From SCDigest's On-Target e-Magazine
Aug. 24 , 2011
Supply Chain News: ISM's 2011 J. Shipman Award Winner Shelley Stewart on Procurement Careers, Lean and Supply Management, and More
Chief Procurement Officer at Tyco International Says Better Managing Risk will be Key Skill Area in Next Few Years
SDigest Editorial Staff
In May, SCDigest editor Dan Gilmore spoke with Shelley Stewart, SVP Operations Excellence/Chief Procurement Officer at Tyco International and winner of the prestigious J. Shipman award from the Institute for Supply Management, its highest honor, which was presented to Stewart at ISM's annual conference in Orlando.
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You can't just keeping taking costs out of the suppliers, you have to start driving efficiency into the supply base
Shelley Stewart . |
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That interview was included as part of our overall video coverage of the conference (see ISM 2011 Video Review and Comment), but below we provide an abridge text version of that conversation, where Stewart talks about how he got in to a supply management career, the importance of Lean thinking in procurement, risk management, managing up, down and sideways, and more.
Gilmore: Shelley, how did you get into this profession, and what was the path in your career?
Stewart: It was a circuitous route for me. I had an undergraduate and master's degree in criminal justice, and I came home to New York and my father helped me get a job in aerospace. They were putting people like me [without much experience] in the purchasing organization. I started working in sub-contractor management.
That's kind of how it was back then. You didn't plan to get into procurement, unlike now, it just happened. That's how it started for me.
Gilmore: You wound up going to United Technologies, and of course United Technologies has been one of the leaders in Lean. Did you get steeped in Lean thinking and practice?
Stewart: Yes, I learned from Yuzuru Ito [a famous Lean expert] who was a special advisor to the chairman of the company, on the quality requirements, and attended Ito University [established within United Technologies]. Ultimately, I was responsible for rolling out Lean to the supply chain there.
Gilmore: Do you think the supply management profession as a whole needs to get more involved with Lean and better understand Lean principles?
Stewart: No question - At Tyco, ours is called "operational excellence," and we're working the Lean concepts and trying to push them out to our suppliers. We don't have it totally rolled out yet, but we're doing it in pockets.
So the answer is Yes. You can't just keeping taking costs out of the suppliers, you have to start driving efficiency into the supply base.
Gilmore: What advice do you have for younger people still early in their supply management careers to have the kind of success that you have had?
Stewart: One, have good communication skills. Two, good skills in dealing with people. Three, really understand your profession, and what it takes to get the job done. And understand that you are not on an island alone in a company, you have a real constituency there, and customers internal to the organization, and you have to understand what they need done.
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Gilmore: There have been so many changes both in the practice of supply management and in the overall environment we operate in today, what do you see as some of the key challenges that the supply management discipline is going to have to get even better at in the next 3-5 years?
