. I’m talking in South African rands sound like a lot, but I think it was still worth it that with all the riders, they were.

180 writers that wrote for this particular course for breast cancer screening, and we raised over 260, 000 rand. it was great. So, but overall, all the charities, there were 40 charities and they raised a couple of million. So that makes it worth it, makes it fun, but you have to train.

[00:06:35] Scott W. Luton: can only imagine. And if it took you five hours apart, take

me about 12 hours. But, one quick follow up I won’t take anything away from that wonderful fundraising for that real noble cause. but I hope after you cross the finish line, you were able to enjoy some delicious South African wine.

[00:06:51] MJ Schoemaker: Oh, definitely. First, I throw water at you and then a Coca Cola, cause that was a sponsor. Uh, and then you just go straight actually to the beer tent. at

that point in time, the beer is better.

[00:07:02] Scott W. Luton: Wonderful. Oh, Mary Kate, that sounds

[00:07:04] Mary Kate Love: Yeah, that does. That’s a, that is a huge feat too. That’s pretty impressive.

[00:07:08] Scott W. Luton: well, again, Jacques and MJ, great to connect with y’all here. Mary Kate and I are looking forward to our conversation. So as we move into our chat about global supply chain, I want to start with setting some context, right? It’s doing some level setting. So Jacques, if you could, beyond what I shared on the front end, tell us a little bit more about what Omnia does and your role there.

[00:07:28] Jacques de Villiers: Thank you, Scott. Yes, Omnia Group, as you’ve mentioned, is a 70 year old integrated fertilizer and explosives company. our roots are in South Africa. So that’s where we started many years ago. And in the last couple of years, we’ve grown into the rest of the world as well. So we various parts of the globe at the moment, what makes Omnia quite special in my mind is that we are a significant player, both in the mining sector in, South Southern Africa, as well as the agriculture

if you go to our website we live for a real purpose that we impact food security, water supply in South Africa,

as well as mineral security, which obviously is a large part of the GDP in this area. I’ve been with the company for many, many years. I always say if Omnia wasn’t around in South Africa and SADC,

I think the region would have been worse off, because we play such a significant role in all of these different areas.

And I think over the last

Three to five years, we’ve really seen our supply

chain has been integral in actually living out that purpose with all the disruptions and, chaos

we’ve seen all across the world. My role in the organization has changed over the last 20 years. for the last five years or so, I’ve been heading up the supply

chain

and in our

company, the supply, adding up supply

chain means I look at everything from planning, procurement, inbound logistics. sea freight, the warehousing port operations, then inbound logistics. I do not look after manufacturing, even though

we do have a significant impact in the planning of what is produced. And then I also do outbound. typically Omnia moves

between three and

4 million tons a year. So it’s a significant volume

of various raw materials And obviously in, chemicals, explosives, And fertilizer, various modes of transport as well.

[00:09:08] Scott W. Luton: Mary Kay, as I was listening

to Jacques describe everything, his role encompasses, I was like, is that all, a massive

part, even without the manufacturing piece. Although, as he mentioned,

planning goes into that goodness gracious. and and also he mentioned, how supply chain is truly integral, not only to their region, but the whole globe.

And when we go through. Years of what we’ve been through in the last two or three years. That really comes to the forefront, whether you’re in supply to you or not. But your thoughts,

[00:09:35] Mary Kate Love: Yeah, I think, you know, back to our original point, supply chain touches everything and connects everything, right? And, bringing up the word disruptions, I think we’re all nodding along that, yes, there has been a lot of disruptions and we think, you know, it will continue that path too. So making sure, you know, our supply chain is extremely agile, um, is more important now than ever.

[00:09:58] Scott W. Luton: Yes. don’t look backwards for how we solve today’s

challenges, right? We’ve got to change how business is done. And we talk about that

a lot. So, MJ, so nice to have you back with us. Thank you for bringing Jacques along as well. I can’t wait dive in a little deeper. We enjoyed, brief interview, as we’d mentioned in Cape town last June.

And one, one of the things you shared, and I think this might’ve been on the promo reel and I loved it and I love the passion that you set it with. It was innovate or die. And that’s kind of what I was talking about a second ago. we’re stuck in, we’ve always done it this way, that’s going to really be limiting the art of the possible and creating other challenges.

But anyway, that aside for a second, tell us a little bit more about what you and SAPICS does.

[00:10:38] MJ Schoemaker: Thanks, Scott. yeah, I remember that innovate or die. I think that’s not going away. I think Mary Kate, you mentioned it. A change is, is here to stay and we have to go with it. So SAPICS, uh, is almost as old as, Omnia.

I’m one of the board members, all the board members are there on a voluntary basis and SAPICS is an MPO, so it’s a non for profit. aim is to elevate, educate and empower supply chain professionals.

