PROJECT REPORT ON

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

CONDUCT AT

LAKSHMI PRECISION SCREWS LIMITED

SUBMITTED TO

THE MAHARISHI DAYANAND UNIVERSITY ROHTAK

FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (2003-2005)

INSTITUTION GUIDE:SUBMITTED BY:Mr. S.SAHOO SHOKEEN SANDEEP

INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY

(Approved by AICTE , Govt of India& Affiliated by M.D.University, Rohtak.) Tigaon Road, Near Sai Dham, Faridabad Tel:0129-2370185,3096395,2226137

In the present global world of competition there is a race of existence in which those who are having Will to come forward will succeed. Project is a bridge between theoretical and practical working, with this Will I have joined this project. I really wish to express my gratitude towards all those people who have enormously helpful in the preparation of summer training report on Supply Chain Management. I am especially grateful to my friends & relative who have provided me a valuable courage to come out with this project.

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Mr. Deepak Jain (EXECUTIVE MANAGER) for their invaluable support provided in having the opportunity to complete my project.

I also express my sincere gratitude to Mr. V.K. JAIN (General Manager HR) for their indispensable support.

My understanding of this subject has been affected most significantly to my project guide Mr. S.Sahoo (H.O.D.) who provided me his expert advise,

inspiration & moral support inspite of his busy schedule and assignments. I am ever grateful to his kindhearted approach & encouragement, which helped me immensely in completion of this project work.

I am greatly indebted to Mr. Ravi Handa (Principal), for his kind hearted and beloved approach. His timely guidance, supervision & encouragement have helped me to get this golden opportunity.

I also pay my regards to Mr. Anup Sethi & Mrs. Manpreet Kaur who built confidence in me and provides me a guideline to complete my project reports.

I am also thankful to the M.D.University, Rohtak for providing this opportunity to pursue M.B.A. course.

SANDEEP SHOKEEN

The student of M.B.A. are required to undergo a summer training at some Business enterprises after completing first year, for a period of four to six weeks. This is meant to give them exposure to the practical aspects of the Business and the first hand information pertaining to the challenge ahead of them when they became full fledged manners. I was fortunate that one of the premier business houses in India, Jain Group provided me an opportunity to undergo this Summer Training at Lakshmi Precision Screws limited at Rohtak. The project assigned to me was SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT.

This report is the culmination of six weeks of my work with the Marketing Department of LAKSHMI PRECISION SCREWS LIMITED.

SR. NO. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

TITLE PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT COMPANY PROFILE PRODUCTION PROCESS OBJECTIVE SCOPE OF THE STUDY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY INTRODUCTION TO SCM SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN LPS FINDINGS LIMITATION CONCLUSION SUGGESTION BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX

PAGE NO.

India can be said as one of the pioneer in the world of textiles. Indias superb craftsmanship and excellence in textile designing have been known all over the world. In spinning and weaving no other country boasts of such a hoary past. Trades in Indian textiles have been known to exist from the earlier times.

In the early centuries of Christian era, Alexandrian Merchants carried over an extensive trade in Indian textiles and spread the fashion for Indian modes in the east where Indian Prints are known to have supplied the market for many local styles and modes. The textiles industry in India occupies an eminent place in our national life.

COMPANY PROFILE

Company at a Glance

We take this opportunity to introduce ourselves as a joint venture between M/s Lakashmi Precision Screws Ltd., Rohtak and Bossard AG, Switzerland. Incorporated in November 97, this joint venture has been christened as LPS BOSSARD PVT. LTD.

We became operational in 1998 with specialization in Industrial Assembly Technology and within a short span we are now a 45 member family serving to our customers all over India with a sales over Rs. 55 million with a steady growth.

We have a range of more than 50,000 of fasteners in Stainless steel, High tensile steel, MS, Brass, Copper, Aluminum, Titanium Alloy, Inconel and Plastics. Our range includes standard items (as per DIN, ISO, JIS, NFE, and other National & International Std.) and Multifunctional fasteners like, Self drilling screw, Thread cutting, Thread Forming screws, EcoSyn, EcoFix and many more. Apart from these we also develop and supply items as per customer specifications.

We have joined hands with many world repute companies like Panduit Corp. for distribution of Cable ties and Wiring Accessories, Recoil Fasteners Australia for Thread Damage Repair Kits, Inserts and Insertion Tools, Fairchild Fasteners for Tension Latches, Turn Fasteners, Push Button Fasteners, to cater to the needs of customers for C items.

OUTLINE

1) Name of the Company

LAKSHMI PRECISION SCREWS LTD.

2) Founded on 3) Head Office & Factory

: :

March 10, 1972 46/1, Mile Stone Rohtak - 124 001 Haryana (India)

4) Chairman & Managing Director: 5) Total Assets :

Lalit Kumar Jain 879 Mill. INR (March 2001) ($19 Million)

7) Annual Sales

834 Mill. INR (March 2001) ($18 Million)

8) Employees Productio Office QC R&D Others Total

n 372 55% 9. Factory

90 14%

48 8%

60 10%

54 9%

624 100%

(Unit : m x m) SECTION w.e.f. LAND BUILDING PLANT I 1972-73 19,000 16,000 PLANTS PLANT II 1993-94 44,000 23,000 TOTAL 63,000 39,000

L.P.S. AT A GLANCE:
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chairman & Managing Director Vice Chairman & Managing Director Director Purchase President General Manager (Marketing) General Manager (Sales) Manufacturing Sh. D K Jain Sh. V K Jain Sh. M G Agarwal Sh. H P Lakhera Sh. J Pandey Sh. R K Routh /Sh.R P Khanna /P Dhawan Development/Engineering Sh. M T Parmar /Sh. J K Sahoo Production, Planning & Control Sh. R C Garg /Sh. R Gururajan Information Technology Sh. A K Jain /Sh. R K Arora Quality / Quality Management Services Sh. Sanjeev K Sharma /Sh.V Velayutham Sh. L K JAIN

ICICI Nominee

Sh. Dharmendra Bhandari

Company Secretary & DGM (Finance) Auditors Chartered Accountants Delhi. Bankers Canara Bank, Rohtak Sh. H.P.S Chugh N.G. Gupta & Co.

