Ep: 35 Meet the Outstanding Women in Manufacturing & Technology with Ab Ovo

Let’s Get Technical Women’s Series with Barbara Roos of Ab Ovo

THERESE (00:05):

Welcome to our DELMIA podcast, Global Operations on the Go. I'm your host, Therese Snow. Our series featuring the achievements of women continues and this episode of Meet the Outstanding Women in Manufacturing and Technology. We're diving into the dynamic world of manufacturing, technology and planning strategies. We'll be highlighting innovative solutions from DELMIA Quintiq that really are revolutionizing the way businesses plan and execute their manufacturing processes across different planning horizons. I'm speaking with Barbara Roos, managing director for North America at Ab Ovo, and a supply chain planning and optimization expert at Ab Ovo. Barbara, welcome!

BARBARA (00:51):

Thank you, and happy to be here.

THERESE (00:53):

Excellent, and certainly glad to have you. So Barbara, let's start with where you work and what you do.

Meet Barbara Roos

BARBARA (01:00):

Yes, let's dive right into it. I'm currently over seven years with AFO and our company solution provider supporting lots of companies in reducing their carbon footprint. We do this by making their processes more digital, more efficient, and we also improved of course the utilization of the resources and have the clients just be able to make the best decisions. And Therese, most of our clients are global and many are in the transportation and of course manufacturing industry. Before my time at Ab Ovo, I had various other leadership roles. I've been a director of professional services for company Model N, and In for Global Solutions, where I led teams, lots of teams to successfully implement these systems for Model N, the revenue management system, and then for supply chain planning solutions. And this was for global manufacturing companies like Cargill, Boston Scientific, Coca-Cola Miller Course, Genentech, and Carry Foods.

Men vs. Women in logistics and supply chain

THERESE (02:13):

So I understand that your background really has been focused on logistics and supply chain. Traditionally, logistics industry has been really male dominated field, but rising numbers of women are making their presence felt within the realm of supply chain management. Have you personally seen a change in the numbers of men versus women in the logistics and supply chain field?

BARBARA (02:39):

Yes, Therese, I actually, I'm really happy because I've seen a large change. There are many more women now present in the manufacturing and supply chain, and I see it everywhere. The focus on these areas, even at a young age, all these other jobs and cool fields are promoted and that were not as much promoted in the past. And I also see it with my daughter, the interest in these young girls there you have a lot of interest, but it's very much changing and it's changing towards a lot more on this supply chain manufacturing, very STEM oriented jobs also. But that's obviously not where I started. I did my study in the Netherlands and I was very fascinated by operations, research and fascinated by all these efficiencies that you can make in manufacturing and distribution. And so my first job was at a large brewery in an LNU.

(03:43):

Everybody could probably guess which one that was. And I was a production planner. And by the way, there are not a lot of women there. I really loved it and I had to plan the production lines as efficient as possible by making sure that the similar batches are joined together so you have the least amount of changeover and while still making sure the orders are on time. And at the time, they were actually also implementing a new supply chain planning and optimization system. So that was super cool. But of course, nothing always really happened as you plan it. So most of the job, you're firefighting and you have to make decisions really quick with the facts that you know at the time. And actually I think women are very good at those skills. But to get back to your question, I think I agree with your assessment.

(04:42):

There were not a lot of women in logistics and supply chain. And I remember at these conferences we would go to, you could count the women on one hand, but it's definitely, definitely changing. And even at the real carrier companies in North America and normally a much dominated male dominated industry, they now have two women's at the top, which is great and super change. I also see that this large locomotive manufacturing company and Railcar Manufacturing also has a woman at the top. So it's great that these things are changing. And what I just found out is that for the Fortune 500 lists, there's now, and that's they list all the CEOs and there's 10% is women. So that's not, of course all manufacturing companies, but it's still good to see us. It was stuck at 8% for a long time.

THERESE (05:37):

Well, it's definitely heading in the right direction and it's inspiring to hear about a woman in the field and especially in a leadership role. Barbara, can you cite any projects or experiences you have had in your roles?

