Link in the supply chain

By RICHARD PAMATATAU

During the war in Iraq, a part required at the front by the US Marines took three weeks to arrive from a base in Kuwait - and when it got there, the war was over.

For Mi Services supply chain consultant Elizabeth Ryan, who presented a "training camp" for the Marine Corps' logistics analysis team, finding out why it might have been "quicker to post it", was just another day at the office.

"Supply chain" is a mix of computer software, business logic and practice applied to resource management in any organisation.

Mi Services is an international organisation with headquarters in Reading, England and offices in America and New Zealand where a lot of software development is done.

"Even a shearing shed has a huge supply chain aspect to it," said Ryan, whose first job as a graduate at Wairoa's halal meatworks involved everything from gutting and processing sheep to devising new methods for pre-kill hygiene.

In the case of the missing Iraq part, analysis revealed disparate computer systems between the branches of the Marines, she said.

The Marines were the same as many large organisations, and effective supply chain management would make them more efficient.

After almost a year of commuting between Auckland and America, 25-year-old Ryan moves to the US next year to spearhead the drive Auckland's Mi Services has planned for the competitive supply chain market.

It is a big responsibility, she says, because the position involves not only consultation work but seeking and closing new deals.

Fortunately she has some good references in America and New Zealand, where she has devised systems for companies such as Fonterra and McDonald's.

Two weeks ago Ryan sold her first software licence to aircraft maker Boeing, which joins customers such as the United Space Alliance which provides logistics to Nasa, and Excel, the logistics supplier to Unilever and Goodyear Tyres.

The product Ryan represents is SCORWizard, which is designed to strip inefficiency from a process after supply chain needs are defined and analysed.

Ryan's ability as a supply chain consultant was recently recognised by the Supply Chain Council of America which asked her to join its Aerospace and Defense Special Industry Group.

But a career in supply chain logistics was not always obvious.

She could have ended up as a sports nutritionist - her degrees are in science and nutrition - and she represented New Zealand as a rower between 1996 and 2000.

"I've always been obsessed with making things work better and as a kid working on the farm with Dad I always was trying to work out how we could make things more efficient. "During shearing I always made sure the sheep were penned and ready for the shearers so there was never down time."

Ryan wants to eventually be chief executive of a large New Zealand company though realises she has a long way to go to achieve that.

When it comes to role models at home, she surprisingly does not look to women such as Telecom chief Theresa Gattung or Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Sure, they have done well in their fields and are good examples for women in business.

"But I have learned more from the woman with four kids who worked along side me six days a week on the chain or my mum who arrived in New Zealand with $50 in her pocket."

Supply chain expert Liz Ryan always takes her laptop with her as she travels between New Zealand and the United States. PICTURE / MARTIN SYKES