Supply Chain Management as a Partner with Finance

Summary

本次网络研讨会由MITCTL的课程负责人Kellen Betts和Laura Allegue主持，特邀嘉宾Denis Leite，Bertelsmann Printing Group的首席财务官，分享其在供应链决策对财务影响方面的丰富经验。Denis强调了项目与公司战略一致性的重要性，并提供了如何获得内部支持、有效沟通和降低风险的实用建议。他还讨论了ERP项目集成、数据管理以及销售与运营规划（S&OP）在确保供应链与财务目标一致性中的作用。Denis鼓励参与者不要害怕与高层管理人员交流，并强调了简单性、透明度和承诺的重要性。

Takeaways

• 📈 **项目与公司战略一致性**：项目需要与公司战略保持一致，否则即使经济上可行，也可能无法获得批准。
• 💡 **财务的重要性**：财务不仅仅是数字，更重要的是项目与公司战略的一致性以及如何与执行团队沟通。
• 🗓 **项目时间线的重要性**：项目时间线对公司其他决策有重大影响，因此承诺的时间线必须严格遵守。
• 🔍 **风险管理**：项目中风险管理至关重要，需要准备应对计划，并且在董事会前展示你对潜在风险的理解和应对策略。
• 📊 **KPIs的交叉验证**：不应仅依赖单一的KPI，而应进行交叉验证，以确保项目目标与公司的整体战略相符。
• 🤝 **沟通的重要性**：与财务和其他利益相关者的有效沟通对于项目的成功至关重要。
• 🚀 **快速胜利**：在项目执行中寻找并实现快速胜利，以保持团队的动力并展示项目进展。
• 🌐 **全球业务理解**：在全球供应链管理中，需要理解不同国家和地区的政治、经济和金融情况，并尝试减轻相关风险。
• 📚 **持续学习与改进**：项目完成后，应分享经验教训，以便未来项目能够学习和改进。
• 🛠 **ERP实施经验**：在ERP系统的实施中，重要的是要明确公司的需求和期望，以及如何从数据中获取正确的信息。
• 💼 **职业发展建议**：对于职业发展，热情是基础，同时需要持续学习、享受工作，并与公司战略保持一致。

Q & A

丹尼斯·莱特先生在加入贝塔斯曼印刷集团之前有哪些职业经历？

丹尼斯·莱特先生是一位拥有超过30年经验的财务专业人士。他曾在巴西的阿尔斯通公司开始他的职业生涯，这是一家大型的法国公司。之后，他在不同的行业如矿业、自动化等领域工作过，并且在过去的五年中，他搬到美国，担任GE公司的LM Wind Power的美洲首席财务官。

为什么在供应链管理中财务的角色很重要？

在供应链管理中，财务的角色至关重要，因为项目需要与公司的战略保持一致。如果项目在经济上讲得通，但不与公司战略相符，那么它可能不会被批准。财务不仅仅是数字游戏，更是确保项目与公司整体目标和战略相匹配的关键。

丹尼斯如何强调项目与公司战略对齐的重要性？

丹尼斯通过举例说明，如果一个项目在经济上看起来很有吸引力，但与公司的核心战略不符，如成为零二氧化碳排放的领导者，那么这个项目最终可能不会被批准。因此，理解公司的战略是在开始任何项目之前的关键。

在项目中，为什么丹尼斯强调风险管理的重要性？

丹尼斯强调风险管理的重要性，因为在项目实施过程中，总会有不可预见的事情发生。管理层需要准备好应对这些风险，制定缓解计划和备选方案，以展示他们对项目的所有权，并能够向董事会展示他们已经考虑到可能发生的问题，并有计划来缓解这些问题。

丹尼斯提到了项目的五个阶段，这些阶段是什么？

丹尼斯提到的项目五个阶段包括：1) 概览阶段，定义目标、创建商业案例和规划；2) 规划阶段，确保项目范围明确、时间线可行；3) 执行阶段，分配正确的资源、监控项目进度；4) 完成阶段，修订结果、确保交付所要求的内容；5) 经验教训分享，确保从项目中学习并改进未来的项目。

为什么丹尼斯建议在项目规划中要谨慎对待时间承诺？

丹尼斯建议在项目规划中谨慎对待时间承诺，因为很多其他决策和计划都是基于项目的时间表来制定的。如果项目未能按时交付，这将影响到公司其他部门的运营，可能导致损失或需要额外成本来弥补延误。

丹尼斯如何看待KPI在项目管理中的作用？

丹尼斯认为KPI在项目管理中非常重要，但他强调不应该只依赖一个KPI。他建议进行交叉参考，以确保所选的KPI能够真正反映项目的成功与否，并且与公司的整体战略保持一致。

在ERP项目中，丹尼斯认为最关键的因素是什么？

在ERP项目中，丹尼斯认为最关键的因素是明确你期望从数据中得到什么。他强调了数据的重要性，即“垃圾进，垃圾出”，如果输入的数据不正确，那么分析和决策也将是错误的。

丹尼斯如何描述销售和运营规划（S&OP）的重要性？

丹尼斯通过一个实际案例描述了S&OP的重要性，他提到如果销售和供应链之间的规划不一致，可能会导致库存不足或库存过剩的问题。因此，确保销售和供应链之间的信息一致性对于避免这些问题至关重要。

当与首席财务官会面时，丹尼斯建议如何准备？

丹尼斯建议不要害羞，要展现出能量和对话题的掌握。他强调了简单性、透明度和承诺的重要性，建议不要承诺无法实现的事情，并且要简单明了地表达观点。

丹尼斯在演讲中提到了哪些关键的项目管理原则？

丹尼斯在演讲中提到了多个关键的项目管理原则，包括项目需要与公司战略对齐、风险管理的重要性、制定缓解计划、项目五个阶段的注意事项、时间承诺的重要性、KPI的交叉参考以及ERP项目中数据的重要性。

Outlines

00:00

😀 欢迎与介绍

MITCTL的Kellen Betts和Laura Allegue欢迎观众参加MITx MicroMasters供应链管理课程的直播活动。他们介绍了嘉宾Denis Leite，Bertelsmann Printing Group的首席财务官，并启动了首个互动投票，询问观众参与直播的目的。

