Supply Chain Productivity: Moving from Theory to Practice

10:00 – 11:00 Thursday 16^th December 2021

The supply chain (SC) has its roots in manufacturing, and is the glue that links all firms in the business to deliver value to end customers through operational synergy. Industry has long recognised that today ‘it’s SCs that compete not individual firms’. This is especially true when it comes to solving the productivity puzzle in the UK, an issue that is caused by the ever-widening gap between firms/regions. If firms can collaborate and cooperate towards the improvement of SC productivity (the aggregated productivity of all entities across the end-to-end SC), then the overall productivity and sustainability can be improved and sustained in the long term.

This webinar will showcase the latest research insights of three projects jointly conducted by WMG, University of Warwick and Loughborough University to look at how firms could improve end-to-end SC productivity through the adoption of integrated planning practices.

Agenda

10:00-10:05	Welcome	Jan Godsell, Loughborough University
10:05-10:50	‘Supply Chain Productivity: Moving from Theory to Practice’ • What is supply chain productivity (SCP)? • How can firms compete through SCP? • What are lessons learnt from the case study?	Frances Zhang, WMG Zakiah Suhaimi, WMG Rodrigo Carrasco Monge, Loughborough University
10:50-11:00	Panel Q&A	Chaired by Jan Godsell
11:00	Close

Registration

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Biographies:

Prof. Jan Godsell (Dean, School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University) Jan Godsell is Dean of the School of Business and Economics and Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Strategy at Loughborough University. Her work focuses on the pursuit of more responsible consumption and production through the alignment of product, marketing and supply chain strategy with consumer needs. In particular Jan’s work focuses on the design of end-to-end supply chains to enable, responsibility, sustainability, resilience and productivity.

As a chartered engineer, Jan has more than three decades of combined industry experience in product development, innovation, supply chain strategy, and process improvement working for ICI, Astra Zeneca and Dyson. She has advised government and industry on supply chain strategy and its relationship to industrial and business strategy. Jan is currently a member of the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) supply chain resilience advisory group. Jan is also a member of the advisory group for the Made Smarter challenge.

Dr Frances Zhang (Research Fellow, WMG, University of Warwick) joined WMG in 2019 and is responsible for the delivery of multiple UKRI funded projects for the Supply Chain Research Group. Her research mainly focuses on improving supply chain productivity, sustainability and resilience in the manufacturing industry. During the projects, she has engaged with key stakeholders including industrialists, policymakers and academics to gather a rounded view on the subjects and achieve high research impacts.

Dr Zakiah Suhaimi (Research Fellow, WMG, University of Warwick) is a PhD graduate in Engineering from the University of Warwick. Her research focused on buyer-supplier relationships, in particular, she explored types of capabilities required by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to better manage their relationships with large enterprises. Having obtained her PhD, she was offered a position as a PDRF for the SUSTAIN project Warwick University. She is responsible for Task 4 – UK Digital Steel Innovation Hub. Specifically, she explores the role of planning practices and technologies adoption in improving end to end steel supply chains. Prior to her PhD, she worked for 6 years within the manufacturing industry as a planner.

Rodrigo Carrasco Monge (Project Engineer, Loughborough University) is a supply chain professional with 5 years of experience within the industrial sector. Rodrigo holds a MSc in supply chain and logistics management and a BSc in industrial engineering, apart from a specialization in production and operations. His experience covers mainly supply and demand planning processes, evaluating the current state and seeking opportunities for end-to-end supply chain improvements. His research interests are in supply chain segmentation, sustainability and productivity.

Webinar Recording

Overview of Research Projects

‘From productivity to prosperity: Inclusive growth for the West Midlands’ (ESRC funded: ES/S002278/1)

The project brings together academics working across disciplines to focus on the cross-cutting themes of skills, management, investment, regional supply chains, innovation and enterprise, to address the main issues around productivity and the productivity gap. The key research collaborators include City-REDI (University of Birmingham), Warwick Business School and WMG (University of Warwick).

The SUSTAIN Future Manufacturing Research Hub (EPSRC funded: EP/S018107/1)

SUSTAIN is a £35M project funded by £10M of EPSRC funds as well as by Universities (University of Swansea, University of Sheffield and University of Warwick), Trade Bodies, RTOs and Businesses over 7 years and aims to support the steel industry as we develop new, more environmentally friendly options to ensure the future of manufacturing in the UK.

CarbonVue (Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) Manufacturing Made Smarter Challenge)

The project is funded on behalf of the the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) Manufacturing Made Smarter Challenge, this project is led by SupplyVue, with the support of CarbonChain and Loughborough University to develop a new digital platform, CarbonVue, for adoption by UK manufacturers. It will provide visibility of carbon in the end to end supply chain, enable integrated real time carbon and productivity management, and provide a framework to foster greater collaboration, in order to reduce carbon emissions.