HEAD OFFICE & FACTORY

46/1, MILE STONE, HISSAR ROAD, ROHTAK-124 001, HARYANA (INDIA) Tel.: +91-1262-48288/48289/49920/49921 Fax.: +91-1262-48297/49922 Email.: corp_aff@lpsboi.com; mktg@lpsboi.com

BANGALORE OFFICE 305 A, Mittal Tower, 3rd floor, M G Road Bangalore - 560 001 (India) Phone : +91-80-5588587 Fax : +91-80-5597232 Email.: lpsbgl@bgl.vsnl..net.in

MUMBAI OFFICE 153-A, Mittal Tower, Nariman Point Bombay - 400 021 (India) Phone : +91-22-2821918/2843864/2325061/2325062 Fax : +91-22-2834492

Email : Screws@bom2.vsnl.net. in

CALCUTTA OFFICE 8, Canning Street, 3rd floor, Room No.303, Calcutta-700 001. Phone :+91-33-2210754 Fax : +91-33-4739087/ 2107269 / 2210754 Email: lpsl@cal3.vsnl.net.in

NEW DELHI OFFICE

146, New Cycle Market, Jhandewalan Extn. New Delhi 110 055 (India) Phone : +91-11-3527642/3532135 Fax : +91-11-7532138 Email: lpsdel@ndb.vsnl.net.in

LPS-RECOIL DIVISION

GH-13/889, Paschim Vihar, New Delhi Phone :+91-11-5280213/ 5282179/ 5575463 Telefax: +91-11-5575463/ 5280213 E-mail: lkj@bol.net.in

Aim

We aim at providing the latest in Fastening Technology and C parts management to our customers in India. In our main operational activity Fastening Technology, we are headquartered in Rohtak, Haryana and have formed regional offices at

New Delhi, Banglore & Pune. In an effort to be closer to our customers we also have offices in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkatta & Mumbai.

TO MAKE CONSUMERS DELIGHTED BY PROVIDING QUALITY FASTENERS TO THEM AT THE MOST COMPETITIVE PRICES.WE BELIEVE THAT THE QUALITY IS A LONG TERM INVESTMENT AND ENSURES OPTIMUM PROFIT AND PRESTIGE IN THE MARKET . **************** BE MARKET LEADERS IN OUR CORE BUSINESS ***************** ACHIEVE AND SUSTAIN GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS IN ALL OUR BUSINESS *********************

BE THE PREFERRED SUPPLIER BY PROVIDING OUR CUSTOMERS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT ALWAYS MEET OR EXCEED THEIR REQUIREMENTS.

COMPANY ORGANISATION

Board of Directors

Chairman & Managing Director Quality Management Corporate Strategy

Marketing

R&D

Plannin g

Productio n

QA

General

D E V E L O P M E N T

S A L E S

D E V E L O P M E N T

L A B O R A T O R Y

C E N T R A L I

P R O D U C T G O N

P L A N N I N

P L A N T I

P L A N T II

P U R C H A S E

F I N A N C E

H R D

E D P

A WORD ABOUT OUR PARENT COMPANIES

LPS Ltd.

Founded in March 1972, LPS is one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of high tensile fasteners such as Bolts, Screws, Nuts and similar parts for Automobile and other Industrial Sectors and has acquired the state of art technology. LPS is Accredited in Mechanical and Chemical Testing since 1995 by A2LA (American Association for Laboratory Accreditation, USA) and NABL (National Accreditation Board for Calibration & Testing Laboratories) and is ISO certified since 1996. LPS also got QS 9000 in March 2000.

Bossard AG Bossard a leading logistic-oriented group for fastening technology was founded in 1831 in Zug, Switzerland and today is managed by the seventh generation of the Bossard Family with roughly 1100 employees. Bossard is the first company in this sector to get an ISO 9001/9002 & 14001 certification (since 1986). Bossard has its global presence with regional business units in Europe, United States and Asia/Pacific and operations in over 15 countries having a turnover of over US$ 350 million.

Vision
We want to be the best and most successful Fastener House in India

Our Current business policy is in line with our principals based on an overall medium-term entrepreneurial vision. We see ourselves as an international logistic-oriented group for Fastening Technology and C parts management. We have access to worldwide procurement and engineering know-how.

Top priority in planning company development is given to strengthening established activities and developing new markets. This includes assuring an appropriate level of growth in order to remain competitive as well as making targeted acquisitions. The latter, for example might be projects in the C part management sector, which are also of considerable interest to our fastening technology customers.

Furthermore, our vision includes clear views on flexibility as well as transparency with regards to value added, both of which we consider as important as our market targets.

Quality Policy We at LPS Bossard will provide reliable quality products economically on time to the total customer satisfaction.

In order to meet above policy we have clear objectives that to increase confidence of customer by providing quality products on time and to reduce cost of customer product by providing technical and logistics support

We are a leading OEM supplier offering global solutions for local requirements.

Guiding Principles for our activities Customer Focus We focus on the real needs of our customers. We understand their problems and can solve them. Thats why we develop custom-tailored products and services for every customer.

Value Added

Not all products and services add value but they all lead to costs. Key for the customer is the perceived value. Thats why we cannot be inexpensive but, instead, offer the best value.

Quality

All our stakeholders can rest assured that we invariably deliver what we promise. Thats why we can offer our customers security, convenience and cost-effectiveness.

People We rely on highly motivated employees, empower them to contribute to the groups success and let them participate in it. Thats why we are having teams to coordinate the activities. Our employees are our greatest assets.

Independence
We have always put our trust in creativity, innovation and unconventional thinking. The Yardstick for Activities Engineering and logistics lead to a cost saving of percent and more

We have developed a three-fold approach to adding customer value. This allows industrial enterprises it exploit rationalization potential in fastening technology both within and outside their companies. Along the entire procurement and value added chain whole cost pools can be turned into a competitive advantage. Customer benefit is our yardstick.

 Core Competencies

Main Service
We are at home in the market for fastening elements worldwide and know how and where to manufacture and develop such elements.

Engineering
We are familiar with customer-specific problems in fastening technology and know how to solve them.

Logistics
We are accustomed to customer-specific supply requirements and have the necessary systems and solutions in place.

Communication
We are aware of the availability needs of our customers and know how to develop and support inter-company procurement systems.

PRODUCT AND SERVICE PACKAGE

Your Cost Saving potential lies with us

Basic Product

As our basic product we offer a variety of fasteners to the diversified needs of market. Providing reliable quality products on time is our main or basic service. Functional products must be available in sufficient number and at an acceptable price. To this end we maintains a worldwide manufacturing, development and procurement network with several linked warehouse locations. Its product documentation, available in catalogue form, comprises 50,000 items. 97 percent are always available from stock.

Product Support
In fastening technology, there is more to fully exploiting the rationalization potential than global product availability. That is why we offer product support to help our customers manufacture a better product and to lower production costs. This engineering service can improve the product through identifying the most suitable materials, enhancing the quality of the fastening or providing greater protection against corrosion or loosening. Lower production costs can be achieved by reducing the number of

different parts through using multifunctional parts and through introducing simpler assembly techniques.

The earlier our specialists are involved in the construction, the greater their contribution will be.

