FORE School Of Management Gets A Glimpse Of The Future Of Supply Chain Management From The Shakers And The Movers In The Industry And Academia

Online, January 29, 2013 (Newswire.com) - The Operations Committee of FORE School of Management organised a high profile Industry Interaction for the students on the 21st of December 2012. The session on 'Issues and Challenges of Supply Chain Management: Indian Context' was organised with the objective of bridging the gap between the academicians viewpoint and the industry practitioner's approach.

The panel consisted of Mr. Shammi Dua, (Head Logistics, Akzonobel), Mr. Amit Sharma, (Head of Operations: Regional Distribution Centre -North, Future Supply Chain Solution Ltd, Future Group) and Mr.Venkata Krishna, (Head of Procurement Practice and Senior Specialist, The Smartcube), with Professor Davinder Banwet, IIT New Delhi bringing in the academician's perspective and vision to the subject. The panellists examined the current state of SCM in India, transportation issues, leakages in the system, and also threw light on the future trends.

Based on his Past experience in Cadbury, Reliance and Ariba, Mr. Shammi Dua dwelt on the importance of customers and shareholders, for the benefit of the students of FORE School of Management. A dynamic Supply Chain Operations specialist with 14 years of international, corporate consulting & diverse industry experience, Mr. Dua pointed out that the challenges lie in the seasonality and inventory planning in India, as it becomes difficult to manage relationship with suppliers.

"By optimizing and reducing the cost in an effort to increase efficiency, Supply Chain managers should not forget that there is a risk of reduction in responsiveness and agility," pointed out Mr. Dua, who has a proven track record in conceiving and implementing smart operations strategies, and known for achieving exceptional results on an accelerated basis.

For his part, Mr. Amit Sharma outlined the diversity in SKU management to the students of FORE School of Management , and the need of classification pattern to curb the issues of seasonality.
"Inventory carrying costs are generally overlooked specially while calculating sales price," said the veteran of numerous national and international seminars on the subject. "There is a need to redesign supply chain systems by looking at areas of improvement which can decrease the inventory carrying cost."

Mr. Venkata Krishna, an experienced research professional with more than seven years of professional experience in shaping solutions for clients' supply chain, procurement and business research domains, in his turn observed that the cost of sourcing is the lowest in India and this leads to increased risk of disruption and disaster in a supply chain.

"There is a need for better integration in India and use of big data and analytics to optimize supply chain," pointed out Mr. Venkata Krishna to the gathering at FORE School of Management, who has a immense grasp of client relationships and on-going services over and above SCM.

To his credit, Professor (Dr.) Devinder Kumar Banwet of IIT Delhi, brought his formidable power of research to the table. Known for his phenomenal teaching skills, Professor Banwet spoke eloquently to the future managers from FORE School of Management about the issues that he envisioned in humanitarian SCM.

"Theory is strengthened only when applied in the real world. As managers tomorrow, do not hesitate to apply what you've learnt in your classrooms at FORE, especially when you see something at contradictions with your teaching. Chances are, those who have been practising it, know no better."

This brainstorming session was conducted conscientiously, with all participants deeply aware that the output at FORE School of Management essentially becomes the inputs for the industry.