Momentum March 2021 Annual Edition

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Events Highlights 2020 - 21


Chairperson’s Note

With a view to aid practitioners and learners in the vast field of operations and interface areas, FORSE - the committee of enthusiasts has been making efforts to bring new and emerging concepts and topics for the readers. MOMENTUM is an outcome of these efforts. I am sure the present issue will kindle your thoughts and further your knowledge in the field of Operations and Supply Chain. Congratulations to the team for their efforts in bringing out this issue.

Happy Reading ! Dr. Pramod Shetty Faculty In-charge - FORSE Area Chairperson (Operations) K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai


Editor’s Note

Dear Readers, “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family”—Kofi Annan We are delighted to bring to you the March 2021 Annual edition of Momentum. Through this quarterly magazine, we don’t only share knowledge but also provide platform to share your knowledge as we believe that knowledge is power. In the past editions we have seen the articles on supply chain in environment of industry 4.0, sustainability in supply chains, supply chain analytics and many more. Improved technology has increased productivity in the supply chain, minimized costs and errors. These advances benefit all areas of the logistics industry: trucking transportation, international transportation (ocean and air), supply chain management, and shipment tracking Thus, to explore this area more we present you this edition with a theme “Logistics in 21st century”. We at FORSE, believe in continuous learning and improvement as it helps in constant expansion of skills. This cultural philosophy also reflects in our magazine. The structure of our magazine is such that it will give you detailed insights of the theme and add value to you. Our magazine has various enriching sections such as Recent Trends, Overview, Various Articles, Brain Teasers and many more engaging activities done by FORSE. We also have an interesting section- “Corporate Insights”, to get corporate perspective of the theme from industry experts. The articles that are included in this edition provide good insights into various topics related to the theme like Autonomous Trucking: Future of Logistics, Challenges, Innovations, and Future in Last-Mile Delivery, 5R’s of Reverse Logistics in Supply Chain Trends and Future of Green and Sustainable logistics, Machine Learning: Achieving Optimization in Supply Chains and various other enlightening articles. Last but not the least, we would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the magazine and wish for enthusiastic participation in the future as well. We hope you have a great experience reading this edition of Momentum. We also hope that we could provide a platform through this magazine to share and gain knowledge leaving you with a richer knowledge base to cherish and apply in various aspects of your career. Happy Learning, Team Momentum


FORSEian’s Note

Dear Readers, We at FORSE (Forum of Operations Research & Supply Chain Enthusiasts), since our inception have been striving for excellence & building business acumen of students in K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies by not only organising simulation events, case study competition, international conference, magazines but also by executing campaigns, posts through social media handles thereby utilising the digital media space to communicate the very fabric of supply chain, operations strategy and logistics with all the operations enthusiasts across different geographies. MOMENTUM our quarterly magazine is an attempt to bring forward enlightening topics and concepts in the field of operations, supply chain and logistics to our readers. It contains articles based on different themes in each issue. Since its inception, Momentum has covered many topics under various themes including but not limited to , SCM & Logistics in E-commerce, Supply chain in 21st Century, Scope of Operations across different Industries & Business Functions, Industry 4.0 , Sustainability in Logistics and Supply Chain, Supply Chain Analytics and many more. Changing consumer expectations, new market entrants fueled by new technology, and new business models are revolutionizing the logistics industry. In today’s world of one click / one day delivery, customers want a seamless, fast and free omni-channel shopping experience. With the volumes of data in supply chains and logistics growing every day, the need for more sophisticated processing solutions has become increasingly urgent. Being able to track items and people throughout the process can create tremendous value in the form of efficiency gains and cost reductions.

Through the March 2021 Annual Edition of Momentum which revolves around the theme “Logistics in 21st century”, we strive to enhance the knowledge of our readers on the impactful recent industry trends and promising start-ups in the next generation logistics industry On behalf of the FORSE Momentum Team, who has worked meticulously to bring this issue to you, we hope that the magazine gives you great insights and aggrandize your knowledge bank. Stay tuned for upcoming issues with more interesting themes. Keep Learning! Harin Gada Convener

Aashay Badani Co-convener

Srishti Mall Co-convener

Payal Golui GSCM President


Index Overview of Logistics Management in 21st Century Page 1

Recent Trends of Logistics Management Page 4

Corporate Insights Page 6

Logistics Management in 21st Century Page 9

Autonomous Trucking: Future of Logistics Page 13

Challenges, innovations and future in lastmile delivery

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5R’s of Reverse Logistics in Supply Chain: An Indian Scenario Page 19

Trends and Future of Green and Sustainable Logistics Page 22

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Index Last Mile Delivery - The Challenges and Road Ahead

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Machine Learning: Achieving Optimization in Supply Chain Page 29

Faculty Speaks Page 33

Start-ups in the field of Logistics Page 35

What’s New in FORSE?

Page 37

What’s Exciting in FORSE? Page 39

Article Writing Experience: December 2020 Edition

Page 41

Brain Teasers

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Overview paper based LMIS’S system have been replaced by digital applications used on cell-phones, computers and tablets. These are linked with the central databases and online dashboards which provide the supply chain mangers easy access to the data. The electronic LMIS (e-LMIS) is used for reporting data, requisitioning and allocating products, visualizing data, and alerting the users about the performance issues, WMS, ERP etc. The LMIS system plays a very crucial role in the field of Healthcare Sector , LMIS manages the logistics and ensures a smooth supply chain , the data generated are useful for monitoring the key performance indicators of the health system. An e- LMIS provides routine information on the availability of medicines and affordability of the medicines. But implementing a successful e-LMIS requires a careful planning and adequate resources such as computerization of project management and best IT practices.

Logistics Management is the branch of supply chain management that is used to meet customer demands through planning, control and implementation of effective movement and storage of information, goods and services. The sector plays an important role in global manufacturing, which is complex and multi locational, and connect firms to markets by providing different kinds of services, such as multimodal transportation, freight forwarding, warehousing, and inventory management. Logistics Management Information System Logistics Management information system is a for record keeping which is based on technology used by supply chain managers. This Information System is used for the purpose of collecting , storing , adaptation, transferring of data and presenting. For an effective LMIS system there should be a proper combination of skilled people and technology .The information system in Logistics Management helps to build the system efficient and effective. It facilitates planning and control of the various logistical activities, it easily provides information to the customers regarding a specific product , order status , delivery schedules . The implementation of information technology in a logistics firm make it more competitive as it helps to make better strategic tactical decisions which benefits the firm as well as its customers. The information system in Logistics is a flexible tool which is used for collecting , combining and analyzing the data, this helps in rapid detection of existing problem and their area of origin. Now with the changing technology the Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

Reverse Logistics And Green Logistics Reverse Logistics is a process in supply chain management where the product is returned back to the manufacturer or the distributer after it is delivered to the customer, it is done for the purpose of servicing, refurbishment and recycling. It helps to plan and implement a cost – effective flow of goods , raw, materials and inventory. Although Reverse logistics has been gaining a lot of attention in the recent years but a lot of companies have not realized its full importance , also in many organisations reverse logistics is considered highly expensive. Green logistics is defined as a process to minimize the environmental activities taking place day to day. Green Logistics can be defined as an attempt to 1


measure as well minimize the environmental impact of the various Logistics activities. Green Logistics helps to create a balance between the economy and the environment.

сustоmer exрerienсes аnd henсe it is beсоming а сruсiаl раrt оf the lаst-mile delivery сhаllenge in mаny сities. Trust рlаys аn imроrtаnt rоle besides mоnetаry inсentives tо enсоurаge сrоwd workers tо раrtiсiраte in the delivery рrосess. With соntinued growth оf eсоmmerсe оrders аnd shоррers wаnting mоre соnvenienсe, сrоwdsоurсed delivery mоdels offering lаst-mile deliveries will соntinue tо grоw with аdded feаtures

The Logistics firms primarily focus on focus on transportation through environment-friendly and sustainable logistics solutions with the help of green and emission-free vehicles, in this way the firm is able to contribute towards a cleaner environment and save cost by improving fuel efficiency, payload management, and routing. Green logistics is now also being implemented in the last mile delivery as well as cold supply chain.

Future of Pipeline Transportation Соmmerсiаl рiрeline орerаtоrs shоuld рrоvide serviсes tаilоred tо the need оf сustоmers at an ассeрtаble соst. Cоmраnies shоuld invest heаvily intо the R&D оf рiрelines. Using mаteriаls thаt will degrаde slower, аnd reрlасing in place of reengineering, рiрelines will sаve соmраnies frоm mаssive legаl аnd dаmаge соntrоl соsts. Besides, рiрeline trаnsроrtаtiоn fасes сhаllenges in steаdy аnd smооth орerаtiоn with need оf соnstаnt surveillаnсe аnd mоnitоring. Infоrmаtiоn соmmuniсаtiоn teсhnоlоgy саn helр reduсe соsts, streаmline mаnаgement рrосesses, imрrоve соmmuniсаtiоn effiсienсy, аnd ensure sаfety аnd seсurity. Аll these issues роse luсrаtive орроrtunities fоr рiрeline соmраnies tо grоw in а mоre sustаinаble mаnner.

As the name suggests Last Mile Delivery is the last step of a delivery process when the ordered package or good is loaded from the transport hub or distribution center and is delivered to the customer, but this entire process contributes to carbon dioxide emissions so in order to achieve an eco-friendly delivery process companies have adopted some sustainable delivery strategies such as optimizing the delivery routes with the help of artificial intelligence, using sustainable transportations such as hybrid vehicles , drones and delivery bots and providing discount to those customers who opt for eco- friendly delivery options .

