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IIM Shillong Bi - Annual Operations Magazine published by Op-Era, Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Citation preview
PravahaRedefining the flow of operations
EDIT
ION 1
IIM Shillong Bi-Annual Operations Magazine
AUGUST 2013
AmazonIntel
Same day delivery
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
Taiichi Ohno
Vilfred Pareto
Big Data in Operations
3D Printing
Doing it the McDonald’s Way
COVER STORY
FROM CLICKING TO CARTING
Pravaha | Edition 1Editorial
Dear Readers,
Team OpEra, Operations Club of IIM Shillong
brings to you ‘Pravaha’, the biannual operations
magazine of IIM Shillong. Our vision to inculcate
knowledge in this domain to all enthusiasts through our
activities reflects in the cover page of the inaugural
edition and we encourage all of you to maintain the
knowledge ‘Pravaha’ Redefining the flow of operations.
Before we introduce you to the intriguing world of
operations management we would like to confess that
there always prevails a sense of anticipation when such a
magazine is conceived, more so if it is for the first time and
we take this opportunity to thank each and every one of
you for the overwhelming response.
In this first edition we bring to you six different
sections dealing with varied concepts from various
dimensions of this domain. We once again thank you for
the ʹInsightsʹ section, where the canvas was quite
wonderfully painted by your ideas and would always be
open for all our readers. We acknowledge all your efforts
in this regard with a bow. The prize winning entries from
Great Lakes, Chennai and NITIE, Mumbai will keep you
hooked on with the interesting concepts of Big Data and
3D imaging while interesting stories on rapid
prototyping, and the McDonald’s expertise await your
insights.
The ‘Blazeatrail’ section brings forth the best
practices followed in the industry that are crucial in
providing a competitive edge to any organization. The
concepts have been brought to clarity through lucidity of
language and exemplification of instances this time
through the retail transformation by Amazon and the
customer delight strategy quite brilliantly used by Intel.
Through our ʹRobarooʹ with industry stalwarts
we share their expertise and knowledge with you. This
time we have Mr. S. Ramani, FounderDirector of
Savourites Hospitality Pvt Ltd and Head, Project and
Marketing department of 6 Ballygunge Place, the
flagship restaurant chain of the organization who helps
you delve deeper in the business of restaurant
management and catering. Also Mr. Vishwadeep Khatri,
CEO and Lean Six Sigma Expert from Benchmark Six
FROM TEAM OP-ERA Sigma takes you through a simplified world of Six Sigma
practices and how they could help each one of you in your
careers as well as day to day activities at your respective
organization.
We also take you through ́ The Road less traveledʹ
which provides you dossiers of knowledge in its every
turn about unconventional upcoming practices which are
set to revolutionize businesses and supply chains. The
pharmaceutical supply chain and the same day delivery
techniques await at the end of this road to enlighten you.
Pravaha also brings you face to face with the
ʹVirtuososʹ and familiarizes the readers with the famous
contributors in the development of Operations
Management. Not to forget, the cover story ʹFrom
clicking to cartingʹ forays into the much talked about field
of ecommerce and captures the intricate and finer details
of the same.
Do keep an eye on the ‘Rendezvous’ section to
know about our initiatives that make the understanding
of the concepts easier to grasp and assimilate and also
provide you a fun zone to tickle your grey cells .
So get set to enter into the world of operations
management where a plethora of ideas and concepts await
your perusal.
HAPPY READING!
TEAM
OP-ERA
BHASKAR KPOULOMI PAL
VM SAI MURALI
ANISH AGARWAL
NEELAV RATNAM
SAIPRASAD SHETYE
DEVENDRA SINGH RAGHUWANSHI
CONTENTS
INSIGHT
Big Data in Operations
3D Printing - A Radical Change in Manufacturing
Doing it the McDonald’s Way
Rapid Prototyping
Its all about Improvements
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
Adding Value to the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
Same Day Delivery - Reviving the failed practice
COVER STORY
From Clicking to Carting
VIRTUOSOS
The TPS Patriarch - Taiichi Ohno
The Pareto Analyst - Vilfredo Pareto
BLAZE-A-TRAIL
Transforming the online retail landscape
Unveiling the customer delight
ROOBAROO
Mr. S. Ramani - What goes behind your favourite Bengali Cuisine?
Mr. Vishwadeep Khatri - The Simple Idea Behind The ‘Six Sigma’ Jargon
RENDEZVOUS
Oper8 - Operations Week, IIM Shillong
Opsopedia - The fun learning video series
Optimus 3.0 - The most creative brain takes it all
FunZone - Tickle your grey cells !
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I NS I G HTThe strength of 'Pravaha' is multiplied by the inow of ideas from
all avenues. Through this section, we share the insights of our fellow B-schoolers on the plethora of possibilities that Big Data could create in the field of operations, McDonald's supply chain
integration story and the potential impact of 3D printing in revolutionizing manufacturing.
2Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Pravaha | Edition 1Insight
Ever changing consumer needs and preferences
makes predicting demand a risky task and a big challenge
these days.What is important in predicting or
understanding these needs would be the relevance of the
Supply Chain Data. The relevance is only made more
complex by huge availability of Structured and
Unstructured data.The problems of using historical data
are Limited range, noncollinearity and bad correlation.
However, as we know almost all firms are facing a “Bull
Whip Effect”, decisions based on historical data would be
redundant. Organizations that can capture and analyze
data across Supply Chain can manage their inventory in
real time and capitalize on business opportunities.
Big data serves the goal of developing a scalable
platform for decisionmaking that is robust and nearly
real time to avoid the use of historical data. The financial
and statistical metrics related to market and customer
focus when coupled with these decisioning inputs from
big data gives a real time analysis and discovery of trends
to bring in business agility, operational excellence, and
first mover advantage.
Big data is the warehouse of information available
on Internet and other computers. Every operational
transaction that takes place is recorded real time by using
RFID taggers and barcode scanners and this
information is stored real time. Real time monitoring of
this data and make decisions in improving product flow
in warehouse. Take the case of manufacturing industry
where big data is stored and analyzed to check product
quality, defect tracking, and supply planning and helps
BIG DATA IN OPERATIONS Bharat Ram, Jasdeep Kaur, G. Shivshankar
(Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai)
deal with supplier component parts defect tracking.
Netflix the online provider of movies and TV
programming has a big data system in place. With a $3.6
billion revenue from subscription for movie and TV
programs and 33 million customers worldwide, they have
an enormous source of data that facilitates product
development by anticipating what subscribers want. The
data sources being hours of video streamed per day, social
media data. The key characteristics of data which are the 4
Vs Volume, Velocity, Variability and Volatility are best
addressed with big data.
The biggest ROI in bringing big data in
operations is expected in the logistics /distribution (78%)
and consumer service (56%). Data transparency and
usability of information, boost trend analysis, product
development and augmentation. It helps regulate
inventories from happytosick days, thus, minimizing
operational losses and business vulnerability. Improved
forecasting by tying the loose ends of vendor and supplier
in the value chain in realtime is possible. Reduced
customer dropouts and enhance sustainability by
analyzing customer behavior is yet another possibility. In
a nutshell big data increases the likelihood of
revolutionizing operations through innovative designing
and process control in the making of next generation
products.
*****(Awarded as Winning article for intercollege article writing
competition conducted by OpEra)
3Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Insight
The very idea of able to make anything by simply
printing it in 3D is no myth. This technology is now
being available to anyone and anybody can print
anything at home from practically any material. This
technology has been used for “BioPrinting” for making
human tissues or organs. The 3D printing industry has
matured from prototyping to making functional objects.
The technology has evolved from a mere application for
making novelty items to a wide range of objects for critical
industrial applications. Examples are prototyping of
parts for automotive and aerospace applications. A 3D
Printer requires a digital blue print which is sent as the
input to the 3D printer. The 3D Printer costs a very
affordable $2200. Digital blueprints and 3D printed
objects are available online. It is also an opportunity for
designers to advertise their creative and innovative
designs. However, these designs come at a premium.
Manufacturing is definitely going to be
revolutionized. The technology is extremely effective
intricate shapes or highly specialized complex products
which are very difficult to produce using traditional
manufacturing techniques at cu�ing edge technology.
For instance, this is viable for aerospace components
which are difficult to cast. This could reduce costs and
time. Another unique characteristic of this technology is
that it allows for customization of the product and design.
Traditionally manufacturing has been highly centralized
and has required huge set ups. With the advent of 3D
Printing Technology in Design and Manufacturing,
manufacturing has the potential to evolve from a
3D PRINTING - A RADICAL CHANGE IN MANUFACTURING Vignesh Lakshminarayanan
( NITIE, Mumbai)
“Centralized” to a “DeCentralized” or “Distributed
“model.
Though 3D Printing Technology holds great
promise, the question which needs to be addressed is
whether the technology is powerful enough to put
Manufacturing giants out of business in the coming
decade or so. In spite of the effectiveness of the technology,
the 3D printing process has very low productivity and it
takes several hours to even make a simple product. The
technology is therefore not scalable. Hence itʹs very
debatable whether objects such as a car can be 3D printed
in a tangible amount of time. Hence for at least some
period of time, 3D printing canʹt displace traditional
manufacturing in terms of efficiencies and economies of
scale. But in terms of a making complex customizable
objects or objects having proprietary design and limited
demand, 3D printing has been a phenomenon. However
with an increased access in the coming years, the concept
of manufacturing will definitely undergo a redefinition.
It will be fascinating to see how organizations respond,
given that 3D Printing is emerging as a serious threat to
the viability of their businesses.
