Category Archives: Supply Chain

Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) elected S Ramakrishna as Chairman of FFFAI for the period December 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019, at its eighth Executive Committee meeting. AV Vijayakumar, Chairman Elect, FFFAI and Brihanmumbai Custom Brokers Association congratulated Ramakrishna by presenting him with a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the Executive Committee members.

The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the Agriculture Export Policy 2018, aimed to double the income of farmers by 2022. Exports of agricultural products would play a pivotal role in achieving this goal and in order to provide an impetus to them, the Agriculture Export Policy will aim to double agricultural exports and integrate Indian farmers and agricultural products with global value chains. The Cabinet has also approved the proposal for establishment of a monitoring framework at the Centre, with commerce as the nodal department and representation from various ministries, departments, agencies, and representatives of concerned state governments, to oversee the implementation of the new policy.

According to a report titled ‘Supply chains in India: A reality check – Here to where and how’ released by KPMG (India) and Association of Supply Chain Professionals (ASCP), 80 per cent supply chain leaders in India believe customer centricity will be the key theme for supply chain of the future. The report highlights challenges faced by supply chains in India in each of the planning, sourcing, making and delivery stages; impact of key initiatives undertaken to overcome these challenges; the mindset that creates roadblocks in benefit realisation; level of technology adoption and key emerging themes for supply chains of the future. KPMG also shared in the report its perspective on how supply chains can be built effectively for the digital world. Commenting on the future of supply chain, Ravind Mithe, Partner – Management Consulting, Head Operations, KPMG (India), said, “Supply chain function is at a crossroads, where it has to surpass its traditional focus of transactional processing and driving efficiency to a leadership role that can make organisations ready for the digital world. The journey cannot be linear for all organisations; all functions and processes must work in a frictionless manner to realise an enterprise-wide transformation.”

Locus, along with The Worldwide Supply Chain Federation (TWSCF), is hosting the first India chapter of The Supply Chain Meetup in Bengaluru. Named ‘The Bangalore Supply Chain Meetup’, the event is scheduled to be held on November 24, 2018, at The Bohemian House in Richmond Town, and aims to nurture and grow the world’s foremost open, global, multidisciplinary community of people devoted to building the supply chain network of the future. The meetup will be hosted by Nishith Rastogi, CEO & Co-founder at Locus and Brian Aoaeh, The Worldwide Supply Chain Federation’s co-founder. Aoaeh will be present via a Skype call. The Bangalore Supply Chain Meetup will be attended by heads of supply chain and logistics players across key enterprises of e-commerce, consumer goods, 3PL, retail, healthcare, field services, etc.

OceanPro , an intensive 120-day accelerator programme, is offering start-ups an opportunity to partner with Maersk to bring innovative technology solutions to ease the global supply chain for customers. Pioneered in India, OceanPro complements Maersk’s innovation efforts worldwide. Seven external start-ups and one internal start-up have been identified for collaboration to create solutions that serve customers and manage operations better, leveraging Blockchain, Internet of Things, Advance Text Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. “We recognise the immense potential of India’s technology and digital talent and are looking to capitalise on these capabilities to help the logistics industry worldwide, to reinvent itself,” says Søren Skou, CEO, A.P. Moller – Maersk.

Realising the potential of logistics industry in India, the Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) will organise a ‘Young Logistics Programme (YLP)’ on September 24 during FIATA World Congress (FWC) 2018, at Pullman Hotel, Aerocity, New Delhi. Elaborating more on YLP, Tej Contractor, Executive Committee Member, FFFAI and who is spearheading the programme, said, “The objective of YLP is to provide our youth with a global perspective of our industry at present. Currently, disruption is the name of the game. At the YLP we will showcase the disruptive technologies that have changed and will change our industry in the “Battle of the Startups” by presenting three leading startups in various fields.” According to Contractor, learning is the necessity of life. “We learn something new every day and will continue to do so. After an energetic morning with the disruptions with startups, what better way that to introduce the newest way of learning the Logistics Business by playing a game,” he added. At the YLP, FFFAI will excel the process of learning the logistics business ‘with business on the move’ perception.

To create transparency and digital transformation in the courier industry, CourierHome has necessitated to bring out  ‘Blockchain technology & AI,’ for enabling disruption in the logistics industry. The aim is to create transparency of all documents and transactions across the freight landscape, ultimately, increasing the efficiency, agility and innovation of supply chains. With the implementation of the new-age technologies the entire courier process will get automated, making the process more efficient.   Sushant Kumar, Co-Founder & COO, CourierHome, commented, “Today, the application of Blockchain technology is innumerable.  The logistics industry, which is a trillion-dollar industry, is going to alter the landscape of the logistics industry with this revolutionary technology. Seeing the advantages that blockchain brings in logistics, it can prevent frauds, eliminate inaccuracies, increase data security and transparency, improve efficiency, and reduce expenditure.”

With an objective to deliberate on trade related issues and policy matters pertaining to exports from Eastern India, an interactive session was organised under the aegis of FIEO with Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce & Industry & Civil Aviation recently. Nari Kalwani, Regional Chairman, FIEO Eastern Region, stated that trade restrictive measures, volatility in currencies and liquidity challenges were rising threats to India’s exporters’ community. He stressed on the need for streamlining infrastructure and logistics issues to boost exports from Eastern Region. The issue of cargo detention at Indo-Bangladesh border due to infrastructural bottlenecks, was a matter which should be taken up through bilateral discussion between the two countries. Prabhu stated that he was glad that the number of exporters were rising in India. In the month of June 2018, there was a 20 per cent rise in exports of India as compared to the previous month. The government has taken large number of measures in few months to promote exports, amidst rising protectionism in developed countries. He also mentioned how India has taken a firm stand at international level to emphasise on the role of WTO for resolving global trade disputes.

The cargo industry in India will now benefit from a new policy, informed Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation of India, Government of India. Addressing the Supply Chain Summit in Delhi, Prabhu said, “The country will soon have a policy on cargo that is being finalised by the new logistics department. For the first time, a logistics division has been created in the country. All the modes in the segment were reaping good results, but, there were no single one-point of contact. The policy is more of a concrete plan, to create new logistics hubs in India. The document is in the final stages of preparation.” The minister has asked the industry stakeholders to give their inputs, which could be incorporated in the policy. He said that the new policy will have a new industrial policy, one for agriculture exports and developing parameters for the country’s districts on ease of doing business.

Agility has signed an agreement with Cold Box Express to offer innovative shipping solutions for temperature-sensitive cargo. Cold Box offers an active temperature-control pallet shipper, designed for mixed-load ground transportation. The shipper is a pallet-sized interior compartment with precise temperature control and range, extended hold times, and 24×7 near-real-time tracking and monitoring. Satish Lakkaraju, Chief Commercial Officer, Agility India, said, “We believe in offering unique, cost-effective solutions that can help customers achieve a more secure cold chain. In the Indian market, where temperatures rise to over 45°C, moving temperature-sensitive cargo can be a challenge. Cold Box’s solution is easy to handle, and perfectly suited to our customer needs.” Under the terms of the partnership, Agility will test one Cold Box as part of a pilot to move cargo for pharmaceutical customers in India. The device will be used for LCL reefer shipments, as well as to move pharmaceutical products to difficult-to-reach locations, areas prone to power cuts, and for last-mile delivery.