Inventory is always the result of the performance of your supply chain. It reflects not only planned or unplanned interruptions, but often also the quality of forecasting and — inherently linked to that forecast — the quality of short-term decision-making across planning, procurement, sales and supply.
I have managed inventory at both strategic and operational levels, down to item and attribute level.
Examples:
In the programme I led, I worked with my team to identify the root causes behind fulfilment delays and order book peaks — such as sales prices becoming available too late, customer order consolidation requirements, and poor visibility in available-to-promise. These were often linked to last-minute commercial changes, unplanned production shifts, or rigid logistics rules. Under my direction, we brought these issues to leadership level, as resolving the performance gaps required fundamental changes in marketing and sales, logistics, and replenishment planning.
The goal: confirm a customer order within 24 hours and stick to the promise.
Examples
Led Customer Service & Replenishment for 2.5 years, overseeing ~30,000 orders and ~10,000 invoices per year, supporting 54 affiliates and over 100 distributors.
Directed the integration of order fulfilment processes and product catalogues of two merging legal entities in the highly regulated medical health sector.
Initiated and steered a cross-functional programme to address negative service impacts from fragmented processes across business units and regions, tackling root causes of fulfilment disruption and reducing stop–start dynamics in the order process.
Shifted Customer Service teams from reactive execution to proactive ownership and customer insight through process redesign and capability building.
Forecasting — and the accuracy of those forecasts — is often a point of tension, because the forecasting process exposes structural misalignments between sales ambitions, supply capability, and market reality. It also forces organisations to confront the often uncomfortable balance between workload and value: how much effort goes into forecasting, and where it truly makes a difference.
In the regional and global S&OP and IBP meetings I led, forecasting was frequently cited as the root cause of missed sales, inventory disruptions, or excess stock. Funny enough, supply chain often got the blame. My role was to interpret the data, challenge assumptions, align stakeholders, establish accountability, and improve forecast accuracy — in some organisations starting from building the forecasting and demand review processes from scratch — ensuring that discussions moved beyond blame to concrete, cross-functional action.
I have driven forecasting improvements across a wide range of areas:
Education & behaviours in marketing and sales – building understanding of why forecasting matters, how to contribute effectively, and how roles interact across the planning horizon.
Product segmentation – determining which products require forecasting, and at what level and over what time period, based on value, sales patterns, production attributes, or supply constraints.
Forecast types – differentiating between financial budgets, statistical forecasts, confirmed sales forecasts, and the role of opportunity-based versus baseline/default forecasting, ensuring each is applied to the right planning horizon.
Horizon & aggregation – setting the right level of detail and aggregation for each time bucket, balancing accuracy, usability, and decision-making needs.
Performance tracking – designing dashboards to measure forecast accuracy over relevant timeframes, analyse root causes, and create a continuous learning loop.
Forecast accountability – defining ownership, escalation paths, and performance evaluation criteria within an IBP environment.
Lifecycle management – managing forecasts during product launches, maturity, and phase-outs, adjusting methods as market and supply conditions evolve.
Tool implementation – ensuring systems and functionality reflect the organisation’s forecasting logic, decision-making cadence, and behavioural drivers.
Demand execution — or sales execution — is not just about taking orders; it is about delivering on the commitments made in your demand plan (forecast, taking into account supply constraints) or, if existing, the S&OP or IBP plan. This includes the commercial promise to sell, the operational promise to produce (with materials available), and the logistical ability to deliver.
In reality, the plan is rarely followed to the letter. Deviations lead to shortages, excess product, or temporary capacity issues in logistics. Demand execution is about how we deal with those gaps. In my role, I led a cross-functional Integrated Tactical Planning (ITP) programme in which this process was fully defined — with complete governance, clear roles on who may or must decide, decision rights, and agreed rules of engagement.
Examples
As programme lead, steered subteams in designing and implementing process standards, decision-making rules, governance, and communication standards for order-to-promise, demand/supply constraints and, conversely, the anticipation of demand shortfalls with proactive adjustments to the demand and supply plan.
Integrated all processes, rules, communication standards, and performance indicators into the S&OE/ITP layer to align execution with the demand plan and the S&OP/IBP cycle.
Planning
A plan is only as good as the inputs it’s based on. Forecasting is one part — but so are lead times, supply constraints, frozen horizons, substitution rules, safety stocks and master data. These define whether the plan will deliver the right quantity, in the right quality, at the right time.
Planning is mostly about communication, ownership and structured steering. Without that, no system or tool can deliver reliable outcomes.