*****(Awarded as Runner Up Article for intercollege article writing
competition conducted by OpEra)
?
Pravaha | Edition 1
4Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Insight
`̀ We o�en marvel at the great prices offered by
businesses such as Amazon.com and flipkart.com,
wondering what it is that makes them tick. While the
behemoth, Amazon, has pioneered the ecommerce
domain in the last 15 years, Flipkart is still nascent,
struggling to make a profit yeara�eryear. So, then how
is it still able to sell at a discount?
Quite contrary to popular belief, it is not the
competition that forces such business to sell cheap; rather,
it is their operational efficiency that allows them to have a
low cost, which in turn enables them to sell at a low price.
There is a very subtle difference between the two – low
price entails lowering the profit margin, while low cost
ensures a higher profit margin.
DOING IT THE MCDONALD’S WAY Aniruddha Jaju
(IIM Ahmedabad)
saving techniques in food production and processing.
Ensuring timely orders to every supplier, McDonalds
gave the suppliers enough confidence to innovate in
making the supply chain more efficient. As a result,
McDonalds was able to procure raw material at a very
low cost, which enabled them to provide their products
and services at a low price. Even their competitors in the
1960s marveled at their operational efficiency, and in
changing the landscape of the quickservice industry.
To put things into perspective, it was McDonalds who
perfected the coldstorage technology, to transport raw
materials over long distances. This technology is used
even today by almost all suppliers of perishable food
products. McDonalds was also one of the first
organizations to employ the justintime (JIT)
procurement and delivery models, which is in widespread
use today.
Twenty years a�er McDonalds first pioneered the
supplychain integration and created a new benchmark
in operational efficiency, many organizations started
realizing the importance of such a supplychain
integration. Thus started an era of backward integration,
where the suppliers were given a larger share of the pie.
From here emerged organizations such as Amazon.com,
who further revolutionized the supplychain, by
completely eliminating the middlemen i.e. distributors
and wholesalers.
The Amazon model is unique in its own way.
Eliminating the middlemen reduced costs and allowed
them to sell at low prices, a phenomenon that led to
Amazon becoming one of the most visited website in the
US in the 2000s.
Organizations like McDonalds and Amazon
have, today, become the way of life for more than 50% of
Americans. Their operational excellence is marveled at
even today. The fact that no other organization has been
able to compete with them for the last several decades
speaks volumes about their innovative practices and
supplychain management.
*****(Awarded as Special Mention in Inter college Article Writing
Competition conducted by OpEra)
The lowcost model was championed by
McDonalds, way back in the early 1940s. McDonalds
changed the quickservice industry with its quality of
service and a plethora of food options – all at unbelievably
low prices. This enabled its growth from a small drivein
outlet in the 1940s to the biggest fastfood chain in the
world by the 1960s.
McDonalds was the first organization to give
importance to its supply chain. It worked with the
suppliers to conduct research in coming up with cost
Pravaha | Edition 1
5Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Insight
“If you can dream it, you can build it”Eric
Anderson. Such is the power of a digital manufacturing
technology called Rapid Prototyping (RP). It is a group of
techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a part
or assembly using threedimensional Computer Aided
Design (CAD) data. The 3D printing machine reads the
data from the CAD drawing and lays down successive
layers of the material to build up the physical model. This
paves way for Rapid Manufacturing (RM).
Modern products like aircra�s require complex
development with huge upfront investments. This results
in inflexible systems which are fraught with cost
overruns. Most machine shops have lead times of a couple
of weeks compared to less than 24 hours provided by RP.
RAPID PROTOTYPING Dwijendra Parashar, Achint Jain
(NMIMS, Mumbai)
item, prevent problems later in production, when changes
are costlier a varied range of working materials, flexible
product design and more importantly it is also suitable
for Nanoscale products
The production costs for RM made parts depends
primarily on part volumes. This is because of higher raw
material price compared to conventional materials and
the process of building up the part layer by layer. To
improve capacity utilization, it is possible to produce
several nonidentical components in a single job.
Increasing pressure on quality, costs and lead
times is forcing companies to look towards backward
in t egra t i on . RM has made th i s c entra l i z ed
manufacturing a possibility because it incorporates JIT,
Inventory control, greater scope for customization,
innovation and reverse engineering.
With the number of manufacturing firms
increasing their presence in India, demand for local
suppliers has also increased several folds. Vendors have to
deal with changing demands of the customer at a very
short notice. A number of vendors are using RP for
flexible manufacturing to keep up with the rapidly
changing product designs, which is an essential for
survival in the market today.
Due to the success of RP, customers are shying
away from conventional tooling and using RM
throughout the manufacturing cycle. RM is helping
vendors produce be�er products at lower costs and
responding to market demands more quickly than the
traditional manufacturing methods.
*****(Awarded a Special Mention in Inter College Article Writing
Competition conducted by OpEra)
RM has evolved from RP technologies that have
been successfully used to physically create designs and
concepts. One of its advantages over traditional
techniques is that no specific tooling is required for
manufacturing.
OEMs have to warehouse excess inventory to
ensure a fast delivery of spares while estimating future
demand. Infrequently sold parts have to be stored for a
long time, generating high inventory costs. RP helps cut
down on not just warehousing but also rolling
inventories resulting in be�er overall supply chain
efficiencies.
The key benefits of this technique involve cheaper
designing and testing, faster prototype turnaround,
be�er visualization of products with a physical, tactile
Pravaha | Edition 1
6Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Insight
Operations management – area of management
which ensures that business operations are efficient in
terms of using few resources as needed & effective in
terms of meeting customer requirements. The role of
operations management in a lot of industries has evolved
– now operations management is not only concerned with
processes (defining –designing –controlling) but also a
key contributor in defining the future . With fierce
ITS ALL ABOUT IMPROVEMENTS Tarun Shukla
(Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune)
physical distribution will ultimately lead to be�er service
keeping the cost low which will ultimately help the
company to excel in providing some value added service.
We may take any field of operations, a�er initial
designing & set up itʹs all about improving –the real role
of operation managers in the present scenario is to “how
to make processes simpler”. While making the overall
processes efficient & delivering the general standardized
product mantra was effective in good old days, now with
varied demands specific features the concept has
changed. Now standardization and customization go
hand in hand – companies are able to deliver desired
product/service at the right price, ontime with value
added features.
The key problems which most of the companies are
facing are with the “Quality improvement type
programs” most of the employees take these programs to
suggest solutions which are either very difficult to
implement or are dependent on any new technology.
There needs to be complete shi� in the way these quality
improvement programs are seen. It should not be a
mandatory exercise but must be ingrained in the
organization philosophy – a good change management
strategy should also be adopted for any major change for
which the role of HR department is also critical
Computers are just the opposite of what “kanban”
or “visual management system” tries to achieve – good
communication of any new method /improvement
implemented will be usage of simple diagrams rather than
a formal emails whose impact would not be substantial.
Too much dependence on technology will lead to more
complexity rather than simple, clear & effective
implementation & communication.
The philosophy should be usage of best available
technique in the simplest way with clearly defined
methods so that it would make organization more flexible
& quick to respond to changes. The focus area should be
simple internal operations which would help the
organization to change faster than competitors for
unforeseen external market factors.
*****
competition in virtually every market –companies have
the aim to give the customer extra which we call as value
for the product /service .A company may use different
strategies as per the market demand –be�er price, be�er
product/service or be�er delivery. All these strategies
depend on companyʹs operational plan.
We hear about Six Sigma, Kaizen, Business
Process Reengineering),TQM, Lean, JIT & many other
concepts/philosophies. The main aim of all these
–“improvements” some way or the other. When we order
any item say a book from Flipkart we are not at all
concerned with how many books the company is storing
with themselves, the customer is only concerned with fast
delivery of the item as per his/her requirements. But for
Flipkart to operate in an effective manner they need to
have a plan about the overall distribution & delivery
network. The real value addition comes when the
company is offering the best prices with other value added
services – and for these services which can be termed as
“order winners” the only way is to keep other costs to a
bare minimum. An effective strategy of handling the
Pravaha | Edition 1
THE ROAD LESS
TRAVELLED
The drive up ‘The Road Less Traveled’ explores the industry-wide new practices that are being adopted in the area of Supply Chain & Operations. This section also provides extensive analysis about the challenges faced by companies or industries in adopting these new practices, recommended frameworks for improvement & cross industrial learnings. This edition brings forth the developments in the pharmaceutical supply chain and the same day delivery technique that some corporate houses are fast developing.
8Operations Club, IIM Shillong
The Road Less Travelled
Gone are the days when stable demand, fewer products,
higher margins were used to be the norm of Pharma
industry. Todayʹs pharmaceutical business is more
complex in terms of varying demands of different
business segments. To confront the shrinking margins in
prescription drugs segment, companies are trying to
diversify into new areas like generics, over – the – counter
(OTC) products, health services etc. Also, companies are
using different distribution channels like direct – to –
consumer, direct – to – pharmacy and they are relying on
external partners for manufacturing, selling and other
services. The business is rapidly becoming more global
with emerging markets are expected to contribute 50% of
industryʹs growth in the next few years. This results in
increase of plants, suppliers, products, customers,
demand profiles, service requirements etc. in this complex
situation, Pharmaceutical companies still use outdated
supply chain that donʹt meet the strategic needs. So,
Pharma companies need to have agile, cost effective and
service supported supply chain.
