Mildred Zayas | Global Supply Chain Executive | Operational Excellence, Worldwide Impact, & Mentoring Emerging Leaders

Mildred Zayas, a global supply chain executive with over 25 years of experience in the medical technology industry, shares her transformative journey from her early career in Puerto Rico to leading strategic initiatives at Johnson & Johnson. She emphasizes operational excellence, supply chain optimization, and mentoring emerging leaders. She discusses the importance of continuous learning, servant leadership, and the exciting future of MedTech with advancements in robotics and AI. Mildred also highlights her passion for empowering underserved communities and her involvement in nonprofit organizations like America Needs You. 

 

Guest links: www.linkedin.com/in/mildred-zayas/

Charity supported: Feeding America

Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at [e-mail]. 

PRODUCTION CREDITS Host & Editor: Lindsey Dinneen Producer: Velentium

 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Episode 054 - Mildred Zayas

[00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world.

[00:00:09] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them.

[00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives.

[00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives.

[00:00:38] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives.

[00:00:42] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference.

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and today I'm delighted to welcome Mildred Zayas. Mildred is an accomplished leader with extensive and global expertise in strategic planning, operational excellence, and supply chain optimization within medical technology and life sciences.

Well, thank you so much for being here today, Mildred. I'm so excited to talk with you.

[00:01:15] Mildred Zayas: Thank you for the invitation, Lindsey.

[00:01:17] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. Well, I would love it if you would start off by sharing a little bit about yourself and your background and what led you to MedTech.

[00:01:25] Mildred Zayas: Of course. I'm a global supply chain executive with over 25 years of experience in the medical technology industry. I have had the privilege of leading transformative initiatives at Johnson and Johnson, where I optimize manufacturing network, particularly in Asia Pacific, resulting in cost savings, inventory improvements, improved customer service levels as well.

We also have introduced what I call the manufacturing ecosystems, which is instead of focusing on the product design on the customer only, which is important-- I'm not saying that it isn't-- but we also want to introduce a product that, of course, is high quality and dependable, but we also enhancing the efficiency and manufacturability is what is called designing for manufacturability.

Product design and manufacturing don't have to be mutually exclusive, and that is something that I definitely learned through my career. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. I'm particularl