05:01

📈 供应链决策对财务的影响

Denis Leite强调了供应链决策与公司战略一致性的重要性，并指出项目需要与公司目标相匹配才能获得批准。他通过例子说明了即使项目在经济上可行，如果与战略不一致，也可能不会被批准。

10:01

🤝 与高层管理沟通

Denis分享了如何获得内部支持和项目批准的技巧，包括理解项目预期、准备应对风险的计划B，并向董事会展示项目的主人翁意识和风险缓解策略。

15:01

🔍 项目阶段的注意事项

Denis详细讨论了项目的不同阶段，包括概览、规划、执行、完成和经验教训分享。他强调了在每个阶段中必须注意的关键事项，如确保项目与业务战略一致、管理风险、及时报告问题和交付承诺的结果。

20:02

📊 项目风险和KPIs

Denis讨论了项目风险管理的重要性，以及如何通过定义正确的KPIs来指导项目成功。他警告不要依赖单一KPI，并强调了跨参考不同KPIs以确保项目目标与公司战略一致的必要性。

25:05

🗓 项目时间线的重要性

Denis解释了项目时间线的重要性，强调了如何项目延期可能影响到公司其他决策和运营。他建议在时间规划上留有余地，以确保能够按时交付承诺的结果。

30:06

🌐 全球供应链中的时间价值

Denis讨论了在全球供应链中时间的价值，包括货币汇率波动、通货膨胀率和持有库存的额外成本。他强调了理解这些因素对项目成功的重要性。

35:07

📉 KPIs的选择与项目评估

Denis分享了关于选择和评估KPIs的经验，强调了不要仅依赖单一指标，并用DPO（应付账款天数）作为例子来说明单一KPI可能带来的误导。

40:08

🛠️ ERP项目实施的经验

Denis分享了他在ERP系统实施和集成方面的经验，强调了在实施过程中定义数据需求的重要性，并讨论了不同ERP系统的特点以及如何根据公司的具体需求进行选择。

45:10

🔄 销售与运营计划的协调

Denis讨论了销售与运营计划（S&OP）的重要性，以及如何确保销售和供应链之间的一致性。他通过一个关于库存管理的例子说明了缺乏协调可能导致的问题。

50:12

💼 与CFO的沟通技巧

Denis作为CFO，鼓励供应链专业人员在与高层管理沟通时不要害羞，要展示出能量和参与度，并强调了简单、透明和直接沟通的重要性。

🎉 结束与致谢

讨论结束时，主持人感谢Denis的参与和分享，总结了观众最感兴趣的要点，并邀请观众参加未来的网络研讨会，同时鼓励大家与他们联系以获取更多信息。

Keywords

💡供应链管理

供应链管理是指对企业生产和流通过程中的原材料获取、产品制作、以及最终产品交付等环节进行有效管理的一系列活动。在视频中，Denis Leite作为Bertelsmann Printing Group的首席财务官，讨论了供应链决策对财务的影响，强调了供应链管理在企业战略中的重要性，并分享了他在不同行业供应链管理方面的经验。

💡财务

财务涉及资金的管理和企业财务状况的监督，包括投资回报、现金流管理等。视频中提到，理解财务的基本概念对于供应链专业人员至关重要，因为它帮助他们更好地与财务部门沟通，并在项目中做出更明智的决策。

💡项目

项目指的是为了实现特定的目标而在一定时间内完成的一系列任务。视频中，Denis强调了项目管理的重要性，包括项目规划、执行、监控和完成，并分享了他在不同项目阶段如何与财务部门合作的经验。

💡战略对齐

战略对齐是指确保项目或决策与公司的整体战略保持一致。视频中，Denis提到，任何项目在开始之前都需要与公司的战略保持一致，否则即使经济上可行，项目也可能不会被批准。

💡风险管理

风险管理是指识别、评估和控制项目或企业运营中潜在风险的过程。Denis在视频中强调了风险管理的重要性，并分享了如何制定风险缓解计划以及如何向董事会展示项目风险管理的方法。

💡内部支持

内部支持指的是在组织内部获得其他部门或团队成员对某个项目或决策的认可和帮助。视频中讨论了如何获得内部支持，特别是如何通过与财务部门的有效沟通来获得对新项目的支持。

💡沟通

沟通是指信息的传递和交流。在视频中，Denis和主持人讨论了沟通技巧的重要性，尤其是在与财务利益相关者沟通时，如何使用他们能理解的语言来传达项目的价值和影响。

💡关键绩效指标（KPI）

关键绩效指标是衡量企业、项目或个人绩效的量化指标。视频中，Denis讨论了正确选择和使用KPI的重要性，并强调了跨参考KPI以确保项目成功的必要性。

💡数据管理

数据管理涉及数据的收集、组织、存储和分析。在讨论ERP系统实施时，Denis强调了准确定义所需数据的重要性，以确保数据输入的质量，并避免基于错误数据做出决策。

💡销售与运营规划（S&OP）

销售与运营规划是一种协调销售预测、生产计划和库存管理的过程。视频中，Denis分享了他对S&OP的经验，强调了确保销售预测与供应链能力对齐的重要性，以避免库存短缺或过剩。

Highlights

Kellen Betts和Laura Allegue作为MITx供应链管理MicroMasters课程的课程负责人，共同主持了这次活动。

Denis Leite，贝塔斯曼印刷集团首席财务官，作为特邀嘉宾分享了他的经验和见解。

活动开始前，通过投票了解参与者对供应链决策对财务影响的兴趣。

Denis强调了项目需要与公司战略保持一致，这是获得批准的关键。

在向董事会展示项目时，要展示对项目风险的理解以及应对计划。

项目成功不仅取决于财务数据，还需要与执行团队和董事会的语言保持一致。

Denis分享了他超过30年的财务专业经验，包括在巴西、美国和德国公司的工作经历。

强调了在项目规划阶段，定义清晰的目标和业务案例的重要性。

执行阶段需要确保正确分配资源，并且项目监控至关重要。

Denis提倡在项目中寻找快速胜利，以保持团队的动力和参与度。

在项目完成阶段，要清晰地定义交付成果，并从经验中学习。

强调了关键绩效指标（KPI）的重要性，并且建议进行交叉参考以确保准确性。

Denis讨论了ERP项目中数据管理和集成的重要性。

提出了在销售和运营规划（S&OP）中供应链和财务的协同作用。

Denis鼓励年轻人不要害怕与高层管理人员交流，要展现自己的热情和专业性。

强调了在与董事会沟通时，简单明了和透明度的重要性。

Denis提供了他的LinkedIn ID和电子邮件，愿意回答更多的问题，显示了他开放和支持的态度。

活动结束时，通过投票总结了参与者认为最有价值的内容，包括更好地沟通和扩展供应链财务知识。

Transcripts

(bright music)

(bell dings)

- Welcome everyone.

