Upstream Supply is an essential link in our ability to deliver to our customers. Discover the missions of the teams that make it up through the portrait of Aline CHOMILIER, Upstream Supply Manager, for the past 8 years at Grands Moulins de Paris.
Hello Aline, could you introduce yourself and tell us about your career?
Hello ! I'm Aline Chomilier, 47 years old and the mother of 3 boys aged 9 to 16. Half-Bretonne, half-Auvergne, I've lived in the 12th arrondissement of Paris for 20 years and work in Ivry. Many of my colleagues know that I'm delighted to cycle to work!
An agricultural engineer by training, I joined the food products company MARIE in 2000, my first really significant experience.
I stayed for 10 years, progressing from Marie Frais production planner to planning manager, experimenting with management control, before returning to management.
In 2011, I moved to a different sector of activity, joining UNIVAR, a global distributor of chemical products and ingredients, as Inventory and Supply Manager. I was in charge of a team of 20 people, for supplies produced in part internationally.
In 2016, I joined Grands Moulins de Paris as Supply Planning Manager to reconnect with the food production sector. Since then, I've been lucky enough to see my position evolve, and today I'm Upstream Supply Director.
And what drew you to the supply industry?
Good question!
I chose to study agronomy because I'm attracted by everything to do with living things, but when I left school, I didn't know much more about the names of plants than I did before... *laughs*.
I stumbled into food processing and production via an internship, and I liked it. In the end, it was my professional experiences that guided me towards Supply, which suits my reactive, organized and logical side.
By the way, can you tell us more about what Upstream Supply is at Grands Moulins de Paris?
Our role is to provide the right product, in the right place, at the right time, in the right quantity and quality, all at the lowest possible cost.
Our "flagship" businesses are "sales forecasting", "production planning" and "supply-deployment" of finished products to our customer shipping warehouses.
We focus on data analysis and information exchange. We indicate the quantities per reference to be produced and moved, so that factories and Downstream Supply (i.e. logistics) can "physically" implement production, preparation or transport requirements.
We therefore work in close collaboration with our head office teams, as well as with our sales, production and logistics teams in the field. We are also in direct contact with some of our customers, particularly in the supermarket sector.
The team has grown since I arrived. There were 10 of us, and today my team numbers almost 25.
The department is made up of a "tools & projects" division, which manages our business support tools (Dynasys, Tableau, SAP, etc.) and 3 "operational" divisions, which manage our "flagship missions" by product type:
- A "Frozen" division for frozen products under the "Recettes de mon Moulin" brand.
- A "supermarket" division for "Francine" brand flours and preparations
- A "Pulv" division for flours and blends for bakers, industrialists, key accounts and supermarket bakeries in France, as well as for international customers.
Recently, 2 other missions have been attached to the department:
- Sales administration in supermarkets, including order management and penalties, tasks carried out by the "Supermarket Operations Division".
- Master Data Management (MDM) of articles and suppliers in SAP. The mission of the MDM department is to create, modify and ensure the consistency of all the data that feeds the Grands Moulins de Paris IT tools.
Do you have one or more key qualities for successfully carrying out Upstream Supply missions? And which aspects do you prefer?
In my opinion, it's essential to have a strong taste for operations, and to be flexible and pragmatic, especially when it comes to making decisions "without having all the cards in your hand".
Our missions require good analytical skills, logic, rigor, interpersonal skills, and a dose of humility. Indeed, we sometimes have to take responsibility for our own mistakes and those of others.
What immediately appealed to me was the cross-functional nature of Upstream Supply, which involves daily exchanges with various departments such as production, sales, marketing, controlling, IT, purchasing and the rest of the Supply Chain.
As Upstream Supply Manager, my role is to lead my team and work on our processes to adapt them to a continuous improvement approach.
Management involves recruiting, training, developing and motivating teams; I work with Human Resources on a daily basis to achieve this.
I really enjoy thinking about and implementing or adapting our processes, because I like creating and structuring, and I also enjoy working on projecting team organization.
There are times when I'm involved in operational management, such as when we're in firefighter mode and need to find solutions quickly to put out the fire, and I'm still passionate about it.
What are the complexities of the Upstream Supply function in our milling business?
First of all, the minimum durability dates for flour (and frozen products), which, as with many food products in general, add complexity to stock management.
Secondly, our complexity stems from our multi-market and multi-technology management. We have to meet the specific needs, characteristics and requirements of each market (Export, GMS, BA, industrial, key accounts) and each technology (frozen, powdered, POP, meat).
Like any Upstream Supply, we also have to manage the thorny dilemma between :
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- - Improve the delivery service rate to our customers (because bakers have little storage space and can't afford not to have bread or croissants when they open for business one morning, because supermarkets send us penalties if we don't deliver, because manufacturers can't shut down their lines in the event of non-delivery...).
And
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- - Control our stock levels, because we have constraints on the amount of storage space available (both internally and externally), and because stock is expensive (storage costs + capital expenditure).
... all with the constant uncertainty of the exact level of our sales, and the risk of a production problem.
And finally: You've been with Grands Moulins de Paris for 8 years now, and you seem to be blossoming. In a few words, how would you describe GMP?
If I try to play the usual game with the acronym "GMP", I'd say:
- G" for Group/Family because, just like in a family, we say things to each other when a conflict arises. What's more, we're really united and share very human values.
- M" for Meunier, because it's our core business, and each mill is truly unique, with a focus on the people who work there.
- P" for Projection, because Grands Moulins de Paris is a company that knows how to project itself, as demonstrated by the recent implementation of the Marketplace, SAP, or all the actions that are carried out within the sites in terms of health and safety at work. I think this reflects our boldness.
That's why I'm so happy and proud to work for Grands Moulins de Paris!
Thank you, Aline, for sharing your experiences and contributing to our portraits of women in the milling industry. See you soon for another #CollectivelyEngaged portrait! 🚀🫶
