Carrying on the legacy of her late father, Johanna Fagerlund combines her career-long love of supply chain management with a personal passion for sustainability as our director of supply chain, logistics and distribution for Automotive Refinish in the EMEA region.
Making the Sustainability Connection
Johanna started her career in 1994 with ICI Paints in the United Kingdom after receiving her master’s degree in transport and logistics. The ICI acquisition brought her to PPG in 1999, where she moved up the supply chain ranks with increasingly senior roles. She’s been in her current position since October 2022, overseeing a 280-person team that ensures production and inventory at four plants and 50 stocking locations can meet customer demand. She’s also responsible for demand planning, transport, warehousing and ready-mix operations.
While with our Industrial Coatings business, Johanna began exploring sustainability in supply chains. Inspiration came from her naval architect father, who advocated using methanol instead of oil in ships to help address climate change.
“I had been struggling to see how sustainability connected with my work until I listened to a podcast on climate change in 2020. I discussed what I learned with my dad, finally starting to see connections to my work.”
Johanna’s father passed away shortly after that conversation.
I figured that if he couldn’t advocate for sustainability anymore, then I would. I needed to speak up and start the conversation. I had to be the change that I wanted to see.
Johanna with current and former colleagues during an anniversary celebration, golf teambuilding and COLORFUL COMMUNITIES® project
Four Pillars Support Sustainability Strategy
Johanna’s voice has been strong. While with Industrial Coatings, she implemented a tool that quantifies the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with transporting our products. The tool is now being adopted by a number of our other businesses in various regions.
“Once we have sufficient historical data using the new tool, we can make better decisions that could lower our emissions. These include how efficiently we’re loading vehicles, distances traveled and whether a product should be shipped by road, rail or sea.”
Greener logistics is one of four pillars in Johanna’s strategy to increase sustainability in Automotive Refinish’s EMEA supply chain. The second is supply chain risk management, which aims to avoid or minimize production disruptions from things like extreme weather events caused by changing climate.
The third pillar focuses on supply chain change management. New regulations, such as the European Green Deal, will determine which materials we can and cannot use to make our products. That requires modifying and developing products, with supply chain supporting those efforts. There also will be changes in our product ranges and customer demand.
The fourth pillar is the supply chain team leading by example.
We interact with so many people inside the business and along the entire chain. What if we were more knowledgeable about sustainability? We could support our plants as they look to reduce their impacts and understand what our marketing people are driving toward, such as greener packaging. We need to know what this opportunity is, what it could be and how we can manage it.
Speak Out, Act Boldly
Johanna carries her passion for sustainability beyond her day-to-day role. She and a few coworkers are exploring how to make their Rolle, Switzerland, offices more sustainable, whether by eliminating plastic or changing lighting sources.
She is active in sailing, skiing, mountaineering, mountain biking and hiking – all of which emphasize her need to be a steward of the natural environment. She chooses to live in a smaller apartment, often catches the train to work, eats less meat and buys locally. She also has a travel budget to measure carbon dioxide emissions and reduce how many trips she takes. When she does fly, she tries to go direct and then connect with trains.
In 2022, Johanna discussed the global reality and consequences of climate change and challenged participants to act at an event sponsored by the Lake Geneva chapter of the Business and Professional Women organization.
“There is a lot of information available on how to live more sustainably, and everyone needs to learn for themselves where they have the power to make a change. Each of us must start now. We can’t wait for big companies, governments or our neighbors to do it. Try to be the change you want to see!”