Thanks for joining.

I'm Kellen Betts, a course lead here at MITCTL for the MITx

MicroMasters Program and Supply Chain Management.

I'm co-hosting this live event today

with my colleague, Laura Allegue,

also a course lead in the MicroMasters program.

Today we're very fortunate to have Mr. Denis Leite,

Chief Financial Officer of Bertelsmann Printing Group.

Welcome, Denis.

- [Denis] Hey guys, welcome.

Thank you for inviting me to join.

- Awesome. So before we get started today,

you know, we like to make these interactive with Q&A,

live Q&A and polls.

And so if we could launch our first poll here.

We wanna learn why you're here today, why you're joining us,

and what you're hoping to get out of the event today.

A few of the options: to learn about the impact

of supply chain decisions to finance,

to learn about supply chain finance in general, you know?

So there's a few options there.

If you could take a minute there to complete our poll.

And while you do that, my colleague Laura

will go through the agenda for today.

- Thank you Kellen and welcome Denis.

You're free to open your camera anytime you want.

So everyone in the audience, for the next 30 minutes,

Denis will present and we will all discuss then

why speaking the language of finance matters,

how SEM professionals can partner with finance

to either get buy-in for new projects

or get into the conversation

how to improve our supply chains,

and, overall, how to better communicate

with finance stakeholders.

In the last 15 minutes, we will have this time for you,

it will be saved for you.

So please use the webinar Q&A feature to ask your questions.

Do not put them on the chat because we will not go there,

just on the Q&A feature.

And be sure to be logged in with a name

because we usually do not read anonymous questions.

Of course, be prepared to answer our polls

and have this being an interactive session.

So, let's first check in that poll, hopefully.

Yeah, most of you have answered the polls

so we can end it now and share the results with everyone.

We want to make sure that you're here

with the right expectations

and that we all share those expectations

with Denis here today.

So, Denis, most people here is just to learn

about the impact of supply chain decisions in finance.

Also, most of them are about finance in general,

so probably they are very interested in your background,

and to know more about the language of board executives.

So how do you see that, Denis?

Do you think we're going to cover all of those?

- Yes, I hope so.

I'm so excited to have this discussion with you guys.

It's really, really nice to be here,

try to share a bit of my experience with you

and I hope that we can have very good discussion.

- Awesome.

So let's start things off.

To start it, let's get to know a little better our speaker.

Can you tell us a little bit more about your background,

how you started, your current role,

and your journey to get where you are today?

- Sure, sure.

Well, I'm finance professional of course,

that more than 30 years of experience.

I do not like to say that so much

because it's making a bit older, but that's the life, right?

There's no way to change that.

So I'm from Brazil.

I start working, I have moved from many different business,

but most important one in my career is the energy business.

I start to work for Alstom in Brazil.

Alstom's a French company, big French company.

And after that, I moved around a few other segments

like mining, like automation,

and now I'm working for Bertelsmann Group.

It's a medium company.

It's a German medium company.

I joined four months ago.

I'm really enjoying a lot to be part of this new world

that for me is completely new.

And as my background, I am bachelor in economics

and I did two MBAs in University of Sao, USP,

in economics and (indistinct).

And I work around the South America mainly.

And now, last five years, I moved to US

as a America's CFO for LM Wind Power a GE Company.

And now I'm here just trying the new experience

in the new segment.

Let's see if in the future I can learn a bit more

and teach a bit more about my new experience.

- Awesome. Well, thank you, Dennis.

You definitely have a background

that we're very excited to learn from your experiences

and have the discussion today.

Maybe before we jump into your presentation,

now you have a kind of a brief presentation for us,

but before we jump into that presentation,

if you could just start out with kind of a quick question,

you know, something that's on our mind.

We'd like to start by, you know,

kinda asking the question of why finance matters.

This is something that we talked about earlier,

but why finance matters in a supply chain role?

You know, I think many of our audience here

is from, you know, different supply chain roles,

are in our MicroMasters program.

In our previous conversations,

you shared that's not actually speaking

the language of people in finance,

but it's actually speaking the language of the executives

and the board of executives and board of directors.

So maybe if you could share a little bit more about that,

why finance matters in supply chain role.

- Sure, sure, of course.

Yeah, a good finance,

if I say that finance does not matter, no, right?

Of course that the numbers at the end means a lot.

But I would say that this is more or less the old fashioned,

the way when you look for a project.

Because project, of course if you present a project

that financially speaking, economically speaking

does not make sense.

This is not approved.

But what I would like to highlight here is that the project

is that you need to be aligned

with the strategy of the company.

If you're not aligned with the strategy of the company,

of course these will not be approved.

Sometimes you have a project that economically speak

make a lot of sense, but that's not aligned.

I saw a lot of project, very good project

that was not aligned with strategy

that at end was never approved, was never approved.

They had some time, a very good economic return,

but at the end this does not make any sense to the company.

Let's try to make a simple example here.

You want to be the number one producer in your business,

but you have as a main or a core to be zero emission of CO2.

Let's just take this one simple example.

And then someone presents approach

that's economically speaking make a lot of sense,

but it's not connect with your strategy.

So at the end, this will not be approved.

This is wasting time for everyone.

You need to understand what is your strategy.

This for me is the key before you start any project.