ADDING VALUE TO THE PHARMACEUTICALS SUPPLY CHAIN
Quality standards can never be sacrificedin the pursuit of cost savings
Most pharmaceutical companies would err on
the side of oversupply to avoid the risk of
running out of life saving drugs
Eyeing the Benchmark
ZARAFashion Industry
APPLEElectronics Industry
P & GFMCG Industry
IKEAFurniture Industry
To s tay ahead o f f a s t
changing fashion trends, Zara
developed a very agile supply
chain with short lead times to
bring new styles to market
more quickly
For its basic lines of clothing,
which tend to change less
frequently, the company
developed a more cost
effective supply chain with
longer lead times
P & G has adopted an agile,
cost effective model that
allows the company to respond
quickly to changes in demand.
It gets real time data from
retail stores. Also, it has set up
d ifferent l ead t imes f or
different customer types,
depending on their needs
Ikea has built a low cost
supply chain to stock its stores
with merchandise at prices
that are 30 to 50
% below the competition by
focusing on cost effectiveness
at each step of supply chain,
making tradeoffs on product
c o m p l e x i t y & c l o s e l y
c o l l a b o r a t ing w i t h k ey
suppliers
Apple has built a supply chain
that ensures high service
levels & agility by developing
a closely integrated network of
supplier partners
Apple also minimizes the
c omp l e x i t y o f p r o du c t
components and finished
goods so i t can manage
demand volatility across
markets & product cycles
Following the Zaraʹs
example, pharmaceutical
companies should identify
needs of different business
segmentsʹ and design fitfor
purpose supply chains into
the industry
Pharma companies
should aim to integrate more
closely with their suppliers
and strategically manage
complexity in order to gain
flexibility and access to new
skills
Pharmaceutical
companies could improve
their planning and customer
segmentation in order to
increase service levels and
respond quickly to changes in
customer demand
Pharma companies can go
beyond narrow, functional
cost improvements by
rethinking and improving end
to end supply chain
Bhaskar K.
Pravaha | Edition 1
9Operations Club, IIM Shillong
The priorities that the pharmaceutical industry needs to
concentrate on as far as supply chain is considered are
service, cost effectiveness and agility. To meet the current
industry challenges and remain competit ive,
pharmaceutical companies should excel in these three
dimensions. Maximizing all three dimensions is not
possible and tradeoffs are unavoidable
1) Service
When service is the critical dimension, Pharma
companies should focus on Product Availability
2) Cost Effectiveness
When Cost Effectiveness is the critical dimension,
companies should go for Standardized processes, lean
techniques, faster inventory turnover, higher capacity
utilization
3) Agility
When Agility is the critical dimension, companies should
focus on effective planning & scheduling, rapid
changeover o f product ion l ines , product ion
postponement, sourcing from multiple suppliers, and
external production facility for greater flexibility
Areas of Improvement for competitive advantage
Supplier
Flexibility
People
Flexibility
Process
Flexibility
Strategic
Flexibility
Asset
Flexibility
Flexible scheduling within the plants
Balancing capacity
Structural regulatory flexibility
Strategic sourcing plans
Contracting for flexibility
Integration for Lean processes
Supplier development & renewal
Multi skilling and labor flexibility
Global Innovation task force
Platforming & postponement
Lean fulfillment & replenishment
Fast time to market, supply issue resolution
Event based forecasting
Deep understanding of customer needs
Demand driven segmentation
Service models requires investing in capacity and
inventory to achieve higher service levels
Lean – operations are critical for Cost Effective model.
The primary goals of maximizing capacity utilization &
minimizing costs limits the agility
Availability & fast response times are critical in Agile
Service model. The primary goal is to create a flexible,
responsive manufacturing & distribution network
Success of Agile, Cost – Effective model (Mutually
Exclusive) lies in companies thoroughly understanding
their business needs. Companies should improve end – to
– end processes, keep operation clean & outsource non –
core activities (Partnerships, Contract manufacturing &
logistics providers)
The Way Ahead:
Pharmaceutical companies, in recent years, have focused
on reducing manufacturing costs and inventory levels.
Though valuable, these improvements will be less
differentiating in the future. Supply chain can be a true
differentiator improving the bo�om line performance.
Building flexibility into multiple facets of the supply
chain will be critical to maintaining the competitive
advantage.
*****
The Road Less Travelled Pravaha | Edition 1
SERVICE
Highest quality of service
Frequent deliveries
Short lead times
New business models
AGILITY
Flexible processes
Short lead times
Fast scale - up
Limited investments
COST
Cost effectiveness
Scale in direct channels and in
product ows
Standardized processes
Lean techniques/ improved
inventory turnover
Tradeoffs among Service, Cost &
Agility
10Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Kozmo.com, founded in 1998, was an online
company that promised free one – hour delivery of videos,
games, DVDs, music, books, food etc. This company is
o�en referred to as an example of ʹDot – com boomʹ.
Kozomoʹs business model was severely criticized by
business analysts, pointing out that one – hour point – to
– point delivery is extremely expensive as Kozomo
refused to charge for delivery. Eventually, the business
failed in 2001.
“Same Day Delivery” is back again in 2013 with
a new set of propulsive forces. Major retailers like Wal
Mart, eBay and Amazon.com are all offering same day
delivery in a limited number of locations. FedEx, UPS are
partners in these pilots. The online retail market is now
much larger. Traditional retailers are facing pressure
from online shops like Amazon.com to offer faster
deliveries. Carriers are also facing competition from
startups like Instacart, Postmates etc.
SAME DAY DELIVERY - REVIVING THE FAILED PRACTICE Bhaskar K.
Consumer BehaviorMost consumers care more about low – cost
merchandise and free delivery and returns
than same – day delivery. Consumers do not
frequently feel the need to receive a product on
the same day that they purchase it. So
retailers and carriers should carefully
segment the market by customer and product
Industry Scenario
The carrier industry in US is estimated to be generating
around $70 billion revenues. According to an estimate,
same day delivery could generate between $425 million
and $850 million in delivery fee income. This estimate
assumes that consumers are willing to pay shipping fees
of between $6 and $10 per purchase and this will leave
very limited margin for retailers and parcel carriers. So,
the projected revenue through delivery fee income is
modest for the big companies.
Checklist for Retailers & Carriers in Same Day
Delivery model
History suggests that retailers & carriers should go
slowly in providing Same Day Delivery services. Here
are some steps for retailers & carriers to take as they
consider same – day delivery.
The most important decision for retailers is where to test
same day delivery. The retailers should choose suitable
demographics. Retailers should also choose test markets
based on the availability of nearby inventory, either in
warehouses or stores, for fulfilling anticipated demand.
Also, retailers should choose those products that can be
delivered profitably on the same day they are purchased.
These products will likely be high margin, small, and not
readily available in neighborhood stores for most
consumers.
Carriers are the tail of the dog in sameday delivery. They
would not offer the service unless retailers wanted them
to. But carriers should not follow retailers into an
untested field without establishing their own criteria for
success. Carriers have a basic choice between two
different delivery models. They are either extension of
their existing delivery network or creating a separate
network to support same – day delivery. The first model
would be most effective for serving retailers with
distribution centers located near a carrierʹs local sorting
facility. The model would require extra operating
capacity, particularly labor, to support extended dropoff
hours and delivery windows. The second model would
allow retailers to fulfill their customersʹ desire for instant
gratification, but it would only work in densely populated
areas and would also require a large commitment of
The Road Less Travelled Pravaha | Edition 1
11Operations Club, IIM Shillong
resources. Vehicles would need to be on call to respond,
and retailers and carriers would have to establish a
technology platform that would enable realtime route
scheduling and parcel pickup. This approach is more
costly, but carriers might be able to avoid some
investments in labor, infrastructure, and technology
through outsourcing. Eg. Deploying local couriers to
handle final delivery
Checklist for Retailers
Retailers should analyze the expected costs and benefits of
sameday delivery and have a clear path to increased revenues
before jumping in
Consider alternative approaches, such as cutoff times as late as
11 p.m. for nextday delivery and clickandcollect services that
allow customers to order online and pick up goods in a store
Pilot sameday delivery offerings to understand demand; test
the effect of cutoff times, minimum purchase size, delivery fees,
and product categories on overall spending in different
consumer segments
Evaluate and select delivery partners based on their
willingness to share the risks and on the sophistication of their
fulfillment systems
Checklist for Carriers
Carriers should be able to execute basic parcel services reliably
and at lower cost before offering sameday delivery
Consider subsidizing delivery costs for retailers in exchange for
a larger share of wallet
Evaluate the investment return of sameday delivery based on
its potential to increase wallet share of retail parcel traffic, to
improve consumersʹ brand perception, and to mitigate threats
from national, regional, and local carriers
Invest in expanded capabilities to execute sameday
delivery, such as establishing strategic partnerships with high
potential retailers, pushing the boundaries of network
flexibility through low cost labor and lean operations,
developing or acquiring enabling technologies, and exploring
partnerships to support execution and share costs
The Road Less Travelled Pravaha | Edition 1
The Way Ahead
For the foreseeable future, sameday delivery will likely
remain a niche offering. Carriers & Retailers should be
actively trying to improve the customer experience and
their own competitive position. Carriers may want to
focus more a�ention on lowcost and convenient delivery
services. Regardless of how the delivery market develops,
carriers should be embedding themselves in the flow of e
commerce by partnering with larger retailers, actively
supporting purchase returns, and improving delivery
tracking. But it is way too soon to tell whether sameday
delivery is the right vehicle to achieve those goals.
