Making More Possible

Thomas Foxwell Burton once said, “With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.” August 6, 2019 was one such incredible night where we witnessed exceptional talents in the supply chain industry walking the red carpet and claiming their top spot. Our maiden awards ceremony, hosted at Taj Santacruz, delivered many firsts for the industry … it was indeed the first event where we recognized and honoured young individual talent. These awards created inspirational benchmarks for the Millennials and inspired them to be a part of this exciting growth phase. Right from the top guns of the industry to the most novice managers, they were all part of this iconic platform making it a great concoction of transformational ideas and innovative approaches. Here is presenting you the awe-inspiring Superstars & Super Achievers of Supply Chain…

It was an evening to remember for all the delegates and winners present at the maiden 30-under-30 and 40-under-40 Supply Chain Awards by Celerity. A star-studded affair in the literal sense where the Superstars of supply chain gathered to script a golden chapter in the history of Indian supply chain.

A unique concept in supply chain

While awards in supply chain domain are a no big deal, what makes this platform unique is that each nominee had to go through a rigorous nomination process right from filling up an exhaustive form to clarifications from Jury members and finally strict scoring parameters from six very senior jury members. Given the breadth and depth of unique experiences which each Jury member brought, there were two further rounds of deliberations to arrive at a winner list.

Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) as our knowledge partners, helped through the entire nomination process. As Sudeep Mehrotra, Senior Director, A&M, recounts, “The process started with us soliciting nominations. After a slow start, it picked up really well. The quality of nomination was quite encouraging. Jury was formed keeping in mind various aspects to be evaluated. The involvement of jury and their commitment was quite exemplary. A big thanks to the jury for this.”

A distinguished jury panel

What made this journey even more fulfilling was on boarding the eminent panel of judges, which included Prof Ashok Pundir of NITIE; Mr Royston Fernandes, Director- Analytics and Continuous Improvement; Mr Ravia Rodrigues, Director – Supply Chain, Alstom India; Mr Venkatesh Maheshwari, Sr VP – Supply Chain, Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd; Mr Ranjan Sharma, CIO & Head SCM, Bestseller India and Mr. Ravikant Parvataneni, CEO, Crimson & Co India. These experts have a lot to say about the innovations and exemplary work done by each nominee, which made it an arduous task for them to unanimously declare winners in each category.

Jury speak

Prof Ashok Pundir, NITIE, on Leadership

Team management and people skills are very important and especially in supply chain because there are a number of parties involved in the entire process right from the raw material to processing till it reaches the last mile and when we say last mile it must reach in the most safe & secure manner with the same order that the customer has asked for and the desired quality. Unless there is greater commitment and strong leadership, we can’t achieve these goals. This event brought together the abundant leadership traits that these young managers have inculcated and have led not only their growth trajectory but have in fact left a lasting trail for their sub-ordinates to carry ahead the bandwagon. These awards are a true reflection of leading from the front and delivering stupendous results for the organizational growth. It’s the leadership streak which has helped them excel at all fronts and ultimately win the race.

Mr Venkatesh Maheshwari, Sr VP – Supply Chain, Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd, on Grooming the Next-gen

25 years back, when I started my career in the retail industry, people really didn’t have an idea what organized retail was. People used to often assume you worked in a store. Similarly, SCM is not just about warehousing or logistics, people don’t know it’s about A.I., it’s about mechanization and automation in the warehouses, it’s about design and there’s so much more to it.
And having gone through this journey over the last 25 years, the onus is on us as senior leaders to groom the talent. There’s so much talent out there. At the supply chain forums or at industry awards, we only recognize either teams for what they have done or some company for some initiatives but somewhere we have failed to recognize individuals especially the young ones and that’s what appealed to me about these awards. I take pride in saying that within my own team of about 100 people, about 60 of them fall under the age of 30. Last year, I took two months off for my holidays and I didn’t get a single escalation mail or a call while I was away climbing Mt Everest. And that’s the kind of talent we have with us which we really need to recognize and encourage them to come out of their shells, seek opportunities and excel in their areas of interest and make their profession fulfilling. I don’t believe in the theory of people sticking to a job are better for organization or themselves. In fact, I tell HR while recruiting that don’t get me people who have been in their last jobs for more than 3 years because the learning stops and so does the adaptability and dynamism.
This event proved to be the real eye opener for us as industry experts and actually empowered us in motivating the right talent for them to be a part of this exciting growth story.