So that’s really what we want to do. And we do that in many different ways. So my role as president of the board is to drive the directors to ensure that we make the right decisions. to achieve that and that’s through our education partners. we do have our yearly conference, Scott, you’ve alluded to that.

We have another one coming up, a fantastic event. We love it. arranging other events outside of that. So we do site visits, we do webinars, we do networking pop ups. all the profits that come out of that, goes back into the community. So we make sure that we can take whatever we pull out of the conference.

We look at that and we project and we go, wow, okay. So what are we going to do with that? How are we going to drive the supply chain community forward? How are we going to help them through these disruptive times? how do we make sure that they are well armed to cope with these type of changes and disruption.

part of that is exactly what you say, Scott. It’s about transformation and what does that mean and how do you go about it? And I think the conference is a great environment for that because we bring everyone together and people come up with ideas. Because we always think we know what we know until we realize we don’t know something and you never know what you

don’t know.

So, what’s also important for us is, not just the growth of supply chain professionals, but it’s also across the board. So, supply chain has become so huge and thank goodness it’s, on the map. I think we always said since COVID supply chains, they’re like, do you cope without supply chain?

And it’s taken on a new meaning. So we really are driving also from the youth level. We, start with the students, right up to the executives. You also have a special events for them as well, where we try and bring whatever the executive say back to the youth. because everything they learn in university, graduate and they don’t know what they’re going to do with it because things keep

changing.

So it’s really our role just to help them with that.

[00:12:41] Scott W. Luton: Man, MJ, you shared so much that I’d love to dive into so many of those points, but Mary Kate, I’ll go back to where she kind of started with, the safe picks role to elevate, educate, and empower.

I love that. But Mary Kate, what’d you, get out of MJ’s opening

[00:12:56] Mary Kate Love: Yeah. I I know Scott, you and I are both so passionate about this, right? It’s supply chain is an ever evolving and changing industry. And, you know, we’ve said in the past, you can’t be what you don’t see. Right. And so I think APICS and SAPICS does a really great job of bringing in the youth, right, as you say, students to show them, Hey, these are the types of jobs you can have in supply chain.

And this is how it’s always changing. So that is, um, Super exciting. And then, I’ve been to a few of your conferences too. And I just love one word that stands out to to me as a camaraderie, I know I’m going to run into people in the industry that I always see that I love to talk to that share, different tidbits with me.

So I think that camaraderie is super important too.

[00:13:39] Scott W. Luton: Completely agree. Well said Mary Kate. and Jacques, you were nodding your head and through a lot of MJ’s response for, I’ll pose your next question. you know, what resonated most with you? And she also mentioned back to the youth, that is so important as we protect and build a robust pipeline from across all walks of life for folks coming into any industry supply chain or otherwise.

Right.

[00:13:59] Jacques de Villiers: hundred percent. Um, I loved what MJ spoke about and I had to agree with most of it. Mary Kate also mentioned something that I truly believe in is you can’t be what you haven’t seen and MJ is doing a lot of that. And I was at the SAPICS conference. And it is great to engage with other people on likewise challenges and also find the solutions.

And I think that’s, What we’re trying to do through the podcast is also put something out there to share experiences that people can learn from, because there’s such a big supply chain community. And oftentimes, other than SAPICS, you don’t get a lot of opportunity to share experiences and also learnings, which can take global supply chain forward, which I love.

[00:14:36] Scott W. Luton: Well said. Blessed are the connectors for sure. And SAPICS plays a great role there. All right. So we’ve got to shift gears here. So Jacques, when it comes to supply chain management and the chemicals, the fertilizer, the explosives industry, as you put it, what are a couple of very unique dynamics that some folks may not even be thinking about?

[00:14:54] Jacques de Villiers:  I think the one thing that people don’t often recognize is we in South Africa and sub saharan Africa, we don’t have significant production capacity or raw materials, which means most of the raw materials you have to import from all across the globe, which means you’ve got particularly long lead times. you have to make decisions often two and three and six months ahead of time. and because most of the pricing is based on commodities, you take that pricing risk and understanding when to buy, how to buy. But also trying to ensure the reliability of supply into the local market. As I said previously, we play a significant role in food security and the GDP of the country. The other thing that obviously plays out in Africa in general is ailing infrastructure. Which brings challenges imports in roads and then moving explosives, fertilizer and chemicals across the continent brings a whole different challenge to ensure the safety of our people, of our assets and of the communities. so those are the things that I really try and manage and that the company tries to manage across

[00:16:00] Scott W. Luton: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that Jacques and MJ. what else do you think based on Jacques response there when we think of the industry they’re in and, those dynamics that Jacques mentioned, what else would you add there, I would certainly think that, you know, the exchange rate has a huge impact on you Jacques and, price of petrol. let’s say the oil based on your fertilizers, and he’s absolutely right about the infrastructure. If you just look at the continent of Africa, so we have the African Continental Free Trade Area.

