How do you benefit from centralizing technology and innovation? [Barry Callebaut Interview]
Earlier this month our CEO, Katya Vladislavleva, visited our client Barry Callebaut Group to interview Filip Buggenhout, Director Innovation & Technology, about Smart Production and the Smart Factory of the future.
Centralizing technology and innovation isn’t the main goal in and of itself. It’s done to create benefits for organizations and their teams. This is what Filip Buggenhout from Barry Callebaut had to say about centralization.
Katya: So Barry Callebaut is a huge global player with more than 60 factories throughout the world and it is highly decentralized. Except for one function which is technology & innovation. Could you comment what is your benefit from centralizing technology & innovation and what is the role of leadership?
Filip: It requires a small team but a high level of expertise. That is what we staff globally. It's also here where we can build an ecosystem which is important for innovation. But of course we do collaborate a lot with our factories because at the end of the day innovation needs to be relevant for them.
From a leadership perspective it's really about fostering the right innovation culture and of course aligning with our key stakeholders