And does not matter if you are talking

about supply chain projects

or if you are talk about any project

that you want to care, you want to, to present,

you need to make sure that we are aligned.

- Thank you, Denis.

And I really like what you presented

because you bring it from the experience.

We sometimes shared this in a more academic perspective,

but we usually talk about supply chain

as one of the many enablers of the company strategy.

So if our strategy is not aligned, as you just said,

it's not only that you're not getting the buy-in,

but it's not going to be a successful management

of your supply chain.

So thank you for bringing that

from the industry perspective.

And then talking a little bit more about the projects

as you just started bringing to the table,

one of the many reasons we know we connect with executive

is to get that buy-in of a new project.

And for us in the supply chain

could be for incorporating a new facility,

buying a new asset,

achieving a better agreement with our suppliers

for additional or different and vendor availability

based on our needs.

So we will love to know,

and I know you have the presentation on the topic,

how to proceed to earn the internal support,

how to get or what tips do you have

to better communicate with executives

and make those projects go through

and achieve a successful outcome.

- Okay.

Again, it's more or less what I have just said, right?

You have to make sure that you know

what is expect from your project.

If you understand well what you need to deliver,

of course that makes much more ease

when you go in front of the board

and try to present in the project, right?

Of course that for sure you receive a lot of questions,

tons of questions about the project they want to see.

The board in general, I would say that they try

to take minimum of risk possible.

And, by the way, maybe risk is one of the words

that you'll hear more from me now

during this 45 minutes, one hour,

because this is really matter of management of risk for me.

Any project that you do, you have to (indistinct)

because things happens, right?

And you have to be prepared too.

You have to present mitigations and mitigation plan.

You have to have plan B.

You have to understand that the word

is not like we'd like to be.

There's a lot of things that happens in the middle

that you have to have a plan to mitigate that.

For me, this is the key.

When we are in front of the board,

you have to show them that you are the owner of the project,

you understand what could happen in your project

and you have a way to mitigate that.

Of course that sometime you'll not mitigate,

but at least you show that you have a plan.

This for me is key.

Okay, in project, usually we have five phases, right,

that you have to care about all of the phase,

you have to make sure that you are the owner of each phase,

you understand your product

and (indistinct) very well how to deal

with any problem that could happen in this of your project.

So, of course that the overview phase

is where you define your goals,

you create the business case,

and you move forward your planning.

You have to make sure that you have everything

that you need for this project very well organized.

The execution, that this must complicate to one,

but it's not the only one that you have to care.

So you should have to have allocated

the right resources in the project.

And of course you have to understand,

you have to monitor in your project,

you have to understand if you're moving the direction

that you expect and the completion, right?

Completion is to revise results,

make sure that you deliver what was asked.

This is only a theory, as I said,

is just to guide us in the discussion.

In this slide that I guess

is where we have to expand a bit more time.

I understand that in each phase

you have to care about few items, few things

that is really important for the board

or for the company, right?

Sometimes we say finance, sometimes we say board,

but at the end it's the health of the company.

We have to make sure that the products

are delivering what was agreed and what is expected.

Let's talk about the overview.

Again, project needs to be aligned

with the business strategy.

You need to convince the board

that your approach makes sense.

It's aligned with this strategy.

After that, of course, that you need to bring data,

you need to make sure that you have the right best data

and then this will guide you for the future

that you are looking for.

This is the (indistinct)

where the approach is to be approved or not.

So show your arguments and try to make sure

that everyone understand what you want to do, right?

And of course you have to have your budget.

You have to have how much it is your cost,

the cash flow, the contingence, timeline,

and the resources that you need for this project,

again, the risk involved in this project

and how you want to overpass each of them, okay?

So in the planning phase,

you'll need to make sure that you have a very good scope.

You define very well your scope.

One thing that for me is very important to you,

make sure that you have a doable timeline.

I saw a lot of product that sometime you want to be fast,

but most of the time fast, of course that's important,

but it's not the only thing that you have to look for.

It's better for you to expand a bit more time during

and make sure that you execute that

in the time that you promised them.

Later you say, oh, okay, you have to move two months

or you have to move or we'll have to move few other months

because we had this kind of problem.

This is not one thing that the board likes to hear.

They can understand

that you cannot manage 100% of the things,

but there are few things that you can try

to make sure that you deliver in the time they expect.

So be careful about the time

that you promised to deliver your project.

And one thing that this is a bit what the (indistinct)

is to try to deliver something that's perfect, right?

Sometime the perfection is really good,

but sometime it's not required.

What you have to deliver, it's what was asked.

So look for quick wins.

This keep the motivation of the team

and this helps a lot in order to get engagement

from the team and the board and see that,

oh, the results start to come.

And this is really, really important as well to everyone.

So during the execution, one thing that is basic,

everybody says that you have to have

the right people on board.

This is really important, but I can assure

that most of the projects forget to care about this point.

This is really sometime

you overestimate your team capability.

Sometime you think, ah, okay, this is,

I need someone that's specialist

in a different type of business.

You are trying, you are planning to move

for a different product

and you do not know about the product and say, ah, okay,

but it's more or less the same that what we have now.

Most of the time that's not true.

You have to find the right resource.

There are some particulars in each product

that you have to make sure that you understand very well.

And don't overestimate things about it.

I saw a lot of projects fail during this phase.

And, again, define a clear mitigation plan.

Things happens.

You need to have plan because for sure you have, I never.

I do not remember project that went as planned.

And you have to make sure that you have a right plan

to mitigate that, right?

When you go for monitoring,

of course that you have to deliver the budget.

Sad, you have to deliver the budget.

So you have to make sure that you can report

any big deviation in the right moment.

One thing that I thought a lot,

and this is one thing that you have to avoid,

sometime we do not like to give bad news.

We try to avoid bad news.

And do we think that we can solve the problem

in the middle of the course of the project

and to try, okay, this happens?

Let's say that's it's time.

Ah, you delete two months or you cost a bit more,

but then I believe I can solve that.

I do not need to report.

Why are you bring this to the board?

They'll be so upset and this will not work well.

How you solve that.

If you solved good, no one knew about that and then,

but if it not solved, you'll be worse.