Mr. Royston Fernandes, Director - Analytics and Continuous Improvement, on Success mantra for effective supply chain

Supply chain is a fairly vast function which primarily involves 4 key areas — Plan, Source, Make, and Deliver. I know people who have spent entire careers building expertise in only one area because the body of knowledge residing in each area is so immense. But when you are looking at the whole supply chain, you want people who have worked across these areas. And I think it is challenging to find people who have a view across the end-to-end supply chain because many companies are not structured internally in that way. Take for instance a company that has three different verticals - a commercial vertical which covers distribution and sales, a manufacturing vertical which manages all the plants, and a sourcing vertical which handles suppliers and ensures material availability. Since they are structured separately, these three verticals will tend to take decisions independently, which may result in sub-optimal outcomes for the supply chain as a whole. The individual team members too will work within their respective verticals and may not be encouraged to be fungible across teams. Contrast this with another organization which has planning, procurement, manufacturing and distribution all rolling up within the same team. This second supply chain will be much more coherent and team members will learn to make more holistic decisions. The way an organization structures its supply chain impacts the way that the supply chain delivers and the perspectives of the team members who constitute that supply chain. So, I think that’s what I look for when recruiting people - someone who views supply chain in a holistic way, with a perspective right from suppliers’ suppliers to customers’ customers. If you don’t have people who see your own organization as one single supply chain, then you will face challenges both internally as well as externally. During the screening process of the award entries, what interested me the most was the candidates’ multi domain experience and the way they entwined those learnings to drive results in their present organizations. These young talented supply chain professionals will excel in their domains when given the right opportunity and I wish all of them the very best for their future endeavors.

Mr Ravikant Parvataneni, CEO, Crimson & Co India, on The binding thought

I think it is important for us to understand that supply chain as a function has many inter-dependencies. Most important is to realize that one person can’t make a difference. It’s really important for the organization to set KRAs for the entire team. The KRAs should be set in a manner that fosters creativity and innovation. For each and every member of the team, it’s critical to understand business requirements and have the same objective and that can be the only thing which motivates them and binds them together. If that doesn’t happen, a project can’t succeed. All of the jury members unanimously found the Power of TEAMWORK as the most striking feature in the nomination forms. All the entries had this binding element, which actually is the foundation of any project success. We are pleased to see that new generation places immense thrust on this core value rather than just achieving their individual goals to succeed.

Mr. Raviraj Rodrigues, Director Supply Chain-India, Alstom Transport, on Innovation & beyond

Steve Jobs once quoted that those who are crazy enough to change the world are the ones that usually do. Not all of us are Steve Jobs and that’s where usually organizations step in. I can just quote a couple of examples – 3M has a policy for certain functions for e.g. R&D where people need to devote 15% of their work time towards innovation, so they will give you some time off to work on innovation and in the process help 3M come up with innovative products.
At Alstom, there is a concept called ‘I Nove You’ where groups come together to give ideas which can help the organization globally. These ideas, if accepted, get recognized in terms of a proper Implementation Project and the idea generators are recognized in a R&R ceremony by the company CEO. More than anything else, I think it’s a pleasure to see your ideas taking shape.
So those are some of the things that organizations have begun to do. Organizations also tend to nominate and send people to courses where they meet with different people and there’s a lot of cross-pollination of ideas, which can be implemented in their respective organizations.
The most important thing I’ve seen is that recently in the last couple of years, a lot of organizations have begun to see supply chain as an enabler of the business and because of that, there’s a lot of openness to ideas and an idea which emanates from supply chain and has the potential to transform the industry, for example omnichannel is based on the promise of quick and responsive supply chain. This concept has its roots in supply chain. And this is something that I see happening more often.
Also, of late, I am seeing that organizations are giving more time for people to work on innovation and ensure that this is part of their objective setting for the year. While judging, we also looked for such strikingly innovative entries and as other jury members have pointed out, all the entries were high on innovation & creativity quotient, which is an extremely endearing aspect for the supply chain fraternity.

