About

Blaine Paxton

I have been fortunate to work across a wide variety of Supply Chain disciplines and in many different leadership roles. Some highlights have been managing a 500-employee distribution center, leading a team that recommended a nine-figure distribution center investment, and developing the supply chain strategy for a Fortune 500 company.

Supply Chain Management is my passion because of its integrated nature: finding good solutions always requires a healthy mix of quantitative analysis as well as qualitative and experiential assessment.

 

Experience


Leadership positions in Supply Chain Planning, Strategy, and Distribution Center management for leading firms:

The leading manufacturer of single-serve coffee brewers and pods

One of the world’s largest suppliers of personal and business computing systems

A $20B grocery distribution company with over 20 DCs in the United States

Supply Chain Strategy

  • Developed and managed Keurig’s 5-year supply chain planning process
  • Led the creation of 3-year roadmaps for all major supply chain functions at Keurig.
  • Defined the "Dell Operating Model" for Dell Computers to communicate the source of their manufacturing success

Integrated Supply Chain Analysis

  • Led all cross-functional supply chain analytics at C&S Wholesale Grocers, including for 6 major customer/warehouse transitions
  • Developed Keurig’s long-term distribution strategy, leading to over $100M in annual savings across manufacturing, warehousing, and transportation cost centers

Supply Chain Planning

  • Was the core Supply Planning lead on the team that implemented Keurig’s first ever Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process.
  • Transitioned Keurig from planning production on spreadsheets to using core ERP planning functionality
  • Led a project, supported by McKinsey and Company, to dramatically improve Keurig’s end-to-end S&OP process
  • Defined and managed Keurig’s 18-month production and inventory planning process
  • Led a 10-person team, implementing new SAP planning, quality, and maintenance functionality across Keurig’s seven US manufacturing sites

Customer Supply Chain Collaboration

  • Responsible for managing the Supply Chain-to-Supply Chain relationships with strategic customers, including Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, and Kroger
  • Collaborated with Wal-Mart on various supply chain initiatives, lifting shelf in-stock levels by 4 percentage points. Recognized repeatedly by Keurig’s Logistics Manager at Wal-Mart for consistency of communication, depth of analysis, and the overall level of trust in the relationship
  • Worked with the Gartner Group and other consultants to assemble a “Best Practices of Customer Supply Chain Management” presentation that was delivered at the Keurig annual Supply Chain Leadership conference
  • Conducted "Voice of the Customer" discussion sessions with Supply Chain executives at Wal-Mart, Target, and Kroger. Assembled the findings of those meetings to identify Keurig’s opportunity areas

Network Analysis and Optimization

  • Led network modeling efforts at C&S Wholesale Grocers, relying on both traditional LP-based approaches as well as routing simulations
  • Managed Keurig’s first network optimization project, which led Keurig to dramatically rationalize its distribution footprint

Distribution Center Process Improvement

  • Implemented Red Prairie’s Engineered Labor Standards at three C&S Wholesale Grocers warehouses, reducing labor expense by approximately 15%
  • Served as General Manager for a 500-employee C&S Wholesale distribution center, and introduced the first structured operating routines, KPIs, and communication processes at this facility
  • Managed the team responsible for all warehouse racking and order selection system designs for C&S Wholesale Grocers

Material Handling Automation

  • Led an 8-person team for 6-months to develop a recommendation for a nine-figure DC automation investment at C&S Wholesale Grocers. Project was presented to and approved by the company’s Board of Advisors
  • Led the financial and operational analysis for the installation of the first commercial-scale Symbotic™ robotic order selection system in a C&S Wholesale warehouse in Newburgh, New York

3PL Negotiation and Management

  • Negotiated new multi-year contracts with Keurig’s two 3PL partners, saving over $20M annually
  • Defined and implemented new metrics and operating routines for managing Keurig’s 3PL partners