Supply Chain Management as a Career

By Vivek Bansode

Many a times huge organizations fail in its first observation or perception is that what kind of Supply Chain Process they are and what exactly they are looking for?

Being a SCM Professional I would define Supply Chain Management as a chain that starts from customers need and ends with customer satisfaction including its pillars - Demand Planning, Inventory, Transportation, Sourcing, Pricing and Information for actions. The definition changes with application for SCM. For e.g. any design-based company will define it as the process of finding customer need and converting it into satisfactory solution without including distribution or warehouse in its definition whereas for Flipkart it will mean delivering right product to right customer at right place with right pricing. The sole purpose of SCM is to add value. For instance, there are two companies with same employees, same turnover, same product, same product pricing and same numbers of customer base. One thing that will make a change and can earn lots is value addition is SCM. 

Touching the pillars of SCM we will understand the depth of the subject. Demand Planning is always the planning phase in SCM which involves various numerical and non-numerical methods for forecasting sales or other parameter like trends, product feasibility, etc. Demand Planner seeks inputs from Marketing and Sales team for their calculation. By analyzing the historical data, they generate some conclusions or decisions which takes them closer to their goals.

Secondly, Inventory is a necessary evil for any organization. Necessary, because you can fulfill the demand of your customers without any delay in lead time as well as you can be ready for market’s up and downs. It is also an evil as Inventory always carry some cost which blocks huge money and if not planned well can be dangerous. An Inventory Manager deals with these types of situations and in companies with shelf life, Product Inventory Manager will always be a key person for organization. There are various tools that are used like VMI, JIT, WMS, etc.

Transportation cost is always around 30% of your landed cost and it is necessary to control this cost. There are certain Incoterms that are important for any business, these are the mutually agreed condition for delivery, material transportation etc. At what extent buyer will have to take care while taking the delivery which consists of Risk and price associated. For e.g. Door Delivery, Pick up from Supplier end (Ex-Works), CIF, etc.

Sourcing is the key factor for your business, it is a primary cost center for the organization. It involves supplier as integral part with identifying your raw material with right cost, optimum quantity, expected quality, delivery etc. Sourcing Manager is responsible for all the inwards of organization and must deal with complete upstream of supply chain. There are many important tools used nowadays in sourcing like SRM - Supplier Relation Management which deals with supplier portfolio and data of business transactions.

Pricing is not only price of the product but it also consists of forward hedging, inventory decisions, transportation, LC’s, process and machineries as well.

Information is the important parameter for all the organizations, IT is the best example for this. All the ERP, EDI’s, WMS, CRMs etc. enhances the ways of doing business. The flow of information should always be there and that too real time. IOT will take over in coming future for most of software and will change the way of doing business.

There is lot of confusion about the difference between Logistics and Supply Chain which initially makes things different. Logistics is always an integral part of Supply Chain and it is neither different totally or nor similar completely. Logistics is defined as the action of moving people and goods from one place to other with involving certain operations as well. These operations include warehouse operations like packing, labelling, stuffing, cross docking. Once you understand what Logistics is apart from Transportation you will first understand that the things which you claim Supply Chain are initially Logistics. Supply Chain is the philosophy which includes all your pillars of organization then it is a technique which helps to create value in present process with elimination of all non-value additions and proceeding to lean.

The deeper you study the deeper you can define. However for a career aspirants SCM is one of the best upcoming profile and most important for each industry nowadays. There are many career opportunities involved in SCM. As the stream is very broad and deeper every pillar itself have numerous profiles like SCM Analyst, Procurement Executive, Global Sourcing Manager, Import-Export Manager, Logistics Manager, Warehouse Manager, Costing Manager, Demand Planning Manager, etc. Europe has already enlisted SCM as top 5 career streams for next 100 year however in India people have enough knowledge that is only limited to their scope of work.

There is no restriction on education base however little relevance is always necessary that comes from SCM Certifications or Education in SCM field. An aspirant can start from Graduation in Engineering or BMS with SCM as subject. You can do MBA in SCM or SCM special courses. CII have the top certification in India for SCM as SCM EXE and SCM Pro which are valid for 3yr & 4 year, respectively. In the field of SCM your career growth depends on your knowledge and practical exposure.

The opportunities are tremendous but requires relevant experience. SCM Professional can work in any industry with his skills and domain knowledge. Around 85-90 % of organization requires SCM profiles and plays pivotal role. In India people are not yet aware with SCM properly and that’s the concern for all SCM Professionals. However, I would also add that we are getting to practice Lean Management or Lean SCM that the Japanese are already doing. Companies such as Flipkart, Paytm, Ola, Food Panda and Swiggy have implemented SCM in proper way and hence are well developed.

 

About the Author:

Vivek Bansode is a CII Certified - SCM Pro with PGDM Operations and BTech (Mechanical Engineering). He is working with Ador Group as SCM Professional, currently taking care of Sourcing (Procurement, Import, NPD and SRM).