There is no area of industry or society that technology is not upending. Yet this offers an opportunity for global businesses that can disrupt rather than getting disrupted. But how has this disruption impacted the Indian highway of supply chain management?

Supply chains can be easily invaded with complexity, involving compound processes to create a product or distribute it to end users. IoT comes to the rescue, bringing solutions that help connect all parties of the value chain to one ecosystem – suppliers, transporters, and recipients, tracking movements of goods checking tax evasions, enhancing warehouse operational efficiencies, etc. “10 years back, technology-enabled warehouses were very few, whereas in today's scenario most of the companies are having modern facilities with system is driven putaway/picking/put to light etc,” opinedJagadeesh Kunchey, Vice President-Supply Chain &Logistics, ITC, in an exclusive interview with ET Edge. When asked what he thinks about technology development in the Indian supply chain landscape, especially when developed countries like Singapore, US etc. are using AI, IoT to revolutionize their existing systems, he stated- “I think we are not far behind. There has been a lot of improvement in this area. Different industries are at different levels. In the case of transportation, tech-enabled tracking/routing was not very common few years back whereas today routing coupled with mobile technologies are helping to improve turnaround of assets. While US/Singapore are early adopters of technology, we will catch up in a cost-effective way.”

The supply chain & logistics industry is also heading into a new era of transparency through digitization. Along these lines, E-way bill, a newly launched initiative by the Govt., is here to bring not only transparency but also efficiency in the transport of goods across states in India.

“E-way bill will definitely help in cutting down the transit times and thereby inventory across the chain. In the long run, this will help in reducing transportation costs as vehicles can make multiple trips. However, success hinges on how effectively the system works. There are some teething issues like site not working at times, errors coming while uploading data. The time taken for creating an e- waybill is also significant as the data needs to be prepared in a specific format.”- Jagadeesh Kunchey, Advisory Member, and speaker at The Economic Times Supply Chain & Logistics Management 2018.

The Supply Chain & Logistics Management Summit will not only delve into the Next-Gen in Supply Chain Digitization coveringArtificial Intelligence, IoTs & Blockchain but also focus on opportunities in Cold Chain & Warehousing and more!

Be a part of this exclusive platform and witness Shri Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce & Industry and CivilAviation of India as the honorable chief guest at SCM.