Leveraging Technology in Supply Chain Management

I was Invited by students of IIM Jammu on 7th of Feb to speak on this topic. I am sharing my thoughts here again for other to read and comment.

The simple most definition of SCM as I understand is “Making a Right product available at a Right Place in Right Quantity, Delivered at a Right Cost”

If I had said it in 60’s 70’s or even 80’s this simple definition would have been simple to execute as well as there were less complexities then, but when I say it in 2021 I can’t say it and remain easy at the same time.. It’s not at all easy to manage so many "Rights" with so many Constraints & Complexities and you often tend to face some "Wrongs" in the process.

Let us understand what brings complexities to it

Right Product- There can be 100’s of variants of a single product basis colour, weight, features, style, taste etc.. I can’t blame my Marketing or Product team for creating so many options, I need to stand Shoulder to Shoulder with them and support them in there endeavor to capture market share and create strategic advantage for my Company, so what I have to do, I have to produce stock and make all these options available all the time,, so this is what it is that bring complexities in SCM.

Right Place- Multiple Sales Channel- Online, Offline, City- Rural, National- International (and here we are not only talking about finished Product but Raw Material as well), this brings another set of challenges as you have to manage availability with so many sets of sales channel.

Right Quantity- Companies often face shortages in some of the SKU’s and excess stock in some, it’s because it’s difficult to forecast demand as customer need and requirements are so dynamic. On top of It Product Life Cycle is also getting shorter and shorter.

Right Cost- OK In spite of having all the above challenges I would have been still happy had my Management said produce as much as you want, stock as much as you want and have as many warehouses as many you want, ship as many times as you want no need to worry about full load part load. Does this happens?  NO, As a SCM Manager I have to create a right balance of cost and availability

So what all of these does to me, it creates constraints, puts limitations and adds complexities.

Then the big questions comes how do I manage my operations? How do I make sure that I create strategic advantage for my company so that I not only Increase my market share but also keep cost under control? How do I achieve this? How do I plan my resources well? 

Well the answer to it is Through Data. Data is the New Oil. Data on its own cannot give us any advantage, it needs refinement, it needs to be analysed like we put crude oil into refineries for making it useful, likewise for getting sense out of Data we need Technological tools to Refine it, to Analyse it. We are living in an era which is not only connected digitally but generating massive data not only from our operations but also from the Eco-System in which we are operating hence we need powerful analytical tool to put them all together and to get sense out of it and help us take Better Decision which is the right use of Human Being.

In the end, the role of technology is to facilitate us and make us more effective and let us all focus on task that really counts is to take "Decision" and to ensure the companies we work for live up to its promise.