My Life as a Supply Chain Consultant – An Exciting Job!

Consulting is above all a service-oriented profession. The primary objective of the consultant is to bring added value to his client. To maximize this contribution, the consultant should be equipped with a Swiss knife made up of an array of knowledge, techniques, and tools. Working at all hierarchical levels within teams, the consultant must possess a set of interpersonal skills, characterized by curiosity, communication, leadership and an unwavering commitment to the client and its teams. This combination achieves the ultimate goal of the ideal consultant: to generate and maintain a strong trust with the client, who sees him as a strategic partner capable of delivering results on complex, sometimes risky, but always strategic issues.

To maximize the added value of his mission, the consultant and his client need to evolve within a clear framework. Framing your mission by understanding the starting point, the expected final situation and the objectives will help define the contours of the service. Just like a craftsman who shapes an object, the deliverables materialize the added value of the consulting service. The consultant’s Swiss knife must therefore be sharpened to shape these deliverables.

Its analytical approach will allow it to collect and analyze data. His curious, attentive and pragmatic attitude will allow him to sort, prioritize and connect this data, transforming it into a visual and logical synthesis. His imagination, innovative spirit and logic will guide him in the construction of pragmatic solutions, selecting the most suitable approaches to the client’s needs. Interpersonal skills then come into play, allowing the consultant to convince the client of the benefits of these solutions and ensure their implementation, thus becoming a key player in steering strategic projects.

The scope of the consultant is based on the pillars of the Supply Chain that he masters over the course of his projects. The Supply Chain, often overlooked next to more popular areas of expertise, is a world without limits. Spanning in breadth from demand planning to distribution operations, physical logistics, warehouse operations, production, and transportation, this scope also reaches levels of complexity ranging from basic operational aspects to crucial tactical and strategic considerations.

The consultant visualizes the Supply Chain as a dynamic network of partners interconnected by a network of flows, reminiscent of the functioning of the Internet network. This network, which is rhythmic like music, is supported by increasingly powerful cutting-edge tools.

Unlike some fields and professions that disappear over time, the way the world works reinforces the importance of the supply chain. The list of geopolitical and global economic events of recent years confirming this assertion is long: the advent of the internet in the 2000s, the technological and digital advances that have developed on this basis, the rise of China and emerging countries in its wake, but also the Covid 19 pandemic, the current Ukrainian and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. Also, the changes related to “Sustainability” through the relocation of production, the implementation of short circuits or the decarbonization of means of production and transport are moving in this direction.

Compared to the mass of consultants in saturated fields such as IT, the supply chain consultant is becoming rare and valuable. Also, and as seen above, the range of techniques, tools and good attitude of the latter make Supply Chain consultants complete profiles that are often difficult to find.

At SuCh Consulting, the Supply Chain pillar is reinforced by a second strategic pillar for our clients: operational excellence. In close and complementary links, this second world opens the door to projects of a different type. The methods acquired by our consultants applicable to the different areas of the Supply Chain allow them to support performance management projects, to manage teams of centers of excellence, to support mergers and acquisitions, to deploy the governance of continuous improvement programs or to reorganize operational teams. Understanding, collecting data, rebuilding processes, imagining areas for efficiency gains, convincing and supporting teams in their implementation is the identity of the SUCH consultant. His curiosity and adaptability allow him to intervene in Sales, Marketing and Management teams. This is true regardless of the industry: distribution of consumer goods, watchmaking, pharmaceutical industry, but also utilities, energy, luxury etc…

Rare are the professional experiences that allow you to discover and acquire expertise as varied as that of a Supply Chain consultant. You have the exceptional opportunity to diversify your experiences within different industries, regions, companies, and projects. This variety of environments exposes you to unique challenges, stimulating your professional learning and development. As a Supply Chain Consultant, each assignment can represent a different line of business, ranging from planning, to distribution, to physical warehouse logistics. You evolve in parallel worlds: the pharmaceutical industry and its regulatory requirements, the world of watchmaking and its micro components, the hospital world and the vital importance of its logistics, the world of luxury goods and its stocks with high financial value, the distribution of consumer goods and its bulky flows…

This diversity allows you to build your skills by developing a multi-polar understanding of the different links in the supply chain and its specificities by industry. You will be confronted with issues specific to each context, forcing you to adapt and apply your knowledge in creative ways. This constant diversification of missions contributes to building a solid, incomparable expertise in your field.

Becoming a Supply Chain Consultant first requires an understanding of this job. Unlike an employee of an organization who is employed to deliver indirect work to produce the good or service offered by his company, the consultant produces and delivers a direct service to his client. Consulting is a profession in its own right, and like any profession, it does not correspond to everyone. And yes, the phrase “anyone can become a consultant” is not a reality!

The first steps in a consulting company quickly identify if you are comfortable with the consultant’s requirements. The first missions allow you to get into the arena and discover the daily life of the consultant.

The Supply Chain is an exciting field, which, depending on one’s training and/or professional background, can be learned with common sense. Expertise is built up over projects, meetings and problems. Of course, technical basics are necessary and require training, but the entry points are as diverse as they are varied.

We are SuCh Consulting, a consulting company specialized in Supply Chain, based in Lausanne and active nationally and internationally. Our mission is to support our clients in their transformations to significantly improve their operational performance.

Our approach is based on a combination of technical expertise and practical experience, which allows us to design sustainable and customized solutions tailored to the specific needs of each company. We strongly believe that a successful business depends in part on a high-performance supply chain, and we are committed to driving our customers to excellence.

At SuCh Consulting, we see ourselves as full members of your teams, working closely together to achieve your goals. We take a pragmatic and effective approach to consulting based on concrete and result-oriented solutions.

We emphasize the human aspect of our interventions, committing to a collaborative and caring approach with our clients. We immerse ourselves in their daily reality to maximize adherence to changes and ensure the successful implementation of the proposed solutions.

Transparency, efficiency and customer satisfaction are at the heart of our commitment. We draw on our wealth of experience and diversity of expertise to offer tailor-made solutions that meet the specific needs and objectives of each client.

Our passionate and dedicated consultants are constantly looking for new methods and trends to offer you innovative and effective solutions. As SuCh Consulting, we are here to provide you with the support you need at every stage of your supply chain transformation projects.