Challenges and Future of Maritime Logistics and Space Logistics Chаllenges fоr mаritime trаnsроrt inсlude mаintаining соmрetitiveness in а glоbаl envirоnment, орtimаl use оf energy sоurсes, аnd minimizing its envirоnmentаl imрасts. Technologies саn helр sоlve these рrоblems аnd imрrоve орerаtiоnаl effiсienсy. Оn similаr lines, thrоugh the teсhnоlоgiсаl аdvаnсement

Crowd Sourcing and Urban Logistic The lаst mile is the mоst соstly аnd timeсоnsuming раrt оf the shiррing рrосess in urbаn аreаs, thаnks tо high-quаntity расkаge drор-оffs аnd lоw-quаntity vоlumes. Сrоwdsоurсed delivery mоdels, whiсh соmраnies аre аdорting in the reсent times, саn сut соsts аnd imрrоve Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

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Overview


аnd suссesses in the lаst deсаde, the visiоn оf living аnd соlоnizing sрасe hаs slоwly reаwаkened. With eасh раssing dаy, there аre grоwing questiоns thаt need tо be аnswered fоr sрасe lоgistiсs

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tо be suссessful аnd sustаinаble in the future. Be it mаritime or sрасe lоgistiсs, the сhаllenge fасing the lоgistiсs industry is аlwаys the sаme: delivering gооds sаfe, оn-time, аnd with effiсienсy.

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Recent Trends in Logistics deliveries require global logistics support. India, unlike China, has a relatively slow and staggering growth as more than 85% of the logistic services are in unorganized sectors. Some of the outsourced activities in the country’s logistics sector include custom clearing, inbound and outbound transportation, warehousing, and forwarding. Logistics and SCM spend in India is approximately 13% of the GDP. The cost of transportation in India accounts for nearly 2/5th of production cost with more than half the 'goods being shipped by road. Trucking accounts for more than 2/3rd of transportation and accounts for 3/5th of total logistics cost. 2/3rd of truck ownership is in the hands of smaller unorganized players. Rail comes after road, further followed by coastal shipping. The cheapest mode of shipping, water, is barely used while air as a mode is quite limited to a very small percentage.

The Logistics service industry has been facing increasing competition, nowadays, in the process of managing the flow of goods as well as services in the best possible and efficient ways. In 2020, especially, we saw new global pressures, opportunities in the e-commerce markets, and the capabilities in the new technological tools and innovations. Global Trends in Logistics Sector: Following are some of the key market trends in the logistics sector found globally. • According to the reports, the global logistics industry was valued at over € 5.275 trillion in 2020. It is forecasted that the global logistics market will bounce back and will grow at a CAGR of 4.7% from 2020 to 2024. North America’s logistics sector is expected to grow by 2.8% while that of Asia Pacific’s growth rate is predicted 6.5% by 2024. • As the consumers now expect fast, free shipping and competitive pricing, companies are now forced to provide low-cost and on-demand service delivery, which undoubtedly impacts the logistics and transportation industry. • Composition of top 5 companies in the logistics space holds more than half of the market share. The market is expected to even grow further due to the growing infrastructure and increase in the e-commerce sector.

Challenges of Logistics Sector in India: Logistics is the backbone of the industrial sector of our country. Conceptually, in the logistics industry, everything is timeconstrained thus time reduction for a supply cycle is becomes inevitable to design efficient and streamlined processes. Some of the challenges faced by India’s logistics companies are listed below • Companies have been challenged with facing a bulk load of orders to be shipped while keeping up with

Indian Logistics Market: India’s logistics market is quite big, unexploited, and unorganized. With companies in the country have to face many challenges since worldwide

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their timeline. Especially, during festivals the companies generally ship an order having a high intensity which causes mass delays in schedules. India is subjected to different


terrain in different regions. Rail and road infrastructure capabilities are also inadequate. Some common issues faced by companies transporting shipments via rail and road include, traffic and toll congestions, electric grid failures, bad weather, and thereby companies tend to lose out on a lot of capital. India is a country where fuel prices do not stay stable in the event of political uncertainty. High variations in fuel costs cause an increase in overall freight tariffs. A lot of companies either absorb the cost increase or pass it on to customers and eventually run out of business.

operate more efficiently and costeffectively at the world stage. Thus, no longer do the big, beneficial cargo owners have an overwhelming advantage in international supply chain operations. Technology is leveling the playing field by serving the smaller operator to interact and work with international freight forwarders and carriers, gaining visibility in prices, and guarantee compliance with complex shipping and customs necessities. As new technologies, like blockchain and the Internet of Things, still advance and penetrate the supply chain industry, world markets can solely become accessible to smaller businesses, maybe remodeling SME internationalization.

Recent Trends that affected logistics sector: Circular Supply Chain : The utilization and recycling of products and their related elements are not new. Their application into the supply chains of brand owners is a concept that’s gaining adapted. Higher maturity levels are reached by many firms in greening the supply chain. The supply chain has transited from linear to circular. The supply chain does not end with products in the end customers' hands; preferably, the circular supply chain integrates the reverse logistics process, taking the products returned from the customers and inserting them back into the forward flow acceptable points. This may consist of recycling or refurbishing things broken in storage or transit or sending unbroken returns to a sales inventory.

Last-Mile Delivery : The efficiency in

door-to-door delivery has become the foremost priority for each company. Within the B2C markets, the customer is not satisfied because delivery on the day of ordering is turning into less of an ultimate goal limitation to be overcome. Under the demand pressure for instant gratification, new tech-first logistics suppliers are beginning to saturate the fulfillment environment. Without the autonomous hardware that guarantees to supersede traditional road transportation, they are instead investing digital tools to boost the performance of manually executed deliveries and cut back lead times from days to hours, with twenty-four being today’s bargainbasement service level. By utilizing customer-integrated business platforms, mobile technology, and crowd-sourcing, these companies are finding ways to choose orders within minutes of receiving them, dispatch deliveries ondemand, and convey buyer’s purchases to them in time-frames of 2 hours or less.

SME Supply Chains: Increasingly Going

Global – There have been many barriers for SMEs and MSMEs. However, the emergence of recent technologies and service providers has helped SMEs to Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

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Recent Trends in Logistics


Corporate Insights Here is our detailed conversation on Logistics Management in the 21st Century with Dr. Simi Narera also known as Dr. Supply Chain in the industry because of her specialization in philosophy of Supply Chain. She is an engineer, MBA from XLRI and a doctor of Naturopathy. She has 15 years of industry experience in Fortune 100 companies like CSC, Aditya Birla Group and Unilever. Currently she is working as General Manager Supply Chain for TATA Starbucks. We would like to kick start this discussion by asking you about your journey so far and it would be really great if you can share 3 key learnings. 3 Key Learning would be 1. Don't confine yourself to "Finance Career" Or " Marketing Career". Its a career in Business Management so get out of functional Mould. 2. Don't resist change- I have changed businesses and functions and that has helped in expediting my learning. 3. Never stop upgrading and adding new skills.

developed countries? In India Logistics industry has been a fragmented sector with regional small players who are usually not very tech savvy. Today service levels, On time delivery and reliability are very crucial considering the fast paced life, digital revolution and E comm service models. Indian Companies need to invest in IT and End to end solutioning to cater to these demands of Transparency and reliability in delivery services

If we look at the logistics sector today, what are some key challenges the sector is facing, especially in the cold storage logistics? Most of the cold storage facilities in India were traditionally build to store Farm products like fruits and vegetables. The second largest user of the same has been pharma industry. With these two industries been the driver of the cold storage ecosystem, the standards and quality norms have been set accordingly. Today the needs have changed. Food Industry is fast growing into a big user of temp controlled facilities and logistics. Covid- 19 Vaccine is putting a different kind of demand pressure for Ultra low temp cold facilities. The ecosystem is yet to adapt and evolve to cater to these kind of demands.

How do you think the new technologies like block chain, Artificial intelligence, IoT are disrupting the logistic and supply chain industry? I don't like to call these disruptions, I would like to call these a much needed evolution. Block chain will soon make end to end visibility of every single Case pack and traceability a reality. That will have huge impact on our ability to monitor and control the quality of the product that reached the end customer. AI will help planning managers deal with detect and respond to unpredictable demand patterns. It will help Supply

What according to you are some key lessons that the Indian logistic companies can learn from the more Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

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chain leaders see and respond to exceptions faster. IoT will help in End to end integration and drive consistent deliveries across different sales channels. I would say that the disruption of business models has already happened with expansion of Tech based businesses. These technologies will help Supply chains to cope and grow upto meet with the change in the business environment

people, our time to scale up to any open opportunities is quite low. We have seen that during COVID-19 crisis when western countries had issues with basic home supplies, In India companies ramped up, Kiranas started operating late hours , quickly shifted to home and in society deliveries and Swiggy expanded to Grocery and any delivery business. So, while we are yet to reach the evolution stage of western countries in terms of Infrastructure growth, reducing the Inter city time, reducing congestions on the city entry points to smoothen the logistics network, i am hopeful about the future.

How, according to you the industry has changed, say from last 10 years, and what further changes/advancements do you see happening? Logistics Industry is seeing consolidation and investment coming into the sector. That is good considering that it will make pathway for Tech investment, Better capacity utilisation and drive efficiency. I foresee the trend to continue. Also, there is investment coming cold chain which will be good for growth of Food Sector

How can truck platooning affect the logistic provider's profitability? Truck platooning helps in reducing the transit time by smoother traffic flow. That is useful as reduces the TAT, thus increases the truck utilization and therefore reduces cost for the provider

How significant do you feel is the contribution of Logistics as a sector in the vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’? Atmanirbhar means self reliant. Which essentially means to have inhouse( Within Country), production, Value addition , retailing and consumption. All these legs are going to get connected by our Warehousing and Logistics network. So i see Logistics playing a very I pivotal role in making " Make in India" a reality.

