Hello puys! After the grand success of iconic thread on HR popularly known as " Why HR" by sumitrocks of XLRI , we have decided to take a similar initiative for Supply Chain Management , the field which is unknown to many of us , the field wh…
Hello puys!
After the grand success of iconic thread on HR popularly known as " Why HR" by sumitrocks of XLRI , we have decided to take a similar initiative for Supply Chain Management , the field which is unknown to many of us , the field which is generally misinterpreted and under estimated by many.
We shall try to make the things interactive here for the domain which is no more looked as mere cost reduction centre but is being revamped as Revenue generating centre for the organizations irrespective of the sectors.
The objectives of this thread are:
1. Discussion on Supply Chain Management as a career
2. Learning about the emerging paradigms in the field
3. Trying to get a realistic picture of Supply Chain Management as a career
4. Help MBA aspirants in understanding how an MBA in SCM can help them in contributing to the growth of their organizations.
5. Helping 1st year students understand the pros and cons of specializing in this field and whether they have the required skill set
6. Lastly, we Bschool seniors want to learn more about the field from each other; to know different perspectives ; to understand how things are approached in different bschools; also to learn from each other's internship experiences
I and nishantvdo would be regular in this thread. We will also invite other interested Bschoolers to participate and to contribute.
Hope we have a good time learning about Supply Chain Management 😃
PS: List of SCM resources one may subscribe to :
visionIIM-ACL s post in Why Supply Chain Management (SCM)?: PaGaLGuY Forums
Cheers !!
Hi
Is MBA in operations same as MBA in SCM? What is your MBA specialisation?
I have 1 year experience in retail business analytics should i opt for mba in operations or go for mba finance? Will Mba in operations give me any special advantage in post mba career as i have experience in retail business analytics.I have done projects like Markdown optimisation(Discount pricing of products) , expense budgeting of stores etc.How is retail analytics job realted to SCM job? Is mba finance student from same college on average paid more than mba operations?
Hi Varun
Thanks for starting this thread. I have few queries.
What is the difference between Operations and SCM ? Is SCM a subset of Operations Management ?
Why aren't there enough enthusiasts for Operations and SCM ( as compared to Finance and Marketing). Isn't the work stimulative enough like the Consultants and Bankers ?
Hows the work-life balance of an SCM manager ? Is it similar to a Strategy consultant or worse like iBanker or chilled one like PSUs ?
What is expected out of a fresh MBA graduate in SCM or Operations field ?
Hi
Is MBA in operations same as MBA in SCM? What is your MBA specialisation?
I have 1 year experience in retail business analytics should i opt for mba in operations or go for mba finance? Will Mba in operations give me any special advantage in post mba career as i have experience in retail business analytics.I have done projects like Markdown optimisation(Discount pricing of products) , expense budgeting of stores etc.How is retail analytics job realted to SCM job? Is mba finance student from same college on average paid more than mba operations?
Buddy
Operations and SCM form 2 different sets which generally people misinterpret as one and the same thing. Infact, Operations is a smaller set and SCM is a bigger set. Operations can be considered as a process taking place as the part of supply chain of an organization.
Operations is turning to be an obsolete term these days and getting replaced by Supply Chain. Reason being operations can be taken care as the part of supply chain. Almost companies in all the sectors have already come up with different supply chain departments. Nomenclature might differ from company to company.
Currently i am doing my internship in the pharma company which names the department as Global Demand , Supply and Operations ( GDSO).
MBA in operations and MBA in finance are going to take you to 2 entirely different career paths, so instead of me suggesting you, it's better if you go through profiles offered in 2 fields, work life balance which people have, career opportunities, your skill set mapping with the fields and then decide appropiately.
And as far as paymasters are concerned, Investment Banking profile offers one of the highest possible pays once you graduate from a reputed B-School. However, SCM is also a good paymaster . Thing to note here is that SCM profiles have slightly lesser variable component and even a CTC of 13-14 lakhs might give you around 80-85k per month in hand unlike many other specializations.
Hope this helps !
What is the difference between Operations and SCM ? Is SCM a subset of Operations Management ?
Why aren't there enough enthusiasts for Operations and SCM ( as compared to Finance and Marketing). Isn't the work stimulative enough like the Consultants and Bankers ?
Hows the work-life balance of an SCM manager ? Is it similar to a Strategy consultant or worse like iBanker or chilled one like PSUs ?
What is expected out of a fresh MBA graduate in SCM or Operations field ?
I will soon come up with a detailed post on difference between ops and SCM. However, reply to the previous query might give you some idea that these are not same things. 😃 And how is operations related to supply chain .
