Being known for transformational excellence is one thing, but being actively pursued by a rapidly-growing business for that very reason is quite another. Craig Jones has a long history of actioning serious change at multiple huge businesses. As Chief Supply Chain Officer at On, Jones brought all of that expertise together to tackle a serious transformation at the business’s request. Since joining On in March 2025, Jones has faced this task with the same brand of innovative leadership he’s been honing for 30 years.
The call of On
While Jones was very content at Levi’s, On began to court him, and he found himself intrigued. “On is one of the fastest-growing footwear and apparel companies. It’s growing exponentially, and that really interested me. On top of that, there was a lot of opportunity to build infrastructure. Obviously, I like to build and I like to transform. I don’t work for just any company; the product has to resonate. When you put on an On product, it does feel different. It feels premium.”
The potential for development and the amazing culture at On ultimately drew Jones in. He describes On as having an “explorer spirit”, which has supported its incredible growth in just 15 years of history. Jones took that spirit on when he approached his role, especially when it came to adjusting the core fundamentals of On’s supply chain.
“When you’re growing so quickly, at rates between 20 plus percent to over 100 percent every quarter depending on the region, you have to make quick decisions in support of the customer,” says Jones. “You’re going to end up making short-term decisions. So what I saw when I came in was a very motivated team, a fantastic brand, but it needed help building scalability to grow. They were looking for somebody that had the experience to acknowledge what needed to be done and put the building blocks together, so that when we scale up, we can drive efficiency, standardisation, and processes.”
Back to basics
For Jones, it hasn’t been about rebuilding or re-engineering a team, but getting back to basics and making sure those basics are correct. “A lot of things needed to be reverse engineered, documented, and reorganised,” he continues. “We had to then drive those basics. Have we uploaded our containers? Do we have an accurate inventory? Have we shipped the product as per our service level agreement? Have we delivered on time? And then there’s getting the returns process right.
“After 30 years in the game, I would say I can walk around a warehouse and kind of smell where the problems and bottlenecks are. A lot of it is just the basics of running a distribution centre with planning. If you think about planning, there are not many companies I know that have accurate forecasting, especially with the volatility of our environment today. So it’s important to be clear on who owns what and what needs to be done by whom. A lot of it is just about discipline without being over-the-top.”
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