Mr Ranjan Sharma, CIO & Head SCM, Bestseller India, on Key enablers of growth

I think what's important when you start building a supply chain organization is to have the right people with the right intent, skills, cultural fitment and high motivation. Secondly, service orientation is far more important whether it's to an internal customer or external customer because both are equally demanding and equally challenging. So, I think that intent and motivation are far more important to pick up the right people, build the right organization. And then I think to be in supply chain means having to give enough opportunities for people to grow. So, the moment you start getting new opportunities, new things to do, that's what is going to keep you going. That's where you want to really move on and keep discovering new things, building new things for the organization. During the judging process, we came across many such skills and we were pleasantly surprised that we have exceptionally enthusiastic talent in the country. This platform has truly offered them wings beneath the wind.

The night of felicitation

For the supply chain of any company to be effective, apart from people, the other three pillars of Infrastructure, Services and Technology need to be very strong. Taking cognizance of this fact, we honored three stalwarts who have been doing pioneering work in these fields. For his pioneering work in the field of Ports Infrastructure, Capt. Sandeep Mehta, President, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd was felicitated. He has been responsible for development of Container Terminals, Private Rail Operations, Container Freight Stations & Inland Container Depots and grain storage facilities for the Adani Group in India. Mr. Anshuman Singh, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Stellar Value Chain Solutions, was felicitated for his immense contribution in Supply Chain Services. At Stellar Value Chain Solutions, Mr. Anshuman Singh has embarked on the journey of 'Value Chain Transformation' and wishes to bring India to the top 5 of the Global Logistics Performance Index. In the field of technology, Mr. Venky Nayar, Co-founder, Autoplant India was felicitated. Autoplant India has developed an end-to-end cloud platform for supply chain management. The platform uses emerging technologies from machine learning and advanced data analytics to the Internet of Things and helps automate various processes in the entire supply chain. Here is what they had to say:

Capt. Sandeep Mehta, President, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd

It's very encouraging to see the supply chain now getting recognition and young people joining the industry and more importantly working together. I do believe that we are on the right path. I think India will really create innovative solutions. The technology is already coming in right now. People have to work together. In fact, looking at blockchain and looking at other ways of doing international trade, we are becoming more competitive. I think with what is happening in the industry right now, we continue to look for good people. So, wherever you find good people, please encourage them to join and also network within the industry. I think Awards is one way by which we all can network and get together. But more importantly if we do it every year, we will also be able to create the kind of groups that will encourage innovation and growth. I am humbled to receive this award and wish these young people the very best to excel and leave a lasting impression in their professional journey.

Mr. Venky Nayar, Co-founder, Autoplant India

Logistics is typically viewed as a traditional and difficult industry; this cannot be further from the truth. Not just by embracing the latest technologies, but also incorporating new business practices and adopting innovative solutions, logistics in India has been through a profound transformation in the last few years. The good thing for us in the industry is that the future is equally exciting. Autoplant spotted this trend several years ago and has been committed in its approach of tackling only the most difficult logistics problems – eschewing the ordinary – and bringing about fundamental change. We have constantly pushed the boundaries and looked to solve those problems that have a profound impact on the industry. It is heartening & a validation of our strategy that many other companies have followed a similar path in the past couple of years. Even more heartening is to see young talent gravitate towards this space. The talent on display at the Celerity Under-30 and Under-40 awards are a testament to this fact.

Winners take all

The exuberance of the winners was all too evident and the positive energy that each of them radiated could have lit up the entire world. While we congratulate every one of them, here is an excerpt of what makes a winner, in their own words. (In this part I of a two-part cover story, we have covered 18 of the total 43 winners in both age groups)

CELERITY 30-UNDER-30 SUPPLY CHAIN SUPERSTARS 2019

Aditya Virwani, COO, Embassy Industrial Parks (EIP) - "I have been exposed to the world of real estate and property development from a very early age of 15 years. I have been keenly involved with the strategy and operations of the Embassy Group and its diversified businesses, along with my father Mr. Jitu Virwani, Chairman & MD, Embassy Group. Currently I am responsible for managing the overall portfolio of the company and its operations. At EIP, I am responsible for development of large scale and fully managed industrial & logistics parks across India totaling to about approximately 15 mn sqft over the next three years. These are to be the first of its kind with international standards of quality and environment. We are the pioneers of the new lean model of building industrial and logistics parks nationally.

