Energy Transition Talks

Beyond borders: The rise of the citizen supply chain in a connected economy

• CGI in Energy & Utilities • Season 3 • Episode 21

Share episode

Send us a text

What happens when communities, consumers, and local innovators become key players in global supply chains? In this episode, host Peter Warren speaks with CGI Vice-Presidents Charley Wark and Helena Jochberger about the rise of the citizen supply chain—a powerful movement that’s reshaping how industries operate in a connected, digital world.

From manufacturing to energy, discover how organizations can embrace this shift to build more agile, transparent, and resilient supply networks. Learn why empowering people at every level of the value chain isn’t just a trend—it’s a competitive advantage in today’s connected economy.

Listen in for expert insights and real-world examples from global industry leaders.

Visit our Energy Transition Talks page

Peter Warren:

Hello again, everyone. Welcome back to another installment of our ongoing discussions, this time about the ecosystems. Our podcasts have focused in on a variety of different subjects, everything from how banking impacts energy, how energy impacts health care, how manufacturing is connected, and really this comes down to a concept that we've been working with here in CGI called the citizen supply chain, and so today I've got two great guests. We're going to discuss this in depth. First, charlie Wark do you want to introduce yourself?

Charley Wark:

That is my name, Charlie Wark. I am head of our global industries at CGI.

Peter Warren:

And welcoming back Helena Josperger. Helena, do you want to introduce yourself again?

Helena Jochberger:

Sure, thank you for inviting me again. My name is Helena Jochberger and I'm the Global Industry Lead for the Manufacturing Industries at CGI.

Peter Warren:

So this is an interesting concept that we've come up with called the citizen supply chain. Maybe we'll start with you, Charlie. What is it and what does it mean to you and what does it mean to our audience?

Charley Wark:

Yeah, so the citizen supply chain. If we start by just defining what the supply chain is, or a supply chain is, of course every company has a unique supply chain to be able to create their goods from step A to finished product and landing on the doorstep if it's a consumer product of a customer. So every company has a unique supply chain and every industry has a supply chain that looks familiar for the industries. A typical manufacturer of, let's say, sweaters have a supply chain that looks similar to another industry, however looks similar because it's highly complex. So every company supply chain is truly unique. So, if we start by in that corner, then what is then the citizen supply chain?

Charley Wark:

Well, the citizen supply chain is really, if you take the citizen, somebody living in a country, rather, and think about what needs to happen, what industries need to come together and work in order for that citizen to have their everyday life functioning, in the way that we flip a switch and the light comes on, we open up a refrigerator and it's full of food, we order something online and somebody from DoorDash delivers our goods at our hands.

Charley Wark:

Or even, if we feel like getting entertained, if we go to the local movie theater and watch a movie and watch a movie. So, if you think about the complexity of being able to have the supply chains all work in unison to be able to uphold our everyday life and the comforts that we have become used to. Now, this isn't even mentioning all the supply chains that has something to do with the public sector, like government, municipalities, etc. So instead of looking at what a supply chain looks like from a company perspective, we start, we put the citizen in the center and we look at what needs to happen for our everyday lives to function in the societies where we live and operate, because we also do business in the same societies.

Peter Warren:

So, helena, building upon that great definition from Charlie, how does that impact manufacturing? How did we sort of come up with this? I mean, you focus on manufacturing, I focus on energy and utilities. We have our friend Andy in banking and so on. So how did this sort of come about? Why are we looking at this? Why does this matter to a manufacturing company, for example?

Helena Jochberger:

Yes, absolutely. I think we're living in quite uncertain times, so things we used to know, also in the value chain, have changed, have changed significantly, and therefore, of course, every industry needs to have a really responsive and a resilient supply chain. Now how does that look in manufacturing? I mean, we are one of the most heterogeneous industries. On the one hand side, we have discrete manufacturers that produce effectively a product, a car or an aircraft. On the other hand side, we deal with process manufacturers like big steel companies, like chemical companies, heavy energy intensive manufacturers, and both have their very dedicated supply chains, as Charlie just said.

Helena Jochberger:

And, of course, when you look now take, for example, the discrete industry right, so the car industry, it's a very complex supply chain, it's global supply chains and sometimes we have seen that throughout the pandemic or other events, this gets disrupted. And then it's the question, of course, how do we anticipate that? How do we make sure that our criticalities that we have down in the chain can deliver as promised? For example, when you take the aerospace industry, you have large OEMs that have up to 9,000 suppliers that are directly engaged in producing parts of an aircraft. So how can we make sure? A with the means of data, and B also with the means of risk management, and I know, peter, you and I, we talked a lot about multi-tier risk management in the supply chain. So it's A to combine the risk with B combine the data, and I think this brings us a little bit directly to the core of our discussion.

