Zebras to Apples

Host Bryndis Whitson welcomes executive and supply chain expert Siobhan Chinnery to the podcast to talk about some of the diverse industries, ever-changing challenges, and fun surprises the supply chain offers. Recognized as one of 100 Influential Women in Canadian Supply Chain by Supply Chain Canada, Siobhan has a wealth of experience and some fascinating hands-on stories to share about how the supply chain works and the allure of the problem-solving opportunities it offers.

Siobhan first discusses the start of her career in the supply chain, explaining how she moved from accounting to getting on-the-job training from expert consultants and some of the negotiation tactics she learned first-hand. She tells Bryndis how her work took her to various companies and how demands like forecasting peak cold weather spikes throughout the country and contemplating business continuation strategies are needed. Siobhan’s peek into the supply chain includes stories of fires and floods shutting down offices, transporting supplies for the Junior Hockey Canada Team without breaking hockey sticks, and top-secret Porsche test car transportation and travel planning. This episode allows a glimpse into just how much diversity can be involved in a career in supply chain logistics.

About Siobhan Chinnery:

With a distinguished career as an executive and supply chain expert, Siobhan Chinnery has navigated the complexities of both professional and personal challenges, particularly following the loss of her husband. Over the years, she has built a reputation for delivering impactful keynotes on a wide range of topics, including self-care, team engagement, leadership growth, wellness, and the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Siobhan Chinnery is an accomplished supply chain and operations leader with three decades of experience transforming business strategies and improving total cost of ownership. Recognized as one of 100 Influential Women in Canadian Supply Chain by Supply Chain Canada, Siobhan has led large teams across multiple industries, driving significant operational improvements. She shares her expertise in positive leadership and resilience through professional speaking engagements, empowering organizations to thrive in challenging environments.

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Contact Bryndis Whitson:

• Website: ZebrasToApples.com
• Instagram: @ZebrasToApples
• LinkedIn
  
  

Contact Siobhan Chinnery:

• Website: SiobhanChinnery.com
• LinkedIn

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Transcript

Bryndis Whitson: [00:00:03] Hi, my name is Bryndis Whitson, and you're listening to the Zebras to Apples podcast, the fun and fascinating stories of supply chain and logistics. My guest for this podcast is Siobhan Chinnery, who has had an amazing career as a supply chain and leadership expert. Siobhan showcases how you can move around the supply chain industry and expand your knowledge. She's worked in forest products, oil and gas, global projects and customs, propane and heavy equipment. Siobhan is now sharing her knowledge with others as an adjunct instructor at SAIT and a principal of Be Grateful Management. Siobhan and I dive right into this discussion with a chat about negotiation. We talk about everything from tracking weather patterns to improve deliveries, to customs, to moving secret portions. Please join me in a conversation with my friend Siobhan Chinnery, a true powerhouse. So I'm here with Siobhan and we're talking about supply chain logistics. And Siobhan has such a great history. And I thought we'd just really start kind of talking about your career history and some amazing stories that you've got from the industry.

Siobhan Chinnery: [00:01:14] So I think the interesting thing about my story is how I started in that I was actually working in accounting, and I was asked by my controller to go do a special project. And a special project was a strategic sourcing initiative with consultants.

Bryndis Whitson: [00:01:33] Okay.

Siobhan Chinnery: [00:01:34] And this was 1998, I think. And so at the time, at least to my knowledge, there really wasn't any educational programs.

Bryndis Whitson: [00:01:44] Especially then.

Siobhan Chinnery: [00:01:45] Yeah. To learn about strategic sourcing and that sort of thing. So I went on this project and we were in a trailer in the parking lot at the company, it was Canfor. And we worked with these consultants who flew in every Monday from Chicago and flew out every Thursday. And we worked with them for over two years. And so I shared an office with Nick, who was a 30 year pro, former Andersen Consulting guy. And I just learned everything from him. And so when I would write an RFP, he would like almost like a teacher, like he would correct it and give me feedback. And when I would do negotiations, he would be there and watch me and coach me. And so it was an amazing way to learn business. For two years I have this guy working with me on everything coaching me through it.

Bryndis Whitson: [00:02:38] Who's got so much experience and so many things.

Siobhan Chinnery: [00:02:40] Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was, back then he was 30 years in and yeah. So it was really interesting.

Bryndis Whitson: [00:02:46] Yeah. And what a good way to learn all of those ins and outs too because I mean RFPs I'm sure have like so many different things to add in and don't add in.

Siobhan Chinnery: [00:02:55] Yeah. Yeah. And then learning to just these different negotiation strategies like how do you generate leverage when you don't have leverage. So you know, we in the sawmill industry and in the pulp mill industry, frankly, your sawmill or pulp mill is usually built right on a rail line. So you're pretty tied to that railway company. Right. And our pulp mill, we were on a CN line, and we didn't like the price increases we were getting from CN. And so Nick and the other consultants worked with me on developing a strategy where we could create some kind of leverage where CN would actually take us seriously. And so we did a big trucking trial, because on the pulp mill, there still was the old doors, the old loading doors for trucks. That were there previous to the railway line. So and then in order for CN to make sure that CN was aware of it, we put this big splashy story in our company newsletter that went out to all of our suppliers and all of our employees every month.

Siobhan Chinnery: [00:04:02] And we put in this big splashy thing about this trial we were doing on trucks. And we actually did it. And a substantial increase per tonne, cost per tonne. We did chuck out pulp to make sure CN realized that we were really serious about this, that we weren't just going to be holding to any rate increase they wanted. And so I always thought that was really interesting story. And I've shared that with, you know, my teams over the years because sometimes you don't have leverage and you have to think of creative ways to create leverage. ...