[00:16:31] MJ Schoemaker: It’s actually the largest trade area since the World Trade Organization was created. So the continent of Africa is huge. and they’re expecting the population to raise from 1. 2 billion to 2 5 billion by 2050.

And we also have to remember the African continent is young. So a lot of the other continents, they have a small amount of young people and more older people, whereas the African continent is the opposite. So if you look at what Jacques said about infrastructure, you know, for us in the supply chain environment, we think this is actually one of the most important things that need to be fixed. and there’s a lot of work going on there. we had a great panel last time, if you remember Scott, from the president’s office and they said they’re doing things and their whole dashboard was an ICU, there’s a lot of pressure on that and, Africa is regarded as the continent of the future. That’s where they’re saying there’s going to be the most growth. there’s a lot of loud voices about the infrastructure they are trying to do things, but they’ve done too little too late, unfortunately.

And in an industry where shark is in, I’m amazed you still have all your hair shark because I would be pulling it out. But you know,

[00:17:37] Jacques de Villiers: It’s

much,

[00:17:38] MJ Schoemaker: know,

[00:17:38] Jacques de Villiers: less than it used to be.

[00:17:42] MJ Schoemaker: we were saying earlier, we need a sense of humor because every day you walk into the office is like, okay, what just happened, you know, and you need to manage it deal with it

[00:17:51] Scott W. Luton: Yes, and sense of humor and global supply chain pros are going to find a way. And, and, on the other side. the positive side, the growth side, the innovative side of the continent of Africa and folks, 54 countries lot of folks out there listening around the world when they hear Africa, they think one solid block, one solid region. 54 countries, all sorts of different communities and customs and laws and, regions. So, exciting things to come, I think. And Mary Kate, before I move into this next question about unleashing the full potential of Africa’s supply chains, you’ve got some data

[00:18:27] Mary Kate Love: You know. so much. Oh, no problem.

[00:18:28] Scott W. Luton: the potential, what we’re

[00:18:29] Mary Kate Love: Yeah, and Iwas in preparing for this conversation. I was looking at some of this research and getting really excited just about some of the stuff you guys were saying, and I’ll just read this so I don’t, butcher it, but from the World Economic Forum, in January 2023, they suggest that Africa could become a global supply chain powerhouse with business and consumer spending across the continent, potentially totaling 6.7 trillion by 2030. So. of

those numbers that’s so large. You can’t even really make sense of it. Right. But it goes along with exactly what you all were just saying. the potential, the opportunity,and honestly bringing up some of these problems to solve every day while it’s hard is also exciting

[00:19:12] Scott W. Luton: Excellent point. And that free trade. Deal that MJ mentioned, you know, get a thing rocking and rolling and getting all the, parties, the uh, bring that thing or bring the execution and the fulfillment of it to fruition. that’s exciting. MJ and Jacques, thank y’all for kind of setting the table here America too.I love that fact. You know me, I love factoids, any factoids, big trivia fan. but this isn’t trivia to MJ and Jacques point. this is a continent of 54 countries of incredible,brilliant people and lots of opportunity. And, and I saw it firsthand when I was in Cape town, eight months ago. So Jacques, we did our homework.

We’re tracking y’all down, seeing what y’all been up to. And you were on a panel a few weeks ago that spoke to this topic, this phrase, unleashing the full potential of Africa supply chains. Now, both of y’all already have kind of addressed the two questions I’m going to pose, but let’s dive a little deeper. So two part question here. What are a couple of important things our listeners got to consider? When it comes to supply chain ecosystem across Africa and beyond what you’ve already shared, infrastructure clearly is something that we, have to address, but what else will help unleash this tremendous potential we’re all referencing.

[00:20:23] Jacques de Villiers: a great question. And we discussed a little bit earlier being in South Africa for many years. I think the potential just grows and grows from my side. You actually alluded to it. Scott is you must understand the different geographies, the different countries, the different cultures that you work across in South Africa and I think many places in the world, but especially in South Africa.

What I think is needed is very much partnerships. Thank you in localized areas. How do you find new and innovative ways of partnering with different players in the whole value chain to make the value chain work? I think what I’ve seen in, Africa and in South Africa, it’s it’s much more difficult to do end to end by yourself because you’re so dependent on locals in the different areas.

There’s so many different infrastructure, politics, economics at play in the different areas. And just to speak about unleashing potential of supply chains in Africa, that conversation was very specifically relating to supply chain finance. And how do you help different players across the globe access to funds, which is a major stumbling block?

And we’ve gone on a journey over the last three to four years of implementing supply chain finance to enable smaller players in the market to use the Omnia balance sheet, to be able to continue trading, to make them successful. And they, by lifting up the whole, continent and the different areas that we play in.

