Raquel Taylor – Leading the implementation and management of complex global supply chains

As a seasoned executive with over her 20 years’ international supply chain and logistics experience, Raquel Taylor has a proven track record in the implementation and management of global supply chain operations in large complex organizations, which include the Australian Defence Force, U.S Department of Defense, U.S State Department and the United Nations.

“The experience of working in over 25 countries allowed me to appreciate the complexities of truly global supply chains. Operating environments were fast paced and time critical with the associated challenges of working across borders and in countries that lacked infrastructure,” Raquel explains.

raquel

In her role as National Warehouse and Distribution Manager at Caltex Australia, Raquel provides leadership and direction to ensure safe, efficient and cost-effective operations of all distribution warehouses and lubricant supply chain logistics to enable products to be delivered on time, in full to the required quality that meets customers’ expectations.

When asked about her biggest career achievement to date, Raquel points to her involvement in the bid process, implementation and management of the U.S State Department Global Security Equipment contract.

“This involved the coordination of multiple prime contractors to ensure the timely supply and distribution of critical security equipment to over 200 U.S Embassies and Consulates worldwide,” she says.

Raquel found coordinating the humanitarian disaster relief supply chain in support of the United Nations following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti to be the most challenging role that she has navigated to date.

“It was challenging due to the urgency of getting equipment and supplies, coordinating up to 50 different agencies’ requirements, whilst also dealing with the tragedy and living conditions on a personal level. Focus and Determination helped my team and I to overcome the challenge,” Raquel says.

In terms of inspirational people that Raquel looks up to, she points to Former U.S Secretary of State and Chief of Staff Colin Powell, who said that “leadership is an art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible”, and “a dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.”

Technology is having an increasingly rapid impact on the supply chain and logistics sector according to Raquel, which can be exemplified by recent advances made by electric car manufacturers.

“The buzz around electric cars changing the energy industry’s landscape could soon be moving from hype to reality, disrupting the oil market to the tune of millions in supply. Research by the think tank Carbon Tracker Initiative and Imperial College London suggests that demand for as much as two million barrels a day of crude oil could vanish by 2020. In the longer run, the quantity of crude oil no longer in demand could rise to 25 million by 2050, the report suggests. This comes as the electric car market grows steadily. Manufacturers have continued to make technological improvements and drive down costs, and uptake rates globally have been on the rise,” she says.

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