CELERITY SUPPLY CHAIN TRIBE MAY '23

The MAGIC of RIGHT Forecast

Best Practices, Tactics and Strategies in Supply Chain Planning, S&OP, BIP and Demand Forecasting

Interview

In Conversation with Priti Jauhari, Vice President –Global Transformation Planning, Schneider Electric

SUSTAINABILITY IN CHEMICAL VALUE CHAIN - CREATING THE PERFECT CHEMISTRY

Capturing the forward-looking chemical companies’ quest to ensure green expanse backed by innovations in Green Chemistry including sustainable manufacturing, sustainable supply chains and sustainable products

Global Ranks and India

Dear Readers,

Last month India bettered its ranking in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) from 44 to 38. Singapore was at number one. The 2023 LPI for the first time measured the speed of trade with indicators derived from big datasets tracking shipments.

The top 12 scorers in the 2023 LPI are high-income economies, with Singapore, scoring 4.3, at the top, followed by eight European countries and the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong SAR, China, and Canada.

Another global ranking released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), was on Green Tech Transition. Green frontier technologies such as electric vehicles, solar and wind energy, and green hydrogen are expected to reach a market value of $2.1 trillion in 2030 – four times greater than their value today. Market revenues for electric vehicles could rise five times to reach $824 billion by 2030 from today’s value of $163 billion. The index ranked 166 countries on their preparedness on green-tech with these five indicators - ICT, skills, research and development, industrial capacity, and finance. The high-income economies, notably the United States, Sweden, Singapore, Switzerland, and the Netherlands dominated the rankings. India at 46 fell by 3 from 43 in 2021. We need to understand where we lag despite the government’s push on sustainability.

Our Cover Story on Sustainability in Chemical Value Chain deep dives into the critical actionable required for this fastest growing industry in India, having been a global outperformer in demand growth and shareholder wealth creation over the last decade.

We at Celerity Supply Chain Tribe are extremely positive on India’s global growth, both in terms of logistics performance as well as contribution to sustainability.

Cheers and Godspeed!

Charulata Bansal

Publisher

Charulata.bansal@celerityin.com

www.supplychaintribe.com

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CONTENTS

Sustainability in Chemical Value Chain

India’s chemical industry has been a global outperformer in demand growth and shareholder wealth creation over the last decade. The country is set to be the fastest growing global demand centre for chemicals with domestic consumption projected to grow at a 9-10% CAGR in the coming years. While this is good news, there’s another crucial story unfolding on sustainability and climate change. Our Cover Story this time serves to be a repository of insights from industry leaders and subject-matter experts who are taking the Big First Step to lead their companies on the path to sustainability and join the Global Agenda of creating a perfect chemistry with the environment…

SPECIAL REPORT INTERVIEW

08

| The Magic of Right Forecast

Get to know the best practices, tactics, and strategies in the field of supply chain planning, S&OP, BIP and demand forecasting.

33 | Emerging Trends in Indian In-city Warehousing

A knowledge paper by A&M India Managing Directors Manish Saigal and Sudeep Mehrotra and Senior Director Abhishek Kochar, examines the adoption and trends of in-city warehousing in India.

14 | Driving Sustainability with Biogas

“At Sistema.bio, we are committed to optimizing our supply chain and production operations by implementing effective inventory management techniques,” shares Piyush Sohani, MD, Sistema.bio India.

31 | On a Trailblazing Journey

“A personalized customer focused approach will be the key differentiator going ahead,” asserts Priti Jauhari, Vice President – Global Transformation Planning, Schneider Electric.

35 | FOCUS

Industry 4.0 & Digital Supply Chain –Readying for The Future

Supply chain expert Dirk Stolte offers nuances into the transformative landscape of manufacturing, warehouses, and distribution centers, through the deployment of new technologies.

Editor: Prerna Lodaya

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India Rises 6 Spots To Number 38 Out Of 139 Countries

India was ranked 44th on the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) in 2018. This improvement is the result of the country’s substantial investments in both hard and soft infrastructure, as well as technology.

The LPI 2023 ranks countries on six dimensions of trade — including customs performance, infrastructure quality, and timeliness of shipments.

RIGHT FORECAST The Magic of

“If you get the forecast right, you will be able to reduce inventory, improve customer service, foster more collaboration and energize your S&OP process, while increasing profitability and market share.” These were the binding threads of the recently held Supply Chain Planning Summit hosted by Global Supply Chain Council (GSCC). This online summit explored the latest best practices, tactics and strategies in the field of supply chain planning, S&OP, BIP and demand forecasting within the Asia-Pacific region and with plenty of real-life examples and end-users case studies. The game changers and experts in supply chain planning, forecasting, S&OP shared their insights on what successful companies are applying today that works. Excerpts…

Loknath Rao Supply Chain Analyst & Technocrat

Sébastien Aubrey Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, OMP

Prashant Shivsharan Value Realisation Program Manager, Castrol

Vijay Kasar Regional Manager – S&OP and Business Planning IMEA, Henkel Adhesive Technologies

Komal Ashu Regional S&OP Lead-APAC, ANZ, SSA, Avery Dennison

What kind of trends or megatrends that you've witnessed in the last three years? It would also be interesting to know from you lessons that you have learned during this time…

Loknath Rao, Supply Chain Analyst & Technocrat: Raw material shortages have prompted the supply chain planners to come up with some creative ideas on how to allocate them profitably. The language of finance has become integral to supply chain in terms of how profitable the fulfilment is. Questions such as ‘Am I better off not fulfilling this demand now?” are being raised more often now than in the past. That's one big change that I have witnessed in the recent times. Existing enterprise systems and applications are also being redesigned to address it both from planning as well as fulfilment perspective. I am personally of the opinion that this is more a fulfilment problem and firms shouldn't be changing their planning paradigms.

Let me give you an instance of an American specialty polymer company who I was consulting. They were facing issues with the upstream supply of ethylene glycol, which is an important input to manufacturing of Spandex fibres. They had to figure out at least a dozen strategies – back-order processing, capable to match and generally running the network optimizer by applying heavy penalties for non-delivery more precisely based on customer and market priorities/ profitability. This partially addressed the objective of profitable allocation of raw materials.

Vijay Kasar, Regional Manager –S&OP and Business Planning IMEA, Henkel Adhesive Technologies: Over the last few years, we have witnessed demand patterns and supply chain solutions getting reinvented. I think the volatility of the demand and the supply chains’ ability to be agile are being brought up as boardroom agenda. Supply chain, of course, has been the frontrunner always, but in the last two years, it's become the discussion of the boardrooms for most companies.

Prashant Shivsharan, Value Realisation Program Manager, Castrol: Over the past three years, there

has been a pervasive focus on resilience, with our team shifting its discussion from a just-in-time approach to a justin-case mentality. The dialogue now centers on assessing our preparedness for potential scenarios, and whether we have the fortitude to respond accordingly. The entire supply chain has evolved to accommodate this shift, and decisions are made with this new perspective in mind. Rather than solely focusing on just-in-time delivery, we now thoroughly consider just-in-case scenarios, asking ourselves if we have the necessary resilience to navigate any potential obstacles that may arise.

Komal Ashu, Regional S&OP LeadAPAC, ANZ, SSA, Avery Dennison: In the last few years, the escalating geopolitical tensions have compelled companies to look out for opportunities to localize most of their supplies and not depend on geographies that are not friendly with the local manufacturing. These factors are also driving a different kind of strategy in terms of localization of supply chain, domestic self-sufficiency and government incentives. I do see a lot more focus on de-risking the supply chain with the help of local partners that offer more flexibility and sustainability with reduced total cost to the supply chain.

Sébastien Aubrey, Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, OMP: During the Covid-19 period, we all have witnessed frequent plant shutdowns for a short period of time to quarantine workers or plants running on reduced capacity. All these deterrents compelled companies to quickly reallocate orders from other plants and manage final distribution. At some instances, we even witnessed demand dropping dramatically, resulting in huge production losses. All these scenarios reflect the restrictions of manual planning for companies and warrant the need for having an accurate data model so that they can make timely & accurate decisions and that's where automation takes the centerstage.

S&OP has always been used and practiced for over the last 10 years is still valid, we see a lot of changing and unpredictable consumer demand, which for a

number of companies, will result in excessive stock and inventory. Would you think that S&OP can still keep up with what's happening in the current environment?

Loknath Rao: The underlying reality is your raw materials availability can be more constrained than your ability to make finished goods. Former can have much larger lead times and much larger variability in the lead times. A beer company whose network optimization I implemented recently; had issues procuring the specialty corks from Belgium, having a lead time of six months. The company’s S&OP plan was all about doing packaging material availability check and then accordingly decide on the finished goods production plan. Surprisingly, the liquid beer was not a constraint as that could get matured in 15 days and then bottling would just require two hours. But for the procured materials such as corks, they had to wait for six months. That was incorporated in their S&OP as a constraint, particularly availability of bottles, corks and certain labels such as special imprints and embossed labels. The plan was totally disconnected by design. I advised them that the finished products’ demand forecast should not determine when they should order the corks. Rather they should plan them separately ahead of time using completely different set of planning strategies. These are certain business realities, that sometimes don’t easily transcend on solution design consultants.

Vijay Kasar: S&OP, with its power of decentralized decision making, can still survive given the volatility. With the rising complexities, I believe collaboration is a great focus and given that as a background, S&OP is a perfect process model where collaboration is the center point. I believe from the IBP or the other powerful tools perspective, it is more important to offer companies a longer term horizon while the S&OP has a limit to 12 to 18 months of projections, staying true to the process, but there are other IBPs that companies may be interested to look beyond 18 months in volatile situations.

Prashant Shivsharan: At its core, S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) functions as a vital tactical layer that bridges the gap between planning and execution. While technology may evolve over time, this crucial layer remains essential, and its importance will not diminish regardless of the external environment. S&OP serves as the primary platform for monitoring the progress of planning and execution, identifying gaps and areas for improvement, and taking corrective action as needed. It is through this process that sales data can be examined and leveraged to ensure that planning and execution are closely aligned, enabling businesses to optimize their operations and achieve their goals.

Komal Ashu: While there is definitely an angle of strategic planning where we’re looking far into the future and collaborating with finance and business to make the right investment decisions given the changing demand map, I also want to focus a lot, at this point, on the whole process of S&OE where we are executing what we are planning

for S&OP process every month. We are making the S&OP cycles more agile and representative of the latest scenarios. If there are sudden demand volatilities and we know that it could help us optimize capacities and resources during the month even before our next S&OP cycle, we tap and convert such opportunities at the earliest through smaller tactical decisions taken together with related stakeholders that are brought together by the S&OE process. With S&OP, we talk about one month demand and supply balancing and then drill it down to a weekly balancing of demand & supply, making sure we execute those on-time decisions sooner than later. This obviously wouldn’t have been possible if we did not have S&OP and S&OE processes for short term planning and very short term tactical execution decisions.

Sébastien Aubrey: I think some decisions that are taken during the S&OP reviews cannot be handled in a short time, for example are we going to source material from different suppliers? Are we going to add additional shifts in a plant

to increase production, let's say shift on the weekends? Companies have to give it enough lead time. Those decisions have to be still made and S&OP remains probably the best time for the best occasion. For the technology angle, I strongly believe that there needs to be agility in terms of streamlining a company's operational processes before even focusing on their ability to supply replanning. In simplest terms, there's a need to drill down till the operational level and streamline Master Production Schedule (MPS). If you don't have those processes and the data available, the reality of the plan is easily questioned and that can be a great problem. You need to have the trust in the plan, which is based on reality, and you need to have the data that offers you the short-term horizon as well.

What are the main tenets of a successful S&OP implementation?

Loknath Rao: The language of finance is increasingly getting integrated into planning applications now, such as RoI, profitability, price sensitivity analysis, yield, and revenue management, etc.

There are indications of product roadmaps from major software companies that they're going to dollarize the whole S&OP process so that companies can simulate various profitability scenarios with various demand supply versions. The mission then is to analyse how expensive and how profitable is the S&OP Plan. Pick best.

Secondly you need to segregate your constraints as internal or external constraints. Things you can control and things you cannot. if you're into the business of mining coal, you will always have a situation where trucks will be in short supply when there is huge incoming cargo at the ports. There are seasons when a lot of cargo arrives. Shipping agents allocate them to highly profitable cargo. So that's an important external constraint. Then you have all these subcontracting or contract manufacturing companies where a small to significant portion of value add done outside of the organization and you may not have visibility into their constraints. Depending on how your systems and applications are integrated, they may not be in a position to share their currently available capacity or the capacity they committed to you over phone but actually doesn't exist. So, these are constraints that you need to validate in real time.

