On June 4th, 2024, Solventure CEO, Vlerick professor and author Bram Desmet presented his new book, ‘Rethinking Supply Chain’, during a packed launch event at Vlerick Business School in Brussels. The event featured a wealth of leading supply chain experts, offering their own views on the current state of supply chains, the value of Bram’s work and what a supply chain leader of the future should look like. On center-stage was of course the man of the hour, Bram Desmet, who gave a better insight into his new book, how he came to write it and how he’s looking forward to the discussions it well evidently bring.
The event day at Vlerick Business School started off with a short press conference during which Bram answered questions of the press and discussed the main ‘plot points’ of his book.
At the center of his book stands the question of how we can make current supply chain more resilient in the face of the ever-growing volatility in our global markets. The answer according to Bram? Agility. “If we want our supply chains to become more resilient, we need to be able to act and react more quickly to unexpected events. And this is only possible when our planning processes are integrated and connected across the supply chain, and with all its stakeholders.”
How do you get to this ideal scenario? It’s quite the journey for a lot of companies, as most of them are still stuck in a one- or two-dimensional supply chain mind-set. In his book, Bram clearly maps out the way forward, moving away from the idea you can still improve service and cut costs at the same time. Bram’s previous two books, have already set the path quite a way, using the Supply Chain Triangle concept to strategically balance service, cost and cash and evolve to the third generation of supply chains.
But Bram’s third book doesn’t stop there. When the triangle of a company is sufficiently balanced, it’s time to also figure in social and environmental objectives in an Integrated Value Planning cycle.
Bram: “This new reality of the 5D supply chain requires an upgrade of our supply chain design and our tactical planning processes”. If resilience is the first key point of this book, sustainability is certainly the second. ‘How sustainable do you want to be, and which strategic choices will affect your sustainability and resilience?’, these are the crucial questions modern companies need to answer when they want to grow to the fourth generation of supply chains."
After the press moment, the full audience was welcomed by Ann Vereecke, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at Vlerick Business School, for a well-stocked program focused on building a strategy-driven, sustainable and resilient supply chain.
The scene was first set by Frank Vorrath, VP Supply Chain Solutions at Danfoss, who discussed the evolving world of supply chains, and how Bram’s new book couldn’t have come at a better time. With the world changing at a fast pace, and increasing regulations putting more pressure on supply chains, it’s important to level up your supply chain and create a competitive edge in the long-term.
Following this, an esteemed panel of supply chain experts examined the business relevance of Bram’s work, with Erika Linton, Global Head Supply Chain Strategy & Design at H&M, Frank Vorrath, Vice President Supply Chain Services at Danfoss Climate Solutions, Alberto Lupano SVP Group Supply Services Transformation at Reckitt, and Johan Heyman VP HR Operations & Strategic Transformation Projects at Barco.
Afterwards, Ed Weenk, supply chain lecturer and advisor, also discussed the academic relevance of Bram’s theories and frameworks in the education of supply chain students, and Martin Hendel, Supply Chain Planning enthusiast, author and influencer gave a short, dynamic presentation on the role of supply chain advocates.
Right after a short interview with the now three-time author, the afternoon ended with a short presentation on the need for integrated supply chain planning with finance by Massimo Magliocco, Financial Planning Director at STMicroelectronics, and a very interactive talk by Alexandra Van Asch Caballero, Global Health Business Performance Senior Director at GSK, on the future supply chain leader.
With all the inspiring presentations behind us, it was finally time for the grand group picture, the reception and the walking dinner so everyone could share their opinions on the book, start up discussions (which could trigger Bram’s next book), and of course buy the newest edition. And Bram wouldn’t be Bram if half of the proceeds of the evening didn’t go to VZW Touché, a local good cause making the world positively aggressive.