How can we move towards green and sustainable logistics? Moving to greener fuel solutions, Increasing capacity utlisation, investment in reverse logistics, Consolidation etc are some of the paths companies can take to leave lesser carbon foot print. Some companies are also using innovative solutions like using left over oil after frying to convert into fuel and thus reducing fuel usage

How much logistics sector in India is prepared for any future uncertainties such as COVID19 or any other calamity? Not really. However the good part is that India being the country with inherent skill to find "jugaad" solutions and with a huge resource base of enterprising

What are your opinions about the future of space logistics? I don't foresee that being utilized much except for research and exploration purpose in the near future. There is still along way to go before that sector expands.

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Corporate Insights


There is an increasing shift in consumer demand from brick and mortar to e commerce. How are logistic services keeping up pace with increasing demand? E comm has added a new complexity of Last mile, small volume, fragmented deliveries. This has created a space for Intra-City volume aggregators. Companies are investing in that or using services of these new players.

according to you are some key trends and developments that he/she should focus upon? Keep an eye on Developments in the Retail sector. It is going through major transformation. Food sector will also see some changes with Frozen and Ready to Eat/ Ready to Serve development growing. These will offer new business opportunities to Logistics Sector. And Not to forget the entire Covid-19 Vaccine Storage and distribution will be a landmark event in Cold storage ecosystem development.

Finally, for an aspiring logistics and supply chain enthusiast, who is looking to build a career in this field what

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Corporate Insights


Logistics Management in the 21st Century -

Logistics

- Dhivya G Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode of fulfilling the customer order through its inventory. Due to logistic problems, product visibility, and longer shelf time, the long tail products had been traditionally ignored. But E-Commerce platforms have opened a new set of opportunities for long-tail products, and thus sellers are encouraged to have a huge range of inventories. This is where the trade-off between logistic cost and inventory cost comes into the picture. For less frequently ordered product the companies are going for drop shipping techniques and for frequently ordered product the ondemand sourcing techniques is preferred.

Management is one of the

pillars of Supply Chain Management along with Inventory Management, Facility Management, and Information Management. Internet-based companies are putting greater emphasis on logistics as they are building their competitive advantage in the order fulfillment process. For Example: In India, ecommerce companies such as Amazon and Flipkart introduced one-hour delivery and same-day delivery at affordable rates. This strategy not only requires high responsiveness in logistics but also cost optimization in delivery. Logistics management in 21st Century requires incorporating new technologies, finding a trade-off between conflicting goals, incorporating new constraints such as trade barriers, and collaboration of multiple stakeholders across the supply chain. Customer service factors that affect the logistics are response time, product availability, time to market, order visibility, and returnability.

Response time is the order fulfillment time. With increase in the number of intermediaries, the order fulfillment time increases. This is an important factor that forced Indian ECommerce companies to go for backward integration. Flipkart is handling the majority of order fulfillment through its logistics wing, EKART. This enables Flipkart to have tight control over response time and thus deliver its promise on short delivery time.

Product availability is the probability

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Time to market is the amount of time it takes to bring the product to market. The product lifetime has reduced significantly due to frequent technological changes, and therefore, time to market becomes a very important factor. Time to market depends on the supply chain strategies such as responsive supply chain and cost-effective supply chain. For Example: As Apple launches its new product, the demand cannot be forecasted accurately as the new product's sales data is not available. For this purpose, Apple chooses the responsive supply chain in the introduction stage of its product life cycle. With a responsive supply chain, logistics optimization is based on time minimization. As the product matures and enough data on the product sales is collected, the


company pivots to a cost-effective supply chain. With a cost-effective supply chain, logistics optimization is based on cost minimization.

return the items. The online stores have incorporated various strategies such as third-party pick-up, offline store drop, etc.

Order visibility is the ability to track the order. It has become an essential requirement from the customer end.

Thus, based on the above characteristics a number of network design is developed for optimal logistics. Each method has its own set of advantages and trade-offs.

The evolution of the Internet has created information sharing across the supply chain easier and faster. Recognizing the importance of order visibility during the logistics process, transportation and fulfillment providers have opened their services via APIs so that the stakeholders can track the logistics information in realtime.

Logistics optimization depends upon the delivery mechanisms. The different types of delivery mechanisms are • Multiple products ordered and delivered independently • Lots ordered and delivered jointly • Lots ordered and delivered jointly for a selected subset

Returnability is the ability of the seller to handle the returns from the customers. Returnability directly impacts customer satisfaction, and thus sellers need to have a seamless return process. In offline sales, the returns are handled through stores, and thus customer visits the stores to

In the above three, lots ordered and delivered jointly for a selected subset have minimal logistics costs. This method is a hybrid combination of the other two techniques. In this method, a subset of products is chosen based on optimality for every delivery process. This method requires real-time data sharing across the supply chain and computing complex calculations. Thus, this method

Strategy, planning & operation book by Sunil Chopra and Dharman Vir Karla

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Logistics Management in the 21st Century


became popular as information-sharing became easier and the technology became cheaper. In the 21st Century, two companies have made transportation and logistics their competitive advantage and established themselves as a global player. • •

IKEA is a home furnishing retailer. IKEA has more than 400 stores located across 42 countries. IKEA's goal is to provide good quality products at low prices. Therefore, the company tries to cut down its products by 2% to 3% every year. To achieve this objective, the company has built a global network of suppliers and distributors with a

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cost-effective transportation strategy. The modular design of the furniture offered by IKEA helped them to transport more cost-efficiently than its competitors. IKEA stores are large and handle huge shipment sizes to its retailers, thus significantly reducing transportation costs. Seven-Eleven Japan is a convenience store chain. The company continuously replenishes inventory to match the changing needs of the customers. Thus the company uses responsive logistics techniques to achieve its objective. After aggregating the suppliers' supplies, the temperature-controlled truck of Seven-Eleven replenishes the order in the stores.

Logistics Management in the 21st Century


In India, the logistics sector is getting more organized. Two start-ups are redefining the logistic sector in India are Rivigo and Blackbuck. Traditionally in India, there was fragmented logistics, and thus no synergy was established. Blackbuck created an eco-system to connect customers and logistics providers on top of its asset light model to solve this problem. This platform strategy benefitted the customers as they could reduce the transportation cost, minimize the time involved in transactions, and cut down inefficient intermediaries from the system. Fleet owners also got benefitted from this platform as they were able to increase the capacity utilization of trucks, increase the profit margin as the intermediaries were eliminated, and reduce the no-load transportation. The company also offers a range of complimentary services such as insurance, loan, repairs, and component sales to fleet operators.

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Though Rivigo has created a similar platform-like structure but they follow asset-heavy model. Rivigo owns the fleet, and their main value proposition is relay as service. Through this method, the long shift of drivers is contained and decreased turnaround time by 50%.

Companies are choosing a hybrid model for transportation and continuously redefining their strategies based on external factors. With the growing deglobalization sentiment, cross-border logistics have become more complex. The companies are moving towards sustainability and diversification in logistics. Customers are moving away from mass production to product customization, which creates a complex delivery mechanism. Therefore companies across the globe need to reassess their traditional system and move towards modernized logistics systems.

Logistics Management in the 21st Century


Autonomous Trucking: Future of Logistics -

- Shubham Patil National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai make safe. Although trials are underway, these will take longer to be widely adopted.

In 2019, greater investment moved into autonomous trucking by top automakers as it is booming technology in logistics sector. In the U.S., 30 states have paved the way for autonomous trucks to drive on highways, including Texas, Florida, and Arizona, considered hotbeds for autonomous pilots. Recognizing a shifting assessment of where revenue will come from first, in late 2019, Daimler announced a move away from driverless cars to put greater emphasis on trucking. Daimler will invest $573 million to develop highly autonomous trucks, part of the company’s “global push to bring highly automated trucks to the road within a decade.”

Autonomous trucking will likely increase capacity by enabling trucks to make longer runs, and by attracting young workers who see trucking as a cool occupation in its autonomous format. For example, in the future, long-haul, crosscountry runs will be done in two days compared to the five days it takes today. One consumer products company believes that becoming a first adopter gives it a distinct advantage, especially in an industry that is highly commoditized. In a commoditized market, companies can gain an advantage from supply chain operations that are more innovative than the competition. Specifically, the company says that using autonomous vehicles to transport goods allows operations to run more efficiently, reduce costs, and improve reliability and safety — goals coveted by all supply chains. Some progressive shippers also recognize that getting in on the ground floor could enhance capacity down the road. Some are paying market prices to have their product shipped during trial runs, recognizing that, as automation technology becomes more mainstream in the future, they are likely to see cheaper shipping prices. Investing in new integrated tools such as autonomous trucks can provide the ability to orchestrate the end-to-end value chain much better than in the past. Recent developments with some major players in the autonomous trucking sector in Europe and Asia and in the U.S. are highlighted below.

