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Developing resources

oday, one of the most precious possessions of Tcompanies are not just

financial assets, but also the people who work there and the beliefs they carry with them. This augurs extremely well for the supply chain and logistics sector too, which has a dearth of skilled labour.

Going by the numbers, currently, the supply chain industry needs 17.7 million trained people, but the current possibility trains just about 4.1 million people. Studies have shown that people who are educated marginally, constitute the bulk of the workforce, for instance drivers, helpers, warehouse workers, cabin crew etc. This has had an adverse impact on the business of the industry and hence needs to be urgently addressed.

Dilip Chenoy, CEO and managing d i r e c t o r , N a t i o n a l S k i l l Deve lopmen t Cor po r a t i on (NSDC), believes that the stimulus for change should come from within the industry. This, he added, would be possible if the industry looks at training as a business proposition and not just on improvising service.

The changing consumer behaviour has also added to the growing need to initiate the much awaited change.

Thankfully, the Indian government has taken the issue seriously and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has evinced an interest in developing the ability to finance people, control and design training and set up an academic curriculum, Chenoy informed.

Based on these guidelines, the NSDC has been set up to train people in 307 districts. Currently, it is working in 103 districts. The body has also played a major role by providing consultancy and finance to the training institutes, with a special emphasis on the rural sector. Apar t from this, a proposition to create a ‘sector skill council’ and an autonomous body to research market information,

With a large resource of youth and working population, India is on the verge of an interesting phase in the growth saga, prompting those in the business of logistics to invest in the country. The need of the hour is to harness the potential further, emphasised Dr Purandeswari, Union Minister of State for HRD on the second day of the India SCM & Logistics Summit 2011. MG News Bureau gets you more on what transpired

Currently, the supply chain sector is facing a huge crunch of skilled manpower. MG News Bureau has the details of the issues that were deliberated on and the possible solutions that are likely to emerge in the years to come

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CONFERENCE NEWSLETTER ON INDIA SCM & LOGISTICS SUMMIT 2011 SATURDAY APRIL 30, 2011 | | NEW DELHI

SCM gateway

Yes, there is a talent shortage, but

you (industry) can take the whole issue as a business opportunity and develop a scalable skill developing centre

Dilip ChenoyCEO and MD

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)

“Logistics was not very known to me and I had to do some work to understand what it was.”

However, to her credit, she also seems to have done a fair amount of work with regards to the growing needs of the industry and what the need of the hour is. In an interaction with experts and members from the industry, she suggested, “We could work with logistics experts and incorporate

that as one of the areas. Members from the industry should interact and be made part of the skills development, must converge.”

Reiterating that the logistics sector is constantly evolving and growing, she stated, “When we look at the supply chain and logistics sector, logistics is all the way up. What we need to do is to converge, since the days of working in water-tight compartments are gone.” She concurred that if need be, presentations and vocational qualification courses could be organised, based on the inputs from the logistics sector.

Later, addressing the audience, she admitted that the logistics and supply chain industry is relatively an overlooked area. “It was only when I dwelled into the details that I realised the kind of potential and manpower needed for this sector.”

The progress so far

Tracing how the industry had evolved, she said, “It was in the 1990s that globalisation coupled with liberalisation, forced public and private firms to commit themselves to the demands of the market. Eventually, they realised the significance of the logistics and supply chain sector and soon, it was part of all levels of planning and execution. Now, companies integrate logistics activities with other functions too.”

Elucidating how logistics was very much a part of the ancient times too, she stated, “When wars were fought in the Greek era, military officers were assigned the duty of supply, in order to inflict damage to supply location of the enemy.

Even during the Second World War, logistics management evolved and improved greatly. The supply of German forces was damaged by the US Army. On the other hand, the US Army provided services wherever required. Now, several military logistics technique are used, but in a more advanced form.”

The road ahead for India

Throwing light on what holds for the country, the minister said, “India is at an interesting phase in the growth saga. Our young and working population, that comprises

ited as one of the most promising politicians of Cher t imes and even

recognised by one of the English dailies in 2004, Dr D Purandeswari has come into her own ever since her stint as Union Minister of State f o r H u m a n R e s o u r c e s Development began.

Admitting candidly that logistics was not really a sector she was well versed with, she confessed,

Honing skills: Dr Purandeswari, Union Minister of State for HRD, makes a point at the India SCM & Logistics Summit 2011 in New Delhi on Friday.

People power: (From Left) Dilip Chenoy, Capt B H Surty and Ashish Mendiratta discuss ways to overcome talent shortage at one of the HR Sessions.

2 | | SCM GATEWAY APRIL 30, 2011 3SCM GATEWAY APRIL 30, 2011 | |

On an upswing

Quick Take

RajendranCOO & FounderNIIT GIS Ltd.

more than a third of the population, is our biggest positive asset for growth today and in the decades to come. Our youth have been contributing to economic development and social and political empowerment. They have been individually and collectively competing with the best in the world, making nations look up to this modern, industrialising and knowledge-based economy.”

