The Procurement Software Podcast

All-round Supply Chain optimisation – Tobias Larsson of Altana.ai

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Description

This week we're talking about supply chains. More specifically, where does the line lie between procurement and supply chain? Should we be concentrating on better understanding our multi-tiered complex chains, rather than just purchasing software to better track and trace shipments?

Understanding the value of pre-emptive end-to-end supply chain management


It's a bit of a loaded question, but I'm sure we're going to have a great debate today as we welcome an expert in the logistics and supply chain field, Tobias Larsson from Altana.ai.

I welcome Tobias to the podcast, and ask him for a little bit of background before we dive into the bulk of this week's show.

Tobias explains how he began his career in supply chain logistics with DHL. Starting as a management trainee, he'd take calls in customer service. This let him learn the nuts and bolts of the business before moving into working in freight, then in innovation at DHL.

In 2011, just after the earthquake in Japan, he helped DHL develop a supply chain risk solution called Resilience 360. Eventually, this was spun out of DHL into its own business. Then, about a year ago, he left that organisation to join Altana.ai.

He goes on to explain how Altana's mission is to create a living map of global supply chains. He sees it like the Google Maps of b2b commerce, giving customers multi-tiered visibility of supply chain networks by using a broad pool of datasets, all stitched together with AI. Of course, this kind of risk awareness is only becoming more valuable in our current geopolitical situation, be it due to COVID, or other disruptions to global supply chains.

The future of supply chains – Just-in-time vs. Just-in-case


I say that, in future, it's clear we'll need greater communication between corporate procurement at a strategic level, and local procurement at a more operational level. I ask Tobias, if he's starting to see a move away from procurement reporting into the CFO or a business unit, and instead reporting into supply chain, or the COO?

He says yes, definitely. And goes on to describe how procurement has been a very strict process in companies, historically, acting almost as a policing faction. But now, looking at trends in the “new supply chain normal”, we've got bottlenecks, capacity shortages, transport issues, and a war in Ukraine.

It's going to take time to get back to where we were before, with just-in-time supply chains, So now, pushing reliability upstream and expecting suppliers to deliver doesn't really work any more. Pointing your finger at suppliers is meaningless if they can't get access to the materials they need. It doesn't work to expect them to deliver on short deadlines.

Collaboration and sharing responsibility


Tobias says things are changing into a more collaborative environment where you need to work together with suppliers to manage risk. Procurement isn't a policing faction any more. Today's challenges call for a trusted, responsive network, so that we can all be more strategic and nimble.

I ask Tobias to expand on the notion of near-shoring. Does he think that software like Altana.ai can offer the same kind of benefits? Could you keep a complex global supply chain in place while using that kind of software to mitigate risk? Or does he think a mix of both approaches is best?

He says that balance is the way forward, here. Reducing long supply lines is useful, and it's worthwhile for companies to do that. But what Altana.ai focuses on is...