Session Title 

Manual to Modern: Building a Supply Chain for Growth

Session Description 

Matalan’s supply chain has evolved from a predominantly manual operation into a modern, increasingly automated and resilient network. This session explores the thinking behind that transformation: how priorities were set, investment decisions made, no-regret spend identified, benefits achieved and major change delivered across a live operation, while continuing to protect service and build capability for future growth.

About John Smith 

John is Head of Supply Chain, Solutions and Systems at Matalan, responsible for shaping and delivering the strategic future of the company’s end-to-end supply chain. His role spans network design, warehousing, automation, systems, fulfilment and third-party logistics, with a focus on building scalable, resilient capability to support long-term growth.
He has a proven track record of leading complex, large-scale transformation, including the evolution of Matalan’s logistics operation from a predominantly manual environment into a modern, increasingly automated end-to-end network. This has included major investment in warehouse automation, distribution centre capability, WMS development, operating model redesign and future imports and fulfilment strategy.

Working across Finance, Operations, IT and senior leadership, John translates complex operational challenges into clear strategic choices, investment cases and executable plans, combining long-term thinking with practical delivery to improve capacity, service, efficiency, resilience and scalability while ensuring the supply chain remains an enabler of Matalan’s future growth ambitions.