Designing End-To-End Supply Chains: An Interview With Beauty & Wellbeing Leader Swapnil Joshi

Swapnil Joshi, a leader in Beauty & Wellbeing, shares his journey from IT and brand management to orchestrating complex, end-to-end supply chain transformations. He discusses the critical intersection of data, consumer behavior, and operational discipline, offering actionable advice for the next generation of supply chain leaders aiming to drive growth and service excellence.

The expectations on consumer supply chains keep rising. Customers want products to move smoothly from factories to shelves to e-commerce carts. Markets expect growth and margin at the same time. Inside companies, leaders are asked to connect data, people, and capital so that strategy shows up in service levels, not just in slide decks.

One of the people working at that intersection is Swapnil Joshi, a seasoned supply chain professional with nearly two decades of experience across supply chain, marketing, and information technology. As a member of the Operators Guild, a community of experienced operations leaders, he has built a career that stretches from SAP implementations and demand planning to brand management and large-scale transformation, benefiting from and contributing to a network of peers tackling complex operational challenges worldwide.

2016 Unilever Supply Chain company event

Swapnil, thanks for joining us. How did you first find your way into supply chain work?

Thank you for having me. My path started more on the systems side than in a traditional supply chain role. I studied Computer Science as an undergraduate, then completed my MBA at IIM Mumbai. Early on, I joined an IT-focused management trainee program and worked across functions, which gave me a view into how data, systems, and operations fit together.

My first real immersion in the supply chain came when I moved into roles that combined demand planning and systems management. I led SAP implementation work across multiple factories, making sure transitions were smooth enough that production did not suffer and teams had the tools they needed. That experience showed me how critical it is to connect processes, technology, and people if you want any change to stick. From there, the supply chain stopped being a back-office function for me and became the backbone of how a company keeps its promises to customers.

You have experience in supply chain, marketing, and IT. How do those pieces connect in your day-to-day thinking?

For me, they are different lenses on the same job: creating value in a way that is repeatable. IT work trained me to think in terms of systems and data. I had to understand how information flows, where it breaks, and how to build processes that people can actually use. That discipline helps when you are designing planning processes or reviewing network models.

Marketing, especially my time as Brand Manager for Annapurna, added the consumer lens. You stop thinking about cases and pallets, and start thinking about what a family actually experiences when they buy and use a product. In that role I was responsible for brand building, margin improvement, new product launches, and even farm-to-fork initiatives. It taught me that a business model is only as good as the consumer behavior it creates.

Supply chain ties those worlds together. Strategy only matters if you can deliver it consistently, week after week, across channels. Having worked in all three spaces helps me connect choices in brand or IT programs with their implications for inventory, service levels, and cost.

Today you serve as Head of Strategic Planning for Beauty & Wellbeing in North America. What does that role actually look like on the ground?

At its core, the role is about setting up the supply chain so that a very large business can grow in a disciplined way. I am responsible for strategic planning for the Beauty & Wellbeing portfolio in North America, which is a highly complex business with more than 1000 SKUs with more than $1 billion turnover operating in categories like hair care and skin care. That means looking across categories, factories, co-manufacturers, and channels to see whether our current setup really matches where the business wants to go.

Day to day, that translates into three big buckets of work. One is designing and steering transformation programs, from footprint decisions to how we organize planning. The second is running a robust new product development cycle for supply chain to land strategic portfolio transformation.. The third is continuous improvement which helps businesses stay ahead of the curve by delivering savings and working capital optimization.

You led Demand Planning and Plan Excellence for South Asia, covering thousands of SKUs. What did that experience teach you about forecasting at scale?

That role was given as additional responsibility to me but it turned out to be a turning point. I was accountable for demand planning and plan excellence for South Asia, with forecasting responsibility for around thousands of SKUs and about several billion Euro in turnover. It is one thing to talk about forecast accuracy in theory; it is completely different when you see how a small error can ripple into service issues or excess stock across such a broad portfolio.

We focused on two things. First, bringing more science into forecasting through machine learning models where the data and use cases supported it. Second, reducing complexity where it did not add value, so planners could spend time on the SKUs and customers that really moved the needle. Over time, those changes helped us create more reliable demand signals and more disciplined planning conversations across business. That work later led to my invitation to serve as a Stevie Awards Customer Service Impact Judge, where I evaluated innovative customer service and operational initiatives across industries, a role that underscored for me how disciplined planning drives tangible impact, not just internal metrics.

