Up Close: In Conversation with Kinaxis’ Polly Mitchell-Guthrie

Sarah Jones
·7 min read

Up Close is Sourcing Journal’s regular check-in with industry executives to get their take on topics ranging from personal style to their company’s latest moves. Here, Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, supply chain thought leader at supply chain management platform Kinaxis, discusses preparing for disruptions—even positive ones—and why artificial intelligence isn’t a “silver-bullet solution.”

Name:  Polly Mitchell-Guthrie
Title: Supply chain thought leader
Company: Kinaxis

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Which other industry has the best handle on the supply chain? What can apparel learn?

At Kinaxis, we get to work with some of the world’s biggest brands in a variety of sectors, so we see the strengths across the board. The two industries we serve that are perhaps most like apparel would be consumer goods and retail. Both industries have extraordinarily complex supply chains, extremely short lead times, and in the face of both these challenges, continue to put innovation at the forefront to meet their consumer needs.

More specifically, we’re seeing successful brands invest in a more holistic approach to their supply chain management, meaning they’re prioritizing transparency across their entire supply chain. This allows them to make decisions, run “What if?” scenarios and adapt quickly to disruptions, and by disruptions, I don’t just mean a crisis. A celebrity or influencer giving a product an unexpected shout-out on a platform like TikTok can also be a disruption, in a good way, causing a massive spike in demand.

What should be the apparel industry’s top priority right now?

Asking the question: When disruptions or changes in plans happen, how quickly am I able to run a scenario and pivot on the fly? And is that scenario one that gives me full transparency across my end-to-end network and not just shallow visibility? In a world of constant disruptions, the resiliency of one’s supply chain is quite often the difference maker on whether a company ends up in the red or the black. Ensuring you have the right tools in place for your team to make the right decisions is table stakes.

What innovation or development holds the greatest potential to improve operations in the apparel and textile industries?

There is a lot of buzz around different developments, and the one I think people are hearing the most about right now is artificial intelligence (AI), but what’s more important than the technology itself is the technique or approach companies are using within their supply chains. AI, while useful, isn’t a silver-bullet solution. It can’t replace humans, who uniquely can provide what I like to call the three C’s: context, collaboration and conscience. And this relates to the technique of concurrent planning—you can have the most cutting-edge technology in the world, but if your planners are not completely connected and informed, your cutting edge technology just got dulled and your supply chain won’t be as efficient as it could be.

Where do you look for personal style inspiration?

The people that have the best personal style are the ones that ooze confidence no matter what they wear. I’m very thankful that even though supply chain—and even more so technology—is a male-dominated field that I am able to also spend a lot of time with strong-minded and brilliant women who are supply chain leaders, transformation leaders, analysts and technologists, who inspire me professionally and personally in everything I do. Showing up like that is style that is inimitable, male or female. But I will say I’m partial to funky glasses and keep an eye out for folks who sport them well.

How do you shop for clothing? How would you describe yourself as a fashion consumer?

We live in such an online-first world, and I do purchase that way, but being able to see and feel the fabric, try it on right then and there, and see how it makes me feel is still the best way to go. I’d describe myself as a sustainable shopper; I try my best to shop brands I know are doing better by the planet and for pieces that I know I’ll get a lot of use out of.

What are the top three product attributes that you factor into your purchasing decisions?

Cost per wear: is this something I’ll wear enough to justify the price?

How it makes me feel? Does it make me feel confident and comfortable, or am I already tugging at the sleeves?

The material: is this something that’s made to last, how will I care for the longevity of the product, etc.

And bonus points for combining classic with a bit of funk.

What is a retail experience that stands out to you?

I ordered a table online as the pandemic was slowing down, and it arrived in reasonable time but was damaged in shipping. Their system was clearly not set up to deal with returns, because the delivery date for the replacement kept getting pushed out. I assumed it was a supply chain problem. But after nine months of delays, I got frustrated, and endless phone calls later learned that they had the table in inventory. The problem was execution—my order got stuck and no one could figure out it out, their disconnected legacy systems weren’t talking to each other, and no one could fix it. They had planned well and had inventory to meet my demand, but this was a failure of supply chain orchestration—they couldn’t get the table to me.

How would you describe your corporate culture?

People are at the heart of everything we do at Kinaxis. We see relationships not as transactions but as opportunities to create lasting connections. Our values are what bind us together and keep each of us accountable to do what’s best for one another and the company. We are real, we are customer-centric, we laugh often, we are empowered, we are stronger together and we are global citizens.

What’s the best decision your company has made in the last year?

Our shift to end-to-end supply chain orchestration, enabling companies of every size, type and maturity to manage their end-to-end ecosystem—from multi-year strategic planning through last-mile delivery—creating agility, transparency, intelligence and trust. It was a natural next step for us as a company, and it’s where we think the industry is heading—which is to enable today’s supply chain leaders to connect their data, people and processes all in one place. That was the biggest move, but stepping up to make more noise about our longstanding investment in AI did my heart good, since AI is a long-term passion.

What keeps you up at night?

Whether we are ready for the next big supply chain disruption. Unfortunately, no one has a crystal ball, so we are all just left constantly thinking of new possibilities.

The past few years have underscored the importance of resilient supply chains. Supply chain disruptions are just not taking a rest—a surge in labor disputes and cyber attacks as well as extreme weather events, like the Panama Canal drought and an active hurricane season, are exacerbating these challenges. Organizations wishing to sleep soundly at night ought to respond by ramping up their investment in supply chain resilience, reflecting a strategic shift towards balancing cost, sustainability and resilience amid growing operational complexities.

What makes you most optimistic?

Since those heady days of 2020 when runs on toilet paper and Pelotons brought the term “supply chain” to dinner tables and boardrooms the world over, there’s been a new appreciation for the criticality that the function plays in our day-to-day lives. Amidst that backdrop, across all industries, boards of directors have been quite rightly pressing their executive teams on the resiliency and agility of their supply chains.

There is now a near-unanimous recognition on the urgent need for permanent, fundamental change in how supply chains operate, for the benefit of people and the planet. More and more companies are recognizing that incremental improvements to their supply chains just don’t cut it and the best approach to achieving supply chain resilience is a holistic one that provides end-to-end synchronization.

Tell us about your company’s latest product introduction:

The retail landscape has never been more competitive, with countless challenges that threaten customer satisfaction. Because of this, we recently announced an expansion of our retail offering with the release of multiple new AI-powered innovations. Basically, we’re providing retailers with end-to-end supply chain transparency, better demand forecasting with AI and powerful simulation scenario planning capabilities to ensure their customers can buy the goods they want, when and where they want them, regardless of unforeseen disruption.