My Visume

 Please watch and comment on the VISUME ,that I have made.

Applications of AI, IOT and Cloud in supply chain

 Supply chain has been evolving by adopting the technology landscape of the times. Be it in terms of mechanical steam engines, electronics and automation and now the buzz word industry 4.0 , supply chain always incorporates tech to become more efficient and more responsive from time to time. In this article I will show the potential applications of current booming technologies in the field of supply chain.

Current technology Landscape 

At present some of the technologies that are booming are Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud, Autonomous vehicles, IOT etc.Now we will analyze applications of AI, Cloud and IOT in this article.

Artificial Intelligence

Computers and all the electronics are becoming smart . Thanks to the development in the fields of both hardware and algorithms , now computers can churn large amount of information and make timely quick, precise decisions.

Artificial intelligence can process large amount of information on the suppliers to predict the produce,in manufacturing plant to help in preventive maintenance, in supply chain to analyse large amount of data to provide actionable insights etc.

AI adapts itself to the environment and learns on the job.Its capability to process lots of information is unmatched. 

On the limitation side , AI cannot deal with the outlier events , in this case humans are the best to take information. Hence AI cannot replace humans. To overcome the limitations of AI now augmented intelligence is being developed which can combine both the strengths of human and machine to deliver the quality results. 

IOT

IOT stands for Internet Of Things, before the advent of IOT each machine works in silos , the parameters provided by one machine is noted by an operators and processes this information at a later point of time. But this is very slow and ineffective process. What if we make the machine talk to us continuously ?

This is the idea behind IOT where machines continuously communicated different data , this data traveles through the internet medium to a storage place. This transfer is provided by the internet vehicle whose speed has been increasing providing real-time actions and monitoring . After the data reaches to the destination it is processed along with multiple other data to take a timely and correct action.

The two technologies that enable IOT are sensors, Internet and bigdata. With developments in these technologies the applications of IOT can be increased reliably. 

Cloud 

Cloud is remote computing power that is available to you .Cloud also requires good internet. Using cloud large amounts of data can be stored in remote servers and can be accessed from any device, anytime and any place. This flexibility doesnt pertain only to the data, it extends to the software, services etc .Now you need not install a software in your machine. Your machine just requires a browser and thats it . With zero foot print on your machine you will be able to do what you want to on a remote computer seamlessly, thanks to the advent of mobile , now you can  access the files and work on them while you are travelling and at anyplace where you can get good internet. This was possible using a technology called webapps . You probably are already using webapps like google docs etc.

Cloud can be applied in Supply chain to host the ERP system and also create a digital twin of the entire supply chain to involve all parties responsible from end to end to a single source of truth.

Poster Making - How to make an attractive poster

 Hi folks! Hope you are doing great. 

In this blog, I would like to describe the process of poster making to convey your ideas.

What is a poster?

• A poster is a temporary promotion of an idea, product, or event put up in a public space for mass consumption. 
• Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative.
• They are a frequent tool of advertisers (particularly of events, musicians, and films), protestors, and other groups trying to communicate a message.
• Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text.

As you all know from my previous post that we are promoting Kondapally toys as part of #Mandi2020, we have made a poster for the same to promote our idea. I will describe the process in detail using this example.

Have a clear idea on what you would like to convey using your poster.

For our poster ,we want promote the Kondapally toys. We have researched about the topic to understand the importance of the toys , its making etc. first. These details helped us to form the marketing strategy and clear cut view on what to convey.

Know about your target audience.

Know your target audience details like which age they belong to etc helps us to taylor design our poster . Based on the target groups age , income and other demographic factors design the poster.

For our poster we decided to target middle and upper middle class people of age 30-50. So since the audience have lived in villages in an era which is depicted by these toys it is found as right fit.

Decide where you want to share the poster.

Due to pandemic, we are not able to reach out anyone physically, so we decided to publish the poster in facebook, instagram and twitter platforms. We added extra information on the post to highlight the need to buy the poster with below text :

Do you miss the good old village days? When the days were serene, when bullock carts were main mode of transport, when people used to live close with nature instead of being tied inside boxes(Offices).

Perhaps, your greatest memories in life are tied up with those scenes. To help you relive those moments again, we students from #NITIE are promoting #Kondapally handicrafts, toys that re-kindle memories of our good old days. You can buy these toys at all major e-commerce sites and be part of our prime minister's #VocalForLocal movement. Please encourage our unique local talent from #Kondapally village.

Select a color scheme based on relevance.