You'll be worse because you have to report

that you knew there problems since months ago.

You will skip to report that and now you have to say

and there is no reaction most of the time.

So bad news happens.

Report in the right time.

Do not procrastinate reporting.

You need to tell to the board (indistinct) that's happening.

Of course I'm as well like only to give good news,

sometimes not possible.

And the completion, right?

The completion is you have to make sure

that to deliver what was asked.

Sometimes you deliver part and that's not 1% what was asked,

but you need to be clear, okay, we could deliver half.

The other part was not possible

because this happens or it was not like we managed

when we start the project.

Again, we have to come back to the (indistinct) phase.

You have to define what needs to be delivered,

and the completion phase, you have to make sure

that you deliver exactly what (indistinct) for, right?

And the other big things is lessons learned, shared lessons.

Because for sure in the future we have some similar project.

They do not need to reinvent their view.

They need to learn with the mistakes of the first project

and try to move from there.

This is how the process moves

and how you get matured in the organization

with the learnings.

You have to share what you learn.

And of course, for me, most of the project never ends.

The project is one thing that you keep going,

to keep going, to keep going.

You have to define your KPIs.

You have to make sure that you have the right KPIs.

Sometime you are using wrong KPIs

and you are taking wrong decisions.

Make sure that you make cross preference about KPIs.

Sometimes you have just one KPIs and you say,

okay, this is showing that these trailing

to the direction that I want.

But when you cross reference with the different KPIs

and you see that this,

you guys sometimes not the right one that you are using.

This is what I think about it.

And when you are approved for your project,

you go to the board, you approve your project,

and then this is only the start.

This is only the start of the nightmare

because the project is still to go, right?

You'll have to show up every month, every week,

depending of the frequency that you have defined

and show how it's going

because this is the most important part.

Get the approval is only theory.

In the first moment, you are in the theory.

You are showing a lot of Excels.

You are showing a lot of data,

a lot of PowerPoint, beautiful.

You do PowerPoint like art,

a lot of arts in the PowerPoint and to get approved,

but the project is not there.

The project, it's coming.

Make sure you keep the board update

about how the project is moving.

So the last slide, this is my 2 cents here,

what I think that we should care during the project.

First for me and the most important

or one of the most important,

make sure you understand what is expect from your project

'cause this is key.

If you do not understand what is expect,

you'll not deliver the right products.

So if it's not 100% clear, ask, ask, ask, and ask again,

because you need to understand very well

what means your product, what means, again, this strategy,

if your approach is aligned with this strategy.

Sometimes we'll talk about the board,

but sometimes of course,

that there are many other many different layers

in the organization.

So your manager ask you a project,

you have to develop something like that.

Ask question.

Ask if it is aligned with the strategy

because you are wasting our time,

you are risking money of the company

and you have to avoid that.

The second one that I wanna say,

you have to make sure you have the data to show

and you have to show that on top of your guess,

you know as well the information, you have the information.

So bring data, create scenarios,

show your commitment on the board.

The board likes to see that you are engaged

with your energy in the product.

Again, remember garbage in, garbage out, right?

Make sure that you have the right resources,

tools, and people in this project.

Do not overestimate capabilities.

You need to have some time,

a lot of people's work in the same sense

to make sure that you achieve the result that you expect.

And, again, do not underestimate the risks.

Omens happens,

I can assure you that Omens happens, risks happens.

So have your data, make your scenarios,

make sure that you have mitigation plan

because this is really, really, really important for you

during the project.

So to make a summary here.

I hope that I have covered all the points.

I know that probably you have few questions for

and debate a bit more about any topic.

And when I talk, just the last word about that

is when we talk about project,

does not matter if you were to talk

about supply chain project or any other type of project.

At the end, it's the same, right?

Project is one objective that you have,

one objective that you have to deliver such results.

And we have all the path to go there.

Make sure you are really well organized

to deliver what is asked, okay?

- Awesome.

Well, thank you, Denis.

I appreciate your presentation for sure.

One of the things that really resonates with me

is the idea of keeping the board

or your stakeholders kind of up to date,

and sometimes that involves sharing bad news.

And I think for many of us at least, you know,

where you have maybe a natural hesitation

to wanna share bad news,

but sometimes it's better to share bad news than to avoid it

and then to have that bad news come out later

when things are probably worse.

So it's definitely resonates with me for sure.

- No one's like to share bad news, right?

Manage you are the leader of the project

and for some reason you forgot

to consider some variable or something happens

and you try to avoid to go to the board and say that, right,

this is a big mistake.

It's a big mistake.

Don't do that.

Don't do that.

Few of the time you can solve the problem by yourself

and do not have to report.

Great.

But you are assuming a risk, big risk.

Because when you go to the board,

most of the time you'll not have any reaction.

- Yeah. Yeah.

Well that's a good tip for sure.

Awesome.

And I also wanted to maybe give a reminder to our audience

and we'll have time for Q&A at the end.

And so definitely start thinking of those questions

if you have any for Denis.

And please put those in that &AQ feature

and we'll take a look at that

as well here in just a few minutes.

Before we get to that, maybe wanna kind of jump in

or kind of dive into one of the topics

or one of the concepts you mentioned

in your presentation there on timelines.

I think that also kind of resonate with me as well.

So you mentioned project timelines

and I know there's also, you know, operational timelines.

There's new different perspectives on timelines really.

You know, sometimes, especially with public companies,

we often hear about the financial quarterly, you know,

timeline or quarterly report or quarterly performance,

you know, definitely with public companies.

There seems to be a cadence

with finance to a certain degree.

And then in supply chain, we might have different cadences,

you know, so it might be day-to-day, you know,

trying to get customer shipments out the door before cutoff

or maybe it's the project timeline where we're, you know,

thinking from a network perspective

of we need to add a warehouse

or remove a warehouse from our network.

I'm wondering if maybe you could just expand on this idea

of like the different perspectives on timeline

from the board's perspective, from finance perspective,

and from the supply chain kind of operator,

you know, on the ground perspective

and how maybe those different perspectives

can gain a little bit better alignment.

