THE SUPPLY CHAIN INTERVIEW
What have these moments taught Vanessa about the balance between resilience and flexibility?
“ The past years – COVID, the Ukraine war, trade tensions – have taught me profound lessons about how supply chains must evolve,” Vanessa says.“ Resilience is not rigidity, it is all about fluidity. True resilience means structured flexibility – the ability to reconfigure rapidly without losing efficiency.”
“ Anticipation beats reaction. We can’ t predict everything, but we can build systems that sense changes earlier. Our AI risk agents now identify potential disruptions weeks before they materialise, allowing us to take proactive measures.
“ Diversity is strength. Dual sourcing, densified networks and strategic specialisation aren’ t about having one perfect plan – they’ re about having multiple pathways that allow us to respond to different scenarios.”
“ People matter more than processes or technology. In moments of crisis, it was our teams – their creativity, courage and commitment – that made the difference.”
“ True resilience means structured flexibility – the ability to reconfigure rapidly”
Vanessa Clemendot SVP, Global Head of Supply Chain Sanofi
Transportation transformation Sustainability is a key part of Sanofi’ s mission. It is a strategic pillar, tying environmental and social targets directly to its purpose of building“ a healthier and more resilient world for patients, the planet and society,” and organising its efforts under the Planet Care Programme.
The company joined the UN Race to Zero and set science‐based goals to reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 55 % and Scope 3 by 30 % by 2030 compared to 2019, on a trajectory to a 90 % reduction across all scopes and Net zero by 2045.
“ At Sanofi, sustainability is integrated into the DNA of how we operate across our entire value chain,” Vanessa says.“ Since we know that 80 % of a product’ s environmental impact is determined early in development, we’ ve embedded a systematic eco-design approach into our key development and manufacturing activities. All our new medicines and vaccines – and 50 % of our top 20 selling products – now follow our Eco-design approach.
“ In transportation transformation, we’ ve established operational rail corridors between France and China with innovative containers specifically designed for pharmaceutical cold chain requirements. We’ ve made a strategic transition from active to passive cooling solutions, which simultaneously reduces CO₂ e emissions and generates cost savings, and we’ ve established new qualified sea lanes for vaccines in strategic markets worldwide.
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