Business Support
Our major third strength is business support. Our starting point here is the high availability of our products and the assumption that C parts accounts for 50 percent of the total procurement costs, but only for 5 percent of the value of the products. We have developed, and repeatedly implemented, proven logistic systems that can reduce costs for procurement, warehousing and assembly by 30 percent or more. Such logistic systems have considerable savings potential because only some 15 percent of the total in-place cost are related to the actual fastening element. Numerous companies are not yet using saving potential.

Currently we can offer our Two-Bin, Kanban Card, Kanban Barcode, Edifact and Smart Bin systems.

Parts management
There is a clear trend worldwide towards procuring C parts from a single source and towards overall C part management. The single source competencies acquired through our three service levels make us an experienced and reliable supplier of comprehensive C part management.

Strength
Globally the group has a specialization in handling the needs of many industries like: Air Conditioner Home Appliances Aero Space Wind Mill

Medical Equipment Instrumentation Locomotive Automobile

Energy Meter Electrical & Electronics

Accredited worldwide
Within the first year of our operations we have been certified as an ISO 9002 certified by UL USA. We have been rated as best suppliers by many of our customers and this is the biggest certificate we have, and will always achieve.

We deliver what we promise

Major customers
Asea Brown Boveri Adtranz All BHEL All Bharat Electronics Ltd.

Amtrex Hitachi MICO

Enercon India Behr India

Crompton ISRO

Greaves VSSC

DRDL

DLW

TATA

Dhananjay ltd.

Tecumesh

Secure Meters

GE BE

Wipro GE

SIEMENS

Alstom

We believe in long lasting business relationship

Commitment
We sincerely hope that we can forge a mutually beneficial and long-lasting relationship and that LPS Bossard can serve you as a single source for your entire diverse fastener needs.

PRODUCTION PROCESS

The Company undertakes the manufacturing of various fasteners these fasteners can be divided into two categories. 1. INDUSTRIAL FASTNERS 2. Hex Head Socket Items

AUTO FASTNERS

INDUSTRIAL FASTNERS SOCKET ITEMS Socket head cap screw Counter sunk Socket sunk screw (SSS) Button head screw D-Head Hex Head Screw (Full threaded) Hex-Head Bolt (Half threaded) Nut

All these are being manufactured under a standard series i.e

Metric series
BSW Standard BSF Standard UNC Standard UNF Standard DIN Standard

AUTO FASTNERS WHB Shaft Bolts Flange Buttons Wheel Nut Ring Nut.

Before we go for the Production Process various pre production process decisions are to be taken Decision of raw material Design Preparation of Die Die is sent to the Tool Room for Inspection

Send to Store Room Issue of Raw Material by a PPC according to Size. Setting of Raw Material Selection of Piece required. Repeated inspection Production operator will issue an quality control slip according to ISO. If O.K than goes for manufacturing. Inspection of 1 hour by inspector Again setting, if O.K. PPC will be informed Rolling Quality Inspection Finishing Lab Inspection Final Inspection

After final inspection, the raw material is send to the manufacturing place and according to the order the production process goes on i.e which is shown below:

MAIN MARKETS

INTERNATIONAL (COUNTRIES) Australia Germany Holland Hong Kong Japan Singapore South Africa South Korea Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States of America

GROWTH IN PRODUCTION & SALES

YEAR/ SECTION

92-93 93-94 94-95 95-96 96-97 97-98 98-99 99-00 00-01

PRODUCTI ON, 3016 TONNES PER YEAR

3556

4897

6529

6385

5753

5607

6656

6165

SALES, MILLIONS INR

309

404

552

735

696

684

706 816 834

 MAIN PRODUCTS
Division Products Precision Cold Forming parts for Automobile Engine Parts ( Con Rod, Cylinder Studs, Counter Weights, Cylinder Head, Rocker Arm, Engine Mounting, Main Bearing etc.) Bolts & Chasis Parts (Wheel Bolts, Wheel Hub Bolts Nuts & Nuts, Axle Bolts/Pin, Flanged Bolts, Collar for Bolt, Shock Absorber Mounting Pins etc.) Automobile s Washer Assemblies Bolts The other critical & safety parts bolts Construction parts (Friction Grip) Bolts & Nuts for Agriculture Industry Bolts & Nuts for Industrial Machinery Cold formed parts for Automobile (Piston Pins, Switch Body, Ball Joints, Gear Blanks, Rocket Shaft etc.) Pins for Hydraulics & Pumps Bolt for Refrigeration Compressor Friction Grip Bolts & Nuts for Construction Industry Socket Head Cap Screw Low Head Socket Bolt Shoulder Bolt Button Head CSK Standard Set Screws Fasteners Hex Wrench Keys Hex Head Bolt Dovel Pin Nuts Friction Grip Bolts Track Shoe Bolts Stainless Steel Hex Head Stainless Steel Socket Head Cap Screws

FASTENERS

HISTORY
1994 Received Employment Generation Award from

Director of Industries, Haryana State.

1995 Accredited in Mechanical & Chemical Testing by A2LA, USA to meet Fastener Quality Act of US.

1995 Accredited in Mechanical Measurement, Mechanical & Chemical Testing by National Accreditation Board for Calibration & Testing Laboratories (NABL). Government of India. 1996 Certified to ISO-9002.

1998 Installed Bolt Maker (AF 2525) to add production capacity to 12200 MT. - Self Certification status from TELCO. - Technical Tie-up with Sunil Machinery Corporation, Korea. - Joint Venture with Bossard AG-Switzerland.

1999.Licenced Manufacturers of TORX Screw from Camcar Co. USA. 2000 2001 QS 9000 Certification. ISO/TS-16949 Certification. - ISO-14001 Certification.

2002

Implemented ERPSAP R/3.

2002

Golden Peacock Award.

 OUTLINE

1) Name of the Company

LAKSHMI PRECISION SCREWS LTD.

2) Founded on 3) Head Office & Factory

: :

March 10, 1972 46/1, Mile Stone Rohtak - 124 001 Haryana (India)

4) Chairman & Managing Director:

Lalit Kumar Jain

5) Total Assets

879 Mill. INR (March 2001) ($19 Million)

7) Annual Sales

834 Mill. INR (March 2001) ($18 Million)

8) Employees

Productio n 372 55% 9. Factory

Office 90 14%

QC 48 8%

R&D 60 10%

Others 54 9%

Total 624 100%

(Unit : m x m) SECTION w.e.f. LAND BUILDING PLANT I 1972-73 19,000 16,000 PLANTS PLANT II 1993-94 44,000 23,000 TOTAL 63,000 39,000

 Certificates
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 06. A2LA NABL ISO 9002 QS 9000 ISO / TS 16949 ISO14001

OBJECTIVES

There is always an objective exit behind any action or event, without aims you cant know for what you are striving. The objective of my study is to carry an indepth study of Supply Chain Management in Lakshmi Precision Screws Ltd and it also determine that all these amenities are actually put in practice in the organization. Thus this study covers the following area : To understand implementation of Supply Chain Management in LPS. To identify the Problem Areas of SCM. To suggest the changes to be made in SCM for further improvement. To what extend the employees and the mgt. Together workout the problems. To understand the views of previous people regarding SCM. To identify what new schemes has come up with for the betterment of SCM.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Along with the objective, the scope of study is also to be considered upon. Which makes the study more meaningful and relevant. Since my study is related to the supply chain mgt. In LPS, therefore my scope is limited to the Supply Chain only.