*****
12Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Cover Story
FROM CLICKING TO CARTING : THE E - COMMERCE STORY
ANISH AGARWAL
IIM SHILLONG
Pravaha | Edition 1
E
C
OMMER
C
E
13Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Cover Story
I just got a call from a friend of mine who is working in a
so�ware company in Bengaluru. I was glad that her
cellphone was delivered on her birthday and she could use
it to click pictures of the party that night and send it over
to me on whatsapp! Now I didnʹt miss her much. Thanks
to ecommerce companies for making my task so simpler. I
just have to connect to internet, logon to an ecommerce
website, browse through the innumerable products,
choose the one most suitable for me, make my payment
through credit card and get it delivered to a location I
desire.
But, is it really so simple and easy? This is one question
which troubles me most of the time and I am sure
somewhere at the back of your mind it bothers you as well.
It might seem to us that it is just another product which
gets delivered to us but have we ever wondered why it is
that the products are never shipped to a wrong address or
how the products reach us on a promised date when over
one lakh goods are shipped per day in India. There is a lot
of work that goes behind the scenes to make sure that the
product is correctly delivered. Before we delve deep into
the process of ʹclicking to cartingʹ, let us have an
overview of ecommerce scenario in the country.
Ecommerce industry in India now stands at $1.2 billion.
According to IAMAI data it is set to grow at a healthy
FROM CLICKING TO CARTING
pace of 55% and is expected to reach around $1.8 billion
by the end of the year 2013. Today there are about 69
million Indians who are visiting online sites. Though the
outlook is positive the major concern here is that only 14
million of them are actually transacting online. But, the
good news here is that at least they are interested and
check out prices and find out more about products. The
numbers look quite promising and we are certainly up for
etailing. Players like Flipkart, Jabong, Myntra,
Snapdeal and many others have already started realizing
it and subsequently started investing heavily in
streamlining their supply chain which happens to be the
backbone of any player in this industry. The entire process
of supply chain starting right from building a supplier
base to outsource goods to building infrastructure for
operations, using information systems to track goods and
delivering value to consumer requires an efficient and
effective planning.
Let us have a look at this process for any typical company
in an ecommerce industry and understand how exactly
this process is carried out. The entire process can be
broadly divided into two categories: inbound and
outbound. They are further broken as shown in the chart:
INBOUND
OUTBOUND
Segregation Receiving
PackingShippingDelivery Picking
Pravaha | Edition 1
14Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Cover Story
SEGREGATION
RECEIVING
PICKING
PACKING
SHIPPING
DELIVERY
The entire procurement is generally handled by a central procurement team
(CPT). A purchase order (PO) is initiated and sent to the supplier. The goods are then
received in the warehouse by the team. They are then matched with the invoice and
any mismatch is reported to the supplier. Similar products are then placed in a box
and taken to a segregation table. The goods are segregated on the basis of their size,
color or any other a�ribute relevant to the product and placed in separate boxes. A
unique ID, say warehouse ID (WID) may be assigned to a particular SKU.
A good warehouse management requires successful implementation of
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) so�ware. When the products have been
segregated, entry for each WID is made into the ERP and the product is now
considered to have been received. Put list is printed for each box which contains the
shelf number where the box is to be kept. A new shelf number is assigned or retrieved
based on already existing product or not. Accordingly, the boxes are then placed on
their respective racks by the workers or conveyor belts as the case may be. The
warehouse is divided into zones, each zone comprising 45 racks.
The orders are placed throughout the day and a pick list is generated for each
zone every 5 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the volume of order. The pick list
contains the details of the product to be picked, its zone, shelf and rack no. Then the
products are picked from their respective zones and brought to a common place. The
invoice for each product in the pick list is generated along with an address label to
where it has to be delivered. The goods are then sent for packing and the same is
confirmed in the ERP and is subtracted from the inventory.
Packing is one of the most important step as it directly relates to customer
satisfaction. Various materials such as bubble wrap, tape and boxes of various sizes
are kept handy. The products are packed as and when they are received. The invoice is
kept inside the box and the address label is pasted on the top. The packed product is
then sent for shipping and an entry is made in the ERP to keep a record of products
shipped.
Shipping can be taken care of by the company itself or it can have a separate
logistics arm or it can be outsourced to any third party logistics provider. The entire
country is divided into regions and each region has several mother hubs. Each packed
product is assigned a unique tracking ID and then they are segregated on the basis of
regions to be delivered. At the end of the day or twice a day depending on the volume,
the goods are shipped to the respective mother hubs in the regions. Each mother hub
covers several areas around with delivery hubs in each one of them. From the mother
hubs, the goods are distributed to delivery hubs overnight.
Each delivery hub covers 1535 pin codes and employs 1012 delivery boys who
are responsible for delivering the product to the customer. The goods in each delivery
hub are divided according to the pin code and each delivery boy is assigned 23 pin
codes. The delivery boy prints a sheet with the details of customers where products
are to be delivered. Since an order may consist of several items which might come
from different warehouses and be routed to mother hubs at different times, care is
taken that all of them are collected in delivery hub and are delivered in one visit.
Pravaha | Edition 1
15Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Cover Story
The entire process of ʹclicking to cartingʹ is a ma�er of
efficient management of supply chain to reduce the
delivery time to consumer as well as to reduce the
operating cost. Companies today are investing heavily
and thriving to eliminate the unwanted steps from the
process and make their supply chain as lean as possible.
Even one of the worldʹs largest online retailers,
Amazon.com, which ranks third in Gartner Supply
Chain Top 25 companies is not spared of rising operating
costs.
Amazon.com continues to grow at a handsome rate,
having $61 billion sales in 2012 and likely to reach $75
billion in 2013. In spite of its rapid growth, its net income
has been affected negatively. In Q1, for example, net
income decreased 37% to just $82 million, despite a rise
in sales of 22% to $16 billion. That means net income was
just 0.5% of revenue. The graph below shows reported
fulfillment costs as a percent of revenue from 2010 to
2012, and then Q1 2013:
on its own feet. It also means a huge increase in exposure,
and a business that is now seeking success in two
industries instead of one.
If we consider Indian companies, the story is even
worse. The ecommerce in India is facing massive
challenges due to high operating costs. Starting from
leasing a fulfillment center, to building infrastructure
and the most severe of them all, logistics are some serious
hurdles. Though the leading companies have partnered
with carrier providers to deliver their products, still
different couriers have to be used for different regions of
the country. This means that for orders sourced outside
the major cities, individual carriers have to be hired to
make last mile deliveries from delivery hubs by two
wheelers. The difficulties and unreliability of the carriers
has forced some of the largest and best funded players, like
Flipkart, to develop their own logistics arms to deliver
their packages. The decision however, carries massive
capital expenses in an industry that is still not standing
Pravaha | Edition 1
In spite of all the challenges and high costs, the industry
continues to grow and is a�racting foreign players. With
Amazon.com entering the Indian market, it has become
even more competitive. Amazon with its deep pockets has
the ability to invest heavily on fulfillment centers and
build a strong supplier base but even with huge inventory
and third part sellers, Amazon.com does not offer lowest
prices. On the other hand, Indian players are still in a
nascent stage and raising funds to build their operations.
Their consistent efforts to cut costs and price their
products effectively are on. With the industry set to grow,
it is for all of us to wait and watch, whether people still
ʹFlipkartʹ their products or are they simply ́ Amazonedʹ.
*****
VIRTUOSOS
Virtuosos introduces the phenomenal changes brought by the work of famous stalwarts in the field of Operations management. This time around we bring forth, Taiichi Ohno, Father of Toyota production System & Vilfredo Pareto, famous for Pareto principle. Let us meet these
experts!!
17Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Virtuosos
“Costs do not exist to be calculated. Costs exist to
be reduced.”
A life of Contribution
Taiichi Ohno, who was an engineer at Toyota,
a�er World War II, began experimenting with the
assembly lines at the Japanese firmʹs automobile factories.
His main goal was to improve efficiency and catch up with
Americaʹs Big Three (Ford, General Motors, and
Chrysler). The result of Ohnoʹs tinkering revolutionized
the manufacturing industry forever.
Ohno with his managers devised the Toyota
Production System, more broadly known as ʺlean
manufacturing,ʺ which gave Toyota a huge edge in
productivity and quality control. The new system
ensured Toyotaʹs position as an industry leader, and its
principles were adopted within organizations across
sectors and countries.
He went to the U.S. to visit automobile plants, but
his most important U.S. discovery was the supermarket.
Ohno was marveled at the way customers chose exactly
what they wanted and in the quantities that they wanted.
He identified pull system in Supermarkets. It contrasted
with conventional push systems, which were driven by
the output of preceding lines. This visit is famously
known as the foundation step of Toyota Production
System.
Several elements of Toyota Production system
have become famous are muda (the elimination of waste),
jidoka (the injection of quality) and kanban (the tags used
as part of a system of justintime stock control).
On a different note
Taiichi Ohno (in 1965 regarding the Toyota
Corolla): “Produce 5000 engines with less than 100
workers”
Manager reported back to Ohno a few months later and
said, “We are now able to produce 5000 engines with only
80 workers”.
But the sale of the Corolla continued to rise requiring
production to be increased.
Taiichi Ohno: “How many workers are needed to produce
10,000 engines?”
THE TPS PATRIARCH - TAIICHI OHNO
Life Span - 29 Feb, 1912 – May 28, 1990Country - JapanKnown for/as - Father of the Toyota
Production SystemMajor works- Toyota Production System Workplace Management
Manager responded quickly: “160 workers would be
sufficient.”
His answer infuriated Taiichi Ohno. “I learned how to
figure out 8 x 2 = 16 in elementary school. I had never
thought I would learn that again from you”
You are so accustomed to a notion that any form of
increase in sales, labor, and equipment is considered
favorable. But, how do you ensure that our profit keeps on
increasing? That is the most critical factor.
