Supply Chain Tribe by Celerity November - December 2021

SUPPLYCHAINTRIBE.COM November - December 2021 Volume 5 Issue 6 For private circulation only

INDIA’S SUPPLY CHAIN REVOLUTION Industry veterans offer exciting facets of post-pandemic new-age supply chains.

INDIA’S GROWING ROLE IN A DIVERSE GLOBAL MARKET India Inc. gets ready to lead the growth story on the global stage with the supply chain leading the battalion.

A TOAST TO THE SUPERS – ACHIEVERS & STARS The Celerity Supply Chain Super Stars & Super Achievers are young minds facing challenges with innovation and ingenuity, and a vision to succeed.

CONTENTS

November - December 2021 Volume 5 Issue 6

8 | COVER STORY

A TOAST TO THE SUPERS – ACHIEVERS & STARS In an ode to cherish precious moments and offer Supply Chain Supers an incredible growth path, Cover Story presents their poised supply chain innovations that have helped achieve tangible gains in their respective organizations. These innovations are also future-forward supply chain best practices for companies to follow and shape up their exciting supply chain journey.

COVER STORY

31 | INTERVIEW

22 | India’s Growing Role in A Diverse Global Market

Empowering Sustainable Growth in Chemicals Industry

Our second-panel discussion threw interesting facets that India Inc. is adopting to lead the growth story and making a case for Global Leadership.

“We aim to serve domestic and export markets, thus complementing the ‘Make in India’ initiative and empowering sustainable growth for a safer and brighter future,” shares Maulik Patel, CMD, Meghmani Finechem Ltd.

27 | India’s

Supply Chain Revolution

During the Celerity Supply Chain e-conference & Awards 2021, industry veterans brought out exciting facets of new-age supply chains, which are tech-driven, agile, sustainable, and resilient to deal with any eventualities.

4 | FOCUS

Coming Full Circle in Agricultural Supply Chains In this article, Dr. Rohit Sharma, discusses how digital technologies can enhance circularity in the agricultural supply chains and pave the way for sustainable agricultural practices.

35 | OPINION

Public Funded E-commerce Platforms – Growth Catalysts for Farmers Dr. Aman Dua, Assistant Professor (FBMED), NIFTEM, Sonepat, highlights the much-needed intervention by the Government to bring the agricultural produce on the e-commerce radar and provide farmers their due credit.

38 | RECAP

Trending Globally Snippets of some of the most interesting initiatives from around the world.

Editor: Prerna Lodaya DISCLAIMER: This magazine is being published on the condition and understanding that the information, comments and views it contains are merely for guidance and reference and must not be taken as having the authority of, or being binding in any way on, the author, editors, publishers who do not take any responsibility whatsoever for any loss, damage or distress to any person on account of any action taken or not taken on the basis of this publication. Despite all the care taken, errors or omissions may have crept inadvertently into this publication. The publisher shall be obliged if any such error or omission is brought to her notice for possible correction in the next edition.

The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private/professional capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the publisher. All trademarks, products, pictures, copyrights, registered marks, patents, logos, holograms and names belong to the respective owners. The publication will entertain no claims on the above.

No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission of the publisher. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Mumbai only.

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SHAKTI TO SUPPLY CHAIN AND LOGISTICS Dear Readers, A critical enabler of a country’s rapid economic growth has been reduction in logistics costs and boosting export competitiveness. The Government of India announced the GatiShakti Plan where 16 ministries and departments work in close coordination and collaboration, with one centralized portal, to bring in an efficient multi-modal transport network. The overarching master plan hopes to enable a seamlessness within multiple departments to speed up a world class, seamless multi-modal transport network in India. Digitisation will play a big role in ensuring timely clearances and project monitoring.

We will be keenly watching over the progress and reporting it. Though we do know that by the time our 40-under-40 Supply Chain Super Achievers take senior leadership positions, India would boast of a world class logistics infrastructure. This year our 30-under-30 Supply Chain Superstars and 40-under-40 Supply Chain Super Achievers won on the back of new age innovations in the pandemic times. Read about their achievements in our Cover Story.

Keeping in mind the theme of new age innovations, industry leaders share their secrets to making supply chains tech-driven, agile, sustainable, and resilient to deal with any eventualities. In another discussion, learn what India Inc. is doing to lead the growth story on the global stage.

This issue also has interesting articles on agricultural supply chains and the required intervention from government to give farmers their due credit.

As usual, this issue has articles, interviews and opinions covering a diverse range of best practices.

We hope you find this useful in improving your supply chain in some way.

Since we now meet in January 2022, Happy Holidays to you!

Charulata Bansal Publisher Charulata.bansal@celerityin.com www.supplychaintribe.com Published by Charulata Bansal on behalf of Celerity India Marketing Services Edited by: Prerna Lodaya • e-mail: prerna.lodaya@celerityin.com Designed by: Lakshminarayanan G • e-mail: lakshdesign@gmail.com Printed by: Xposures, A 210, Byculla Service Industrial Estate, D K Cross Road, Byculla, Mumbai- 400027.

Logistics Partner: Blue Dart Express Limited

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3

FOCUS

Coming full circle in agricultural supply chains Of late, the planet is facing serious problems of sorts such as global warming, natural disasters, and unsustainable production and consumption practices, which have put the global supply chains under constant threat. Adding to it, our linear business models worsen the situation on the sustainability front. Other sectors included, the agricultural supply chains are critical for ensuring food security of a nation and these are marred by issues such as cropland reduction, supply-demand imbalances, and a fierce competition for resources. Therefore, a paradigm shift is required from the current linear practices to circular economy practices. The article discusses how digital technologies can enhance circularity in the agricultural supply chains and pave the way for sustainable agricultural practices.

T

HE Agricultural Supply Chains (ASC) organizations can leverage various CE business models (such as ReSOLVE: Regenerating, Sharing, Optimizing, Exchanging, Virtualizing, and Cycling of Materials; various R strategies such as Reuse, Reduce, Recycle, Remanufacture, and Refurbish) for implementing CE practices.

The adoption of CE practices will result in creating a regenerative economy.

Technologies such as blockchain have provenance feature and can help in improving produce traceability, thereby effectively reduce food frauds and improve product recall.

It is estimated that with the current linear practices, the world will soon run out of steam and therefore, a paradigm

4 CELERITY November - December 2021

shift is required that focuses on the circular models instead of wasteful linear ones.

Studies have highlighted that industrial operation in various sectors across the globe are majorly responsible for resource depletion/ scarcity and environmental degradation. The recent pandemic has highlighted how fragile global supply chains are: economic slowdown, flatlined trade across geographies due to global lockdown, reduced order volumes, and payment delays to name a few. The need of the hour is a resilient business model that will lead to sustainable growth while optimizing resource utilization.

With meteoric urbanization, everincreasing population, and global phenomena such as climate change and environmental degradation, it is high time that business models in India move

Dr. Rohit Sharma holds a Ph.D. in Operations and Supply Chain Management from the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai. His research interests include agricultural supply chain operations, sustainable operations, and he is currently exploring the applications of industry 4.0 technologies in agricultural supply chains. He has worked previously with India’s number one agricultural commodities exchange, National Commodities and Derivatives (NCDEX) Limited. At NCDEX, he and his team pioneered the RFID project and successfully executed the one of its kind, RFID tagging of agricultural commodities.

towards circular economy (CE) practices.

The sustainability of Agricultural Supply Chains (ASC) in India is a major concern for a variety of critical stakeholders.

With the current business models and the technologies, it is very uncertain that the food security and safety of the current and the future generations will be met. Various supply chain shocks and supply-demand imbalances challenge the affordability of food by certain masses.

It is reported that annually, the ASCs lose produce to the tune of US$143 million annually and majority of these losses take place in the initial phases of the ASCs (i.e., from production to distribution). This wasted food not only produces a humongous carbon footprint (46.5 MT) but wastes a lot of scarce resources. Lack of information uptake,

FOCUS Usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms for accurate forecasting will help in bridging the supply-demand gaps, thereby optimizing resource usage in production processes. This will further reduce the supplydemand uncertainties. In the packaging phase, eco-friendly packaging material can be selected during the procurement phase and therefore, more focus can be laid on the package design and material for making it recyclable and reusable.

During transportation, GPS/ GIS enabled route planning can optimize resource consumption and help in reducing the carbon emissions. Network optimization and tracking based on Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain technology can be used for enhancing food safety and quality. The final phase consists of retail, distribution, and consumption. In this phase, effective reuse, recycling, and optimal resource usage will minimize the produce waste and improve efficiency.

dependency on existing technologies, intensive fertilizer and pesticide usage, soil degradation, lack of post-harvest infrastructure facilities, and the make, use, dispose practices are responsible for such a scenario. This brings us to a tipping point where we must switch from the linear practices to CE practices for ensuring sustainability in the ASCs. The Linear and Circular Models As far as the definitions go, a linear model relies heavily on the make-use-

dispose ideology while focusing on enhancing the resource efficiency; on the other hand, a circular model puts focus on the eco-effective utilization of resources. The circular model emphasizes on upcycling waste items for making high value products. CE is comparatively a nascent business model.

Despite being a concept and a practice that is still in its development stages, CE has captured great attention from both practitioners and academia in a

short span of time. The Ellen McArthur foundation states that CE is a restorative and a regenerative industrial system that is aimed at achieving sustainable and holistic development. Given its ability to minimize and reduce waste by closing the resource circles by changing the existing business models, CE holds immense potential in transforming the path towards sustainability. Studies have also highlighted that disruptive technologies will help in enabling CE practices.

potential in transforming the path towards sustainability. Studies have also highlighted that disruptive technologies will help in enabling CE practices.

Figure 1. Different phases in the Agricultural Supply Chains. ©Rohit Sharma ASCs in India deploy more than 45% of the population across all the phases and has a variety of upstream and downstream stakeholders. A typical ASC is depicted in Figure 1. This has its own supplychaintribe.com pros and cons as many participants hamper the efficiency and competency of the ASCs. These

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FOCUS miles. Supply based scheduling practices, lean practices, and contracts can help in enhancing the risk mitigation practices, reduce food CE practices is anticipated to play a critical ASCs in India deploy more than scheduling efficiency.

wastage, enhance traceability, and food role. In the farming and cultivation 45% of the population across all the safety. phase, sustainable andwillintegrated phases and has a variety of upstream Usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms for accurate forecasting help farming practices can be implemented. and downstream stakeholders. A typical in bridging the supply-demand gaps thereby optimizing resource usage in production processes.

Soil condition-based fertilization instead ASC is depicted in Figure 1. This has its CE PRACTICES IN THE This will further reduce the supply-demand uncertainties.

In the packaging phase, eco-friendly of intensive fertilizer applications, own pros and cons as many participants ASCs: CONCEPTUAL packaging material can be selected during the procurement phaseintegrated and therefore, focus resourcemore management, hamper the efficiency and competency of FRAMEWORK and precision farming techniques the are further complicated Theand traditional ASCs can transformed canASCs. be These laid on the package design material forbemaking it recyclable and reusable.

Duringwill improve input operational efficiency. by non-standardized products and into circular ASCs wherein, inefficiencies transportation, GPS/ GIS enabled route planning can optimize resource consumption and help inThe to collective farming processes at different stages which across all ASC phases can be enhanced reducing the carbon emissions. Network optimization and tracking farmers based can on switch Internet of Things practices and rely on technology for result in poor quality and quantity of and CE inspired resource recovery (IoT), blockchain technology can be used for enhancing food safety improving and quality.

The final phase process efficiency in farming the produce, supply-demand imbalances, practices can be employed (conceptual consists of retail, distribution, consumption.

Inisthis phase, reuse, For recycling, and cultivation. sourcing, and farmers energy waste, food waste, and food and framework for the same highlighted in effective optimal Majority resource usage willinminimize produce waste efficiency.

We have can focus on the short food supply chains insecurity. of the operations Figure 2).the As depicted in Figure 1, an and ASC improve as these improve participation from the the ASCs are how unsustainable and heavily consists and of various phases and can therefore discussed technology intervention CE practices improve the operational efficiency local populations help in reducing resource intensive which highlights focus implementation CE practices is in the ASCs. We now discuss how to improve theofresource recovery across differentand ASC phases. the food miles. Supply based scheduling on linear economy practices. Therefore, required across all phases. practices, lean practices, and contracts itOn is the highimproved time that resource CE practices be recovery front: can help in enhancing the scheduling applied in the ASCs for improving the ON THE ENHANCEMENT OF Resource willoperational play a crucial role in the sustainable transformation efficiency. of the ASCs. In the resource and recovery enhancing the OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY Usage of artificial efficiencies.

Modern day information and reuse FRONT: farming and cultivation phase, of by-products and other consumed resources canintelligence improveand machine learning algorithms communication technologies (ICTs) can Usage of obsolete technologies and illresource recovery practices. Technologies such as IoT can play a major role in this case. for In accurate the forecasting will help in bridging the play a pivotal role in the transformation defined processes often hamper the production and packaging phases, resource recovery can be enhanced through reuse of bysupply-demand gaps thereby optimizing of linear ASCs to circular ASCs. The ICTs operational efficiency. Therefore, in products and waste product recycling.

Effective nutrient recyclingresource will also help in improving usage in production processes. will increase the ASC responsiveness and order to transform and incorporate resource recovery.

CE practices will helppractices in effectively closingThis the will nutrient, further material, reduce the and supplyflexibility, improve resourceThe optimization sustainability in the ASCs, uncertainties.

In the packaging and profitability, costs, activities improve energy loopsreduce through such asofreducing the over and usagedemand of raw materials, actively adoption disruptive technologies

reusing the materials, recovering materials, and recycling them. It is anticipated that CE practices can improve sustainability holistically across all three dimensions viz. social, economic, and environmental. In the transportation phase, recycle and reuse of waste due to transport activities can be carried out. Resource optimization, looping, and regeneration are some of the prominent CE practices which can enhance resource recovery in the ASCs.