Specifically, Daimler singled out the difficulty of operating driverless cars on city streets. By comparison, trucks spend about 90% of their time on highways, and just 10% to reach final destinations such as loading docks.1 In addition, most of all delivery trips are repetitive, relying on trucks to make the same trips on the same highways. As a result, technical challenges are reduced, as less information is required to learn about roads and conditions. Aside from safety gains, removing drivers from behind the wheel, even partially, can save billions. In 2013, Morgan Stanley says the industry could save $168 billion, with $36 billion in improved fuel efficiency alone.2 In the short term, autonomous trucks are likely to be used for repetitive short hauls, such as those from a factory to a nearby distribution center. Long-haul environments are harder to design and Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

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Europe and Asia: • Volvo: In a deal with Norway’s Broennoey Kalk AS, Volvo’s autonomous trucks will transport limestone for Broennoey Kalk AS from a mine to a neighbouring port. Volvo’s first autonomous trucking package will involve seven trucks, and will include a virtual driver, control tower system, maintenance, repair and insurance, with Volvo paying for each load. • Einride: CEO Robert Falck calls autonomous trucking “the biggest business opportunity in the history of mankind.” Einride raised $25 million in funding in October 2019. In December, it announced a partnership with Coca-Cola European Partners, which will adopt Einride’s autonomous, electric transportation system to its facility near Stockholm, where Einride’s cabin-less vehicle will be launched into a real transportation flow.

U.S.: • TuSimple: UPS took an undisclosed minority stake in the tech firm in 2019. TuSimple partners with truck makers and has 41 trucks in the U.S. carrying its technology. TuSimple has a DOT number and is carrying paid loads for UPS and the U.S. Postal Service in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. It is valued at more than $1 billion.5 • Waymo: The division of Alphabet tested autonomous trucks in the Atlanta area in 2018, including carrying paid loads for Google’s logistics operations. It has also piloted trucks in California and Georgia and Arizona. In November 2019, Waymo CEO John Krafcik said Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

that autonomous trucking technology may take hold before robotaxis, especially for trucks that travel easily repeatable routes.6 Waymo is also working with Renault and Nissan to develop autonomous trucks in France and Japan. Plus.ai: In December 2019, the California-based startup completed a cross-country run carrying 40,000 pounds of refrigerated butter for Land O’Lakes. A human driver and a safety engineer were on board for the 2,800-mile trip, which was competed in three days. The company reports that the truck operated autonomously for most of the trip, which encountered light snow, sleet and rain. The trip also confirmed the ability to navigate through high elevations. Plus.ai has already conducted testing of its autonomous trucks in 17 states and plans to conduct pilots in all permissible states in the U.S. by the end of 2021, including closed-course and public-road testing.

There is lot of background study required for deploying such technology. So, Supply chain leaders focused on Autonomous trucking technology and solutions for operations should: • Identify how autonomous trucks could impact transportation, especially in parts of the world where regulations favor autonomous innovation, such as the Netherlands, Singapore, Norway and the U.S. — the top countries in the 2019 Automated Vehicles Readiness Index. • Become an attractive partner to companies offering autonomous trucking services by ensuring that your network design is hospitable to 14

Autonomous Trucking: Future of Logistics


autonomous technology. Locate new facilities like distribution centers closer to highways and design the flow of yards so that it is attractive to autonomous trucks. Prepare for shortened transit times

Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

and the resulting impact on shipper supply chain networks by studying impact points in manufacturing, as well as points of inventory and distribution nodes.

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Autonomous Trucking: Future of Logistics


Challenges, innovations, and future in last-mile delivery - Guransh Singh, Pulkit Chhabra - Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology (GTBIT), New Delhi

Last-mile logistics can be defined as the

the need for additional services such as assembly and skilled unpacking upon delivery, so shippers must ponder upon how they can make sure that the final product fits into the description of what was sold. While many last mile carriers exist, a majority of them do not offer assembly options, which might be charged for as an added service. Another category of products may require installation by trained technicians. Yet, the more bulky and complex nature of items is moving from regular retail stores to consumer direct shipping via drop shipping websites, and consumers are not ready to compromise on speed and visibility for the ease provided while making a purchase online. With regard to the environment, the last mile delivery accounts for approximately 25% of total carbon emissions generated by the entire delivery cycle. Performing and executing deliveries in an efficient and environment-friendly manner is part of corporate responsibility. It has been seen that customers tend to reward the companies that make an effort to make their processes environment friendly in nature.

last step of the delivery process from a factory or warehouse to the consumer, however contrary to how the name suggests, this final step in the delivery process is not usually restricted to just a mile. The actual last-mile delivery can be as long as a 100-mile journey in some cases. If your company manages to deliver products efficaciously while providing a smooth and quality customer experience, it will have an added advantage over its rival companies. A good delivery experience can reward you in the form of converting first-time buyers into loyal customers. Consequently, the last mile becomes a vital part of customer experience and thus needs to be paid attention towards, however solving the same is a cumbersome task. The last mile logistics is increasingly becoming an area of concern for companies, the initial steps of delivery can be performed in a relatively more economical manner, owing to substantial economies of scale, this is because lastmile delivery cannot be integrated into global transportation networks. Adding to this, the recent shift of consumers towards online shopping has made the presence of a smooth delivery process inevitable. Thriving businesses offer new services such as deliveries as fast as within 24 hours combined with real-time tracking thereby creating a price war, which eventually leads to reduced profits. Another area of concern in last-mile delivery arises due to the inherent nature of some products. Large products create Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

Figure 1: Cost Breakdown of the entire Logistic cost

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Expected technology advancements

For the large multitude of reasons mentioned above, there is a dire need to incorporate new technologies and innovations to aid you to combat the problems faced by last-mile logistics. There is an outstanding potential in automation to increase efficiency while cutting down on human efforts. The fleet involvement of technology in this sector has portrayed a potential numerous budding entrant. Both commercial vehicle drivers and parcel delivery drivers ought to make sure that they equip themselves up with the obligatory skills and resources if they want to outperform their competitors as the competition is increasing exponentially. It was evident that evolution in the techniques of the last-mile delivery system was going to occur rapidly and that the upcoming times would require major changes as new competitors are entering this field. It is shocking that the technological advancements in the past one and a half year have outpaced the expectations. The new corporations feel pressurized to undertake the most costeffective technologies even more rapidly. Urgent action is necessary for companies who want to excel and that can only be achieved by the instant adoption of new technologies in last-mile delivery.

Concepts • Drones • Autonomous delivery vehicle (ADV) • Robotic Developing Tech • Van/Drone integrated system • Droid • Trunk delivery • Smart door lock • Autonomous vans Scalable innovations • Parcel box • EV • Parcel locker In the coming decade ADVs will be sophisticated to the extent that they would not need to be accompanied by any person. This development will be remembered to be a huge change to transform logistics to be more and more tech-enabled. We will be able to witness drones becoming a routine part of logistics due to their ability to effective against particular delivery needs. For instance, drones can be the answer to effectively deliver in remote areas that cannot be easily accessed by road or in situations where due to a lack of development essential items like emergency medicine cannot be delivered on time. On the other hand, owing to certain constraints such as landing space, security measures, regulatory restrictions imposed by the government and a surge in costs, we cannot expect drones to be a regular part of logistics in urban areas. However, they can prove to be instrumental to solve problems of delivery in rural and a majority of suburban areas, which cannot currently be offered some services such as delivery

Two years ago, autonomous vans were largely conceptual, and now in 2021, we are expecting to see them tested on road. Trials of goods-delivering robotic dogs have been done, an inter-hospital array of drones is completely operational and full-scale deployment of droids has been set forth while electric delivery vans (EV) were still in their testing stages about a year ago, but today we are seeing their industry level production . Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

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Challenges, innovations, and future in last-mile delivery


on the same day or due to a lack of infrastructure and available technology.

adds up to less than fifteen percent of aggregated last-mile delivery cost in heavy traffic areas and hence offers only a minuscule opportunity for cost improvement. One will concur that at least in metropolises even major the Total Cost of Ownership enhancements from electrification are not expected to improve delivery cost substantially. With that said, the use of Electric Vehicles will probably become inevitable in order to obey the increasingly strict emissionsrelated regulations. As mentioned, consumers are demanding more facilities from their delivery providers, and an exceptional competitive environment has pushed ahead the advancement of technology that will succor the industry deliver on these demands.

The above-mentioned technologies have their own perks but, on the flip, side have risks for providers as well as customers, but their value is delivered in various ways. For example, autonomous vehicles and semiautonomous vehicles, bring down the cost of a delivery in town by roughly ten to forty percent. This proportion is quite evident in absolute terms also taking in count that last-mile delivery costs approximately in the range of 132 rupees to more than 352 rupees depending on geography, network density, and labor costs. On the other hand, EVs, do not yet yield any significant cost savings as of now because total vehicle cost, including the fuel expenses,

Figure 2: Drone logistics and transportation market

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Challenges, innovations, and future in last-mile delivery


5R’s of Reverse Logistics in Supply Chain An Indian Scenario - Surajit Patra K J Somaiya Institute of Management

-

Reverse Logistics is when goods / items

• • •

travel at least one step backward in the supply chain. This may be done by the methods of remanufacturing or refurbishing activities. It also leads to the sustainable use of resources when we use the resources of the earth at a slower pace or even reuse the items for an extended period.

Wrong item/goods Decided did not want Broken/damaged

Repairs Companies prefer to repair and restore rather than replace the item/product as it enables them to carry fewer inventories and thereby reducing the carrying cost of the inventory.

Reverse logistics also includes calling back the products which the company has manufactured and sent back to the showrooms for sale, which is done by the companies when there is a manufacturing defect in the products. Reverse logistics comprise of 5 R’s as under:

Replacements Most of the companies have replacement policies which range from 15 to 30 days depending upon the industry. Companies in the technological goods industry also commit to replace parts of the product until one year or even more depending upon the guarantee/warranty period.