Being part of a bigger brand that is already present in all sectors of real estate we have insights in all areas related to construction, safety, cost efficiency, technology, innovation. We have a team of people who constantly work on R&D and data analytics to keep us ahead of our game coupled with an awareness of latest and future trends of industry."

Mihir Parekh, Vice President & Head – BubbleGUARD, Nilkamal Ltd - "We designed the Nilkamal PalletGUARD Sleeve System – India’s first pallet based collapsible and returnable packaging solution with sustainable logistics in mind. The solution is aimed to replace single use packaging and unsustainable materials like paper and wood with a complete plastic unit that is reusable over 1000 usage cycles and is 100% recyclable at end of life. The PSS is engineered to optimize the freight cost by allowing for 80% reduction in return freight logistics, therefore deliver a lower per use cost and carbon footprint than conventional packaging to users.

With this focus on sustainability across all BubbleGUARD products, we have been the fastest growing division in our group and have been profitable within two years of operations. As Head of Nilkamal BubbleGUARD, I am responsible for the profit centre, manage B2B sales to institutions and corporates and lead the marketing strategy of the brand. I also spearhead Nilkamal’s social and sustainability efforts with products like Water Wheel and our social impact range of products."

Anirudh Mendiratta, GM – Operations, Cars24 - "I have successfully managed transition of warehousing to be GST ready by redesigning & executing the network redesigning for complete PepsiCo India portfolio (Beverages & Foods). I have been adjudged the best Lean Six Sigma project in AMENA for delivering 19% productivity via LLS tools and laying the automation blueprint for PepsiCo India warehousing. I had set up processes & metrics for Cars24 logistics operations to support “blitzscaling” pan-India distribution. The skill sets that I believe help in achieving the desired results are – Perseverance and a good ‘Friendship’ with data. The management mantra for planning is I believe in, “In God we trust, everyone else must bring data” and for post planning execution, “Karne se hi hoga, Baba nahi karwaega”.

Pratyush Prateek, Senior Manager - Sourcing, Big Basket- "I am responsible for planning end-to-end National - sourcing and distribution of Strawberry. Strawberry is hypersensitive seasonal fruit grown in select region and highly perishable. Conventional method was to reduce farm harvest to market travel time; but the quality of the product till it reached end consumer continued to have challenges in terms of look & feel & taste & also business loss due to quality deterioration at various nodes exceeding 30%. Through technological interventions like use of Precooling Units, Reefer vehicles, Temperature controlled air shipments, last mile temperature monitored Shipper Boxed delivery, ICT backed backward farmer integration, initiatives on better packaging during transit as well as customized product packaging to end-consumer, we brought down wastage to sub 5%, achieved fill rates >99.9%, gave better returns to farmers and enhanced overall customer experience. I believe that passion, innovation, self-belief and learning agility help me overcome challenges and succeed."

Manoj Nolkha, Lead – Supply Planning & External Manufacturing, Janssen India (J&J Pharma)- "I am currently leading the Supply Planning & External Manufacturing Operation for India Manufacturing (Contributes 50% of India Business). I am responsible for developing and executing production planning, raw & packaging materials planning, driving S&OPs with third party manufacturing sites, inventory management and project management.

I was part of the Packaging Standardization Project which delivered huge savings in costs annually. I was also key contributor in implementing Anti-Counterfeit Pack for biggest brand of Janssen India in record 3 months’ time, with adoption of technologies i.e. Invisible Prints, Micro-Text, Guilloche Pattern. In my previous organization, I have also developed 70+ Vendor for greenfield project & setup the system & process for Sourcing. Currently I am co-leading E-Leaflet Project for India, which is a positive step towards Environment Sustainability.

I believe, in current corporate world, you can’t be lone achiever. We need to approach people with positive intent and include them to find the opportunity. When people from diverse function, background, experience come together with the intent of delivering value to business, they can do wonders."