Figure 2. CE practices in the ASCs. ©Rohit Sharma

6 CELERITY November - December 2021

FOCUS Agricultural Supply Chains lose produce to the tune of US$143 million annually and majority of these losses take place in the initial phases of the ASCs (i.e., from production to distribution). This wasted food not only produces a humongous carbon footprint (46.5 MT) but wastes a lot of scarce resources. Lack of information uptake, dependency on existing technologies, intensive fertilizer and pesticide usage, soil degradation, lack of post-harvest infrastructure facilities, and the make, use, dispose practices are responsible for such a scenario. This brings us to a tipping point where we must switch from the linear practices to CE practices for ensuring sustainability in the ASCs.

phase, eco-friendly packaging material can be selected during the procurement phase and therefore, more focus can be laid on the package design and material for making it recyclable and reusable.

During transportation, GPS/ GIS enabled route planning can optimize resource consumption and help in reducing the carbon emissions. Network optimization and tracking based on Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain technology can be used for enhancing food safety and quality. The final phase consists of retail, distribution, and consumption. In this phase, effective reuse, recycling, and optimal resource usage will minimize the produce waste and improve efficiency. We have discussed how technology intervention and CE practices can improve the operational efficiency in the ASCs. We now discuss how to improve the resource recovery across different ASC phases.

ON THE IMPROVED RESOURCE RECOVERY FRONT: Resource recovery will play a crucial role in the sustainable transformation of the ASCs. In the farming and cultivation phase, reuse of by-products and other consumed resources can improve resource recovery practices. Technologies such as IoT can play a major role in this case. In the production and packaging phases, resource recovery can be enhanced through reuse of by-products and waste product recycling. Effective nutrient

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recycling will also help in improving resource recovery. The CE practices will help in effectively closing the nutrient, material, and energy loops through activities such as reducing the over usage of raw materials, actively reusing the materials, recovering materials, and recycling them. It is anticipated that CE practices can improve sustainability holistically across all three dimensions viz. social, economic, and environmental.

In the transportation phase, recycle and reuse of waste due to transport activities can be carried out. Resource optimization, looping, and regeneration are some of the prominent CE practices which can enhance resource recovery in the ASCs.

feature and can help in improving produce traceability thereby effectively reduce food frauds and improve product recall. Blockchain can also be used as a tool for improving the financial inclusion of small landholders. Additionally, it can bring about market transparency and thereby progress real-time market information sharing to strengthen food security. The overall goal of implementing CE practices is to achieve sustainability holistically across all three dimensions (social, economic, and environmental).

FOOD FOR THOUGHT The ASC organizations can make use of various CE business models (such as ReSOLVE: regenerating, sharing, optimizing, exchanging, virtualizing, and cycling of materials; various R strategies such as reuse, reduce, recycle, remanufacture, and refurbish to name a few) for implementing CE practices.

The adoption of CE practices will result in creating a regenerative economy.

Technology adoption across different ASC phases will further improve resource utilization practices and improve produce safety and quality. The practitioners are therefore urged to implement CE practices in their ASCs. Technologies such as blockchain have provenance

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COVER STORY

Come October 2021, and we are back with our most coveted Celerity 40 Under 40 and 30 Under 30 Awards, where we bestow upon the younger supply chain fraternity greater admiration and celebrate their innovative streaks. Just like last year, though we hosted the event online, it was no less than a starry affair with all the winners taking away the crowning glory with pride. In an ode to cherish these precious moments and offer these Supers an incredible growth path, here’s presenting their poised supply chain innovations that have helped achieve tangible gains in their respective organizations on the back of an integrated & intelligent supply chain. These innovations are also future-forward supply chain best practices for companies to follow and shape up their exciting supply chain journey. Take a look at the promising ideas that can potentially change the supply chain landscape of tomorrow…

A TOAST TO THE

SUPERS ACHIEVERS & STARS

8 CELERITY November - December 2021

COVER STORY

40-UNDER-40 SUPPLY CHAIN SUPER ACHIEVERS 2021

Amrit Bajpai, COO, WayCool Foods and Products Pvt. Ltd.

A fragmented and disorganized supply chain has been the bane of Indian agriculture for decades. The lack of accurate on-time information to all stakeholders of the Agri value chain has forced them to work in silos, resulting in inefficiencies across the entire supply chain.

At WayCool, we have been striving hard to resolve these inefficiencies by creating a transparent ecosystem for all stakeholders and infusing new-age technologies like AI, ML, Deep Learning, and Advanced Robotics to enhance our supply chain processes by reimagining how food moves from farm to fork.

RAPID, our indigenously developed Automated SCM System, is integrated with the aforementioned technologies and our proprietary planning platform that seamlessly helps in creating an agile supply chain that is instantly responsive to market supply and demand. Here is what we have succeeded in achieving in a short span of time: 1. Reimagined Supply Chain for Fresh Produce: In our automated Distribution Centers, the inbound crates are automatically scanned and mapped against the PO, weighed, UV-scanned to eliminate contaminations, and robotically placed on conveyor belts for instant dispatch. With over 40% of the crates being processed without any human touch, we have been able to reduce our wastage to 5-8% vis-a-vis industry average of 25-30%.

Additionally, we have developed India’s first Automated Grading & Packing Machine for hard produce like onions, potatoes, garlic, and lemon that allows accurate grading of over 1.25 tons of produce per hour and automated packaging of over 20 packets per minute.

2. Reimagined Supply Chain for Staples: Frugal, need-based automation ensures 2X efficiency than industry standards. This indigenous picker App lets the picker scan produce an SKU barcode against available SOs for that specific SKU. The picker can complete picking on the handheld device itself. Once SO is thoroughly picked, the invoice is generated, and materials are dispatched.

3. Reimagined Supply Chain of FMCG Products for an FMCG Leader: Our super-warehouse leverages Advanced Robotics to automatically pack each distributor’s orders by using our Fulfilment Centers as cross-docks. Our indigenously developed IoT conveyor intuitively reads the barcode on the crate and instantly displays where the crate has to be precisely placed in the delivery vehicle.

This innovation alone has helped us to reduce our delivery times from 15 mins to a mere 2 mins, with only a staff of 2 people! All of the above have enabled us to not just reduce operational costs, but has helped us improve our productivity by 1.5X, capacity by 3X, and top line by 4X resulting in an ARR of Rs1000 crore in just 12 months!

Puneet Agarwal, Chief Manager - Strategic Sourcing (SCM ­— CP), Bajaj Electricals Ltd.

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I had initiated the idea of providing a common platform to every individual within the company and our outsourced partners to develop the concepts related to cost reduction and quality improvement. The online platform was created with the help of IT, and it was shared with everyone in the company. This has led to more than 1000 ideas contributing significant savings for the company. To evaluate and select the ideas to be taken forward, a committee was formed comprising a few team members across crossfunctional teams and decided the next course of action. Weekly meetings are scheduled with the stakeholders to chart out the implementation plan. A team was prepared to schedule personal visits at the partners and explain the importance of the initiative and how it would bring business to the organization.

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COVER STORY In my previous role, we developed real-time end-to-end tracking from Order to Delivery (including customer returns and transit damages) and enhanced visibility and service across India. This solution provided easy access and end-to-end visibility with tracking at each stage and information /communication to all stakeholders. Information flow is secured and integrated with SAP, providing status/KPI information through a userfriendly interface. ASN (Advanced shipment notification) is sent to selected customers with complete order details and estimated delivery date. Post-delivery scanned copy of POD (Proof of Delivery) is uploaded in the system by the transporter. The solution also manages customer returns (through workflow approval) as well as tracks transit damages. Warehousing and transportation KPIs like Truck placement, Loadability, Turn Around Time (TAT), Transit damages, etc., are also managed in real-time and improved through fact-based reviews with 3PLs and transporters. The system also supports calculation provision and checking transporter’s bills effectively. Entire tracking is web-enabled and can also be done through mobile phones by stakeholders.

This innovation resulted in 10%+ cost reduction through better visibility, data analytics, and optimization. It also led to sustainable improvement in on-time customer delivery above 90+%. Warehouse turnaround time compliance improved to 95+%; and registered Vehicle loadability improvement from 75% to 90%.

At Accex, we have a firm focus on our customers’ requirements. Our culture of operations and people excellence ensures that our customers’ needs always come first. We spend time and effort to figure out challenges with all our customers before suggesting a personalized solution.

In line with this ideology, we approached one of India’s leading manufacturers and exporters of footwear products to partner with them in their supply chain journey. Our customer exports to more than 80 countries. As they are located in the hinterland, they ask the shipping lines to reposition the containers for stuffing at their factories. These containers would then be transported via ICD through rail to the port for sailing.

They were facing challenges in repositioning containers at the factory for stuffing and irregular rail transit times. This resulted in extensive detention and demurrage costs while shipping exports at the source and destination ports. This also resulted in delays for export order fulfillment and hence reduction in service levels and order loss. Additionally, with the current scenario where sea freight rates are sky-high, they are looking at having multiple sea freight options to have better-negotiating power.

We designed an end-to-end solution where cargo from all the factories will be consolidated in an export warehouse near the port, and it will be fulfilled from the factories via road transport. The entire order fulfillment will be managed from this location. This has resulted in substantial cost savings for our customers. Post this, we have offered this solution to many other customers, and this has become one of the most successful growth areas for Accex, making a substantial contribution to our top line.

Ashwani Singh, Head – Supply Chain, Capital Foods Pvt. Ltd.

Aditya Sharma, Business Development Lead, Accex Supply Chain and Warehousing Pvt Ltd.

MENAP had set up a strong Cash/DIOH governance to optimize inventory across the supply network (Finished Goods, Raw and Pack Material, Engineering Spares) to mitigate the impact of COVID driven slowdowns in Q4’20 and support growth in Q1’21. Critical planning interventions through strategic FG/ R&P build-ups, critical supplier risk Management, and Key-Material planning scheduling changes led to inventory/cash reduction by 18% vs. 2020 through close collaboration across supply chain/ commercial teams.

Vignesh Vishwanathan, Product Supply Lead – Middle East North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP), Mondelēz Biscuits WLL

10 CELERITY November - December 2021

COVER STORY

Faraz Hussain, Director – Category & Procurement, AgroStar

Ravindra Agarwal, External Manufacturing LeaderFemcare, Johnson & Johnson

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The sudden outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic had been challenging for the Agri Input Industry for many reasons. Due to this woeful onset, farmers were suffering from supply shortages of fertilizers and agrochemicals. During this period, the supplies of RM were crashed, and even available product supply was rare due to disturbance in the supply ecosystem. After the announcement of nationwide lockdown in March 2020, we urgently drafted a plan of action to help farmers deal with the uncertainties. Our primary focus was to bridge the gap between the need of farmers and the adequate supply of quality Agri input to them at their doorstep without risking their life. We worked on inventory classification and demand-based prioritization at fulfillment centers, which helped to capture the product’s availability to the sales team. We reverseengineered the product supply chain and helped vendors to have a milk run for small but repeated supplies to overcome production bottlenecks.

As a firm believer in building people before business, we curated a set of experts as a procurement team who were supposed to focus on supply chain nuances, unlike category folks who gun for revenue and product margins. Due to the restrictions imposed by the government, traveling from one’s place to office or vendor location was a problem, so the team had to stay connected for several hours virtually through social media apps, Zoom, Google Meet, etc. The procurement team worked relentlessly and took conscious and calibrated measures during covid lockdowns to improve supply efficiencies like inventory days optimization and supply TAT management to have minimum demand-supply distortion.

Innovative practices were brought in product packaging to optimize cost and reduce wastages, bringing agility at supplier location. Supplier diversity was ensured to promote localization and reduce TAT. This led to minimum sales opportunity loss and drastically reduced supply distortion even during the pandemic. While the competition was struggling to register growth, our D2C model, with the help of the above initiatives, helped grow business with a stellar performance of double-digit growth in revenues.

When I completed my engineering, I knew very little about supply chain. I started my career as an Engineer in Auto Component manufacturing facility. Now after 17 year of professional graph when I look back, I can say with confidence that supply chain is the most diverse role that any professional would look forward to in terms of gaining newer experiences, insights about the whole value chain and being a valued contributor in this highly dynamic field. It’s the supply chain’s highly dynamic attribute that kept me excited every day, week months and year where everyone can have ample opportunity to have diverse experiences across pillars of supply chain.

Going ahead, I think fundamentals of supply chain will remain strong on the back of these disruptions: Standardization to Personalization: Our consumers are becoming more and more aware about what they need, how they need, when they want it and very important what aspect they want into their product. It’s no more standard product or consumer specifications. Today consumers don’t want any standard product, they want the product made as per their individual personnel specification. This will be a major paradigm shift in near future in supply chain.

Linear to Circular Supply Chain: We have always believed supply chain key pillars to be Source-Plan-Make-Deliver. The circularity aspect which was long forgotten has brought back the spotlight on sustainability, necessitating supply chain teams to think in Circular way that how they can collect the residual/waste from their consumers and bring back to the starting point “Source” to recycle or reuse to minimize the overall environmental impact. It’s all about working towards ‘Deliver to Source’ model and completing the loop.

Digitization-Big Data-AI/ML-Blockchain: Speed and precision are going to be key KPIs for supply chain in future. To enable this, digitization across leg of supply chain is going to be crucial to make supply chain much more streamlined, agile and mobile to create faster flow. AI and ML are making complex operations simple and are assisting companies in predicting consumer behavior. Blockchain technology, in next 10 years, is going to change the way we do transactions across supply chain.

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COVER STORY As Supply Chain Enabler for India Business of Legacy Arysta Lifesciences, I worked on shaping future Strategic plans for Arysta Business in India Region and Arysta India Manufacturing Unit. I worked to ensure smooth integration and Growth Strategy of Arysta Legacy Business and Arysta India Manufacturing unit with UPL India using System and Process implementation.

