THE SUPPLY CHAIN INTERVIEW
Global supply chains are an intricate force, relying on many moving parts to stay moving at all times. Hygiene and health manufacturing company Essity has been ensuring globally trusted brands can reach the shelves on time, relying on its wellstructured supply chain. Every day, Essity’ s products help support the wellbeing of one billion people across 150 countries, working to make the world healthier, more hygienic and safer. To meet this demand, the company uses a well-architectured supply chain, with global operations which ensure it demonstrates excellence.
At the forefront of this function sits Ilham Smaali, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Essity and member of the Executive Management Team.“ I oversee Essity’ s supply chain, which is architected around three dimensions: end to end, decentralised, category led supply chains fully embedded in our four business areas,” explains Ilham.“ Global operations leverage our full scale, such as procurement and fulfillment, and a focused centre of excellence suite covering safety, sustainability and supply chain excellence among other disciplines.” This ensures the company can maintain agility and can also meet scale in order to bring value and growth around the world.
Overcoming market barriers Ilham has operated in manufacturing supply chains for more than 20 years, working across manufacturing, planning,
“ The secret ingredient I learned to extensively leverage is investing in people and partnerships to bring the best out of the whole system”
Ilham Smaali Chief Supply Chain Officer Essity
logistics and global supply chain leadership. Throughout her career, she has held senior positions in Procter & Gamble, Estée Lauder and Nike. During this time, she gained a strong understanding of how cross-functional collaboration and agility are vital to organisations of a great scale.
She joined Essity in 2023, bringing in vast amounts of experience and knowledge about global supply chains in the health and beauty industry. Her core insights going into the role focused on how to turn consistent customer experience into real competitive advantage.
“ The secret ingredient I learned to extensively leverage,” Ilham explains,“ is investing in people and partnerships to bring the best out of the whole system. This has deeply shaped the way I lead today.” Her demanding roles in previous jobs have provided her with the experience in some tough challenges, including coming to understand where different experts sit.
22 August 2026