Vikas Chandra, Assistant Manager, Demand & Distribution Planning, J&J- "During my very satisfying professional journey so far, I have supported to Implement Direct Dispatch Model for Distribution of Finished Goods (FG) from Factory to distributors, which resulted in savings on warehousing, transportation & manpower cost and improved time to serve customers. I also did Bottom up budgeting for Secondary distribution, which helped identify inefficiencies and improve accrual management.

I think clarity of goals and right mentors are key to have a successful career. We need to know what we need to achieve and through target setting, continuous measurement of progress against the clear targets and regular review to see and ensure you are moving in right direction. Having right mentors or seniors who can guide you and coach you in difficult circumstances helps in career management and ensures you get right opportunities."

CELERITY 40-UNDER-40 SUPPLY CHAIN SUPER ACHIEVERS 2019

Saurabh Gupta, Regional Head Supply Chain Planning – South Asia, AkzoNobel Ltd

It is overwhelming to receive a recognition like this. Over the last 15 years, I have had the privilege of working on different assignments covering various aspects of Integrated Supply Chain encompassing manufacturing, supply chain and other continuous improvement programs involving six sigma & other tools. I spearheaded a project involving cross-functional team to re-design the Supply Chain Network. We used globally recognized analytical tool to study the network design and arrived on various simulations. These simulations were tested in different scenarios & market complexities to finalize the most optimal network which helped to bring down our cost significantly. I have also been part of implementation of organization-wide Integrated Business Planning (IBP) in various sites and countries in South Asia Region. I feel the ability to learn, continuous improvement, innovation and sincerity in work are the key skill set for young managers to succeed. I like to work with team, provide them the necessary support to implement ideas/change. I encourage them to take initiatives and tell them to never hesitate from failures.

Kanishk Negi, Global Supply Sustainability Manager, ABB Ltd

We have successfully demonstrated that sustainability and commercial benefits are not mutually exclusive. They are 2 sides of the same coin and this is something for which we don’t have many examples in supply chain.

General perception is that sustainability is the right thing to do…but it faces challenge of acceptance due to modifications required and its impact on the cost economics. ABB’s Supplier Sustainability Development Program (SSDP), documents cases that quantify the operational and business benefits helping the suppliers gain significant commercial advantage by implementing responsible business practices.

The cornerstone of this success is the collaboration with suppliers. Investing in training, using out of box thinking and deploying innovative approaches to solve challenges that are considered “unsolvable”, really demonstrate pioneering approach. The message is very clear, sustainability is the right thing to do and if done correctly, it can provide significant commercial advantage.

Vishwas R Kulkarni, DGM – Purchase, Legrand (Novateur Electrical & Digital System)

My six sigma green belt has helped me to initiate and successfully implement projects championing change management. I have been a part of several digital initiatives like implementation of self-booking tool for business travel, e-auctions for scrap disposal, incentive tours, electrician loyalty program, etc. I have been involved in the introduction of Leave Management portal and many more such actions. Striking synergy and consolidation of service providers resulted into significant savings. A platform has been created to discuss ongoing actions, proactive measures and decide strategic actions with supplier & functional teams with the introduction of QBR (Quarterly Businessmen Review). We have extended concepts of the Legrand way, 3P to strategic suppliers for motivating them to contribute in value engineering, innovation and productivity projects. Additionally, daily express meeting with the team, monthly review of KPIs and collaborative approach have ensured first time right philosophy.

Amit Singh, Divisional Manager Procurement, ITC Ltd (Food Division)

Managing around 1880 materials for different F&B categories, developing supply chain and ensuring competitiveness has helped the organization in being among the top 3 in the industry in most of product categories. I have developed supply chain for each raw material in a manner which has helped the organization to diversify in various product categories. Some proprietary raw materials are developed in close coordination with R&D team, vendors and farmers to get the desired product so as to ensure timely launches. I have also been driving automation and digitization of systems & processes of procurement function to bring in transparency. I believe good planning and organizing skills along with creativity and multi-tasking ability furthers helps in achieving the desired objectives.

