Turning Risk into Opportunity: How to Secure a Sustainable and Efficient Supply Chain?

An interview with one of our speakers at the 7th Annual Supply Chain & Logistics Summit, 27 - 28 November 2024, Amsterdam.

What are the key elements of building a supply chain that can withstand disruptions while staying cost-efficient?

1. What training or awareness programmes do you have in place for employees regarding supply chain risks?

There are several programmes in place that contribute to embedding risk management activities on a daily basis. They include activities at the site level, like the Emergency Plans drills and trainings, or wider contents included in our internal Business Units Academy. As an example, we have Risk Management and Responsible Sourcing Training and Awareness sessions. On the other hand, we train our supply chain teams to use a Supply Chain Risk Management Live Alerting system tool to manage the reported events and incidents within the whole organisation.

2. How do you collaborate with suppliers to ensure they adhere to your risk management protocols?

Our Responsible Sourcing event, “Join Forces for Responsible Sourcing”, brought together over 700 suppliers, partners, and colleagues from around the world, representing approximately 30% of our spending and spanning 40 different countries. We shared our Supplier Code and 

Responsible Sourcing Policy with them, which explains how we monitor and manage all Supply Chain ESG risks. On the other hand, during our Supplier Qualification and onboarding process we also share the Supplier Manual which describes, among others, what we expect on quality and business continuity from our partners. All of this requirements are later assessed and audited following our internal procedures.

3. How do you balance cost-efficiency with effective risk mitigation in your supply chain?

We are performing Risk Assessments and Business Impact Analyses (BIA) at critical sites, service functions, and key Third Parties, which allow us to optimise inventory levels, suppliers’ portfolios, manufacturing backup sites, asset management, and logistics network strategies, among other things.

Short speaker BIO:

Gemma Giró has wide experience in sustainability, risk management, and compliance programmes. She also has deep knowledge of Operations, Supply Chain and R&D processes within the F&F industry.  She has a background in chemical engineering and information sciences. She also got the Business Continuity CBCI Certification in May 2023.

After spending 17 years in Puig, having different roles and responsibilities within R&D, Regulatory Affairs, Corporate Quality and Operations, she joined Firmenich in 2017 to build and lead the Sourcing Risk Management Programme. In 2021, she expanded her responsibilities to lead the Supply Chain Business Continuity Programme.

She is leading the dsm-firmenich Risk Centre of Expertise Team, building the new Group Policies, Risk and Business Continuity Management Framework. While connecting the dots between ERM and Business Continuity at the group level, she is seeking a better holistic view of organisational risk and resilience, which will benefit the entire organisation.