Continuing our Reinventing…series, we lately conducted another virtual summit – Rockwell Automation presents Reinventing the Supply Chain Management and Warehousing Industry along with Manufacturing Today. Held on August 19 from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm, the agenda (see box) was similar to what you saw in July when we organised Reinventing the Automotive Industry.
The two hour span summit had distinguished leaders in their own way from automation, FMCG, and e-commerce industries. Remarkably, most of them have experience across any two sectors and this made the conversation livelier. They know the problems and issues connected with each industry and how they can be alleviated.We began with the panel discussion that was moderated by Arvind Kakru, Country Head, End User and EPC business, Rockwell Automation India. The topic: Reconfiguring supply chains for a new world.
The panellists comprised Srinivas Garimella, MD, Vega Conveyors & Automation; Satyam Choudhary, Sr Director, Flipkart; Rajeev Mehta, Chief Logistics Officer, Ambuja Cement; SPS Chauhan, Director, Asia & Middle East, Bastian Solutions; and Jayendran Balasubramanian, Founder & CEO, NextFirst Engineering.
Kakru spoke about the disruptions being caused in global supply chain due to the pandemic. He asked the panellists to describe numerous ways they met customer expectations during these times.
Satyam Choudhary said, “We have gone up in complexity in terms of material handling. Changes in demand can swing the supply chain erratically. We have been experimenting with fungibility in the supply chain.”
Srinivas Garimella said, “Customers should not automate for its sake. Automation brings in repetition and consistency along with predictability. One should look at the intangible benefits of automation.”
Rajeev Mehta said, “Cement supply chain is one of the most volatile. We lost 80% volume in early lockdown and were back to meeting our near regular volume the next. Technology plays a critical role in today’s supply chain and warehousing.”
Jayendran Balasubramanian said, “Traditionally, automation was confined to shop floors. It has now deeply seeped into distribution to the point of sale and consumption. Material handling does not mean only conveyors. There’s something deeper here.”
SPS Chauhan said, “Today, in robotics too there are cobots that have come in. However, whatever kind of automation one is deploying, there is need to consider safety first. Design of the automation equipment must be made simpler too.”
The first presentation was made by Lokesh Kaushal, Regional Segment Leader – Packaging Machinery Asia Pacific- Rockwell Automation India. Speaking on Digital Engineering, Remote support/ Manufacturing, Smart Machines, he elucidated, “Workforce management is one of the key areas today, be it the shop floor or warehouses. Human capital is our asset. But we need to make our systems future-proof. Supply chains are becoming global and managing them is a complex task. Connectivity and data integration becomes relevant today.”
The second panel discussion for the day was Making supply chains transparent than before. Moderated by Sriram Paramanand, India Business Manager, A&S, Rockwell Automation, the panellists comprised Sangeet Kumar, CEO & co-founder, Addverb Technologies; Ram Somtia, Head, supply chain, Reliance Retail; and Senthil Kumar KK, national manager, supply chain, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages.
Sriram Paramanand asked panellists the importance of transparency in supply chain and how they attempt to achieve it in today’s challenging times.
Sangeet Kumar said, “There are near similar operations in most industries as far as warehousing is concerned. One needs to understand and discern product and processes and build optimal systems that can help the organisation at large. The more automation people try in vain, the more costly is the experience. Optimal automation is the key.”
Senthil Kumar KK said, “It is critical that we regularly reconsider supply chain if markets change. Even more critical for us. Managing costs is a constant battle that FMCG sector must deal with. With growth in the rural market, we need to assemble top notch plans to ensure equitable distribution across the country.”
Ram Somtia said, “Grocery is a retail business. But juggling the SKUs in terms of Indian spaces can be a nightmare. In terms of capacity building of warehouses, we were largely lucky as we have our own warehouses. Some of them are highly advanced in terms of technology, others may lack some of the sophistication. However, we will soon change that.”
It was time for the last presentation of the day. Delivered by Manas K Basu, Commercial Manager, Solutions and Services Business, Rockwell Automation, he spoke about how supply chains connect everything. “Right from raw material transfer to manufacturing to reaching the end customer, it’s supply chain that plays a critical role. Along the way, the sender of these goods also needs to know the position of the goods and in what condition it is reaching the market and how fast. Adoption of IoT and digital transformation is changing the supply chain landscape for everyone.”
There were also polls organised that shot questions on technology so as to understand its penetration in the Indian market. Most people agreed that technology is critical and should be adopted more to grow. However, some found price a deterrent.
The audience also had questions to the panellists and some were taken live for the benefit of the others.