Lakshya is an initiative by Club Kaizen which is our monthly supplement designed for people who dare to think above the average and believe in connecting the dots. In an age where technology has taken over every sphere, information is abundant and data is omnipresent, we have conspired to bring to you a collection of thoughtfully created and carefully curated pieces of work by some bright aspiring minds of ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad on the current trends and hot topics in the field of Operations Management and their relevance in different Industries. Everything is growing at the pace of nanoseconds and hence it is quintessential to know about every minute change in the ecosystem. With Lakshya we aim to present our readers with compact yet explicit articles on vivid topics such as the Internet, Banking, IT, IoT, etc. A fair share of this edition focuses majorly on the banking systems and payment gateways. With the constantly evolving technology, it will be interesting to ponder over changes that could be seen soon. We look forward to providing the students with some valuable insights and inculcate the passion for reading once again within our readers. Lakshya is an amazing platform for readers as well as aspiring readers to showcase their talent and pen down their thoughts which in turn will be a gold mine for information for the students of not only IBS but from the outside world too.
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OUR KNOWLEDGE PARTNER
Club Kaizen is privileged to have The International Supply Chain Education Alliance (ISCEA, USA) as the Knowledge Partner from Lakshya’s 24th edition. To be a single source for Total Supply Chain Knowledge through Education, Certification, and Recognition is the mission of ISCEA. Many workshops/events are conducted by ISCEA to improve the knowledge of manufacturing and service industry professionals. ISCEA provides a platform to explore leadership potential to the aspiring leaders in the supply chain industry while developing the skill sets and knowledge desired by corporations, through SCNext (ISCEA Young Supply Chain Professional Association). Some of the internationally recognized certification programs developed by ISCEA include1. Certified Supply Chain Analyst (CSCA). 2. Certified Demand Driven Planner (CDDP). 3. Supply Chain Case Competition. To know more about ISCEA, visit http://www.iscea.net/india. We look forward to working with ISCEA in spreading knowledge and reaching greater heights together.
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EDITOR’S LETTER “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it." Welcome to the 42nd edition of “LAKSHYA”, our monthly supplement designed for people who take that one extra step to reach perfection. To step above the average, one needs to strive for excellence. That is exactly what we aim to achieve here. Preaching continuous improvement since its inception, Club Kaizen brought forward this magazine, which enables young writers to garner a platform where they can learn, grow and re-learn new things every day. The magazine is a tool that aids students and professional managers to get deeper insights into the current trends and latest happenings around the world. Lakshya is an amalgamation of articles from corporate professionals, faculties, and students from reputed organisations and institutions all across the world. The articles published through Lakshya aims to provide a hands-on experience from great minds and business leaders who wish to inculcate theoretical concepts and strategies with a practical implementation. We all collectively wish to bring in the best, organic and fresh ideas from the young pool of budding managers as well. Also, the most important aspect of a magazine is that it provides a platform for students to enhance and improve their writing skills, it would also create an environment for them to enrich their thought process where they research and write articles. We hope that you like this issue and please let us know if there are any areas or topics that you'd like us to address in upcoming editions. Please write to us and become a part of this discussion. Email ID: kaizenclub.ibs@gmail.com
AARATRIKA LAHIRI VICE-PRESIDENT Club Kaizen – IBS Hyderabad Batch 2020-22
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CONTENTS
S. NO.
TITLE
PAGE NO.
1
From the Mentor’s Desk
5
2
Quality Management System in Manufacturing Industry
7
3
Loco Pilot Rota (Train Driver) Vs Retail Store Manager Rota
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4
Inventory Management at Hindustan Beverages Pvt. Ltd. Sanand
16
5
RFID In Inventory Management
21
6
Zomato Could Start a Domino – Food for Thought
25
7
A Dance for the Ages
28
8
Productivity and its Importance in the Corporate World
30
9
Green Supply Chain Management
32
10
Master Production Schedule in Industry
35
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From the Mentor’s Desk
In the era of competition, students must be prepared for the ever-changing business environment. Knowledge creation plays an important role to learn to tackle the dynamic nature of business. I appreciate and congratulate the initiative of club KAIZEN for bridging the gap between the corporate world and academia through LAKSHYA which is an excellent platform where industry practitioners, academicians, and researchers can share their knowledge and experience, acting as a beacon guiding students to reach their goal. My best wishes to Club KAIZEN in their endeavor of knowledge creation through LAKSHYA.
Dr. Nishit Kumar Srivastava Mentor, Club Kaizen
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FACULTY’S INSIGHTS
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Dr. Nishit Kumar Srivastava Assistant Professor, Department of Operations and IT, IBS, Hyderabad. Quality Management System in Manufacturing Industry Manufacturing and its industry hold a pivotal position in the Indian economy. It also holds about 16 percent of real GDP in FY12 and employing about 12.0 per cent of India’s labour force. India’s manufacturing industry and exporters have played a key role in promoting the sector’s prowess to consumers across the world. While on one hand sectors such as textiles, and gems and jewellery have been India’s brand ambassadors in global markets since ancient times, the country has also made its presence felt in key industries such as engineering goods and chemicals. Now, manufacturing industry is one of the major industries that apply QMS also known as Quality Management System. What is Quality Management System? A structured system that documents processes, methods, and responsibilities for accomplishing quality policies and objectives is referred to as a quality management system (QMS). A quality management system (QMS) aids in the coordination and direction of an organization's activities in order to meet customer and regulatory requirements while also continuously improving its effectiveness and efficiency. The most common approach to quality management systems is ISO 9001:2015, an international standard that specifies requirements for quality management systems. While some people use the phrase "quality management system" to refer to the ISO 9001 standard or a set of documents that detail the QMS, it actually refers to the entire system. Benefits of QMS Every area of an organization's performance is affected by implementing a quality management system. The following are some of the advantages of having a defined quality management system: 7|K A IZE N ’S OP ERA T ION S & RE SE A RC H EN T ITY
Meeting the needs of the customer helps to build trust in the company, which leads to more customers, more sales, and more repeat business. Meeting the organization's criteria, which assures regulatory compliance and the most cost- and resource-efficient delivery of products and services, allowing for expansion, growth, and profit. The manufacturing companies of today is a combination of sophisticated machine and processes. To achieve for such high-quality product, companies are required to build a robust quality management system, integrated risk management to ensure compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice standards set forth by regulatory agencies. The key to success is a system that provides a competitive edge by providing early signals to major quality. The manufacturing industry needs a powerful and reliable quality management system to gain better control of every manufacturing process and costs. A Quality Management System helps manufacturing companies in delivering a quality process consistently and efficiently while ensuring compliance with good manufacturing practices and other applicable regulatory standards.