Returns and Exchanges It primarily includes the goods and products where returns occur frequently once they are sold to consumers. Returns and exchanges are mostly prevalent in ecommerce sites where consumers order their products, and when they do not find goods up to the mark, or there is an issue in size, they return the product.

Recycling and Disposal It is a vast industry and there is a lot of scope of expansion. We find unskilled workers buying old newspaper, tin, copper and aluminium cans which they gradually sell to factories so that they can recycle and the companies make new products from them. By recycling paper, we are saving millions of trees which will be deforested because we get pulp from them which will be used to make paper. Plastics are non-biodegradable and it takes more than 500 years for a bottled plastic to degrade.

It leads to a considerable cost for the company, and moreover, the e-commerce firms face the brunt in terms of discount that they give to consumers and also the amount spent on advertising is huge which adds to the cost. Following are some of the reasons for returns• Quality not upto the mark • Right product, wrong characteristics • Receiving partial order • Order arriving late • Not what expected Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

Thus, recycling of plastics helps in conserving the environment. Most of the Governments across the world are trying to reduce its production and also reduce the consumption of plastics in their countries. Thus, recycling is considered as a better option than producing in

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excess.

key role. The consumer goods industry consisting of over 80% of the Indian market for products is for mid to low segment goods, so product mix is often not comparable to other geographies.

Resale of returned products There are many companies that specialize in processing and reselling returned products which also acts as major revenue generators.

However, the smaller end product ranges do not necessarily point towards swap rather than repair policies as it might in the Western countries; the cost of labor in India is lower and most Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) decide to manufacture parts within India to avoid cumbersome import Regulation and fees. It is creating an opportunity because if companies from abroad come and manufacture, it will generate employment in the country.

Setting up a network in Indian Scenario & its challenges The biggest challenge faced by every stakeholder in the Indian supply chain (forward or reverse) mostly pertains to geographical constraints. There are various infrastructural issues with anything past a III or IV tier city. Also, communication network, transportation, power supply, and connectivity are only mediocre or intermittent at best. There are plentiful supply and return issues with 73% of the increasing population living in rural areas and slums, hence the reason that only 5% of organized sales are through the retail channel. The trending question which is popping in our mind is: “Is it acceptable to accept 5% of returns through organized channels?”.

Electrical consumer goods are facing a higher rate of returns due to the fluctuation of supply of power across India, which surges as much as it intermittently cuts out leading to reduced “No Fault Found (NFF)” rates for electricity-related faults which further affects material re-utilization and strategies for repair. The overall

The effect of consumer demand plays a Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

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5R’s of Reverse Logistics in Supply Chain : An Indian Scenario


impact of all these should reflect in the logistics strategy of any retailer, distributor or OEM, and perhaps this is why many MNCs struggle to adjust to the Indian environment. In an industry where turn-around-times plays a crucial role, the concept of centralized returns hubs and repair facilities in such severe logistical conditions must be carefully planned, ,assessed and agreed by all the stakeholders before engaging in the first gear. The

companies is to have different layers of outsourcing partners through a third party (3PL) and fourth party (4PL) logistics. While 3PL concept involves activities pertaining to distribution, the 4PL concept involves outsourcing the entire supply chain solution. Hence, 3PL is preferable for “Return, Resell, Exchange and Repair” while 4PL is preferable for “Recycling and Disposal”. Companies also need to overcome gaps and challenges in skill sets by giving appropriate training of reverse logistics programs to its employees.

challenges for logistics begin with recognizing that only half of the roads are paved and that moving product between states requires complex navigation of disparate governance and documents.

Conclusion A well-developed reverse logistics infrastructure can provide many opportunities to companies. It can also give the manufacturers ways to not only achieve greater sustainability but also reduce the overall cost of manufacturing. Moreover, companies in the recycling industry can get raw materials at a lower rate and can recycle it to produce better products. In India, the market is still at a developing stage for reverse logistics, and there is a scope for expansion in the industry.

Increase in consumer awareness, remote buying habits of consumers, inclusive internet and launch of the latest models by the companies are some of the trends that are making reverse logistics increasingly relevant. Way Forward The way forward

for

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e-commerce

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5R’s of Reverse Logistics in Supply Chain : An Indian Scenario


Trends and Future of Green and Sustainable logistics -

- Harsh Sinhal & Utkarsha Jain Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management, Nashik

Introduction

History

has

been

evident

that

In the same line, the core objective of sustainable and green logistics is to increase profitability and lessen the environmental impact for extended performance. The customers these days are becoming smarter and concerned about the changing environmental conditions. They are very much aware and need information about the availability of sustainable or green products, the quality of the products, and the company’s obligation towards social responsibility and environment beforehand and later they choose to purchase the products. As a result, companies need to devise sustainability across the logistics and transportation too considering future perspective. It should integrate sustainable developments considering into account the ecological, social and economic aspects at the same time. Integrity and transparency are central structural blocks in attaining sustainability in logistics. If the organization is not successful in revealing all the processes within the manufacturing and transportation network, then it neither gains the complete trust of its customers nor in the entire supply chain network. In other words, the processes of sustainability are only as good as the data about the respective companies’ effort in sustainability. Moreover, these companies must have a great level of integrity. Though it seems complex, but today’s actions in building sustainable and green logistics will ensure plenty of resources in future. Logistics sustainability measures may require huge investments but it will be of great reward in near future. The organizations with sustainable logistics and

a

breakthrough is required to ensure the new future of the world to change the history of the mankind, irrespective of the nature and magnitude of the breakthrough, whether it is discovery of Zero or it is one of the major scientific breakthroughs like the genetic engineering. All this has been possible because they all had a plan to move ahead and were future proofed. In these rapid changing times, companies are focusing on future-proofing their supply chain to have the sustainable future. This is also the need of an hour if one has to survive in this VUCA world. The pandemic of the century taught all of us to change the way the business operates. The companies that were not agile enough to adapt themselves as per the changing environment had to shut down their businesses because of high supply chain cost. In order to be successful, companies have to make their supply chain future proof. Sustainability is both an obligation and a prospect to safeguard the future of both the people and business. The world is transforming globally and is driven by automation and innovation. Making the business sustainable is the top priority and high on the agenda for most of the industries; and thus the transport and logistics sector is also no exception. The role of Sustainability in Logistics In the 21st century, where the world is growing digitally, the goal of Supply Chain organizations is no more limited to profitability and customer satisfaction. Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

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transportation will be viewed with trust by the customers and the businesses will thrive if they follow a path to sustainability. As customers have developed significant harmony for protecting the planet for the future generations, the organizations with eco-friendly and green measures have the affinity to gain further more customers.

oceanic transportation or electric vehicles for transportation, allows a shipper to create an efficient, sustainable solution to transport various goods across great distances (Singh & Trivedi, 2016). • Waste Reduction Working with lean methodologies assist us to reduce materials and energy use, integrate more recycled materials, recover heat and recycle waste. In Reverse logistics, processes are made environmentally competent through reducing, reusing and recycling the used materials. The more detailed view of reverse logistics comprises of the elimination of materials in the forward system in a manner that lesser materials flow back, the possibility of reuse of materials is there, & recycling is simplified.

Trends and Future of Green and Sustainable logistics • Driving prosperity through transport solutions:

The industry should develop transport solutions and production systems that better manage resource scarceness and with less emissions to air and water. In addition to more energy and carbon efficient solutions, the industries should better utilize transports, recycle, remanufacture, and refurbish products and components. The reduction in overall number of miles driven resulting in the decrease of the total volume of toxic gasses released. Inevitably, the company exempts from penalties and additional fines for environmental regulation violations which are dependent on the respective shipper location. Likewise, reforming transportation opportunities through means of high-efficiency, such as

• Energy Consumption The operations involved in Logistics have a long lasting impact on the environment because of huge energy consumption in negative ways. Refining the energy efficiency in logistics is critical for environmental sustainability and by capacity utilisation it can be realised.

Table 1 depicts the activities that lead to the misutilization of the capacity in the logistics system and hence

Fig 1. Model to show how reverse logistics can aid in sustainable waste management

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Trends and Future of Green and Sustainable logistics


in the context of reverse, in-bound and out-bound logistics, considering ecological, social and economic aspects at the same time (Wehner, 2018). Building trust with customers and society Customers these days are much conscious and they make purchasing decisions based on the type of products and the way the seller operates. The 21st century world is driven by social media trends and thus the company’s image is viewed by the honesty and role in achieving a sustainable future.

increase the energy consumption. Generally, capacity that gets unutilized branches from how the packages and other consignments are handled during transport, in the warehouse, and during transhipment (Wehner, 2018).

A few poor decisions could lead to massive reaction and boycott across social media channels, and your business could fail. By using a carrier or 3PL focused on logistics sustainability and optimization with proven sustainability practices in place, you can help minimize the scrutiny of your operation and improve public perception of your company.

Table 2 represents the areas in the logistics system define where the unutilized capacity originated specifically

Conclusion With the growing significance of green supply chains, the spotlight has been

Fig 2. Results of future Supply Chain design

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Trends and Future of Green and Sustainable logistics


definitely placed on the greening of logistics activities, with the objective to meet client prerequisites by diminishing expenses in financial terms as well as

Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

expenses related with environmental change, air contamination, noise, vibration and mishaps. It is high time to go green and grow sustainable!

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Trends and Future of Green and Sustainable logistics


Last Mile Delivery - The Challenges and Road Ahead -

- Abhishek Shankar, Ashish Ajgaonkar S.P. Mandali's, Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai

Last Mile Delivery – An Overview

Amazon early due to which it has been noticed they are procuring 10000-70000 sq foot spaces to facilitate orders in 2 hours period. This is the reason that Amazon has seen huge surge in Prime Membership, the focus always has been bringing in the customer trust and that’s what is rising with more people subscribing to prime and trusting Amazon Last Mile delivery.

