"ZLOG gave me the pause I needed to re-direct the trajectory of my professional life towards a truly global supply chain career"

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Mark Boyonas, ZLOG Alumni 2013 and Global Supply Chain Transformation Program Manager at Dell. See Linkedin profile

Over the past 15 years you have lived in multiple locations; The Philippines, Japan, Spain, Ireland and now US. Looking back on these international experiences, how has this impacted on the quality and expertise you display in your work?

Each country has a special place in the totality of both my personal and professional life to date. Having literally circled the globe and being immersed in varied, often contrasting cultures and working styles, I believe I have developed a more informed approach in the process of forming insights and decisions to complex problems.

It seems that the tech industry has hitched you! For a few years now, you have achieved global experience driving innovation and directing positive change in Multinational Companies such as Panasonic and Dell. What to date has been your biggest challenge? Is there a project that you feel especially proud of?
I have been fortunate to join Dell at a time when the company was just about to go private. There were a lot of changes that were being made in the way the company was doing business at a very fundamental level. I joined a team that was tasked to challenge the tried and tested Dell “Direct” supply chain model. Now that PCs have become commoditized and the vast opportunities available to expand market share with selling through the “Channel”, my team went through a sequence of projects that identified gaps in our supply chain processes, identified solutions, and enabled systems and tools that supported the company’s foray into the world of fixed goods assembly products, retail, and the wider distribution/ channel mode of reaching our customers.

Before joining the ZLOG program, you were working as Training Program Manager/Instructor in PANASONIC. How much importance would you place on a team’s efficiency in terms of the success of a project?

Efficiency is just one thing that defines success of a project. Project success is always a function of a multitude of factors and no formula is guaranteed to work all the time. In my personal experience, team chemistry and a shared passion for the project outcome/deliverables are key ingredients to leap towards success.

Back in 2012, you embarked on a new chapter in your life, enrolling as a ZLOG student. How was the experience? Did you take any fond memories away with you? Did the program help to fast-track your way up the corporate ladder?

The year in Zaragoza will always have a special place in my heart. In addition to memories of the whirlwind of activities completing the program, it was a place where lifelong friendships were formed. Despite having been a busy year, personally, ZLOG gave me the pause I needed to re-direct the trajectory of my professional life towards a truly global supply chain career.

Right after the completion of the program, you joined DELL team, one of the world's leading suppliers of PCs, as a Global Supply Chain Transformation Program Manager. Do you have a clear vision for the future of the logistics and supply chain in the electronic industry? Can you give us a bird’s eye view of the future according to Mark Boyonas?

There is a lot of consolidation happening in the PC industry. PCs are now highly commoditized, with fewer big players left in the market surviving on razor thin margins. The challenge for companies like Dell is to generate value someplace else. This can come from expanding the product offering with services and/or packaging/selling full stack solutions to large corporate customers. This presents unique challenges in designing supply chains that can support the complex sets of products and services while continuing to maintain reliability and responsiveness to customer needs.

Knowing what you know now, would you still enroll into the program if you had the chance to go back and do it over again?

Definitely! I would do the whole thing again, in a heartbeat!