What's your job about?
Procter & Gamble creates premium household brands that are trusted on a global basis such as Oral B, Gillette, Head & Shoulders or Pantene, it’s my responsibility to ensure our customers are receiving Best in Class Service from P&G Australia and New Zealand, with Product Supply team enabling stock on shelves for consumers to purchase these brands from wherever, and whenever is most suitable.
At P&G I have 2 different roles, my first role is to maximise service to each of our customers. This involves collaboration within the Multi-Functional Team to ensure that every case of product ordered is able to be filled in a timely manner to meet the customers required delivery date. This entails end-to-end supply chain management, engaging all necessary stakeholders and driving value creation to build on current operational efficiencies required to maximise service as measured by our customers.
In my second role, I lead distribution as NZ Distributor Team Logistics Manager, executing maximisation of stock availability in NZ to allow for our local distributor team to relay our Best in Class Service to NZ consumers throughout the country. As part of my role, I collaborate with the sales team in order to execute sales plans by securing stock to meet promotional activities in NZ and support total NZ business. In value creation, I have a number of projects that drive cost saving through planned direct shipments from sourcing country to NZ verse utilising AU as a forwarding distribution centre.
To put it very simply, I help plan for stock to get from A to B, then it is my responsibility in execution of moving stock from B to C. I wish I could say it is as simple as that!
What's your background?
I was born and raised in a small town in Northern New South Wales called Alstonville. I went through primary and secondary education at our local Alstonville Primary, and High School before moving to Brisbane for university. While working part-time at Coles, I studied one year of engineering before a fairly quick realisation that it wasn’t for me – as all pre-COVID 18-19 year old’s do, I decided to spend 6 months travelling.
My favourite part about travelling wasn’t the sites, the food, or even the parties, it was how the whole experience changed my personality, my ability to hold a conversation with people I’d never met before and how it built my confidence as a person. I believe this experience helped mould me into the person I am today, and will hopefully help build on my success at P&G.
In 2017, I began studying at The University of Queensland in a Bachelor’s Degree of Agribusiness while working at the Brisbane Fresh Produce Markets supplying produce to Woolworths. Towards the end of my degree I began work experience with a farm called Kalfresh just South-West of Brisbane where I was trained in Production Management, Operations and Sales – this helped build my knowledge in operational efficiency, cost savings and value creation.
In Feb-May 2019 I interviewed with P&G and expressed my knowledge in waste reduction resulting in cost savings, and my ability to reapply learnings from work and university to real-world supply chain issues. After graduating, I moved to Sydney and began my career with P&G in January 2020.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes!
Supply Chain is all about problem solving, you do not need a specific degree or background related to supply chain to be successful in this position. For example, I am an Agribusiness graduate, a recent graduate in a similar position has an Engineering degree – if you love problem solving and can demonstrate your ability to create value in supply chain, any background is suitable.
Great characteristics to have are:
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The best part about my job is the responsibility and the recognition that you are given from your first day of work. At first it was a serious shock to the system that I had been given such high responsibility and accountability, but I would not change it for the world. In Product Supply, everything is visible, when you do a great job, not only can you see it but the whole team recognises and makes it very well known. It’s incredible to be a part of such a supportive team!
What are the limitations of your job?
I take pride in my work and I put in the hours to make sure my work is above standard. There is always work to do, if you have the time to do it. I find myself working longer hours, especially during crisis periods that have escalated behind COVID constraints, however this has never been pushed on me by anyone at work.
Limitations are subjective, I work hard to help myself learn and hopefully succeed faster than I normally would and this is because I find having high levels of responsibility a driver for success in a career, where others may believe it can be too time consuming. The flip side to this is P&G holds high regard for work-life balance, and I have been rewarded many half-day Friday’s to make up for the extra work done during the week.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...
The best advice I could possibly give myself or a current university student is to never stop having fun. Doesn’t matter which degree you are embarking on, make the most of it and don’t get too bogged down. Work hard and get good grades but don’t deprioritise your friends to make it happen, and last but certainly not least, travel somewhere new in every semester break, enjoy it while you have the time!