I lead the supply planning, integration planning & execution, and supply chain transformation initiatives of Arysta India. I worked with sales teams of different regions in ensuring smooth business during the transition period. I managed and facilitated cross-functional teams covering manufacturing, planning, sales, IT, and procurement, driving the legacy business’s capacity utilization and operational efficiency. Some of the results achieved were – improved service level, reduced inventory level, alignment of processes of Arysta with UPL, implementation of SAP APO SNP, alignment of BOM Master and Material Master for the legacy Arysta business in UPL Systems, shifting of externally manufactured products to the newly acquired plant. Total capacity utilization has gone to 7X in 3 years.

During my stint at Reliance Digital, I decided to reduce inventory, not by traditional methods of MarkDown or Return to vendor (RTV), which are primarily reactive approaches. Due to poor vendor fill rate and poor forecast accuracy, I observed that we were forced to keep high safety stock majorly for A Class items. So, I first improved the forecast accuracy through a collaborative forecasting approach. I started sharing our 13 weeks of rolling forecast with brands and asked them to update our numbers as per their stock availability for the next four weeks. Upon receiving the updated forecast (we called it RTF – Return to Forecast) from brands, we updated those numbers in our system. This ensured maximum supply from brands against purchase order & helped improve vendor fill rate.

Finally, we reduced safety stock by linking safety stock with vendor fill rate. For example, the Brand ‘X’ Fill rate was 50%. So, to mitigate the stock-out issue, we were keeping 30 days of safety stock. However, with the collaborative forecasting approach, the fill rate was improved to 70%, and with this improved vendor fill rate, we reduced safety stock from 30 days to 20 Days. We used the ‘What-if’ analysis approach to arrive at optimum safety stock.

In 2019-20, we initiated Capacity Exploitation Activity at a Supply Partner Fan factory.

The objective was to increase the production capacity with existing resources. At the time of the project initiation, the monthly capacity of the factory was less than the total requirement. We conducted a session with the factory team to understand the work timings, targeted production, and actual achievement per day and took the overview of complete end-to-end operations. Based on the inputs from the factory and taking the ToC route, we identified the constraint, which was the powder-coated blade paint shop.

We took a deep dive into the problem areas. We found many challenges the factory was facing, including the non-availability of raw material before the feeding station, workforce absenteeism, morning meeting, lunch/snack time, delay in start post-lunch.

After analyzing the cause, we derived the workable solution to boost plant productivity, which entailed that raw material should be made available before the end of the day at the riveting station so that CCR never runs idle. The factory needs to ensure buffers of riveted blades for one to two rotations of CCR. We also identified an idle machine available at the factory, which can be operated to maintain sufficient buffers before CCR to avoid any starvation. We also initiated buffers for nozzles to maintain one more set of nozzles readily available at the CCR. After implementing the above steps, the CCR capacity increased by 1,800 to 2,000 fans per day.

12 CELERITY November - December 2021

Sandeep Pratap, Lead – RM Procurement India, Asia & ASEANZ, UPL Ltd.

Vipin Magwane, Analytics & Modeling Specialist, Accenture Solution Pvt. Ltd.

Naresh Rao Manda, General Manager, Bajaj Electricals Ltd.

COVER STORY

Nirav Kotecha, Asst General Manager, Panasonic Life Solutions India Pvt. Ltd.

Mohinder Kushwaha, Business Development Lead – DGM, TVS SCS

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After successful Inventory Management and consecutive improvement in all SCM KPIs in Wires & cable and PVC Tape for 4 years, I was nominated as a Leader for the Inventory Management Project of the entire organization, which consists of 8 different Businesses. My past achievements led the management to empower me with two more business units – Switchgear & Water Heater in my Portfolio. As far as the SCM innovation is concerned, our team reduced significant inventory in 2 years after implementing and executing Core Activities. We redefined the Standard Inventory Level of respective businesses considering their challenges, capacity limitations, sales pattern, seasonality & profit margins, and approval from respective business heads, SCM heads & management. We integrated Standard Inventory level with MSL (Max and Min Stock level) at Factories, Hub & Spokes. The VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) system has been initiated at a few OEMs for high-selling SKUs. We combined vehicles of respective factories (includes an OEM) located at a 25 km radius and improved the frequency of vehicles from Factory to Hub & A-Class SKUs to few high selling spokes, which improved our lead time. We worked on the SKU Optimization Project for items not sold over 3 years by discontinuing a few SKUs. Major SKUs were converted on a Make to Order basis, which was part of Product Basket and cannot be discontinued (We started with two businesses initially). Our team also created subgroups to control & reduce unhealthy inventory like excess stock above three months, replacement inventory, old MRP, etc., and to stop the generation of Unhealthy Inventory; we started a Notification system to validate the orders if the customer is logging order more than 6 months sales (We started on a trial basis with one business).

I joined a fast-paced, growing logistics group, managing business development activities, key account management, and operations; within the first year of inception, the firm touched 1+ million sqft operational for all marquee clients. This was an unprecedented feat concerning the industry. It is imperative that we further increase the pace of acquiring customers and running effective and productive operations for marquee clients. We planned for a regimental system of detailed weekly reviews through multiple calls and meetings every month at logistic parks. We focused on making our operations world-class with productivity, processes, and performance, focusing on increasing productivity and increasing throughput using the best technologies required to run streamlined and synchronized operations. Customer First and CustomerCentric approach, understanding the customers’ pain-areas, needs and then aligning our solutions with what our customers required routed back to the customers with a unique and differential proposal that optimized their entire value chain. At the same time, it was cost-effective.

Conversion of key accounts happened as the customer got aligned and tested our customized network design, services on offering with the state of the art infrastructure, and technology-enabled solutions that were the critical differentiators, vis-a-via competitors. We took the innovative approach by hiring the best-skilled minds: operators, sales professionals, technical staff, project management team, technical minds to support the entire ecosystem with a differential edge over our competitors.

We have worked with the best industry practices in every vertical: operations, sales, solution designing, and technology. We chose the blue ocean strategy, and our goals were very well defined and aligned to our mission of reaching our target set for the next 3-5 years. We selected a location to operate the logistics parks, the following upcoming and growing smart cities that increased employment in the particular cities. We spread awareness among our customers with the benefits of starting at these identified towns and locations to save them the cost and reduce their Turn Around Time (TAT) to the end consumers, which worked in our favor. Customers too joined hands and got excited about our new initiates and supported us. We also created new logistic landscapes in certain cities that added value to the entire logistics ecosystem, improving customer experience, customer retention, and customer lifetime value.

13

COVER STORY TAML, a leading Carbon fiber composite part manufacturer, increased its revenue share from global aerospace customers. During this revenue ramp-up exercise, TAML encountered series of challenges in the supply chain, such as significant inventory holding (~30% of revenue), high inventory aging, shelf-life expiry of material, which led to disposal (> 2 crores per year) and poor procurement planning of materials. All these challenges cumulatively increased the working capital demand, making it difficult for the company to grow.

The supply chain team embarked on implementing Theory of Constraints (ToC) principles in the entire value stream to identify process improvement. We formed a task force team to look at problems through the ToC lens and prepare an action plan for the execution team. The team executed this over a year and delivered stellar results.

The inventory holding reduced by 25%, aged inventory was cleared by more than 90%, declined the shelf expiry from 2 crores to 0.4. crore per year. The overall improvement and cost reduction resulted in more than 10 crore savings, around 25% contribution to the bottom line. The supply chain created a significant sustainable impact on the business by becoming leaner and agile in managing the materials. This efficiency drive significantly reduced the working capital (20%) and released the storage space, thus decreasing overall growth CAPEX requirement. The supply chain created a visible impact on operations and helped TAML secure new projects at optimal investment.

US-based MNC India division had acquired the oral rehydration drink brand manufactured using Tetrapack technology from India business conglomerate in 2014.

The brand had grown from 80 crores to around 400 crores by 2018. Rehydration drink packs production requires a lot of paper consumption both in Tetrapack and corrugated boxes (Inner trays (27 pc /tray) and outer cartons (3 trays or 81pc/carton). For environmental sustainability and cost optimization, we explored multiple options to reduce the consumption of paper. After numerous trials and experiments, we finalized the idea of eliminating the outer shipper and converting the inner trays to complete corrugated boxes (with artworks) and selling individual trays in the market. This is when project Sahaj (Simplification, Standardisation, Sustainability) came into being.

In the above idea, the sales team objected and confirmed that they could sell only in a pack of 3 trays (as a unit of sale) to customers/distributors to avoid any negative impact on sales. So, we cannot sell individual trays by removing outer cartons. To address the above issues, we implemented external shrink wrapping the three trays (boxes). Though the idea seems very simple, it involved an investment of over 40 lakhs on two shrink wrapping machines.

It was risky to invest such a significant amount (getting regional management approvals) and sell them w/o any trials. After many vendors hopping and persistence to make the project successful, we got hold of one vendor and got the trial done of shrink-wrapping of 3 trays (as one unit). Transit trials were super successful, and product proportion aligned with the sales and marketing team of single selling units to customers (3 trays as one unit), eliminating the need for outer shippers. This exercise resulted in 2 crores + savings per year and saved the equivalent of 21000+ trees. With 50% growth in sales of this brand in the last 3 years has resulted in annual savings of over 500K USD.

Cost of distribution has been highly impacted due to steady increases in fuel prices since last year. Hence it becomes more essential to identify cost-saving opportunities.

Freight backhauling is one of the projects initiated to identify opportunities to reduce distribution costs and carbon footprints, which aimed to support Nestle Net Zeroemission roadmaps. The project was kicked off by identifying lanes and raw/packaging suppliers who had significant contributions in inbound trucks at Nestle factories. Basis the existing RM/PM freight and required truck type, I initiated the RFQ process for RM/PM freight movement from suppliers to Nestle factories with our current freight service providers. We achieved a cost reduction of $0.5 million and achieved freight backhauling in 80% of addressable lanes. This project got recognized globally as well as at external forums. We are now in discussions with a few FMCGs to integrate common lanes.

14 CELERITY November - December 2021

Veera Oruganti, Head – Strategic Sourcing, Syngene International Ltd.

Saurabh Sehgal, General Manager (SCM - Head), Kama Ayurveda

Abhishek Gautam, Senior Manager – Procurement, Nestle

COVER STORY

Akhil Damodaran, Program Lead – Emergent Cluster, School of Business, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies

Anil Shah, Manager – Integrated Solution Sales, DP World

Sushil Hinge, Manager - Supply Chain Management Doctoral Scholar - S P Jain School of Global Management

supplychaintribe.com

With no signs of relief from coronavirus and to protect India’s economy from taking a tailspin, the government announced Unlock 1.0. The challenge before the Indian Airports was to ensure social distancing and other guidelines to avoid crowds, especially at check-in counters, boarding gates, security check, pickup and drop off points, etc. To provide a solution to this, at The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, me and my team created an optimization tool called ‘AeroOpt,’ to optimize the queue management of passengers keeping COVID-19 social distancing norms. To develop the tool, we also got support from Aerotech support services to understand airport issues better. The management tool works on optimizing the airport infrastructure and staff requirements. It can improve the efficiency of counters, immigration, security, and boarding gates without compromising on social distancing norms. The tool scientifically calculates the optimum number of resources (staff, passengers, counters, queues, etc.) to be allocated to an airline in a given time so that airports follow Covid norms while knowing that they are utilizing their capacity at the level determined.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put global supply chains into the focus of a wider public. Each segment, community, or business got severely impacted due to supply chain disruptions, resulting in companies rethinking supply chains based on improved resilience, risk mitigation, and sustainability. In terms of resilience, all businesses must have visibility on their supply chain needs and velocity to swift between the alternate option to avoid the disruption. This will help to mitigate the risk associated with the business and supply chain. Supply chains have to be socially and environmentally sustainable to bring out the best from the value chain. The partnership of the supply & demand side of the value chain can make sustainability initiatives more feasible.

Overcome these challenges can help supply chains to become star performers.

We learned many things during this pandemic, and it has allowed us to work towards a more agile, robust, and sustainable supply chain. Still, there is a lot of Artificial Intelligent potential, which remains untapped. This will rapidly change over the next couple of years, especially in supply chain use cases such as decision support and automation systems. AI's ability to derive insights and make recommendations from a vast amount of data will affect how supply chains work in the future. The next phase of growth will come through the collaborative approach of everyone involved in the value chain, and technology will play a vital role in bringing it all together.

Digitalization was a luxury before the pandemic, which has become a necessity today.

When it comes to healthcare, delivery of life-saving goods is always a priority with lots of external challenges, which increased during this unprecedented situation. Moreover, there was no clarity about the status of Full Truck Load deliveries that increased the number of calls and emails from customers due to a lack of trust & transparency. We came up with the ‘Track ON’ - Live Digital Tracking of Full Truck Load Deliveries. The project is about the assigned drivers giving a missed call to a number that registers the driver’s number via SIM card. This enables us to track the registered drivers’ live location. Simultaneously, an SMS is sent to the customer with a link that tracks the driver’s exact location. This project was live on October 2, 2020, on account of Gandhi Jayanti with the symbol of Mahatma Gandhi’s spectacles as the theme of ‘Transparency.’

It won the hearts of many customers as the trust increased due to transparency and accuracy. Currently, this service has almost 99% utility and has drastically reduced unwanted calls about shipment status and late deliveries.

15

COVER STORY

30-UNDER-30 SUPPLY CHAIN SUPERSTARS 2021 The pandemic has shown that supply chains are not enough to be resilient; they must also be highly agile and dynamic to serve customers even in the most adverse conditions. The world is slowing down as a result of supply chain redundancies today.

We will only achieve the highest responsiveness, resilience, and true innovation if we eliminate these redundancies and transition to an automated workflow.

At Mate Labs, we strive to bring tomorrow’s technological innovations to combat today’s supply chain challenges. With our core AI approach, we created the world’s fastest AutoML technology, which has even been recognized by Google. Mate Labs was chosen as the only Indian start-up to participate in Google Demo Day Asia in 2019.