Since Supply Chain means a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of there finished products to customers.

As we know that Supply Chain is a major part of the company therefore LPS has made every effort to encourage and motivate its employees to perform better in their respective field. For this purpose it has implemented various schemes, which eventually reduced the inventory cost, removal of Bar-Code system and mgt. Is put in an hierarchical order.

LIMITATIONS For the purpose of preparation of this project report, prestigious Jain group is identified where highly qualified engineers, managers and talented workmen are engaged. While preparing this report I had to face certain problems: 1. Due to the busy schedule, the employers were not ready to give much more time to my project. 2. 3. 4. Non availability of the library facility is the main problem faced by me. Most of the information collected was biased. In order to get relevant information from my guide I had to spend several are in front of his office. 5. It becomes hard to collect data due to lack of information source i.e. library, Internet etc. No survey was carried out.

SEARCHING METHODOLOGY

In preparation of my project report the primary source as well as the secondary source did the major portion of my data collection.

Primary Source
Discuss with the marketing department officers about the supply chain management. Discuss with the HR Manager. Discuss with the employees in the production department.

Secondary Source In preparing the report some relevant books and authors views also considered. Some data are collected from various magazine and newspapers.
34th Annual Report 2002-2003 of LPS was also considered.

FINDINGS
The findings of my study is : 1. This inventory conditions at LPS Bossard were found to be at very high level. This was an alarming level and when worked upon, it really gave a substantial results. 2. 3. Company has to strengthen already existing Supplier base. Arrival of Bar-Code system, which inspite of investment of Rs. 10 lacs was not working to the expectations. 4. Company carries a large amount of inventory which can be very disastrous. 5. Industry avg. of inventory turns is between 120-130 whereas LPS inventory turns ratio was found to be between 4 to 6 which is drastically low. 6. Inventory conditions at LPS are really critical need an immediate concern. 7. 8. Inventory carrying cost is high in the company. Strategies adopted to improve inventory statistics are not fully implemented. 9. Another drawback of Supply Chain Management is that the process is carried out for those items which contributed most to 80% to total sales whereas the other were given less attention. 10. The Management does not work in hierarchical position.

11. 12.

A big backlog of items is lying unlabelled. Mode of packing is not clear at the receipt point and this causes doubling of packing activities.

13. 14.

Performance of the Sales Team is not satisfactory. There is many more finding of the study but I restricted my finding of the study to these only.

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Suggestions and Recommendations is an important part of my Study without it my study would be incomplete. It is suggested that the Company should look into the following aspects for further improvement in their Supply Chain Management. To Strengthen the already existing supplier base. To Remove the Bar-Code systems which despite an investment of Rs. 10 lac was not working to the expectations of the company. Carrying large amount of inventory can be very disastrous for Company. Inventory Carrying cost should be maintained. To Determine the appropriate forecasting technique. Sales team need to change their working style and update the data regularly. Mode of packing is not clear at the receipt point and this causes doubling of packing activities. Ordering cost and carrying cost should be minimise. LPS basic Supply Chain Model does not lies on a particular platform. It depends upon both Direct Sales to Customers Sale through dealers.

 Inventory turns at LPS remain between 4 to 6. Lack of proper Supply Chain has stopped LPS for substantial results.

CONCLUSION

It is a great pleasure that I could undergo a practical training in a reputed company where as per the modern management all types of procedures are adopted & monitored. The Company as created an excellent atmosphere to work with and is offering handsome salary and other allowances to its employees. The significant point, which has come to my notice, is that the workers are given adequate motivation and encouragements to have higher productivity in the organizations and there is not much difference between non-executive and executive. All of them are in one family called LPS family and play a vital role to achieve the decided aim set out by the organizations. In view of this the performance of the organizations during the past years was an upward trend and many inventions then by engineers are imparted by the Industrial organizations/Telecommunication/space-organizations. There is an excellent Research and development and design department. It is clearly stated that if an employees happy then more productivity can be attained. If loss of man-days are saved it will be better for the country. Of Course, I can with my little association with LPS can say that LPS is a model to other organizations in many ways:-

 The top-level management use to monitor all the activities is periodically and suggest further improvement in SCM. Retaining the manpower Communication from top to bottom & bottom to top. A Supply Chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to customers. Supply chain exist in both service and manufacturing organizations, although the complexity of the chain may vary greatly from industry to industry and firm to firm. Thus this shows that SCM is the heart of the company hence it should be operated carefully under the following decisions SUPPLY CHAIN DECISIONS LOCATION DECESIONS PRODUCT DECISIONS INVENTORY DECISIONS TRANSPORATION DECISIONS Thus supply chain management plays an important part in the success of the company.

Supply Chain Management

A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to customers. Supply chains exist in both service and manufacturing organizations, although the complexity of the chain may very greatly from industry to industry and firm to firm.

Below is an example of a very simple supply chain for a single product, where raw material is procured form vendors, transformed into finished goods in a single step, and then transported to distribution centers, and ultimately, customers. Realistic supply chains have multiple and products with shared components, facilities and capacities. The flow of materials is not always along an arbores cent network, various modes of transpiration may be considered, and the bill of materials for the end items may be both deep and large.

Traditionally, marketing, distribution, planning, manufacturing, and the purchasing organizations along the supply chain operated independently. These organizations have their own objectives and these are often

conflicting. Marketings objective of high customer service and maximum sales in dollars conflict with manufacturing and distribution goals. Many manufacturing operations are designed to maximize throughout and lower costs with little consideration for the impact on inventory levels and distribution capabilities. Purchasing contracts are often negotiated with very little information beyond historical buying patterns. The result of these factors is that there is not a single, integrated plan for the organization there were as many plans as businesses. Clearly, there is a need for a mechanism through which these different functions can be integrated together. Supply chain management is a strategy through which such an integration can be achieved.