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The integration of an end-to-end quality management software in the manufacturing industry helps to leverage numerous advantages. Some of them are: • Better Control • Compliance with Industry Standards • Increased Production & Lesser Rework • Improved Product Assessment • Improved Internal Communication • Supplier Management Better Соntrоl А рrорerly implemented quality management system in mаnufасturing industry makes sure а better соntrоl оf рrосesses and workflows tо deliver а quality рrоduсt. Аn end-tо-end quality management system helps in bооsting thаt оverаll effectiveness оf аny mаnufасturing unit, thereby maintaining the соnsistenсy with the resources. Better соntrоl also indiсаtes the implementation оf best рrасtiсes in the system, рrосesses, аs well аs рrоduсt. Improved Рrоduсt Assessment А gооd quality management system enables аn organization tо рerfоrm а thorough рrоduсt assessment at the time оf mаnufасturing itself sо tо аvоid аny соmрlаints or issues аbоut the рrоduсt frоm the customer’s end. Соntrоlling аnd managing quality through а соmрlete assessment оf а рrоduсt tends tо beсоme more effective and соnvenient using а соnfigurаble software. Соmрliаnсe with Industry Standards А сlоsed-lоор quality management system nоt оnly adds flexibility in the рrосesses оf mаnufасturing industries, but it аlsо ensures the delivery оf quаlity соmрliаnt рrоduсts. This further serves а greater customer sаtisfасtiоn by enhancing their соnfidenсe in your brаnd аnd the products fоr the quаlity marked products. Therefore, you will be able tо сарture а larger market shаre. Improved Internal Соmmuniсаtiоn With an efficient quality management system for mаnufасturing industry, it beсоmes easier for an organization to fосus оn the соre issues especially the ones related tо the орerаtiоns management. А gооd QMS fоr mаnufасturing leverages every deраrtment оf the organization tо hаve сleаr аnd better соmmuniсаtiоn in terms оf quаlity requirements, stосk availability, аnd products delivered tо market, аnd much mоre. This, соnsequently, improves the quality of рrосesses while ensuring customer sаtisfасtiоn at the end. Increased Production & Lesser Rework А Quаlity Mаnаgement sоftwаre fоr such mаnufасturing industries ensure thаt one’s оrgаnisаtiоn аbides by the рrорer series оf рrосesses frоm performance evаluаtiоn tо the trаining оf emрlоyees in order tо bring in improvements in the same. More will be the соnsistenсy in рrосesses аnd 9|K A IZE N ’S OP ERA T ION S & RE SE A RC H EN T ITY
performance, lesser will be the issues tо handle fоr tор management аs emрlоyees are well-trained tо guide the customers with trоubleshооting. Also, since the redundancy аnd repetitiveness will reduce, the need fоr re-work will be reduced tо а little оr nil. Suррlier Mаnаgement Suррlier management is оne оf the mоst ignored аsрeсts оf quаlity management. Many оrgаnizаtiоns hаve аlreаdy realized thаt their соmраny needs this оver the time оf their funсtiоnаlity аnd hаve therefоre, hаve tаken the асtiоnаble decisions tоwаrds аn equivalent sоlutiоn. Having а gооd quаlity management system fоr mаnufасturing industries helрs the оrgаnizаtiоn tо regulate quаlity frоm the stаrt by keeping а сheсk оn the suррliers tо соllаbоrаte аnd соmmuniсаte fоr quаlity raw mаteriаls оr раrts during а timely mаnner. In these unified environments, Quality Management Systems has become a part of a prevention capability: the solution more easily monitors in real-time – and even anticipates – events from any global production or non-production source. The Quality Management System (QMS) integrated with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and manufacturing intelligence provides rapid identification, containment, risk evaluation, corrective action, and preventative methods. As a result, quality recalls are minimized in terms of number, scope and impact.