[00:21:48] Scott W. Luton: Yes, shock. If I can give a little simple example, y’all don’t laugh, but I want to illustrate your point on a practical and firsthand basis. MJ, we were

sending a small sponsorship, to say picks last year, I think it was one of your, your, young adult. Conferences y’all had, right folks, just sending a small transaction, globally and getting it through.

I had Wells Fargo was tracing, the transaction. We were looking at it on the other end. It was like, goodness gracious. It can’t be this friction field, but to Jacques point, I can’t even imagine it on grand global supply chain scale, But opportunities persist and to realize the potential here, we’re going to have to build some more bridges, but MJ, same question. Jacques really talked about these localized partnerships, these originalized partnerships, you know, building those bridges across all the different areas. beautiful differences that, you know, make us all unique, make different parts of world unique. You also talk about access to funds. what else would you add to that?

When we think about what’s unique to the supply chain ecosystem across Africa and what’s going to really help unleash that potential.

[00:22:53] MJ Schoemaker: skills and

education. So I think there’s a

huge lack of skills on the African continent. if you look in the global health supply

chain, the pharmacist is also a supply chain person. they’re not skilled for that. you often see, scenarios where people are trying their best, but they’re

actually not, taught well or educated for that job.

So I think that’s one of the things also SAFIC stands for is to really try and help people. Get the right, capabilities. And when you look at how the world has changed and it’s across all the continents, we need people that, are more analytical. the African one, you often have the doers.

So more of the handwork, which you still will need, right? I mean, in South Africa, we have load shedding. So if you want to do robotics, that’s. going to be quite difficult because electricity keeps going out or you have to get your own. people then need to be re skilled and re educated so that they can do something else, that they can broaden their scope.

and I think that’s one of the key areas that, um, The African continent needs to focus on. Yes, we have the cultural difference and cultural differences are good. but when it comes to your role in, in the industry, the broader you think, the more skilled that you are, better you educate yourself.

if people want to contribute towards something on the continent and there’s many charities and stuff out there, why not help someone get a course and be educated? Because then you

enabling them to enable themselves. I actually saw a great example. I actually didn’t know this lady has been doing it for the last five years.

And she realized that we have something called the spousal, stores, so you have the big retailers like you have in the States where we all go in with our trolleys, but you have in the, what we call the townships, you have all these little stores, so little entrepreneurs that have opened up their stores and they sell bread and stuff like that.

And what she found is that they have to

close shops. To go and get stock because it’s very difficult for them to get stock. So she started company where they can order through

WhatsApp and then she delivers to them within 24 hours. So these little entrepreneurs don’t need to close their shop anymore.

They can actually stay in their little

store. It’s a little shack sometimes. But they serve the community and it’s just that something small like that. It’s actually a great idea. It’s huge,

has a huge impact, but it was such a simple, logical thing to

1. And this woman has been doing it for five years now and she’s right across the whole of South Africa.

I didn’t even know this. And I saw an article and I thought, wow,

focus on the basics.

[00:25:10] Scott W. Luton: yes, Mary Kate, and that’s one of the entrepreneurial spirit across

the continent of Africa and all these different. Places and regions and countries and towns. it is so robust. I’ve picked up on that for years now, through our

conversations, MJ, and then to see it there in person, see a problem, build a business,

build a startup to solve it and grow it.

Mary Kate, but between jock and

MJ, goodness gracious. And then by the way, I love trolley. Did you

catch that Mary Kate? A trolley.

It’s a buggy. least in the Southern

states, it’s a trolley there in

South Africa, Mary Kate, what do y’all call it in

[00:25:43] Mary Kate Love: yeah, we just call it a cart because I remember when I lived in Atlanta, a woman asked me if I wanted to borrow her buggy and I was like, what? And how?

Oh,

[00:25:52] MJ Schoemaker: children. No,

[00:25:54] Mary Kate Love: Yeah.

[00:25:55] Scott W. Luton: yeah, MJ, you had a great point. We got to celebrate these cultural differences. They truly, they are beautiful things. Mary Kate, between MJ and Jacques, I really loved the the picture they are painting. And in particular, MJ talked about, we need, not just the doers.

We need to the analytical types as well. Right. And

Mary Kate, you’re one of the most. Analytical folks, and we do need more Mary Kate’s in this world, MJ

and Jacques, but your thoughts, Mary Kate

[00:26:20] Mary Kate Love: I love this though, because it’s local solutions to local problems. Um, so even the small detail of using WhatsApp to order, you know, that’s. So genius because it’s something

that people are able to use with reliability, right? And you wouldn’t want someone in this scenario, right? To create a full tech solution

that, you know, is not going to be reliable and it’s not going to be usable by people that are running these small shops.