Supply chain management is typically viewed to lie between fully vertically integrated firms, where the entire material flow is owned by a single firm, and those where each channel member operates independently. Therefore coordination between the various players in the chain is key in its effective management. Cooper and Ellram (1993) compare supply chain management to a well balanced and well practiced relay team. Such a team is more competitive when each player knows how to be positioned for the hand-off. The relationships are the strongest between players who directly pass the baton, but the entire team needs to make a coordinated effort to win the race.

Supply Chain Decisions

We classify the decisions for supply chain management into two broad categories strategic and operational. As the term implies, strategic decisions are made typically over a longer time horizon. These are closely linked to the corporate strategy (they sometimes {/it are} the corporate strategy), and guide supply chain policies from a design perspective. On the other hand, operational decisions are short term, and focus on activities over a day-to-day basis. The effort in these type of decisions is to effectively and efficiently manage the product flow in the strategically planned supply chain.

There are four major decision areas in supply chain management: 1) location, 2) production, 3) inventory, and 4) transportation (distribution), and there are both strategic and operational elements in each of these decision areas.

Location Decisions

The geographic placement of production facilities, stocking points, and sourcing points is the natural first step in creating a supply chain. The

location of facilities involves a commitment of resources to a long-term plan. Once the size, number, and location of these are determined, so are the possible paths by which the product flows through to the final customer. These decisions are of great significance to a firm since they represent the basic strategy for accessing customer markets, and will have a considerable impact or revenue, cost, and level of service. These decisions should be determined by an optimization routine that considers production costs, taxes, duties and duty drawback, tariffs, local content, distribution costs, production limitations, etc. (See Arntzen, Brown, Harrison and Trafton (1995) for a thorough discussion of these aspects.) Although location decisions are primarily strategic, they also have implications on an operational level.

Production Decisions

The strategic decisions include what products to produce, and which plants to produce them in, allocation of suppliers to plants, plants to DCs, and DCs to customer markets. As before, these decisions have a big impact on the revenues, costs and customer service levels of the firm. These decisions assume the existence of the facilities, but determine the exact path(s) through which a product flows to and from these facilities. Another critical issue is the capacity of the manufacturing facilities - and this largely

depends the degree of vertical integration within the firm. Operational decisions focus on detailed production scheduling. These decisions include the construction of the master production schedules, scheduling production on machines, and equipment maintenance. Other considerations include workload balancing, and quality control measures at a production facility.

Inventory Decisions

These refer to means by which inventories are managed. Inventories exist at every stage of the supply chain as either raw materials, semi-finished or finished goods. They can also be in-process between locations. Their primary purpose to buffer against any uncertainty that might exist in the supply chain. Since holding of inventories can cost anywhere between 20 to 40 percent of their value, their efficient management is critical in supply chain operations. It is strategic in the sense that top management sets goals. However, most researchers have approached the management of inventory from an operational perspective. These include deployment strategies (push versus pull), control policies the determination of the optimal levels of order quantities and reorder points, and setting safety stock levels, at each stocking location. These levels are critical, since they are primary determinants of customer service levels.

Transportation Decisions

The mode choice aspect of these decisions are the more strategic ones. These are closely linked to the inventory decisions, since the best choice of mode is often found by trading-off the cost of using the particular mode of transport with the indirect cost of inventory associated with that mode. While air shipments may be fast, reliable, and warrant lesser safety stocks, they are expensive. Meanwhile shipping by sea or rail may be much cheaper, but they necessitate holding relatively large amounts of inventory to buffer against the inherent uncertainly associated with them. Therefore customer service levels, and geographic location play vital roles in such decisions. Since transportation is more than 30 percent of the logistics costs, operating efficiently makes good economic sense. Shipment sizes (consolidated bulk shipments versus Lot-for-Lot), routing and scheduling of equipment are key in effective management of the firms transport strategy.

Importance of SCM:

There is a close connection between the design and management of supply chain flows (product, information and cash) and the success of a supply chain. Dell computer is an example of a firm that has successfully used good supply chain practices to support its competitive strategy. In contrast Quaker Oats is an example in which the inability to design and manage flows appropriately in supply chain management led to failure of its acquisition of Snapple. Dell was established in 1984. By 1988, it had grown into a $12 billion company. Since 1993, Dell has experienced earnings growth of more than 65% per year. Its earning growth is anticipated to be more than 30% per year over next five years. Dells stock price has also grown significantly since 1993. Dell has attributed a significant part of its success to the way it manages flows-product, information and cash-within its supply chain. Dells basic supply chain model is direct sales to customers. As distributors and retailers are bypassed, the Dell supply chain has only three stagescustomers, manufactures and suppliers as shown below.

Supplier Supplier Supplier Manufacturer

Customer Customer Customer

Because Dell is in direct contract with its customers, it has been able to finally segment them and analyze the needs and profitability of each segment. Close contact with its customers and an understanding of its customers needs allow Dell to develop better forecasts. To further improve the match between supply and demand, Dell makes an active efforts to steer customers in real time, on the phone or via the Internet, toward PC configurations that can be built given the components available.

On the operational side, inventory turns is a key performance measure that Dell watches very closely. Each computer chip carriers a date code to indicate how old a computer part is. Dell carries only 10 days worth of inventory; in contrast the companies, selling through retailers, have been carrying in the vicinity of 80-100 days. If Intel introduces a new chip, the low level of inventory allows Dell to go the market with a PC with a chip faster than the competition. If prices suddenly drop, as they did in early part of 1998, Dell has fewer inventories that lose value relative to its competitors. For some products, such as monitors manufactured by Sony, Dell maintains no inventory. The transport company simply picks up the appropriate no. of computers from Dells Austin plant and monitors from Sonys factory in Mexico, matches them by customer order, and delivers them to customers. The procedure allows Dell to save time and money associated with extra handling of monitors.

The success of Dells supply chain is facilitated by sophisticated information exchange. Dell provides real time data to suppliers on the current state of demand. Suppliers are able to access their components inventory levels at factory along with daily production requirements. Dell has created customized web pages so that its major suppliers can view demand forecasts and other customer sensitive information, thus helping suppliers to get a better idea of customer demand and better match their production schedules to that of dell. The company has production concentrated in five manufacturing centers: Austin, Texas; Brazil; China; Ireland and Malaysia. Because demand at each location is relatively large and stable, suppliers are able to replenish component inventories regularly, allowing Dell to maintain low level of component inventories. In some cases, Dell carries only hours of component inventory at its factory.

Dells low level of inventory also helps ensure that defects are not introduced into a large quantity of product. When a new product is launched, supplier engineers are stationed right at the plant. If a customer calls in with a problem, production is stopped and design flaws are fixed in real time. As there is no finished product in inventory, the amount of defective merchandise produced is minimized.

Dell also out sources service and support to third-party providers. To ensure a high quality of service, dell coordinated the delivery of the parts the customer requires with the arrival of the service person. Once again, a coordinated flow of information and material minimizes the cost necessary to provide a high level of service.

