I've had a very rich and diverse career over the last 20 years in the supply chain, starting with the ERAM Group, based in Maine-et-Loire in the West of France. Today I am Downstream TRANSPORT Manager for the GEMO brand, one of the Group's accessible fashion brands. I was able to work in a variety of logistics-related roles, and was responsible for a logistics site and a procurement department. I have always enjoyed discovering additional functions to bring a cross-functional vision to my role. My taste for change and challenges allowed me to evolve within the same group, thanks to internal mobility.

« I wasn't expecting to have to interact with so many different people so quickly and with so many different professions »

Supply Chain? I wasn't expecting to have to interact with so many different people so quickly and with so many different professions. It's very enriching on a daily basis, even if it requires continuous organization. Supply Chain services are constantly adapting to their customers and the global context. This offers rapid and lasting opportunities to integrate into the challenges of business organizations.

However, the integration may take a little time. First of all, you must start by familiarizing yourself with the specific vocabulary and abbreviations of the world of Supply Chain, as well as the different IT tools for which there are strong interactions that you must be able to understand.

" I discovered a healthy, pragmatic and conceptual environment "

I discovered a healthy, pragmatic and conceptual environment. Always looking for improvement through the search for efficiency and optimization to be competitive and guarantee customer service. It’s a world of technological innovation, but not only that! Creativity is essential if we are to keep moving forward in the face of constant change. Time never stands still!

One of the biggest challenges I have had to face in the Supply Chain sector is that of field management. During my first experiences, I remember proposing the reorganization of a workshop to a team leader who refused it since he “wasn’t going to change everything even though it worked very well like that”. I listened, and despite everything I asked him to think about it while trying to point out all the productivity advantages that this could achieve. With perseverance and proximity in the culture of change, I managed to give meaning so that he could take ownership and invest in the implementation of this new organization.

There was also a larger challenge, with the implementation of a new transport plan for the 400 GEMO stores, located in mainland France. This required carrying out a call for tenders throughout France to launch 6 new platforms simultaneously. We had to support our demanding specifications and make choices when faced with malfunctions that were sometimes difficult to accept in this rather male-dominated sector.

" One of the biggest challenges I have had to face in the Supply Chain sector is that of management ground "

And more recently, to convince people of an ambitious objective: decarbonizing transport from our Western platform on 100% flows. It is with the establishment of a distribution model using biogas, an energy produced locally by farmers, which makes it possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80%. What satisfaction to hear the manager of the transport company tell us “I think we will get there” by 2023!

" We must free ourselves from barriers that do not exist "

Where do women fit into all this? It's true that the Supply Chain is a men's environment. And it’s not uncommon to be the only woman in a meeting. However, we adapt very well to it and it is, in my opinion, easier to assert our singularity as a force that unfolds. We sometimes have a different perspective, but ultimately, this brings better complementarity in choices and solutions. “It takes two flints to make a fire.”

Just like men, women also have their place in all professions in the Supply Chain and at all levels of responsibility. It is a dynamic sector in which everyone can progress on varied missions, with many bridges between the different professions. The important thing is to flourish and remain natural. It's wrong to think that these jobs are exclusively for men. We need to break down barriers that don't exist.

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