Interview Story - Took Initiative
When I was working for BlackBerry as Team Lead of Supply Chain Specialists, my team was responsible for managing the factories of outsourcing partner Celestica, who was one of the manufacturers of the CURVE smartphone. After the production launch, demand started to increase exponentially, beyond what had been anticipated. Within 3 months, it was double the forecast provided to Celestica.
Our manufacturing partners started to compete for the same components and the vendor’s production capacity was so tight that BlackBerry needed to do component allocations between different manufacturers. The communication regarding supply risks and shortages with BlackBerry commodity managers in charge of the supplier’s capacity had to be very clear, accurate, and updated daily.
Celestica Monterrey received an increase in forecast of 1 million units within one quarter and escalated to BlackBerry senior management they cannot execute the plan if they don’t get immediate help and support from BlackBerry.
At that time, there was an ongoing war with the drug cartels in Mexico and BlackBerry had a ban on traveling, so it was very difficult to visit the factory. Despite the situation, my manager convinced the BlackBerry CEO of how critical was my trip for the business’s success. So, I was assigned and approved to travel to Monterrey, Mexico.
Initially, the trip was supposed to be for 2 weeks to resolve the most urgent issues. When I got to Celestica, I set up a “war room” where I was working closely with Celestica Planning and Purchasing managers, buyers, operation managers, multitasking between updating reports and escalations on conference calls directly with vendors, with BlackBerry commodity managers, and the other outsourcing partners. I performed real-time material allocations, expedited orders with suppliers, and stock transfers from other partner factories.
After 2 weeks, Celestica asked my manager to extend my stay, so I ended up staying for 4 weeks. In the end when I left they praised my work ethic and dedication and asked if I didn’t want to stay permanently, even offering me a job (jokingly). Eventually, Celestica managed to support most of the forecasted increase (80%) during the quarter and together we implemented a plan for delivery of the rest of the units one month later.