Unilever Investor Event 2024, Reginaldo Ecclissato, Chief Business Operations & Supply Chain Officer

In a rapidly evolving world, we are accelerating the capabilities needed to deliver operational excellence by driving net productivity, maintaining a lean and agile supply chain, and harnessing the transformative power of AI. Unilever operates 280 factories, 440 finished goods warehouses and distribution centers, and collaborates with around 1,000 third-party manufacturers to ship products to 250,000 customers worldwide. We have agile models and seven global operational hubs that ensure rigor, resilience, and cost efficiencies across the full value chain. Driven by the Growth Action Plan, we have shifted from gross savings to net savings to focus on what lands in the P&L. On material savings, competitive buying is the biggest driver—we are negotiating differently, running global tenders for plastic flexibles and using regional tenders for better price transparency. We are developing AI-powered tools like forecaster and optimizer to enhance procurement efficiency, and we have reduced over 20% of SKUs and nearly 20% of specifications in the last 18 months. Value chain interventions include backward integration in palm oil and palm kernel oil, and new sulfonation units for surfactants, with plans to extend to 10–12 more materials. In production and logistics, we are creating a lean, agile supply chain powered by data, tech, and AI. Our 'travel less and load more' program has reduced average distance per dispatch by 15% and increased truck utilization by almost 10%. AI labor planning and generative AI diagnostics drove a 4% increase in labor efficiency in 2024. We are transforming our network with cutting-edge AI and technology, future-proofing our European and North American networks in collaboration with partners like Accenture and Nvidia. At Unilever's Dum Dum factory in India, we implemented an AI-powered batch health monitoring system that reduced cost per ton. We are also partnering with Unilever's global AI lab, Horizon 3, in Toronto to explore innovative AI applications. These efforts move us closer to the 'dark factory'—a facility so autonomous it needs just one operator. This vision is already a reality at our personal care factory in Cu Chi, Vietnam. In 2024, we made significant progress driving net productivity, enhancing our lean and agile supply chain, and harnessing scaled AI. We are just getting started. That's it from me—I'm going dark.