As far as lesser enthus for ops/SCM is concerned, in addition to what nishant has already mentioned, i would like to say that Operations / SCM is one of the most seeked profiles in developed economies unlike developing economies like India. More details on this will be there in the post which i shall come up with tomorrow on difference between oeprations and SCM plus SCM/Ops as a career 😃
Work life for a Supply Chain manager is one of the most appreciated ones except few times as rightly mentioned by Nishant.
What is expected from a fresher or work ex guy shall be covered soon in detail. Please wait for the detailed answer on this till tomorrow.
Cheers !
As many people are confused about the profiles being offered in Supply Chain, here is the small effort in bringing into light few of the roles which can be expected from Supply Chain Professionals.
I have earlier posted it on NITIE thread, reposting here for the benefit of all. 
SRM ( Supplier Relationship management ) , ISC ( Internal supply chain ) and CRM ( Customer relationship management ) form the core of supply chain for any organization as they deal with flow of information, materials and financials.
When we talk about supply chain profiles being offered at top league B-Schools, generally more focus is on the SRM + ISC part of the supply chain. CRM part is taken care by Marketing people / different unit dedicated for customer relationship in most of the companies.
When we talk about SRM and ISC , the following are the major responsibilities covered under these 2 heads :
SRM : Basically involves roles where you need to work for sourcing of raw materials, negotiating with suppliers, rationalizing supplier base for the company , procurement strategies in long run for the organization, Design collaboration for automation of entire purchasing process, collaboration with suppliers , International purchasing strategies etc. Roles require the person to have good analytical skills, convincing abilities, ability to interpret the facts before him and then arrive at decisions based on the same.
SRM is one of the challenging areas to work for and has great scope. With companies realizing the importance of supply chain and supplier relationship, this area offers a bright opportunity for all ' to be ' supply chain managers.
ISC : Basically involves roles where you need to work for formulating strategic plans for the organization, Forecasting, Demand planning , Capacity Planning, Supply planning, Distribution Planning etc.
Where the possible roles you get while working as the part of SRM team are self explanatory, when it comes to working in ISC team , roles can involve working from being based out of the corporate office to occasional field visits to meeting with suppliers to constant interaction with marketing team and IT team of the organization.
Distribution planning roles include studying the distribution strategy of the organization in making the product available at right time to its different retailers so that no loss in customer base can take place due to the unavailability of the product.
It also includes the management of the warehouses of the organization ( one of the key areas where proper management can lead to good amount of cost saving ) , management of transportation modes being adopted by the organization for delivering the products from manufacturing units ( manufacturing can again be in-house or outsourced ) ( here you take care of best possible combination of air, rail and road ways for delivering the products at their destination at minimal cost and right time and safely ).
Roles can also include developing processes for the organization through which you can minimize the gap between forecasted demand and actual demand, working on accurate estimation of material requirements to meet the demand, running automated processes and making the best use of available technologies like SAP etc for the same.
Few roles might include dealing with management of operational activities including management of production processes at plant site, layout planning of plant, working on methods to deliver the same output from a specific plant at minimum cost.
Apart from few roles described above, there are few companies abroad which have formed supply chain designing and management as their key area competency. Their clients are outsourcing the entire supply chain of respective organizations to these companies and get relieved from the almost everything which comes under SRM and ISC.
There are even good number of consulting companies which are specialists in SCM Consulting and enable their clients to optimize the existing supply chain in the organization to minimize the cost incurred and hence generate better profits.
Regards
Varun
First of all, a wonderful initiative. A lot of ppl out there really needed this :)
I too have a few questions,
1. Can you throw some more light on the work life balance aspect of SCM. I mean its a known fact that I-banking is the most rigorous (but then it pays you accordingly as well :)). How would SCM hold up against say commercial banking or a sales role (which a lot of B-school grads from Marketing get nowadays). I also understand that this would vary from company to company and project to project but in general, hows it like ?
2. Like in Finance, bulk of the roles and profiles would need you to sit inside an AC office for most of the day, hows it for SCM. I mean how often do you have to go to manufacturing plants ? You mentioned ISC, which involves strategizing, I am guessing most of that would be done in an office. Apart from that do the bulk of the roles involve wearing a helmet and sitting in a plant for a long time etc etc ?
3. Is it true that a lot of SCM roles are in small towns ?
4. You mentioned a bit that in general SCM pays well. Again comparing it to profiles like Commercial banking and Sales (like Area manager), how does it hold ?
5. How much travelling does it involve ?
6. Since (as you say) SCM makes more sense and has more scope in a developed country, its future in India should be bright right ?
Many thanks 😃
I vote for making this thread sticky 😃
Awesome! Great initiative vision bhai! tussi great ho! 
Aap kya khaate hain har din? Mai bhi zara kha ke dekhoon aise dimaag chale ki nahin 😛 
Thanks for this thread! 
I'm also specializing in Ops as I had this role/profile of an SRM or ISC (more interest towards ISC) in mind. I'll also join in with whatever little help I can, and also learn and understand new things myself in the process.