About Author: Dr. Nishit is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Operations and IT at ICFAI Business School (IBS) Hyderabad. He is Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certified from IASSC certified institute- Xlnc Academy, Mumbai. He is a recipient of the Best Professor in Operations Management Award by the Academy of Management Professionals, in association with IDMBA Hyderabad, India in the year 2020. He has recently coordinated a 3- days MDP program at IBS, Hyderabad jointly in association with the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM); the Ministry of Home Affairs; the Government of India; New Delhi. He has completed his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad in 2015. His Ph.D. thesis was on "Development of Predictive Maintenance Models- A Study in Indian Manufacturing Sector." He is the recipient of one "best paper award" at the 6th ISDSI Conference. He has an overall 10 years of research and teaching experience. His area of research interest includes Quality Management, Evolutionary Algorithm, ICT adoption studies, Healthcare, Sustainable development, etc. His teaching areas are Operations Management, Operations Research, Quality Management, Six Sigma, Project Management, Productivity Management, Business Statistics, and Disaster Management. He has more than 10 research articles published in Scopus listed, ABDC ranked, and Web of Science indexed journals of Sage, Emerald, Inderscience, etc. He has worked as an organizing member in the International Conference held by the Dept of Operations & IT, in IBS, Hyderabad. He has served as the Chairperson of ‘GATI Centre of Excellence in LSCM’ and ‘Coordination of PGDM-LSCM’ at Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar, from May 3, 2014, to May 2015. He is a lifetime member of ‘IAENG, International Association of 10 | K A I Z E N ’ S O P E R A T I O N S & R E S E A R C H E N T I T Y
Engineers, Hong Kong. He is also GATE qualified. He also serves as a Project reviewer at AIMS International for the annual SIP competition. He has presented papers in several International reputed conferences like ISDSI, AIMS International, Society of Operations Management, etc. He has chaired sessions in conferences as well. He is a guest reviewer for Scopus and ABDC listed journals of international/national repute. He is into continuous research, teaching, mentoring, and guiding students on various fronts. The writing of this article has been co-assisted by Kaizenite Aaratrika Lahiri, Batch: 2020-2022, IBS Hyderabad.
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CORPORATE ANGLE
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Mr. Jagannath Ojha General Manager Operations, Max Fashion, India
Loco Pilot Rota (Train Driver) Vs Retail Store Manager Rota
I want to share an interesting storyline from my travel book. While travelling from Ranchi to Bangalore last week, I got an opportunity to meet a few enthusiastic and energetic Loco Drivers (Train drivers) on my journey. While understanding their Rota efficiency and productivity, I was trying to relate the whole thing with our Retail Store Manager Rota and I got amazing similarities in both the fields. They handle the complexity of the railway network with 0% deviation and 100% accuracy. Below I have noted these key takeaways which we can implement in our life irrespective of any field. 1. Self-Discipline- self-discipline provides inner strength and confidence which allows us to take decisions in a calm and composed manner. By creating a self-disciplined environment in the workplace, we create a positive vibe around us. Furthermore, I can classify self-discipline onto five pillars. They are: Acceptance, Willpower, Hard Work, Industry, and Persistence. From childhood you must be hearing about how discipline is important in your life and ignoring it as if it is not, trust me it is the most vital element you can add up in your survival. 2. Team formation and coordination- Togetherness is the word which I want to put in. Collaboration within a group can help solve difficult problems. Brainstorming is a good opportunity for the team to exchange ideas and come up with creative ways of doing things. By working together like one says sharing is caring. Teams can find the solutions that work best for you. Good teamwork means a synergistic way of working with each person committed and working towards a shared goal. Teamwork maximizes the individual strengths of team members to bring out their best. Just in life you need coordination of health, mind & heart for the overall progress.
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3. Before time attitude- Attitude/ Punctuality is a very important factor in the workplaces. It is not only beneficial to the organization but also for the individual. As a result of the good attitude, the level of fatigue and stress among employees are reduced as they are motivated and innovative in discharging their duties. A positive attitude doesn't mean ignoring life's troubles. It just means being an optimist and looking for the good in things, rather than being a pessimist and concentrating on the bad in things. Sometimes your perspective can make all the difference in the world. 4. Proactive- Being proactive can help us to be more relaxed, prepared, and in control, as we are able to establish precautionary steps for potential situations. Along with that, being proactive is also correlated to our career success, better health, and better relationships Being proactive means taking responsibility for your life and actions rather than just watching how things happen. Being proactive takes time, since you have to consider your options, weigh alternatives and make your own decisions in order to achieve your goals 5. Annual leave and Calendar plan- Without planning in your life, you lose a lot of time & time is money, ultimately you lose both money and time, the best worst part is you can never ever get them back no matter how rich you are. Planning is life, job & career is a must. 6. Commitment towards a job- When you only commit to the people and things that are truly important to you, your career, or your company, the results are that your relationships will improve, you will be more successful in achieving your goals, and you'll have more time to enjoy your journey. Your commitment does not end with the decision! When work-force commitment is high, retention, pride, productivity and trust are affected. The employer experiences positive internal recognition, as well as greater success in the marketplace. And employees gain recognition that they are the greatest assets of the organization. 7. Fun at Work- Fun at work is a key element of employee happiness, a sense of fun helps people to have a more positive mind-set, enjoy higher levels of wellbeing and better mental health. Organisations with higher levels of employee wellbeing report lower levels of absenteeism, presenteeism, and work-related errors Having fun is good for you because physiologically, it helps to balance out our stress and feelgood hormones, preventing diseases long-term. It helps to boost our creativity, energy, productivity, and overall cognition. Children are simply amazing with their sense of curiosity, creativity, and overall happiness. A fun office atmosphere promotes a better culture of learning, research finds. Studies have determined that permitting employees to have fun at work makes them likely to perform better at their jobs. Work learning is more likely to happen alongside co-workers instead of in a regimented classroom setting.
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8. Appreciating what they have- Always try to bring in self-happiness with whatever you have. However, you can also scale up for your growth, but still be happy & satisfied & appreciate the little things you do your yourself or for any community. 9. Helping each other family members when they are at Duty- The helping nature Gratitude, have that. That’s more important than anything in your life. Understand the other person and try to help them wherever it's possible. 10. Handling uncertainty- This situation in your life will make you worth it. Embrace it & always try to find a positive way out. It helps you in your personal and professional life too. I do understand, these 10 things are critical and difficult to exhibit at times, but No system or process implementation can bring this to any individual. It’s completely self-interest what works, which can increase retail productivity while having fun and personal growth at work. About Author: Mr. Jagannath Ojha is General Manager Operations of Retail Operations in Landmark Group, Max Fashion India. Mr. Jagannath has a total of 14 years of industry experience. He has been associated with Max Fashion India for 9 years now. Earlier he was with Star Bazaar as Assistant Manager Operations and prior to that with ITC as Store Incharge. Within a span of 9 years, Mr. Ojha has been promoted 6-7 times with 7-8 new senior-level profiles. Mr. Ojha has done post-graduate diploma in retail management, retail operation, buying and merchandising, Supply chain management from the Institute of management and information science, Bhubaneshwar. Mr. Jagannath has done diploma in management and Operations from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.