We help bridge the supply-demand gap with this core AI approach by allowing supply chains to reduce response time from 3 – 4 months to the near real-time response. We are able to empower and strengthen our customers’ supply chain planning decisionmaking through accurate forecasting. This allows our solutions to be unrivaled in terms of speed and accuracy. Today, we help Fortune 500 companies with predictions that are real-time and 100X faster than traditional methods. This provides businesses with a 15%-40% increase in planning/forecasting accuracy. A 5% increase in forecast accuracy improves the bottom line by 1%, adding millions of dollars to the bottom line by focusing on data-driven planning.

Over the next five years, our goal is to automate the entire supply chain by forming the right partnerships, increasing the flexibility of our solutions to adapt to different verticals, expanding to new markets, and making sales easier. We have already automated the existing demand planning process and are working on inventory management, vendor management, distribution, and logistics.

As an industrial engineer, I always look for optimization as my prime task in every aspect of my job. Supply chain is the broad range of activities required to plan, control and execute a product’s flow, from acquiring raw materials and production through distribution to the final customer, in the most streamlined and cost-effective way possible. This is the field where I can utilize all my skills and knowledge to make the organizational processes flawless.

Supply Chains are changing at a very fast pace and there is a lot of competition to deliver the quality products faster to the consumers. Autonomous process are now replacing the traditional approach with the support of Digitization and Artificial Intelligence. Technologies are enabling supply chain to be more visible, transparent and bringing integrity to the SC partners. What defines success is a more networkcentric, collaborative approach by network level strategy development and decision making based on business intelligence with the partners.

Mondelez Global Logistics team and the North America Business unit embarked on a journey to change the landscape of our distribution network & implement standard WM practices & SAP EWM across our network of plants, distribution centers, and direct store delivery facilities. This initiative, Project DISCO (Deliver Integrated Supply Chain Optimization), was aimed at standardizing, optimizing, & integrating processes, systems & tools to deploy futuristic WMS practices at 45+ warehouse facilities across the length & breadth of the USA. We were revamping ASRS infrastructure at the plant, implementing advanced functionalities at DCs to enable batch level tracing & setting up direct store deliveries at the Depot Warehouses. Establishing a new Route to market helped us to provide faster customer service & increase satisfaction. We were able to retire four different vendor-managed legacy WM applications. By implementing strict voice confirmed FEFO controls, we increased order servicing accuracy and reduced waste for NA by 5%. In contrast, productivity improved by 3.5% by using the labormanagement module. By implementing the Track & Trace solution, we achieved 100% traceability of finished goods at the batch code date level.

16 CELERITY November - December 2021

Rahul Vishwakarma, CEO & Co-founder, Mate Labs Innovations Pvt. Ltd

Garima Kesheorey, Production Supervisor, J&J

Divya Bhojane, Category Supply Planner, Mondelez international

COVER STORY

Mazz Pathan, Sr. Planning & Forecasting Manager, Amazon

Pooja Shah, Manager – Supply Planner, Nestle

Arpan Garg, Manager - Commercial Supply Chain, Viatris Inc.

supplychaintribe.com

My interest in learning and pursuing supply chain as a career was developed when I pursued my master’s at NITIE Mumbai. I was so fascinated after learning about how the supply chain plays a critical role in transforming production into sales, linking suppliers to consumers, and bridging the gap between demand and supply. I liked this stream because it allowed me to visualize the skeleton of a business and think beyond what is visible. When I took up my first job with Landmark Group (Dubai), I led several process improvement activities, projects on supply chain analytics and drove technology transformation in the retail supply chain. This exposure helped me get a steep learning curve in the early stage of my career and enhanced my interest level.

And then I never looked back. I enjoy working relentlessly every day to do something better than yesterday to drive excellence in the supply chain.

The e-commerce supply chain is a bit more complex and evolved compared to that of other industries. The simplest way to acknowledge this is that lead time for an e-commerce supply chain is tracked in minutes and hours and not in days! Every product category behaves differently and needs different treatment by the supply chain. So, when we manage 50 product categories on e-commerce, we have to run 50 different supply chains together on a single network with the highest complexity and integration between process and technology. And this complexity is going to increase further as we get more and more customers to shop online. One paradigm shift could be that the supply chain will now focus heavily on convenience & reliability and not just speed of delivery. In addition, it will be interesting to see how the omnichannel strategy of various businesses pans out in the years to come.

While I had joined Nestle as a Management Trainee, I was working on a project to drive Service Levels across Categories for Nestle India as part of the Customer Service Team.

The essential starting point was to trigger visibility amongst stakeholders of potential order losses to action deployment and ensure availability to avoid stock-outs. I had worked out a tool to forecast stock-outs considering the current trend of Redistribution and Invoicing, available stocks at Distribution Centers, and factories at the Week level considering transit lead times for stock connectivity. It could indicate the potential volume of stock-outs and required dispatches. This Projected Distribution Center Out of Stock (DCOOS) tool was appreciated by all stakeholders and was successful enough to be integrated into the system by the Customer Service IT Specialist. It was launched as a Forecasted Orders report with some modifications and is used across categories within Nestle India to forecast Customer Order Fulfilment (COF) at the Week level and trigger actions. The output of the same gets presented to the SCM leadership team for forward outlook on coverage and to drive COF.

Development of an end-to-end inventory tool for examining the inventory of a particular FG in the country's warehouse to the raw material and packing material of the same lying at manufacturing plant warehouse led to analysing the overall days of end-to-end inventory. Our team came up with this idea when CMD expressed his requirement of a particular tool to examine inventory across the chain to keep the overall carrying cost in place. My contribution was of model conceptualization and designing the whole base of the tool in Excel to decide upon various measures to be embedded in the tool, which included minimization of inventory holding cost based on lead times & other factors and classifying the list of materials based on demographic supply chain along with historical data embedded for specific changes in inventory bases. The model was designed to keep track of the overall norm from FG at the country's WH to its RM/PM stored at Manufacturing WH. The same was established to control the excess materials inflowed though some excess PR/PO is generated through the Manual MRP system used for material ordering. The model helped identify and highlight excess/ shortfall inventory at various points, which helped optimize inventory and reduce overall inventory costs by approx. Rs136 crore. This helped in generating the required cash flow for the company. The model was designed to be implemented into a future application that could be linked to SAP, and thus, a live dashboard can be created for everyone in the chain to have a uniform view across.

17

COVER STORY

On-time delivery is one of the critical aspects in supply chains to satisfy customer needs. One of our suppliers was facing operational challenges in delivering products on time. This also meant that there would be a potential impact on costs in the long run with increased waiting times, unreliable supply chain, potential loss of business, and credibility. To improve this situation, we partnered with the supplier to help them identify the root cause and guide them towards solutions. We built a cross-functional team and leadership buy-in from supplier and GE to conduct a Lean event at the supplier’s factory. This was a collaborative effort, and we started by collecting data for the entire wing to wing process and mapped the current state value stream. We used various lean tools such as spaghetti diagrams, capacity analysis, 7 ways, fishbone diagrams to perform gap analysis, understand root causes, try-storm, and develop kaizens. We had the supplier subject matter experts also involved from the production line in the kaizen event.

It was a systematic approach with a proper cadence to ensure all the actions and ideas were addressed. The lean event was for 4 days, but the preparation for the event took weeks. The follow-up on ideas/actions was a continuous process. Successfully, after the implementation of the ideas over a short period, the supplier started performing well. We reduced a lot of pressure on the supply chain, avoided potential quality defects and costs that may have cropped up, and improved reliability very importantly.

Collaboration across the value chain is critical and is a very powerful mechanism to solve supply chain challenges.

I proudly wear the hat of expertise in managing day-to-day operations and presenting to top-level CXOs on futuristic supply chain ideas. I have 6+ years of diverse experience in the areas of consulting, retail and CPG. After my post-graduation in Supply Chain from NITIE, I have implemented my learnings from college into real-world business challenges and have led multiple key-value projects. I have implemented my learnings from college into real-world supply chain challenges. I have led numerous projects that generate business benefits for my organization, such as 10% OTIF improvement, stock freshness increase, DOH reduction, etc. I hope to make a supply chain for the organization revolving around the 4As – Algorithmic, Agile, Automated, and Anticipatory. Using my articles and whitepaper, I have tried to give back to the industry and grow. The highlighted project of my experience was the conceptualization of the Supply Chain Flow Optimization approach for effectively managing the supply chain flow from source to customer through visibility, smoothening, and optimization while overcoming constraints, disruptors, and blind spots.

We leveraged machine learning techniques to assess the current and upcoming ‘Demand vs. Supply ‘and aid in proactive hiring, cross-skilling, and upskilling of associates. With these improved insights, HR managers can also identify employees who are critical to the business, assess their risk situations, and design appropriate contingency plans.

I was involved in the business transformation, process standardization, platform implementation, and business roadmap definition across the talent delivery value chain.

During this program, I worked extensively with multi-functional teams, i.e., resource management, lateral recruitment, learning & development, performance management, and business operations, for delivering large and complex transformational programs in the areas of demand fulfillment skill analytics, bench quality analytics, up-skilling, and proactive hiring process. This initiative of incorporating a self-service optimizer helped the business identify the right talent, at the right time, against the right demand. The more significant outcomes achieved were increased fill rates, higher fulfillment velocity, perfect order rates, reduced bench costs through JIT fulfilments.

18 CELERITY November - December 2021

Ajay Devadi, Lead Commodity Management Specialist, GE Gas Power

Aakash Varma, Manager, Dabur India

Shubhendu Roy, COE Workforce Insight Analytics, Cognizant Technology Solution

COVER STORY Co-packing is one of the critical activities in the coffee and foods category. To enable this, production from the factory is sent to multiple co-packer locations, which is then either packed in polybag or packed along with a free mug. Due to the high complexity of managing four different locations clubbed with the non-flexibility of vendors, we worked on consolidating the co-packers with the objective of-

Sonakshi Jain, Category Demand and Supply Planning Manager, Nestle India

Reduction of complexity: Earlier conversion to finished goods at co-packer took ~7 days, which was brought down to 4 days with this project due to higher efficiency. We also initiated direct dispatch from the co-packer. It went from 0% to 60% within three months, reducing time to market, thereby improving freshness.

Maintain quality and hygiene standards: With the consolidated space, the inventory management practices were better. The process of co-packing was also streamlined, leading to a reduction in consumer complaints.

Capacity expansion: a. Setup requirements: Several factors accounted for capacity working – total space, workforce requirements, loading/unloading bays, machine, stacker requirement, etc. b. Service requirements: Adhering to Nestle controls, implementing good warehousing practices and stock management, ensuring operational safety, compliance with HR policies, etc.

Cost rationalization: With the help of consolidation, we could save 0.4mio/year on transportation to different co-packer locations. We also saved 0.62mio/year by dispatching directly from the co-packer.

Prajakta Shinde, Deputy Manager - CGA (Cipla Global Access) Operations Cipla Ltd.

supplychaintribe.com

Our most significant innovation involved reducing the failure to supply penalties for the MTS market by 92% against the previous financial year. This feat was achieved within 7 months from the initiation of the project. All high-volume, low-value products were identified from the products list and shifted to another plant to increase the focus of the first plant on low-volume, high-value products. Earlier, their focus was to produce high volumes. Due to the analysis, these volumes drastically decreased by 50% at the first plant, and that at another plant increased by 30% (as compared to the previous monthly average). This helped in preventing inventory dumping, and the availability of desired products improved in the market. It also highlighted hidden issues (API shortage, imprinting issues, yield issues, etc.), which were masked due to higher volume production. We alerted the stakeholders about upcoming backorders/ low coverage products for necessary action. As per inventory norms, we prioritized the demand to curtail demand for high inventory products and ensure the right SKUs were supplied.

We also identified single-source products and collaborated with the procurement team to develop alternate vendors to reduce dependency. Weekly meetings were conducted with country managers and planners to discuss the current month's and next month's supply as per the 'Net Product Requirement (NPR).' Also, fortnightly meetings were conducted to examine the next 3 – 6 months' supply plan, understand new orders, and do backward integration for timely supply as per the lead time.

Complete automation of the process was done at the end; live dashboards reflected the status of supply and upcoming backorder/low coverage products. Autoalerts/reminders were set to respective stakeholders to expedite their action plan. In addition, 'FTS Penalty data' was analyzed every month to identify high penalty items and customers/distributors, calculate the net requirement and ensure supply within the lead time. We constantly monitored the freight cost and devised a mechanism for selecting shipment mode (Air/Sea).

19

COVER STORY

I curated 11 Supplier Regional Committees for 200+ direct suppliers of Honda Cars to ensure the industrial risk in every supplier cluster is significantly reduced. This required creation of an administrative model that sustains itself. I created this model and ensured that every organization's plant head, and IR head collaborated and worked with all the suppliers in the region to ensure peace and harmony. This was needed to ensure that no strike, lockdown, or protests disrupted part production and suppliers to customers/OEMs. Following the concept of Collaborative Independence, a culture was fostered to pool investments for CSR, create a benchmark for organizational development policies, form a coalition for government negotiations, and share best practices. Besides setting up the model for these committees, I attended monthly meetings in each region to ensure smooth flow, published a handbook of best practices, created a self-audit mechanism, and created a system of reward and recognition to motivate all the supplier partners. This required collaboration with 33 office bearers of regional committees, 200+ professionals representing each supplier partner, managing directors, plant heads, and HR/IR heads of every supplier partner. Some tangible results included Zero IR Incident reporting in three regions for two consecutive years, effective negotiation with local governing bodies for three local incidents, and launching a task force that handled contingency.

20 CELERITY November - December 2021

Rashmeet Kaur, Supply Chain Consultant, Thoucentric

Greater growth, profits and a reimagined customer experience starts with your supply chain.

Today’s customer journey is dynamic and challenging, yet full of opportunity.