1. Can you throw some more light on the work life balance aspect of SCM. I mean its a known fact that I-banking is the most rigorous (but then it pays you accordingly as well :)). How would SCM hold up against say commercial banking or a sales role (which a lot of B-school grads from Marketing get nowadays). I also understand that this would vary from company to company and project to project but in general, hows it like ?
What i have observed during my internship and what i have concluded on the basis of my interaction with alums of B-Schools is that work life balance is very appreciable. For most of the time, people need to work only between designated working hours of the office and only on working days unlike people working in profiles where one is needed to be working 24 x 7 or with a schedule where there is nothing like fixed working hours.
In SCM profiles, one generally gets enough time for himself and his/her family and can strike a good work life balance. Also, very rarely one needs to stay beyond the fixed working hours, might be 2-3 days in a month depending on the situation.
For eg: In my company, all supply chain people work from 9.30 - 6 across the month except 3-4 days and that too only few people who are working under the capacity where they need to run tools like MRP etc which takes long time to come up with final results. In such scenarios, they need to stay in office till 1-2 am for 2-3 days, and for rest of the month it is fixed working hours job.
2. Like in Finance, bulk of the roles and profiles would need you to sit inside an AC office for most of the day, hows it for SCM. I mean how often do you have to go to manufacturing plants ? You mentioned ISC, which involves strategizing, I am guessing most of that would be done in an office. Apart from that do the bulk of the roles involve wearing a helmet and sitting in a plant for a long time etc etc ?
Frequency of plant visits depends on the profile you are working in . It might vary from 0 visit a week to a daily visit. People working under heads like capacity planning etc need to visit more frequently, people in distribution planning need to visit warehouse/distribution centres etc sometimes in a month while people working in procurement kind of profiles might not visit a plant even once.
Demand planning , procurement etc kind of profiles have people generally sitting in corporate offices while people in warehouses/distribution centres also need not wear helmet and sit in factory, rather they too sit in AC Cabins only 😃 but just away from corporate office :)
PS: I have taken examples of just 3 profiles here but there are lot many profiles as discussed earlier and frequency varies from role to role.
3. Is it true that a lot of SCM roles are in small towns ?
Generally comapnies have their manufacturing plants in smaller towns like Baddi, Goa, Panchkula etc and then people who need to visit plants regularly will have to be based out of such places . Otherwise, i find this as a myth where people generalize requirements of few profiles to the entire specialization 😃
We have people sitting in offices based out of Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Jaipur, Bangalore, Chennai etc.
4. You mentioned a bit that in general SCM pays well. Again comparing it to profiles like Commercial banking and Sales (like Area manager), how does it hold ?
Let us discuss on specialization and relevant learnings rather than discussing the packages in every post 😃
Learning is the objective of the thread and not comparing merely on the basis of pay packages etc. 😃
5. How much travelling does it involve ?
Visit to plants, distribution centres, warehouses, meeting suppliers, other vendors, CFAs etc are the few reasons which might need you to travel 😃 However, it is much lesser in comparison with what marketing people need to do 😃
6. Since (as you say) SCM makes more sense and has more scope in a developed country, its future in India should be bright right ?
Very bright i would say 😃 As companies in India are also realizing the importance of Supply Chain efficiencies , they are investing in it and with it comes better opportunities and the chance for supply chain managers to apply their skills aptly and contribute to the organization.
Regards
Varun
I have seen accenture offering supply chain consultant profile...so what exactly is the profile/work of SCM guy in an IT company..?
Wonderful Initiative Varun & Nishant Sir(s)..
I have a query.. I have a prior 13 month experience in Planning and Control in an FDI collaboration in the Garment Industry..My work is a part of ISC (Capacity Planning, Demand Planning & Distribution Planning) as per your nomenclature
1) Now, i'm interested in Strategic Planning for an organisation - will my prior experience in ISC (meagre though, but a very good learning experience) help me??
2) You mentioned about Skill-Set-mapping.. Can you explain?? is it sort of an MBTI test?? (Tried googling, not much success)
1) Now, i'm interested in Strategic Planning for an organisation - will my prior experience in ISC (meagre though, but a very good learning experience) help me??
Should be helpful according to me :)
2) You mentioned about Skill-Set-mapping.. Can you explain?? is it sort of an MBTI test?? (Tried googling, not much success)
By skill set mapping , i just meant that identify if your skill sets are in sync with the traits required for the particular specialization/profile. Do not want you to do MBTI
Your HR classes will make you do 1 MBTI atleast
PS: Please call us just by names.. no sir kind of suffix required.. we are merely the students and hearing sir makes us feel old which we aren't
Also, anyone can counter our points or say anything in addition. Lets have it interactive 😃 Regards
Varun
Nice thread
I have been working in this domain for the past two years and i agree to whatever Varun has said. Supply chain management of an automobile can be the most exciting career option for an engineer+MBA. The scope and opportunities in this field are tremendous and the job is very challenging and satisfying.