Last Mile Delivery is the last step in the delivery process where a product is moved from the Warehouse to the consumer/retailer. This is an important process as this area has lot of costs involved such as warehouse storage charges, transportation charges to the delivery person charges. The last mile delivery generally ranges from 50-100 miles and is an important process in logistics and supply chain management as it involves customer satisfaction.

In the article by Gaura. F [Gaura, F. (2020) ‘Navigating Last-Mile Delivery Challenges’, Supply Chain Management Review, 24(6), p. 1], 2020, the Vice President of Supply Chain Operations at Ryder, Mr. Frank Gaura talks about how important last mile delivery visibility among the customer has been very important over the period of time. He talks about the RyderView™ Dashboard which highlights the delivery status , delivery date and the specific delivery date by the customer. The company has gone extra mile by giving the customers option under the RyderView™ to pick six dates given by the company and the customer can pick any one according to their convenience.

A Sneak into Last Mile Delivery by organizations The article by Morris J. 2015 [Morris, J. (2015) ‘The Evolution of E-Commerce Warehouses’, Material Handling & Logistics, 70(9), pp. 18–21] focuses on how companies have been going extra mile in improving their warehousing facilities so as to facilitate better last mile deliveries. The Companies like Amazon, Walmart were seen procuring huge warehouses some seen having ceiling heights up to 40 Foot. The reason behind this is not to store the products but as to accommodate more and more sophisticated machinery to facilitate better order processing. The companies were also seen converting the warehouses into retail hubs so that companies can also focus on process the delivery of goods faster than ever. The article further focuses on what the last mile delivery is factored upon. The last mile delivery is now reaching new heights due to factors like dense population in core city and this has been noticed by Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

This shows how companies are going extra mile to have a robust last mile delivery system and focusing on customer service. Challenges in the Last Mile Delivery System The Last Mile Delivery also has it own challenges to fulfill. This is primarily because of the direct linkage with customer satisfaction. The Last Mile delivery challenges were well highlighted

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in the article published in [Transportation Science, Volume 45 Issue 3, Challenges and Opportunities in Attended Home Delivery, Niels Agatz1, Ann Melissa Campbell2, Moritz Fleischmann1, and Martin Savelsbergh3]. The paper focuses on how home delivery system faces significant challenges in the last mile delivery. The main issues highlighted are delivery fees, time slot allocation and vehicle routing problems.

Delivery fees as it helps the company cover certain logistics cost. The challenges are mentioned are not exhaustive but provide an important overview of the challenges in the Last Mile Delivery. Road Ahead in Last Mile Delivery through Innovations and its future There is no doubt about the involvement of technology shaping the last mile delivery but if we have a look at traditional last mile delivery models we look into the VLE (Village Level Entrepreneur) model [Bhamoriya, V. and Abhishek (2018) ‘Villgro Innovation Marketing Pvt. Ltd.: Building Last Mile Delivery Model Using Entrepreneurs’, Asian Case Research Journal, 22(1), pp. 57–80. doi: 10.1142/S0218927518500037.] .

The article further talks about The Peapod Case, where the company faced some significant challenge in last mile delivery and looked at improving the same by bring in Time slot based delivery. The issues faced in the Time slot method is that by providing larger and wider time slots the company may have to incur higher costs. This is certainly due to vans delivering to same pin code more than one time to accommodate the timings. The company then planned to introduce narrower time slots so that a certain pin code area is served once and also the customers get the delivery on time. This also helped the company reduce operational costs.

This model bought out an effective method of looking into better mobilization of goods in the rural areas. The companies set up a distribution hub in a prominent village which acted as a hub for nearby smaller villages which had VLEs. The VLEs would go to distribution centers and get the products in cash and carry model and sell the products in the smaller villages. This ensured a better mobilization of products in the villages and also helped companies get better penetration in these areas.

Another significant issue in last mile delivery is order picking wherein the companies at times misjudge and take orders very late and then incur additional costs to deliver the same to customers. Order picking is very important in Last mile delivery so if companies decide to have less gap between order picking and delivery time slot its difficult to have a proper vehicle routing as well. The company to also charged customers if they had to re deliver if the customer wasn’t present at the selected time slot. This also covers the major issue of Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

With now the real focus on tech we look into the recommendations in the paper [Dayarian, I., Savelsbergh, M. and Clarke, J.-P. (2020) ‘Same-Day Delivery with Drone Resupply’, Transportation Science, 54(1), pp. 229–249. doi: 10.1287/trsc.2019.0944.] . The paper shows the technique of Same Day delivery by Drone Resupply. 27

Last Mile Delivery - The Challenges and Road Ahead


The paper lays emphasis on the model that Murray and Chu introduced known as Flying side kick travelling salesman problem wherein delivery is done by drone as well truck . The truck and drone depart at the same and it is mechanized such that the drone and truck must return to the main depot at the same time. Now this happens in the following manner, the truck leaves along with the drone but when the truck stops for a delivery the drone does other customer deliveries and returns to the truck. This is a very effective method in looking at on time last mile delivery. As we look forward we have many such innovations such as Parcel Lockers, Reception Boxes,

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Crowdsourcing logistics etc. The topic is very huge and have to studied individually to deep diver into the last mile delivery system. Conclusion The Last Mile delivery system is growing day by day to keep up to customer satisfaction and the same is being developed by companies such as Amazon known as Amazon Prime Air and also by Alibaba and UPS. The article focuses on Last mile delivery and has some practical issues and innovations from the world in effective delivery.

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Last Mile Delivery - The Challenges and Road Ahead


Machine Learning: Achieving Optimization in Supply Chains -

Today,

we humans recognize daily life objects. If we see an animal, then we can easily recognize if it is a “dog” or a “cat”. It is a very trivial task for us but have you ever wondered how our mind is able to do it? The answer is Generalization! If you were given a picture of a dog, you can easily recognize that it a picture of a dog, because, our minds have abstracted the description of a dog and formulated it into a “concept” of what a dog is. So, the way we think is dependent on the fact that things are represented as generalized concepts in our minds. With generalization only, can come real “information”. So, we try to give computers the ability to generalize the “raw data” and convert it into “information” which can be patterns and trends in the data on their own.

the field of Machine Learning

which is a subset of Artificial Intelligence is moving at a staggering pace. It has found many applications in various different fields from manufacturing, psychology, automation, etc. and many more. Machine learning is successfully being used in so many fields such that, “Machine Learning” has become the most famous technical buzz word these days. On the other hand, in the business world, Supply chains have become a very important part of the businesses. So, there comes a question, can ML help in anyway, to solve problems face in Supply chains? The answer is yes! In fact, Supply chains can, in true sense, achieve optimization by using ML and many legendary SCs like Amazon, Flipkart use ML algorithms to solve their problems!

How can we use ML in Supply chains?

So, what exactly is Machine Learning?

There are many people and tasks involved in supply chains thus making it a very complex task. The optimized model of this complex entity will provide lowest cost, time and higher profit. Achieving this optimized model of supply chain is possible with ML. ML can provide many insights and efficient methods of doing things within supply chains. Some of the ways ML can help Supply chains to operate efficiently are explained in the following section: • Demand Forecasting: It is used to predict the future demands for a product. Many e-commerce supply chains buy goods from sellers and then sell them to the customer upon placing the order by the customer. For this purpose, these supply chains store the goods bought from sellers

(Source: https://www.iberdrola.com)

Technically speaking, “It is the field of study that gives computers the ability to learn from data and find some meaningful conclusions, patterns without being explicitly programmed”. This statement needs some elaboration. The essence of ML is related with the process of “Generalization”. Generalization is an abstraction by which common properties of specific instances are formulated as general concepts or claims. Consider how

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- Abhishek Govekar Vishwakarma Institute of Technology

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issues, Cross docking is and efficient way of handling products. Essentially, cross-docking removes the “storage” link of the supply chain. Products are unloaded from incoming trucks, then sorted, and directly reloaded onto outbound trucks to continue their journey. The sorting mechanism is based on the destination of the product or the type of product. This sorting mechanism is completely based on ML classification algorithms. The products from the incoming trucks is mounted on conveyer belts. These belt assemblies have cameras which are used for computer vision. These computer vision techniques use ML algorithms to classify these products. These classified products are sent to the corresponding stations for loading in trucks.

(Source: www.boldbi.com)

further the company won’t be able to in their demand for that product in the near future, which was not thought of, then the company will have to buy that good again from the seller. The biggest issue with this approach is late delivery time. If the seller fails to provide goods on time in the high then deliver that product to the customer on time. Thus, leading to bad feedback of customers. To solve this problem, companies like Amazon, make a demand forecast of all the products registered on their website. A database is made which contains each product’s name and its no. of orders on the website. Next, this database is given as an input to ML classification algorithms. These algorithms predict the demand of a product in the near future. If a high demand is detected then that product will be ordered in high amount more than that of the orders. Thus, companies won’t have to wait for the supplier to provide the product and thus the company can deliver that product faster

ML in Cross docking: Many supply

chains need big inventories or warehouses to store products. These warehouses cost very high and managing these big warehouses is a complex task. Considering these Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

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Consider an example of a company. It has to deliver products in locations A, B, C and D. The distribution center of the company will have one station for unloading all the products from all the products. These trucks have many different types of products thus they are initially unsorted. On the other end of the DC there will be Four stations corresponding to four different destination locations namely, A, B, C, D. In cross docking, the incoming trucks will unload the products in one end of the Distribution center. These products will be sorted and then loaded in the trucks located in the four end stations which will further deliver the product to the customer. Sorting of these many products by humans is practically very difficult and takes so many hours to complete. But ML Machine Learning: Achieving Optimization in Supply Chains


locations. In logistics, many types of problems occur in transportation of goods. While transporting goods from Distribution centres to customers, no. of vehicles are limited and the number of products is very high. So if the those limited vehicles have to cover all the customers in least amount of transportation cost in least amount of time. Other that this, sometimes bad weather conditions, high traffic, road problems are also responsible for delaying the product delivery and increasing transportation cost. Thus, an optimal route has to be determined which can assure that the delivery time will be as least as possible and the route will have the shortest distance travelled thus low transportation cost. Finding such an optimal route is the solution of the Vehicle Routing Problem. Finding such an optimal route becomes a very complex task for a human.

