On the bright sunny morning of 31st August, 2013, I was all decked up in a formal attire to head to my college, Fortune Institute of International Business to attend the Operational Excellence Conference 2013 organised by the Sigma Club of our college. The Sigma Club of the college is a club run by an enthusiastic bunch of students who aspire to recognize their expertise and build an inclination towards the realm of Operations and Supply Management. Sitting in the college Auditorium as a part of the Media and Public Relations Team of the Conference, I was biding my time in anticipation to interact with a few preeminent big wigs in the field of Operations.
The Pre – Lunch Session commenced with the Saraswati Vandana and then an address by Dr. Sharad Chaturvedi, Associate Professor, FIIB, who welcomed everyone and defined “Operational Excellence” as doing the right things continually and efficiently to derive customer value from every business activity and performance levels. He gave way to Dr. A.K. Sinha, Director – FIIB, who explained the importance of the conclave in terms of the corporate interaction with the industry experts.
The keynote Mr. Subhendu Roy, Principal – Consumer Industries & Retail Practices at AT Kearney India us suggestions to discover an acumen for creating a Competitive Advantage through Supply Chains, particularly in the Indian Business Scenario. I was surprised by his discernment when he mentioned that the difference between Operational Excellence and Strategy is blurring now – a - days.
He talked about the factors that triggered the evolution of Supply Chain Management:-
§ Enhanced global connectivity
§ Demanding and aware customers
§ Augmented input costs
Sadly, in the Indian context, we have a few limitations to an efficient Supply Chain Management:-
§ Poor Infrastructure
§ Fragmented Supply Chain
§ Shortage of Talent
What disconcerted me was that we still lack proper infrastructure and talent, despite of being called a country full of young ignited minds. He classified the past years that have gone by into centuries of evolution. I was dazzled when he categorised 2000s as the Century where Economies drive Nations unlike the 1900s where the Countries were driven by the Ideologies of Capitalism and Communalism.
He discussed Seven Themes adopted by organisations today, to make us au courant with the benefits of creating a competitive advantage:-
§ Collaboration
§ Replace “one's size fits all” with a tailored approach
§ Plan more frequently across multiple horizons
§ Implement pull across the value chains
§ Proactively manage complexity
§ Ensure business needs drive technology and automation choice
§ Reconfigure supply chain organisation to have business management capabilities
Then, we had a panel discussion on the “Sustainable and Improvised Supply Chain Strategy in Operational Excellence” from 10.45 am to 12.15 pm.
The Panelists who sat for the discussion were:-
Ø Mr. Sunil Kapoor – VP & SBU Head, Fortis Healthcare, Gurgaon, Haryana
Ø Mr. Anil Sachdeva – Sr. VP, TQMI, New Delhi
Ø Mr. Shailesh Mor – Director, Ocean & OM Services, Expeditors, New Delhi
Ø Mr. Kamal Bajaj – Head – Purchase, IT & HR, Profine Group, India
The discussion was moderated by Dr. Sharad Chaturvedi, Associate Professor, FIIB.
The discussion pertained to the four critical factors for Supply Chain Management namely Immediate Treatment, Quality Treatment, No Queue and No Extra Cost. Mr. Kapoor talked about the criticality of a Supply Chain as the cost of delivery of a product keeps rising up. Mr. Mor lay emphasis on the importance of On Time Performance (OTP) and the challenges involved thereof. Mr. Sachdeva explained the biggest issues related to the Supply Chain and the techniques to be used. Mr. Bajaj focussed on the negotiations to avoid the drop down in the efficiency of business activities. I was fascinated by the points discussed because I could relate to the intricacies highlighted owing to the prior experience I had with the Purchase, Receiving and Stores Departments of a five star hotel chain as part of my Management Training Curriculum. I was glad when my doubts related to the observed stagnated growth pattern were addressed by Mr. Bajaj and Mr. Kapoor.
The Post – Lunch Session centred upon “Demystifying the Operational Success of Mumbai Dabbawala's” from 01.30 pm to 03.30 pm.
The two Panelists were:-
§ Mr. Gangaram Laxman Talekar – General Secretary, Mumbai Dabbawala's Association
§ Mr. Raghunath Dhondiba Medge- President, Mumbai Dabbawala's Association
The session was moderated by Dr. Sadia Samar Ali, Associate Professor, FIIB.
Mr. Talekar talked about the history and the achievements of the Mumbai Dabbawala's. The interesting part was where he introduced us to the “Annapurna Mahila Mandal – The Singing Ladies” and their contribution to bringing the Mumbai Dabbawala's to such a zenith.
Furthermore, we were surprised by their accomplishments:-
§ Low Economic Business Model
§ Service Costing of Rs. 600 – 650 per month
§ Turnover of Rs. 50 – 55 Crores
§ A Six Sigma Performance Rating
§ Certified by ISO 9001: 2000
§ No Technological Backup
§ High Customer Satisfaction
§ An implausible Error Rate of 1 in 16 million transactions
§ 200, 000 Daily Customers
§ 400,000 Daily Transactions
§ An Employee Strength of 5000
§ Name in Guinness Book of World Records in Best Time Management
§ “No Strike” Record
§ Registered with Ripley's Believe It or Not
§ Among the Top 50 Influentials who impact Mumbai
After Mr. Talekar, Mr. Raghunath Dhondiba Medge had everyone applauding when he quoted:-
“Musibaton me sharaafaton ki sharaafat kam nahi hoti,
Aane do is duniya me IB institutes, fir bhi FIIB ki keemat kam nahi hoti”
He talked about worshipping their work. He explained us the Coding System and gave us details about the visits of Prince Charles and Sir Richard Branson. He credited the stated factors responsible for their operational success:-
§ Organizational Structure
§ Uninterrupted Operations
§ Coding System
§ War against Time
It was a delightful experience at The Operational Excellence Conference 2013 which brought us a lot of knowledge and helped us great deal to understand the needs of the industry.
