Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Nagpur had the privilege of hosting Mr. Ankur Chaturvedi - Head of International Supply Chain and Projects at Emami Ltd., for a guest lecture on October 11, 2020. Mr. Chaturvedi is an experienced professional and is currently working in the field of Operations. He delivered an insightful lecture on the topic ‘The Corporate System - Its Inter-Dependencies and the relevance of each department’

The following is an excerpt from the interview with him-

Q1) Since you are responsible for the supply chain for international business, could you describe a typical day in your office and the responsibilities that come with it?

Ans. If a day is described, it feels happy but unfortunately coordinating with countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States is effectively a 24/7 job. Training a team efficiently acts as a buffer in times of crisis. There are certain things like reports which go up the board and have to be reviewed weekly, to determine where the company is going wrong in terms of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how to move forward in the future.

Q2) How ‘tightly coupled’ should interdepartmental dependency be and should it be high or low for a conglomerate?

Ans. When it comes to interdependency, the objectives and the results need to be in absolute synergy. But when it comes to functioning, it should be disjointed. For example, sales comprise of what needs to be sold needs to be produced. If it is not produced, it cannot be sold. There is an estimation in demand planning which is one of the core functions of the supply chain. When demand is planned, it needs to be in sync with what the sales can be or cannot be. So, the demand planner needs to be logged in with every salesman’s capability or his deliverables. Now, once the demand planner has handed over the plan and it has been produced, the sales team cannot say ‘we did not ask for it so why should we sell it’. But in the current environment of COVID, one cannot predict if there will be a lockdown in the market, so it needs to produce because the factory overheads keep rising and the factory manager's KPIs will get hit. Similarly, once the production is resumed, sales cannot take it easy because of social distancing norms, so at this point, you need to be disjointed. Thus, there cannot be a ‘one size fits all’ solution here.

Q3) Congratulations on being a recipient of the esteemed Indian Manufacturing Excellence Award! It would be great if you could please give us some insights into what helped you achieve this feat?

Ans. The award was only received on the plant’s behalf. Now coming to the manufacturing excellence award, almost all big companies participate in it and the evaluations are based on 12 different assessment criteria. It’s very much like Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). There are different pillars of TPM. There are different aspects too and there is an evaluation on each of them.

Q4) When working with managers from various departments, how can communication and goal achievement be streamlined?

Ans. The most important part in ensuring synergy in an organization is to have defined realistic KPIs at all levels. The balanced scorecard is a very good example of how it can be implemented, both at a macro and micro-organizational level. The targets need to be transparent and realistic and once the right KPIs have been set, there should be a buy in from all the departments. Further, the buy-ins should be aligned to rewards and recognition.

Q5) Since everything these days has moved online, so have our seminars. How has been your experience of briefing the student managers at the Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur?

Ans. This is a question that I would like to ask you since I’m learning on the job here too. I started giving guest lectures or interacting with students, conducting Operations Management lectures at an ICFAI centre in 2003, much before I did my MBA from ICFAI itself in 2013. Wherever I go for a class, I ask for full attendance of the students. But I feel otherwise, it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure attendance. With things online, even I am learning and I don’t know how well it has gone but if you are happy then I am more than happy. Thank you very much, it was my pleasure.