With Blue Yonder, you get an intelligent, digital supply chain platform that delivers dynamic commerce experiences from beginning to end. One platform that helps you predict potential disruptions, find growth opportunities, and optimize inventory replenishment to deliver every time — no matter what the future holds.

Blue Yonder. Fulfill your potential.™

blueyonder.com

Copyright © 2021 Blue Yonder Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

COVER STORY

I curated 11 Supplier Regional Committees for 200+ direct suppliers of Honda Cars to ensure the industrial risk in every supplier cluster is significantly reduced. This required creation of an administrative model that sustains itself. I created this model and ensured that every organization's plant head, and IR head collaborated and worked with all the suppliers in the region to ensure peace and harmony. This was needed to ensure that no strike, lockdown, or protests disrupted part production and suppliers to customers/OEMs. Following the concept of Collaborative Independence, a culture was fostered to pool investments for CSR, create a benchmark for organizational development policies, form a coalition for government negotiations, and share best practices. Besides setting up the model for these committees, I attended monthly meetings in each region to ensure smooth flow, published a handbook of best practices, created a self-audit mechanism, and created a system of reward and recognition to motivate all the supplier partners. This required collaboration with 33 office bearers of regional committees, 200+ professionals representing each supplier partner, managing directors, plant heads, and HR/IR heads of every supplier partner. Some tangible results included Zero IR Incident reporting in three regions for two consecutive years, effective negotiation with local governing bodies for three local incidents, and launching a task force that handled contingency.

20 CELERITY November - December 2021

Rashmeet Kaur, Supply Chain Consultant, Thoucentric

Greater growth, profits and a reimagined customer experience starts with your supply chain.

Today’s customer journey is dynamic and challenging, yet full of opportunity.

With Blue Yonder, you get an intelligent, digital supply chain platform that delivers dynamic commerce experiences from beginning to end. One platform that helps you predict potential disruptions, find growth opportunities, and optimize inventory replenishment to deliver every time — no matter what the future holds.

Blue Yonder. Fulfill your potential.™

blueyonder.com

Copyright © 2021 Blue Yonder Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

COVER STORY

India’s

Growing Role in A Diverse Global Market For India to maintain its position as a leader in a post-COVID world, it will need to maintain low rates of infection, save lives at home, and avoid negative growth. Strategically well placed in the Indian Ocean & willing to play a role in providing maritime security, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief, India is increasingly seen as a valuable and responsible player to uphold the international order. Our second-panel discussion during Celerity Supply Chain e-conference & Awards 2021 threw interesting facets that India Inc. is adopting to lead the growth story and making a case for Global Leadership with the supply chain leading the battalion. Fantastically moderated by Sanjay Desai, Co-founder & Regional Director, Humana International, this panel indeed made some impressive revelations gained during the COVID-19 pandemic and companies’ strategies to deal with challenges in the post-pandemic world. An excerpt…

22 CELERITY November - December 2021

COVER STORY

Sanjay Desai, Co-founder & Regional Director, Humana International

“India will need to demonstrate that its international commitments to inclusiveness & humanity are applied in its domestic social & political settings aggressively.”

Covid 19 affected countries globally, forcing them to multiple shutdowns, bringing the entire globe to a standstill for more extended periods. It also exposed how much the Western world was over-dependent on China to supply many commodities / daily essentials/ pharmaceuticals, luxury products, garments, clothing, etc. After learning an expensive lesson, global companies have NOW started to seriously re-design their value networks and are looking at viable options like Re-shoring or Nearshoring or investing in ASEAN to develop a parallel ecosystem outside of China.

This is playing in India's favor. It provides a more significant opportunity to take some of the manufacturing ecosystems away from China into India. Realizing this opportunity, Modi Govt announced "AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan" (ANBA) in mid-2020 with a stimulus package of US$260 bn. The most crucial element of ANBA is that India will identify and promote industries and sectors with the potential and capability to scale up and be globally competitive.

Let us look at a few significant elements in India's new role in Global Trade in the coming decade…

Food Aid to West Asia: Indian exporters of agri-goods have seen a marked increase this year. India stands a good chance to benefit from the shift in global trade triggered by the pandemic.

It could fill in the vacuum by supplying West Asian countries which traditionally relied on China.

supplychaintribe.com

Vaccines/ other medical essentials: India has always been a large producer of vaccines for its domestic market and the rest of the world. That is an important fact whose strategic value has been highlighted by the Covid pandemic. India will cash on this opportunity to become the number one producer of vaccines globally in the next 5-7 years.

Space technology, solar power / green energy: India is a space power, an Information and Communications Technology power with aspirations in green energy to become a solar power. All these combined, India has a massive potential to strike collaborative partnerships with emerging markets in Asia and set the ecosystem ahead of other nations.

The QUAD: Officially, the "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue" comprises four countries: the United States, Australia, India, and Japan. The objectives of this partnership are 'deepening the ties and advancing practical cooperation' in areas such as promoting a free and open IndoPacific region, combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing the climate crisis, and partnering on emerging technologies and cyberspace. QUAD opens new doors for India.

IT / Technology & Co-working / shared space: India has always been an exporter of IT/ Technology products and an expert in managing call centers/ back offices in India. Added to this is the recent trend of WFH, which has flourished a new concept called Co-working or shared space. Combining these three elements, India can create an ecosystem to attract Global Organisations who want to reduce their real estate costs and set up their virtual or back offices in India by providing supreme end-to-end facility/ office management experience.

Raviraj RODRIGUES, Global Supply Chain Transformation Director, Alstom India

“It is only through localization that companies can both keep their costs in control and yet be flexible to meet tight timelines.”

Please share your view on the 'Make in India' initiative and Alstom's stance over this…

I will share with you the case study of Alstom India Operations. Interestingly this is similar to the Dual Circulation Economy that China is espousing these days. The dual circulation model in China has been envisioned to create a robust domestic market, with an intent to promote consumption and growth. It's called Internal Circulation and is China's strategic approach to adapting to the new risks perceived concerning global trade.

At the same time, China will continue to engage with the global community to use its capacity to export products at a competitive price and thus keep China as a manufacturing powerhouse. This is called External Circulation. China believes that both are needed to keep China's economy stable, hence the Dual Circulation economy.

If I were to look at it from Alstom India's perspective, we too have adopted the same strategy some years ago to enhance our growth momentum. We have set up plants in India both for the domestic and exports market with a 50:50 share. Our reasoning is that India is a highly competitive market and, more so, the government infrastructure projects, where the lowest bidder gets the business. To survive in such a market, one has to be highly cost competitive. This can be achieved only if we set up a base in India with domestic manufacturing and distribution capabilities. Localization of inputs follows as the next logical step.

It is only through localization that companies can keep their costs in control

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COVER STORY and yet be flexible to meet tight timelines.

For instance, for our Locomotive business, we had to indigenize 90% of our inputs to meet cost targets that came with the tender that we won. This was the only way to win the tender. This is our equivalent of the Domestic Circulation.

In the case of exports, we also need to deal with global customers who expect the latest technology to be incorporated into the products we make for them.

This gives the much-needed exposure to our design teams, who can absorb these technologies and deploy them in the products we make for India. However, we must provide them at a very competitive costing for Indian customers. This creates the opportunity to deploy these technologies at "Indian Costing."

Interestingly, once we have cracked the Indian costing, we can also offer that costing to our global customers, which makes us competitive in the global market. This is the Export Circulation and combining both gives us a virtuous cycle for ourselves. Over a period, I have come to a conclusion that if any company that wants to compete globally, they should come to India and learn to sell to Indian markets first. They will become competitive by default.

If we must manufacture in India, in your case specifically, how were you impacted by not having the components of tier I, II & III, which was enabling your manufacturing?

Do we already have an ecosystem in place for your industry requirements?

We have a well-established manufacturing ecosystem in India, and most of our tier I suppliers are in India. What we realized during the pandemic, however, is that we did not have a complete view of the supply chain all the way down to the raw materials extracted from the Earth. Thus, while we could secure most of our Tier I and II supplies, many critical components for our tier II suppliers and even tier I were imported. While it's impossible to localize every part (and neither is it recommended in today's global network for an efficient supplier base), having a view on the supply chain and de-risking the supplier base will be a key focus area for us now.

It's here that we have begun to realize that we do have the capability to manufacture most of our components in India. However, most of that capability

is with smaller players doing niche manufacturing, and we, in India, do not have a robust India Centric MSME database in place. Thus, most of the supplier discovery happens by serendipity and not necessarily in a structured way.

That's a new realization, and if we or an industry body could create an unbiased MSME database and if those MSMEs could be developed using Industry 4.0 technologies, we could be largely selfsufficient with in-shore manufacturing for our components.

In terms of India being the 4th largest economy globally, how do you view the impact of Samarth Udyog Bharat 4.0 and how SMEs are leveraging this opportunity?

SAMARTH stands for Smart Advanced Manufacturing and Rapid Transformation Hub. It is a joint initiative of the Dept of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Heavy Industries, and Public Enterprises with the Industry and academic bodies of India. It is an initiative to spread awareness about Industry 4.0 to Indian companies. I believe that SMEs will stand to benefit most from this initiative. This is because SMEs find it most challenging to hire a skilled workforce to run their factories and find SMART Factories easy to operate with a smaller team of skilled workforce.

Industry 4.0 is essentially Industry 3.0 with computers interconnected using IoT, Cyber-Physical systems (like Cobots and augmented reality), and the Internet of Systems to create a SMART Factory.

While some dismiss it as a new buzzword and cleverly worded marketing gimmick, I feel it is a shift that will happen to all our factories in the years to come.

Most machines generate a tremendous amount of data, which humans may find difficult to analyze and identify trends today. This would now become possible with a combination of Big Data & ML in Industry 4.0. It will throw up issues, which need attention and allow manufacturers to focus on only those issues better. An example that I read up was about a South African Gold mine that was able to identify a problem with the oxygen levels during the leaching process using the data from sensors in its equipment. Once they fixed this problem, they were able to increase their yield by 3.7%, which saved them $20 million annually. We are talking about real solutions here.

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SAMARTH Udyog has created five centers of I4.0 that would become a common platform for industry 4.0.

This will help members network and share each other's resources so that the utilization of resources is maximized. This government initiative deserves industry appreciation. I now see a gradual shift of SMEs moving to I4.0, and they are better tuned to changing market dynamics and implementing technologies in their operational processes. Like I said earlier, SMEs have the biggest challenge in recruiting human resources to analyze data and find smart factories to operate.

This is where the SAMARTH Udyog Bharat 4.0 could play an enabling role.

This initiative will help SMEs identify where they can use smart manufacturing & support and can help us leapfrog to the next manufacturing level.

Leveraging our SMEs (which do close to 90% of manufacturing) and their 'Jugaad' attitude, i.e., 'Do more from Less,' is in my view the best approach India can take to become a manufacturing hub.

Countries like China started small-scale manufacturing in the 80s, but today it is the manufacturing superpower. Industry 4.0 could be the gamechanger for India if done right.

Vickram Srivastava, Head of Planning - Global Supply Chain, SUN PHARMA Kindly enlighten us about the ‘Make in India’ movement with regards to the pharma sector?

The Pharma sector is a highly regulated market, so any source change is both costly and time-consuming. Having said that, de-globalization is something that pharma supply chain professionals have also started taking cognizance of. China is the factory to the world, but India is the pharmacy of the world. When it comes to raw materials/APIs, our reliance on China is exceptionally high. In the case of any unwarranted disruptions, pharma companies get poorly impacted, be it

COVER STORY COVID-19 pandemic, port congestions, pollution control boards forcibly shutting the Chinese factories, so on. To make in India in pharma, we need support from the government and local bodies in terms of infrastructure creation so that we get the economy of scale and start competing in the global market. In the early 90s, India was probably importing 30% of its APIs from outside India. That number has gone up to 65-70% today.

Over the last two decades, the number has more than doubled. We need to do something to reverse the trend. It's going to be a time-consuming and lengthy process.

Over the years series of technological advancements in China have given companies an edge to manufacture specialty chemicals. With that, they have had colossal infrastructure support and benefits provided by the government, which have helped them scale up the

Vinod Mathur, VP – Product Management, Blue Yonder How can India leverage this opportunity to create value and a competitive advantage in the global market by manufacturing for others and being a global factory eventually?

Today it isn't easy to differentiate between a physical product and a technology product. Even cars today are more of a computer, which is driving you around as opposed to what it used to be about 10-15 years back. In both these sectors (technology and manufacturing), my experience has been that we usually struggle when it comes to product design.

We have many established companies and startups providing services. This competitive advantage has taken us to a certain level. Our capabilities as far as benefits are concerned are very well accepted by the world, now we must bring the same leadership in design

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volume and brought them to economies of scale. Most of the bulk chemicals that we are now importing were getting manufactured in India in the '90s.

Over the years, due to better pricing and availability, sourcing has moved to China. Now the Indian government has also realized the crucial importance of the value chain. The government's PLI initiative is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. The pharma and medical device industry have been allocated about US$2 bn over the next five years to encourage entrepreneurs and manufacturers in this space to invest, and the government is willing to support them on this journey. Deglobalization is a reality, and companies and governments need to come to terms with it sooner. De-risking supply chains is a great start to move ahead in this journey of de-globalization.

What is India's potential to take Industry 4.0 further in the pharma landscape?

skills. Working with a product business model takes a lot of risk-taking ability.

Our incredible talent is moving out of India and is offering its design prowess to manufacturing companies in other parts of the world. We need to leverage such innovative talent somehow and strengthen our design capabilities.

We have numerous product design innovations at the grassroots level, but many of those do not make it to an organized corporation for the scale they deserve. These areas should be our next big challenge that companies must take to ensure an all-encompassing growth and make India a true manufacturing superpower.

GPS which might be hard for a small fleet owner to afford.

How can Blue Yonder play an enabling role in making it possible?