You also led customer service for modern trade, eCommerce, and institutional business in India. How different are those channels from a supply chain point of view?

They behave very differently and they expose different weaknesses. In modern trade and eCommerce, service is extremely visible. A stockout is not just a number in a report; it is an empty slot on a shelf or a "currently unavailable" message on a product page. Large customers and platforms also expect a clear view of service performance and joint plans to improve it.

For several years, I was responsible for customer service across modern trade, eCommerce, and institutional channels. That meant sitting with retailers, understanding their constraints, and then working backwards into our own supply chain. We had to adapt lead times, order patterns, and collaboration models so that their growth ambitions matched our ability to deliver. It taught me that supply chain is a relationship business as much as it is a data business. You cannot hide behind averages when a key customer is looking at their weekly fill rates.

That same theme has shaped external industry conversations I have been invited into, including the Quartz Network SCOPE Supply Chain, Procurement & Manufacturing Leadership Summit in 2026, where I am joining senior leaders to discuss how rising customer expectations around speed, transparency, and sustainability are pushing companies to redesign last-mile and fulfillment strategies so they can balance service excellence with cost discipline.

You spent time running fulfillment operations for central and east India, including warehouse modernization. How did operations leadership change your view of strategy?

Operations leadership grounds you very quickly. As Head of Fulfilment Operations for central and east India, I was responsible for fulfillment strategy and warehouse modernization for clusters representing about €2 billion in business. On paper, that means network design, process upgrades, and productivity targets. In reality, it also means understanding how work feels for the teams on the floor.

Modernizing warehouses forced us to think about flow, safety, and change management in a very practical way. You cannot simply announce a new process and expect it to work. You have to involve the people who run the operations, listen to their constraints, and make sure the new design fits the reality of trucks, loading bays, and local infrastructure. That experience made me more careful when I talk about "transformation" in strategy roles. It has to mean real improvement in how work gets done, not just new language in a presentation.

You have also held brand and IT roles. How do those early experiences show up in how you lead people now?

They keep me honest. As a Brand Manager for a staple foods business, I had to own the full picture: brand health, margin, innovation, and even unconventional models like farm-to-fork programs. That taught me to respect the objectives of functions outside the supply chain. When a marketer asks for a certain configuration or launch timing, I know there is a consumer and financial story behind it.

On the IT side, leading SAP implementation for multiple factories showed me how vulnerable operations can feel when systems change. If you do not take the time to explain why, train people properly, and support them through the initial disruption, you lose trust very fast. Today, when I lead large transformation projects, I try to combine both perspectives: the need for clear business outcomes and the responsibility to make change feel supported rather than imposed. Coaching and mentoring are a big part of that.

For people early in their careers who want to grow into strategic supply chain roles, what advice would you give?

First, spend time on the details. Work in planning, operations, or customer service where you can see how decisions affect actual orders and shipments. You learn a lot from seeing where things break. Second, learn to speak the language of finance and customers, not just supply chain metrics. If you can explain how a decision affects growth, margin, and service in a way that commercial teams understand, you become a more useful partner.

Finally, invest in people skills. Strategy roles depend on your ability to align different functions and help teams navigate change. Coaching, listening, and being clear about expectations are not soft add-ons; they are central to whether a transformation will last.

Looking ahead, what kind of supply chain impact are you most interested in creating in Beauty & Wellbeing?

I am interested in two things. One is building supply chains that can support more segmented, purpose-driven brands without losing discipline. Consumers in Beauty & Wellbeing have distinct expectations, and the supply chain has to support that differentiation while still being efficient. The other is developing talent that is comfortable working across technology, planning, and commercial discussions, because that is where most of the hard trade-offs live.

In my current role, I am responsible for the supply chain strategy over a billion Euro Beauty and Wellbeing business in North America, and that work has been recognized through opportunities such as being a featured speaker at the IBF Supply Chain Planning and Forecasting Conference in Scottsdale, where I shared insights on large-scale forecasting, supply chain transformation, and planning excellence, experiences that reflect the practical, hands-on approach our teams apply every day. Over time, I would like our teams to be known not just for strong service and costs, but for how we grow people who can lead the next generation of transformations.