Michael Massetti, Corporate Vice-President of Supply Chain for Advanced Micro-Devices (AMD), gave the BHP sophomores a taste of the infinite number of variables that go into supply chain management during his visit to the BHP Lyceum course last week.
Massetti has an electrical engineering degree, and started his career with IBM working in the technology and design sector. He spent 18 years at IBM, then moved to Dell to work on product lifecycle development. One point he stressed with students was being flexible and open to learning new things. He decided not to go super deep into one particular industry, but instead left his career more open and several job moves later, he has been fortunate to take on roles he never would have imagined having.
From Dell he went to Alcatel-Lucent where he led the strategic sourcing team and the overall platform strategy team. He then joined Tekelec as VP of Global Procurement and strategy, until he was recruited away by a former IBM colleague to his current role with AMD.
Many areas fall under the umbrella of supply chain he told the students. “There are about 20 different disciplines, and you need to understand all of them on some level to be effective,” he said. Customer service, manufacturing, inventory, capacity and order-entry software were just some of the areas he cited as examples. Problem-solving is one critical skill that Massetti said he uses frequently. “No matter how a problem starts, it ends up in supply chain.” He talked about the need to be anticipatory and mitigate risk, but also be able to think on your feet and solve issues as they arise.
Originally from New York, Massetti is a fast-talker and a fast-thinker. He is also very engaging and has a dominating presence, which has no doubt come from years of management at a high level. He said he believes that one can learn to be a better leader, but that he also believes that people do or do not have a propensity towards leadership from a very young age. In his current role, he leads a large global team of supply professionals. His tips for being a better leader include establishing respect and rapport with your employees, being able to communicate well, and building a plan for your employees to help them grow.