Jasjit Sethi
The industry and stakeholders should attempt to consider the transformation in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak through a positive lens in order to improve supply chain and logistics management so as to provide highvalue and even more outstanding services to the society, since it has now been made abundantly clear that supply chains are the veins of an economy. In an exclusive conversation, Jasjit Sethi, CEO, TCI Supply Chain Solutions reveals to Upamanyu Borah, about identifying new alternatives to build, diversify and reorient supply chain and distribution capabilities which will represent an important component of the strategies to build resilience against future disruptions, while constantly innovating products and processes.
What you consider as the top 3 challenges the industry is currently facing? First and foremost is the ‘re-jig or relook’ at the supply chain from source to consumption, ensuring sustainability. Next are the regional and local issues due to restrictions in the form of containment zones and fluid situation. While it has not impacted TCI, the migrant labour exodus is a big issue for many organisations. Overriding above all of this is the fact that COVID-19 is touching 3 million cases in India, and the situation is far from plateauing off. What are the best- and worst-case scenarios, and is your business adequately equipped to cope? The best and worst case scenarios depend from company to company. Those who are playing a catch up game will continue to struggle. For example, while we did not know the depth and length of the lockdown situation, TCI was much ahead of the curve and had done scenario analysis before the nation-wide lockdown was announced. We had the necessary infrastructure in place supported by secure processes for awareness and precautions around COVID-19. During the lockdown, we ensured our employees were safe and in-station and our truckers were with their vehicle while arrangements for their food and shelter were monitored. We had created quarantine rooms in all our staff mess across the country as a precautionary measure. The motive in our plans towards dealing COVID-19 disruptions was facilitating business continuity for our clients in a way taking care of all the stakeholders in the ecosystem. We closely planned with every single client to deal with the situation in ways relevant to their business vertical. We ensured smooth movement of essentials during the lockdown. Our planning for the first three months of this financial year was good, considering our emphasis on keeping our network active and working. While the surge in demand is an outcome of the economy opening up with each industry on different rebound
Those who are playing a catch up game will continue to struggle
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ou are a thought leader in the supply chain scenario. What are the perceptible changes you have found in the mindset of the customers in recent times? COVID-19 related disruptions have challenged many status quos. More than ever, clients are now acknowledging logistics as a key enabler rather than viewing it as a cost optimisation domain. The sudden economic lockdown, affecting movement across na38 |
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tional and international borders, have made organisations to consider reshaping their supply chains, relook at warehouse network, and possess higher safety stock to deal with similar supply chain disruptions in the future. We can also see a visible increase in the interest of organisations to outsource their logistics operations and re-engineering of their supply chain network with support of stable 3PLs with a sound ecosystem.