Tannistha Ganguly, IT Manager Global Supply Chain Procurement, Kimberly Clark

My greatest achievement as a professional would be to enable companies to imbibe a technology centric behavior into their core business and build a technology-exploratory approach to solve common business problems. I have been able to pilot large scale projects in the fields of RPA, AI and dynamic analytics, and in the process establish myself as the most dependable source in the company’s transformational journey towards digital and process efficiency. From solution architects to the CXO teams, I have developed myself as a trusted business partner to realize the company’s digital roadmap and provide direction to otherwise legacy and manual process driven business units. With wide experience in working with large multinational FMCG and retail giants, I have not only been able to expand on my skills in the fields of IT & SCM, but also gained extensive on-the-job knowledge in finance, sales and CRM. I have been successful in transmitting these developed skills to the various teams that I have worked with and become a knowledge enabler, helping companies and their partners build best practices, benchmarks and quality related baselines.

Rajat Sharma, Head SCM, Hamilton Housewares

Transitioning an order management function with 30% volumetric forecast at primary level, with a 42% forecast accuracy and 28% fidelity and no KPI to measure service level, holding 8 months of inventory, with a band of un-energetic and non influential members into a strong demand planning function establishing a secondary forecasting – channel inventory – primary replenishment based planning model with 88% volumetric forecast, achieving a 74% forecast accuracy and a 60% fidelity, 88% primary fill rate, 82% customer order service level, 4.5 months of inventory, 1.8% reduction in total outbound supply chain cost, and a strong high performance multicountry multi-origin & influential team of demand planners and logisticians: this was an extremely enriching journey of 4 years. It also encompasses setting up of endto- end supply chain control processes for 7 subsidiaries, experimenting with export/ import focused warehousing schemes across nations, running various cross functional projects across 4 continents and finally establishing a complete S&OP framework – the journey was full of learning across the building blocks of any business: People, Process, Infrastructure & Technology.

Atul Barve, GM – Supply Chain (B2B), Signify Innovations India (formerly Philips Lighting)

Order execution TAT (order to Invoice) in B2B segment of Signify Innovations India Ltd (formerly known as Philips Lighting India Ltd) is brought down from 41 days to 15 days in span of 3 years. Robust S&OP process & immaculate demand planning are the key drivers for the same. This helped immensely in increasing customer satisfaction on delivery performance. Initiation and implementation of distribution network optimization projects in various companies like GE, Marico, wherein the Regional/National Distribution Centers are relocated provided significant positive impact on profits without compromising on customer deliverables.

Apart from analytical skills and strong functional knowledge, what really makes me successful is the positive attitude and collaborative approach. It helps me in winning trust of my peers and stakeholders. My management mantra is ‘Strive for Innovation to create value for customers’.

Sreekanth Vancheeswaran, VP & Head – Planning, Logistics and Commodity Sourcing, GCPL

We improved the stock availability for GCPL India from 96.7% to 98.5% for GT. This is significant achievement considering that the supply chain norms are designed considering a maximum possible 99% service level. We also redesigned the supply network for GCPL India post GST to maximize the saving. The overall savings led to the supply chain costs including transportation, warehousing and customer service reducing from 5.5% to 5.1% of sales value in 2 years, despite an inflationary increase in costs and volume growth being higher than value growth for business. During the low commodity cycle of palm in Oct-Nov 2018, we structured a long commodity cover for our input materials which contributed towards the margin growth for our personal care category.

Key skills which have helped me are my analytical ability, to create & read across critical reports to identify priority of action. Another critical skill has been to connect with aspiring young managers through the right conversations on performance and development needs, to ensure the team continuously looks at raising the bar. Management by Exception is my mantra. This has not just helped in effective delegation and increasing by bandwidth, but also helped me identify outliers in the supply chain which need significant management attention.