Taiichi Ohno called the above logic “Management
by Ninja Art“, in other words, even though demand
increases, use your creativity to do more with much less
and not rely on basic management arithmetic to solve the
problem.
“The key to the Toyota Way and what makes Toyota
stand out is not any of the individual elements…But
what is important is having all the elements together
as a system”
*****
Pravaha | Edition 1
Devendra Raghuwanshi
18Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Virtuosos
“Give me the fruitful error any time, full of seeds,
bursting with its own corrections. You can keep
your sterile truth for yourself.”
A life of Contribution
The major contribution of Pareto was 80:20
theory, which was first developed in 1906. He observed an
unequal distribution of wealth and power in a relatively
small proportion of the total population. This fact gave
rise to the Pareto effect or Paretoʹs law which says a small
proportion of causes produce a large proportion of results.
Thus frequently a vital few causes may need special
a�ention while the trivial many may warrant very li�le.
It is this phrase that is most commonly used in talking
about the Pareto effect – ʹthe vital few and the trivial
manyʹ.
The importance of the Pareto Principle for a
manager is that it reminds to focus on the 20 percent that
ma�ers. Identify & focus on those 20 percent which
produces 80 percent of our results. When the fire drills of
the day begin to sap our time, remind us of the 20 percent
we need to focus on. If something in the schedule has to
slip, make sure itʹs not part of that 20 percent.
Pareto came up with several contributions which are as
follows:
Pareto charts are a key improvement tool because
they help us identify pa�erns and potential causes of a
problem. The Pareto Chart is used to illustrate
occurrences of problems in a descending order. It is
used for making decisions at critical points in different
processes. It can be used both during the development
process as well as when products are in use, e.g.
customer complaints
Pareto Analysis is also used in inventory
management through an approach called “ABC
Classification“. The ABC classification system works
by grouping items by annual sales volume. This helps
identify the small number of items that will account
for most of the sales volume and that are the most
important ones to control for effective inventory
management.
Pareto efficiency, or Pareto optimality, is a state
of allocation of resources in which it is impossible to
THE PARETO ANALYST - VILFREDO PARETO
Life Span - 15 Jul, 1848 – 19 Aug, 1923Country - ItalyKnown for/as - The Pareto PrincipleMajor works - The Mind and Society Les Systèmes Socialistes
make any one individual be�er off without making at
least one individual worse off.
On a different note
Paretoʹs bestknown student was Mussolini
while he was in Swiss exile as a Marxist agitator. Pareto
was such an influence on the future Il Duce that
Mussolini made him a Senator of Rome when he came to
power. Pareto, ever the independentminded, denounced
Mussoliniʹs censorship of the university system anyway.
Many controversies are associated with Pareto due to his
association with Mussolini & much ink has been spent
defending Pareto from the charge of being a fascist.
“When it is useful to them, men can believe a theory of
which they know nothing more than its name.”
*****
Devendra Raghuwanshi
Pravaha | Edition 1
Blaze-a-Trail
A mesmerizing odyssey to unearth the contemplations that have gone behind identifying subtle gaps and bridging them with unparalleled strokes to set the trail for us to follow. Unveiled, with a turn of this leaf , will be the unimaginable blend of actions and ideas that have gone into the making of the retail-giant Amazon and into the delight that Intel could bestow in something as stoic as a microprocessor.
20Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Blaze-a-Trail
Amazonʹs Success Story
Itʹs receptive, itʹs responsive and above all, itʹs
innovative. Beginning as an online retailer of books from
a 400 sq. feet garage of Jeff Bezos in Bellevue, Washington
to selling almost everything today, Amazon has
transformed itself to become the worldʹs biggest online
retailer and in the process it has changed the rules of the
game. Amazon now offers more than 16 categories of
products to its customers and gets them delivered within
a day, from its close to 50 fulfillment centers covering 26
million sq. feet. It makes its customers an offering they
find difficult to discount anything, anywhere, anytime
and at the cheapest price. The eretail giant at present
commands the loyalty of almost 200 million customers
spread across 178 countries.
Hidden behind these baffling numbers is
Amazonʹs strategy that transgresses conventional
business practices and seizes opportunities in adjacent
verticals. From time to time Amazon simply created new
product categories; when it found competitors were well
established it made a buyout and at other instances it
chose to partner with brands to create a massive
inventory of products. This helped Amazon reach out to
TRANSFORMING THE ONLINE RETAIL LANDSCAPE
new audience and in the process ensuring accelerated
development. Backed by its agility, Amazon single
handedly hastened the speed and extent of change that, we
now take for granted, in retailing.
If we consider any successful business the focal
point of its modus operandi is its customer. With its
customer centric innovations and frugal means of
operations, Amazon created a sustainable business model
that drives customer loyalty and makes it the online
retailer of choice.
They pioneered the concepts of customer reviews,
youmightalsolike, peoplewhoboughtthisalso
bought, fast fulfillment and delivery including “same
day delivery”, delivery boxes to avoid missed carrier
appointments, hasslefree returns, Amazon prime
bundling two day shipping with host of other services like
media streaming and booklending. Can such novelties in
the frontend alone streamline the aggressive growth
mode, that Amazon is in? Needless to say, ample
bolstering of the backend to ensure the seamless
execution of the personalized algorithmdriven interface
that Amazon boasts of today.
More CustomersMore Customers
More Sellers
Increased Convenience
Lower Price
LargerSelection
More Distribution
Channels
Larger Reach
Neelav Ratnam
Pravaha | Edition 1
21Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Logistics as the Driver
A retail enterprise, in general, has three core
pillars supporting the bandwagon viz. merchandising,
stores, and logistics. One of the prime focus as well as risk
area for a retailer is merchandising; deciding upon what
to sell. In an industry where making decisions on
markdown is a constant challenge Amazon has
constantly persevered to optimize the retail pricing it
practices to minimize these markdowns. Enabling large
number of small third party merchants Amazon has
managed to practically subcontract the biggest retail
function and with it a large part of the risk associated with
the unwanted merchandise stocks. Stores and logistics
form the other two pillars. Being an online retailer,
Amazon obviously does not have to worry about the
stores (although now they are planning to venture into
the brick and mortar model). That leaves one of the most
critical enablers of retailing, Logistics Amazonʹs recipe
to success.
Though Amazon kept on adding variety of
products to its warehouse, profitability continued to be an
issue and it took todayʹs eretail leader almost ten years to
post its first annual profit. How amazon managed to do
this is reflected in a series of improvements it employed in
football fields, and items are shelved just based on where it
can get fit in. So, here we have a jungle of items that has to
be delivered to the right person, in the right quantity, at
the right time and in the most cost efficient manner.
Amazon extensively relies on the use of barcodes to sort
the items. The ordering system is completely automated.
It chooses the cheapest origin for the customerʹs order in
realtime and this process will reoptimize it based on the
other customersʹ orders. In 2012 Amazon acquired Kiva
Systems in its second biggest acquisition, for $775
million. Kiva Systems manufactures robots that move
items around warehouses, automating much of the
fulfillment process. The small orange robots slide
underneath shelves, li� them, and bring them to workers
dramatically reducing the effort required in material
handling.
Location Postponement: In this postponement
strategy inventory can be centralized in one strategic
location from where it can be further transported to
possible destinations when demand is coming. Amazon
began reducing orders which were delivered from several
warehouses and stocking several items which were likely
bought, all together, by customer at one point and this
resulted in tremendous reduction in the safety stock
levels.
Inventory Outsourcing: There is a positive correlation
between ecommerce capability and increasing the
inventory turnover. Had Amazon kept increasing its
product offering and storing them in its own warehouse it
would have meant huge amount of tiedup capital and
inevitably raised the fixed capital requirements. Hence,
since 2000, it has switched to outsourcing a part of its
inventory. The smart way Amazon did was it did not
outsource inventory management of products which were
Amazon Fullfilment Centres
its inventory management and warehousing practices.
Best Practices and Innovation
Warehousing Automation: Carrying anything anybody
wantsevery time isnʹt easy and so Amazon has long used
automation in its fulfillment centers (Amazon doesnʹt
use the terms ʺwarehouseʺ or ʺdistribution centerʺ).
Amazon has 49 of these spread across 8 countries. Each of
these fulfillment centers of Amazon is approximately a
million sq. feet in area, equal to the size of around twelve
Blaze-a-Trail Pravaha | Edition 1
popular or frequently purchased by its customers. These
products had high turnover rate and were managed
internally. The nonpopular products were stocked by
distributors who delivered the products on request.
Amazon outsourced supplies for three of product
segments: cell phones, computers and books, excluding
those on bestseller lists. CellStar handled the cell phone
sales and wholesale distributor Ingram Micro handled
the computers and books. Amazon in essence pioneered
ʹdrop shippingʹ, the practice of using a third party seller
to fulfill demand. Inventory turnover for Amazon now
rests close to 9, ensuring lower holding and opportunity
cost and increased efficiency.
Marketplace Model: In addition to selling its own
products under its pureplay model Amazon introduced
the marketplace model in 2000, wherein it served as an
online platform which could be used by other retailers to
sell their products. The sellers in return got an assured
sales platform and Amazon got a share on each purchase.
But a subtle benefit that Amazon garnered by doing this
is implicitly ingraining its value proposition in its
Inc. and Best Buy Co., pick up sites. However, due to
absence of indigenous stores, Amazon had to collaborate
with partners who would provide space for the lockers.
Customer who ship their item to a locker, usually in 7
Elevens, grocery or chain drugsstores, are emailed a code
a�er a package arrives that unlocks the door holding their
merchandise. The lockers can hold only smaller items,
such as books, DVDs or electronic devices like tablets.
