Mark Hilborn is the vice president of logistics for PETCO Animal Supplies. He is a member of RILA's Logistics Steering Committee and Supply Chain Leaders Council.
1. Tell me about your first job in retail.My first job in retail was with Sears in its newly established Automotive Parts and Tire Distribution Network. This came after 20 years of supply chain operations in the military where the customers were soldiers in fox holes.
2. What excites you most about the field of supply chain?People. Regardless of the systems, design of the network or mix of product, it is the people who provide the innovation, flexibility and execution needed to make the supply chain succeed.
3. What is the biggest challenge your supply chain department faces right now?In my three years with PETCO, the company has invested in the infrastructure of the logistics network, and we have made great strides in improving service to the stores, while reducing expenses. The biggest challenge is for continuous improvement in logistics expenses and inventory turns, while sustaining or improving those service levels. The positive culture of the organization has played, and will continue to play, a major role in the team’s ability to succeed and make the fundamental structural/system changes to drive improved in-stocks, with reduced landed cost.
4. What new or recent trend will have the biggest impact on supply chain, and why?While not new, it has to be end-to-end visibility of the supply chain. Whether it is managing inventory, expense, or the customers’ expectations with store in-stock, visibility of product in the supply chain is critical.
5. Who do you feel is the most influential person in the supply chain field, and why?The customer. Businesses succeed by responding to the demands of the customer. The supply chain processes must be nimble enough to respond to these changing needs of the customer, and by extension, the needs of the business.
6. What is your favorite quote?“Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.” By H. Jackson Brown Jr.
7. What’s your favorite non-job-related pastime? Time with family, golf (which I am not good at), board games, or a good movie.
8. What’s one thing your co-workers don’t know about you? I had a soccer scholarship in college.
9. What book are you currently reading?I am currently reading The Ascent of Money, by Niall Ferguson.
10. If you could invite any four people (dead or alive) to a dinner party, who would you invite and why?My wife’s parents and my parents, who never had the opportunity to meet each other.
Bonus: Are you a dog, cat, bird or fish person?I have been a pet parent to numerous dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, snakes…well, the list goes on. Currently we have two dogs, one part Chow, part Labrador, and a German Shepherd, as well as a Persian Blue Point cat.