So I just love the idea that we could find more local solutions for local problems and, you know, how do we empower that? And that’s

through gaining

skills, teaching skills, So. I love that

story.

[00:26:59] Scott W. Luton: agreed. MJ, you also brought up the

healthcare supply chain,

which we’ve spent a ton of time diving into and, had some fascinating interviews and the emphasis on skill building, you know, it’s So

critically important in Africa, here in the

States, everywhere, you know, equipping, these incredible.

What we call the now generation, right? There

may be students right now,

but

they’re already making an impact equipping them, passing the tribal knowledge of what’s worked well from the past, but also equipping them with how the business and how global supply chain is changing, how

we’re doing business today.

So important. So I got a two part question for MJ and Jacques and Jacques, we’re gonna start with you

again. I like, we love these two partners today. I don’t know why something in the water here. all right. So the next Apex conference in June has embraced this theme supply chain metamorphosis and MJ I’m so glad y’all chose metamorphosis because we’ve transformation has been worn slap out, right?

So I love metamorphosis. It reminds me of butterflies. so Jacques, Where do you think global supply chains have transformed the most in recent years, kind of successfully, and where do you think we really need to make a lot more progress where we, have a bigger gap than we should right now.

Your thoughts, Jacques.

[00:28:11] Jacques de Villiers: I think there’s been a lot of change over the last 5 to 10 years in supply chains, and obviously all of you have seen it firsthand. I think where I’ve seen the biggest change, especially in the regions that we operate in, is the movement away from just in time and agility and efficiency to more reliability understanding how do you ensure the reliable supply off your customers?

We’ve definitely seen such a big, business opportunity, as you said, where the challenges come opportunity, and we’ve actually differentiated our business on the fact that we’ve got a reliable supply chain. We’ve got alternative sources of supply, and we partner with various different, um, players in the market.

And so I think the biggest change has been that efficiency drive to reliability of drive, because without anyone in supply chain knows without product to sell, you don’t have a business. doesn’t matter how efficient you were managing your stock. So I think that’s been a big drive. And then the innovative ways of managing that reliability through different ways, whether it be supply chain finance, with suppliers customers I think where we need to go, and it is obviously a high up on everybody’s agenda, is ESG. the whole carbon drive, carbon neutral. How do we think about it? And how do we not only think and definitely the scope three side of it. Not only what do I do in my factory and with my own trucks, but how do I think end to end, how do I find better ways of supplying our customers reliably, but taking the environment at the global scale into account.

[00:29:41] Scott W. Luton: Excellent point. And, one of the things we’ve talked a lot about Mary Kate for our good MJ is having

that visibility into the

entire

ecosystem, right? Beyond the

first tier

suppliers, but really the whole ecosystem, Mary Kate, your quick comments before I go to

[00:29:53] Mary Kate Love: Yeah. I think everyone’s moving towards that way. Right. How do I not only have visibility in my network, but also

collaborate

with my network more efficiently? That’s huge. Yep.

[00:30:07] Scott W. Luton: but really more and more every day it’s

Visibility isn’t enough.

We need to have outcomes and solutions. Mary Kate, we were talking about that for the main time yesterday. Uh, plenty of organizations are still trying to obtain the visibility we need in the right visibility. Right. Not taking anything away

from that, but we

need solutions. MJ same two part question that Jacques just was speaking to.

Where do you

think we have made the most progress and transformation

and where do we need to make more

progress?

[00:30:36] MJ Schoemaker: global

supply chains have, and I agree, I’m

absolutely in shock of what you’re saying, and I think, what they’ve realized is that

they need to manage risk. in the olden days,

they’d say, you know, yeah, there’s some risk, but

everything’s fine. And I remember the days when I was, one of my key KPIs was the inventory count.

And now you will not have a problem if you have too much inventory, because exactly what you said, instead of just in time, we’re doing just in case, right, because we don’t know what’s going to happen. And you only have the controllables, and you need to focus on them, and not the uncontrollables. So the digital footprint, I think, has transformed, Not because of, that supply chains are doing things differently from a digital perspective.

But what I’ve noticed is that the software providers have made it much easier for the supply chain to implement. So they’ve actually simplified. I remember when I was implementing SAP in those days, it was like years, and now you can implement in three or four months and they’ve really become smart on that.

And I think that’s, that’s great. actually helped the global supply chains because everyone’s saying let’s digitize, digitize, what exactly do you want to digitize? How do you want to digitize? And we’ve been forced to relook our processes. We can’t work the same way we did before. So there’s that coupling of digital with processes and then going back again to skills.