We have come up with India-specific offerings because one of the key learnings gained over the span of my professional career is that something that works in the European or North American market may not work the same way in India. We have finetuned and created technology offerings that are more relevant to the Indian ecosystem. Along with our partners, we have also localized tracking mechanisms to suit our Indian customers' needs, such as SIM-based tracking rather than a smartphone-based

Not just India, the entire pharma industry around the globe is somewhat laggard when it comes to adopting Industry 4.0. Because we are a highly regulated market, the controls around continuous manufacturing and batch quality monitoring have been a hindrance. But the scope and potential of advancements in technology have made 4.0 a reality to reckon with. We are already seeing a lot of headway being made in production control technology, R&D, and overall supply chain monitoring, and management. I firmly believe that in the 'controlled,' 'contained,' and 'connected' world that we live in today, industry 4.0 will be a great enabler in ensuring more efficient and cost-effective ways to deliver life-saving drugs to the 7+ billion people around the world.

How are the global supply chains adopting the risk mitigation strategies post-pandemic?

Risk mitigation is a strategy that has always existed if we look at the topperforming supply chains globally.

These companies always have a plan B in place. The scale of a pandemic that we witnessed, even the plan B, was not enough. Risk mitigation should be a part of systematic planning rather than a one-off exercise. I know of many Indian companies that have a proper risk mitigation plan in place. Blue Yonder helps companies analyze & evaluate the impact of a scenario and develop an alternative plan. Building redundancies into the system is also part of the risk mitigation strategy.

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COVER STORY

Himanshu Maloo, Supply Chain Head – Pharma, Udaan How are the supply chain horizons changing?

All of us have been talking about strategy and agility for so many years now, but I think this is the best time to realize the impact closely. If we reflect upon the last 18 months, we clearly see the horizons of our strategy have been changing. Earlier, we used to plan 5-10 years in advance.

Now the strategy horizon has been reduced to 6 months to one year, with the pace at the world has been changing.

Such fast-changing dynamics call for a lot of agility in executing things faster. The important thing is that one must keep driving strategy into implementation in a shorter period; Fail fast but keep moving on correcting. Keep learning from the mistakes but keep improvising.

This is how I feel the whole horizon of strategy is changing and calls for greater agility for all of us. In the last 18 months, we have already moved 4-5 years ahead than no one had even imagined in adopting technology. This is the perfect example of being agile enough to work with changing times.

It's more about being able to meet customers' demands. How can the supply chain play a critical role in developing new competencies?

All of us are working for business and customers' satisfaction. It's no more a supply chain role that we are limited to. Competencies need to be customercentric to develop skill sets that can help us deliver the last mile of customer experiences. When we bought groceries from the market a few years back, we never thought we would start buying them online. Earlier, we used to place an order today and receive deliveries tomorrow, but today it has been express 90 minutes delivery. Now companies are even talking about delivering groceries in 10-15 minutes. This is how the back end has been matched to deliver goods as per customers' changing behavior

and expectations. As customers, we aren't going to be happy if someone says that the order will be delivered the next day. All these require a full-proof back-end supply chain in ensuring that whatever a company promises to deliver gets delivered. That's where it becomes imperative to start thinking innovatively.

This is the NEW NORMAL now, which we must embrace to survive. In the last 18 months, many companies had to change their entire business model, and those who didn't bend down in tune with the customers' requirements are getting vanished.

Rajat Sharma, VP – ISCM & Customer Service, Hamilton Housewares Private Limited - India What are the challenges that have been faced in delivering products through e-commerce on time every time?

Yes, India has seen a lot of flux on the online channel. A massive set of our customers and consumers have moved on to the online channel. While it was not just an easy way to get things, it was perhaps the only channel to get the desired products delivered at your doorstep during the pandemic. Fortunately for us, as an organization and country, online sales were introduced a couple of years earlier before the COVID-19 pandemic hit us. Let's be honest… COVID-19 has been a massive booster for this channel.

As all of us have adopted this channel, we also faced challenges.

First and foremost, we were relying on Amazon and Flipkart to ensure last-mile connectivity. We have never gone to the depths of understanding the challenges of the last-mile delivery, especially in the non-tier I & II cities. That's perhaps has been the biggest challenge for everyone who tried to move from offline to online.

I am happy to share that many startups and erstwhile startups have been phenomenal in enabling this transition

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for all of us. Now the optimization of the last mile freight is going to come along the way for all of these organizations because as they can absorb data, which is tertiary data, and then define patterns, segments, and heatmaps in their territory, it's when they will be able to get to defining where do they need to go from here on, the FCs, delivery partners, traffic forecast, etc.

The world is expanding. Other than the last mile, I think for many of us who were in the offline channel, everything we did was always a part of the supply chain. In the online channel, the most significant change is that we are delivering directly to the consumer, which encompasses a whole set of responsibilities – right time, right product, returns management, customer service, managing order experience, to name a few.

Additionally, e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, and Cloudtail have the economies of scale to create these large FCs, so companies can imagine the complexities such scenarios bring.

That's where the strategic vision of the organizations has made the differences in the result. We had thankfully chosen to take this path before the COVID-19 era. Hence, we were able to capitalize on the opportunities.

What's your take on reverse logistics and the value it possesses?

Return logistics in the erstwhile systems was very much dependent on the partners. With the advent of channels such as online and retail, the return percentage is quite sizable. The 'No Questions Asked' return policy has necessitated supply chain teams to emphasize the cost attached to the returns alongside the insight that you draw from returns management. The data around reverse logistics is bringing a lot of early demand sensing, early feature sensing, early change of consumer buying behavior, etc. shared ecosystems with last-mile partners have made it much easier to deal with direct returns from consumers. Yes, it is challenging to manage the returns physically, but the data that reverse data analytics generates balances out those hiccups. Consumer insights, product insights, and buying behavior are the three key elements that return logistics brings with themselves.

COVER STORY

India’s

Supply Chain Revolution A lot has been discussed and debated upon the future and fortune of India’s supply chain during & post-pandemic. While companies have devised innovative ways to deal with the pandemic of such magnitude, it’s their supply chain’s resilient nature that helped them sail through the tough times. During the Celerity Supply Chain e-conference & Awards 2021, our first panel discussion on ‘India’s Supply Chain Revolution,’ moderated by Sanjay Desai, Co-founder & Regional Director, Humana International, industry veterans brought out exciting facets of new-age supply chains, which are tech-driven, agile, sustainable and resilient to deal with any eventualities. A report…

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COVER STORY implementing them on the ground, and make this a better world for all of us to thrive for a million more years.

How will businesses accelerate from here, especially talking about their transformation journey in matching demand and supply?

What does resilience mean in the business?

Akhil Srivastava, Director Planning & Logistics, BU ISEA, Ab InBev India

“By choice, I entered the supply chain and chose to be a supply chain professional because this is where the next level of differentiation lies.”

According to you, what has this global disruption taught to the global supply chain, and what will the successful supply chain companies do to bankroll their capabilities and invest more in a sustainable business model?

We all struggled for existence for two years in various ways, whether on personal lives or at professional fronts of saving lives & businesses. Just like Oxygen in personal life, money was critical for the business to keep afloat during trying times. To me, sustainability is all about being relevant and being differentiated.

As we move towards the end game, having witnessed the worst on both the personal & professional fronts, it's time for businesses to think afresh. Companies need to think beyond cost and profits. It has to be a holistic gain where everyone has to start with the end game in mind, which means we are all looking forward to a unique start. We are looking for ability & ambitions. While most of us and every business will have a purpose, there is also the ability, which needs to be developed to continuously monitor our progress, delivering results, both profitably & sustainably. It's about the ability and the willingness to be sustainable.

Ability because we still are looking for innovative ways to be sustainable; and willingness because it becomes difficult to execute on the ground unless you don't have that willingness to look at the ability to deliver. It would then just be a whitepaper. Time is right for us to start thinking about disruptions, work on

Believe it or not, it's a new world, and we need to come to terms with it. The supply chain doesn't exist alone. It exists as a part of the value chain. To me, today's best practices lead to a dead end. There will be new unexplored paths, untried practices which will spring up, and that's what we talk about resilience. Resilience means imbibing new practices, being open to change, and looking forward to doing things better than yesterday to evolve much faster. Customers wouldn't buy any technology. Customers want a straightforward thing – solve my problem in a superior way than how you are doing today. That's where new businesses stand a chance to gain market access and penetration. The changes will happen across the value chain and not in a piecemeal format. By choice, I entered the supply chain and chose to be a supply chain professional because this is where the next level of differentiation lies. This is where the relevance of the companies comes into being. It was proven the hard way in the last two years through COVID. These disruptions will enable us to strike more change, ask for more collaborative actions, and bring visibility together. We all are the beacon of light for that resilience to the world. While the world grew dramatically in the last three to four decades with globalization, with COVID, the urge is to localize the entire thing. This means new technologies and the new resilience will help us embark on a new journey to make us resilient, differentiated, and, most importantly, sustainably relevant for the future.

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Ravikant Parvataneni, CEO, Argon & Co, India

“Companies need to work around strategies that entail lesser investments in fixed costs. They need to be critical in making automation investment decisions.”

How will organizations manage massive variability in demand, including the long-time fences, and align to manufacturing and distribution capabilities?

Short-term demand management is the real challenge. I think not knowing what will happen tomorrow or the day after is the biggest challenge. If there is some level of certainty, one can plan for it.

Flexibility is the key aspect organizations have started imbibing to the 'T' – flexibility in their approach; it is not about the destination. Instead, it's about the journey; how do you plan it for today and tomorrow. When a person visits the office the next day, there will be the next set of variabilities; the key lies in planning those adversities. While flexibility will cost you, but today it's not about the cost; it's about being able to achieve and deliver something. Think short-term, even in contract management, which offers companies the flexibility to make quick decisions during eventualities.

Organizations are trying to be more agile and flexible. These aspects need to be brought into their DNA, and it has to be imbibed in their day-to-day businesses.

Enjoying the journey and don't plan for the destination should be the motto that companies should work on.

How does fulfillment complement the whole manufacturing wave and efficiency, and do you think automation can play an enabling role in all of these?

COVER STORY There is a lot of automation at display in manufacturing but much lesser automation in distribution, and there's a reason for that. For any automation to succeed, the endpoints must be fixed, making it highly efficient and fast. The SKUs and products keep changing, how to manage such changing SKUs makes the whole distribution process complex.

It's not only about the product but also about which channels a product flows through, which is the fundamental change that we will witness postpandemic. That also has a significant impact on automation. For instance, when we discuss the fulfillment of B2B products vs. B2C products, they are distinct and contrasting. The technology incorporation is different. Another complexity is that even within B2C, the technology required for handling 5K orders per day or 20K orders per day is highly diverse. How can companies plan for such a shift? Companies need to understand their order profile and a clear channel strategy to plan the distribution well. Planning technology entirely based on B2C strategy may backfire as consumers' preferences change at warp speed, which requires companies to be highly agile in bringing the technological changes. Companies need to work around strategies that entail lesser investments in fixed costs. They need to be critical in making automation investment decisions.

Ranjan Sharma, CIO & Head – Supply Chain, captive eCommerce & Quality Assurance, Bestseller India

“It’s all about becoming selfreliant so that you can respond on time and fast. You are agile enough to change and modify the way you work and deliver services that have more relevance from customers’ perspectives.”

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What do you think will be the impact of risk management in the new world when supply chain professionals start to design their supply chains again?

Risk is something that we had never thought of, which would be such a massive transformation in no time. One must monitor three risk areas from a business standpoint – political, technological, and societal aspects. There is a lot of upheaval happening in the political system within the government and bureaucracy at different levels. Moreover, everyone is empowered to take different decisions right from the Taluka or the district level. Every business must keep an eye on the changing policy decisions and their impact on the business. We need to be careful that such disruptions will not disappear and are here for the long haul.

These changes and political decisions will continue to impact all businesses in different ways. This will influence decisions regarding the supply side, demand side where markets will be shut, markets will be operational at different times. On the supply side, where factories and the supply chain will be impacted because of the product's availability or manufacturing cycle itself, people at the distribution unit are available to ensure that this is being fulfilled.

On the other hand, technology has taken center stage. We would have never imagined that we would have to work from home, and it's only through digital means we will be able to stay connected with our peers. Organizations should make their processes digital because you can't sustain with broken processes, which used to run well when it was a partially digital process and partially a process that was still manual where you could control certain aspects of business without any digital intervention.

Besides, if companies have already taken the digital route, they need to keep upgrading themselves and upskill resources. People's lives have changed completely. Society at large has changed in terms of how a person behaves and how they react to things. All these aspects will transform the whole concept of risks that people and organizations are taking. One must keep in mind that it will not remain the same where we all used to happily come to the office, meet up with people, network with them, work together, and deliver the stated objective. We must learn to work in these

environments where few people will be online, few will be offline, and one needs to deliver within those constraints. There are a lot of unknowns which one can't plan for. Risk management has gone to a different level altogether.

What do you think organizations need to do differently pre vs. post-COVID to continue on the path of recovery, which will not be smooth?

In the current times, it is no more about thinking of being able to have a differentiated product by sourcing it from anywhere in the world because there is so much disruption, there is so much uncertainty, a lot more is moving towards localization and being selfdependent, being relevant to the current context, reducing the lead times, be able to source a product, deliver a product or a service as and when it is needed rather than placing an order six months ahead because challenges are multifold and it is growing every day with so many uncertainties around us. Because of these geopolitical situations, which are arising where different countries are behaving differently, other countries have their challenges; with newer challenges arising in terms of power shortages and many more to come, I believe this is just the beginning. It's all about becoming selfreliant so that you can respond on time and fast. You are agile enough to change and modify how you work and deliver services that have more relevance from customers' perspectives.

Prof. Ashok Pundir, NITIE

“Companies need to devise new ways of building resilient supply chains, which are truly backed by technology.”

How do you play the technology adoption lever – should it be a nascent technology or a big bang approach?

