Increasing recognition of the supply chain

Working in the supply chain is hard work, and you need to make sure it is something you really want to do. It enables you to get an end to end perspective of the business, develop a global career, but doesn’t pay as well as financial services!

Nick Wilkins was an early graduate from an Executive Masters Programme in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from WMG. He was sponsored by Lucas where he was employed as Manufacturing Systems Engineer having left University with a degree in Physics.

As Nick explains in the interview above his route into supply chain was through manufacturing as he saw factories in the UK being replaced by retail parks. He developed a global career with roles across key aspects of the supply chain (planning, manufacturing and logistics).

As Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO) at Premier Farnell he is one of a handful of CSCO around the globe as this role is a relatively new addition to the Executive suite. In 2000 when I joined academia, there were only around 6% of management boards that had a supply chain presence. By 2015 this had increased to around 50%, but still many of these roles are re-branded procurement or logistics directors, lacking the full breadth of SC activities. The Manufacturing Director is often a totally separate role.

The emergence of the CSCO is a positive step forward for getting the recognition for the supply chain that it deserves. Given the end-to-end and strategic nature of the supply chain to business, this is absolutely necessary to build strong and sustainable businesses.