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Ms. Pooja Singhani Manager- Stores/Shipping HCCB Sanand Plant,India Inventory Management at Hindustan Beverages Pvt. Ltd. Sanand With Evolution of Industry 4.0, how should we operate our production lines and factories, how should we manage and optimize inventory, how should we deploy our workers, how should we run our businesses, how should we manage our supply chains? This chapter aims to highlight the impact of Industry 4.0 on manufacturing systems and services, as well as supply chains, in particular, on inventory systems and optimization Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt.Ltd.Sanand is one of the Smart Factory which is a fully connected and integrated digital environment that optimises the end-to-end manufacturing process. Smart Factories use sensors, IoT, the Cloud, Big Data, AI, virtual reality, robotics,innovative production methods & with Real Time Inventory Management.
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Material Receiving Process starts from Gate wherein Software called MaxPro has all the information of Documentation, Purchase Order, LR copy, COA etc. There is no any manual communication between stakeholders for getting the material inside. Dashboards give each and every information related to Consignment. Stores does GRN and do barcoding on each & every box for traceability. The same material gets staged inside Bins provided in auto by the system.
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One Click Inventory Work Flow says that by just making Process Orders in ERP system as per Bills of Materials, the Material gets reserved for the Particular Order after Stores Approves Process Orders. Forklift Person sees the tabs in their front screen with respect to Process order wise where batches & barcodes are provided by the system along with Bin numbers. Scanning & consuming the barcodes online by use of zebra Scanners as per the activity planned gives us Real time Inventory at every point of time in system. After Production Order gets Closed, the system reconciles issue, consumption & return and give real time scenario. Most importantly, the traceability of material is ensured down to the point when the operator feeds the material into the production line. Such a linkage helps the factory trace any product related complaint right up to the box of raw material used in the production. In other words, it is possible to pinpoint which box of raw material was used and at what time, to produce which product, in which batch, against which order. So, in case of repetitive failure, one could hold the vendor accountable with relevant data. Near Expiry Material Notifications through Mail gives a clear picture in advance to take the requisite step by different stakeholders. Auto Production Booking & Consumption: There is Auto Pallet Production booking of the pallet coming out of Palletizer with the help of WMS Software. No longer does the Production Manager at this factory wait for a reconciliation of data on pallets, or bulk package containing cases of beverages, or the dispatches to the warehouse, to be able to book production orders. In a conventional system, a couple of hours are lost in just reconciliation of the data. Today, the entire process of production booking to the storage of beverages in the warehouse, to the dispatch of products to the trade, is continuous and without any human aid.
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Finished Goods Inventory Management by ASRS: Finished Goods, each pallet batchwise are totally barcoded with help of Label Applicator after auto booking happens in system. They go and sit inside ASRS Racking System which has an IOT module. This can capture machine data from PLC & send it to on-premise server/ cloud server for processing it & finding system performance. This data can also be used for the predictive analysis. Different SKU’s, SUT’s are instilled inside ASRS system which maintains end to end Finished Goods inventory. During shipment material comes from Racks as per FEFO and loaded inside different types of trucks after barcodes consuming. Hence, giving Real time inventory of Finished Goods too. E-Invoicing along with E-way bill generates after order confirmation post barcode scanning.
About Author: Pooja Singhani is having 12+ years of experience in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Procurement, Contract Manufacturing with a Pharma and FMCG background. She has been awarded as Leadership Icon in HCCB and recently Women Leader in Warehousing. She is currently working as Manager in Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd.(HCCB), Sanand Plant.