Dell also manages its cash flows very effectively. By tracking and managing receivables and payables very closely, it is able to collect cash from its customers, on average five days before it has to pay its suppliers.

Clearly, Dells supply chain design and appropriate management of product, information and cash flows play a key role in the companys success. This approach has positioned Dell very well within PC industry; the competitive battlefield is now focused on service delivery and supply chain efficiency.

Quaker Oats, with its acquisition of Snapple, provides an example in which failure to design and manage supply chain flows led to financial failure. Quaker owns Gatorade, the top selling brand in the sports drink segment in USA. In December 1994, Quaker purchased Snapple at a cost of $1.7 billion. Snapple sold all natural drinks. At the time, Gatorade was very

strong in south and the southwest of the United States, while Snapple was strong in the northeast and on the west coast.

Quaker announced that it hoped to exploit synergies between two distribution systems to gain efficiencies, but the company was unable to remedy several problems that prevented it from achieving these synergies. Gatorade was manufactured in plants owned by Quaker, while Snapple sol primarily through restaurants and independent retailers. Over two years following its acquisition of Snapple, Quaker Oats was unable to gain much synergy between the two neither and may have hurt both. Just 28 months later, Quaker sold Snapple to Triarc Companies for $300 million, about 20% of the purchase price. The inability to achieve synergies between the two supply chains was a significant reason for the failure of Snapple at Quaker.

SCM AT LPS BOSSARD

To implement SCM at LPS-Bossard thoroughly, would require a great deal of time, investment and other resources, which would be too much to finish in the given training period of 18 weeks. So, therefore few areas were required to be identified where SCM strategies can easily by worked upon and can really allow company to benefit out of it. After a detailed look into companys working processes and understanding the critically of each part of it, the following three areas were identified where, if worked sincerely, substantial results could be achieved. These three areas are :

Inventory:

The inventory conditions at LPS-Bossard were found to be at a very high level. In todays world no supplier carries such a high inventory. When the industry average for inventory turns is around 125, Inventory turns at LPSBossard remain between 4 to 6. This was an alarming level and when worked upon, it really gave substantial results.

Supplier Base:

Since management at the company aims to serve the customers, who are highly quality conscious and are ready to pay a little extra too, the supplier

base of the company automatically gains a lot importance in the whole supply chain. So, the first step to be taken was to strengthen the already existing supplier base. LPS-Bossard, right now has a strong supplier base of around 265 suppliers, of which about 75 are foreign suppliers.

Operational Efficiency:

To improve the operational efficiency of the entire chain would have been impossible to achieve in such a short duration, so Bar Code system at LPS-Bossard was chosen for the same, which despite an investment of Rs. 10 lakhs was not working to the expectations of the company. Rather than making all the processes easier for the company, it was rather making them more cumbersome and difficult to implement.

Here all the activities carried out in all the three areas are discussed in detail.

Inventory:
As it is quite popularly known and established, that carrying large amount of inventory can be very disastrous for a supplier, it becomes important to know that what are different types of inventory, what are different costs associated with them and how to reduce these costs while maintaining

minimum possible inventory. Here below we discuss each and every aspect related to inventory in detail:

Role of Inventory
In this section we discuss the role inventory plays in the supply chain and how managers use inventory to rive supply chain performance.

Role in supply chain:

Inventory exists in supply chain because of a mismatch between supply and demand. This mismatch is intentional at a steel manufacturer, where it is economical to manufacture in large lots that are of then stored or future sales. This mismatch is also intentional at a retail store, where inventory is held in anticipation of future demands that can be satisfied by having the product ready and available when the customer wants it. Another significant role inventory plays is it reduce cost by exploiting any economics of scale that may exist during both production and distribution.

Inventory is spread throughout the supply chain from raw materials to work in process to finished goods that suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers hold. Inventory is a major source of cost in a supply chain, and it has a huge impact on responsiveness. If we think of the responsiveness spectrum as shown below, the location and quantity can move the supply

chain from one end of the spectrum to the other. For example, a clothing supply chain with high inventory levels has a high level of responsiveness, since a customer can walk into store and walk out with the shirt he or she was looking for. In contrast, a clothing supply chain with little inventory would be very unresponsive. A customer wanting a shirt would have to order it and wait several weeks or even months for it to be manufactured, depending on how little inventory existed in supply chain.

Inventory also has a significant impact on the material flow time in a supply chain. Material Flow Time is the time that elapses between the point at which material enters the supply chain to the point at which it exists. Another important area where inventory has a significant impact is throughput, the rate at which sales to end consumer occurs. If inventory is represented by I, flow time by T, and throughput by R, the three can be related using Littles law as follows: Responsiveness Spectrum

Responsive Zone of Strategy Response Efficient

Certain

Implied Uncertain

Uncertain

For example, if the flow time of an auto assembly process is 10 hours and the throughput is 60 units an hours. Littles law tells us that the inventory is 60X10 = 600 units. If we were able to reduce inventory to 300 units while holding throughput constant, we would reduce our flow time to five hours (300/60). Note that in this relationship, inventory and throughput must be in the same units.

The logical conclusion here is that inventory and flow time are synonymous in a supply chain. Because reduced flow time can be a significant advantage in a supply chain, managers should use actions that lower the amount of inventory needed without increasing cost or reducing responsiveness.

Role in the competitive strategy:

Inventory plays a significant role in supply chains ability to support firms competitive strategy. If a firms competitive strategy requires a very high level of responsiveness by locating large amount of inventory close to customer. Conversely, a company can also use inventory to make itself ore efficient by reducing inventory through centralized stocking. The latter

strategy would support a competitive strategy of being a low cot producer. The trade-off implicit in the inventory driver is between the responsiveness that results from more inventory and the efficiency that results from less inventory.

Components of inventory decisions:

We now identify major inventory-related decisions that supply chain managers must make to create more responsive and more efficient supply chain effectively.

Cycle Inventory
Cycle Inventory is the average amount of inventory used to satisfy demand between receipt of supplier shipments. The size of the cycle inventory is a result of the production or purchase of material in large lots. Companies produce or purchase in large lots to exploit economies of scale in production, transportation, or purchasing process. With the increase in lot size, however, also comes an increase in carrying costs. As an example of a cycle inventory decisions, consider an on-line book retailer. This retailers sales average around 10 truckloads of books a month. The cycle inventory decisions the retailer must take involve how much to order for replenishment and how often to place these orders. The e-retailer could

order 10 trucks once each month or it could order one truck in every three days. The basic trade-off supply chain managers face is the cost of holding larger lots of inventory (when cycle inventory is high) versus the cost of ordering product frequently (when cycle inventory is low).

