Hugh Williams
Hugh has been consulting in the Supply Chain sector for more than 25 years and delivered millions of pounds of business improvement to clients all over the world. Hugh’s consultancy career began in 1983 when he joined Creative Output to work alongside Dr Eli Goldratt, manufacturing guru who wrote “The Goal,” and conceived the “Theory of Constraints” (TOC), both of which the supply chain planning community have embraced as seminal bodies of work. This experience inspired and shaped Hugh’s successful consulting career and his business venture, Hughenden Consulting, which he launched in 2001.
In addition to directing and managing Hughenden Consulting, Hugh lends his considerable consulting expertise to a range of services including creating dialogue, understanding and buy-in between project sponsors and senior management colleagues. Hugh also mentors executives on how their companies can manage and even profit from organisational complexity through best practices in supply chain planning.
Hugh has earned a reputation as a lively keynote speaker and has appeared on many platforms for professional and commercial software organizations across UK, France, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
Professional organisations where Hugh has spoken include Institute of Operations Management
, Swedish Production and Inventory Management Society (SWEPIMS), Danish Purchase and Logistics Association, Institute of French Motor Manufacturers, University of Leuven (Brussels) and Supply Chain Management Forum (Finland).
Hugh has also spoken at commercial organisations like DynaSys, FuturMaster, IFS, Infor Global Solutions, Lawson, Logility, Oracle, Ortems, Preactor International, Prescient Systems (Acquired by Park City Group in 2009), Ross Systems (Acquired by CDC Software in 2004),STG Ltd (Acquired by Manugistics in 2001), Sterling Commerce, Syncron. Most recently:
Hugh is also in demand as a professional Chair in specialist conferences including:
- Nov 2009 - Sterling Commerce, Supply Chain Visibility, Oxford (Speaker and Chair, change management)
- Feb 2010 - Infor Global Solutions, Supply Chain Management User Groups, Amsterdam and Birmingham (speaker and chair, supply chain planning and change management)
- May 2010 - 11th European Supply Chain Technology Forum, Amsterdam; Supply Chain Planning and Change Management (Speaker and Chair)
- Nov 2010 - European Chief Supply Chain Officers Forum, Brussels (chair)
- Feb 2011 - 12th European Supply Chain Technology Forum, Amsterdam; Supply Chain Planning and Change Management (Speaker and Chair)
Hugh is a regular columnist for in Food Manufacture magazine and contributes frequently to various industry journals.
“Setting up Hughenden allows me to focus on the most challenging aspects of change; the people and processes in Supply Chain Planning, where the real benefits lie. It is something of a return for me to the early days with Eli of persuading people why and how to change for greater effectiveness. You can buy all the technology in the world and you can design really effective processes all you like, but you will always fall short of the mark if you don’t have the buy-in and acceptance of those people who need to learn how to work in a different way,. That’s where Hughenden Consulting really excels.”
Click here to view Hugh’s public LinkedIn profile
Education / Languages / Organizations
- BA (Hons) French and Management Studies, University of Leeds
- Fluent in English, French and German; conversational in Italian
- Institute of Directors (IOD) member