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COVER STORY Technology is a crucial aspect based on which supply chains of today and tomorrow will run efficiently. As other panelists mentioned, supply chain visibility is essential and can only be achieved by the right technology implementation. There are demand forecasting disruptions happening, so on and so forth. Customers these days are also demanding visibility about their orders. People today have so many alternatives that they would not wait for a particular product. Whatever is available on the shelf will be picked up by them if it suits their need. This requires agility from companies. By seamlessly connecting various "organs," or functional units, with the supply chain, a supply-chain nerve center becomes the "enterprise brain." Its promise stems from a new ability to assess threats and opportunities across the extended supply chain earlier, so they can be addressed quickly and collaboratively. It all depends on who takes the lead, who will take the first-mover advantage. Irrespective of the expenditure required, companies have no choice but to get going with technology implementation. We are witnessing a nearly 'V' shaped recovery.

It has become difficult to predict the demand pattern of many products. This pandemic has brought behavioral shifts which are difficult to predict. There is a fear that post-pandemic can lead to a bull-whip effect, resulting in a sudden demand surge of some products while certain products will remain unsold. All these complexities necessitate companies to take the right steps when it comes to technology adoption. Companies need to devise new ways of building resilient supply chains, which are truly backed by technology.

Do you think the government needs to encourage localized manufacturing and take care of supply chain disruptions?

Localized manufacturing has become much more relevant today than it was yesterday. There have been disruptions in logistics and the movement of materials, and these are just some of the challenges that COVID has brought to the fore.

The automotive industry is a classic example of localized manufacturing, which follows this process right from the beginning. OEMs always prefer having their suppliers located in the

vicinity, making the process faster and efficient even in times of disruptions.

These avenues cut down the risk of the movement of materials, spare parts, and other components. You will find a whole Maruti ecosystem situated in and around Gurgaon, which is also true for Tata Motors in Pune. During the pandemic, too, these companies could function properly, albeit with government norms and regulations, which halted production for quite some time due to the scare of the COVID breakout in factories. A great paradoxical analogy that we can very well establish here is the shortage of chips.

If India had chipmaking capabilities, Indian automakers wouldn't have faced the chip shortage, and the product rollout would have become much easier and faster. This is how localization manufacturing comes to the rescue in times of crisis. The government's recent announcement about the Gati Shakti master plan to accelerate the development of transportation and logistics infrastructure couldn't have come at a more opportune time when we are talking about putting an impetus on localized manufacturing as a part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. A surge in infrastructure development would only add fuel to the much-needed growth trajectory.

There are different elements to the whole piece, from demand planning until reaching the product to the shelf.

One needs to gauge how is the elasticity of your catalog, to begin with. We shrunk our catalog in the first place to ensure that we manage inventory well and we can ensure that the correct channel gets the right priority SKU. From the supply planning perspective, how can one shift strategy from downstream to upstream and start thinking about inventory cover rather than working in siloes between raw material inventory vs. finished goods inventory vs. inventory at the depots and last mile? Using technology as an overarching theme because the first parameter that businesses need is transparency to achieve these goals. All these are good to talk about in the forums but aren't easy to implement because companies don't have information, intelligence, and investment on transparency and visibility, including trucks, track & trace, inventory, VMIs, etc. All these have a certain level of prerequisites, which one should be aware of, build a holistic strategy, and then question every element of the value chain whether it is elastic enough for businesses to make sure that it is resilient, which not only gives you cost but also service competitiveness.

Demand is changing daily. How are companies managing the back-end supply chain, especially in FMCG?

Umesh Madhyan, VP – Logistics, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd.

“Data analytics plays a crucial role in demand planning, and many exciting innovations are shaping up in this space as we move ahead.”

What are those elements that we need to manage when the supply chain would be more elastic?

Elasticity is also one of the parameters, which we learned during the pandemic.

30 CELERITY November - December 2021

One big epiphany of the COVID-19 pandemic is that do companies need forecast because forecasting becomes next to impossible in such disruptive times. How exactly a supply chain team builds a process, which moves closer to replenishment? How can companies build coherent processes? Demand planning is not an easy subject in these times. Many disruptions have already started taking place, and the emergence of tech-led start-ups is an excellent sign for the future of the supply chain in the country. Data analytics plays a crucial role in demand planning, and many exciting innovations are shaping up in this space as we move ahead.

Empowering

INTERVIEW

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH in CHEMICALS INDUSTRY

“Meghmani Finechem Ltd., (MFL) is driven to meet world’s essential chemicals demand with responsible care and scalable growth along with the commitment towards quality and environment. We have a state-of-the-art fully automated production facility well equipped to meet international standards in manufacturing Caustic Soda, Caustic Potash, Chlorine, Hydrogen, Chloromethanes, and Hydrogen Peroxide. We aim to serve domestic and export markets, thus complementing the ‘Make in India’ initiative and empowering sustainable growth for a safer and brighter future. Infrastructure and technology, combined with experience and expertise of MFL, enable us to meet the increasing demand of vital industries consistently,” shares Maulik Patel, CMD, Meghmani Finechem Ltd., during an interview…

How would you summarize the 18 months that were engulfed in Covid-19?

The last 18 months have been tough on everyone. We have learned & trained ourselves to come out strongly in this unprecedented pandemic; we grew by 36% in FY21 and by 111% in Q1FY22 vs. Q1FY21. We adapted smoothly to the change, and all the tasks were completed on time despite working from home.

Procurement, sales, and expansion teams geared up to get timely raw material and close new clients in the lockdown coupled with timely completion of the expansion of the Hydrogen Peroxide plant in July 2020.

How did your industry perform during that time?

The chemical industry was not impacted much as we curate the essential product that goes into various other products to manufacture the final products.

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Few of such products even fall into the essentials category. The chemicals that go into manufacturing essential items in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industry are not impacted. In our case, the demand for Caustic Soda, Caustic Potash, and Chloromethanes was not affected. Chemicals like Hydrogen Peroxide that go into textile, paper, and other industries were impacted on account of lockdown, but recovery was witnessed once the lockdown was lifted.

Overall, we have seen growth in the sector.

What were the challenges faced, and how did you overcome them?

The company faced various challenges, and one of the significant trials was of transportation restrictions, which directly impacted the smooth movement of raw material, movement of the finished products to customers, and movement of laborers to the plant. The pandemic

also affected our expansion plans; the commissioning of the plant got delayed by a month or so. However, we converted the challenges into an opportunity to work even more efficiently by readjusting our sourcing and client base. We have had a very robust year-on-year revenue growth of 36%.

What have been the innovative practices brought about by you in streamlining operational performance and boost productivity?

We have been using the best-inclass technology, the latest machines for production, which improves the efficiency, resulting in lesser input and higher output. Our integrated manufacturing facility is also automated at all the possible levels to bring in more efficiency and smooth production flow.

Also, with the help of the latest technology tools, we can have a consolidated online view of the operations by sitting at

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INTERVIEW

any remote place, which helps us make timely decisions for smooth processes at the plant. The lockdown also encouraged us to enable our staff with facilities to work efficiently from home without any adverse impact on business operations.

How do you plan to make a valued contribution in making India selfreliant in specialty products?

Our focus has been towards getting into products, which are currently entirely imported, considering that we are getting into two new chemicals, i.e., Epichlorohydrin and CPVC Resin. As of now, Epichlorohydrin is imported, and we will be the first company to manufacture it in India using 100% renewable resources. We are coming up with 50,000 TPA capacity, which is expected to get commissioned in Q1FY23. Currently, almost 95% of CPVC resin demand is fulfilled by importing, and once we commission our 30,000 TPA plant in Q2FY23, we will be the largest producer of CPVC Resin in India.

By serving the demand for the above two products, which are imported, we will be able to save foreign exchange of US$110 Mn a year for our country. In the coming years, the company's focus will be to get into chemicals, which are totally imported, and be the first company to manufacture the same. It is in line with the movement of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India by the Government of India.

How are technology and automation playing an enabling role in your operations?

Technology and automation play a critical role in productivity. Using technology and automation, the crucial part is to identify the operations that need technical intervention. All chemical reactions are complex and involve flow, time, temperature, and pressure, etc., which are preciously controlled. To avoid any human errors, most of our chemical plant operations are governed by DCS. This eliminates costly faults. Automation will improve the efficiency of operations, and employees can devote their time to focus on other value-added assignments.

It gives valuable insights about various

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INTERVIEW processes taking place simultaneously, which can be further analyzed and improved.

How are you planning to enhance sustainability in your operations and supply chain?

Our manufacturing complex is fully integrated, where co-products of Chlor-alkali are used to manufacture value-added derivative products that we have entered, i.e., Chloromethanes and Hydrogen Peroxide, and for the products that we will be getting into, i.e., Epichlorohydrin and CPVC Resin.

Functioning as a fully integrated complex enhances sustainability in the operations.

On the supply chain side, both for sourcing raw material and supplying our customers, we are strategically placed in the PCPIR region. All the raw materials required are available in proximity, and similarly, all the customers we serve are

within a radius of 100 km from the plant.

We are also entering into a different set of products; we cater to more than 15 industries and hence, are not dependent on any specific industry.

How difficult or easy is it to take on the legacy business and bring innovative ideas to lead the growth path?

We are thankful to our elders who created this entity and allowed us to take the company to the next level. We observed the way our elders used to work and learned from it. Since the inception of Meghmani Finechem, our elders gave us total independence to carry out all business operations right from land acquisition, environment clearance, infrastructure development, selection of product, choice of technology, borrowing funds, commissioning plants, acquiring clients, etc. Under their guidance, we were

able to accomplish operations efficiently and developed the whole business. This allowed us to grow further, and then we expanded into various other products.

So, the entire process was very smooth, and we never felt like a transition was happening.

What is your advice to new-age entrepreneurs who are starting afresh?

To new-age entrepreneurs, I would like to advise that India is at a very nascent growth stage. As the Government of India is taking various initiatives to boost the economy, there is a long way to grow. Hence there is a huge opportunity, and one needs to have the risk-taking ability to grab it. Whatever one does, one should be hands-on, needs to plan well, stay committed to a particular task, focus on its core strength, and constantly focus on results, both topline, and bottomline.

We have been using the best-in-class technology, the latest machines for production, which improves the efficiency, resulting in lesser input and higher output. Our integrated manufacturing facility is also automated at all the possible levels to bring in more efficiency and smooth production flow. Also, with the help of the latest technology tools, we can have a consolidated online view of the operations by sitting at any remote place, which helps us make timely decisions for smooth processes at the plant. The lockdown also encouraged us to enable our staff with facilities to work efficiently from home without any adverse impact on business operations.

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INTERVIEW are almost within the radius of 100 km from the plant. Therefore, supplying the product to them is very convenient and cheap. Also, Chlorine and Hydrogen are supplied to our customers through pipelines that exist near our facility.

What are the key pillars that set Meghmani Finechem apart from its competitors?

Our manufacturing complex is fully integrated, where co-products of Chlor-alkali are used to manufacture value-added derivative products that we have entered, i.e., Chloromethanes and Hydrogen Peroxide, and for the products that we will be getting into, i.e., Epichlorohydrin and CPVC Resin. Functioning as a fully integrated complex enhances sustainability in the operations. On the supply chain side, both for sourcing raw material and supplying our customers, we are strategically placed in the PCPIR region. All the raw materials required are available in proximity, and similarly, all the customers we serve are within a radius of 100 km from the plant. We are also entering into a different set of products; we cater to more than 15 industries and hence, are not dependent on any specific industry.

There are no shortcuts. You build on your core strengths, do business with good corporate governance, and maintain transparency with stakeholders. I believe the above approach is the only way to develop a sustainable business.

Are there any global best practices you would like to emulate in your business?

I like to travel and visit various chemical factories around the world and learn the global best practices. We at MFL, from the beginning, have implemented all the best procedures possible, from acquiring the best technology for all the products, best processes to improve the efficiency, best machines to improve on the output by lesser input. We all also follow best practices for ESG and safety protocols.

All the above measures witness zero accidents at the plant, zero breakdowns, lesser pollution, better margins, and awards like Responsible Care certification

by Indian Chemical Council.

How is the supply chain tuned to the market complexities?

On the procurement side, our team manages the transactions very well in advance so that we do not face any issues regarding the availability and pricing of raw materials. Based on data analytics and management expertise, the team tries to source the raw material at the appropriate time and right price. Also, most of the raw material is available in proximity, on account of the plant's location. Our location is an advantage for our customers as most of our customers

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1. Product chemistry – Created ChlorAlkali eco-system/family 2. Expertise in selecting the product and technology 3. Well invested infrastructure leading to lower Capex per ton and faster completion of the expansion 4. The strategic location of the plant in the PCPIR region, the hub of chemical companies 5. Fully integrated complex leading to lower cost of production 6. Technically qualified professional management team

What are your expansion plans in place?

We are venturing into Epichlorohydrin and CPVC Resin. Epichlorohydrin (ECH) is used to manufacture Epoxy Resin.

We will be the first company in India to manufacture ECH; it has a good market in India and is expected to grow 10% - 12% over 5 to 7 years. Raw material to manufacture ECH is based on 100% renewable resources. We are coming up with 50,000 TPA capacity, and it is expected to get a commission in Q1FY23.

CPVC Resin is used to manufacture CPVC pipes. It has tremendous demand in India, and it is expected to grow ~13% CAGR in the next 5 to 7 years. Once we commission our 30,000 TPA capacity plant, we will be the largest manufacturer of CPVC resin in India. Both the products will further strengthen our fully integrated complex as part of the raw material required for both products are available within the facility. In the coming years, we will be getting into products that will be used to produce critical intermediates for manufacturing agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals' active ingredients.

These new products will have chlorine as their raw material, further strengthening our fully integrated complex.

OPINION

Public Funded E-commerce Platforms

GROWTH CATALYSTS

for Farmers

The wave of e-commerce has left agriculture disembarked.