There’s been a complete skill reset. global supply chains have realized, you know, I need to change. Digitization is good, but I got to make sure I got the right processes and I have the right skills in place. Because if you just copy paste what you did before and put it a software, you’re going to keep doing the same of the same, so you’re not going to get anywhere.

you asked about, where we believe we, need to make a lot more progress. And I think that’s across, The whole business and you talked a bit about end to end, shop, but there’s a concept of multidimensional management.

what does that mean?

That means that we all pull on the same rope. We are all responsible for market share. We are all responsible for profitability and we’re all responsible for efficiency. So it’s not just supply chain who’s responsible to get the package there. It’s marketing, it’s sales, it’s finance. It’s right

across the board, quality and compliance.

We always said COVID had that silver lining,

right? And I still see it there is that

supply chain is now in the boardroom where it wasn’t before, or it was, but they didn’t get a voice. And everyone’s realized

that if you don’t have a thread across the whole organization, hold everyone responsible and make sure that the decision that’s made in marketing makes

sense for supply chain, that it makes sense for finance, that there. is some profitability.

That’s what I think has changed the most. And I welcome that because If we all work together,

we can make anything happen.

[00:33:08] Scott W. Luton: Oh man,

MJ, we need to shout

that from the

mountaintops. It is so true. If you lean into that kind of thinking Mary Kate, favorite part or your comments

of what MJ just shared

[00:33:19] Mary Kate Love: Yeah, I’m totally agree

with all this. This is the first time I’ve heard

of what was the phrase multi dimensional you

said?

[00:33:26] MJ Schoemaker: Management.

Yeah.

Multi dimensional. It’s actually very old.

It’s from the seventies. I think

[00:33:31] Scott W. Luton: what’s old

[00:33:31] Mary Kate Love: Yeah,

[00:33:32] Scott W. Luton: that’s how it works, right? warm it

[00:33:34] Mary Kate Love: all these shared responsibilities that we can’t make decisions especially when it

comes to supply chain, right? It’s really now being seen as something that can differentiate your business rather than just

like, Hey, it’s sort of this thing we just have to do and spend money on. And it’s rough because we always run into problems, right? So I think, like you said, being given a seat in a voice in the boardroom to

say, Hey, no, if we’re, a plus in our supply chain, we’re going to make more money. supply chain is now being seen more as just a means to do business.

Right. Yeah.

[00:34:11] Scott W. Luton: I want to give you a chance to kind of respond to this. I love how MJ called it the great skill reset. That’s such a beautiful way of thinking about it because. Look, I got a spreadsheet. I think for every single thing I do in this life, much like supply chain does, right, if we’re going to keep it real and be honest, but again, what we need to do hasn’t necessarily changed, but how we do it is vastly evolving.

And that to me, Jacques, when, when I hear MJ use that phraseology, which I think is really dead on, that’s like a, the gospel truth. So Jacques respond to this great skill reset

that the industry

needs. Maybe.

[00:34:46] Jacques de Villiers: Thanks, Scott and MJ. Great thoughts there. And I was nodding vigorously because I see all of that as well. And I think one of the biggest changes is the fact that businesses have started to see supply chain is business critical, not just the needed evil on the side. And part of that skill set reset or skills reset is not only in supply chain professionals, but also in the boardroom.

That people understand what drives supply chain and profitability and how it goes across the different areas and something we’ve been pushing quite hard internally and I’ve been pushing is, is getting a new ways of work, which is a different way of saying the new skill set, taking the technology, standardizing the visibility, all the words we’ve just used.

How do we take a 70 year old company, Okay. doing things the same. I always joke with excel and brute force. That’s how supply chains used to work. how do we change that to make it more streamlined and to change the way we think about things and bring that efficiency actually into the back office and then it plays out the whole value chain and in the end lands in the bottom line.

And as Mary Gates said, we see our supply chain as a strategic advantage to the business.

In my view, oftentimes more important with a long supply chains, but at least as important as all the other marketing and finance and all the other areas of the business.

[00:36:02] Scott W. Luton: Well said, Well said. And you know, just, little disclaimer out there. 70 years of incredible success and great track record. No one here suggests that we throw all that out. We take the best parts and we transform as we prepare for the next 70 years. So, really important distinction there.

man, MJ and Jacques and Mary Kate. Y’all got a few extra

hours we can, we can hang out and, and grab a Charlie and get some coffee and maybe have

lunch. Let’s shift as we kind of come down the homestretch. There’s so much more I know we could talk about. We’ll have to have y’all back

soon. A lot of our listeners out there, they’re either, maybe they’re in school

finishing their degrees, or maybe

they’re early in the stage of their, career supply chain or otherwise,

you know, both MJ Jacques and

of course, Mary Kate. You’ve earned your way up into senior levels of supply chain leadership,

business leadership, you name it. So I want to get y’all and we’ll

start with MJ here. What’s one piece of advice for

those folks out there listening or watching that

want to do the same thing? What’s one piece of advice

for them at

MJ?

