Jens Michaelis has worked as a consultant at 4Supplychain Consulting since early 2021 and has implemented various improvement projects at clients.

‘After high school in Düsseldorf, I took the international track at the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics, focusing immediately on supply chain because of the diversity and growth opportunities in the industry. So I also chose an internship with a German supply chain consulting firm in Düsseldorf. As a result, I learned the diversity of the work well. After this study, I transferred to Erasmus University in Rotterdam, where I graduated cum laude in supply chain management in 2018.’

Moving abroad
The master thesis Jens wrote for his graduation in Rotterdam was at Heineken where he set up the implementation of a web shop for merchandise. He was then hired by the brewer as a project manager. After a little over a year, a job opening came up in Nigeria – an opportunity to work abroad. Jens jumped on the opportunity and launched a logistics service provider management program there. ‘I worked eighty-hour weeks, that’s how challenging this job was. And I learned an awful lot.’

Coincidence
Around that time, however, Corona began to take hold of the world, and Jens decided to take a short sabbatical, and explore opportunities as a consultant, to still be able to get more variety in his work. He obtained some certificates and began looking for firms that might suit him. ‘With some luck, at one point I looked on the second page of the Googler results when I was searching, and there at the top was 4Supplychain Consulting. A relatively small firm that, however, responded to my email immediately. With some firms you sometimes have to wait weeks, but here it was immediate. The very next day I had an interview with Paul and Jasper, and after that the appointment was arranged in no time.’

Getting Started
At 4Supplychain Consulting, Jens immediately went full steam ahead after a short introduction period. For a German food manufacturer, he was looking for a tool to improve trade promotion management. He was then employed as a project manager at a logistics company where he was responsible for expanding their fresh food warehouse.

Sustainability
For a franchise of one of the largest Belgian-French supermarkets, Jens was then employed to implement end-to-end optimization. ‘There was waste of almost 15 percent in fresh fish and bakery, for example. As a team, we then analyzed the routing of goods and ordering systems and made significant improvement proposals. These are things that really interest me: you improve processes, reduce costs and the chain becomes more sustainable.’

Peak demand
Jens was then deployed with a colleague from 4Supplychain Consulting to a large Dutch dairy manufacturer to implement an S&OP cycle. ‘We improved the sales and operations process and changed the schedule so that peak demands could now be met.’

Improvement projects
Currently, Jens has an assignment as a consultant with a major UK juice and smoothie producer. Again, the operations process is further optimized and production can be more than doubled, as was the order. Planning and operations were better aligned and the production process is currently going through quite a few improvements. Jens: ‘That’s where my heart really lies: improvement projects. You see concretely what your input results in.’

If you are interested and want to discuss career options within 4Supplychain, you can contact Jens: jens@4supplychain.com (please include your CV into your message, thank you!)