SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN THE E-ERA

The need to look at supply chain management in the context of the present day scenario with emerging technologies was the point that speakers attempted to make at the 24^th IIMM convention - NATCOM 2001.  The Chennai branch of the Indian Institute of Materials Managers (IMM), the apex body of professional materials managers in the country hosted the convention, which addressed the theme of ‘Supply Chain Management in the e-era’.  The convention Chairman, Anil P Aggarwal, while welcoming the gathering said that viewed against the context of the present business scenario, the relevance and the theme of the convention is far more focused and different from any other convention.

N Kumar, Vice-Chairman, Sanmar Group inaugurating the convention said, “After the September 11 incident which are now known as ‘9-11’, people have called the ‘Doha summit of WTO’ as the second terrorist attack.  Apart from these two incidents, the emergence of China as a major force were the three things that not only materials managers but also corporate planners should take into account while planning their business strategy.  The materials professionals especially, he said had to rethink strategies and evolve better ones in tune with the present day business scenario”.  He also highlighted the hypocrisy of the US in using ‘anti dumping’ laws to protect domestic industries like aluminium, steel and agriculture, while expecting other developing countries to open their markets fully for them. He called for common state policies and while saying that the industry should not expect the government to do everything, the government should stick to developing infrastructure and not waste time and effort on commercial entities.  Managements he said should be focused, aggressive and need to carve a niche' in the international markets. 

Richard M Moras, who is the President-elect of the International Federation of Purchasing and Materials Management (IFPMM) and the 3^rd Indian President of the International body called for ‘candour, communication and commitment’.  These three qualities have to be exhibited by materials managers in business he said.  “SCM has become complex and complex technologies have evolved to handle these complexities.  Smart people are needed to make use of these technologies and smart people are those who adapt quickly to changing situations.  Materials Managers should move up the value chain,” he said.  On his plans as President of the international body for Materials Managers, he said that he was going to focus on the Asia Pacific region and after that on Africa.  He also said that he would make efforts to ‘unleash the treasure trove of knowledge that was in the form of over 2,00,000 IFPMM members and would form a ‘learning network’.

S Mahalingam, Executive Vice President, Tata Consultancy Services, who delivered the keynote address said, “materials management in India needs interface and synergy.  SCM in the e-era is all about working together, sharing information and seeing SCM from a multiple function point of view”.  He also spoke about ERP in SCM and Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR).

The convention had five technical sessions covering the topics - Current business scenario and its impact on supply system, International practices in e-supply system, Case studies on e-procurement, Third party service providers and Emerging technologies in e-commerce.

Other prominent speakers at the convention included Prof M G Korgaonkar, Head, School of Management, IIT, C K R Murugan, President -Operations, Lucas-TVS, Ranen Chatterjee, GM - Vendor Development, Hyundai Motors, Dr G Ickinger, Chief - Manufacturing Operations, L & T Demag Plastics, K V Sriram, Director, Ernst & Young, R Veeraraghavan, GM-Logistics, Ford India Ltd, E K Parameswaran, Head-Pre Sales, Ramco Systems, P Utagikar, VP-Operations, L & T Electrical Business, Sharad Bohra, VP-Global Sourcing, Wipro-GE, Bangalore, S Ramkumar, VP - Marketing, Sembcorp Logistics, S Ravichandran, GM, TVS Logistics, C Venkataraman, Chief Financial Officer, Antarix e-Applications, Dr P Balasubramanian, Senior VP, Infosys Technologies, N Chandrasekaran, VP, TCS and H R Srinivasan, Vision Holder, TAKE Solutions.

M S S Varadan, Chairman, OM Consultants, Bangalore added a touch of humour while summing up the proceedings of the two days. Using the help of cartoons sketched by two young artists, he compressed 610 minutes of proceedings into 20 minutes. A compression ratio of 1 : 30.5 as he put it. Indeed the amount of input over the two days not only highlighted the vast amount of knowledge available but also the benchmarks achieved by some of the industry majors like L & T Demag Plastics and Ford India.

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