Source: https://ediacademy.com

algorithms can easily sort many products in some minutes. This is the power of ML. The most frequent use of cross-docking is when the demand for any given inventory item is highand shows strong consistency and when handling time sensitive and perishable inventory. In these cases, Cross docking reduces the amount of delivery time and eliminates the cost of having an inventory. This effective model of Cross docking is only possible because of ML. •

Source: www.researchgate.net

Vehicle

Routing Problem: In the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), the goal is to find optimal routes for multiple vehicles visiting a set of

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This can be easily solved by ML. The large scale VRP problem is first broken down into smaller distinct problems and then solutions are merged to give a final solution. First total number of vehicles serving each customer is found to analyze which vehicles should be used to deliver products to each customer. Then the result is optimized by giving the processed data to a classification algorithm which calculates the minimum number of vehicles that will deliver products to each customer. Then clustering techniques are used to form clusters of customers given the maximum distance of a cluster. So, each cluster represents a stop. By using this Machine Learning: Achieving Optimization in Supply Chains


technique, we can easily find the optimal route. This complex task is achieved only by using ML.

are listed in which ML can help supply chains, but with more research, many more ways are being developed. Thus, supply chains are able to achieve optimization / efficiency through ML in true sense!

In this way, ML can help supply chains to operate efficiently. Here only 3 ways

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Machine Learning: Achieving Optimization in Supply Chains


Faculty Speaks Here is our detailed conversation on Logistics Management in the 21st Century with Dr. Ravindra Baliga, an end to end Supply Chain professional having varied cross functional experience in Manufacturing, Logistics, Customer service and distribution, Procurement & Commercial, Imports, Projects, Production planning and presently faculty of Operations and Supply Chain. We would like to kick start this discussion by asking you about your 3 key learnings from your journey so far. 3 key learnings would be • Invest in yourself and keep learning new processes and technologies • Take care of your colleagues and subordinates, be humble • When you are purchasing a product or service, try to understand the value of what you are purchasing. You cry only once (initially, at the time of purchasing) when you purchase a quality product

are disrupting the logistic and supply chain industry? Supply chain companies will need to invest in all these technologies, as well as analysis of big data in supply chains. Tomorrows logistics companies will have to be adept in the new technologies, rather than be engaged only in fleet logistics and transport brokerages.

If we look at the logistics sector today, what are some key challenges the sector is facing, especially in the cold storage logistics? There is a lack of infrastructure, particularly in the cold storage warehouses as well as the refrigerated transportation. India lacks well organised supply chain companies which are engaged in end to end customer service.

How, according to you the industry has changed, say from last 10 years, and what further changes/advancements do you see happening? New energy efficient vehicles with bigger payloads, better roads (of course with tolls), better infrastructure for warehousing, increased use of IT tools in logistics.

What according to you are some key lessons that the Indian logistic companies can learn from the more developed countries? Indian logistics companies should look to deliver end to end supply chains for delivering customer service. It would mean investing in suitable infrastructure as a precursor to deliver customer service.

How significant do you feel is the contribution of Logistics as a sector in the vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ ? Without logistics, neither raw materials can reach the manufacturers, nor the finished goods will reach the distributors/ customers. Hence, proper logistics processes and infrastructure are

How do you think the new technologies like block chain, Artificial intelligence, IoT Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

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vital for being self reliant, as well as globally competitive. How can logistics sector in India be prepared for any future uncertainties such as COVID-19 or any other calamity? The logistics sector will have to engage in thorough risk analysis and mitigation strategies, in order to increase the resilience and ensure delivery of customer service.

keeping up pace with increasing demand? A study of logistics companies oriented towards e commerce by MHI and Deloitte (2019) noted that customer demands for lower delivered cost/pricing, demand for faster response/delivery times and rising customer service expectations were among their top business challenges. Servicing the e commerce companies vis a vis brick and mortar companies will require logistics companies to be agile, innovative and use IT tools and technologies.

How can truck platooning affect the logistic provider's profitability? While trials of truck platooning are being conducted in the US, in India we will have to look at governmental clearances for permitting trials; such new initiatives would necessarily require high quality roads and electronic infrastructure.

Finally, for an aspiring logistics and supply chain enthusiast, who is looking to build a career in this field what according to you are some key trends and developments that he/she should focus upon? The aspiring SC enthusiast will have a future professional life of over 30 years and he should start learning in new technologies like ML/AI, big data analytics, blockchain etc. to equip him. Key trends would be supply chain digitisation, reverse logistics and circular economics, agile and omnichannel supply chains etc. Last but not least will be sustainability in supply chains.

How can we move towards green and sustainable logistics? Certain simple things such as usage of higher payload trucks, collaborating with organisations for utilising full truck loads, improved fleet maintenance of vehicles, usage of green fuels, improved driver training etc. What are your opinions about the future of space logistics? At the present time, its a nascent technology.

Anything important you would like to share with us which has not been covered in previous questions. Be humble, keep learning and try to imbibe new systems and technologies.

There is an increasing shift in consumer demand from brick and mortar to e commerce. How are logistic services

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Faculty Speaks


Start-ups in the field of Logistics Peloton – Powering a driverless future Peloton Technologies, a US Silicon Valleybased vehicle startup revolutionized the way AI can be implemented into the trucking industry. According to its mission statement, its goal is to solve the two biggest challenges of the trucking industry – crashes and fuel use. The innovation Peloton brought to truckbased logistics is that they increased the driving awareness of trucks by building state of the art Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication networks and augmented those with cutting edge collision avoidance radar sensors installed on the periphery of the vehicle. Along with minimal human intervention this allowed an efficient platooning operation to be carried out.

This technology not just augments the autonomous capability of vehicles but also provides a proven saving of 7% on overall fuel consumption as claimed by the company. Exotec – Robots in the warehouse Exotec Solutions, a robotics manufacturer based in France has joined the bandwagon of industrial robots with their line of Skypod 3D warehouse robots. These programmable robots are a coordinated army of machines that can run across the entire warehouse floor and go up and down racks to pick up or stack standardized bins of products.

Each platoon of trucks needs only 2 human drivers – one in the lead truck and one in the last truck with multiple driverless vehicles linked with each other in the chain. The lead truck controls the steering, acceleration and braking of the entire platoon over a shared data link with the entire platoon. The driver in the last truck monitors the situation cojointly with the lead driver meanwhile the system controls the powertrain and brakes of the vehicles. A cloud-based monitoring and management system constantly keeps an eye on the real-time parameters and monitors the health of the system. It also notifies drivers about potential pairing opportunities based on geolocation. Momentum | March 21 Edition, Vol XV

Apart from the hardware, the company also provides software solutions to coordinate the fleet of robots and increase the efficiency in the warehouse. These robots are not meant to completely replace the human workforce but carry out the tiring task of moving across the entire floor and picking and stacking goods. Their algorithm is guided by navigation waypoints and also by human operators working in tandem. 35


The entire setup is not just meant to increase productivity but also to increase the storage capacity with intelligent racking solutions. Riding on these promises, the company raised $90 Million funding in September 2020 to further expand their business in the US, Europe, and Asia across multiple sectors like Pharma, Fashion, Grocery, Hardware, and Manufacturing.

Mavyn aims to be India's most important truckload platform, with its network spread across all districts of India at 1 percent employees cost, the lowest in the trucking industry worldwide, with the number of shipments exceeding 10,000 per day. Mavyn ACE is a software system focused on 'artificial intelligence' that, after analyzing both quantitative and nonquantitative variables, helps to 'calculate' the best price for a specific route and load at any given time. • A – Artificial Intelligence • C – Calculate • E – Evaluate •

The CEO, Romain Moulin, has the vision to become the leader in the segment of robotics solutions in logistics and with their smart offerings and flexible automation demands on the rise, they seem well on that path.

Mavyn Mavyn is a technology-driven logistics company in India that focuses on truckload transportation (more than 800 km). Funded by the Chetak Community, Mavyn is the first Internet company in India to introduce Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data in the logistics sector for truckloads. It is both paperless and cashless and operates electronically and facelessly in India without any manpower in the region. It utilizes advanced technology to refactor the end-to-end transport process, planning to provide shippers with the most efficient price and service.

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Transparent Transaction: Mavyn turns

conventional logistics transactions driven by information relationships into modern performance, accountability, and reliability-driven transaction relationships. Right Price: Mavyn uses "AI + Big Data" to reorganize orders, build a multilateral line cycle, transform traditional market pricing into efficiency pricing, reduce transport costs, and improve asset utilization. Reliable Service: They use spot pricing technology, smart early warning, and a personalized team to build a comprehensive service system to deliver stable and unified service output for different capacities.