Vijay Kasar: I just want to add two things – one is the right metrics. I think identifying the matrix and now with the changes that we have seen in the supply chain over the last two years, defining your own metrics for your own portfolios apart from what those standard metrics will help you actually monitor the performance and I think on top of it, the focus of continuous improvement if you keep that lens on, I believe you would just add on to the value of your S&OP process and just help getting

Prashant Shivsharan: S&OP is fundamentally a comprehensive approach that relies heavily on collaboration. To ensure that accurate forecasts are developed, it is critical to have the right stakeholders involved in the process. This involves a thorough assessment of manufacturing capacity and supply, as well as effective capacity planning and scenario planning. It is

important to measure the performance of the team using relevant metrics and to have executive sponsorship in order to drive agility and ensure the ongoing success of the S&OP process. Ultimately, this approach enables businesses to make informed decisions and to respond to changing market conditions in a timely and effective manner.

Komal Ashu: I think one fundamental thing that I have experienced while setting up the S&OP process is that we need very active stakeholder participation in S&OP. S&OP is, quite a few times, underestimated in terms of the potential that business sees because we’re mostly talking supply chain and not enough business in terms of the cost benefit we bring to the table. I think in order for a successful S&OP, we need to identify the list of stakeholders we want in the process and get their buy-in on the process deliverables. We know that finance is a critical stakeholder today given the dynamic market scenarios. I also see product development or R&D being a very important stakeholder of the S&OP process because time and again, we are talking about supply disruptions and the need to identify alternate products or alternate sources. The third one is the transportation and logistics team given the rapidly changing trucking and shoring lead times and transportation lane costs. I think it’s pertinent to bring in the transportation & logistics partners in the system so that they can help the supply chain take relevant sourcing decisions and plan better. Lastly, the sales or the commercial team must be dedicatedly involved in making sure that we are attaining the forecast accuracy levels as an organization and not just as a supply chain measure. In a nutshell, identify your stakeholders for the S&OP process, all those stakeholders that can add value as part of the process and make sure that their representation is well stated and the association is clearly balanced in terms of the process we have every month.

Sébastien Aubrey: Executives need to believe in the data when they are offered scenarios for making decision. They need to feel that the scenarios come from reliable data. First & foremost, you

have to have the process. Second and the most crucial aspect is to get full attention from the senior executives. They have to believe what they are seeing and that the decisions that they take will be right based on reality and will be executed later on. We need to show them the source of the data and make sure that people believe it's an accurate data.

With Chat GPT in play, do we still see commercial SNMP continue or do you think there might be a reform?

Loknath Rao: I just learned about this Microsoft's visual analytics platform where you just have to speak up. Ask a question. It converts that into a query and then shows e.g., what was the forecast last year and what was the actual sales and what was the forecast accuracy. You can dig all those queries from a database. By applying this logic, you can gauge the root causes of problems in your company and understand the most frequent issues. If you keep training it by questions and by collaboration in the intranet within your company by creating your own ChatGPT API, companies can understand the reasons for late delivery late or low fulfilment rate, for instance. Maybe nine out of 10 cases, you'll find the answers are similar. Maybe there is a credit block and maybe one particular set of customers in particular region is more prone to credit defaults. The worst thing about working on a large software like SAP is error/information messages on the screen. An error message can have hundreds of contexts depending on what exactly you're doing. What programs you are executing now. No consultant actually knows the root cause of an error/information/metric. So, you maintain reason codes for non-delivery or reason codes for not fulfilling an order. I think new age technology companies are curating all these root causes and are making it intelligent for other users to ask questions so that it can give a reasonably good answer next time about possible reasons behind non-fulfilment or a quality defect.

Prashant Shivsharan: Let me broaden this particular question, not limit it to only chat GPT and the generative AI. Let me break this question into three

components – What the future can be? What is the overall journey? What we can achieve as on today and how we can build upon it and what are the limitations coming to the part of what can be the future?

Imagine a factory of the future operated by only your two employees – a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment and we, as planners, are spending quality time on thinking how we can add further value to the customer. I think this is what the future can be, but it's important to understand this is a continuous journey and not just a one-stop solution. If you want to understand the entire concept of the AI, it's important to understand the journey how it has evolved. It was the year 1956 when the concept of AI was born when people started thinking how they can build a machine that can replicate the human intelligence or in some cases exceed the human intelligence. In 1997, the concept of the machine learning came into the picture, which is again a subset of AI. Machine learning essentially learns the existing data and attempts to improve on that data and try to get a prediction out of it. This Machine learning is further improved and then the new concept got evolved in 2017, which we know as Deep Learning. It learns about the overall the predictions coming out of that particular machine learning process. In 2021, the existence of generative AI came into being, which is again a subset of AI. With this evolution, we have moved from the MS DOS concept to the front UI, now having access to the screen and we can ask the question and generate the usual content marketing.

Now coming back to the question – how it is going to impact the supply planning or currently impacting the supply planning. We will always use the technology in combination and try to correlate with real world scenario. Supply planners analyse the data, predict probable scenarios, and based on their experience & judgement planner comes up with most optimized plan. With this process in conjunction, we can use the generative AI to automate our routing task and the process freeing of the remote resource time for the most strategic work, for example, AI powered

chatbot can handle the customer queries or order processing, which can eventually the reduce the workload for the supply planning team and empower them to focus on the complex task. I think, it has a huge potential and then it's up to us how we can use it and over the time. But there is again a caveat over here –this technology still uses the historical data, neural network decisions, we don't know how that decisions are made and what risk is being counted. Planner’s job is to understand the risk coming out of this decision and managing those risks rather than making the decisions or preparing the backend data. That's how the generative AI can play a role.

There is a buzz around chat GPT. Let's try to go to the basic Chat GPT is just one application of using the generative AI principle of technology. Essentially when it comes to a supply planning for the respective organization, we need to feed that organization-specific data to train model. Now the question is – Is there anything which is readily available in the market or other place anybody working on it. Over the period, companies will build that capability, so it is never going to happen that you take a subscription of Chat GPT, which is going to solve your problem. You need to take generative AI application to train the tool and then build specific application for your organization.

Komal Ashu: It’s not about Chat GPT as an App, there are multiple other platforms that are already available. We talk about generative AI. I think I’ll just talk from the experience I have had. In fact, my team has been using chat GPT or similar open AI platforms for their regular day-to-day work and I must say that it is no longer about a specific skill set of programming. The Open AI platforms help us with resources that are beyond the existing skill set of the team. So you no longer have to wait for a programmer to code an information, we can look up the SQL code and curate analytical models depending on the business requirements. That’s where an open AI platform like Chat GPT or others help us bring more agility to our daily work and decision making. We are definitely looking forward to much more evolution of open AI on each of

our partner systems, making them more adaptive in nature and helping teams become smarter day by day.

Sébastien Aubrey: Chat GPT is not a supply chain optimization AI tool, rather it's a natural language tool. It helps to put into natural language a huge amount of data. I don't think it replaces the need for the current technology for supply chain automation or optimization because those are specialized algorithms. Many of them are AI-based using the same machine learning concept, but they might enable the planner to understand better why the system made that particular decision or that particular plan, how it was explained, how the algorithm, planning, or optimization solver came up with that particular result. That could be a very powerful application of chat GPT or a similar natural language tool in the future because right now there are a lot of cases where you don't really know how the plan came out from it and that’s how you can build the trust.

Will that technology impact jobs? Do you think that people might be losing jobs because of that technology?

Prashant Shivsharan: I don't think so. I think learning is a continuous process. We need to continuously look out for new technology and trends in the market. If we don't learn relevant changes in our field, we will definitely be out of the market. If you learn the technology, you will have the potential. It's a never-ending debate whether technology is going to replace humans and eventually lead to job loss. The technology revolution has been happening over the last 150 years and people are still having jobs. There will be more jobs in the market with more and more technology. It's all about who is going to learn the new trends and technology and who is not.

Do you think that maybe one day the S&OP process could be replaced by bio and AI, biorobot and they will make decisions for you?

Vijay Kasar: We are looking at the current abilities and the question really hints towards the future. I do not want to undermine the capabilities of the generative AI for now. I believe right

now it's already capable to enhance your S&OP process to a certain level and can automate certain operational decisions to a certain level. If you want the chat GPT and the current capabilities to perform operational decision making for you, I think largely it's there with the available information. If I talk about a probable futuristic scenario that it will completely replace the S&OP process for me, it seems too far-fetched given the human intervention in the process wherein the strategic decision making when it boils down to the judgment and the experience of our own industry and your previous project success, project failures. I believe that human judgment and the empathy towards your own business unit and understanding how volatile and uncertain the world is going to be in due course of time, the historic data doesn't stand tall for any of the future uncertainties. It can definitely make it very smooth to be able to reach the executive S&OP and make the decisions quicker. I think the chat GPT or the generative AI will definitely harness that kind of power.

What would be your main focus moving forward when it comes to supply planning?

Loknath Rao: Intelligent enterprise or an Integrated Enterprise is the idea that a well-known software company is promoting these days, which essentially implies integration within and beyond the borders of the company. A lot of analytics projects are happening right now. People are taking data out of their internal ERP systems and generating certain actionable insights not just reports. Now the question is how those actionable insights will be brought into the day-to-day business as usual transactions? Simple questions like Shall I increase the delivery quantity? Shall I increase the credit limit? Should I reschedule this delivery? Shall I increase the price? These things are quite static in ERP systems that are mere systems of record. How do you make it intelligent? Planning systems were again traditionally not systems of intelligence. They were just planning systems. Now with all these intelligences that is getting generated outside of your enterprise systems, how do you bring it back to your execution

Source: Gartner

systems? I think that's going to be a big thing in the coming days. No matter how much ever intelligence you throw into your expensive software, if you don't have a systematic training program for your employees, it’s not going to work. They may pretend to know a lot, but they actually don't. It's getting harder and harder to keep up with the creativity and use cases of Big Data driven Analytics. I guess training the people, helping them understand the technical nuances and making them feel comfortable is going to lead the way into the future.

Vijay Kasar: From the planning perspective, I believe for 2023 and beyond, the focus will definitely shift to scenario planning. I think the capability of the teams to build more scenarios and come up with simulations is what we are focusing on. Secondly, we are looking out for having interfaces that nurture a lot of collaboration within the organization. I think these two are the main fundamental pillars where we are moving forward.

Prashant Shivsharan: The top priority is ensuring and building the right capability of the team and second is making the basic right. If these two fundamentals are there, I think the rest all can be managed. For instance, if you want to build an alternate supplier but

if you don't give order to one supplier, he may not help you at the right time. How are you making the basics right and making sure that it works when it is needed, is the priority agenda for us.

Komal Ashu: It’s important to collaborate with the right partners to foresee challenges and opportunities and de-risk our supply chain -- procurement as a partner, product management as a partner. We need to give enough endto-end visibility and transparency to the team and make sure that we have the right S&OP process set up for stakeholder collaboration to allow us to act on any risks and opportunities in the short and long term, in the right time & direction of cost and operational feasibility.

Sébastien Aubrey: Being in Asia, I want to focus my energy on, in the next couple of years, refining how we help companies from emerging markets get better prepared for implementing and using those technologies. A lot of companies have tried and many of them have failed, and I think that's real challenge we have to deal with in the APAC region. We need to find the right methodology to help companies get up to speed as soon as possible and improving their RoI. Once they automate it all, the customer service will ultimately improve.

Most organizations wait for something to happen and then respond, but leading companies plan for multiple eventualities to enable an agile response. For example, companies that have a more mature planning process create multiple supply response scenarios. This enables them to decide on the best solution for the business. Reviewing a handful of scenarios at each S&OP meeting is also a manageable amount, especially if it follows a structured process.

Driving with

SUSTAINABILITY BIOGAS

“At Sistema.bio, we are committed to optimizing our supply chain and production operations by implementing effective inventory management techniques. We monitor inventory levels, and make use of effective ordering and production methods to reduce wastage. Using our robust inventory management and supply chain, we can service that last-mile demand within a given timeframe and with a high-quality threshold in extremely remote rural áreas,” shares Piyush Sohani, MD, Sistema.bio India, during this exclusive interview…

How did the seeds of Sistema. bio take fruition? The increasing adoption of biogas paves way for eco-friendly practices as well. Kindly elaborate how Sistema.bio works towards addressing and enhancing the same?

