AB InBev raises a glass to digital transformation on a global scale

AB InBev is the world’s leading beer company, with operations in nearly 50 countries, and with an evergrowing product assortment to distribute.

Made up of 17 ERPs, its digital operation has always been critical to such a vast supply chain operation, but its complexity has ramped up even further over the past three years. Fortunately, Ednaldo Jacome took up his post as Global Logistics Director just in time to convert this challenge into a golden opportunity.

Hi Ed. Please begin by introducing yourself and your evolution within AB InBev, as it seems to reflect what is a very sizable and complex supply chain operation across the organisation?

I’ve worked for AB InBev within the supply chain for more than 15 years, here in Brazil, with this actually being my first job straight from university. I have also been responsible for the company’s excellence programme in supply chain, called Distribution Process Optimization, across Latin America, which serves as a handbook for operational procedures. This led to a corporate manager position in Latin America which later became a global role.

Over the past four years, I have been Global Director for Logistics Transformation, focusing on Supply Chain Planning, Transportation and Operations management.

My career path is an example of the scope of the supply chain for a company like AB InBev. And, therefore, how we continue to work to make it more resilient, agile and sustainable as we adapt to the operating environment.

I’m currently in charge of implementing each phase of our transformation programmes; including the biggest ERP transformation we have had in our company through implementing ERP S4HANA.

It seems you entered this role at quite a critical and, perhaps, difficult time. How have supply chain priorities evolved within the food and drink sector over the past three or four years?

COVID-19 of course accelerated this, but even without the pandemic, a main challenge has been the fast scaling up of ecommerce and digital sales. COVID also added a new set of supply chain challenges across the world.

As sales across our digital platforms grew, we had to quickly adapt to the growing demand – from our infrastructure to our technology needs. We needed to rethink about how to plan inventory, how to organise our warehouses and how to structure shipments. Our teams operated in an efficient and nimble way to meet these challenges.

How much of this step change was already being planned for within the company? Were these transformations you already had in place, only accelerated; or did this period bring to light completely new ways of thinking?

In this Global ERP solution S4HANA and Cloud Decoupling, Accenture is our main partner, leveraging our technology and bringing expertise for this transformation. Cooperation with our operations across the globe is also key, as we seek their local knowledge and experience which are critical to implementing such programs.

Overall, these strategies were already in place, but we did have to fast-forward them. Also, we built on them and expanded as we learnt more and more about how the future sector was looking to evolve.

The main thing we have adapted during this period is our mindset. People talk about the importance of being agile, but we really have taken that agile methodology to a new level. This mindset shift has allowed us to integrate changes and technologies faster, and to try and experiment on a continuous basis.

When such quick changes are implemented it’s always vital to ensure the workforce are onboard and equally enthused by it all. How much of this transformation strategy has been focused on the happiness and buy-in of your employees?

The technological evolution had to go hand in hand with a new people management strategy. For instance, we are using artificial intelligence (AI) to perform critical tasks and to train our colleagues through our partnership with DeepHow, an AI-powered training platform for manufacturers and field-service teams. Further, we have implemented planning tools to provide visibility across the full supply chain from supplier to customer. This gives us the ability to react to the many challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and manage our revenue while supporting the more than six million pubs, restaurants and family-run retailers that sell and serve our products.

Chief among your successful technological integrations has been your S4HANA ERP transformation? Please do explain the significance of this investment…

We kickstarted this ERP transformation back in 2019 to support, empower and embolden our teams. Since then, we have learned and improved our main interfaces and implemented key solutions to better integrate our functions and boost our team’s performance.

COVID allowed us to plan for a ‘new normal’ through our planned digital transformations. This was important as it gave us the opportunity to evaluate our strengths and needs, and to adapt accordingly to the new operating environment.

How significant were your business partnerships during this period? It’s one thing to bring your own internal personnel on this journey with you, but presumably you needed equal alignment across your own value chain?

Absolutely, and we work with partners across the value chain. We can share lessons learned, benchmark and identify opportunities that can better fit our business needs.

In this Global ERP solution S4HANA and Cloud Decoupling, Accenture is our main partner, leveraging our technology and bringing expertise for this transformation. Cooperation with our operations across the globe is also key, as we seek their local knowledge and experience which are critical to implementing such programs.