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EMERGING MANAGERS
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Mr. Sunil Ghadwal MSc Digital Engineering, OVGU Magdeburg,Germany 2021-2023
RFID In Inventory Management Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) allows a business to identify individual products and components, and to track them throughout the supply chain from production to point-of-sale. RFID is a technology that uses radio waves for communication between a tag and a reading device. The tag usually consists of a microchip attached to an antenna. The reader is capable of reading data from and writing data to the tag. RFID inventory management An RFID tag is a tiny microchip, plus a small aerial, which can contain a range of digital information about a particular item. Tags are encapsulated in plastic, paper or similar material, and fixed to the product or its packaging, to a pallet or container, or even to a van or delivery truck. The use of RFID for inventory management requires a scanner that uses radio waves to communicate with an RFID tag. The tag itself contains a microchip that allows the reader to read data and also write data to the tag for real-time updating in place. Each tag is wrapped in a material like plastic or paper for protection and can be affixed to a variety of surfaces for tracking. Most tags used for inventory tracking are passive RFID tags, meaning they contain no battery and are powered by the waves from the readers. Active tags are powered, come at a higher cost, and are used for long-range tracking of machineries such as trucks and railway cars. The tag is interrogated by an RFID reader which transmits and receives radio signals to and from the tag. The information that the reader collects is collated and processed using special computer software. Readers can be placed at different positions within a factory or warehouse to show when goods are moved. Using RFID tagging for stock control offers several advantages over other methods such as barcodes: • Tags can be read remotely, often at a distance of several metres 21 | K A I Z E N ’ S O P E R A T I O N S & R E S E A R C H E N T I T Y
• Several tags can be read at once, enabling an entire pallet-load of products to be checked simultaneously • Tags can be given unique identification codes, so that individual products can be tracked • Certain types of tag can be overwritten, enabling information about items to be updated, eg when they are moved from one part of a factory to another RFID tagging can be used: • • •
To prevent over-stocking or under-stocking a product or component For stock security, by positioning tag-readers at points of high risk, such as exits, and causing them to trigger alarms For quality control, particularly if you make or stock items with a limited shelf life
The costs associated with RFID tagging have fallen over recent years, and continue to do so. The benefits of more efficient stock control and improved security make it particularly attractive to retailers, wholesalers or distributors who stock a wide range of items, and to manufacturers who produce volume runs of products for different customers. Pros in Using RFID Tags for Inventory Management Using RFID tags for inventory management offers several benefits, such as reduced labor costs and faster scanning. Here’s a look at how RFID tags can be a benefit in the inventory management process. •
•
•
Improved visibility and faster scanning. Since RFID tags do not require a “line-of-sight” scan like barcodes, it is possible to read them at a distance for fast inventory processing. They can also be read in any orientation and give you improved visibility into your inventory with the potential for more frequent updates and scanning locations. Reduced labor costs. With labor costs accounting for as much as 50-80% of distribution center costs, RFID offers potential benefits in this area. Inventory check-in, counting, and shipment verification can be done very quickly and automatically in a few scans without the need for multiple employees to process them. These savings must be weighed against the cost of investing in an RFID inventory solution, which we’ll discuss in more detail below. Tracking of returnable assets. For those companies that utilize a returnable fleet of assets such as containers and pallets, there is often a significant capital investment to protect. Utilizing RFID allows you to track these assets through the entire supply chain loop and provide increased visibility on inventory locations. This has the added benefit of improving returns and reducing theft or neglect.
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Cons in Using RFID Tags for Inventory Management While there are some benefits of using RFID tags for inventory management, the technology also comes with several disadvantages that hinder usability and introduce other concerns, such as security. Here’s a look at the distinct disadvantages of using RFID tags for inventory management. •
•
•
•
Inability to use cell phones as scanners. Even though there are fixed and remote RFID readers available, it is not possible to use a phone to scan them, as can be done with barcodes. This is especially limiting as it requires drivers or employees in the field to carry specific RFID readers to do any scans, and phones cannot be used as a backup if the provided readers fail. Prohibitive costs when scaling. RFID tags cost significantly more than barcode labels. In addition, they utilize specific readers that must be purchased from the limited number of RFID equipment manufacturers. This can add significant costs when scaling these solutions with the requirement for additional specialized scanners and RFID tags. Demanding infrastructure needs. Setup for these systems requires the integration of the readers, tags, inventory management system, network, and building wiring that can take a significant amount of time and resources to set up. In some cases, companies may need to update their inventory management system entirely, as some software platforms do not support RFID. Also, if real-time asset tracking is required, the RFID-enabled system will need to utilize GPS and cellular data to communicate, which can put a significant burden on your system. Security concerns. While RFID systems continue to update and improve their data security, they can still be vulnerable to hacking. Remote devices, including cell phones, can sometimes be used to scan tags at close range and copy tag data. This could later be used to create a cloned tag or copy the information to another tag, a risk of particular concern in the retail industry.
While the use of RFID tags in inventory management offers some compelling and tangible benefits, there is a great deal of work to be done to streamline these systems. Much of the challenge involves scaling this solution in a cost-effective way while updating infrastructure enough to be able to capitalize on its greatest benefits. Does RFID Increase Inventory Accuracy? Using an RFID inventory system has been shown to improve inventory accuracy by up to 13% compared to traditional inventory tracking methods and manual inventory checks in some situations. Particularly in the retail industry, where maintaining inventory accuracy is an ongoing challenge, there are some benefits to implementing a more automated system. In a warehouse environment, the implementation costs may outweigh the benefits in some cases. It can be beneficial in situations where 23 | K A I Z E N ’ S O P E R A T I O N S & R E S E A R C H E N T I T Y
a very high inventory accuracy rate is required, but there is always a balance between hardware and labor costs that should be considered. For companies looking to adopt an inventory tracking solution, it’s important to conduct a thorough analysis of the differences between established technologies such as barcode labels and tags designed for inventory control and newer solutions like RFID to ensure that you will achieve a desirable ROI for your investment. For most companies, barcode labels are smart and practical choices for inventory management.