In 2010, Alex Eaton and Camilo Pagés founded Sistema.bio in Mexico to address the challenges of poverty, food security, and climate change. In rural areas, smallholder farmers face a lack of affordable and reliable energy sources that limit their production and living standards. Biogas was a potential remedy to these problems, our co-founders worked on developing a scalable and costeffective biogas system for smallholder farmers.

Our biodigesters convert organic waste, such as animal manure, into renewable energy in the form of biogas. Depending on the needs of different farmers and the size of their farms as well as the availability of feedstock, the system is modular. It can be altered to suit their requirements. Biogas technology from Sistema.bio can help farmers generate renewable energy and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. As a result of the bioslurry produced, crop yields and soil health can be improved, reducing synthetic fertilizer usage.

Kindly enlighten us on the value chain of Sistema.bio from Waste to Value.

Livestock manure can pose serious threats to the environment and human health if not managed adequately. Usually, the waste generated from livestocks at farms is dumped by the roadside to decompose which is then used as Farm Yard Manure (FYM) in agricultural practices or as dried dung cakes for cooking. This leads to two main issues. First off, it causes the discharge of methane gas, a pollutant for the environment. Second, it can also result in groundwater contamination during rainy seasons.

Our cutting-edge technology solves these problems by turning animal waste into a useful resource for both farmers and the environment. By feeding the livestock waste into a biodigester, methane gas is produced, which can be used for cooking. This reduces the need for LPG and supplies a sustainable energy source to farmers. Additionally, the biodigester also produces bioslurry that is richer in nutrients than the conventional Farm Yard Manure (FYM), providing farmers additional advantages.

What were the challenges that you encountered during this journey?

The Government of India (GoI) is driving

Piyush Sohani is an entrepreneur by heart and passionate about sustainable technologies and social development. Prior to leading Sistema.bio India, Piyush had worked with a number of credible organizations including TERI, Tata Consultancy Services and Indian Oil. He has a vision to create a world where waste is a resource, and farmers are empowered and productive. Piyush has a Masters degree from TERI University in renewable energy engineering and management.

the use of biogas plants, especially with smallholder farmers, dairy farmers and creating a value chain that will immensely contribute to enhancing the livelihoods of dairy farmers and promotion of green energy. However, while biogas plants have existed in India for over six decades, the acceptance levels were very low due to high cost, amount of land they occupied, the required civil construction, minimal or no training and no support in postinstallation maintaining them.

The biodigesters we provide are designed to offer farmers sustainable waste-to-energy solutions, open avenues for generating additional income, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at farms by up to 80%, reducing their monthly costs for LPG cylinders and chemical fertilizer.

The first task was for us to overcome the farmers' mindset, demonstrate these advantages of our technology to them, and convince them that our innovative biogas plants have the potential to overcome the challenges presented by old biogas plants.

What crucial role does the supply chain have in the value chain?

As a technology-based enterprise, we specialize in manufacturing biodigesters using top-of-the-line material and processes. Our main value proposition is to make sure that our biodigesters last for more than ten years without causing any major difficulty to the farmers. Because we operate in rural regions and

seek to establish the trust of farmers, it is vital that our material selection and manufacturing procedure be executed efficiently. Our biodigesters must function flawlessly to make sure farmers are happy and to support sustainable agricultural methods.

We use more than 20 different types of materials, ranging from industrialgrade polyethylene to different kinds of steel, to accomplish this. Since we produce hundreds of biodigesters each month and distribute them worldwide, we have put in place a strong supply chain system to guarantee reliable quality and prompt delivery. To assure the greatest level of quality and dependability for our clients, we actively monitor and manage these difficulties, which are similar to those faced by any business due to global dynamics affecting material demand and price variations.

What are the supply chain best practices you have implemented at Sistema.bio?

At Sistema.bio, we are committed to optimizing our supply chain and production operations by implementing effective inventory management techniques. We monitor inventory levels, make use of effective ordering and production methods, to reduce wastage. Using our robust inventory management and supply chain, we can service that lastmile demand within a given timeframe and with a high-quality threshold in extremely remote rural áreas.

In order to be cost-effective, we place a high priority on developing trusting relationships with our suppliers and obtaining raw materials in bulk in advance. Our logistics management system speeds up deliveries, improves delivery precision, and consumes less fuel. We have developed an efficient supply chain structure to ensure the consistent quality and prompt delivery of our biodigesters.

You have been associated with leading global players who are volunteering sustainability. How do you view sustainability and how are you working towards empowering small dairy farmers?

Sustainability is a core concept at Sistema.bio guiding all of our operations, from sales and service to packaging and product design and production methods. We place a huge emphasis on how the decisions we make now will affect society, the economy, and the environment in the long run as part of our commitment to sustainable development. In terms of markets, financing, and technology, we are aware that small dairy producers frequently confront substantial obstacles. As a result, we work to give these farmers greater control over their own lives by giving them the tools they need to become more independent and sustainable.

Our strategy includes providing dairy farmers with cutting-edge biogas technology as well as the funding they need to access it. The bio-slurry produced from our biodigesters, encourages organic farming methods and lessens dependency on hazardous chemical fertilizers. To help dairy farmers maintain their biodigesters successfully and reap the most benefits possible, we also provide extensive assistance and instruction.

How is the deployment of new age technologies helping the company in the journey?

Technology plays a crucial role in every step of our business process, allowing us to work quickly and effectively. Mobile apps enabled with GPS allow us to locate farmers in the rural areas and provide the best service. Each piece of information pertaining to farmer orders is logged by

our sales team using a mobile app, and this information is then sent to our main CRM platform. In order to create the necessary systems, our manufacturing team uses this information. It is also integrated with our financial accounting system to keep track of orders and payments.

We employ a centralized customer care procedure and the same mobile app to track system installations and service in order to guarantee excellent customer service. Additionally, we also provide accessories like smart energy and gas meters to clients who want to track their gas and power usage from biogas, as well as their financial savings on LPG.

What are the global best practices that you are imbibing in India?

Our efforts to advance sustainable agricultural practices in India are intended to reduce negative environmental effects, increase agricultural output, and improve farmer welfare. Due to their success in striking a balance between environmental preservation and agricultural expansion, these practices are gaining attention on a global scale. Our cutting-edge technology is enabling farmers to become independent and well-equipped with the tools to obtain renewable energy, embrace organic farming methods, and efficiently utilize waste, hence lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

We keep open and solid communication with our partners,

suppliers, and farmers as part of our commitment to ensure the effectiveness of our supply chain practices. We consistently attempt to enhance our procedures and quality control measures to address any difficulties that may develop, and our inventory and logistics management system is created to maximize our efficiency.

How complex and different is the Indian market than the Western countries?

India has a very diverse culture that varies across regions, religions, and languages. For any organization to be successful in the Indian market, it is crucial for them to comprehend the cultural nuances and preferences of their target audience.

Smallholder farmers in India and the Western countries may share a few similarities including lack of infrastructure, facing adverse effects of climate change and market fluctuations. They both lack access to credit and have limited resources which makes them vulnerable to cost of production, but they belong to very different cultural backgrounds.

Indian smallholder farmers frequently use conventional farming techniques that have been handed down through the centuries. They place a high priority on community-based farming, where agriculture serves as both a means of subsistence and a way of life that is intricately entwined with their religious and social practices. Family

and community are important factors in decision-making, and farming is frequently viewed as a family business where several generations coexist on farms.

Farmers in Western nations, on the other hand, are more likely to adopt cutting-edge, technologically advanced farming methods that are significantly affected by industrialized and marketoriented agriculture. They frequently act as independent business owners, basing their choices on market dynamics, academic research, and financial factors. Although family farming remains significant, it may not have the same cultural significance as it does in India, and they may place a greater emphasis on individualism and independence.

You have also come up with the concept of a biodigester carbon programme. How does this work and how does this help in achieving SDGs?

The primary objective of Sistema.bio is to enhance farmer livelihoods while fostering environmental sustainability. Since we are aware that farmers often possess limited resources, we are continually looking for novel methods to make our technology affordable for them.

New avenues for climate financing have recently opened up as a result of the global climate change movement. Businesses like ours can lower carbon emission on a massive scale by collaborating with foreign and Indian groups, making biodigesters more affordable to farmers who would not otherwise be able to afford them.

The widespread use of biogas by farmers significantly reduces carbon emissions in the atmosphere, aiding in the accomplishment of the 13th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of climate action. Additionally, it aids in the advancement of other SDGs like 1 - No Poverty, 2- Zero Hunger, 3- Good Health & Well-Being, 5- Gender Equality, 7- Affordable & Clean Energy, 8- Decent Work & Economic Growth, 14- Life Below Water, 15-Life on Land.

How do you foresee your innovative biogas technology enhancing agricultural productivity and

enhancing farm sustainability?

The use of biogas technology on farms could have a wide range of positive effects on sustainability and production. The anaerobic digestion of organic wastes like animal manure, agricultural byproducts, and food waste results in the production of biogas, a renewable energy source, as well as a fertilizer that is rich in nutrients and may be utilized to increase crop yields and soil health.

Farmers may power their farms with sustainable energy by using biogas technology, which reduces their dependency on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, by using the anaerobic digestion process to create nutrient-rich fertilizer, one can increase soil quality and agricultural yields while lowering the demand for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

The implementation of contemporary biogas technology has the promise of increasing agricultural production and farm sustainability through the provision of renewable energy, improvement of soil health and crop yields, and decreased impact of agriculture on the environment.

Do you foresee India achieving the ambitious target of Net Zero by

2070. What are the ways to achieve the same and how can corporations work towards realizing the goalpost?

India is definitely on the right track to achieve the Net Zero target by 2070. We need to adopt a number of steps to attain net-zero emissions by 2070, including raising the proportion of renewable energy in the energy mix, enhancing energy efficiency, encouraging sustainable agriculture and transportation, and lowering emissions from industry.

By adopting sustainable practices and reducing their carbon footprint, corporations can contribute to India's Net Zero target. Reducing waste and reusing resources can be achieved through investments in renewable energy sources, energy efficiency improvements, and the implementation of circular economy principles.

Companies that are unable to reduce their carbon footprint through conventional means should consider transforming their business operations by implementing innovative energy solutions. This can include adopting renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, or geothermal, or exploring new technologies such as carbon capture and

storage, hydrogen fuel cells, or energy storage systems.

Implementing these innovative energy solutions can not only help industries reduce their carbon footprint but can also provide economic benefits, such as cost savings and increased energy efficiency. In many cases, these solutions can also enhance the resilience of business operations and provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Furthermore, corporations can work with the government to develop and implement policies and initiatives that support the transition to a lowcarbon economy.

Sistema.bio India is an Ashden Award winning social enterprise working in clean energy with innovative biogas technology. Within a span of 3 years, the company has over 200 people and is delivering thousands of digesters every month across 14 states in India. Based at the headquarters in Pune, Piyush started Sistema.bio India with a humble team of 22 people in the area of sales and technical operations with a pilot project in Gujarat.

Foreword

Mr. Shailesh Haribhakti, Board Chairman at some of the country’s most preeminent organisations, ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) & IR (Integrated Reporting) Evangelist

DECARBONISING the chemical industry is a crucial step in the global effort to combat climate change and build a more sustainable future. As one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, the chemical industry must take bold action to reduce its carbon footprint and transition to more sustainable practices.

This opportunity arises from the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. Chemical companies can achieve this by embracing new technologies, getting closer to end markets, and working within and across value chains to deliver lower-carbon products and solutions. By doing so, they can capture additional value, create new business models, and potentially form entirely new markets in a more circular, lower-emissions economy.

Achieving net-zero emissions across the chemical value chain will require significant capital investment and business transformation, as well as new types of partnerships with key stakeholder groups. Chemical companies can make great strides in developing a circular economy by aggregating demand and supply for postconsumer waste, alternative fuels, and advanced

recycled materials, among others, thereby eliminating fossil-based inputs and reducing emissions. Some of the other areas for chemistry-induced decarbonization are:

 Chemistry will help us transform coal and water to hydrogen.

 Hydrogen and oxygen after extraction will permit carbon to be safely sequestered.

 Complete hydrogen, nuclear and geothermal transition will eliminate emission in energy generation altogether and we will draw down over half the carbon.

 We can also unravel dumps and fills and release energy.

 Recycling plastic in multiple cycles will eliminate need for new production.

 Burning pelletised plastic in kilns will be highly recommended.

