A panel discussion at Inflection Web Conference & Awards- Supply chain Innovation 23/05/2017
Industry Leaders on Panel- Umesh Madhyan from Coca Cola, Saurabh Lal from Kelloggs, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav from Nestle, Srinivasan Muthukumaran from V-Mart, Neeraj Goel from General Mills,Anil Kumar Mishra from Pladis Global , Sandeep Anand from Alden Global
What commenced as a local crisis in China, transformed into a gigantic Global crisis, disrupting the supply chain networks on a global scale. Uncertainty is inevitable part of the consumer industry but due to the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19, this factor has escalated. Leaders are taking pragmatic, digitally-led steps to respond effectively to immediate and post-pandemic world challenges.
Planning is a herculean task right now and planning inventories has become a bigger challenge. As companies have to keep tabs with moving demand and migrate channels in order to liquidate trade. The scenario planning accompanied by rationalization of SKUs in FMCGs companies has supported towards minimizing the impact of sudden disruption in the market.
More such discussion here.
Another challenge is to ensure quick supplies and understanding consumer insights. The specialists recommend to redesign planning and prioritize capacity alignment and doubling down on responsible interventions to minimize unnecessary spending and preserve cash for future growth initiatives. Taking a tactical approach to build greater trust, transparency, customer centricity and innovation might work as an economic rebound. For instance, a top FMCG company changed it distribution movement to rail movement immediately in Lockdown 1 to effectively ensure availability.
Many companies are regretting their reliance on a single company for items they directly purchase. Supply-chain managers know the risks of single sourcing, but they do it anyway in order to secure their supply or meet a cost target. The key is to plan for such contingencies is by identifying alternate supplier arrangements and localizing sourcing. Another prerequisite to survive these dynamic times is to safeguard supply chains by boosting the morale of front line heroes in the form of incentives or precautionary measures to give them a sense of belongingness. These actions help companies support employees and maintain business continuity in the short term and build responsible future business practices.
Henceforth, the corona-virus epidemic teaches us that a robust supplier-monitoring system that maps sub-tier dependencies is a basic requirement for today’s supply chain and sourcing professionals.
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