Users have several days to retrieve their merchandise.
Users donʹt pay extra to use the service but the locker
program helps Amazon save on certain shipping costs.
For example, UPS and FedEx Corp. charge retailers as
much as 20% more to deliver packages to residential
addresses as itʹs more efficient to deliver multiple
packages to a business address.
Conclusion
Rather than limiting to create orthodox logistics
infrastructure of an archetypal retailer, Amazon
developed a logistics services platform complete with
technology support, hardware, and bestinclass
operations management that gives them the advantage of
scale as they manage receiving and fulfilling services for
thousands of merchants, as well as enables them to create
a large warehousenetwork to enable most optimal
shipping for their own merchandise. Challenges loom at
large in the arena of eretailing, nevertheless, having
embedded the a�itude of thinking from the audienceʹs
psyche, Amazon way will never seize to amaze.
*****
targetʹs mind – low price. Customers could compare
between Amazon and its competitors price on the site
itself. It could save itself the trouble of handling the
inventory and shipping of these products. Merely by
processing orders it managed to reap benefits.
Amazon Lockers: Failed package deliveries continued
to plague online retailers. They are also more expensive
for online retailers because those consumers are more
likely to call customer service, switch to a competitor, or
get a replacement item. To mitigate this issue Amazon
started its locker service earlier this year. The concept was
borrowed from traditional retailers, like WalMart Stores
22Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Blaze-a-Trail Pravaha | Edition 1
23Operations Club, IIM Shillong
We know Intel Corporation today for a multitude
of reasons, be it for its position as the world leader in
advanced semiconductor chips, or the company behind
the household names of the Pentium microprocessor
range, the highly successful Advanced Product Phasing
(APP) ticktock product development strategy and most
importantly, for the iconic “Intel Inside” branding
campaign. The basic business model for todayʹs
computing technology industry was laid out so aptly by
Intelʹs cofounder, Gordon Moore way back in 1965.
Since its inception, the company has strived to establish
an innovation heritage that expands the reach and
promise of computing while advancing the ways people
work and live worldwide. In fact the Intel logo while on
the one hand representing its new branding and business
strategy, also emphasizes the embodiment of its past
legacy, the present status and the future catalyst towards
positive change and newer technological leaps. The
famous HBR article, “Marketing Myopia” by Theodore
Levi� finds perfect cognizance in the case of Intel, a
company that managed the transition from a memory
manufacturer to microprocessors and a leading
knowledge base admirably, as opposed to, say a Kodak or
closer home, Hindustan Motors. This multibillion
dollar company envisages its responsibility to doing good
business via an integrated value approach, caring for
UNVEILING THE CUSTOMER DELIGHT INSIDE
their people, caring for the planet and inspiring the next
generation.
Prior to the dotcom bubble burst in 2000, Intelʹs
supply chain was designed for an environment where
semiconductor demand regularly outpaced supply.
However, once the situation reversed, Intel realized that it
had to establish a new culture that thrived on customer
driven processes and performance. Starting the
Customer Excellence Program (CEP) was one such
initiative that structured independent customer opinion
on Intelʹs products and services. However, even by 2005,
Intelʹs supply chain was designed to serve only the large
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) via a
limited number of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs). Product
commitments were always backed up by physical supply
and supply quantities were fixed much in advance to
provide for supply chain predictability. But in all this,
Intel drew customersʹ ire due to long duration from order
placement to delivery. With the greater fragmentation of
customer base, more volatile demand, pricing pressures,
order changes became more frequent and Intelʹs supply
chain demoted it to “Worst in class” in order fulfillment.
Central to Intelʹs turnaround effort was its “Just Say
Yes” program that dramatically improved customer
V M Sai Murali
Strategic Corporate Responsibility Objective Efforts Undertaken
Integrated Value Approach
14 Consecutive years of recognition of leadership in
Corporate Responsibility
Cultivating an Ethical Culture
Linking Compensation
Commitment to Transparency
Supply Chain Responsibility
Caring for Our People
84% employees recommend Intel as a “great place to
work”
Career Development
Advancing Diversity
Health, Wellbeing, and Safety
Promoting Volunteerism
Caring for the Planet
Largest voluntary purchaser of “Green” power in
US since 2008
Renewable Energy
Employee Engagement
EnergyEfficient Products
Technology for the Environment
Inspiring the Next Generation
Intel Learn program has touched 1.9 million lives in
under served communities
Education Transformation
Inspiring Young Innovators
Supporting Social Entrepreneurs
Empowering Girls and Women
Blaze-a-Trail Pravaha | Edition 1
responsiveness, delivery performance while optimizing
inventory.
The program drew its origin from several
customer visits conducted by Intel executives in 2005.
Many customers indicated dissatisfaction with the order
fulfillment process that Intel was able to track down to
multiple approval levels and delays due to order changes.
Although the annual customer survey through the
Customer Excellence Program (CEP) was started in
early 2000s, the results from these executivecustomer
visits allowed Intel to be�er structure the CEP program
for obtaining and prioritizing customer feedback that had
a greater impact on customer commitment and retention.
In its effort to address the order fulfillment process, Intel
made sweeping changes to its existing processes by
combining customer feedback with IT data analytics
methods. Keeping in mind the high number of times a
given order changed (average of 6 times) and the low
percentage of orders shipped without changes (a meagre
1%), Intel was able to outline the primary goals for its
supply chain organization. The “Just Say Yes” program
thereby set a companywide determination to inherit a
new approach to customer relations through improving
ability to respond quickly to change order requests,
reducing inventory levels and errors in demand
forecasting.
The initial success of the “Just Say Yes” program
was backed up by further initiatives to increasing
customer responsiveness, productivity, and process cycle
time and inventory levels.
Standardized Metrics across supply chains: Intel
enabled industrystandard Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs) metrics like Order Fulfillment Lead Time (OLFT)
to measure responsiveness. Perfect Order metric was
instituted to measure the reliability of meeting customer
expectations in full, ontime and without any damage.
More such KPI metrics were created to track and foresee
early trends by harnessing Intelʹs IT Business
Intelligence (BI) solutions.
Automation for Responsiveness and Order Horizon
Reduction: On the physical end, Intel adopted the
VendorManaged Inventory (VMI) strategy to improve
responsiveness and reliability with reduced inventory
levels. By utilizing ITbuilt automated solutions for real
time order commitment, daily VMI hub replenishment
and necessary supply optimization, Intel was able to
reduce order fulfillment lead times by 23 days with 26%
improvement in responsiveness by the year 2010. In the
case of nonVMI customers, Intel was able to shorten the
order horizon to less than a month by avoiding manual
order handling delays and errors through automated
processes.
Production Planning via Accurate Demand
Signaling: Intel realigned its production and supply
planning process with the existing orders in the system
and available demand forecast. The decisionmaking
process was streamlined and key IT infrastructural
enablers like standardized reporting and alertbased
planning developed using Intelʹs IT prowess. In 2009,
Intelʹs “Just Say Yes” program received the Supply
Chain Innovation award from the Council of Supply
Chain Professionals (CSCMP).
As on today, Intelʹs ITenabled supply chain
solution has allowed it to meet market uncertainties by
delivering highly efficient information systems for
various aspects of supply chain management, order
fulfillment, production planning, demand forecasting
and overall planning.
Today, global supply chains face challenges of
newer emerging country markets, everincreasing
portfolio of products and service offerings, customer reach
expansion, social media, availability of infrastructure
and environmental sustainability. Thereby Intel will
have to implement highly adaptable and agile IT solutions
to support market environment and customer
requirements.
*****
24Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Internal Alignment
Breakdown functional silos
Improve efficiency and
effectiveness
Just Say Yes
Customer responsiveness and
delivery performance
Inventory optimization
Cost Competitiveness &
Agility
Flexibility and lower complexity
Supply chain segmentation
2005 2012
Intel’s Supply Chain Leadership Vision
Blaze-a-Trail Pravaha | Edition 1
Roobaroo
In our ‘Roobaroo’ with industry stalwarts we bring about a virtual interaction amongst our readers and corporate leaders via questions to exemplify their experiences which can benefit budding mangers and business leaders. In this edition we bring forth the back end of your favorite Bengali cuisine 6, Ballygunge Place through the words of Mr. S. Ramani himself. Further Mr. Khatri takes us through the supposedly complex world of Six Sigma in a simplified manner.
26Operations Club, IIM Shillong
OpEra: What motivated you to enter the restaurant
business in a place like Kolkata where making a mark with
authentic Bengali cuisine is a tough challenge?
Mr. Ramani: Kolkata is the food capital of India, as the
Bengalis are most known to be extremely passionate
about food. Bengal is a “Nation State” wherein there is
humongous variety in food and Bengalis travel quite a
lot, so there is varied amount of assimilation in cuisines
and recipes. This makes Bengal and Kolkata the best place
to start business. However, we face challenges in every
phase of life.
OpEra: Procurement in restaurants is a major task that
needs to be taken care of, what system does 6, Ballygunge
Place chain follow?
Mr. Ramani: Our belief in continuity and retainment
WHAT GOES BEHIND YOUR FAVORITE BENGALI CUISINE?
helps us have a series of dedicated Vendors. We have
annual tenders which are reviewed every quarter as per
market information we receive and our internal controls.
We have installed a Shawman Material management
so�ware which helps us in auditing, reviewing and
reordering with work flow functionality.
OpEra: Supply chains in the restaurant business is an
integral part of its success with regard to this, what are
the major difficulties that you face on the procurement
front?