There are great opportunities for chemical and materials companies to become sustainability leaders and innovation leaders, creating low- and nocarbon products and helping ecosystem partners transition to lower emission solutions while driving long-term growth. Ultimately, the chemical industry has a three-pronged opportunity to lower its own emissions and downstream endmarket emissions, support sustainability

targets, and create new value in a more sustainable global economy.

Research conducted by our firm - DialESG is summarized as below:

1. Figure 1 indicates the priority of actions to decarbonize the chemicals industry. These actions present an opportunity to optimize profits, driving value while lowering carbon footprint and enabling a circular economy.

2. There are various sustainable chemicals that are helping several large end-markets to get on the path of a decarbonized transformation. Innovation-led “responsible chemistry” is addressing opportunities in several sectors, some of which include consumer, construction, transport, and electronics. Some of the end uses within these industries include sustainable packaging, end-of-life battery recycling, and robotics. Leading companies in the consumer goods industry target to cut emissions by 50% across operations by 2030.

At DialESG, we are 360 degree comprehensive one-stop ESG solution. In line with our motto “You Commit, We Implement”, we are committed to catalysing on-ground change to accelerate the journey to net positive.

Figure 1

According to McKinsey research, the India’s chemical industry has been a global outperformer in demand growth and shareholder wealth creation over the last decade. The country is set to be the fastest growing global demand centre for chemicals with domestic consumption projected to grow at a 9-10% CAGR in the coming years on the back of rising disposable incomes, a favourable demographic dividend, increasing global preference for biofriendly alternatives, and growing diversification of global chemical supply chains. While this is good news to rejoice, there’s another crucial story unfolding that is set to change the paradigms of chemical industry… it’s the forward-looking companies’ quest to ensure green expanse, which is backed by innovations in Green Chemistry including sustainable manufacturing, sustainable supply chains and sustainable products. Chemical companies that are embracing sustainable practices are building a resilient future to safeguard long-term business continuity as environmental regulations, such as mandatory zero liquid discharge, ‘net-zero’ emissions or carbon neutrality, grow increasingly stringent worldwide. Our Cover Story this time serves to be a great repository of insights from the industry leaders and subject-matter experts who are taking the Big First Step to lead fellow companies follow the Green Path and join the Global Agenda of creating a Green Chemistry…

Arush Kishore, VP, Reliance Industries Ltd.

Biju Mathew, Director, Supply Chain Operations, BASF India Ltd.

Mitesh Gangar, Head - Business & Supply Chain (Commercial), Aarti Industries

Sanjay Desai, Co-founder & Regional Director, Humana International (S) Pte Ltd.

V Raju, Business Head & Sr VP – 3PL Contract Logistics, All Cargo Supply Chain

Seema Mohanty, Global Supplier Manager (Associate General Manager) for Fungicides, Bayer India

Arecent McKinsey study highlighted that India’s chemical industry has been a global outperformer in demand growth and shareholder wealth creation over the last decade. It now stands poised to play an increasingly dominant role across both consumption and manufacturing in the global arena. Over recent years, changing geopolitical scenarios have led to many countries focusing on domestic self-sufficiency and localized supply chains. However, benchmarking India’s manufacturing competitiveness reveals that India has a strong starting point vis-à-vis other key global chemical clusters that could translate into India becoming the next chemicals manufacturing hub.

While this is a great development, another McKinsey research shows that the chemicals sector alone contributes to 2% of the total global emissions and 1% of India emissions, which demands urgent attention from the stakeholders. Even within the industrials category, chemicals contribute to 7% of total greenhouse gases (GHG) released worldwide. Complex processes across the chemicals value chain are responsible for these high levels. Meanwhile, limited sustainable disposal options add to concerns ranging from incineration emissions to toxicity from non-biodegradable wastes.

Looking at this mounting concern, there is a growing focus on decarbonisation and recycling technologies in order to achieve climateneutrality goals and transition towards a circular economy. In line with this, PwC’s 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey revealed that 58% of the CEOs in the chemical industry were already planning investments focused on sustainability in 2019–20. This development underscores the significance of sustainability in the chemicals sector and its importance for value creation.

Some large chemical companies and chemical industry associations have gone past the mandatory regulations set forth by the government and are setting more standards for the management of chemicals and adoption of clean technologies (e.g. Responsible Care programme).

Dow India implemented the Responsible Care® program for its sites

in 2005. Most Dow India sites have zero reportable injury or incident for more than a decade. The company has not only spearheaded industry collaborative platforms like Nicer Globe but is also persistently mentoring other chemical companies to implement Responsible Care codes. Sustainability is one of the strategic pillars of Dow.

Harnessing the innovation capability in collaboration with key customers is crucial for designing the next category of products that are far superior in performance and sustainability. Dr. AN Sreeram, Senior Vice President, Research & Development, and CTO for Dow, during a panel discussion, expressed, “Our world is changing so rapidly, we cannot precisely predict the future. The one constant, however, is that all humans are continually trying to make their lives and the world around us better and want to be able to do it safely and responsibly. What we can focus on is that products and solutions deliver differentiation and value for our customers, while using fewer resources and lowering collective and individual carbon footprint.”

By 2030, Dow envisions to reduce its net annual carbon emissions by 5 million metric tons versus its 2020 baseline (15% reduction). By 2050, Dow intends to be carbon neutral (Scopes 1+2+3 plus product benefits). By 2030, Dow will transform plastic waste and other forms of alternative feedstock to commercialize 3 million metric tons of circular and renewable solutions annually. To do this, Dow will expand its efforts to stop the waste by building industrial ecosystems to collect, reuse or recycle waste and expand its portfolio to meet rapidly growing demand. By 2035, Dow will close the loop by enabling 100% of Dow products sold into packaging applications to be reusable or recyclable.

Similarly, LANXESS announced the target to achieving a climate-neutral supply chain by 2050 – and only offer climate-neutral products from 2050 onwards.

“Sustainability is a key focus area and an increasingly important topic at LANXESS,” highlighted Neelanjan Banerjee, SVP | Global Business Unit Head – Lubricant Additives, LANXESS. “Not only do we have the right products in our portfolio to support our customers

across applications and grow with them, but we also offer them more sustainable, more environmentally friendly alternatives. This makes us a frontrunner in the market.”

The company is introducing sustainable light-colour sulfur carriers within the Additin product family. The light sulfur-carriers are based on locally sourced renewable raw materials. They also meet the requirements of the “Lubricant Substance Classification”list (LuSC) – the prime reference for formulators of lubricants who intend to apply for the EU Ecolabel. EU Ecolabel lubricants are more eco-friendly alternatives to conventional lubricants, aiming to decrease the impact of these products on biodiversity, through respecting a wide scope of environmental criteria.

LANXESS created the Scopeblue label for products that either exhibit a sustainable raw material content of more than 50% or offer a carbon footprint of less than half that of their conventional counterparts. In accordance with the mass balance approach the products are chemically identical, i.e., new processes, tools or adaptions are not necessary.

With these as guiding thoughts, here we present to you the insightful opinions of industry veterans who have taken rapid strides in their sustainability journey and are successfully leaving a lasting imprint for others to follow…

India is expected to account for more than 20% of incremental global consumption for chemicals over the next two decades. Domestic consumption and demand are expected to rise from USD 170-180 billion in 2021 to USD 850-1000 billion by 2040.

India’s chemical industry is one of the top 5 industries in Asia and top 3 in ASEAN. How would you rate the quality of our chemicals companies’ value chain as compared to their parent companies in the Western World?

Arush Kishore, VP, Reliance Industries Ltd.: The Indian chemical industry carries a legacy of innovation. We have leverage in people, process over our counterparts in the western world and China. Adopting sustainable practises with our global counterparts offers us the opportunity to increase efficiency, which is hindered due to gaps such as in infrastructure, lower tech adoption and skills gap in India.

Biju Mathew – Director, Supply Chain Operations, BASF India Ltd.: There is a scope for improvement. However, the industry is moving in the right path towards sustainability. Indian Government is also supporting the same with policies & incentives. Chemical companies in India often face obstacles in feedstock availability due to lagging cracker capacity and low access to building blocks and key minerals.

Seema Mohanty, Global Supplier Manager (Associate General Manager) for Fungicides, Bayer India: It is an interconnected world today, and more so for our supply chains. For example, a chemical company in Europe may have its supplier base in India or other countries. So, the value chain of a company in Europe may comprise of companies based in various parts of the

world. Therefore, I believe, we should not see companies as a standalone entity, but as a part of an ecosystem.

Now, coming to the chemical industry in India, it is highly encouraging to see the quantum of investments happening and earmarked for the sector. The industry is evolving and is in a very interesting growth trajectory. It is therefore very encouraging to see focus of top managements across major chemical companies in India towards plant and process safety and sustainability topics. Let us not forget that different companies are in different maturity levels in their journey towards safety and sustainability. However, as several big companies are pledging their net zero targets and working with their suppliers in different countries to address their own Scope 3 emissions, everyone is benefitting!

V Raju, Business Head & Sr VP – 3PL Contract Logistics, All Cargo Supply

since the past five years. Production of certain chemicals has been significantly restricted by the various pollution control boards. Industries are unable to increase production to meet the demand. Over the past five years, there has been no capacity expansion by any of the companies because clearances are not given by PCBs. This has dented our exports which provides huge opportunities and, of late, is also impacting domestic industries, this has led to large scale imports from China. The domestic industry is simply unable to meet the demand due to policy bottlenecks. This is why Chinese manufacturers are hurting our industry.

Chain:

The chemicals industry is expected more than double and touch $300 billion by 2025 from $147 billion now. The chemical sector is expected to double to $300 billion by 2025, clocking an annual growth rate of 15-20%. To achieve this, the government is also working on a draft chemical policy that will focus on meeting the rising demand f0r chemicals and reduce imports. The industry is also targeting chemical exports of $28 billion by 2025 from $12 billion in FY17. The domestic chemical industry is the third largest in Asia and seventh in the world.

One of the reasons for slower chemical industry growth are the norms of pollution control board,

We need to go into the direction of an integrated steering of global supply chains in times when supply chains are becoming even more complex each day. We need to deploy smart business solutions and digitalization to gain business and focus on customers and process orientation according to business needs (resilience and responsiveness). Industry 4.0 must go together with logistics 4.0. Regarding data, shippers must think outside the box — that is ‘think beyond the factory gate’ to realize the true potential. The sooner we receive relevant information, the faster we can react. In our experience, customers for logistics services are most successful when they analyse processes together with their logistics partners and, in consequence, can take the right strategic decisions. We try to receive information about planned shipments as early as possible; this allows us to align our expertise with the customers’ information in the best way possible.

Source: McKinsey & Co.

Decarbonization-driven megatrends could lead to a USD 4 to 5 trillion addressable global market by 2025 across multiple subthemes. Indian chemical companies could realign their portfolios to tap these trends. Sustainability is more than a feel-good exercise and an avenue for cost reduction. A tough stance, and a significant investment of time, money and resources could be necessary for companies to fulfill their bold ESG commitments.

Sanjay Desai, Co-founder & Regional Director, Humana International (S)

Pte Ltd.: Indian chemical sector is an essential centrepiece of modern Indian economies, touching everyday life via many other industrial products. Chemical sector is increasingly under pressure for its large environmental footprint, a heavy user of oil/ gas, and other energy resources, emitting gigatons of greenhouse gases each year.

Two major initiatives by the Government, ‘Make in India’ and ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’, are aptly designed for the chemicals & Oil/Gas petrochemicals sector to flourish. The industry needs to build ecosystem – this entails the creation of Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions (PCPIRs) across all four corners of the country. It will enhance infrastructure linkages for a hub-and-spoke model and finally, integrating value chains using initiatives like multi-modal parks throughout the country.

India’s attractiveness as a chemical

manufacturer has been rising because of its ability to build manufacturing ecosystem at less cost than in the developed world. Many Indian specialty chemical organisations have developed distinctive capabilities and established supply chain networks with global organisations. While our standards are not the best or world-class, we are making progress and quality improvements each year, especially after the Covid aftermath.

Supply chains have a greater role to play in ensuring sustainability in chemical industry. How are you addressing the same? How do you think the industry players are dealing with it?

Arush Kishore: We are identifying both near-term and long-term projects to implement sustainable practises, especially in logistics, stakeholder management, process improvement and technology upgrade. We are looking for the best sustainable practises across industries and developing new solutions

in our area. We have our R&D initiatives in place, which is helping us develop newage technology. We are putting in place a monitoring system to ensure reliable implementation.