Or maybe, you know, ways to, you know,

approach that conversation around timelines,

project timelines and operational timelines.

- Yeah, sure, sure.

Yeah.

Of course that I said that the risk

is one of the most important part in the project,

but of course that the timelines,

the timeframe that you define in your projects

also very important.

You'll have to look for any project like a chain, right?

There are many other decisions

that will be or is being taken based on your project, right?

Let's talk about supply chain.

Let's take up biscuits you like.

You are developing a new chain of how material

or where we are exploring new opportunities

and then we are saying to the board or to anyone

that you'll bring some savings

or you'll reduce the inventory cycle or you do whatever.

It's important to the company.

You have to understand that based on your project,

there are many other decisions

that is about to be taking, right?

The production, of course, will change their schedule

based what you are saying that you deliver.

The prices will be revised based what you said.

Okay, if you reduce the cost,

the price probably will be revised.

The market sometimes is so (indistinct),

you'll need prices really important.

And there are many decisions

that has been planned based on your timeline.

So just manage so that everyone is expecting

to get their results based on your project

and then you'll not deliver the project

in the timeline expect, right?

And you have to tell them, okay,

you are planning to lower your price.

Okay, wait a bit.

Wait a bit because I'll not deliver what I promised to you

in the time that I said.

Or, if you cannot wait because the mark's so tight, okay,

you have to understand that you make some losses

during a period until I deliver the project.

Do you see why it's important that you'll make sure

that you deliver what you promise during the expect?

Sometime I trend.

I know that may be fine as it's more or less like that.

I try to not be, but sometimes I am as well.

I try to have some umbrellas in my timelines.

I prefer to deliver everything that I promised

in the time that I said then to have a lot of slippage

in the project say, oh, I cannot deliver anymore.

I have one month more.

Because I know that there are many other decisions

that's been taken based what I promised.

This is what I believe from the timeline.

This for me is one thing that you cannot move timelines.

You cannot move.

In any way you cannot move

'cause there are many other decisions

following what you promised.

- Thank you, Denis.

And before jumping on another question I had in my mind,

I wanted to connect timeline with also,

we talked a lot about the value of time

when we are talking about money,

so a difference in timelines.

What kind of impacts can that bring to our project,

not only in terms of deliverables or in the commitment

or in the conversation, but in global supply chains,

could be an impact on a currency, exchange fluctuation,

or it could be an inflation rate

at some point in some places in the world

could be about an extra cost of holding inventory.

So, do you have any other thoughts

on the impact of time from that perspective?

- Yeah, yeah.

Well, when we are doing business now globally,

you have to understand the many factors that can happen.

You have to try to mitigate.

You have to try to work again to mitigate risks, right,

to mitigate any problem.

We know that there are many differences.

When you go, for example, if we talk about want to buy

some material from a different country,

that's not only matter of price.

You have to understand how the country,

how works the politics in the country,

the currency, as you said.

Currency, you can try to make some fines,

arrangements, do some hedging, do some kind of operation

that can try to offset the risks.

But at the end, it's not only a matter of finance.

Finance's one part of the problem

that most of the time you can understand,

you can try to make your (indistinct),

but there are politics as well.

There are some port conditions sometime.

If you are talking overseas, material overseas,

you will have some these times in the ports,

you have to expect some delays,

and sometimes you'll need that material in the plant.

So you have to balance.

You are proposing that you can bring a lot of savings

to the company,

but in the same time you have to understand

that sometimes this is like the investments, right?

If you want to get more money,

you have as well to understand

that you have more risk, right?

In the business, it's the same.

If you want to bring some savings,

be careful about the risks

that you are bringing together, right?

This is really important

for any business that you do with other countries,

you have to understand very well the how it works,

the politics, the finance, the economics,

and try to mitigate risks again.

- Right.

So in terms of, I love the fact

that you brought risk mitigation a lot of times,

so I bet there's a lot to talk about that,

and hopefully there are a lot of questions

from the audience on that too,

because there's a lot to cover there.

And thanks for bringing all the layers of complexity

as we go on.

This is not, as you said,

just about one goal or one decision,

but the impact that can have in all the stakeholders,

the impact that all external stakeholders will have on us,

including, as you say, regulation.

So thank you for bringing that piece to the conversation.

I would like to go back to the presentation again

in terms of KPIs, because you said something that is real,

that is first, not all projects go as expected

or most won't go as expected at the first time.

And then you also said this doesn't end when it's delivered

or when you think you have your first outcomes.

So I think there's also some conversation on the audience

going on the KPIs.

How do we understand which are our relevant KPIs

for a project or for any piece of work we're doing?

How to understand when a metric is relevant enough

just to allocate resources, collect the data,

monitor outcomes, take actions?

And when is it that we need to say,

okay, I'm not measuring the right thing.

I should move on to something else.

If you wanna share, based on your experience,

about any of those KPIs where supply chain

has a little bit more interaction, that would be great.

- Okay. Okay.

Well, for me, the KPIs of course that can guide you

to the heaven or to the hell, right?

You have to make sure

that you really define the right KPIs, right?

Sometimes, one thing that I always do,

I don't believe in just one KPIs,

I just try to do cross reference.

I can try to make one simple example.

Let's talk about DPO, right?

These payment's outstanding, right?

You have the goal to increase your DPO, right?

And you say to the organization,

okay, we had 100 days of DPO and now we are at 110.

And we start to monitor that and you'll see

that you are moving 101, 102, 105, 110,

and then we are moving, we are keeping 110.

And then you show with that we deliver what we promise.

Good.

That's good.

You really deliver.

But, and then I look for the cost

of how material for per ton produce,

and I see that the cost of how much a per ton produce

is double.

That's easy.

To increase the DPO saying that you pay more,

that's really easy.

Really easy to do that, right?

You can say, okay, I will pay you 5% more,

but you give me 30 days more to pay.

What are you?

The value that you are adding to the company.

There's nothing.

This is just one example.

You need to cross-reference KPIs.

One KPI does not work alone.

Never, never.

A few cases that you can look at KPI and say,

okay, we are doing good, or oh, we are doing bad.