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Mr. Piyush Poddar MBA, 2020-2022 NMIMS MUMBAI Zomato Could Start a Domino – Food for Thought The story of Zomato has been nothing short of inspirational and one of those that everyone thinks is too good to be true. However, they have proved to be one of the greatest startup stories that one could come across. A large segment of the population perceives Zomato to be a food delivery app with really effective advertising and a very strong social media influence which is quirky, a perfect balance of humor and moment marketing, and something that sticks with the audience. While all of this has been an added advantage to the company, there is much more that has led it to the position it has in the market today and growing at a continuous pace. A company that started with trying to solve the hungry problem to becoming the first unicorn in the public market, it is showing a possible shift in the whole startup segment with a lot more companies waiting for the same opportunity. The idea of trying to pitch to the Indian investors who were very sceptical about investing in a loss-making company with limitless potential. The company is still clear on trying to scale up before turning to the topic of profits, and that is only because there is a genuine belief that the company is only going to grow more. The market cap also grew exponentially post them going public and with all the buzz, it's only fair to go down the memory lane and see their evolution to India's top 50 companies. In the year 2010, Foodiebay decided to rename itself as Zomato.com. the company said it they derived their name from the word 'tomato' and added a certain zing to it. The rebranding was also done with a hope of expanding their operations beyond the usual. Foodiebay was restricted in its 25 | K A I Z E N ’ S O P E R A T I O N S & R E S E A R C H E N T I T Y
scope as it meant the company would only cater to food which was not something the founder was keen on. This was also the year when Co-founder and CTO Gunjan Patidar joined the company. By the year 2011, they expanded to all the major cities of the country like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune. They had done a really good job on banking on the smartphone era and did their best to direct crowds to its webpage for more engagement. In 2012, the company built the first Android and iOS app as well as going international by expanding to countries like Sri Lanka, Qatar, UK, South Africa and Phillipines. By 2013, they were gaining the confidence of multiple investors in the company's potential and raised $16.7 from InfoEdge as well as $37 million from Sequoia Capital while simultaneously expanding to New Zealand, Turkey, Indonesia and other countries. The company was founded in 2008 as Foodiebay, a food listing platform with its founder Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chhadah working on this idea while they were still a part of Bain Consulting. In a very short time, they became the go-to place for restaurant search. Their struggle to find menus and restaurants around their workplace led them to create Foodiebay that would make the menus of restaurants available online. The focus was not always towards such an idea. Deepinder had started another website called foodlet.com which was a venture where it would tieup with restaurants and put their promotions on its website and the customers could order food online from the website itself. However, they eventually decided to make Foodiebay a huge success by combining the features of foodlet.com to it. 2014 was a year where Zomato moved into an acquiring phase by taking over Menu-mania, Gastronauchi and Cibando. They also raised $60 million at a post-money valuation of $660 million. In 2015, they finally launched food delivery while also facing its first big hurdle, a data breach, which the team was able to resolve within 12 hours. They were also able to raise a staggering $110 million in that year over two rounds. They continued to acquire other food portals like Urbanspoon, MapleGraph and Nextable. 2016 led to them purchasing Sparse Labs, a logistics technology startup to enhance their delivery option by optimising delivery routes and ensuring minimal wait time for the riders. It was renamed as Zomato Trace and the company also decided to roll out this service free of cost to its restaurant partners. In 2017 they launched Zomato Infrastructure services to help the partnered restaurants and acquired Runnr. In the year 2018, the company initially raised $150 million from Ant Financials after which in the month of March, Pankaj Chaddah decided to part ways with Zomato while still being a part of the board of directors. It also entered the unicorn club with a valuation of $1.3 billion and hit a $100 26 | K A I Z E N ’ S O P E R A T I O N S & R E S E A R C H E N T I T Y
million revenue run-rate and registered a 40% growth in 2 months. In April, they claimed to reduce cash burn from $15 million to $11 million while also posting a revenue of $74 million in FY 2017. In the coming months it came up with a Piggyback loyalty programme for its customers to save on their orders, acquired TongueStun and entered the B2B foodtech space. They also launched Zomato pickup in 13 cities, raised $210 million and hit a valuation of $2.3 billion. They even entered the drone delivery space by Acquiring TechEagle Innovations. They hit a massive setback when a delivery staff was caught eating food from multiple packages and reselling them which led them to launch tamper-proof packaging. In the year 2019, they elevated Gaurav Gupta to the co-founder role and did the same for Mohit Gupta in the year 2020 while simultaneously acquiring UberEats business in India in an all-stock deal, giving them 10% of their combined business. They raised a combined $114 million from Temasek and Kora and launched Zomato Market. Come year 2021, Zomato has raised $250 million and has signed a deal with Grofers to invest $100 million in the company by acquiring 9.3% stakes of the company. Company decided to go public and the IPO was open for subscription between 14-16 July and the price range was that of 72-76 rupees. On 23rd July they opened at 116 rupees per share and went as high as 138 rupees before closing at Rs 125. The company had a 66% rise in their share price, something no one had anticipated with a market capitalisation of $13 billion. They called this event a bell ringing ceremony and it was done digitally of course with the company thanking all the stakeholders in its official statement. Zomato has shown yet again huge potential and that is the reason it created such havoc in the market. The company is growing on all fronts and with its plans of further expansion, it's only a matter of time before it is not a loss-making company anymore with potential but one that has achieved beyond what was imagined.
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Mr. Arko Ghosh MBA IMC 2020-22 K J Somaiya Institute of Management A Dance for the Ages First come, first conquer! We can definitely use this going ahead. Sports and branding and marketing go hand in hand. A great example of Pioneer marketing comes to play when it comes to uniting sports, or more like, sportsmen to the brand they represent. Pioneering strategy is one where a company has the first mover advantage in an industry and uses that advantage to gain a large market share. The pioneer in any market has to defend its place in the market from competitors that follow it and has to keep up with the technology/trends or whatever is important to defend its market share. There are other advantages of capturing the distribution channels and increasing reach without interference of any competitor in the market. The buzz and the brand loyalty that a brand can build by being a pioneer can be amazing and it can use this to its advantage to outperform other competitor when they enter the markets. The recent saga of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi leaving their clubs and the differences it made in the valuation of those clubs just go to show how sports personalities are so much more than just that. They have become a brand themselves and while people say it's a team sport and no player are bigger than the team, the total paradigm shifts within the sport brought by these legends speaks for itself. Now the recency of these athletes has brought forth the argument of whether these are the most influential athletes ever. That is understandable as social media is dominated by Gen Z. However, there is an athlete who has transcended through generations and has created a brand that has eclipsed the inspiration of the same. It's none other than the NBA icon, Michael Jordan.