Growing experience in planning and optimization software

BARBARA (05:52):

Over the long working years, I've worked with a lot of software in the planning and optimization in various planning levels. And these planning levels are strategic, tactical, and operational. And I would like to take these into account because I did see some changes with the amount of women working in those areas. But the software that you would use in these different levels is, for example, you answer a question or were you able to produce or source enough if you get three more customers next year? So it's a very strategic question, but you also need to know on the capacity if you have enough. And the other question could be, where should our new distribution warehouse be? Or how much can I optimize my production line so that I can reduce my overtime? And I think at every level, women can excel and many are already doing this currently.

(06:52):

I work very often with the DELMIA Quintiq platform and it provides great solutions for each of these planning levels. And at Ab Ovo, we often recruit people with operations research or math degrees to do these optimization projects. And in the time that I've been with Ab Ovo, I also saw a lot more women with these degrees. So that's super cool that it is changing on that level too. If you look at those different planning levels in the companies, I think over the years women have been able to get more and more in this strategic level. You have to be able to run your visionary strategy into tangible activities. So you're actually constantly working on running what if scenarios on a high level, let's say from one to five years. So it's definitely rearranging on that level, on the technical level where managers are responsible from the midterm to almost the day-to-day, I actually see still less women.

(07:55):

And I am not sure why that is, but that's an area where I think women can still grow into. And on the scheduling level or so on the hour to hour where you create the optimal schedules to keep the operations running and you take into account all these constraints and resource availabilities, you actually see a lot more women nowadays. I think it's great that the world is changing constantly. I think no person or that's what I tell my daughter, that she shouldn't be afraid of stepping into a new field. I think we can all use some extra push to take us into a new direction. But for women, I think change has happened already. So I don't think there needs to be a lot of push, but just go for it and make that change.

THERESE (08:46):

Yes, definitely. Well said. Go for it and make that change. Thank you. So Barbara, can you please share advice that you may have for women who want to make a in supply chain management?

Career advice for women

BARBARA (08:57):

Yes, I don't think it's necessarily the supply chain management career, but I think in many areas I think you should just, if you do new tasks, new skills, new meetings, activities, then I think it's very important to learn as much detail about that area as you can before you dive into it. And the resources are numerous. And I would say, and also all the things that you don't know, just ask the questions and form your own opinion and form the things that you want to take from the meetings that you have. And definitely don't let yourself be intimidated, scared or afraid. Make sure that you always verify your information with different people so that you get faster to the truth. Because I must say you can be led in one direction and then another person says something completely different. And I found that in the, it might be a lot the same in various industries, but in the supply chain it is very much true. So you need to make sure that you always find the truth because the truth from one person is different than the truth from another person.

THERESE (10:17):

Yes. 100% agree. I think perspective in truth, in going to the, of course, the sources really does make a difference. And I want to touch a little bit, Barbara, you mentioned just learning and growing and that even goes beyond the workplace, right? I mentioned this because in preparing for this podcast, I also discovered that you also had a brief stint as a teacher in an orphanage, which I found very fascinating. I believe it was Estro pe Manos as translated to our little brothers, and it was in Nicaragua. Really? That's so fascinating. Would you like to tell our listeners a little bit about this?

Volunteer work at an orphanage

BARBARA (11:01):

Yes, it was great. A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to help out in this orphanage in Nicaragua, and I decided to do that in between jobs. And it was a very humbling experience. And at first it was decided that I was just going to be there to help out with some general task. I didn't even know many of the things that I needed to do, but I just signed up. But then when we got there, the English teacher was out, and so I filled in for this person. And this was very different as I really didn't know much Spanish, but with some books and preparation, I made the best of it. I don't know if all the kids thought that same thing, but at least I tried my best. And I think the message is always, you have to try something new all the time as that's the only way that you're learning. But I learned that I'm not a really good, great school teacher.

THERESE (11:59):

 I don't think I would be either. They're definitely a special breed. It takes certain people, so I'm sure you were great, really, Barbara, that's interesting. And really time has flown by today. It's really been a pleasure speaking with you and hearing about your many accomplishments. So thanks again for being a guest on the show.

Conclusion

BARBARA (12:19):

Yes, Therese, it's been great to be here with you and I hope we all push forward in our society to break down the boundaries and not only for women.

THERESE (12:30):

Absolutely. Thank you! That's definitely good advice for all our listeners as well. So thank you to our listeners for tuning in. I'm your host THERESE Snow, and you've been listening to DIA's podcast, globe Operations on the Go.