You have to do cross-reference.

This is what I mean, right?

One example for you guys.

I know that sometimes in the company

there are a lot of conflict between cash and cost

and most of the time they not move in the same direction.

They move in a different direction.

If you want to improve your cost or to make lower your cost,

sometime you have to give some benefit to the supplier,

pay you in advance.

If I pay you tomorrow, how much of discount you can give me?

Okay, you have better cost, but you have worse cash.

And sometimes you can say, I want to improve my cash.

Okay, I want (indistinct) later, 30 days later.

Ah, okay, but I have (indistinct) for that.

I cannot make (indistinct).

This is a kind of balance.

You have to find what's really matters for you.

Again, come back to the beginning of our discussion,

understand the strategy of the company,

these changes, this change.

This is not one question that you ask today

and then now I know the strategy.

Tomorrow maybe is different.

The marks move.

Do not believe in just one KPI.

Try to make cross-reference.

You need to have your critical evaluation

about the KPIs that you're used, if this makes sense or not,

if you need to have a different one

to help you to understand the contents.

Try to do that.

Do not say just, I'm doing good or bad because of one KPI.

Make cross-reference.

- Awesome. Well, thank you.

I appreciate your insights on the balance, if you will,

of the KPIs, make sure they're cross-referenced and aligned.

I think really a take home message

is just aligning with that company strategy

and knowing your company's strategy

and your company value proposition,

and aligning all the way down to the detailed KPIs

that you're using to manage performance.

So that's awesome.

Well, maybe just one last question

before we get to the key audience Q&A.

I know we have, you know, many of our audiences here,

you know, MicroMasters Program.

Maybe they're kind of, you know, in a career transition

or, you know, perhaps just starting their career

in supply chain

that's why maybe they're taking these courses.

This probably is, you know, a daunting step.

I know for many, you know,

when you're in a transition like that

or when you're starting out a new venture like that.

So I wonder if you could just share

just any general advice from your experience, Denis,

in your career and kind of where they should start,

where they can kind of build on their experiences

in these courses and, you know, push their career forward

or push this transition forward.

- This is, for me, the third thing that for me

for this is not only for project, right?

This is for everything.

You have to have passion.

What you have to have, passion.

Passion is the base, the start point, right?

There is no right and wrong in project.

You have to understand that if exist one book

that show you how to guide the project,

please tell me what this book is,

because I buy one because I need more than 30 years

in the market of experience.

So that show you everything

that you need to learn for a project.

And you have to understand, for me,

it's a matter of critical thinking.

You have to understand the product.

Again, we are back.

You have to have sense of origins.

You need to understand that there are a lot of people

waiting for the results of your projects.

And enjoy, enjoy what you are doing

because it's really important.

If you are doing something that you don't like,

it's a big mistake.

It's a big mistake.

Enjoy.

This is really what matters in the project.

You have to enjoy everything that you do

because doing things that you do not like,

the result is wasting time again.

- Yes, thank you, Denis.

And of course being passionate about what we're doing

is a great resource to be fully committed to it

and get more and more resources to work with it.

So I wanna bring one question from Thomas Gibson.

They are interested in learning about

how is your experience with ERP projects,

ERP integration, data management.

How do you see communication and data playing a role

in between supply chain decisions on finance results.

- Right, so I had opportunity to join few integrations

and few implementation of ERP.

And for me, the matter, for me, if you look at the SAP,

we can talk about SAP or can talk about Oracle,

any other ERP.

For me at the end, it's the same, right?

Of course that there are different functionalities.

You can work better in one or another.

Few of them is better for production,

few of them is better for finance.

But at the end, it's ERP,

they will deliver what you want

or what you expect they deliver.

But in the implementation, is really important you make sure

that you define what you (indistinct) from the data, right?

Because again, garbage in, garbage out.

If you do not spend time defining

what's really important for you,

you will not have the right results.

You'll take wrong decisions.

For me, the ideal word that I never saw as well

is the word where you take 20% of your time

extracting data, getting that,

and 80% analyzing and taking decisions.

I almost see the other way around, right?

80% of your time, you are extracting data,

you are checking data,

you are making sure that the data is (indistinct),

and 20% you are analyzing the data.

That's wrong, but most of the company works like that.

So when we are doing any kind of implementation,

make sure what type of company you are

and what really matters for you.

For example, I can tell you the example of mining company

that I worked.

Usually the mining, it's not in the big cities.

It's far away, right?

And the cost of the product is so low.

What matters for you is logistic, right?

Logistics is really important for you

because the cost of the product is low,

but logistic is a big cost.

Sometimes it's two, three times

more than cost of the product.

So if you are doing some implementation,

you have to take this in consideration,

what's the most important for you?

Logistics is important.

So if it's important, how can I be strong

to evaluate logistic for this case, right?

You have to make sure that you are implementing

what you use in the future.

- Awesome. Thank you, Denis.

Just like the general concept of garbage in, garbage out

definitely resonates with me and my experience

and also your balance of the 80/20 balance.

I definitely have that experience

of spending 80% of my time cleaning data

and trying to find the data in the first place.

And then-

- You are not the only one.

Everybody does that.

- Yeah, definitely.

Maybe 5% of the time I actually can start analyzing it.

So that definitely resonates with me for sure. Awesome.

I know we have a few minutes left here,

so I wanna pull me one more question from our audience.

I mean, we have time for one or two more questions,

and one of our question here from Arvid

is a question about a kinda a process

you spoke earlier about this idea of balance

and then also aligning your project strategy, if you will,

your project, you know, goals and timelines

with company strategy and company value proposition.

I know one of the processes

in many supply chain professionals might be engaged in,

that's kind of approaches this idea of this, you know,

kind of synergy or this way of alignment

is sales and operations planning.

I'm wondering if you maybe could share

any experience you have with sales and operations planning

in the way that, you know,

this is a little bit different from finance.

You know, the balance of finance and supply chain

is more of a balance from like the revenue generating side

or the sales side and the operations side

and delivering on that.

But I'm wondering if you have any experience

in how maybe supply chain and finance

plugs into this process of sales and operations planning?

- Yeah, yeah.