Biju Mathew: Supply chain plays a major role in sustainability throughout the value chain of chemical industry –starting from sustainable procurement of raw materials (renewable raw materials or RMs manufactured by taking Zero Carbon emissions into consideration), sustainable transportation of RMs and efficient processes to manufacture finished goods which addresses the Net Zero Carbon Emissions concept and finally recycling of products, wherever possible (e.g.: Plastics).

BASF has taken a systems approach to align suppliers’ interests with environmental, social and governance objectives, with a clear assessment process to earn ongoing business. One such example is Together for Sustainability –an initiative created by leading chemical companies including BASF and the India

chapter was launched in 2016. Suppliers selling to TfS member companies are subjected to rigorous assessments that often go beyond compliance with local law. The TfS motto is “an audit for one is an audit for all.” In practice this means that when a supplier undertakes an audit, the results are posted on a secure database and made available to all TfS member companies. All parties save time and money. Companies which do not meet the standards are given support to improve.

Seema Mohanty: That is true! Supply Chain and Procurement have a lot of interfaces, both within the company and to the external world. That brings in possibilities towards sustainability initiatives across multiple fronts. Let us see some examples:

Sourcing: One can choose the right

suppliers, i.e., those who adhere and strive towards sustainability (by taking various measures like adhering to human rights, trying to reduce energy consumption, transitioning towards renewable energy, moving towards less waste generation, etc. Sourcing teams can work with technical teams to evaluate if a more environmentally friendly material can be used, etc.

Transportation (Road): Avoiding partially loaded trucks.

Transportation (Sea): Using double stacked containers wherever possible, instead of single stacked. There is no point in paying to transport air in the free space in single stacked containers.

Mitesh Gangar, Head - Business & Supply Chain (Commercial), Aarti Industries: We are recycling Packaging Material – where possible, drums and jumbo bags are being recycled. We are

minimizing waste by ensuring dedicated tankers for liquid products (thus avoiding cleaning cycles) and also attempting milk-runs wherever possible.

V Raju: The supply chain and warehouse system in chemical industry are on the verge of adopting the latest technologies and using different software innovations to sustain well in the market to operate effectively and in a full-fledged way. Sustainable operations are easy to access as it is simple to go through all the processes in a quick way to catch the customer’s eyes. The e-commerce business model is quite a trend in productively managing the manufacturing industries, chemical warehouses, and supply chain operations in plants. It also helps keep track of the inventory, logistics, and product shipping in real-time delivery at the correct address. The business owner uses the newest software or technologies

Image by pikisuperstar on Freepik

to manage the work accordingly to serve the purpose. The latest technologies or trends that make it more worthy are listed to fetch the customer’s attention in the broader term. Example of easier usage of sustainability process can always commence in industries from the procurement process implemented in the factory. This will always be supported by sustainability initiatives in the supply chain operations, be it warehouse or distribution functions.

Sanjay Desai: The chemical industry, in general, has always been at the forefront to rising global concerns, like climate change, GHG emissions and the energy crisis. It can help create a pathway to a sustainable future by developing ecofriendly products using green resources and resource- efficient technologies. It is evident in last 3-4 years more than ever before. This shift towards sustainability requires the adoption of circular business models, use of renewable feedstocks and a defined process to reuse & recycle endof-life products. Companies leveraging such opportunities will have considerable growth prospects and the option to reposition themselves in new business ecosystems. Most chemical organisation in India try to follow / comply principles of Responsible Care including REACH Certification. Their broader objectives are to drive sustainability in their value chain operations. A few critical/ major elements of these are:

 Adapt and institutionalise sustainable framework across end-to-end value chain

 Engage stakeholders 100% from beginning for alignment on common outcomes

 Priorities materials Issues which affect EHS / customers and employees

 Integrate sustainability in your core business models as top priority

 Measure, monitor, report, improve and remunerate

How will you describe Covid’s impacts to Supply Chain globally? Do you see a change in the way supply chains are being demystified?

Arush Kishore: Supply chain has become the key discussion point after Covid-19 across organizations. Reliability of supply chain with disruption handling capacity is taking up as much mind space as the financial indicators of the organization. Every organization is trying to maintain agility in supply chain planning without a higher width of error cushions to handle disruptions. Beyond a point, one can’t plan or provision for disruptions as it becomes prohibitive. The people, process, platforms play is being figured out by each organization as is optimum for it.

Biju Mathew: The advent of Covid-19 significantly impacted supply chains globally as it disrupted operations, causing shortages, delays, and in some cases shutdowns. It exposed the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the supply chain and pushed further the need for building resilient and agile supply chains that can adapt quickly to changing conditions. We see many organizations are now adopting new supply chain approaches such as diversifying the supplier base, focusing on risk management, optimize inventories, and investing in digital technologies to enhance visibility and respond faster to changing conditions.

Seema Mohanty: Covid brought in a lot of focus and ‘glamor’ into supply chain functions. The initial phase of Covid and lockdowns required supply chain functions to deal with a lot of unknown unknowns. While people were

talking about work from home, supply chains were moving goods physically across continents. Securing supplies, in spite of all odds, were a primary focus. As Covid situation started to get better, supply chains were impacted by geopolitical tensions and shipping constraints to name a few. All these bring home the fact that since there is a lot of interconnectedness, our supply chains will be prone to impacts from various factors every now and then. In this context, chemical supply chains are taking various steps to be more prepared for any event, whatsoever. Initiatives are being taken by various companies to have more backward integration, to source locally or to source from multiple geographies in order to reduce the risk of getting impacted. But there is no one solution. Only those who are agile enough to keep up with changing situations, will be the ones to survive. Risk management measures will play a vital role. Being resilient is the key.

Mitesh Gangar: Covid caused substantial disruption in supply chain globally and for a short while, people moved from ‘Just-in-time’ to ‘Just-in-case’. All the disruptions are now stabilized and there is a move to rationalize inventories. We see a lot of digitalization of processes, be it with transporters or shipping lines or customs departments. There is a definite move towards making transactions paperless and having a single source of truth.

Sanjay Desai: In sheer $ terms, global economies would have lost close to 9.0 trillion USD since Feb-2020. While the global trade is recovering fast, Covid-19 impacts across specific goods, services and trade partners are highly diverse, creating pressures on global supply chains. Covid-19 forced organisations

Organizations need to set right expectations from their partners/ suppliers regarding outcomes of their actions. They need to communicate Science-based carbon emissions targets to their partners / suppliers, which should be monitored regularly by the leadership team.

globally to re-think/ re-design their end-to-end value chain strategy. It forced them to develop new sources of multiple suppliers/manufacturers in different countries in order to be resilient to shocks, volatile demand & supply variations. Many industries hastened their e-commerce and omni-channel supply chain models way ahead of its time, into true unified people process and technology integration. Organisations were scrambling to implement control tower visibility to manage the risks upfront in the value chain by making use of AI and ML technology. Covid-19 also created a renewed focus to integrate ESG objectives with each functional vertical accessing ESG data into their reporting. While Covid-19 was a global catastrophic disaster, it brough in a few positives –blessings in disguise!

What are the challenges of decarbonising supply chains?

Seema Mohanty: Let us keep aside the cost aspect and look at the other potential challenges. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions pertain to one’s own operations, so they are comparatively easier to collect data and monitor improvements. However,

unless one is following Science-Based emissions and reduction targets, there is no uniform way of measuring and reporting Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions as well. Real challenge comes when we speak about Scope 3 emissions. This is because there are several tiers of suppliers, perhaps in different countries, and with their respective maturity levels in their own sustainability journey.

Oftentimes it is important to work together with some of the key Scope 3 suppliers to bring them up to speed in their target setting and in taking actions. Collaboration, knowledge sharing and learning from one another is the key. Another important challenge is about Intellectual Property (IP) protection. It is important to find out ways to ensure IP protection, while we, at the same time, encourage suppliers to be transparent and share data.

We must remember that Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting is a pretty new phenomenon and is still evolving. So, there is no one way of reporting and consolidation of data yet. This is a challenge especially when one works across data of several suppliers. It is a

journey we all are taking. There is no playbook to guide us yet. But we will all learn along the way!

In your opinion, is it practical to achieve the importance of ‘Net Zero’ pledge and how critical it will be for the organisations to manage their Scope 3 emissions?

Arush Kishore: Net Zero Pledge offers us to look at our entire value chain in a holistic way with the aim of standardisation of practises, development and upgrade of regulatory and policy mechanisms, and technical advancement. Reliance has committed to being ‘Net Zero’ by 2035, with a focus on new energy, new mobility, and new connectivity. For us, all types of emissions carry equal weight. All partners are also adopting sustainable practises with a focus on emission control.

Biju Mathew: Addressing climate change is the greatest challenge of this Century and we, at BASF, standby this challenge. Achieving Net Zero emissions is a critical goal for organizations to address climate change, and BASF has set a target to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050. To achieve this goal, it is important for organizations to manage their Scope 3 emissions, which refer to emissions that occur outside of an organization's direct control. While it can be challenging, it is practical to achieve this goal with the right strategies and technologies in place. Managing Scope 3 emissions is especially important for companies, as these emissions often account for a sizeable portion of their carbon footprint.

While BASF is continuously working to achieve Net Zero CO2 emissions by 2050, more customers are making environmentally conscious purchasing decisions. At the same time, we are working intensively to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of our production and thus of our products. Strategies that companies can adopt to manage their Scope 3 emissions include switching to non-fossil feedstock, engaging with suppliers to promote sustainable practices and reduce emissions throughout the supply chain & developing circular economy program.

Seema Mohanty: I would rather

Image by storyset on Freepik

say Net Zero is no longer a choice. It has become imperative. Sooner than later, every organization and every government have to take this pledge and work towards it. This will be a step in the right direction to tackle climate change. In this context, for companies, managing their Scope 3 (both upstream and downstream) emissions become key. Data shows that Scope 3 emissions constitute the significant part of emissions by a company, actual range varying as per the industry one is in of course. Let me here focus on the upstream part only, i.e., the emissions which are coming from one’s suppliers and their suppliers and so on. It is a complete chain. One cannot just focus on their own operations and stop there. One has to look beyond. And that is when the magic happens. All this brings in its own set of challenges but opens up numerous opportunities as well. It is all about collaboration, transparency, and interdependence. One cannot achieve their net zero target unless their suppliers are also striving towards it and sharing their data.

Mitesh Gangar: As a chemical intermediates company, we are net producers of carbon based chemicals, so Net Zero needs to be redefined for context. As a company, we will be declaring SBTi-based targets by the end of this year. Given that Supply Chains have become global, >60-70% of the emissions will come from Scope 3 and

increased engagement with the entire supply chain network will be crucial.

Sanjay Desai: Climate change has been a challenge for last decade and it would remain the same for next 10 years. In order to tackle the Net Zero emission, each of us including governments, communities, organisations need to work together and achieve GHG emission to drop half by 2030 and then to Zero in 2050. What it means, is carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions need to drop by 50% from where we are today in 2023. There is no room for negotiation in these objectives.

This is an incredibly daunting task, especially for organizations to address carbon emission outside of their own scope called ‘The Scope 3 emissions’. Controlling Scope 3 emissions is very difficult as these are caused by our service providers within the entire value chain. Organizations need to collect the right data from their suppliers, vendors, service providers to engrain sustainability cadence in their financial & operational processes. Organizations need to set right expectations from their partners/suppliers regarding outcomes of their actions. Organizations need to communicate Science-based carbon emissions targets to their partners / suppliers, which should be monitored regularly by the leadership team.

What are the key initiatives taken by your company in empowering

sustainability in the entire value chain and specially supply chain?

Arush Kishore: We shifted to new recyclable packaging material and reusable plastic pallets instead of wooden pallets in our warehousing operations. Switching to BS-VI vehicles and looking to adopt new-age fuels such as LPG, hydrogen, and electricity are our main targets to manage GHG emissions. We have established a driver training institute, a tech-based emergency response programme, and a vehicle health assurance programme, considering the hazardous nature of the products. We have digitalized and automated our procedures. These are the classic elimination, substitution, and control strategies. Still, there is a lot of scope for improvement, but we are committed to implementing, upgrading, and enabling our operations for sustainability, as we have demonstrated that it enhances efficiency.

Biju Mathew: Sustainability is clearly integrated in not only BASF’s purpose and vision – i.e.: ‘We Create Chemistry for a Sustainable Future’, but also in our business strategies as well. Some of the areas where we are paying special emphasis on the topic include:

 Increasing usage of low/zero carbon transportation

 Transition from fossil fuels to renewable fuels for captive energy demand

 Measure and track carbon footprint across the value chain

 Scale up recycling of materials and maximize circularity across the value chains

 Engaging with suppliers (Materials & Services) to promote sustainability and reduce emissions throughout the supply chain.