Safety Inventory

Safety inventory is held just in case demand exceeds expectation; it is held to counter uncertainty. If the world were perfectly predictable, only cycle inventory would be needed. However, because demand is uncertain and may exceed expectations, companies hold safety inventory to satisfy an unexpectedly high demand.

Seasonal Inventory

Seasonal Inventory is inventory that is built up to counter predictable variability in demand. Companies using seasonal inventory will build up inventory in periods of low demands for sale in periods of high demand when they will not have capacity to produce all that is demanded.

Therefore, the basic trade-off supply chain managers face in determining how much seasonal inventory to built is the cost of carrying additional seasonal inventory versus cost of having a more flexible production rate.

Overall Trade-off: Responsiveness Vs. Efficiency

The fundamental trade-off problem that managers face, when making inventory decisions, is between responsiveness and efficiency. Increasing Inventory will generally make the supply chain more responsive to the customer. However this choice comes at a cost, as the added inventory decreases efficiency. Therefore, a supply chain manager can use inventory as one of the drivers for reaching the level of responsiveness and efficiency that the competitive strategy targets.

Inventory at LPS-Bossard:

Now that it has been established that inventory plays a critical role in any supply chain, let us take a look at inventory statistics at LPS-Bossard.

Inventory turns: Inventory turns is defined as ratio of total cost of goods sold to the cost of goods being carried at any point of time. Mathematically,

Inventory Turn

annualized cost of goods sold Cost of goods at any point of time

To day the industry average of inventory turns is between 120-130. The best companies in the world are able to maintain this high level of turns. At LPS-Bossard, the inventory turns ratio was found to be between 4-6. As compared to industry standards, this ratio was drastically low.

This directly means that inventory levels at LPS-Bossard were very high, which directly leads to very high inventory carrying costs. This also resulted in large amount of dead inventory, which was about 40% of total inventory.

Age matrix of inventory:

The matrix below shows the age of inventory at LPS-Bossard. This means that this matrix shows that what amount (value) in terms of %age is lying from how many days. Due to confidentially restraints, the exact values are not given here.

Age Matrix
Warehou se who1 01A 01B 01C 01D 01G Total Values Valu e 30.3 2 6.90 7.88 10.2 4 37.3 3 7.34 100. 00 Days Days1 90 80 1.36 1.70 3.34 1.39 6.01 14.3 0 2.49 28.8 9 1.32 0.40 2.31 2.31 3.08 16.77 Days2 70 0.48 0.64 3.47 0.73 8.45 0.33 14.09 Days3 60 2.61 0.62 0.97 0.19 2.72 0.03 7.14 Days4 50 2.36 0.13 0.67 0.19 2.09 0.10 5.53 Days5 40 3.40 0.43 0.86 0.10 0.27 0.13 5.19 Days>5 40 18.41 0.42 0.12 0.72 1.53 1.18 22.38

As is clear from the table itself, the inventory conditions at LPS-Bossard are really critical and need an immediate concern.

Dispatch Matrix of Inventory:

The matrix below shows the dispatch

plan of inventory lying with various warehouses, in terms of percentage. It shows that what percentage of inventory will be dispatched in how many days, or in other words, for how long we will bear inventory carrying cost for different constituents of inventory.

Warehou ses who1 who1A who1B who1C who1D who1G Total values

Total value 29.43 7.00 8.01 10.45 37.67 7.45 100.00

Lost supply 3.86 3.17 0.68 3.85 0.64 12.20

0-30 days 30-60 days 0.19 0.15 0.66 0.01 1.70 4.62 6.71 1.80 6.71 1.80 13.66 7.00

60-90 days 0.10 0.00 0.58 15.90 0.15 16.73

Warehouse s Who1 who1A who1B who1C who1D who1G Total values

90-120 days 120-150 days 0.17 0.08 0.13 0.50 0.73 0.94 0.03 0.07 1.07 1.60

>150 days 0.21 0.18 0.54 0.94

Quantity Unallocated 29.43 2.70 3.71 2.06 7.18 1.73 46.80

This table shows that around 27% of inventory at LPS-Bossard will be carried for more than 2 months. Also, 12% of inventory which should have been dispatched previously, but could not be dispatched for reason or the other. Around 47% of inventory is such against which there are no orders and have no prospects for future sales either. The total inventory at warehouse WH01, which makes around 30% of total inventory, is dead inventory. WH01 at LPS-Bossard is maintained for this purpose only. In an efficient supply chain, such a warehouse should not exist, but in case of LPS-Bossard, it rather carries a big chunk of whole inventory. This is one major reason, which apart from adding costs, also lowers inventory turns at LPS-Bossard.

Strategies adopted to improve inventory statistics:

In order to improve inventory turns, to bring down carrying cost and other associated costs & to reduce obsolescence, various strategies were identified, designed and implemented. Here below, these strategies are discussed in detail. Demand Forecasts: Forecasts of future demand are essential to a supply chain managers decision making and planning process. Forecasting and the accompanying managerial decisions are extremely difficult when either supply of raw material or demand of finished good is highly variable.

The following basic, six-step approach to forecasting helps an organization perform effective forecasting.

1. Understand the objective of forecasting 2. Integrate demand planning and forecasting 3. Identify major factors that influence the demand forecast 4. Understand and identify customer segments 5. Determine the appropriate forecasting technique 6. Establish performance and errors measure for the forecast

As the time was less and no other data other historical sales data was available, for this activity, the Time Series Forecasting methods were used. These methods use historical demand to make forecasts. They are based on the assumption that past demand history is a good indicator of future demand. These methods are most appropriate when environmental situation is stable and the basic demand pattern does not vary significantly from one year to another.

Because LPS-Bossard offers a range of over 75,000 special and standard products, carrying out the process for all of them would have been too cumbersome. Therefore, the process was carried out for those items, which contributed most to 80% of total sales in standard category. Then purchases were planned for these items, so that ordering cost and carrying cost together result into minimum possible cost.

Cost

Total Cost Holding Cost

Order Cost Material Cost

Re-order Levels: The company has divided all its customers into K, A, B, C and D types depending upon the volume of business they provide to the company. Most of these customers are consistent with the volume and products, they order every year.

All the sales teams were asked to ask their K and top 5 A customers to give their future demands, for at least one year, and the probability that they can change their demand. All sales teams discussed the same with their target customers in detail. Now the demands for these individual customers were known. Knowing these future projections, along with the probability of these demands getting converted into business, the re-order levels were defined keeping in compliance with the diagram above, due to which purchases could be planned for integrated demand of all customers. This process was carried out to prevent overbuying of material, plan purchases efficiently and well in time to avoid any delays in delivery, which can sometimes lead to cancellation of orders.

