Improved Logistics System Methodologies for Primary Raw Material Inventory
Newsprint (mostly imported) which constitutes 1/3 of the cost of a newspaper has a delivery cost of 3-4 %; prone to damage during its transportation; loadability-unfriendly. Pan-India requirement making its frequent hub & spoke movement.
Evaluating alternates / multi-modal options and opportunities to increase container loadability; analyzing distribution model vis-à-vis port of discharge, WMS cost, transportation and other indirect costs etc, on cost optimal basis.
Optimal container loadabilty vis-à-vis SKU-wise demand. Damage-less, cost-optimal distribution model with focus on linear movements and reduced transshipments etc. Focus was laid on load balancing of stocks across major consuming print centres.
A gradual and phased-out process improvement project leading to reduced logistic cost of 1-1/2 % per annum, recurring. The holistic approach led to rationalization of godown space, MHEs, manpower; optimal distribution model, etc.
Sustained Customer Excellence for KPO Operations
Pressure on margins from global customers on account of market and competitive pressures. Topical technology solutions and severe competition has made the market cost-sensitive resulting in competition from across its geographical borders.
Scanning the domestic market for potential low cost locations with educated manpower. Evaluating operations against the benchmarked costs and shortlisting few potential partners basis the demand on defined parameters and commercial terms.
Planning for smooth transition, big-band or in phased manner, from existing identified high-cost centers to new low-cost centers. Ensuring continuity of business by monitoring the agreed deliverables. Delivering significant cost savings.
The project provided an immediate OpEx cost reduction of 30% per annum & huge recurring savings without affecting the business continuity. It also provided alternate business model for rapidly deployable business expansion plans.
Optimizing and synchronizing entire logistics chain to bring improvements in efficiency
Newsprint, the mainstay of inventory of a publishing industry and highly prone to damage during its handling; supply (mostly imported) & demand points (hinterlands); bulkiness, cubage demanding different transport modes & warehousing needs.
Alternates and multi-modal transportation; increasing efficiency of clearance, loading & handling; use of right warehouses, MHEs, skilled operators; optimal usage of these mostly unsweat resources; reduce multiple handling and thus the damage to newsprint.
Integrated Logistics Management system ensuring damage-less & cost optimal solutions from port to factories movements; tailor-made warehouse and its network; MHEs – adequacy & maintenance, trained MHE operators, etc; supporting staff.
The project provided long-term vision for an optimal logistics model with flexibility and redundancy. KPI-driven and rule-based operations making the transactions light, transparent and mobility of skilled manpower across locations, possible.
Capacity Planning for an Industry having no Finished Goods Concept
Capital assets investment for capacity creation and augmentation does not follow strict financial and project principles of ROI or project feasibility. Market vagaries and lack of opportunities to fully sweat the assets pose serious challenge to assess the feasibility.
Adopt capacity enhancement / replacement policy & methodology after studying the geographies to be supported, supporting capital required for auxiliary equipment and automation needs. Understand the logistics and skilled labour required to run it.
Plan for core equipment [imported] with longer ie., 5-7 year procurement outlay. Execute and install factories without disruption of existing factory facilities or repurposing it at other factories.
The project achieved the desired results as per the projected plan after being duly audited from time to time. The project gave impetus rapid brand expansion and launches even during the lean times by creating the buzz and awareness.
Conserving Cost Program for Top-line Taper-offs
Cost growth which was 2-4% more, year on year vis-à-vis revenues, making the CapEx available for new projects difficult.
Identify opportunities for cost rationalization across various spend buckets; value streams; create cross-functional teams. Drive the entire project as a business-critical project through cost champions while addressing change management issues.
The target was Rs.2,000 cr over 5 years cumulatively, either through bottom line effect, efficiency improvements, hard savings, and by cost avoidance.
The project delivered the desired results (duly audited) which helped fuel projects under brand expansion and new product launches during the tough times. It also instituted a cross functional creative team with flourishing work culture.
Sustained Operations Excellence – Global Publishing & E-commerce
Large volumes of work requiring accuracy of high order, highest quality in the limited time period.
Conduct the market study; evaluate the automated system for editing and production of content for journals and online magazines. Identify the right software and technologies for building the platform and its deployment within the aggressive timelines.
A platform that could ingest data & content from the customers and produce the final product as per the specs laid down by the customers.
Improved productivity & output by 10 X within a period of 6 months of implementation and testing, resulting in multifold growth of the company and acquisition of new customers.
Growth Enablement for a Leading Indian IT/ ITeS company
To accelerate growth of the KPO arm, through identification of market opportunities / avenues and raising its market share to be in top 10 bracket in its business area from the current top 50 bracket over the next 3 years.
In-depth scanning of the products, markets, trends and competition. Identifying the key futuristic technologies that would serve the needs of the customers. Building capability, capacity and focus on key global markets using the relevant marketing mix.
