Zack Hicks: DTS is a strategic function for our company, and in recent years, we’ve concentrated on moving towards a product and platform strategy that allows us to achieve economies of scale. Kimberly-Clark operates in more than 50 countries, and DTS has IT leaders in our business offices and manufacturing plants, which are typically located near our consumers. We also have several global digital and technology centers in strategic locations, including multiple sites in the United States, as well as Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Poland, the UK, and India. So we truly are a global company, with team members around the world. While we do have people that are regionally focused, the remainder of my roughly 1,400 direct team members are working on a global scope, for global programs.
Part of our DTS strategy has involved realignment, with about 200 members of my central team re-focusing to be more aligned with the business functions. Most of those are Data and Insights professionals, to ensure our business can leverage analytics as fast as they need to, particularly around consumer, competitive, and internal data insights.
We’re also hyper-focused on modernizing and leapfrogging our supply chain capabilities, with an eye toward potentially extending our supply chain into our commercial partners. That is a game changer in the CPG industry.