The minister averred that India has immense potential and it only needs a head start in the right earnest. The industry and the institutions, she added, should c o l l a b o r a t e t o c r e a t e i n s t i t u t i o n a l i s e d t r a i n i n g curriculum and infrastructure thereby taking specialisation and

sophistication in employment to a newer level. “For example, specialised vocational courses that ensure a long-standing career can be developed and popularised among youth, especially among less-privileged sections of the society. This can make the growth process more inclusive, socially and regionally.”

Stating that great opportunities lie ahead of India since most countries want to tie up with it, she cited the instance of the US. “The United States has passionately announced that India is going to be its defining partner in the 21st Century. Its partnership proposal with a happening nation, in fact, points to the great business opportunities and the tremendous growth now

infrastructure, creating conducive regulations and more importantly, giving impetus to skilled and trained manpower and human resources in t rade sectors encompassing rail, road and sea freight besides allied services.

She also urged the industry to create an awareness among the public on various careers available in this field and contribute its mite for developing skills in a talent-rich country.

The industry and the academia, she felt, could do wonders in building the image and attractiveness of the sector and in tapping human resources that are so vital and urgent in almost every field of management and operations.

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taking place in India. This confidence of one of the powerful nations in the world is being shared by others too indicate that Indian economy is undoubtedly on its path to scaling great heights.”

With the importance of this indispensible sector of global trade growing each day and industrial activity and productivity going up, she said there is a greater need to mould professionals and trained human resources, who could eventually make India the Asian logistics hub.

The Indian government’s role

The government, she stressed, was working hard to meet goals despite several shortcomings. It was committed towards enabling

Partnering for perfectionMARITIME GATEWAY NEWS BUREAU

lobalisation and emerging business practices have Gbrought with them the

need to effectively manage human resources. Amongst companies, and logistics is no exception either, getting the right partner to do business with is as crucial as doing business the right way. This was what was echoed by experts at twin deliberations at the India SCM and Logistics summit.

V G Ramakrishnan, senior director, Frost & Sullivan, who moderated a

Building the right partnership can make all the difference to every business, was the message which emerged during discussions on Friday

session on ‘Delivering beyond goods: The service provider perspective’, stressed on the need to spend time to build partnership. Shammi Dua, national head, Logistics & Customer Ops, Akzo Nobel, drew on the importance of finding the right partner. “It takes two to tango,” he quipped wittily.

The importance of supply chain management was maintained throughout the discussion. Mahesh Niruttan, CEO, South Asia, Agility, highlighted the need for better

coordination and trust. “Today, there are 60 warehouses and 60 data centres. Therefore, it’s important to build a network.”

Vertical-wise approach is what could make the difference was what Rajkiran Kanagala, national head, business development, TCO supply chain solutions, drew the listeners’ attention to.

The session on ‘Strategic 3PL partnerships: The SCM manager’s perspective’, witnessed some experts from diverse sectors

agreeing on the need for right partnerships and going beyond one’s defined role. For a subject as c o m p l e x a s s u p p l y ch a i n management and log is t ics, moderator, Shantanu Bhadkamkar, managing director, ATC (clearing and shipping) Pvt Ltd reasoned, “You never understand it, you get adjusted to it.”

But if the adjustment is right, it can change the way your business moves.

Chandramouli N V, head, demand and supply chain, AMEA, DSM Anti Infectives India Ltd drew on the need to look at some important issues to get the right partner. “Reliability, sustainability and consistency in meeting objectives are the important areas one should look at before choosing a partner.”

Throwing light on partnership, Shivi Yadav, head supply chain, Marks and Spencer Reliance Pvt Ltd, spoke on how India, which is still very new to retail, can leverage from the MNC experience.

A n e x p e r t o p i n i o n f r o m automobile industry, considered the leader of industries, drew on how supply chain is not just about getting the production material but actually much more.

Soren Stade, head of export logistics, Volkswagen India, spoke on how at some locations, they also look at various vendors. “A healthy competition always helps.”

Neil Anshuman Basu, country advisor India, CSCMP and regional manager, Philips Electronic India Ltd, spoke on looking at the smaller things than just the big ones. “Issues like warehouse cleaning might look small but are extremely significant.”

Sateshwar TutejaDirector, Key Account Management, D B Schenker India

1. What are the top-three challenges in managing your clients?

Actually, it’s quite a paradox, everyone wants very high quality services with time-bound penalties. The partnership approach is something no one looks into. There is disconnect at the local level, though it is getting better. If we look at the entire supply chain, a lot needs to be done. There is no single window on management scale.

2. What difference do you find in the global and Indian supply chains?

While planning any new business model, the supply chain is also discussed. Global standards become flexible when they do business with India. Then, their Intellectual Property Right norms don’t matter, for instance, the cargo may be lying for more than a day at customs, which is a breach of IPR according to their law, but when it comes to India, it isn’t really an issue of concern.