Mitesh Gangar: We have been Responsible Care certified and have received a Gold Rating under Ecovadis in 2022. We have also been rated high (90%+ scores in all sites) wrt. the ‘Together for Sustainability’ audits. We have created a centralized Logistics Control room to monitor all road vehicle movement and share alerts with drivers, transport partners and have support available within a 50 km radius for all

Sustainability in supply chain demonstrated by chemical companies that operate with concern for natural and human resources—can mean increased customer loyalty. Incorporating green logistics into chemical warehousing as part of the supply chain can also yield better business productivity and improve a business’s bottom line.

key transport routes. We regularly train driver partners on the various chemicals, hazards, and good practices.

V Raju: As warehouse service providers to good number of chemical companies in the country, we ensure that we are able to ensure that the following sustainability measures are initiated in our warehouses pan-India in different locations:

 Utilization of EV for distribution in many of our warehouses

 Implement solar panels in many of our warehouses across the country

 LED lights in the warehouses

 Packing material as part of valueadded services used are from recycled material

 Green logistics in our warehouses

 Sewage treatment plants

 Digitization of warehouse operations processes

 Not allow vehicles to run on idling engines

 Promote green plantation in available open areas in and around warehouses

What are the current best practices of a sustainable supply chain in the chemical industry in India being followed by the client as well as the ecosystem of their 3PL Partners?

Arush Kishore: Empowerment of our business partners is paramount for us at Reliance. We have collaborated with industry experts for knowledge sharing initiatives and developing supportive institutions. Journey management is one of our key initiatives to adopt best practises with our 3PL partners. With the enablement of vehicle tracking systems and driver training institutions, we are able to reduce violations and major incidents. We have trained around

21,000 drivers in the last five years for defensive driving. We do considerable heavy lifting in capability enhancement of our associates.

Biju Mathew: BASF is already a frontrunner in offering customers a portfolio of products with lower carbon footprints to enable their decarbonization and we believe in assuming responsibility along the entire value chain. We continue to work towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our business activities – in our own production and, together with our partners, along the value chain. We calculate carbon footprints for around 45,000 sales products to increase carbon transparency for our customers. These Product Carbon Footprints (PCF) include all product-related greenhouse gas emissions generated until a BASF product leaves the factory gates (‘Cradleto-Gate’). The extraction of the raw materials we require and the production of purchased precursors account for the largest share of the PCF. We currently use industrial averages and values from commercial databases as the basis for calculating these upstream emissions. In 2021, we introduced a global Supplier CO2 Management Program to create transparency and better steer and, in the long term, reduce upstream emissions. In a first step, we ask our suppliers to provide PCFs for our raw materials. We support them by sharing our knowledge of evaluation and calculation methods. In this way, we are also contributing to the standardization of PCF calculation. In a second step, we want to work with our suppliers on solutions to reduce productrelated emissions and establish the PCF as a criterion for our purchasing decisions. We are also encouraging the adoption of low / zero carbon transportation.

Sanjay Desai: The push for greater sustainability in chemicals industry is far more than financial or compliance exercise. It is creating new opportunities for chemical producers to sell green products into differentiated markets. There are many best practices that chemical sector is deploying. Major ones are:

 Renewed focus on business model innovation,

 Collaborative engagement with supplier /partners through the entire value chain

 Technology enabled procure-to-pay excellence supported by operational execution,

 Circular product and service design with focus on re-use / reduce wastages,

 Strategic customer engagement to understand their expectations on delivery and

 Focused investment strategy beyond $ encompassing ESG reporting into financial performance.

How important is the role of emerging technologies in positioning organisations to achieve their sustainable goals in the next 2-3 years? Can you elaborate a couple of Key Technologies that would be facilitating the change?

Arush Kishore: Digitalization, energy transition to renewables, energy storage facilities, new mobility, and a circular economy will make a huge difference in achieving sustainability goals. New Connectivity is helping organisations optimise their output and manage risk. Its role will be essential to the operation's goal. A stupendous access to speedy information highway, at all places and all

Chemical companies have long struggled to make the shift from ‘product sellers’ to ‘solution providers’ in the customer-facing aspect of their business. By using digitization to integrate business and manufacturing systems, optimize production footprints, and redesign processes, chemicals companies can capture gains of up to 25% in capacity utilization.

times, is just around the corner. We are not ready for it.

Biju Mathew: Emerging technologies are critical for the organizations to achieve sustainable goals. For instance, i) development in product technologies can help the organizations to switch to non-fossil feedstock like bio-based feedstock or recycling based feedstock. Such technologies avoid fossil resource consumption and enables CO2 reduction through a gradual transition in existing assets ii) Adoption of renewable energy source like solar and wind power iii) Digital technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and automation are enabling organizations to improve supply chain transparency, especially in measuring the product carbon footprint, reducing waste and optimizing operations.

Seema Mohanty: We are all talking about sustainability, decarbonization, carbon neutrality, Net Zero, etc. If we delve a little deeper, all these involve a lot about collecting data, interpreting the data, benchmarking the data, setting actionable targets with the help of data and keep repeating the above steps to monitor improvements. And all the above are across various processes, initiatives, products, suppliers, timelines, etc. As one can imagine, it is not practical enough to do all this manually. This is where technology comes into play –to simplify data collection, validation, interpretation, and monitoring. Technology is the backbone for implementing decarbonization programs at scale. The technology landscape is also evolving as we all are in a learning trajectory of what works well and what does not!

V Raju: A recent PwC study found that chemicals companies plan to invest 5% of annual revenues on digitization over the next five years and nearly a third of them reported having already reached an advanced level of digitization. These initiatives can produce near-term benefits across three primary business dimensions: operations, customerfacing, and organizational. In operations, the application of digital technologies to functions such as maintenance is

already improving plant and network performance and minimizing downtime, reducing operating costs by 2-10%. But there are greater savings to be had. By using digitization to integrate business and manufacturing systems, optimize production footprints, and redesign processes, chemicals companies can capture gains of up to 25% in capacity utilization. Chemical companies have long struggled to make the shift from ‘product sellers’ to ‘solution providers’ in the customer-facing aspect of their business. Digitization can make a big difference in this regard. For example, with an application in the paper chemicals segment, suppliers are using sensors and other digital technologies to track how their products are integrated into their customers’ operations; in turn, this enables chemical companies to improve their products based on utilization patterns and enhance their ability to proactively address customer needs. Among the results for chemicals firms, are stickier customer relationships, a greater share of customer budgets, and the potential for increased revenue based on provable performance metrics. Advances in machine learning

offer chemical companies a valuable opportunity to do more with fewer people and effectively lower the cost of running the business. Moreover, greater processing power and decision-support systems enabled by artificial intelligence can help reduce organization layers and create a more efficient and potentially innovative operation, in essence, removing traditional centralized spans of management hierarchy and replacing them with more localized control.

Warehouse technology is an effective, sustainable, and cost-efficient solution to addressing the challenges of the warehouse. Especially now, when the market is transitioning to e-commerce platforms that are accessible and open 24/7/365, it is becoming increasingly crucial to move warehouses from relying too heavily on costly human labor and into a more automated and technologyfocused operation – a transition called ‘Warehouse Digitalization’.

Sanjay Desai: Digitization is the new currency that is transforming the face of manufacturing processes across chemicals industries. Advance analytics and machine learning have changed the

picture of research and development in the chemical sector. Using high-throughput optimization, chemical companies are able to create and modify molecules that have more useful properties. Additionally, they will be able to imitate tests using advanced analytic tools and techniques, employ predictive ability to progressively improve formulations for quality and profitability. Further, technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, analytics, are bringing a complete overhaul in operations.

How do you foresee the sustainability dynamics taking centre stage in chemical supply chain? How are chemical companies poised to play a catalytic role in this journey?

Arush Kishore: Covid-19 has already placed sustainability on the central stage. Two important stakeholders – customers and investors – have already differentiated themselves based on the sustainable practices. Industry all together is shifting in the direction of Sustainability. Investor and customers both are looking for value in sustainability efforts across industries. With the new-found focus on ESG investing, stakeholders are looking at chemical companies to create value addition from these activities to become an attractive option. Sustainable practices are under discussion at every forum available starting from board meetings to knowledge sharing sessions. I will give you an example of the PET recycling facility at Reliance. Being one of the largest producers of PET, we aim to recycle 5 billion PET bottles in our plants. This is one example of a sustainable practise that supports environment while adding monetary value. In the upcoming future, we will see a lot of such innovations in the chemical industry.

Biju Mathew: In many areas, products and innovations based on chemistry are the key to a climate-neutral future.

V Raju: Sustainability in supply chain demonstrated by chemical companies that operate with concern for natural and human resources—can mean increased customer loyalty. Incorporating green logistics into chemical warehousing as part of the supply chain can also yield

better business productivity and improve a business’s bottom line. In global supply chains, chemical warehouses produce environmental pollution mostly from heating, cooling, and lighting. Generally, the bigger the warehouse, the larger the carbon footprint. Warehouse managers can measure the carbon footprint of their operations by considering key performance indicators: emissions, natural resource use, and amount of waste and recycling. Studying total carbon dioxide emissions, as well as energy consumption, water consumption, and rate of product or material use, will reveal areas where companies can apply green initiatives.

For example, a chemical warehouse with a high electricity bill might discover that alternative lighting sources— like natural light, automatic lights, or other renewable energy options—offer savings. Likewise, the discovery that a warehouse consumes large quantities of water from a natural source might inspire change. By installing water flow reduction mechanisms or a rainwater capture system, warehouses can reduce, offset, or optimize water use.

Sanjay Desai: The Indian chemicals market is expected to reach $8501,000Bn by 2040, comprising a 10-12% share of the global market. The last few years of disruption has hastened the transformation for the chemical industry. It has become critical for companies to address supply chain vulnerabilities, while addressing the imperative for Decarbonization, ESG and Agile Resiliency. While companies have built procurement and analytics capabilities to better monitor and manage raw material prices, customer demand volatility. However, inflation in energy prices is putting their competitiveness in the international market at risk. The most effective protection will come from creating a capability that integrates margin management around sourcing, risk management, pricing, and product and technology development. To succeed in 2023 and beyond, Indian chemical companies must build resilience, accelerate investments in new and greener technologies, hasten M&A across industry and develop margin management as core mindset.

How can 3PL companies and service providers add value in the sustainability journey of chemical companies and bring difference?

V Raju: Implementation of digitization in various warehouse operations enabling optimization of manual processes and better usage of available resources at warehouses, use techniques like AI, IO, Analytics, WMS, TMS and various other robotics at warehouse level, will help in improving the productivity and efficiency in the operations, in turn facilitating the sustainability journey of chemical companies. Planning and scheduling the deliveries to customers can be done better with judicious usage of the various software systems, totally avoiding the use of paper receipts or manual deployment of personnel. Energy conservation techniques help reduce energy consumption at storage locations. Following initiatives can further add value to sustainability journey of the chemical company as well:

 Our chemical warehouses and facilities have rainwater harvesting and waste-water management systems to collect rainwater, store it and use it effectively.

 During monsoons, excess surface water is percolated through percolation wells and ground water recharge wells to increase ground water levels.

 Paver blocks used in parking zones of facilities to facilitate the percolation of water into the ground during monsoons.

 Reusing resources at supply chain and storage facilities: Environmentfriendly blocks made of fly ash are used for construction. Fly ash is residual waste generated in power plants. These bricks reduce environmental burden and are more sustainable.

 We are moving from using wooden pallets to wrought iron or steel pallets that are stronger, more longlasting and can be reused effectively.

On A

TRAILBLAZING JOURNEY

“E-commerce logistics has set a trend on what’s possible from Concept to Reality and that speaks for itself – a commodity product produced in different parts of the world delivered to another part of the world, in matter of just days and at affordable price and good quality. The unwrapping of the whole last mile delivery for that one personalized product is a good showcase of what’s possible at a point in time,” asserts Priti Jauhari, Vice President – Global Transformation Planning, Schneider Electric, during this interview…

Women in Supply Chains, which used to be a pipe dream till the past few years, is fast transforming with the entry of abled supply chain leaders like you. How has the scenario shaped up over the years for women in supply chain?