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Jordan is more than just a sports legend; he is a branding juggernaut and getting featured on License Global's coveted 2019 Influentials List just adds to the argument of him being the most influential sports figure to ever exist. NIKE's Jordan brand had led him to become "The World's Richest Athlete" and it is dominating the footwear segment to a point where there hardly seems to be a competition. The brand brought in a staggering $3.14 billion in revenue in fiscal year ending May 2019, and Michael Jordan himself earned an estimated $145 million. Jordan's net worth is $2.1 billion due to his majority stake in Charlotte Hornets as well as other deals he stroked with McDonald's, Coca-Cola, General Mills and he still has partnerships with Gatorade, Hanes and Upper Deck. The Jordan brand under Nike has various sponsorship associations and collaborations with multiple NBA stars, Epic Games, soccer club Paris Saint-Germain, Travis Scott, Justin Timberlake and many more. The sales of the brand skyrocketed after the release of the Netflix documentary "The Last Dance" which led to multiple celebrity partnerships as well as reimagined versions of retro styles. The documentary perfectly captures the icon Michael was and his mentality that always made him stand out from the rest, something even his brand is doing in the market. According to multiple reports, NIKE held 86% of the U.S. Basketball shoe market, and of course the Jordan brand was the highest contributor to the same. The credit has to go to Michael Jordan who put Nike on the map when it was still in the growing stage. The success was mammoth and the Air Jordan deal led to them earning $100 million in sales in the first year itself. Jordan as an individual is earning money through various revenue streams and as the famous quote goes "It's gotta be the shoes!" has really come to life recently. While "The Last Dance" might have ended in terms of his heroics in basketball, Jordan's business empire is a dance for the ages and will transcend through the coming generations as well. While athletes come and go and legends are made, Michael Jordan will always be a pioneer in the sporting industry and his one-of-a-kind story is what makes people dream of the unthinkable.
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Mr. Kushal Saraogi MBA, 2020-2022 IBS Hyderabad Productivity and it’s Importance in the Corporate World
We often hear the word Productivity, included in economic and administrative literature and in popular newspapers. Indeed, not a day goes by without this name appearing in many cases. In addition, when experts talk about the collapse or growth of a product, they emphasize its importance in everything from economic growth rates to international health and industrial performance, as well as a professional work graph. Therefore, it is important to understand what productivity means and why it is so important to all economic, political, social, and individual stakeholders. Simply put, productivity is the output of each task that is measured periodically and specific conditions and conditions. To better understand this, let's take the example of a store factory worker you can say, make 10 units of an item per hour. Therefore, in this case, the product reflects the output of what the employee can produce in a particular hour at a particular location. In addition, it also shows that when all factory workers are assembled, there is another standard product of the whole plant or combined factory. Explain, if one worker can make 20 units in one hour, then this work is said to be more productive than before. On the flip side, if a third worker can produce only 5 units per hour, that work is said to be unproductive than the other two. So, what we get now is a measure of each product. As mentioned earlier, in the case of all workers, then the normal production is achieved after taking up the total units produced at an hour separated by all the workers of the tree.
Measuring employment for different jobs Until now, we have faced time as a production decision. To change the nature of production, there are activities such as Artisans and Management Managers and Investment Bankers and Software Professionals whose product must be tailored to the specific context or context of their work. This 30 | K A I Z E N ’ S O P E R A T I O N S & R E S E A R C H E N T I T Y
means that one cannot compare apples to oranges, so the product of different activities is different, therefore, one should also state the time and the context and the contextual factors that determine production. On that account, economists have developed high-quality models in which the combined product of all workers states that a country or region has arrived after making investments of various entities. It is also not true that employees in different fields cannot be compared. Indeed, after making grants and model adjustments, economists often have standard production measures for each job, which is why, this measure is widely used by companies and nations to determine who produces. Therefore, this forms the basis for performance and price incentives and bonuses for employees and professionals, and that is why production measures are so important to them. Indeed, the fact that a large audience of executives and investment banks tend to retrench productive employees after each cycle of testing demonstrates the importance of adhering to product steps.
Productivity Conundrum in modern times Having said that, in recent months, there have been reports that productivity is rising as technology has reached a climax and this worries many economists who see this as a challenge in their minds. Some have suggested that we need to come up with new production rating measures in response to the Smartphone and Mobile computing and New Sharing Economy revolution where it is difficult to differentiate between manufacturers and consumers. Hence, we stand at the pinnacle of a new vision where the old methods of production and new production and their impact are no longer sufficient which is why some experts are working for the Conundrum of High Growth and Low Productivity. In conclusion, productivity is a very important process for companies and professionals.
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Ms. Manya Verma MBA, 2020-2022 IBS Hyderabad Green Supply Chain Management
Green supply chain management refers to the concept of integrating sustainable environmental processes into the traditional supply chain. This includes processes such as product design, material sourcing and selection, manufacturing and production, operation, and end of life management. Instead of just attempting to mitigate the environmental impact of the supply chain, GSCM includes driving value creation throughout the supply chain organisations to reduce total environmental impact. While the goal of GSCM is the reduction of CO2 emissions, other tangible benefits for an organisation includes greater less waste production, efficiency of assets, greater innovation, reuse of raw materials, reduction of production costs, increased profitability, perception of added value to the client base, and many more. Integral to the success of GSCM is the approach taken by each party to their upstream and downstream partners in the supply chain. More transparency, collaboration, and integration of supply chain processes and systems is required for the initiative to be effective. Since the last couple of decades, environmental issues have been increasing and spreading like forest fire, country to region, region to world level territory, which is a serious cause of climate change and global warming. In addition, scarcity of natural resources and air and water pollution badly affects the fauna and flora, human life with different diseases, like ischemic heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, Cholera, Hepatitis and Typhoid fever. The green supply chain concept mitigates environmental degradation and controls air, water, and waste pollution by adopting green practices in business operations. However, the basic idea behind the green concept is to enhance environmental sustainability, but firms adopt this concept as “kill two enemies with one bullet”. Because it can reduce the environmental pollution and production costs and 32 | K A I Z E N ’ S O P E R A T I O N S & R E S E A R C H E N T I T Y
can spur economic growth, creating competitive advantage in terms of greater customer satisfaction, positive image and reputation and provide better opportunity to export their products in proenvironmental countries. The definition of green idea is expanding with new innovations and techniques to protect environmental sustainability, which can be recognized by corporate social responsibility, green manufacturing, waste reduction, recycling, and green supply chain, etc.
