I’m Marcia
a supply chain and procurement consultant with finance background, speaker, author, and with a relentless commitment of realizing the massive impact of supply chain in EBITDA, revenues, cost, and cash flows for fast-growing CPG companies.
Customer Testimonials
"Marcia is a highly skilled professional in Supply Chain, her support has been key to overcome critical aspects of our Procurement Operation. We worked together developing processes and tools, with her support we were able to automate complex processes transforming them through easy-to-operate tools that have given us accurate and reliable results. Her commitment to our Company was remarkable, Marcia has a great willingness to share her knowledge, it was a real pleasure to work and to learn from Marcia."
Jose Antonio Laparte,
Sr. Procurement Manager
Amplify Snacks Brands at the Hershey Company
"Marcia brought a high level of expertise and diligence to our project at Lindt, helping to define and validate requirements for our supply-chain planning project. Her experience proved invaluable to quickly deriving, researching and making recommendations as to how we would proceed in our software selection process, while using existing materials and creating her own. I would highly recommend Marcia for other supply chain projects, especially for CPG or other manufacturing clients. "
John Vaughan
Business Systems Analyst at State of Wisconsin Investment Board (Former IT Data Analyst at Lindt Chocolates)
"I worked with Marcia at Cummins within the Indirect Purchasing department for over 4 years. In that time period I was able to witness Marcia's unprecedented work ethics. She typically sought out the more challenging sourcing projects and would work tirelessly until the project was completed. Marcia's sourcing pipeline was filled with examples of best practices for her peers to follow. She was also thorough, tough, and fair with her supplier negotiations. If our team needed a Sourcing Manager to work on a complex negotiation, Marcia would always be my first choice."
Yancey Jones, MBA, CPSM
Sourcing Director at Cummins Inc.
"Marcia is results-driven, strategic, and focused on cost savings. She has strong, practical experience with Six-Sigma tools and processes to receive valuable results to the bottom-line. She is a pleasure to work with and willing to do whatever it takes. "
Mark Farney
Recruiting Manager at Cummins Inc.
"It is my great pleasure to reflect on Mrs. Williams outstanding performance over the 12mo+ time she had worked for me at my SME Multinational Life Sciences company. Marcia was responsible for designing, developing, and implementing our new ERP system, SAP B1. She offered to see through this project along with critical auxiliary issues related to accounting and the development of a multimedia training and development course for my employees. She traveled frequently on our behalf and aways in the best of spirits. She saw to that all of our needs were met at a fraction of the price of our previous SAP B1 consultancy firm. "
Michael Benz
Transitioned Chair & CEO of an SME Life Sciences Multinational to Leader of Citizen Warrior, Emergent Tech's Sole Digital Shield.
I am proud of having helped Fortune 500 and high-profile companies and brands including Amplify – Hershey’s Salty Snack division, Lindt Chocolates, Coty – Covergirl and Sally Hansen – Alcoa, and Cummins Inc, among others.
Through our consulting services on supply chain transformations and our corporate training – actionable workshops and keynote speaking – I help supply chain teams like yours to build and sustain a usm – unstoppable, scalable, mindful – supply chain with impactful results in your P&L, balance sheet and cash flows statement.
Some Companies & Brands We Have Helped
Your accent doesn’t sound from New York. Where are you from originally? I often get this statement and question together.
Up to date, nobody has guessed on the first attempt! I came to the US in August 2003 from Uruguay, a tiny country in South America that borders Argentina and Brazil. You may have heard about it because of soccer or mate, the typical drink. Nonetheless, I must admit that I haven’t tried mate in my life!
Michigan State University – a top ranked university in Supply Chain – opened the doors for me to the adventurous and exciting world of supply chain. This was a whole new career path, as my bachelor’s degree and experience were in Accounting. In East Lansing, MI was also the first time I saw the snow falling. This happened on my birthday, on November 13th. Certainly, an unforgettable birthday present!
Greater
EBITDA
Revenue
Increase
Cost
Reduction
Improved
Cash Flows
Working
Capital
You may be wondering why this big switch. Over 2 decades ago, I was enjoying working on financial statements to measure the value created, but, I wanted more. I was looking for more action in creating such value. I wanted a change. As you can note, I got plenty and at the same time! I changed country – from Uruguay to the States; language – from Spanish to English, and field – from Accounting to Supply Chain.
All these changes happening together were challenging but helped me build character, gain wider and new perspectives to embark on greater challenges that were, at the same time, the most amazing opportunities.
Starting in the Procurement area, I had jobs in Corporate America in Fortune 500 companies in the manufacturing industry. I had roles in planning, logistics – shipping, warehousing, and operations.
Having experienced many major supply chain transformations as a practitioner in supply chain enabled me to gain knowledge on what works and what doesn’t.
This is how USM Supply Chain (Legal name U.S. Merco Trade International LLC) emerges. It is a new consulting approach – result-oriented and actionable – from an Accountant that turned into a Supply Chain practitioner that has been in the trenches for almost 20 years. I get in the weeds to think how your team can achieve more.
An example of actionable consulting is building a macro that gathers data from multiple Excel spreadsheets into one, requiring 5 minutes to run instead of 4-5 hours in putting the information together, and improving data accuracy to 98%. With this example of process optimization, you can see that you obtain tangible results.
I have found that many times the ERP – SAP, JD Edwards, Infor, Macola, Microsoft Dynamics, Netsuite – and/or the supply chain planning system (Infor, Blue Yonder/ JDA, SAP APO) have many functionalities that are partially or not utilized at all. These functionalities are available and ready to use. Your team needs to know how to fully take advantage of them to perform at higher levels.
My team and I have had the highest success rates with CPG companies in food and beauty that are growing very fast, and their supply chain cannot support such a fast growth. This growth can be organic or by acquisition of new companies or brands.
If you are experiencing issues in meeting your customers’ demand or in shipping or delivering on time, these are signs that indicate that your sales have outgrown your supply chain and you are at risk of losing millions in sales. CPG companies have specific challenges including – among others – inventory, regulatory, new products, discontinuation, a strong marketing component where packaging is fundamental and different sales channels like the major retails like Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, Walgreens, ULTA (beauty), and e-commerce through Amazon and their own online store.
This is where I come in to help you build and sustain a usm – unstoppable, scalable, mindful – supply chain capable of supporting and accelerating your growth and translate into impactful results in your P&L, balance sheet and cash flows statement.
It is about processes, people and technology. To know more about how I help build a usm supply chain
You have probably noticed that I am very result-oriented and data driven. From the beginning, I didn’t have any issues in showing this analytical side. This was not the case with my creative side that I made attempts to hide in the past. I was concerned that business leaders wouldn’t consider me. I am so glad that I was wrong!
When I do consulting or when I conduct training for supply chain teams, my style is not conventional. Some love it and some don’t like it. For example, I create 2D videos with cartoons to suggest a potential solution or illustrate a business case. In my book Transforming Supply Chains with Maria, I use stories to explain supply chain transformations. For a clear and vivid representation of my style, watch my TEDx talk at Michigan State University.
If you are still here, thank you! I’d love to learn more about your business. I am based out of New York, but I have helped businesses in all the US, including Hawaii! USM Supply Chain is a certified Minority Business by the NY & NJ Supplier Diversity Council.
Ensure to subscribe to our amazing weekly content by entering your name and email in the form below. You will get meaningful and actionable insights and hints to unleash the power of supply chain and stay connected.