In the world of global manufacturing, the surest route to competitive advantage is good supply chain management.
It’s a reality that has driven a massive surge in software development, and one that has shaped Alison Tyndall’s career.
The 2011 Mechanical Engineering & Management grad launched her career with global consumer goods company PepsiCo, joining the firm’s leadership development program.
“I knew I wanted to do something fast-paced and exciting, so I jumped into manufacturing,” she says.
After six years rotating through various roles to learn different elements of the company, Tyndall reached a decision point.
“I was enjoying the job but really wanted to live in downtown Toronto and didn’t love commuting to work,” she explains.
A position with Nulogy, a downtown-based tech firm specializing in agile customization supply chain software, offered a new direction.
She now works with the company’s large brand customers such as Mars, Procter & Gamble and L’Oréal, helping them to digitize and optimize their external supply chain networks.
Being part of a cutting-edge company allows her to work on exciting new projects such as the Scale.ai Supercluster Project (in partnership with the Canadian government) to advance the use of artificial intelligence in the supply chain space.
She loves the downtown lifestyle, walking to the office when she isn’t travelling to client sites as Nulogy expands globally. And she enjoys the energy of the work.
“Supply chain underlies everything, and it is constantly moving and changing,” says Tyndall. “It’s also where the smallest changes can have huge impacts on cost, responsiveness and sustainability.”
She urges students to recognize that the career world will continue to evolve quickly.
“Realize that your purpose at Mac is to learn how be curious, how to learn quickly and how to apply that to a real-world problem,” she says.
“And while you’re working on your brain, you still need to be working on your emotional intelligence because you are interacting with other people no matter what you do in this world.”