This is, again, I can try to mention

a fresh example in my career

where were trying to reduce our stocks, right,

and we define a minimum stocks.

And then this is really,

I can tell you that it was really important

to the company to generate cash,

to make sure that we are delivering the cash

that was expected in the company.

But, again, there are some risks behind, right?

There are some risks behind

because we are defined minimum stocks.

You have to understand that you have stocks

for two, three days of production

depend on the items that we are producing.

And you have to be really aligned

with the sales department, sales owners.

For example, what we face in the company

is that we discovered that the planning

was not aligned with the supply chain, right?

It means that the demand

that was being showed to the supply chain

was not exactly what we were saying to the market.

What happens, we had big issues like that

'cause sometime all will not have enough stocks

to attend the market or vice versa.

We had a lot of stocks.

We were saying we have minimum stocks for three days,

but infected to us four or three months

or something like that.

This for me is really crucial that you align

exactly what is (indistinct) in the (indistinct) commercial

versus what you are saying to supply chain fines,

because sometime the problem will be to the company.

The company will face the problem

because order not deliver or you have excess of stocks.

And most of the time they look at the supply chain,

the supply chain team, right?

Oh, what did you do?

Why did you put a lot of material in the plant?

We not need that.

Or vice versa, we are missing material.

What we can do?

And then we'll pay air freight

or you pay double the cost of the freight.

So you need to align all the products.

You need to sit together and understand

that you have, again, the right data,

you have the right system,

and you deliver exactly what it's need by the plan, right?

I'll not talk about pandemic

because it was crazy what happened, right?

Minimal stock in pandemic, it was totally different than

or totally impossible to manage.

But in the normal course of business,

you need to make sure that you have the right data.

Again, if you look where, talk about (indistinct)

that we discuss during the present data timeline,

the right people, because there are some times

there's some information that you look in the screen,

ah, okay.

Are you say X thousand of units in the month?

But if you look the past data,

you say that quantity takes four months.

And then you have to ask why you are saying

that you say that in just one month

if I took four months in the past to do that.

Maybe the answer is there, okay, we are growing,

we have more lines.

But you have to ask that that is there,

but is it correct or not?

Okay.

So I hope that everyone tries to do that

because this will make the life much easier

and avoid some noise.

No one wants to have noise in the line, right?

- Thank you, Denis, for that.

And in the interest of time,

probably this is the last question

from the audience I wanna take.

But this is more from a managerial perspective

and asking you as a CFO.

So we have a very diverse audience here today

from different backgrounds

and different levels of their career path.

Probably some of them have never had a chance

to sit in front of a CFO and have that conversation

or present anything to them.

So we have a couple of questions from Feris and Chase

asking when I sit on the table as a supply chain

or could be in any of the positions

that get to sit on the table with you.

Is it really important to understand a return of investment

and cash flow to come with this days

of outstanding inventory, as you said?

How does it make a difference to know the language,

to use the same terms?

Because usually for us it's mostly about cost

when we work on supply chain

and we analyze different trade offs in cost,

level of service, but that's where we stay.

But when we get to sit with you in that conversation,

how can we impress you?

That's pretty much the question

we're getting here in the audience.

- Yeah.

First of all, don't be shy, right?

We are just a different person.

We are just had a different opportunity, more experience,

more times, and this is the only difference.

And I'm sure that when I look for young guys

doing any course, supply chain or finance,

the first thing that I think is this guy with my experience,

you'll be better than me.

Yes, he'll be.

Okay, that's good.

This is the guy that I like to talk to

because I know that this is only matter of time, right?

I have most years more of experience normal

that I face situations that maybe this guy

is facing right now.

This is the first thing, don't be shy.

Don't don't be afraid to share your concerns.

And of course if you know return of investment,

if you know cash flow management,

if you know any other finance information

to help in the discussion, but that's not necessary.

What you'll need to show is energy.

You need to show that you are really on top

what you are talking to.

This is really important to you

to Transmit this kind of commitment, engagement.

And try to make simple.

Try to make thing simple.

This is really important to not try to complicate so much.

Do not try to deliver what, it's very difficult

that that times that someone says to you,

ah, I want to go to the moon.

Okay, I want to go as well, but what's the tool that I have?

Ah, you have a bike, one bike to go there.

You've never been there, right?

Bite to the moon.

But, and you have to realize that you need to be simple.

Don't promise what you cannot deliver.

Sometime you'll not deliver what you promise,

but never promise one thing

that you are unsure that you'll not deliver.

Try to be simple.

Try to be transparent and do not be shy.

Just ask.

Just ask.

- Awesome. Thank you, Denis.

I know going to the moon on a bicycle might be challenging,

but the idea of, you know, making things simple

and maybe also kind of resonates

with the idea you shared earlier about quick wins,

you know, kinda start incrementally.

And be reasonable about your goals and what you can deliver.

That's a great message. Awesome.

Well, I know we're kind of reaching the end

of our discussion here today.

I definitely appreciate the opportunity

to speak with you, Denis.

I wanna thank you for your time and sharing your insights

and your experience with us today.

It's been a pleasure to have this discussion.

- Thank you very much.

It was really a big pleasure for me to join the team.

I hope that I had some insights to the team.

I hope to help everyone

to take better decision in the future.

And, Laura, you can share my LinkedIn ID, my email.

I will be more than happy to answer additional questions.

Feel free to reach me out, whatever you want.

Okay?

- Thank you. Thank you, Dennis, for that.

And just sharing here the poll result

so that everyone can see it.

These are the takeaways,

what they found more interesting of today's event.

So understanding how to better communicate.

I think that was the key of the event

and everyone also received that,

but it's also pretty close

to expanding the knowledge in supply chain, finance

and understanding about specific applications

in the projects.

So hopefully we fulfill everyone expectation here

and we hope to see everyone joining us

in our upcoming webinar the last of the season.

Just stay tuned.

And feel free to connect with us, Kellen, me, or Denis,

anytime if you have any further questions in this topic.

Thank you everyone.

- Thank you. Bye.

- Thank you everyone. - Thank you everyone.

- Bye-bye.

(bright music)