Mr. Ramani: There is a huge amount of uncertainty
amongst smaller vendors, e.g. Mu�on suppliers. During
inflationary trends, even Vegetable suppliers play spooky.
We command the largest base of consumption in Kolkata.
As a result, our Vendors expect huge orders and our
difficulties are minimized.
OpEra: A business always looks towards cost
optimization – you as a restaurateur would have your
own ways to go about it, can you elucidate some for us
(examples of cost optimization)?
Mr. Ramani: Yield Management is one area we focus on
wherein we have a standardized output matrix. For
example, a kilo of mu�on has to yield so many portions of
a prepared dish. In a month, if we have 100 kgs of mu�on
ordered, we review the yield between input and output.
Procurement of key raw materials before the season
begins based on our consumption pa�ern helps us save
cost. Eg Cashew & Sugar purchased before Diwali
because there is 30% price difference in the pre and post
Diwali phase.
OpEra: Given the uncertainties in government policies
Roobaroo
Mr. S. Ramani is the founder director of Savourites Hospitality Pvt. Ltd and presently looks into Projects and Marketing of 6, Ballygunge Place. 6 Ballygunge Place is the flagship restaurant of Savourites Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. Started in 2003, today, 6 Ballygunge Place is known as one of the premier specialty eateries in Bangalore and Kolkata serving authentic Bengali cuisine after thorough research into cookbooks of the Tagore Era. After graduating from IHM Chennai Mr Ramani had a short stint at The Park Hotels post which he pioneered his venture Savourites which has turned out to be a big success story. In his interaction with Team Op-Era Mr. Ramani speaks about the best practices at Savourites and shares his advice to the budding entrepreneurs who want to make it big in the hospitality business.
Pravaha | Edition 1
27Operations Club, IIM Shillong
and economic fluctuations, how does cost escalation on
various fronts (rise in raw material cost, fuel cost, logistic
cost ) reflect on the pricing?
Mr. Ramani: We have a policy of reviewing prices every
18 months. Inflationary trends are taken into
consideration before a price hike is formalized. In between
there is a crisis, eg, onion prices/ bird flu, we absorb it as a
business risk. Knee jerk price revisions have never been
our policy.
OpEra: 6 Ballygunge Place has made a mark for itself in
traditional Bengali Cuisine – how have you differentiated
yourself from other players like Oh Calcu�a, Bijoli Grill,
Bhojohori Manna?
Mr. Ramani: 6, Ballygunge place is specialized Bengali
Cuisine which incorporates authentic dishes from east
and west Bengal. The rest have completely different
business model. Some follow the pot pourri concept while
others have smaller outlets and follow the military hotel
concept.
OpEra: We see a distinct change in the product offerings
during festive seasons with introduction of standardized
menus and buffets. What changes do you have to
inculcate in your regular operations to cater to such
occasions?
Mr. Ramani: During all festivities and holidays, we
have special buffet to cater to the extra rush of customers,
this helps us in adding variety and value to our consumer
base. For example, Puja, Bhai Dooj, Christmas, Holi &
Diwali. New products are our differentiators. Our
Seasonal festivals like Aam (Mango), Hilsa (Fish) etc
helps us minimize the sway among our customers.
OpEra: You have expanded geographically as well as
diversified into other specialty cuisines, what have been
the challenges involved and what have been the benefits?
Mr. Ramani: To expand geographically, the first
challenge is manpower. Second is availability of raw
materials, third is sustaining quality. We have odd
comparisons, Your Kolkata outlet is be�er than Bangalore
or vice versa. The benefits have been larger market share,
newer customers, the introduction of this specialty
cuisine to new frontiers.
OpEra: As a successful restaurateur and now, a
premium caterer, can you mention a few synergies that
exist between the two and also the operational
differences?
Mr. Ramani: In a Restaurant, everything is set, the
menu, the processes, the price and the place. Whereas in
Catering, it is entirely dynamic. Every catering has a
diversified menu, one different from the other. Even the
management needs and business processes are diverse.
The only synergy we draw is added sales. A Restaurant
customer recommends us for Catering and vice versa.
Our basic drive for Quality food is the only other synergy.
OpEra: As a seasoned entrepreneur in the field, what
would be your advice to budding restaurateurs/ caterers
who want to make it big in the restaurantcatering
business?
Mr. Ramani: Have passion, willing to take on failures
for they are the stepping stones to success, respect the
people whom you work with because you are as good as
your team. Patience is a virtue as success never comes
easy. Last but not the least, you must have the pulse of the
product. Never shy away from Systems.
*****
Roobaroo Pravaha | Edition 1
28Operations Club, IIM Shillong
OpEra: How should we MBA students prepare
ourselves by being wellversed with the concept of six
sigma and its practices to suit the industry requirements
and move up the career ladder?
Mr. Khatri: Focus on three things: problem solving, data
driven decision making and extra ordinary process
building. For example Google adwords is a very powerful
advertising tool where an advertiser may like to test many
hypotheses and he would like to know which excels, if
controlled well, and would lead to more clicks and hence
for a marketer it makes sense. Even in HR, you would like
to check whether your psychometric testing is correlating
well with the onthejob performance. So when you are
selecting a candidate you would like to really check
whether that testing makes sense and you may like to
THE SIMPLE IDEA BEHIND THE ‘SIX SIGMA’ JARGON
therefore use some statistical tools usage and data driven
decision making. Basically for the senior management
roles, you would like to use it for sense making followed by
decision making followed by policy making. So thatʹs how
it would work for any Bschool graduate.
OpEra: Having handled consulting assignments both
in India and abroad, how would you differentiate the
nature of problems faced in these assignments?
Mr. Khatri: They are very similar in certain industries
for example the knowledge industry like BPO, KPO and
IT, you will see challenges like everyone has to be the
lowest cost or the highest speed provider or both, and
thatʹs for all the global companies. If we consider specific
sectors like for example textiles where India has a distinct
advantage of cheaper labor, but if along with cheaper labor
you donʹt create extraordinary processes then you will
have tougher times in future. There is a myth, that if you
are working with more amount of labor you canʹt use six
sigma, which is not true. In fact if you are working with
more manual processes you must have increasingly
extraordinary processes.
OpEra: Mumbai Dabbawala has been well known for
having error free processes even though they claim of not
having implemented lean six sigma into their
organization. So what do you think differentiates them
and how have they been able to achieve such results?
Mr. Khatri: There are some unique things happening
with the Dabbawalas. One is that they donʹt have any
serious competition because they are unique in
themselves and no one has been able to build the kind of
infrastructure they have. Also their processes do not have
that kind of complexity like the one that say Flipkart has.
There will be complexity in the processes in Flipkart, from
Roobaroo
Mr. Vishwadeep Khatri is the CEO & Principal Consultant at Benchmark Six Sigma. Mr. Khatri has been into business improvement roles as a consultant, auditor and trainer for manufacturing and service industry for over 15 years. He has been driving consulting assignments with leading organizations like France Telecom, Airtel, Syngenta, NIIT, William Hare, Siemens, Schneider Electric, and American Express. Mr. Khatri is a B.Tech, M.B.A, Certified Lead Auditor (IRCA, UK), RLA (RABQSA, Australia), Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt (AMT, USA). Six Sigma Black Belt (Moresteam University USA), Senior Member of ASQ. Team Op-Era through its interaction with Mr. Khatri explores a simplified view of the six sigma practices and how they could be implemented into businesses as well as day to day activities in our respective organisations
Pravaha | Edition 1
29Operations Club, IIM Shillong
order picking to delivery to meet the customer
expectations and requirements that if you try to do one
thing right the other thing tends to go bad. This is what is
called primary metric and secondary metric in six sigma.
So the idea is when you are improving your primary
metric you donʹt want your secondary metric to go bad.
In addition the Mumbai Dabbawalaʹs are not a complete
entity in itself. They use an excellent transportation that
the Mumbai locals are renowned for. They have a 125
years of tried and tested methodology that has helped
them reach to this level. They are not the only one for that
ma�er. If you take the example of the Indian Army they
are said to have the best payroll mechanisms in place.
And this has been the same even during the 1971 war.
OpEra: How can a startup which hasnʹt established its
processes that well use lean six sigma methods to
transform its processes from the beginning?
Mr. Khatri: Let me give you an example of a Father
Daughter company dealing in a product category called
Plasticizers. Plasticizers is a product which is used in a
tire for bonding of rubber with the metal mesh, so itʹs a
chemical. This specialty chemical was developed by them
using six sigma methods, and not by using DMAIC, but
by using DMADV, which is a product development
approach (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Validate) is
another very powerful format by which even a small
company or startup can beat a wellestablished company
using latest technology and some wonderful designs.
OpEra: Which is the real thrust area today where lean
six sigma is contributing, or the area which is going to
revolutionize the way people work?
Mr. Khatri: The DFSS or DMADV approach which is
about developing new products so that they perform in a
defectfree manner is the thrust area, in services as well as
manufacturing. It all started with DMAIC, but the way
change has become faster now, industries are changing
fast, for e.g. if a mobile phone is launched within fact days
you know whether it is a flop or a hit. Itʹs become like a
movie now. Things are so fast that companies have to
focus more on be�er designs rather than only improving
existing processes, which means their process change is
ge�ing faster and faster, new products are ge�ing
introduced. In service sector, this is even more dynamic.
Because you have the ability to change processes faster. In
manufacturing you get stuck with your plant and
machinery for some time. In services, this is not the case
since most of the architecture of systems are openended.
You can connect with newer things, anytime.
OpEra: Speaking about change in the Indian context,
with employees resistant to change, how much of a role
does HR play in implementing Six Sigma in
organizations?