Since we are doing this for country's mission of  "vocal for local" , and that too on independence day, we have decided to choose the tri-color as our theme and accordingly we have reflected everything based on the theme of independence.

Use limited text and keep it crisp.

People are visual learners , they get bored easily with text. Hence an appealing poster should consist of as minimum text as possible. In our poster we have conveyed much of details through images and only some using text.

Make sure the headings etc are highlighted and visible.

Different text should be highlighted , some should be bold , some letters should have different font so that the important details are conveyed differently and doesn't get lost in plethora of details.

Use good quality images.

If images are pixelated , it reflects poor quality poster and gives a very bad impression. Although high quality images increase size of poster , after making the entire poster , you can trim it down using softwares like photoshop or online converters.

Finally this is our poster :

 Please do let me know what you feel in comments.

Supply Chain Performance : Achieving Strategic Fit and Scope

Now market place is flooded with products of many companies trying to capture consumers. This competition has led companies to differentiate from rest by identifying and catering the needs of its targeted consumers.

Competitive Strategy 

It defines the set of needs that a company seeks to satisfy through its products and services. It depends on how customer prioritizes Product cost, delivery time ,variety and quality. Different customers have different order of priorities, based on this the companies orient themselves to cater those customers and thus maintaining their differentiation in market.

                             

Value chain

Value chain of a company is all the set of activities that adds value to the final customer using the goods\services of a company.

Each function has its own role to play. Some of the functions are below :

To achieve the competitive strategy set by a firm, the supply chain strategy needs to be aligned to give the desired results. Supply chain strategy defines a broad structure of supply chain. From here the the strategy of each function of supply chain is set and these are called as functional strategies. We need to ensure that these functional strategies are aligned with one another.  

Strategic Fit

Achieving consistency between target customer needs and supply chain capabilities is strategic fit.

To achieve a strategic fit, a company must accomplish the following :

• Competitive strategy and all functional strategies should fit to form coordinated overall strategy. Each functional strategy should support other functional strategy.
• Each function should develop its capabilities to meet its strategy goals.
• Design of overall supply chain should be aligned with supply chain strategy.

 

How is strategic fit achieved?

1. Understand the customer and supply chain Uncertainty

 Identify the priority combination of  needs of the target segment

1. Order Quanity
2. Response Time
3. Product Variety
4. Service Level
5. Channels
6. Rate of innovation
7. Price

Translate the needs of the target segment of a product into a metric called implied demand uncertainty.

Implied demand Uncertainty

Implied demand uncertainty in contrast to the demand uncertainty, is the uncertainty for only a portion of the demand that supply chain plans to satisfy based on the customer desires it seeks to satisfy.

Supply source capability on supply uncertainty

1. Breakdowns
2. Unpredictable low yields
3. Poor quality
4. Limited supply capacity
5. Inflexible supply capacity
6. Evolving production process

Understanding supply chain capabilities :

Implied uncertainty Spectrum 

2.Understand supply chain and map it on the responsiveness spectrum

Categorization of supply chains based on different characters and map it on

• Respond to wide ranges of quantities demanded
• Meet short lead times
• Handle a large variety of products
• Build highly innovative products
• Meet a high service level
• Handle supply uncertainty  

 

3.Achieving strategic fit

After mapping the implied demand uncertainty and responsiveness spectrum we need to fit them against one another . To do this we take each value on different axis and check if their fit lies in the zone of strategic fit.

  

Companies should try to move into zone of strategic fit by adjusting either of the factors.

Next step is to assign  the roles to the individual functions based on the supply chain responsiveness required. You can distribute the responsiveness across functions depending on the overall cost and capability. We try to find the best combination of efficiency and responsiveness across all functions.

Roles of different functions in different types of supply chain

Tailoring Supply chain for strategic Fit

Based on the stage of product life cycle, product varieties, customer segments a firm must tailor its supply chain to achieve strategic fi

Expanding strategic scope

Scope represents to the functions within the firm and stages across the supply chain where the strategic fit is applied. Below are different levels of strategy scopes.

• Inter operation Scope
• Intra functional Scope :Minimize functional scope
• Inter functional Scope : Maximize company profit
• Inter company Scope : Maximizing supply chain surplus

Inter company scope of strategic fit is relevant in current era as the competition has shifted from company vs company to Supply chain vs Supply chain.

Challenges to achieving and maintaining strategic fit

1. Increasing product variety and shrinking life cycles
2. Globalization and increasing Uncertainty
3. Fragmentation of Supply Chain Ownership
4. Changing Technology and Business Environment
5. The environment and sustainability