A demand generation engine, sales presence, brand building exercises like trade show participation, demos, content reach, social media, webinars and close interaction with industry associations globally.
The exercise ensured catapulting of the company to the top10 rankings of industry sector within 3 years of its initiation from its existing top 50 bracket range bringing it the global recognition.
Empowered Employee Travel Management Optimization Solution
Employee tour travel & stay in large organizations is an ad-hoc, open ended spend category. Transaction-heavy, managed by the locations without SOPs and structured contracting process, poor spend visibility. Change management is a huge challenge.
List processes across the major locations and then map a detailed processes of the activities. Scan the market for competent service providers. Run the system on trial basis in few locations and then transition to all the locations in a phased manner.
Service providers with strong system backbone, geographical spread, financial muscle and managerial competency. The system should be standard industry best practice with customization possible for roles, and exception / KPI based reports.
The project resulted in optimization of cost on travel and stay expense heads; eliminated and avoided unwarranted tour and travel; employee empowerment; transparency and visibility to the management; SOP and disciplined operations.
Operation Excellence to manage cost by Product substrate substitution
Identification of sourcing opportunity from multiple mills for supply of newsprint of lower grammage without compromising on quality of newspaper from the reader perspective.
A structured change management approach in phases. First, stabilising the newsprint sourcing (quality consistency & quantity); trial runs undertaken along with the suppliers across locations in phases; standardizing the machine setting and specs.
Ensuring committed deliveries and consistent quality. Supplier support during trial runs for newsprint spec changes. Co-opting Production team for project success. Reader feedback loop from Sales team.
The reduction in grammage on newsprint yielded a savings of 12% of newsprint cost providing recurring savings. There is also a substantial savings in logistics related to finished product i.e., newspaper.
Strategic Shift in Product Configuration
Change in product dimension of the newspaper to facilitate lower consumption without disruption to reader perception on the value delivered and to maintain the readership traction / leadership status.
Follow global patterns and standards of product size, allow manufacturers of paper retain the productivity benchmarks, modify printing presses seamlessly to gain advantages of cost on account higher print mileage per tonne of newsprint.
With the new slimmer look and feel, the reader should attach a high value proposition to the new format. Inventory of old size stock should be minimal at the time of transition to avoid stock redundancy and its aging.
A grand reduction in cost by about 10-12 % year on year, without impacting the top-line, readership, circulation, etc. It simultaneously improved container loadability; warehouse efficiency; delivery costs, outbound logistics efficiency.
IT Network Consolidation Project:
Siloed IT approach of 3 IT sub-functions resulting in hardware / network redundancies; effort and resource duplications; high process / transaction costs, etc. Identifying integration feasibility of high reliability with the resource & operational constraints.
Studying and repurposing the existing infrastructure of the functions and the optimal resource requirements to ensure optimal traffic bandwidth with assigned Quality of Service (QoS) for business-critical applications.
Optimal utilisation / repurposing of resources without major CapEx or OpEx by consolidating networks and other hardware. To implement Intelligent Network Management System (INMS) for running time based / user group based / application based QoS.
Seamless transition. Guaranteed bandwidth and low latency network availability for sensitive applications. Recurring savings in OpEx – reduction in operational, communication costs; asset base reduction, etc. A lean structure with defined SOPs and KPIs.
IT cost optimization in India’s largest Media House
IT cost higher than the global industry average and under leveraged.
Identification of opportunities for cost rationalization across various spend buckets like Communication, IT services, Devices, Enterprise software, and Data Centre services. Benchmarking exercise with international and domestic media companies.
High point concerns and immediately actionable pointers. Short-term and long-term road maps on Reformative and Zero-based models. Continually evolving and progressive IT Philosophy.
The recommendation envisages an OpEx reduction of 40% per annum over a period of 3 – 5 years.
Last Mile Logistics Solution for Consumer Product Company
To enhance growth by making the distribution to consumers in rural India more widespread and efficient.
In depth on ground study of existing distribution network with Micro Finance Companies to sell their product in a State. Identification of gaps in information flow resulting in inefficiencies.
A hybrid distribution system which was tech enabled and supported by professional distribution companies.
The recommendation was implemented and resulted in 40% growth in the immediate sales year.
Major E-Com Furniture retailer in USA
Difficulty in handling a larger base of manufacturers, online.
After the study, it was realized that they required a standardized platform for data accumulation which would help them easily create product pages for all items.
A structured database management system that would seek data in standard formats in an automated manner.
Improved productivity by 200% gradually within a period of 6 months through continuous training, optimization and process improvement on the client’s process.
Leading online retailer of Electronics in Australia
To be able to adhere to a policy of being the lowest priced in its segment or it would have to match the lowest price from its competition.
As pricing & promotion was the key driver for its business model, the client required an intelligence solutions partner that would help it map thousands of products across various categories.
An ecommerce intelligence solution for matching & mapping the products, their prices and promotions.
The solution helped the client attain over 75% cost savings with over 25% increase in their sales.