Mr. Khatri: The HR has got two things to contribute.
One is building the change culture in the organizations
and the other is modification of Performance Assessment
Systems with “Change” as one of the important
parameters. So people who are contributing to
Improvements will get their own brownie points. If you
look at Google, it is probably the only large company
where HR decisions are done with data. Datadriven HR.
Something that Google does very well. This is something
which will come up fast at other places as well.
OpEra: How are six sigma certifications important for
someone who aspires to pursue a career in the field of
operations?
Mr. Khatri: Basically a degree gives you a job while lean
six sigma helps you in excelling in your job or
accelerating in the career ladder. Everyone knows the
financial or marketing or operations basics when they
join an organization, so what is the competitive edge you
have is the question. And how will you get close to the
senior management faster is by addressing challenging
problems, and this is true for any functional area whether
is HR, marketing or finance. Because following the
routine business practices is not going to bring benefits to
the company over a longer period of time. You need to take
up challenging assignments and targets and address
them using the six sigma approach to bring
improvements consistently in your organization.
*****
Roobaroo Pravaha | Edition 1
RENDEZVOUS'For the things we have to learn before we can do them,
we learn by doing them.' says Louis Sachar.Op-Era takes great pride in walking this talk, by creating fun experiences for budding operation
enthusiasts which ultimately culminate in learning that is etched in their minds in the simulated environment. This section is an attempt to pen down them down into an enjoyable read and throw in some more fun learning
challenges.
31Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Rendezvous
OPER8 - OPERATIONS WEEK, IIM SHILLONG(21�� Feb 24�� Feb 2013) Operations Week, IIM Shillong
Oper8 was launched at the end of academic year 2012-13 as a fun learning competitive initiative for the students of IIM Shillong through a week long event which brought out various aspects of operations and supply chain management through a series of events. A lot of enthusiasm was seen from both PGP and PGPEx batches. With a successful season 1 Oper8 looks to make it big with a more fun filled events and guests lectures in upcoming seasons of the Operations Week !!!
Oper8 was launched through a series of teasers which finally
culminated into the detailed poster displayed alongside which
gave a brief of all the four major elimination rounds which the
teams went through to become the ultimate champion. The
evaluation stages were 8 in number which also reflects in the
logo. The first round was an online quiz ‘Optimus which saw
participation from around 45 teams, 35 of which qualified to the
next round. Optimus aimed at providing insights about simple
trivia and quick numericals in the field of operations.
The top teams from Round 1 graduated to the next round ‘Opsview’
which featured a live video quiz. Three informative videos Mumbai
dabbawallahs, Store retail layout and the Toyota Production
Systems were shown to the participants post which questions were
posed to the participants on each video some direct from the video
and some indirect which could connect to the video. The teams
appreciated the learning that came from all the videos and were
eager to get to know the answers of the quiz which was played in a
very competitive spirit.
The top 16 teams made it to the next round of Oper8 while the
scoring for the ultimate champion had already begun. Optronix
was a realtime simulation of a corporate house to ensure
profitability through winning bids, optimizing production and
inventory, providing appropriate logistics by building a
mathematical model with ongoing rounds of contract offerings.
The top 6 teams made it to the most exciting finale ‘The Amazing
Race’. The event started on a Saturday evening with a series of
clues one leading to the another inside the campus and
intermingled games giving a feel of one or the other operations
concepts like Karakuri, Sorting, WIP inventory, etc. The finale
was to find the treasure a�er a series of clues related to the domain
which was won by Ashok and Ernesto from PGP 12.
Pravaha | Edition 1
32Operations Club, IIM Shillong
OPSOPEDIA - THE FUN LEARNING VIDEO SERIES
Opsopedia was brought up as an initiative of Team Op-Era to involve all the management students in the process of learning simple operations and supply chain concepts through some fun interactions amongst characters created by Team Op-Era who can explain these concepts in an interesting and a very simple clarified manner. By now this video encyclopedia has covered concepts of different types of logistic providers, quality function deployment and Kaizen. Let us have a look. . .
(Monthly)
GYAAN I - LOGISTIC PROVIDERS
Opsopedia began with ChintuGuruji explaining this topic in a
light hearted manner. Video starts with the curious student
asking his teacher about the types of logistics providers & their
functions. The video goes on by explaining the concept of various
logistics providers & their significance in an interactive manner
which will make it easy to understand. In the field of Operations
management various terminologies are sometimes taken for
granted without understanding logic behind it & hence in the
first video an effort was put to draw a�ention towards this aspect
of understanding the terminologies reflecting various concepts.
Video ends by creating a curious mind to search about these ideas
to understand the intricacies of these concepts in a simple
manner.GYAAN 2 - QUALITY FUNCTION DEVELOPMENT
In its second video, Opsopedia covers the concept of Quality
Function Deployment which is depicted in a conversation with
the help of a presentation which makes it easily understandable as
the concepts like House of quality & four phases of Quality
function deployment are depicted pictorially. This video
discusses the applicability of QFD as a good product
development tool which maps customer requirements to the
product design stage. The discussion brings into notice four
major advantages of QFD which are reduced implementation
time, customer driven process, well documented process & the
process which promotes team work. Video ends with the real time
example of Ritz Carlton hotel and Mahindra & Mahindra which
uses QFD for the development of their products & services. GYAAN 3 - KAIZEN
In Gyaan 3 Opsopedia introduces Boski & Chitra madam for
presenting a fun and quick way of learning concepts of
Operations management. In this video the two characters
explained the philosophy of continuous improvement i.e. Kaizen.
The steps of continuous movement process described in the
beginning marks the start of the video which culminates with the
simple & complete explanation of the process. Mentioning the
point that Kaizen does not only mean big improvements but it
also encompasses small changes done on a regular basis clearly
describes the foundation of Kaizen associated with its Japanese
roots i.e. incremental developmental processes. The example of
categorical arrangement of items on a shop floor is simple but
effective in understanding the basic idea behind Kaizen. This
edition also introduces various terminologies under Kaizen
which helps in creating a curious bent of mind.
Pravaha | Edition 1Rendezvous
33Operations Club, IIM Shillong
OPTIMUS 3.0 - THE MOST CREATIVE BRAIN TAKES IT ALL(9�� Aug 21�� Aug 2013)
Optimus 3.0 was launched as an Inter- College competition for motivating B-School students from all around the country to creatively bring forth important operations concepts like JIT, Cross Docking, Push-Pull Production Systems, Forecasting, etc. followed by propagating these entries on the social media platform to spread the word in their respective B-Schools and to all interested students alike.
Winning Entry : Team Konvicted from IIM KozhikodeDipankar Biswas and Abhishek Nandan from IIM Kozhikode bagged a cash prize of Rs. 1000 with a
holistic explanation of the ‘Cross Docking’ concept critical to huge retailers
RunnerUp Entry : Team GIM Ops Guru from Goa Institute of Management, GoaAbhishek Sinha and Swayambhar Majumder from GIM, Goa used Goa’s very own JK Restaurant at
Sanquelim to interestingly explain ‘JIT’ and take home a cash prize of Rs. 500.
Pravaha | Edition 1Rendezvous
34Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Special Mention for Design : Team Ultra Magnus from IIM RaipurRuchi Sao and Trisha Gajbhiye from IIM Raipur were applauded a�ractive design which was
highlighted by the spiral with excellent use of colors which quite well symbolised the ‘Death Spiral’
Special Mention for Creativity : Team Lost Raven from VGSOM, IIT KharagpurAnurag Dabas and Arpit Varshney entertained Team Opera with their hilarious yet powerful
explanation of ‘The Learning Curve’ via their friendly trolls
Pravaha | Edition 1Rendezvous
35Operations Club, IIM Shillong
Special Mention for Conceptual Clarity : Team The Backbenchers from NITIE, MumbaiSneha Lundia and Neeraj Nayak from NITIE, Mumbai received a special mention owing to the
excellent explanation of ‘Reverse Logistics’ via text as well as systematic infographics
Special Mention for Publicity : Team Transformers from IIM UdaipurNavdeep Thakur and Sushil Ramteke proved excellent marketers in publicizing their interesting
explanation on ‘JIT’ garnering over 1000 likes and 40 comments on Facebook
Pravaha | Edition 1Rendezvous
36Operations Club, IIM Shillong
FUN ZONE - TICKLE YOUR GREY CELLS !!!
Pravaha | Edition 1Rendezvous
1. C
ontin
uous
Rep
leni
shm
ent (
Sear
ch H
isto
ry)
2. E
cono
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ntity
(Orig
in)
3. T
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4. B
ar C
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5. a
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6. a
(HP)
7.
d (C
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f Goo
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8
. TES
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(Lar
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10. H
ow d
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Connect:
1 2
3 4
Solve:
5. Match:
a) Agility 1) Adjust supply chainʹs design to meet structural shi�s in markets
b) Adaptability 2) Create incentives for be�er performance
c) Alignment 3) Respond to shortterm changes in demand or supply quickly
6. Which of the following company was infamous for its lack of agility in 1990s?
a) HP b) Zara c) H & M d) Mango
7. Which of the following is not the underlying premise of Theory of Constraints that organizations
can be measured and controlled by variation of ?
a) Inventory b) Operational Expenses
c) Throughput d) Cost of Goods Sold
8. US : Walmart :: Europe: ____________
9. Find the odd man out:
Airlines, Hospital, Automotive, Space industry
10. In a supply chain information, product and money are types of ____________
*****
Team Op-EraOperations Club
Indian Institute of Management, Shilllong
Please send in your comments/ feedback to