+/- 30 days window: A +/- 30 days window was established at the receipt area of

warehouse. This means that people at warehouse were strictly instructed to not to receive any material on any particular day, whose dispatch date does not lie with in the rage of +/- 30 days from that day.

This step was taken as many suppliers who would produce before schedules given to them, would want inventory to reach at warehouse of LPS-Bossard as soon as possible. This was resulting in adding to our carrying costs. Also, due to not being used for long, material used to get deteriorated in quality, which increased rejection rates.

This activity is being carried out strictly at warehouse now and in future, it is planned that this window will be narrowed gradually, ultimately reaching to a limit of +/- 5 days.

Purchase Order Proposal: Purchase order proposal is actually a software, which helps or facilitates a purchaser to plan his purchases and raise purchase orders. This is a module, which is a part of ERP system SCALA, being used at LPS-Bossard.

Whenever any sales team will enter any order in to the system, it will automatically calculated quantity remaining in the warehouse for the items demanded in that particular order, the quantities required to be purchased along with the schedule of purchase depending upon supplier lead times and minimum order quantities, which are available in SCALA database.

This highly efficient system was lying unused as the purchase deptt. found it unfriendly while using. Also they could not see value addition in using this software. The processes of this module of the ERP software were studied and observed and the weaknesses identified. Then with the help of IT and Purchase deptt., these weaknesses were removed and the system made ready to work.

Due to shortage of time and requirement of repeated testing and experimentation, this activity has not been completed and is still in the process.

Clearance of free stock: All the items against which there were no orders and were lying in warehouse for more than one month, were identified. These items were

termed as Free Stock or Dead Inventory. At LPS-Bossard, this makes around 30% of total inventory.

The customers for whom these items were bought were identified, and an offer was made to them to buy these items at discounted price. For all the items that could not be sold this way are on their way to dealer market, where they can be sold for heavy discounts, liquidating a big part of non-performing assets for LPs-Bossard.

Operational Efficiency (Bar Code System): Merely buying an IT solution and implementing it, without actually knowing its powers, requirements and advantages, does not really help much. Ignorance in this case may not be a bliss, but it can certainly can be a pain.

LPS-Bossard installed a bar code system around 10 months ago to make operations at warehouse more efficient, cost saving, error free and fast. For this, a Bar Code system was bought from Bar Code India. This system, due to improper installation and lack of communication, turned out to be a painful activity for people in warehouse. Rather than making system more efficient and fast, it rather degraded the whole system. This system

was to make the receipt and dispatch activities simpler, which could not happen.

The following were the problems identified along with their solutions suggested. Number of these have already been solved and rest others are in process. The scope of my study was only to identify problems and suggest solutions as implementing the suggested solutions need managerial involvement. All the problems are listed below along with the suggested solutions and latest status of each.

Problems Encountered
1. Customer ID is not provided by sales in customer master, which is required for of items available.

Suggested Solutions
The responsibility lies on sales team. They are required allocation

to update the customer master Problem has been resolved by Mr. Ashwani and Mr. Anup, product, as Mr. Anup provided space for lines. that by making changes in the programe.

2. Customers like GE medical and Enercon have different or multiple Ids for same when they need it for different

3. Label space is not sufficient for adding information there.

The changes are required to be all the

made in label design, to accommodate all information within same space.

4. IR no. is required in case of DRDL,

Mr. Anup is required to make changes in the software for the bar code system.

which is not available in WHMS right now

5. Time taken by present printers is about 8-9 seconds per label; whereas old method can print 100 labels/60 sec. This is highly time consuming. 6. labels printing is very sensitive and errors. This prevents handheld reading the labels and the

The printer needs to be replaced. The process for that has already been initiated.

A place free of dust and other causes particles needs to be deployed device fro

for printing activities.

consequent processes are interrupted. 7. ERP system SCALA takes only location of any item and if due is placed elsewhere, IT deptt. is required to make predefined changes in software of Bar Code to shortage, the item

system.

the location is not updated in SCALA and people in picking and quality are not able to locate this location. 8. Sales team will send picking even when materials are not available. Sales teams need to change their working style and update the data regularly. 9. A file needs to be received at handheld scanning at the time of receipt time taken to receive Picking list is too long, which device for

is received at handheld, because and dispatched. The

data is not updated properly. Sales team needs to work properly.

this file is long and even the server is off most of the time.

10. Mode of packing is not clear at the point and this causes doubling of packing activities. 11. Correct location of picking is not 12. Sales team is not updating Invoice information in WHMS. This creates a problem with picking list. Sales team needs to be instructed for taking care of it. 13. A big backlog of items is lying unlabelled. 14. The quantity required for any order

Sales team need to update data. receipt

Changes to be made in software Sales Team is required to update data.

Labelling to be done at dispatch, as required. Some big changes need to be does not

match with the quantity available made in software. Mr. Hamir for that product. This brings in problems in quantities in case of Bar Code has been asked to take proper allocation of care of the same.

shortage and collection of quantities. 15. Handheld connectivity with server IT deptt. will check all the connections.

Supplier Development:

Backward integration supply chain is as crucial to its operations as much is forward integration. For a company, to grow, having a strong customer base cannot be achieved until and unless their demands are not met. To meet their demands, company needs to produce better quality and more quantity, which in turn needs raw material. For raw material, any organization has to depend upon its suppliers.

So, for any organization to proper, it should have a very strong supplier base along with other things. This requirement becomes even more critical, when a company is a distribution company and not a manufacturer, because, in former case, the organization would have atleast some control over the production processes, but in latter case, it has no such control.

The following steps were identified and followed to strengthen the already existing supplier base. i) Asked Peterway, purchase manager, Bossard-Switzerland. For

quotations for certain items, which were consolidated demands for entire Bossard group little success from Pooja fasteners, Faridabad

ii) Resourcing for items that constituted 80% of total sales in

standards category. (Frequency 6 month) identified alternate potential suppliers very good prices from Ashwin industries, can give about 40%

reduction for his particular items, asked him for samples. iii) enquiries from rest of the suppliers in process Alternate sourcing for items bought from ZUG and France.

1.

A Handbook of Supply Chain Optimization: An approach to SCOR model By: Rosenbaum

2.

Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning and Operation By: Peter Meindi and Sunil Chopra

3.

Research Methodology By: C.R. Kothari

4.

Internet Sites:

www.scm.com www.scmonline.com

QUESTIONNAIRE

1.Name Of Supplier. 2.Age Of Supplier. 3.Qualification Of Supplier. 4.In which product you deal. 5.With Which company you Deal a. L.P.S b.Micron c. Surya d.A.K 6.Which company is product prefer. 7.Are you satisfies from service of company. 8.Are you satisfies from companys terms & condition. 9.Is discount given to you is Ok. 10.Any suggestions.