Ronit Verma, National Logistics Manager, Red Bull India

I was involved in Supply Chain Network Optimization project, which included reshuffling of entire network design and aligning with stakeholder in proposed linkages along with financial & operational factors. depots, locations to serve. The project included all product movement from Port > Mother Warehouse > Regions > Customer in scope. We evaluated operations at micro-level for existing supply chain network with standardizing approach and improved supply chain operation process in planning, allocation and executions. We did network planning through linkage study at tier/city/town level with the help of developed tool for supply chain planning & operation. Without much of existing nodes and drop size changes, the first phase gave huge cost benefits and service level improvements and the second phase in line will be able to get 16% to 20% savings on supply chain cost. On the Primary Transportation lane, volume allocation & planning basis changed linkage also benefited in cost outcome along with standardizing the overall process of panel selection. We also streamlined primary PDP with optimum inventory levels across nodes and faster turnaround without increasing space in overall channel. Immediate improvement in service levels to different customers segments, achieving >75% for next day deliveries through robust network optimization & planning, savings of 10% -15% on Supply Chain operations cost.

Vikas Gupta, CIO, Hiranandani Energy (H-Energy)

My first reported project is a very large scale Digital Initiative involving world-wide delivery partners (vendors), request initiators, company stakeholders, internal consumers, logistics channel partners, etc. The project involved a full-fledged training, intermediary hand holding, and post implementation support help desk for run-time issue resolution. It brought 25,000 vendors, 400 logistics partners, 2,000 employees and 1,000 customers on a single digital platform, which enabled on-line communication and imparted “Anytime” visibility, tracked and handled across multiple software applications, for the entire value chain right from material requisitioning, planning, procurement in SAP, to handling Post Order Management via custom software application.

My second project is a maiden but successful attempt to create an end-to-end Hydrocarbon Accounting System by implementing comprehensive scalable systems which help in gas distribution. The solution is a complex and a hefty mix of half-a-dozen software applications interacting in tandem with each other at different points in time, besides the security framework applications/agents and infrastructure monitoring tools/agents. The application has interfaces with upstream and downstream applications to facilitate appropriate views for various internal, external and government stakeholders. All of this was designed while staying light on infrastructure requirements for application as it gives an edge and helps organization go a long way in terms of scalability and expandability.

Nikhil Puri, Global Head – Sourcing & Procurement (Optical Fiber Cables), Sterlite Technologies

I had developed the key raw material, which helped in gaining business in new territories and increasing the revenue thereby. I had also implemented the Consignment Stocking Model (VMI) for some typical raw materials. The whole contract was drafted in a manner to suit both the parties and created a win-win scenario. After a series of discussions, many vendors came on board, which resulted in reducing the inventory and making sure that the raw material was always present. I have been driving the entire supply chain for the Optical Fiber Cables, which helps the company in achieving their vision, “Transforming Everyday Living by Delivering Smarter Networks”. Company’s growth & strategy is to have 15% global market share. I am increasing the supply base and bringing up more innovation and flexibility in supply chain, which will help in achieving the same. I am a certified Six Sigma Black Belt. I believe in my skills such as adaptability, result oriented approach and knowledge of products and commodities.

Himanshu Maloo, Director – Supply Chain, Janssen India (J&J Pharma)

Purpose that drives me at work is Customer and Patient Centricity. I have Implemented ‘End to End De-risking Tool’ methodology to proactively identify & mitigate the supply chain risk, which can disrupt the business. In the last three years, I have implemented more than 40 projects to proactively mitigate the risk. This has helped in substantially improving customer service levels while reducing inventory days. I was also instrumental in implementing NOOS (Never Out of Stock) tool for daily monitoring & future probability of stock out at CFAs. This has helped in ensuring correct distribution of stock and hence helped in avoiding sales losses.

We are working on E-leaflet for pharma products. This will help to reduce paper leaflet, which will save environment, cost and reduce complexity. I believe in Faster Forward Mindset, which is about End to End Thinking, Customer Centricity and Innovation. This helps organization to move together in the same direction with continuous improvement mindset.

Successful people do what others are not willing to do

While the endeavor of each supply chain and logistics professional is to ‘Make More Possible’, this event too realized this mantra in its own unique way. As Sudeep mentions, “Getting everyone together for the event along with leaders in the industry made it an experience for everyone.”

Sudeep further says, “I believe this year has been a good start to this journey. This association with Celerity has been quite rewarding to us. Celebrating achievements and recognizing them was the main objective for us. A&M stands committed to this cause. We congratulate Celerity for a successful launch of this ambitious journey. We look forward to an even better and bigger show next year”.

We promise to be back next year with more excitement and a higher level of participation.