The criticality of the supply chain to drive business outcomes has only become more evident over the years. As career in supply chain itself was niche in early days, it was even less accessible to women as a choice due to various reasons like lack of know-how, male domination in operations such as manufacturing, logistics, etc. That said, there are always outliers. Some, like me who got exposed to supply chain field and developed a passion for it, embraced the journey of being a supply chain professional. I developed the love for supply chain during my Master’s in Operations & Manufacturing and the rest followed one logical step to the next. The ‘Dynamic’ (so called VUCA) aspect is what kept me going. Never too slow, never to say – I have learned enough, never short of challenges to prove yourself and the evolution of supply chain function itself. I think it’s important to demystify the understanding of supply chain as a career choice very early in a girl’s career choice and then let them make their own choice.

It all starts with knowing the possibilities that one can explore in supply chain.

What have been a few of the greatest learnings during the last few years that will stay with you forever and help you climb the success ladder?

People are and will always be the most important asset no matter the level of automation/digitalization. Intentional focus on career and skill development of people will define the success of high performing and motivated individuals and teams to drive exceptional outcomes.

What have been the challenges faced in managing the supply chain and how did you overcome them?

Managing the challenging and demanding customer expectations and aligning the supply chain to that expectation has been the biggest challenge, in my opinion, especially around speed/agility/ flexibility. While these concepts are not new, the customer ASK has made these a given for organizations to get their act together. This also calls for strengthened collaboration across functions like commercial/sales & marketing with supply chain. An example would be the advancement of SIOP process to IBP, which involves Demand, Supply, Finance & Sustainability to the mix.

Priti Jauhari is a strategic and trusted partner for Business & Technology leadership teams and customers to define Digital Transformation Strategy in alignment with business priorities. She is currently responsible for Global E2E Planning processes, tools, organization & competencies for Schneider Electric. She is a Chemical Engineer with MBA in Operations & Manufacturing and a Certified Project Manager (PMP) and CPIM (APICS) professional.

I strongly believe that if young professionals start their business journey with the supply chain function, the enrichment and learning will be multifold as supply chain is true backbone (Spinal cord) of the CNS (Central Nervous System), offering a very good visibility into both downstream and Upstream processes.

What has been one of the most challenging tasks that you have achieved in the supply chain?

Imparting digital literacy across the supply chain organization (tailored at all levels of the organization) – starting with Awareness, Digital Literacy Assessment – current and where we would like to get to, Framework based on roles, etc., has been one of the most challenging tasks. For instance, people don’t want to admit to the baseline. How does one improve without a realistic assessment and does that even lead to an improvement in the true sense? However, this is one critical element that needs to be addressed to succeed in any function in today’s era and more so in the supply chain.

What are the operations & supply chain technological innovations you are most excited about, in times to come…

Operations: Autonomous processes and systems and how humans will co-exist and use it to our advantage to aid in improving efficiency.

Technology: We all know the pace of tech change is defining a new pace of change in itself…before we get comfortable with one, the other one has entered the door even without knocking! A seamless integrated future of tech is what I would look forward to – a TRUE Plug and Play – will it ever be a reality is the question I have?

Can you share with us demand sensing and advanced planning strategies that will help build resilient supply chains?

A personalized customer focused approach will be the key differentiator and also having real-time data from customer (with updated sentiment analysis) will be critical as historical data is no longer a good indicator of future demand (as in traditional demand forecasting methods). Getting real-time data insights across each node in supply chain to be

able to make the right decisions in realtime (including rescheduling at the right node/optimization the network flow/ inventory optimization) will be the key part of advanced planning strategies.

What are the elements of supply chain that you are most fascinated and passionate about (in the context of sub-segments of supply chain such as inventory, planning, network optimization, etc.)? What are the ensuing changes that you foresee in times to come?

E2E (the not so new anymore buzzword) Visibility still fascinates me. While the most mature supply chain organizations have embarked on that journey and have some visibility in that regard, it comes with a lot of pain points when it comes to execution, integration, and reliability. I am still passionate to ease the amount of effort that goes into providing the E2E visibility and then making the insights actionable and most importantly showcase real value realization in financials (not claimed through simulation).

What would you like to advise young supply chain professionals of tomorrow?

They are already privileged as they started off with so much information that wasn’t even available when we started. Make the best use of it! I strongly believe that if young professionals start their business journey with the supply chain function, the enrichment and learning will be multifold as supply chain is true backbone (Spinal cord) of the CNS (Central Nervous System), offering a very good visibility into both downstream and Upstream processes.

Transforming logistics from Concept to Reality – how can we achieve this?

E-commerce logistics has set a trend on what’s possible from Concept to Reality and that speaks for itself –a commodity product produced in

different parts of the world delivered to another part of the world, in matter of just days and at affordable price and good quality. The unwrapping of the whole last mile delivery for that one personalized product is a good showcase of what’s possible at a point in time. For example, I bought a really cool executive bag from a company in Paris run by a family business. The bag is made from cork leather from Portugal/Spain (My contribution to Sustainability goals –when the bark of cork tree is removed, the trees absorb even more CO2 in the process). Every bag is MTO and delivered across the world through e-commerce logistics network. I was indeed a very happy and satisfied customer as it lived up to my Sustainability motto.

What are the aspects that aid in shaping a consumer centric supply chain strategy?

It has to start with a customer centric mindset in everything we do (at every node in supply chain and at every level of the org) and personalization.

Would you like to comment on how India can learn from leading geographies such as Singapore? How do you foresee India’s changing stance in the global arena?

India can learn a bit of structure and organization from geographies such as Singapore and follow the process mindset (a ‘little’ bit of discipline). I emphasize a little and not too much as Innovation breeds in chaos (well not too much chaos also), so a bit structured and controlled approach will help. India’s biggest strength is bright minds, a great innovative culture and a MakeIt-Happen attitude! India’s standing will only strengthen in the global arena, we are already seeing the shift of Make in India gathering momentum (with China+1 strategy), rate of digitalization and Internet penetration, still a lot more needs to be done in rural areas to accelerate the pace of development.

Indian In-city Warehousing Emerging Trends in

India has experienced a significant shift towards online retail. As a result, in-city warehousing has become an essential component of infrastructure development in urban areas. Large national developers are now entering the in-city warehousing space and are expected to use their existing residential and commercial real estate to build these warehouses. This trend is expected to continue as more developers recognize the potential use cases and benefits of in-city warehousing. ‘In-city Warehousing: The Emerging Backbone for Quick Commerce,’ a knowledge paper by A&M India Managing Directors

Manish Saigal and Sudeep Mehrotra and Senior Director Abhishek Kochar, examines the adoption and trends of in-city warehousing in India, as well as the challenges and solutions associated with it. The note also draws on global in-city warehousing trends to provide insights and key considerations for developers.

THE significance of last mile delivery in the e-commerce industry cannot be overstated. Despite only contributing to 10-15% of the value chain's distance traveled, last-mile deliveries and reverse logistics account for nearly half of the delivery costs. The solution lies in improving urban logistics by analyzing distribution patterns based on town characteristics.

In-city warehouses and fulfillment centers need to be established closer to end customers to facilitate quick commerce and substitute front-end real estate. In-city warehousing plays a pivotal role in city development and infrastructure, including different models like dark stores, MFCs, mini warehouses, and ghost kitchens. By 2030, dark stores globally are

expected to reach 45,000-50,000, primarily in Europe and the United States. Early adopters like Amazon and

Carrefour have already opened dark stores in the US and Europe. With 5055% of the global population residing

Manish Saigal

Sudeep Mehrotra

Abhishek Kochar

Number of dark stores Europe and US Rest of the World

in-city warehousing market SPECIAL REPORT 33 supplychaintribe.com

in urban areas and the growing need for faster deliveries, in-city warehousing will rapidly expand. Therefore, prioritizing and investing in urban logistics and infrastructure is imperative to support e-commerce and in-city warehousing growth. Moreover, urbanization is expected to increase to 60-70% in the next 7-8 years, boosting the growth of urban logistics.

POTENTIAL USES OF INCITY WAREHOUSING

In-city warehouses, including dark stores, micro fulfillment centers (MFCs), mini warehouses, and ghost kitchens, have various potential uses. Dark stores cater to e-commerce and quick commerce, with delivery times of 1030 minutes for e-grocery and one day for other categories. MFCs primarily serve FMCG companies and are used for consolidation and distribution to local stores and can also fulfill B2B orders and same-day delivery for D2C brands. Mini warehouses provide forward storage for apparel and retail stores within the city. Ghost kitchens partner with third-party aggregators to deliver food, with delivery times ranging from 20-40 minutes. Incity warehouses can have delivery radii from 1-3 km for dark stores to 20-40 km for MFCs and mini warehouses. The market size of in-city warehousing is expected to reach approximately 17 mn sqft by FY’26, up from approximately 8 mn sqft in FY’22.

CURRENT TRENDS

Most in-city warehousing in India is found in repurposed commercial spaces like unused offices, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, and parking lots.

A schematic representation of a value chain for a dark store:

Mini warehouses and micro fulfillment centers, which have lower specifications, are also likely to be built on repurposed land. However, with national developers entering the in-city warehousing space, it is expected that Grade A-equivalent warehouses will be built using existing residential and commercial real estate. By FY'26, this market is projected to grow to approximately 4 mn sqft, with the majority of Grade A product being consumed by dark stores built on non-repurposed land within 1-3 kms proximity of the customer.

The rise of micro fulfillment centers in India can be attributed to catering to the hyperlocal demand for unorganized retail, such as local kirana stores. These centers will have smaller delivery radii compared to their global counterparts, and ghost kitchens will also grow at a fast pace with delivery limited to 1-2 km.

In-city dark stores and fulfillment centers, which are currently set up on ground floors, may adopt multi-story structures to meet increasing demand in major urban centers. Rental costs range from INR60-85 per sqft and vary between cities. In-city warehouse rentals are higher than larger Grade A warehouses located on the outskirts with closer proximity to national highways.

Dark stores have become popular in the grocery sector, with 61% dedicated to grocery slot deliveries and 24% for grocery quick commerce. Milk

and morning deliveries, D2C brands, E-pharmacy and online meat delivery make up the rest. As of 2021, the National Capital Region, Bengaluru, and Mumbai accounted for over 50% of dark store usage in India.

CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

There are many challenges to the adoption of in-city warehousing, primary among them, poor location selection. An ideal location should have a mapped route to all key demand centers within the delivery radius to avoid traffic congestion. Key factors to consider include location demand footprint, expected demand evolution, population density, and demographics. As national developers enter this space, larger custom-built spaces with adequate loading bays may be required for better operational efficiency. Stock-keeping unit planning and demand analytics are critical for enabling approximately 1,500-2,000 SKUs, minimizing stockout situations, and periodic SKU rationalization. Delivery optimization is crucial and should be driven by an initial location analysis, assessment of trade-offs, and real-time demand pattern analysis. Although every industry encounters obstacles, the field of urban warehousing is poised for robust growth going ahead.

INDUSTRY 4.0 & DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN READYING FOR THE FUTURE

Manufacturing and supply chain management are in an era of transformation. The advances in technology, specifically in the context of digital transformation and industry 4.0 will change the landscape in Industry and Logistics. Global Supply Chains, including all players like vendors, manufacturers, retailers, and customers, are part of this digital transformation. That will result in new breathtaking breakthroughs in terms of productivity, delivery performance and the way supply chain ecosystems are managed. The use of these new technologies – autonomous robots, artificial intelligence, blockchain, digital twins and VR/AR to improve productivity and efficiency – will transform how manufacturing, warehouses and distribution centers operate, writes supply chain expert Dirk Stolte.

GLOBALIZATION, regionalization, insourcing, outsourcing, offshoring or nearshoring? The search for the right strategy for today’s and future supply chain management is like the quest for the holy grail in many corporations these days. The VUCA world was becoming a challenge during the last years. Supply chain disruptions triggered by crises, wars, pandemics, inflation, stagflation, trade wars, shortages of raw materials, high freight prices and shortages of skilled workers are the topics that are currently omnipresent in all companies, often termed as the New Normal to be managed when the stormy times are gone. But what is the new normal in supply chain management?

The answer is quite simple with a certain level of complexity. There is no "new normal" in the meaning of a newly established status quo. Rather, companies and their supply chains must be prepared for the fact that supply chain disruptions caused by economic, political, and technological change will continue to be on the agenda in the future. "Supply chain disruption is constant and impactful. Supply chain

disruption is both omnipresent and unpredictable at the same time. The question you must answer is: Are we able to mitigate the next global supply chain disruption that comes our way?" Being able to deal with such shifts in the global economy including the associated risks and challenges has rather become a core competence for competitive supply chain management. Undoubtedly, this is a major challenge for all corporations, especially if they operate globally. As a consequence, existing supply chain concepts and designs need to be revaluated and redefined.

