A coffee with… Silvia Marín – Directora de logística de Conforama

Biography / Supply Chain Director – Luxury Division Iberia

Graduate in Statistics from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and Master in Supply Chain Management from ICIL and ELA (Institute for Careers and Innovation in Logistics & Supply Chain and European Logistics Association). Silvia Marín has been Logistics Director at Conforama Iberia since 2018. Trained in Lean Management, she has more than twenty years of professional experience in product logistics in areas such as FMCG, pharmaceuticals and retail.

Logistics & Automation: What does it mean to be Logistics Manager at Conforama? Describe your day-to-day life

Silvia: For me, it means having a great responsibility, as it involves paying special attention to all the work processes, from planning and coordination with the team, transport control and product distribution, to inventory management and supervision of this area. But, at the same time, it is a great satisfaction to see how our work pays off, as we strive to offer a closer and more personalised service to our customers.

Our day-to-day work begins with a review of the previous day’s figures and indicators. We make a status report where we set the objectives for the day and the week. On the other hand, we attend our ongoing project meetings and we also focus on finding new ideas and projects to improve the quality of our service. At the end of the day, our job is all about making decisions that involve improving the supply chain.

Logistics & Automation: Taking into account your extensive professional career in the world of logistics, what do you think have been the biggest challenges you have faced and what projects do you remember or would you highlight in your professional career?

Silvia: Although it is true that during the twenty years that I have been working in logistics there have been many situations to manage in order for everything to go ahead, my greatest challenge has undoubtedly been managing to adapt to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 health crisis. When the total confinement of the population was ordered and everything came to a standstill for several months, it was a real challenge for us to find alternative ways of continuing to sell and deliver the product to our customers. In addition, we were in the middle of the construction of our current logistics platform in Llíria or CDC (Conforama Distribution Centre), whose start-up date was immovable. The effort of the entire team to complete the project according to the established plan was a monumental task. And then there was the challenge of procuring goods to fill it from suppliers who were unable to deliver, both by land and sea, as it was not possible to move around and the ports and airports were closed.

However, the whole situation brought us one positive thing: logistics was no longer the great unknown for customers and became a highly demanded service.

Logistics & Automation: In terms of sustainability, what are Conforama’s environmental commitments and how do they affect the logistics department, and how do you work to reduce your footprint on the planet?

Silvia: At Conforama we have a clear environmental commitment that is reflected in our daily operations and has a direct impact on the logistics department. To do this, we work in different ways:

The first is to reduce plastics in our operations, especially in the delivery of products. This means that we in logistics have to look for other ways to reduce the use of plastics in packaging and transport of products. Therefore, we are trying to work more with recyclable wood and cardboard.
Secondly, changing our fleet of own vehicles to hybrids and planning more efficient delivery routes in order to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce the carbon footprint of our activities.
And third, improving the energy efficiency of our shops and warehouses by installing solar panels. In fact, our first self-consumption energy installation is being prepared at the Conforama Distribution Centre in Llíria.