Alumni Success Story - Javier Gómez, MDSC 2025

Alumni Success Story - Javier Gómez, MDSC´25 Alumni and Spare Parts Warehouse Manager at Inditex.

"To anyone who has doubts, I would say: don’t see it as an academic burden, but as an opportunity to strengthen your own path, broaden your horizons, and prepare yourself with greater confidence for the challenges ahead in an increasingly demanding sector"

This year, Javier Gómez graduated from the Master in Supply Chain Management at ZLC. With a solid professional background and several years of experience in the logistics sector, Javier decided to take a step forward in his career and commit to continuing his education. After a period at Coferdroza, a leading group in the distribution of hardware and DIY materials, he made the leap to Inditex, where he has been involved from day one in launching the new Malpica warehouse, one of the group’s most ambitious logistics projects.
His experience is a clear example of how continuous training can boost the careers of senior professionals seeking to evolve in a rapidly transforming sector.

Javier, what motivated you to take the step of pursuing the Master in Supply Chain Management at this point in your career?
The decision to study the Master in Supply Chain Management came at a pivotal moment in my career. After several years of experience, I felt the need to make a qualitative leap in my education and stay at the forefront of innovation and trends. A turning point was the 2023 Pilot Award granted to Coferdroza, where I was working at the time. That recognition made me reflect on how logistics drives competitiveness and the importance of continuing to grow as a professional. The master’s program offered me not only top-tier academic content but also the opportunity to share experiences with a diverse group of professionals and enrich my global perspective on the supply chain. Today, I can say that this decision has been key to facing my incorporation into Inditex and my role in large-scale projects with greater confidence and perspective.

Your time at Coferdroza allowed you to gain firsthand knowledge of supply chain management in the field of hardware, DIY, and industrial supply distribution. What key lessons did you take away from those years?
My time at Coferdroza was decisive in strengthening my profile as a logistics manager. Managing a warehouse with over 25,000 SKUs, 18,000 of which were operated through an automated miniload system, allowed me to acquire in-depth knowledge of team coordination, resource planning, and process optimization. In addition, I was able to participate in fleet management, cost and delivery time reduction, as well as the application of Lean methodologies aimed at continuous improvement and operational efficiency. This combination of people management, technology, and process improvement gave me a comprehensive view of modern logistics. Without a doubt, it prepared me for much more complex and automated environments like those I now face at Inditex, where the scale of the projects requires applying all that knowledge with an even more strategic outlook.

You come with a senior profile and several years of experience in the sector. How did you experience the challenge of returning to the classroom, and what did you gain from sharing classes with peers of different ages, backgrounds, and career paths?
Returning to the classroom after so many years in the professional world was undoubtedly a personal and professional challenge. At first, I was concerned about how I would adapt to the academic pace and study methodology, but I quickly realized that the combination of theory and practice, along with the way the courses are structured—alternating subjects with heavier study loads with others more focused on projects and assignments—made it much easier to adapt to the program’s rhythm, even for those of us balancing the master’s with a demanding professional life. For a senior profile like mine, the master’s was an opportunity to enrich my career with a more current and strategic vision of the supply chain and, above all, to connect each concept learned with real situations I had already experienced, which allowed me to assimilate theory more quickly and apply it in practice.

Moreover, sharing the classroom with colleagues of different ages, nationalities, and professional backgrounds was extremely enriching: every debate, team project, and case study became a space for collective learning. That diversity fostered a much more global vision of the supply chain and helped me open my mind to realities and approaches very different from those I was used to. In short, the master’s allowed me to rediscover the excitement of learning and prove that it is always possible to reinvent yourself and evolve, no matter what stage of your career you are in.

You have now joined Inditex, specifically the new Malpica warehouse in Zaragoza, a large-scale project with cutting-edge, robotized facilities. How are you experiencing the challenge of being part of this launch from day one, and what opportunities does it represent for you to be involved in such a strategic hub for the group’s global distribution?
Being part of the launch of the new Inditex warehouse in Malpica from day one is an experience that is hard to describe. For any logistics professional, working on a project of this scale and with such a high level of automation is a dream come true. From the beginning, I have been involved in organizing the maintenance and spare parts area, working side by side with the integrators to ensure each system operates reliably from the very start.

It’s an exciting challenge, because it’s not only about solving incidents but about creating from scratch the processes that will guarantee the operational continuity of a key hub for the group’s global distribution. For me, it means applying the knowledge and experiences accumulated over the years, but also the opportunity to grow in an environment that sets trends worldwide. Beyond the technical challenge, it is a source of enormous personal satisfaction: knowing that my work contributes to ensuring that a leading company like Inditex continues to lead through innovation and logistics efficiency is a daily motivation.

If you compare your day-to-day before and after the master’s, what differences do you notice in the way you approach your work and decisions?
More than changing the way I work, the master’s has allowed me to deepen and solidify many of the decisions I was already making in my daily work. My professional experience had given me a very solid practical foundation, but the program provided me with frameworks and tools that enable me to analyze situations more broadly and, above all, with greater confidence in the outcomes.

Today, when I make a decision, I rely not only on my experience but also on proven methods that strengthen and validate my approaches. In addition, it gave me a more global vision of the supply chain: each subject tackled issues from a different angle, which helped me connect areas that I previously saw in a more isolated way. It was especially interesting to study the Inditex case from different perspectives during the master’s, as it allowed me to anticipate how those pieces come together in a large-scale project like the one I am now experiencing.

In short, the master’s has been a complement that does not change who I am as a professional but does enrich the way I face challenges and gives me the confidence to always be one step ahead.

Finally, what would you say to other professionals with experience in logistics and operations who are considering this master’s but have not yet taken the step?
I think what holds back most experienced professionals is the doubt of whether it’s worth dedicating the time and effort to a continuous training project like this. My opinion is that the master’s does not replace what you already know, but rather enhances it. What’s valuable is that it opens new perspectives, updates you on trends, and gives you new tools, methods, and programs that enrich the way you work.

In my case, it gave me above all confidence and security, because it provided me with more analysis and benchmarking methods that I can apply daily. It also allowed me to build high-quality networking, surrounding myself with people who live supply chain management from very diverse realities. And something very rewarding was being able to share my experience with those who were taking their first professional steps: many of them were eager to learn how we apply in practice what we studied in class, both in solving exercises and projects and in making future decisions.

More than a turning point, I see it as a lever that helps me stay in continuous growth within a sector that never stops evolving. To anyone who has doubts, I would say: don’t see it as an academic burden, but as an opportunity to strengthen your own path, broaden your horizons, and prepare yourself with greater confidence for the challenges ahead in an increasingly demanding sector.