The future winning supply chain strategy requires new strengths and competencies as supply chain risk management, resilience, sustainability, and agility. But that is not enough. It's time to embrace digital supply chain management. Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT) are changing how supply chains operate and increasing visibility, agility, and efficiency. Industry 4.0 key technologies are leading to a paradigm shift in industry and supply chain management. Digital supply chain networks and smart

Dirk Stolte is a Supply Chain & Industry 4.0 expert based in Germany. As Interim Manager and Consultant, he supports companies with focus on SCM, Operational Excellence and Industry 4.0 initiatives. With 20 years+ in Logistics & Supply Chain, he has held management roles in industry-leading companies, such as Honeywell, Federal-Mogul and Kennametal in Automotive, Metalworking and Technology businesses. Dirk holds an MBA in International Management from Liverpool John Moores University and is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt (ASQ®) and LEAN Master.

factories will define new standards.

DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN TECHNOLOGIES ARE FUNDAMENT TO DESIGN THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF THE FUTURE

The development from today's linear supply chain to a dynamic, networked supply chain ecosystem warrants embracing industry 4.0 and digital supply chain technologies as the fundament for the digital supply chain of the future. The power of this supply chain ecosystems comes from the fact that all improvement initiatives will focus on the entire supply chain network and delivers results (cost cutting, inventory reduction, service level) for all stakeholders and processes involved. This can be called as well as “digital supply chain network” where a digital core creates ´connectivity among traditionally unconnected links in the supply chain´ creating the linkage between the processes and activities of synchronized planning, connected customer, smart factory and dynamic fulfillment. The traditional SCOR model of plan-source-make-deliver will no longer be sufficient for the complex and interconnected supply chain of the future. In consequence, the SCOR model remains a reference model, it is, for sure, not a blueprint for the future. Digital control towers are expected to play a significant role in this future of digital supply chain management. They provide a centralized, real-time view of the supply chain and enable companies to make more informed and agile decisions.

Digital control towers can gather data from multiple sources such as suppliers, logistics providers, and transportation systems, and use advanced analytics and machine learning to provide insights into the performance of the supply chain. Overall, with digital control towers, companies can anticipate and mitigate disruptions, optimize inventory levels, improve lead times, reduce costs, and get end-to-end visibility of the supply chain.

The smart factory will feature robotrobot and human-robot interactions enabled by connected cyber-physical systems (CPS), ultimately resulting in an autonomous and self-optimized manufacturing process. By integrating the concepts, methods and technologies of Industry 4.0 and LEAN management, we can establish a new standard of operational excellence for Lean Industry 4.0. In today's interconnected and datadriven world, it is crucial for companies to collaborate and leverage digital tools to optimize their supply chains and gain a competitive edge. Digital supply chain technologies are undoubtedly the foundation of the future supply chain.

Are you interested to streamline your supply chain operations with cutting-edge technology, systems, and processes? If so, it's time to embrace digital supply chain management. The first step is to get an insight into what these mega trends and technologies are about. Which technologies should be prioritized to upgrade the supply chain operations? And when should you begin investing in them?

In order to upgrade supply chain

operations towards state-of-the-art processes, businesses need to embrace the latest technologies that are most relevant to their industry and business model. It is worth noting that time is of the essence, as research from 2020 indicates that 50% of companies across various industries, including retail, manufacturing, and logistics, plan to invest in the latest technology to enhance their supply chain operations by 2023 (The Future of Supply Chain Automation - Neufeld, Dorothy, 2020).

The planned investments during this period are ranked as follows: warehouse automation (55%), predictive analytics (47%), IoT (41%), cloud logistics (25%), artificial intelligence (20%), blockchain (18%), autonomous vehicles (16%), machine learning (16%), fulfillment robots (11%), and 3D printing (10%).

It is crystal-clear that time is not on your side. Failing to invest adequately in digital technologies can put your company at a competitive disadvantage in your industry. On the other hand, it is evident that things have changed since then, and the ranking of technologies is not the same today, particularly with the emergence of artificial intelligence and digital twins. This represents a ‘Technology Investment Dilemma’ as dozens of developments in supply chain and Industry 4.0 are on the way and new ones are on the horizon. Adapting too early could also mean wasting money by investing in the wrong technology or in technology that will significantly change in maturity level in the coming years.

The ‘Technology Investment

In the near future, digital twins are likely to play an even greater role in supply chain and manufacturing. With the rise of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT), more and more objects and systems will be connected to the internet, generating vast amounts of data. Digital twins will be used to process and analyze this data, enabling companies to optimize operations in real-time. One area where digital twins are likely to have a significant impact is in the design and development of new products. By creating a digital twin of a product before it is physically manufactured, companies can identify potential issues and optimize the design, reducing time to market and improving quality.

Dilemma’ refers to the challenge faced by companies when deciding how and when to invest in new technologies. On one hand, companies may be eager to stay ahead of the curve and adopt new technologies early, which could give them a competitive advantage. On the other hand, investing in immature or unproven technologies could be costly and ultimately fail to deliver the expected benefits. The pace of technological change means that what may seem like a promising investment today may quickly become outdated or less effective in the near future. Therefore, companies must carefully consider the potential risks and benefits of investing in new technologies and evaluate their readiness to adopt them.

What else is on the agenda for Warehousing and Distribution Centers?

It should be noted that 55% of businesses have placed warehouse automation and upgrading distribution center operations with state-of-the-art technology as a top priority. While traditional distribution methods and processes have been considered best practices for many years, they will no longer be suitable for tomorrow’s market conditions. A survey conducted in 2022 showed that 44% of businesses believe that smart glasses are the future technology for the picking process in distribution centers and warehouses. Meanwhile, pick-by-voice technology is still relevant with 22% and smart gloves are also gaining traction with 20%. When it comes to warehousing and distribution centers, there is a particular focus on: a) automating laborintensive tasks and repetitive processes, b) autonomous mobile robots (AMR) to perform the order fulfillment, c) digital twins underlined with data analytics and artificial intelligence to improve efficiency and optimize operations. It should be noted that smart glasses, pick-by-voice technology, and smart gloves are still in the loop as also emerging solutions for the picking process in distribution centers and warehouses. It is important for companies to start planning for investments in these technologies sooner rather than later, as the market is becoming increasingly competitive and dynamic. Especially, for warehousing

and distribution centers there is plenty room for maneuver by leveraging digital supply chain technologies and building tomorrow's operating models of distribution excellence.

THE RISE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) AND DIGITAL TWINS

The technology with most relevance for the entire supply chain is, for the time being, Artificial Intelligence (AI). Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled supply chain management has the potential to supercharge demand forecasting, revolutionize end-to-end transparency and boost integrated business planning. 48% of companies rate Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the game changer technology with significance for the digital supply chain of the future. According to ASCM’s Research, Innovation and Strategy Committee (RISC) Sensing Subcommittee, AI and machine learning (ML) are among the 10 supply chain trends to watch out for. “They are foundational to integrating people, processes and systems in a wide array of operational environments,” the research states. “The technology-driven evolution to industry 5.0, which involves a more collaborative approach, as well as partnerships between humans and robots, will have significant impact on supply chain functions such as planning, demand management and fulfillment.” Research and analyses conducted by the consultancy industry concluded that early adaptors improve their logistics costs by 15%, inventory levels by 35% and service levels by 65%.”

Another technology all supply chain executives are supposed to have on the radar is Digital Twins. What this technology is about? Digital twins are used to simulate and optimize the performance of real-world objects and systems, enabling companies to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance quality. They can be used to optimize production processes, predicting machine failures before they occur and identifying areas for improvement. They can also be used to simulate supply chain scenarios, helping companies to identify potential bottlenecks and optimize inventory levels. Combining digital twins with artificial intelligence (AI) will be the

ultimate door opener for the future of supply chain planning processes.

In the near future, digital twins are likely to play an even greater role in supply chain and manufacturing. With the rise of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT), more and more objects and systems will be connected to the internet, generating vast amounts of data. Digital twins will be used to process and analyze this data, enabling companies to optimize operations in real-time. One area where digital twins are likely to have a significant impact is in the design and development of new products. By creating a digital twin of a product before it is physically manufactured, companies can identify potential issues and optimize the design, reducing time to market and improving quality.

Another stream where digital twins are being used to a greater extent is in supply chain risk management. By simulating different scenarios, companies can identify potential risks and develop contingency plans, reducing the impact of disruptions on the supply chain. This creates great opportunities to lever the supply chain risk management towards the next level.

Definitively, digital twins and AI are gamechangers for the supply chain and manufacturing industries.

DEVELOPING A VISION AND ROADMAP

What is needed here to go forward? Everything starts with the development of a vision and roadmap for industry 4.0 & digital supply chain aligned with the business objectives. Developing the vision and roadmap for Industry 4.0 and digital supply chain requires a holistic approach that considers the business objectives, organizational readiness, technology solutions, processes, change management plan and ongoing monitoring and optimization.

There are several industry 4.0 maturity models available on the market. Very powerful concepts especially for the manufacturing sector are the “Industry 4.0 Maturity Index” based on the acatach study (2017), and the “The Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI)” developed by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).

The traditional SCOR model of plan-source-make-deliver will no longer be sufficient for the complex and interconnected supply chain of the future. Digital control towers are expected to play a significant role in this future of digital supply chain management. They provide a centralized, real-time view of the supply chain and enable companies to make more informed and agile decisions. Digital control towers can gather data from multiple sources such as suppliers, logistics providers, and transportation systems, and use advanced analytics and machine learning to provide insights into the performance of the supply chain. Overall, with digital control towers, companies can anticipate and mitigate disruptions, optimize inventory levels, improve lead times, reduce costs, and get end-to-end visibility of the supply chain.

The Industry 4.0 Maturity Index considers the four design fields of resources, information systems, organizational structure and culture and add value with the structured approach in creating systematic roadmaps with the phases: 1) Defining the scope and kickoff, 2) Status-quo analysis, 3) Roadmap development and 4) scaling and implementing. Furthermore, the Industry 4.0 Maturity Index provides six maturity levels (computerization, connectivity, visibility, transparency, predictability, adaptability), which is based on the development of an ideal industry 4.0 company.

The Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI) considers the three core elements of process (operations, supply chain, product lifecycle), technology (Automation, connectivity, intelligence) and organization (talent readiness, structure & management). The core elements are comprised of pillars and dimensions to be evaluated aiming to generate the Industry 4.0-readiness assessment.

A ROADMAP FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 & DIGITAL SUPPLY TYPICALLY INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS:

Vision statement: A clear and concise statement that articulates the future state of the organization with Industry 4.0 and digital supply chain fully integrated into the business strategy.

Goals and Objectives: The first step in creating a roadmap for Industry 4.0 is to define clear goals and objectives that align with the overall strategy of the organization. This includes identifying specific business outcomes that the organization targets to achieve through Industry 4.0, such as reducing costs, improving efficiency, or enhancing customer experience.

Maturity Assessment: Before embarking on a digital transformation journey, it's important to assess the organization's maturity for Industry 4.0 and digital supply chain. This includes assessing the current technology infrastructure, skills and capabilities of the workforce, and the organizational culture. This is essential to identify the current state, identify gaps and areas that require improvement.

Technology Evaluation: Based on the goals and objectives and the maturity assessment, the next step is to evaluate the technology solutions that can contribute to achieve the targeted outcomes. This could include technologies such as digital twins, artificial intelligence, IoT sensors, cloud computing, and robotics.

Prioritization and Roadmap: Once the maturity assessment has been done as well as the technology solutions have been identified, the next step is to prioritize them based on their impact and feasibility. A roadmap is then

developed that outlines the sequence of initiatives and their timelines. The roadmap in best way is a comprehensive plan addressing all the relevant elements means technology, people, processes and organizational culture.

Change Management: Implementing Industry 4.0 requires a significant cultural shift in the organization. A change management plan is developed to ensure that the workforce is prepared for the changes and is able to adapt to the new ways of working.

Governance and Stakeholder Management: A governance and stakeholder management plan is developed to ensure that the initiatives are aligned with the overall strategy of the organization and that all stakeholders are engaged and informed throughout the process. This includes identifying roles and responsibilities, establishing communication protocols and creating a feedback loop to incorporate feedback from stakeholders.

Regardless of which technology, trend or roadmap will be most influential in the coming years, technology adoption and organizational development will upgrade the business to stay ahead of curve. To stay competitive in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, companies need to embrace digital supply chain management. Are you ready to take your supply chain operations to the next level?