[00:37:03] MJ Schoemaker: yeah, my advice is strive to build diverse knowledge by understanding all elements of business and operation. So don’t just focus on your area, keep

the big picture in mind, understand how everything connects and what is the impact of your decision across the business.

So you might think it’s a great decision for your area, but what does it mean for the others? If you can keep that in mind, you will, have an end to end, with a good mindset of helping each other.

[00:37:29] Scott W. Luton: Wow. MJ, I love it. And the enterprise level, some folks will call that systems level. Knowing what you’re doing can impact upstream downstream. That is such a, critical opportunity for folks to learn early in their careers rather than mid or late career. Jock, you’re there nodding your head again.

We’ve got lots of, kindred spirits here today. Jock, what’s a piece of advice you’d

offer?

The same folks.

[00:37:50] Jacques de Villiers: take MJ’s advice and make a long sentence. Um, I think The biggest part and that I’ve learned from a young age when I started and I always tell the young guys that I speak to you get a job to learn, not to earn when you start. And then I added to that, get broad learning as MJ said. So be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

You can’t settle down. And as soon as you’ve got something, get a wider knowledge, challenge yourself to see why other people are doing things in a different way. I think that’s what we see more and more as we go forward. Change is continuous. So the better you get at learning that and getting a wider view, different perspectives, that will stand you in good stead as you go into any part of business and life.

[00:38:31] Scott W. Luton: Excellent advice. There’s Jacques. All right, Mary Kate, that’s going to be twin jock and MJ. Ask me tough to top your piece of advice to those folks

out

[00:38:39] Mary Kate Love: Yeah, I think just building on what everyone said, right, is I always think about mentorship and how much that has helped me throughout my career. And I think, you know, sometimes we think our mentor has to be like the CEO or the COO of a company. And that is just not the case. I think finding mentors at all different

levels

of, you know, their career is

super important.

Even, you know, someone that might be at just the next step above you or

in an equal role to you, I think viewing. More people as mentors, is really a way to learn more, especially in an

industry like supply chain, when roles are changing, the market is changing. that is super important. You know,

[00:39:21] Scott W. Luton: Well said, the great

global, skill

reset.

MJ, I’m going out, we’re going to have to trademark that. and we’re going to owe you some, maybe some commissions from

using that. MK well set, I

would just add to it. I, we had a great

interview yesterday. We’ll be Publishing soon. One of the leaders of one of the world’s largest and most successful

retailers. And man, they have been transforming left and right. One of her pieces

of advice that I loved because I wish I’d listened

to it earlier in my career, maybe is, we

all value kind of what you were saying,

MJ.

Those doers, right? Those folks that

have a strong bias for action. We can all appreciate that. We need those folks, but her advice was

folks, you can’t have everything tomorrow,

especially when it comes to your career, take some time to build trust and rapport and credibility

in the room and on your team and have

just a little bit of patience before you try to.

know, become a bull in a China shop. And that was such a great piece of advice that looking back really resonated with my journey. So, MJ Jacques and Mary Kate, what a great conversation here today. We’ve got a couple more pieces. We’ll make sure folks don’t connect with y’all, but MJ, we would be remiss. Another word. I don’t know exactly what it means, but I like using it. MJ,

tell us about the upcoming, say PICS conference been doing it. I mean. for decades now, what number is coming up and what’s one thing that you’re most excited

about?

[00:40:40] MJ Schoemaker: So this is our 46th conference. So number four to six. So we’re doing very well. Chuck, you can, correct me, but I think we’ve moved away from the traditional supply chain theme. So we, we want to get more diversity in the content, going back to that sort of multidimensional mindset and, the metamorphosis really talks to change.

Right. So we all want to become butterflies. I’m not saying anyone’s a larva or a worm at the moment, but to bring some color into supply chain, so we, we will have a lot of valuable insights. We have, we, we went through a very rigorous, process of getting the right speakers. You have an opportunity to network with thought leaders, Jacques, you’re going to be there.

I’m going to be there. Hopefully Mary. Kate and Scott are going to be there all thought leaders in the supply chain world. And especially, I think, you know, the global health healthcare stream is really good because it does talk a lot about education and skills. You’re going to have a sustainability, ESG, uh, shock, as you mentioned, how can we make the world a better place, lower our carbon footprint, and there’s also some finance in there.

So there’s always something I’ve been asking, can we get a supply chain finance, or just what is it? Finance and works with supply chain, please into the conference, because we often forget them and they are a very important part as well as sales and marketing, but finance is the one that, that I think supply chain professionals need to learn more about.