3. The infrastr uctura l challenges you face

The biggest challenge is that all these divisions work in total silos and there is very less connect between any two of them. If that is resolved, it can overcome the infrastructure problem. If things were aligned and authorities could talk to each other, things would be sorted.

develop a delivery mechanism and standardisation has been proposed too, Chenoy stated.

However, what still needs to be addressed is the difference between what the academic training institutes envision and what the industry demands. Owing to this difference, even trained engineers find no place in the industry and hardly 20 per cent of the trained IT engineers find employment. For this pending problem, there is one possible solution that Samir Shah, Partner, JBS Group of Companies suggests, “Let’s look at ourselves and what we can do for ourselves. We can be the torch bearers of how an industry can develop their own resources. And, this change has to be industry-driven”.

Developing human resources Ironing out problems

Sound BYTES

h e n i t c o m e s t o answering supply chain Wissues across various

sectors, customisation is the key. In this regard, speakers from various sectors highlighted the issue whilst discussing ‘Supply chain: Industry specific trends’. The interesting session also brought to table various challenges and trends being seen in the supply chains today.

“Every supply chain should be built around the product,” felt Nihar Bhanot, head, logistics and planning, Sony India Pvt Ltd.

Prashant Sharma, senior Vice-President, global demand supply organization & global IT, Zydus Cadilla, spoke of the specific challenge of the pharma industry –

Managing human assetsThe prosperity of an industry depends solely on the efficiency of its workforce. This is one of the reasons why Human Resource development has not picked up pace in the last few decades in India. And, as far as the logistics sector is concerned, the development is still far fetched and a lot needs to be done to build the resource bank. Here’s what the experts think is missing and what needs to be done to address the problem

The Smart Session

What can be done?

We have some courses for BBA and MBA. Unfortunately in India, BBA is not a terminal course. Therefore, we offer them to take a degree, work in the industry and then get back to us for a masters course (on a correspondence basis). For the lower end consisting of truck drivers, delivery men handlers, we have been organising evening classes, where they are given certificate courses in personality development training, English speaking and mannerism. This kind of a programme helps organisations retain their manpower and at the same time, promote the growth of the workers.

Dr Parag Diwan

Vice Chancellor, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies

Challenges in recruitment

Recruiting and retaining talent in India has been a challenge for the last 16 to 17 years. Getting the right kind of people for the right kind of job is also a challenge. In such a scenario, the questions that come up for discussion are how does one identify the right kind of resource and what is the best practice that we should adopt.

Tarun Pant

Asst Vice President, North Eastern Carrying Corp Ltd

Where exactly is India lagging?

Since a majority of the people in Volkswagen’s Pune based branch hail from rural parts, the problem we face is that they are not well-educated and lack practical knowledge. In Germany, there is a vocational training, college as well as a masters course to train people accordingly. But in India, we don’t find anything of this sort. This is mainly because Supply Chain Management is yet to be recognised as a profession. We are ready to invest money and content to train people, but would need to team up with organisations that help us deliver the output.

Soren StadeHead of Export Logistics,

Volkswagen, India

What does India need at the moment?

There is a critical need for trained people especially in the middle and management level. The Malaysian population is comparatively small, yet we have managed to use our human resources quiet well. This is majorly because Malaysia has acknowledged itself as an industry, while India still considers it as a sector. It is encouraging to see the kind of growth that is taking place in the human resource management in logistics. Once an institutional framework is in place, the human resources would surely prosper. Already, there is a right ingredient in India and it’s just that you need to blend them properly. That would help human development to remain at the core and prove to be the main driving force of the industry.

Nazery KhalidSenior Fellow, Maritime Institute

of Malaysia

“delivering unbroken cold chain across the country.”

Supratim Ganguly, head, contract logistics, and future supply chain solutions, spoke about the challenges of catering to a variety of products under the same roof especially in a demand fluctuating environment.

The FMCG sector faces different challenges like freshness and competition in the changing times, pointed out Jagadeesh Kunchey, head, logistics, ITC limited. Evaluating the current state and looking optimistic at the dynamic sector, he said, “Challenges can be met if one shares information across the entire supply chain.”

Amen to that, we say!

Stress on partnership: (From left) V G Ramakrishnan, Shammi Dua, Rajkiran Kanagala, Mahesh Niruttan and Prof Bhimaraya Metri at a session on Delivering beyond goods, The Service Provider perspective.

Talk on trends: (From left) Nihar Barot, Supratim Ganguly, Jagadeesh Kunchey and Prashant Sharma at a session on the industry trends with regard to supply chain

Furthering HR: (From left) Prof Piyush Shah, Tarun Pant and Mark Miller discuss issues on how to recruit and retain talent

Bettering supply chain: (From left) Parvinder Singh, Kaushika Madhavan, Neeraj Athalye, Sateshwar Tuteja and Gislain Desjardins deliberate at a session on making supply chain smarter in India