The current stage of Tejón’s career at Danone began in 1994 and coincides with the full integration of the company into Danone Group’s management model. ‘Personally, this was for me the height of my career, when I was involved in the most significant projects’. says Tejón. ‘In a period of tremendous growth for the company, I was asked to carry out an in-depth analysis of our distribution infrastructure. Our conclusions were that, at a time of accelerating concentration of sales and distribution, plus the increasing need for flexibility and speed and an ECR philosophy, we had our own network spread out with many stock-points, functional planning processes and bespoke IT solutions.
Therefore, we had to start a re-engineering process to prepare us for the future and to strengthen our structure.’
Profound change was needed and as required Tejón put in place a new organisational model to take the decision-making process (and responsibility) to the highest level possible. The Logistics Department was created with Tejón as it’s Director – a position that also meant he joined the management Board of the company.
‘The subsequent process of change was based on two premises: a transformation of the warehouse network and a strategic chnge in the physical movement of goods. We concentrated stock location, eliminated redundant elements of the supply chain and outsourced. For the new supply chain to work properly we had to regard it as ‘core business’ and look at it as if we were ourselves a logistics operator.’
Out of this was born the joint venture with Christian Salvesen in 1996. Eighteen months later this became Salvesen Logística, to which company Danone transferred it’s logistics operations.
‘It is critical to establish the strategy and objectives of service and cost. Ownership of the goods and resources is purely instrumental and doesn’t necessarily add value to the process’, says Tejon.
The second major achievement of this period was the planning and integration of an ERP structure which could integrate demand with the planning of the distribution, production and warehousing functions.
Antonio Tejon has reached many of his goals. He has created and defined the scope of his task on many occasions, heading change initiatives and he has participated in the creation and consolidation of the joint venture company, Salvesen Logistica. ‘The key points for developing a professional career is to have the opportunities to participate in interesting projects, and to have the possibility for promotion. When this happens, as it was in my case, there is plenty of motivation, long term commitment and a career can be enjoyed with no need to move to another company.’ Tejon concludes: ‘Nothing could have been achieved without the enthusiasm of a group of trained, dedicated individuals and without the active participation at the highest levels of management. In Danone’s case, we had both.’
- From 1971 to 1986 Tejón worked in the Commercial department of Danone moving all around Spain.
- In 1986 he started in the central sales department with the mission to bring it up to date. He created the Commercial Services unit which linked the organisation, management information services, credit management and training.
- By 1996 every member of the sales network was equipped with a laptop computer, and a database of the 16 million-plus sales documents generated annually was established.
- Another project directed by Tejón at this time was the transformation of the traditional sales function into a specialised system, separating and optimising sales, merchandising and distribution which formed the basis of change across the whole organisation.
- In 1999, he was named Logistics man of the Year by Logistica Transporte y Almacenaje
- Born in Santa Cruz de Mieves, Asturias, Spain
- Graduate in Business Administration ( Esade) Master in Integrated Marketing Management
- Director of Supply Chain (Southern Europe) Danone Director Salvesen Logística
- Consultant to Osiris Internet Portal
- University of Barcelona (Fundación Bosch I Gimpera): Director and Professor Of Supply Chain Management in the Agribusiness MBA course