Today organic turmeric to croissants is all available online, but the originator of the supply chain of these – the farmer – is still nowhere to gain financial recognition. This opinion piece by Dr. Aman Dua, Assistant Professor (FBMED), National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship & Management (NIFTEM), Sonepat, highlights the much-needed intervention by the Government to bring the agricultural produce on the e-commerce radar and provide farmers their due credit. This initiative will make the country’s agri-business supply chain robust & reliable and will position the much deserving farmers at the center of the digital revolution.

W

ITH the number of globally recognized e-commerce firms and affordable connectivity, it is deemed that India has developed a robust supply chain.

Increased expenditure on infrastructure has made it more reliable. In 2020, the expected number of internet economy users will be around 82 million, and the internet economy will be US$50 billion.

Despite this, when pandemic COVID-19 emerged, the effect was most acidic on the farmers. The development of cities has often camouflaged the result of farmers also. In this disaster, due to COVID -19, the supply chain seems broken. Farmers

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are ready with the product but unable to sell it. Ironically, several electronic supply chain firms have emerged in the previous decade, but all evolved around corporates. All of these are targeted to sell products in the urban area. Their vendor list is limited to suppliers from large organizations or small and medium enterprises (SMEs). While the Indian e-commerce law intends to curtail any preferential treatment to vendor the starting vendor of agri-supply chain, the farmer is left and feels left out in this digital revolution. This makes the farmer hesitant to any change which modern information technology-based policies will bring. With the industries

Dr. Aman Dua is an assistant professor with eleven years’ experience at the National Institute of Food Technology and Entrepreneurship & Management (NIFTEM), Sonepat. He has done post-graduation from the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai, and a doctorate from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.

He likes to explore areas of warehousing, channel and distribution design, and information system implementation.

moving towards the fourth revolution and supply chains adopting blockchainbased enterprise solutions, agriculture will be impacted, and so will be the farmers. These fast-changing paradigms necessitate that the policymakers include the farmers in this digital advancement.

Otherwise, they will keep representing their agony in different forms.

THE COMPLEX YET SIMPLIFIED CHAIN In a simple view, a supply chain needs an aggregator, a producer, and a buyer, but a still different middle layer exists in the supply chain of an e-commerce firm. These layers are necessary due to

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OPINION consolidation and economies of scale and scope. But it is clear that if a farmer is supposed to be a stakeholder in a supply chain, the Government has to intervene with the corporation to forgo economies of scope.

Ironically in various regions, the consumer is waiting for the vegetable. In the span of 20kms, a farmer cannot find a consumer because the mandi is closed or working for limited hours, or they cannot find transportation to the mandi.

To bring goods to the mandi, a medium capacity vehicle (1 – 10 tons) is required to reduce per-unit transportation cost. In contrast, a small capacity vehicle (which may be a two-wheeler or a tri-rickshaw) may work if the farmer has direct information on the requirement of the product to the consumer.

In the National Capital Region (NCR), various farmers with marginal lands between sky-scraping towers can be found and are bound to sell their produce in mandi at a meagre price. In contrast, the consumers living in these towers visit stores to buy various local agri-produce. One can easily find jaggery priced at Rs240 per kg in the stores in the basement of skyscrapers, while at the retail market in the village, these are sold around Rs50 per kg. To my surprise, I found the two feet sugarcane priced at Rs15, which approximately translates to Rs30 per kg or Rs. 3000 per quintal, at lower estimates, while the latest price received by the farmer is Rs 362 per quintal in Haryana, inclusive of transportation at the doorstep of the sugar factory. It is noted that sugarcane has a reasonably good shelf life. No doubt a corporate enterprise commits to profit,

but a farmer doesn't get the fair share.

Farmer's profit margin increases by an average of 200% while selling directly to the consumer in the case of vegetables.

The same may happen for dairy products and other essential needs. Hence it is a MUST to make farmers inclusive in the digital market space.

Geography bound model for e-commerce based on the hyper-local model sounds apt for this situation. The hyper-local style of e-commerce is based on local geographical information and fulfils the demand from local supply only. Its crucial feature is fast speed and delivery in two hours. This makes it suitable for perishable goods and very low shelf life. With the improved quality of roads in India, it can be within the range of 100kms. The hyper-local model finds applications in agriculture while converting farmers to direct sellers.

The hyper-local model requires minimal efforts from the retailer and can be fruitful for sustainable development. In the context of technical requirements, a hyper-local model-based delivery by a seller can be managed by a single device.

This e-commerce based digital market can mitigate the capital requirement for transportation by the farmer. The Indian customers are changing their tracks for fulfilling their demands. The hyper-local market has silently been integrated into the lives of people in cities and towns.

Services and groceries are traded through these platforms.

BUSINESS-FRIENDLY POLICIES As Consumer Protection (E-commerce)Rules-2020 prohibits any preferential

treatment to any vendor, it will stop any bias among farmers with different capacities. This Act also keeps track of the algorithm, which attempts to give any preferential treatment to any vendor, the farmer. When e-commerce rules put obligations on sellers, farmers, as the sellers, will not be untouched by these.

These obligations will become challenges for the small and marginal sellers. These include handling grievances, providing complete and correct details about all products, providing a customer care number and fast solution for consumer complaints. A possible solution can be providing a collective solution at the block level or district level.

The digital marketplace can also be integrated with the ODOP (One District One Product) policy of the Indian Government. This scheme aims to promote exports for every district, and if a village/block or town has something, which is GI (Geographical Indication) tagged, this government-sponsored e-trading platform can also boost ODOP. It can be achieved via platforms like YouTube and various government initiatives that have already utilized it in MOOC (Massive Open Online Course).

Training of basic skills for the adoption of e-business practices would aid the transition.

REMOVING THE MIDDLEMEN Farmers would have been in a better situation with a farmer involved-supply chain model. If a farmer can record his expected produce on a system, variety and updated status procurement would have been simplified for consumers and

The digital marketplace can also be integrated with the ODOP (One District One Product) policy of the Indian Government.

This scheme aims to promote exports for every district, and if a village/block or town has something, which is GI (Geographical Indication) tagged, this government-sponsored e-trading platform can also boost ODOP. It can be achieved via platforms like YouTube and various government initiatives that have already utilized it in MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). Training of basic skills for the adoption of e-business practices would aid the transition.

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OPINION

other retailers. Further, it would have been integrated with consumers. A dual approach, where customer coming to farmer and farmer to the customer, can be created by removing the middlemen in the true sense. This can be easily implemented with decent adoption of a user interface in the local dialect.

E-commerce based on a hyper-local model may help in achieving this. The government-owned e-services platform like IRCTC, COWIN, and various service delivery platforms have already delivered their effectiveness in providing services to the masses unbiased. In this type of change, the onus will lie on the farmers also because when e-trade happens, a high amount of trust is required between the seller and the buyer.

Several relaxations will be required to bring the farmer to the e-trade platform as company liability rules cannot be applied to an individual farmer. When the Government is involved, the liability may lie on the Government. This article advocates for the e-tailing of edible items;

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hence FSSAI regulations will also come into the picture. The farmer needs to understand that what is being produced in the field will be consumed by people, and any contamination may endanger their lives. The importance of quality standards needs to be understood, and an auditing mechanism is required to ensure the quality of agri-produce listed on the platform. The proper training and disciplined & ethical behaviour by farmers will make the operations of the e-trading smooth and bring efficiency and effectiveness. The farmers must understand that on the one hand, this e-trading platform is providing the extended reach to products sold by him, while on the other hand, if unethical and unfair practices are resorted to, then the reputation of the entire community or district can be at stake.

on this e-commerce wave have been founded with a capitalist approach with an expectation of high Returns on Investment while formulating their strategy. The grassroots initiatives of the Government for digital infrastructure offer a ray of hope that farmers will become the stakeholders of digitized value chains in the incoming days. This will make the country's agri-business supply chain robust and reliable and include the farmers in the digital revolution. This farmer-inclusive supply chain will bring financial inclusion. In terms of sustainability, this approach will be helpful because of the reduction in transportation for the local produce.

This greenfield project will be filled with challenges but will eventually lead to significant structural changes in the agrimarket concept.

THE SILVER LINING The inclusion of farmers in existing e-commerce has not happened yet in a holistic way because firms standing

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RECAP

Trending GL BALLY P&G’s ‘Net Zero’ ambition for supply chain and operations Procter & Gamble had recently announced a comprehensive plan to accelerate action related to climate change. It has set a new ambition to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its operations and supply chain, from raw material to retailer, by 2040, as well as interim 2030 goals to make meaningful progress this decade. “We are fully committed to using P&G’s innovation and ingenuity to unlock new solutions to address climate change,” said David S. Taylor, Chairman, P&G President, and Chief Executive Officer.

“P&G’s actions on climate began over a decade ago, and we know there is more work to do. Our science-based plan to netzero will prioritize cutting most of our emissions across our operations and supply chain, from raw material to retailer. For residual emissions in these categories that cannot be eliminated, we will use natural or technical solutions that remove and store carbon,” David highlighted.

P&G’s 2030 goals to pace progress toward net-zero were submitted to The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). These include: • Reducing emissions across our operations by 50% • Reducing emissions across our supply chain by 40% Reducing emissions across operations: From 2010 to 2020, P&G has reduced absolute emissions across its global operations by 52% through energy efficiency and renewable electricity. As the company continues to reduce emissions, it is also advancing natural climate solutions to balance any remaining emissions from its operations that cannot be eliminated by 2030. These

include new projects that help protect and restore forests and other ecosystems essential to the people and wildlife that call them home.

Accelerating renewable electricity: P&G is nearing its 2030 goal of purchasing 100% renewable electricity by already purchasing 97% globally.

Decarbonizing supply chain and logistics: P&G’s supply chain and logistics emissions from raw material to retailer are about 10 times that of its operations. It has set a goal to reduce emissions by 40% by 2030. The company is also planning to increase the transportation efficiency of outbound finished products by 50% by 2030. Pampers is actively working with suppliers to reduce its carbon footprint and avoided an estimated one million metric tons of GHG from the production of its materials over the past five years. P&G established a new Product Supply Innovation Center (PSIC) in Kronberg, Germany, as a hub for a network of local suppliers, tech companies, and top universities, developing global and scalable solutions to help decarbonize our supply chain.

Flipkart’s Supply Chain Operations Academy is open to Bengal, Bihar & Jharkhand applicants

Flipkart has launched the online Supply Chain Operations Academy to equip students with the skills, knowledge, and industry training on the supply chain.

The Academy hopes to certify over 4,000 supply chain workers in the first year itself to bridge the skill gap and create more employment opportunities in the industry. Candidates will learn about the various aspects of the e-commerce supply chain and its roles, soft skills, and compliance. "The Indian supply chain ecosystem is evolving rapidly and helping provide

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superior e-commerce experience to millions of customers across the country. In turn, it is creating lakhs of newer job opportunities, necessitating the need for large-scale skilling initiatives to build logistics talent that can complement the sector's future growth," said Hemath Badri, senior vice-president and head of supply chain, Flipkart. "We are aware of the need to fill skill gaps. We believe that we will be able to help thousands of candidates develop necessary skills and increase their employability," Badri said.

The Supply Chain Operations Academy will take in students from Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal for the program's first phase. The 60-day training program will be divided into a 15-day digital training session and a 45-day onjob apprenticeship.

RECAP Amazon launches new local selling capabilities to help small businesses grow

Online mapping tool to accelerate access to critical data on agriculture commodity supply chains The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) will be transforming its existing manually-operated commodity mapping tool into a web-based, self-guided resource that will rapidly increase the number of companies that can access commodity data points. This new online tool will enable companies to self-map risk assessment and action recommendations of all food and fiber-based commodity supply chains, covering the global production of over

Amazon announced Amazon Local Selling, a new set of services that enables local, regional, and national retailers to start or expand their Amazon businesses by offering in-store pickup and fast delivery to local customers. More than half of all products purchased in Amazon's store are sold by third-party sellers, most of whom are small and medium-sized businesses. With Amazon Local Selling, sellers can quickly and easily expand their multichannel offerings by listing products in Amazon's store and offering them to local customers in designated areas for instore pickup on the same day they place an order. When making an order, customers can select in-store pickup and receive a notification when it is ready that day. Or, they can choose fast local delivery by the seller.

With Amazon Local Selling, sellers can allow nearby customers to support local businesses with regional offers across all product categories. They can offer products they couldn't before, such as large or fragile items. Additionally, sellers can provide customers with add-on services, such as product assembly or installation, for the products they deliver.

"Local Selling presents enormous opportunities to a large number of sellers who want to bring more product selection to their Amazon business, enabling many to expand their multichannel offerings by integrating their physical stores and delivery capabilities with their digital operations," said Jim Adkins, Vice President – Recreational & Vocational Categories, Amazon. "Our research shows that many customers will opt for local pickup when given a choice. This new capability is an exciting way to help sellers reach and delight more customers with great products and convenience."

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200 commodities. This work is made possible through funding by the Walmart Foundation.

Most companies have little knowledge of their supply chain origins. TSC's commodity mapping program has created and piloted a platform to predictively model where supply chains are most likely located using very limited information. This platform is based on TSC's proprietary Trade Network Model, which combines global maps of agricultural food and fiber crops with international annual import and export statistics.

"Upgrading the Commodity Mapping Tool will enable consumer goods companies to more effectively protect, restore and sustainably manage natural resources," said Julie Gehrki, Vice President & COO, Walmart Foundation. "By increasing the information available on the origins and environmental and social risk factors of commodities, the upgraded tool will provide access to the insights needed to drive more sustainable supply chains."

Commodity mapping is already a part of TSC's core programming and is utilized by companies. TSC's existing tool and the program enable companies to visualize and communicate sustainability issues or hotspots present in food and fiber product supply chains through maps and dashboards. By seeing risks present in commodities, companies can use this tool to understand, prioritize and manage risks in their value chain, even if they do not know precisely where their commodities originate.

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Celerity India Marketing Services Email: tech@celerityin.com | Mobile: 79771 05913 Website: www.supplychaintribe.com