I have a few queries:
1)Do automobile companies offer jobs in Supply chain management. If yes, what profiles do they offer?
2)Please shed some light on Global Sourcing and companies offering this profile.
Nice thread
I have a few queries:
1)Do automobile companies offer jobs in Supply chain management. If yes, what profiles do they offer?
Yes , they do offer .
Automobile industry is the one from where the supply chain concept evolved. However, it is has become more prominent in pharma and FMCG sectors these days . But, whenever we talk about SCM in b-schools, most of the examples to illustrate the concepts come from automobile industry.
Almost all the profiles mentioned in the post http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/career-discussions/66759-why-supply-chain-management-scm.html#post2746219 are applicable for automobile industry as well.
I would suggest to read about Toyota Supply chain from website, it would give a fair idea about supply chain in auto industry and how Toyota has used supply chain efficiency for adding more value to customers.
Also, how Tata was able to come up with a low cost car Nano, is nothing but the end product of a planned supply chain. These 2 cases would help a lot. In case of any doubt on these, we can discuss them here on thread as well 😃
2)Please shed some light on Global Sourcing and companies offering this profile.
Global sourcing is one of the procurement strategies which aim at using the benefits of global production of raw materials, semi finished products and exploit them for the strategic advantage of one's own organization.
Global sourcing is applicable in all the sectors these days majorly Auto industry, pharma industry, even few FMCGs etc. Reason being in today's world of globalization, companies prefer to optimize the combination of quality, quantity and price. After considering all these parameters, if they can source raw materials or semi finished goods from international markets at a deal which is better than what domestic market provides them, they go for global sourcing ( All the calculations are made before arriving at the decision. Consideration of import duties etc is also taken into account ) . Infact, there are few companies in Europe, US etc which are sourcing raw materials etc from China and India.
varun ,could pl elaborate on the summers project.how the companies hire us.
From the course structure i could see that first three trimesters were common and it covers almost all areas from fin to scm.There was an elective option in the third trimester ie.just before summer project.Does that elective option plays a key role when companies come for hiring students for summer project.
I am process engineer basically and i want to keep my option open until summers.Does it mean choosing a elective in scm will bar me getting hired for fin based company for summers.
thanks in advance:D
keerthi
hi all,
Pleased to see an intiative for SCM !!
I am an engineer in SCM for the last 2 years, All i can say is the field is the most challenging one among all others department !!!
Many of u hav already raised ur eyebrow y i am saying this ???
This is because SCM Includes - PLanning; Purchasing; Logistic; Material Managment .
What i feel personally is to manage material for Plant especially Manufacturing Unit is of prime importance.
Secondly 70 % of unit fund is consumed by SCM (Procurement of MAterials) so if u calculate a meare 2 % reduction in Cost result in 10-12 % Overall Profit which can only be attend by increasing sales by 14-15 % .
Lastly The Giants Firms always competes in their SCM; Extra Gyaan is DELL is one of the company which is having Finest SCM in India.
All these are my experiences or i felt.
please can anyone tell me any good institute for learning supply chain management
varun ,could pl elaborate on the summers project.how the companies hire us.
From the course structure i could see that first three trimesters were common and it covers almost all areas from fin to scm.There was an elective option in the third trimester ie.just before summer project.Does that elective option plays a key role when companies come for hiring students for summer project.
I am process engineer basically and i want to keep my option open until summers.Does it mean choosing a elective in scm will bar me getting hired for fin based company for summers.
thanks in advance:D
keerthi
It is common sense to choose the elective of the specialization you want to get into. But if you can explain your point of view, then you should get into a profile despite your specialization in third sem. For fin, I guess you should be comfortable about concepts that are expected out of a first year student
salmalhotra Saysplease can anyone tell me any good institute for learning supply chain management
All top MBA colleges in India provide good learning/opportunities in SCM. Specifically pointing college names for SCM could end up as a comparison of colleges (banned here). Visit the faculty page of top colleges' websites and see the credentials of SCM profs there. 😉
There was an elective option in the third trimester ie.just before summer project.Does that elective option plays a key role when companies come for hiring students for summer project.
Your query seems to be inclined towards curriculum in NITIE ( if my guess is correct ) and if it is so, we shall discuss it in NITIE thread.
We shall discuss here what will benefit all 😃
salmalhotra Saysplease can anyone tell me any good institute for learning supply chain management
Among non IIM-ABC, institutes well known for supply chain/operations include :
NITIE Mumbai , SJMSOM ( IIT-Mumbai ) and S.P.Jain Mumbai ( PS: Names of colleges in alphabetical order 😃 )