My warehousing and logistics expertise covers operational execution, strategic design, and programme leadership. In my early career with third-party logistics providers, I worked as a planner, customer service lead, account manager, and project manager, where I co-designed and implemented a TMS capability and an invoice audit capability. Later, in consultancy roles, I assessed TMS and WMS capabilities for multinational clients. While the functionality of these systems has evolved since, the core principles I applied remain unchanged.
As project lead, I have managed complex, cross-border distribution flows and warehouse relocations involving tax, legal ownership, and customs implications — ensuring continuity, compliance, and controlled execution. I have also directed projects involving ambient and temperature-controlled goods, as well as dangerous goods requiring regulated handling and documentation. I was project lead for serialization process design and several smaller packaging compliance initiatives.
Examples
Leadership, to me, is not about control — it’s about creating the right context: a space where people feel safe to take ownership, strengthen one another, and work toward a shared direction.
I don’t coach teams from the outside — I work with them on identifying what really matters, and on how to address and progress these topics in the organisation.
I lead through trust, clarity and accountability — combining subject-matter depth with personal presence and a coaching approach.
I have led teams and organisations through complex, multi-year transformation programmes in global, multi-cultural contexts — often after mergers, restructurings or strategic shifts. My approach combines structural process improvements with the development of leadership capabilities at all levels, ensuring changes take root and performance is sustained.
IBP/S&OP only adds value when it is embraced by leadership — as a business-critical process, not a monthly supply chain routine. It’s the operating model that links ambition, feasibility and financial outcomes — and requires shared ownership, decision logic and follow-through across functions.
I’ve designed, led and implemented IBP/S&OP structures in complex organisations — from regional setups to global operating models. My role has ranged from program lead to facilitator, content expert and functional stakeholder. I know what works — and what gets in the way.
Examples:
Without a true supply chain strategy, your business strategy remains a slogan.
Without clear portfolio segmentation and elements like fulfilment service levels, lead times, expedited shipping, inventory investment or cost-to-serve logic, the business strategy remains an abstract ambition.
Also, the optimal distribution footprint is lost in translation — and tends to follow either commercial or logistics preferences.
Network decisions in manufacturing are often based on unit cost alone, without accounting for their impact on agility or inventory performance.
What follows is execution without direction.
Each department optimises its own function based on isolated targets.
Planners and customer service teams spend their time plugging gaps and resolving conflicts — without having the framework to make the right decisions structurally.
I’ve experienced this in every role I’ve held.
Decisions are often made in the heat of the moment, to please someone, or simply for lack of a better option, and without full impact visibility.
Without a shared reference point, the burden shifts to the operational level — where people are forced to make ad hoc decisions with long-term impact.
In several projects, I’ve worked on key elements of supply chain strategy and performance alignment, including:
Product portfolio segmentation based on value, volatility and supply characteristics
Value chain design in complex organisational environments
Inventory optimisation and governance
Distribution and storage footprint analysis
Order prioritisation and delivery logic
KPI design and governance aligned with end-to-end supply chain objectives
Supply chain strategy isn’t about optimisation — it’s about executing your business strategy, and measuring the outcomes.
Managing product lifecycles effectively requires more than just launch and phase-out routines — it demands full alignment between commercial expectations, planning rules, supply logic and system configuration. Especially in high-SKU or multi-variant environments, lifecycle decisions have structural impact on forecast logic, planning reliability and inventory performance.
I’ve worked across functions to embed lifecycle stages into planning behaviour and system setup — from the moment a product is planned to be introduced, through maturity, to discontinuation. That includes roles and rules for forecast ownership, planning inputs, segmentation logic and inventory handling.
In several transformations, I’ve addressed the system and process consequences of poor lifecycle control: uncontrolled master data growth, forecasting noise, inconsistent substitution rules and disconnected planning signals. By clarifying ownership, lifecycle triggers and governance, I’ve helped organisations improve service performance and reduce structural inefficiency.
Examples:
Embedded lifecycle stages (pre-launch, maturity, phase-out) into forecast and planning logic
Defined forecast ownership and performance tracking per lifecycle phase
Improved master data discipline and visibility of active vs inactive SKUs
Strengthened planning reliability by cleaning up obsolete data and clarifying substitution logic
Supported lifecycle governance through structured decision rules across supply, finance and commercial
Worked with IT and planning on aligned system setup (S/4HANA) — including forecast types and planning parameters — based on lifecycle status
Defined planning and inventory strategy per phase, including rules for end-of-life depletion