Corporate supply chain director

A new adventure for Jean-Yves Voliver (*)

(*) The names of the interim manager and client have been changed for confidentiality

1. CHALLENGE

The story begins in the South-West of France in September 2016. In the midst of restructuring, a company specialised in trendy yet low-cost decoration asked WAYDEN to quickly define a 6-month action plan for their Supply Operations department. The objective was three-fold:

  • Solve operational difficulties to drive new strategic projects
  • Reorganise the activities related to supplies, store replenishment, logistics, transport, customs and counterfeit
  • Manage teams composed of 280 people

 

2. SOLUTION

During the project-qualification meeting, Rémi Dessertine, Associate Director at WAYDEN, was able to properly assess all the details. He then short-listed three candidates from the WAYDEN Selection database, all of whom were available and motivated to take on the role. This particular assignment required someone experienced in working with family-run mid-sized companies. From the interviews conducted, Rémi chose Jean-Yves Voliver. The two men then met with WAYDEN’s client who instantly validated the team.

The interim manager’s background

Jean-Yves Voliver graduated from France’s prestigious Sciences-Po and Centrale Paris in the 1980s before training at the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) at CPIM. He followed up these studies by joining PHILIPS (consumer electronics) where he managed a 60-person team and optimised the logistics of a company with 1,000 employees.

Four years later he joined EMI (leader in the music industry), taking charge of the Distribution business unit as well as recovery. However, he spent most of his career at DARTY (leader in household appliances), first as DACEM Logistics Director, followed by DACEM Business Development and Supply Chain Director, and then Group Sourcing Operations Director. Among his many successes, Jean-Yves implemented the new Corporate Purchasing and IT Centre, valued at €370 million.

In addition to his perfect knowledge of the most competitive retail environments, Jean-Yves is also a remarkable teacher. “The excellence of his training gives him a didactic dimension that makes the difference: he knows how to explain strategic issues to teams with great simplicity, so they understand them quickly and thoroughly,” explains Rémi Dessertine.

 

3. ACTION

Rémi Dessertine agreed with the interim manager to schedule bi-weekly assessments throughout the duration of the project in order to provide the client with accurate weekly reports. This strict framework helps to minimise discrepancies due to a sometimes-volatile client, but also to provide regular reinsurance regarding the actions proposed and implemented.

For his part, Jean-Yves Voliver took on three major missions. In close cooperation with the operational and management teams, he established a new logistics master plan before launching the first stage of the stock regionalisation. He then adapted the supply chain to the new urban-store format in Paris, as well as the development in Spain. He also optimised service at the store level.

 

4. RESULT

In addition to establishing perfect communication between the client and the two-man project team – composed of the transition manager and the associate director – WAYDEN actively participated in the identification and validation of Jean-Yves Voliver’s successor at each stage of the project.

Jean-Yves Voliver has since transitioned to another project where he’s managing the supply chain, organisation and IT department of a leading sports-distribution brand.

A successful mission thanks to WAYDEN interim managers!