Start-ups in the field of Logistics


What’s New in FORSE? SWOT The coronavirus has caused a lot of disturbance and has directly or indirectly affected everybody's life. But, during these difficult times, it is quite crucial for us to stay updated. SWOT Analysis is a basic yet valuable method for the analysis of an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Thus, especially these days, we have bought a plethora of knowledge to assess various organizations' current position. It helps to find out what goes well and what doesn't work too well. These are significant challenges, and to help you, you'll need a practical but basic technique: SWOT Analysis. We have played an important role in educating people by providing them with a monthly dose of knowledge of various companies like Amul.

These articles provided detailed information regarding the companies' various aspects, distinguished them from their competitors, and competed successfully in their market. From a postCOVID-19 view, take some time to think about your SWOT. You're not going to get all the solutions yet, so now is the moment to brace yourself realistically for the most successful healing you can achieve

Impromptu

Impromptu, an event that FORSE conducted was one of a kind event that brought together two things that are very common among B-School students – Case studies and social media. You heard it right and yes, the two seem to be very unrelated and even are opposite ends on a line. But the FORSE Junior team came up with a unique “Social Media Game” in which the qualified participants solved a variety of small caselets on sequenced Instagram accounts/pages in a successive manner which comprised of different levels. In this round, each team started with a common Instagram page and solved the same set of puzzles, but

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for each successive level they chose any one of the 2 options that came forward to them in that scenario, and this way the game went forward. The team taking the least amount of time to reach the final level with solving all the puzzles correctly were the qualifiers for the next round. In the final round of this event, the qualified teams from “Social Media Game” round were given a choice to solve any two-domain specific case studies in a designated time from a total of 3 domains, Marketing, Finance, and Operations. The winner was selected on the basis of the solution of the case given and the time required by the team to solve it.

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Supply Chain Management The world economy is strongly connected and influenced by supply chains. They have become the major enablers of world trade. As globalization has increased, the world’s supply chains have become substantially more interconnected. Any disruptions in any part of the world leads to disruptions in supply chains and economic recessions. Supply chain management is a crucial process because an optimized supply chain results in lower costs and a faster production cycle which helps companies

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to remain competitive in the business landscape. Corporations have realized that substantial cost savings and market benefits can be achieved by more effective management of their supply chains globally. COVID-19 crisis is a wakeup call for supply chains and one way it created de-globalization of business and supply chains. By introducing SCM articles we aim to provide information about the different aspects of supply chain of companies, ways in which they are adapting to the changing times.

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What’s New in FORSE?


What’s Exciting in FORSE? Live Project - TeeBeeH This year we had a wonderful opportunity to work in a live project named TeeBeeH. So, TeeBeeH is an online blogging platform where the articles can be read within 2 mins and much information can gained thereby. The blogs are based on varied topics such as Business, Social Interests, Health & Fitness, Entertainment, Science & Technology, Events and Competition, Arts and Culture and Travel. Working for such an

interesting project had been a dream for many people in the committee, especially the core writing community. We were given the opportunity to present our views regarding many different topics and this really helped to hone our writing skills too. This platform acted as a boon for all of us as it provided an opportunity to express our thoughts freely and to gain extensive knowledge on varied topics.

Live Project- 1Rx@1Rs 1Rx@1Rs was one of the interesting projects that we worked for, this year. This project is based out of Thane, Maharashtra. In India, around 1.6 million people die because of lack of medicine, 469 million of the Indian population do not have access to the modern healthcare. The high costs of distribution in Pharma Supply Chain and pricing pressure on Pharma companies from Government of India are the major reasons for it. Therefore, 1Rx@1Rs aims to distribute medicines at Rs.1 per unit in India by innovating, redefining and enhancing the standards in pharma

logistics in India and reducing the pharma distribution cost by half per unit from manufacturers to any distributer in India. This will meet the needs of inaccessible population and also resolve industries growth issues and has the potential savings for pharma industry to the tune of Rs.3000 to Rs.4000 crores annually. We were blessed to work for such a valuable project which helped us to hone our supply chain and marketing skills and gain the extensive knowledge of the overall pharma industry.

Live Project - SWOT&PESTLE.com Swot&Pestle.com is an established market research firm based out of Kolkata. The firm offers comprehensive and custom solutions on market scenarios and business strategies on various companies in varied sectors including Automobile, Pharma, Telecom, Retail, BFSI and many more. Students of first year have interned with the

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company and have been involved in formulating research reports for the organization which have eventually gone on record to be published by the firm as the secondary research reports. Some of the companies that the students have researched on includes; JB Hi-Fi Ltd, Mohawk Industries, O’Reilly, EOG Resources, CBRE Group, Entergy Corp etc.

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OPSQUEST Simulation Game 2021 The team of FORSE has developed a oneof-a-kind virtual simulation game based on the global pandemic that the world has been reeling under. The participants are given a challenging task where they have to put on their thinking caps to save the country from the coronavirus. The participants are required to forecast the number of cases based on the growing

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trend from the previous data and are required to order the medical supplies and other essentials to meet the growing demand. Also, they are required to figure out the logistics to deliver the supplies to different regions of the country. The participants will be judged on the basis of the overall costs that they incur and how well do they cater to the demand.

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What’s Exciting in FORSE?


Article Writing Experience

❖ Monil Shah, K J Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai

“Writing for Momentum POMS International Edition has been one-of-a-kind experience for us. I have never been so involved in pursuing article writing formally before this event. Our article was very much on the domain of Pharmaceutical sector and Vaccine Distribution plans. Having worked in Pharmaceutical manufacturing as well as distribution and retail domain, we had a detailed know-how about the sector. This article fueled our enthusiasm to know and learn more and pursue more of such article writing experiences in the future. We are very thankful to FORSE for giving us an opportunity to write for the magazine.”- Winner and Writer of COVID-19 Vaccine Storage and Distribution Plan, December 2020 Issue

❖ Sphurti Srivastava, Gargi College, Delhi University, Delhi

“This experience has been very enriching for me. The theme chosen for the magazine was very relevant and gave me the opportunity to put my writing and research skills to test. The competition helped me to learn something new apart from course. It was a learning experience for me that I thoroughly enjoyed.”- First Runner up and Writer of Impact of China on India’s Pharmaceutical Industry, December 2020 Issue. ❖ Ankur Mahajan, K J Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai

" The experience for writing the article for December GSCM edition was truly amazing. The given theme and topics were indeed, very interesting and innovative. The competition helped me not only to polish my writing skills but also helped to gain the extensive knowledge about the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Industry. Overall, the experience was highly enriching and we thank FORSE for providing such an unique opportunity to present our ideas..“- Writer of Supply Chain Analytics in HealthCare Sector, December 2020 Issue

❖ Kashish Dabas, International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi “As it said ‘what one learns with pleasure, never forgets that’, KJ Somaiya gave us this

opportunity of broadening my horizon & learning about an unchartered territory. The topic - “Covid-19 vaccine storage & distribution” was the need of the hour and was about the only source of light in a dark room. Not only the article gave us immense knowledge but also helped us bring out concrete facts which the world should know.”- Writer of COVID-19 Vaccine Storage and Distribution, December 2020 Issue.

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41 41


Brain Teasers •

Opswords Complete the crossword puzzle below

Across 2.

Process of combining two or more shipments into a single shipment that is recognized by a single bill of lading.

5.

A manufacturing term referring to a signboard incorporating signal lights, audio alarms, and text or other displays.

Down 1.

A kind of liquidated damages that are paid for extra usage of a vessel (ship).

3.

The practice of customers switching to another supplier based on special discount offers. Any return load taken after the delivery has been made.

4.

6.

The act of off-loading a container from one ship and loading it onto another ship

7.

10.

A specific application of Kanban, used in coordinating vendor replenishment activities.

A multi-dimensional research instrument, designed to capture consumer expectations and perceptions of service.

8.

Japanese term depicting unevenness, nonuniformity, and irregularity

9.

The return of an empty transportation container to its point of origin.


Brain Teasers •

Rearrange the following jumbled words to make meaningful Operations & Supply Chain terminologies.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. •

CBNHUFAGISLK RTCNEA WLLIYAB UNEDNGA TECOLEBTNK EADCG UGTOTAE ZATMAH IGOPOLN TKAA

Answer for Opswords of December 2020 edition 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Lockout HIPPA Kaizen Benchmarking Jidoka Postponement Muri Pokayoke Holacracy Heijunka Muda Inventory Work In Process Kanban Gemba


Acers-Achievers 2020 - 21

Tambola and DJ Night

Gifts to All Achievers

Acers - Achievers Meet

“We don’t remember days, we remember Moments” - Cesare Pavese


TEAM MOMENTUM

“The nicest thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side” — Margaret Carty Faculty In-Charge

Designer

Dr. Pramod Shetty

Shubham Shah Sufiyan Momin

Area Chairperson Operations

Editor Navpreet Bolla

Key Contributors Aashay Badani | Aditya Modh | Aditya Singh | Adrian Lobo | Akarsh Dave | Ankur Mahajan | Arquam Abdullah | Ashish Soni | Ayush Agrawal | Basir Quadri | Devpriya Lakhanpal | Dyanesh S. Mahajan | Earnest Green | Harin Gada | Harita Kakkad | Hiral Mody | Krisha Sanghvi| Mehul Jain | Monil Shah | Nikhil Mhatukade | Parth Dedhia | Payal Golui | Pranav Salvi | Puja Chakraborty | Purnendu Pradhan | Sambharta Dutta | Sambhav Mehta | Sankalp Tiwari | Shatakshi Bajpai | Shrishti Sarda | Srishti Mall | Sudarshan Mandal | Vedang Makwe

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