Peter Warren:

I agree with you on that. We've been using the word supply chain, but it is really an ecosystem and we've even coined the term a supply web. I mean there's a complex mix of things. Moving forward here to the complexity that Charlie pointed out beyond, as the citizen looks at it, for a variety of things and we tend to simplify. Today I am an employee of ABC company. I'm doing this, but when I go home I'm a citizen doing stuff, taking consumers' things. So maybe back to you, charlie, this whole concept of the web, how the citizen is getting these things in the complex fashion back to them. How does that play out? How would you see data playing into that? How do you see people managing that? I mean, it's a magical thing happening on its own, but as things shift it is also under threat.

Charley Wark:

Yeah, absolutely, and I think, number one. When we talk about data, it's also about having access to and also really sharing the data that your company have because of the importance of being able to function in this supply web. So, when it comes to data, of course, the transparent, different technical solutions of having the ecosystems for the industry so you operate in that can share the data, that's super important. But I just wanted to also another thing that I wanted to just say. When it comes to the citizen and Peter you touched upon it is like when we go to work, we are yes, we're, of course, a part of the company supply chain that we work for function in a good way in the societies where we live also become a really important component in all of the other industries, Because when we go back to work, we are part of another industry that it needs to work for that industry's supply chain to be resilient. So it's definitely a given take.

Charley Wark:

It's one thing as a citizen, I'm relying and depending on all the other industry supply chain to function in this fantastic unified way, but it's the other way. It's also gives the other way right. The companies also need me to have a good, stable life as a citizen in order for their supply chains to be secured. Stable life as a citizen in order for their supply chains to be secured. But one thing that we haven't talked so much about but it's also, I think, what's important is that every industry, every company also realizes the importance of their existence in the citizen's supply chain, in the citizen supply chain. I think that is also in today's day, in uncertainty and when things are shifting in the world, I think that becomes even more important.

Peter Warren:

I think where you were going is that you know it's also important for people to have the health care. It's not just the physical goods, it's not just the electricity. I need to have a health care, I need to have a working government, I need to have a functioning police force and fire and so on All the things that a military is well, unfortunately, to have the ability to say that I am having this life and these things are interdependent and interwoven and as we start to pick at any one of those threads, it affects all of them, and I think you've got some good stats here. I think both of you have some good stats to reference it. But one of the gentlemen I was talking to a little while ago, an economist, was saying that it takes about five months when disruption happens. Whether it's something major like the war in Europe, or whether Ukraine, or whether it's Brexit, it takes about five months for people to adjust to the shift. But how do either one of you see that happening?

Charley Wark:

Yeah for sure, and we have a lot of changes right now Actually so many changes it's almost hard to keep up with all of them. There was a report that came out in the World Economic Forum their forum, their chief economist outlook in February that actually said that 94% of the people that they interviewed predicts an increased fragmentation of the supply chains in the future. That will most likely lead to phenomenons such as friend-shoring, ie when a company who have offshored their parts of their supply chain to other countries will move some, maybe production to a more quote-unquote friendly country. And we can see examples of this. For example, apple just recently moved a lot of their manufacturing to India from China. That's a type of friend shoring.

Charley Wark:

And then another term that also was quoted in this report was re-shoring. So not reassuring, even though it's related right now, but re-shoring meaning that a lot of companies, for example European companies, they look at bringing their production home from offshored nations, for example, back into Europe. And of course, we see the same happening in the US, where part of their supply chain or the move is that the shift is that the movement has started to go back to the US. So this is indeed things that are happening at the same time. So I think the importance again you touched upon it but the transparency between and how all of these supply chain are connected, to understand how the moves that one company is making on their supply chain will affect all the other supply chains.

Peter Warren:

That's really good. We'll pick up in part two on this discussion with Helena and we'll talk about how we see some of this affecting direct clients of ours, what they're doing, and we'll come back to you in part two. Thank you everyone. Bye-bye.

Charley Wark:

Thank you.

Head Shot

Peter Warren

Host
Head Shot

Peter Warren

Host
Head Shot

Charley Wark

Guest
Head Shot

Helena Jochberg

Guest

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

Energy Transition Talks Artwork

Energy Transition Talks

CGI in Energy & Utilities