Above image is an example of the green supply chain of a child's crib manufacturer. It makes the applications of the key sustainable development strategy outstanding and emphasizes on how green practices can be implemented by firms to mitigate the environmental degradation and increase the operational and economic performance. Image below shows a simple model of green supply chain. Green sourcing or purchasing means purchasing components and materials which have eco-friendly characteristics such as recyclability, reusability, and non-use of hazardous chemicals. With more concerns on environmental protection, procurement professionals have been motivated to reconsider their existing sourcing or purchasing strategy and their impact on environmental sustainability.
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Green practices in manufacturing improves efficiency of processes. This practice involves application of the green resources, leading towards competitive advantage through reduction in product’s cost and improvement in product’s quality. Green distribution and warehousing can reduce waste and play an important role in energy reduction and value addition of green products in warehousing, improving overall performance of organizations with better corporate image. Green distribution helps enterprises to obtain superior financial and environmental performance. By adopting GSCM practices, firms can enhance their operational performance by improving product’s quality and delivery services. Green supply chain management initiative also helps organizations in improving their environmental performance such as elimination of waste from endto-end supply chain, reduction in carbon emissions, effective and strong collaboration with suppliers would decrease their communication costs and easily promote reuse, recycling, and remanufacturing.
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Mr. Abhay Shukla MBA, 2020-2022 IBS Hyderabad Master Production Schedule in Industry Master Production Scheduling is one of the most important processes around the world while manufacturing a product. It helps manufacturers in terms of what is being manufactured and what material would be required for production. Why it is used? MPS is an overall plan to assess the production of your finished goods. It is an important part of an ERP system it provides the most optimum planning program which provides actual demand and supply data so that the manufacturer can create a precises production plan. The master production schedule is created using software’s utilizing the data on forecasted demands, inventory production lead time and resource capacity. One of the main functions of master production schedule is to save time which is spent while managing all the tasks of the production line by providing each and every information necessary so the manufacturer can fulfil all the consumer necessities. The output provided by Master Production Schedule provides the amount of the raw material items required to produce the products expected to meet the demands created by the consumer so that a Material Requirements Planning Schedule (MRP) can be created. Material requirements Planning is a system created to for calculating and measuring the material and components required to Manufacture a product. It consists of 3 basic steps – 1. Identifying the inventory on hand. 2. Identifying the additional material required. 3. Scheduling the production or if needed the purchasing face. 35 | K A I Z E N ’ S O P E R A T I O N S & R E S E A R C H E N T I T Y
It is basically done via specialized software’s those ensure that the exact amount of inventory is maintained for production when the process initiates and that too at the minimum cost available. It improves the flexibility, efficiency and profitability of the production processes and even improve the productivity of the workers and improves the quality of the produced product. It helps manufacturers to avoid delays in production processes and inventory stockouts which could result in an unsatisfied customer. Difference between MPS and MRP MPS Plans independents demand
MRP Plans Dependent demand
Independent Demand is the demand that is directly came from the consumers with their specifications. Dependent demands are demands that depends on the independent demands to decide what to produce. MPS will help the manufactures plan their purchase of items depending on the customer demands or forecasts. the system plans the production processes taking the factors in consideration like inventory costs, production costs, lead time, capacity, working hours, inventory levels, available storage. The difference in MRP is that it plans for items needed to be produced. MRP will give you answers to, • How much more do the manufacturers require on the basis of the inventory they consist? • How much do the manufacturers require to purchase? • How much do the manufacturers expect to consume? The system takes into consideration inventory reordering levels, minimum quantities to maintain the inventory the manufacturing planning stage to improve the order economics and balance order costs.
Benefits of master production scheduling •
Inventory Control – It observes the inventory and tries to keep the inventory level in desired range in the facility.
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•
Setting up due dates – this acts as the main component of the aggregate planning in the production plant. It managed and decides to setup dates for the availability of finished goods.
•
Customer service – timely delivery of products to consumer is an essential component in maintain the consumer satisfaction and MPS helps in delivering the products to the consumers on time.
•
Scheduling – MPS setups schedules for when the production of components that are used as the input for the Material requirement Planning.
Stabilize Production – it ensures that the employees are aware of what is to be produced and when so that there is no need for an instant change or a halt in production processes
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ABOUT US The word “Kaizen”, where “Kai” = change, “Zen” = good, signifies change for the better. In its birthplace Japan, the word Kaizen is imbibed as a process that many small continuous changes in systems and policies bring effective results than few major changes. This methodology applies to every department across different sectors. Kaizen – The Official Operations Club of IBS Hyderabad has always been aspiring “Constant Change ad Evolvement”. We, as an organization work to inspire and aspire to the student community for the betterment of the future. KORE – Kaizen’s Operations and Research Entity, one of our primary wings provide the students with a platform to improve and hone their technical competencies to meet the changing demands of the organizations. KORE’s sphere of influence includes Case-Based Research, Consultancy, Live Projects, and Workshops. LAKSHYA, an initiative of KORE focuses on improving the reader's knowledge about Operations Management by providing insights in the form of articles on various operation techniques followed by different companies and also updating the emerging trends in the communities.
SHRISTI SHARMA JOINT SECRETARY - KORE Club Kaizen – IBS Hyderabad Batch 2020-22
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