50 Manufacturing Companies – Godrej Consumer Products

Rakesh Sinha’s topmost priority continues to be to improve customer service levels and the freshness of its products on retail shelves. “I am quite happy that both these parameters are showing consistent improvement not only in India but in other countries as well. We have deployed TOC (Theory of Constraints) principles of replenishment and agile response across our supply chain network. We have mapped the requisite systems in SAP and APO (Advanced Planner and Optimiser) for seamless integration with basic supply chain transactions,” he says.
Daily Planning and Exception Monitoring has helped the company  achieve the highest and unprecedented levels of customer service in most of the geographies in which it operates.
He feels that brick and mortar companies continue to have the advantage of a touch-and-feel customer experience vis-a-vis e-tailers. They also hold an edge in cases of impulse and emergency purchases. It’s important for brick and mortar companies to leverage these advantages and continue their focus on customer service and product freshness. It’s possible for them, using TOC principles of replenishment, to improve the assortment as well as freshness of their products within the given constraints of space and working capital.
Sinha knows that there is no concept such as an ideal one-for-all supply chain model. It has to be custom designed for the context in which the entity operates. However, certain underlying principles work across all the contexts. These pertain to having a laser sharp focus on customer service and product freshness. “If we keep our eyes firmly on these two parameters, everything else falls in place,” he adds.
For the company, international topline is improving on a sequential basis led by Indonesia (32% of international sales). The management expects near-term growth to be aided by series of new launches. Key challenge here is the gestation period required for creating a credible position. Currently, a significant share of operating cost goes towards upfront marketing and sales promotion.