And obviously risk management. And Shaf, you spoke about segmenting your suppliers. How do you manage your risk? Do you need dual suppliers? So it’s all very exciting. And actually the exhibition is almost sold out, at this early stage. So we are really excited. really moving in the right direction. So this

1. This conference, I think is going to be absolutely amazing. I think the

[00:42:14] Scott W. Luton: That is outstanding And I

can tell you firsthand, I

attended The 45th one And it was outstanding. the conversations, relationships, the camaraderie is still one of your terms earlier, Mary Kate. the sheer innovation and brilliance. think there was dozens of, I can’t remember the number, exact number, but there were dozens of countries represented.

and Jacques, you’re nodding your head. That’s the place to be. You’re going to be there too in June,

right?

[00:42:37] Jacques de Villiers: I am going to be there. Yes, for sure. And hopefully I’ll see you guys face to face then.

[00:42:41] Scott W. Luton: That’d be awesome. Okay. So folks, we’re gonna include a link to that in the show notes. thanks for, uh, uh, sharing what you’re most excited about

there, MJ, about the 46th SAPICs annual conference, which is coming up just a couple months away. So let’s make sure. global audience knows how to connect with Jacques and MJ, these two dynamos here, whether it’s for keynote opportunities or to talk shop or who knows, MJ, let’s start with you, MJ Shoemaker. President of the board at

Sapix, And you brought plenty of t shirt isms here today to supply chain. Now, MJ, how can folks connect with you,

[00:43:18] MJ Schoemaker: best place is LinkedIn. if you just put my name and you’ll find me, there’s not many MJ Schoemakers luckily. so just go through LinkedIn, send me a message, connect, looking forward to hear from, the audience open for almost anything. Any questions, in relation to supply chain, of course, and maybe cycling.

If you want to know about cycling, that’s also okay.

[00:43:38] Scott W. Luton: Awesome. And please connect with MJ, your network. You’ll be better off if you did, even if you don’t want to talk cycling. like me, man, that, wears me out. I got fatigue from, there’s hours and hours of cycling, but kidding aside, incredible calls. And I appreciate what you and your team were doing there.

MJ, Jacques de Villiers, head of supply chain with the Omnia group. Jacques, brilliant conversation here today. I’m so glad Mary Kate and I had a chance to meet you. how can folks connect with you and all the great

things you are

doing at

[00:44:08] Jacques de Villiers: Thanks, Scott, for the opportunity as well. And I think the easiest place is on LinkedIn. Unfortunately, MJ, there’s many Jacques de Villiers. So do Jacques de Villiers Omnia Holdings you will find me. and always excited as we’ve discussed to collaborate, to learn from each other, discuss supply chain with whoever finds it interesting.

[00:44:26] Scott W. Luton: We all certainly do. We’ve got a great audience that loves it. and Jacques, here’s to

the next 70 years at Omnia. I appreciate what y’all do, especially parts of your mission dealing with food security and water supply, those are some noble, components of your mission. So great to have you here, Okay. Mary Kate. You might get the toughest question of the day. I don’t know. Cause Jacques and MJ has brought it here today. I’ve got 22 pages of notes. They topped out far beyond my normal 17. Mary Kate, what was your favorite part of today’s discussion?

[00:45:02] Mary Kate Love: both of those kind of viewpoints when you’re thinking about managing your supply chain that both are equally as important. I loved Thinking about especially kind of the local part today. We talked a little bit about how important that is, too

[00:45:16] Scott W. Luton: what that squares nicely as founder of national supply chain day here in the States. I think of that same theme applies to what you’re trying. You and the whole team here trying to do

[00:45:28] Mary Kate Love: so we’re super excited. So monday april 29th We have a special edition live stream and we’re

going to be talking about things like this right supply chain You Where it’s headed, but also the future

of supply chain careers and supply chain and highlighting and celebrating the people of supply chain really is the main focus.

[00:45:47] Scott W. Luton: That is right. please write that down folks, because the people that make global supply chain happen to move us all for day in and day out, they never get enough recognition. And that’s really where Mary Kate and all of us here are going to put a big spotlight on. So appreciate your leadership, Mary Kate. appreciate MJ, and jocks leadership out there, changing how business is done investing in industry, which is so important to steal that phrase again, elevate. Educate and empower. What a great mission. So, thanks. MJ Jacques and Mary Kate for being here and all the folks that are tuned in. Hey, appreciate y’all being here.

take something that M,J Jacques, or Mary Kate said here today. Put it in the action. Your teams are ready. They’re looking for new ideas, new solutions, far beyond just visibility. And it’s all about deeds, not words. Everybody’s had enough. Lip service leadership. All right. On that note, on behalf of our entire team here at Supply Chain Now, not only remember National Supply Chain Day, April 29th, but more importantly, maybe Scott Luton challenging you to do good,

to give forward and be the change

that’s needed.

And we’ll see you next time, right back here at Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody.