Features Packaging Tissue Workforce
Pulp and paper’s future leaders: Meet Jean-Sébastien Viens

The future of pulp and paper looks bright.

Armed with a strong work ethic, initiative, curiosity, and a commitment to training and safety, the 2021 winners of our Top 10 Under 40 program are setting the bar for young professionals across the industry in management, operations, maintenance, sales, support and research.

To highlight the achievements of each individual selected for the Top 10 Under 40 list, Pulp & Paper Canada will feature one of 2021’s winners every week for the next 10 weeks. Nominations for the 2022 contest open at the end of the year.

This week, we introduce Jean-Sébastien Viens, director of demand and supply planning for Cascades in Candiac, Que.

Viens has had a busy year. As the new director of demand and supply planning for the Cascades PRO business segment of Cascades Tissue Group, responding to the COVID-19 crunch on the market has been an additional challenge.

“He is a rising star in his field of supply chain, which has clearly been one of the most important fields in 2020/2021,” says Annie Noel, Viens’ supervisor. “His strong knowledge of the tissue manufacturing operations, the equipment and the clients’ needs are assets for the corporate team.”

Viens, 34, became a Cascader in 2014 when he joined the converting plant in Granby, Que. as a production planner. In just over a year, he’d been promoted to corporate planner, a position he held until right before COVID hit. Now, as director of demand and supply planning, Viens oversees a team of production planners, distribution planners and demand planners across five conversion plants and seven warehouses.

Noel says Viens is a proponent of using technology to simplify and enhance experiences for staff and customers alike. After the company implemented a SAP IBP tool, Viens recorded training videos for staff. “His goal was to promote and drive better planning to leverage production efficiencies but also to meet customer expectations,” she says. “Learning and sharing knowledge is important to Jean-Sébastien.”

Viens, who recently achieved his APICS certification from the Association of Supply Chain Management, regularly imparts his wisdom to his team via lunch-and-learn sessions.

“Jean-Sébastien embodies the value of fierce determination by continuously looking for solutions for the client and the company,” Noel says. “He is an excellent example of a young, powerful, dedicated, knowledgeable and focused employee.”

Up next: we highlight the contributions of winner Ali Elahimehr.