“ Today, supply chain plays a very vital role in determination of new factory locations. If you do not have an efficient supply chain mechanism in that country, then the factory may be useless "
The supply chain function may not be a glamorous job, but it is definitely a crucial one. Recognised today as one of the most important functions of any organisation, the supply chain industry is finally getting its due. It is also becoming widely popular amongst the youth, with more than 30% of management students opting for the field. Despite that, not much about the profile is known to the layman. With a view to understand what the industry is about, Corporate Citizen chats with Pramod Sant, Vice President - Head of Import Export and Export Control and Customs at Siemens Ltd. Mr Sant is a three decade veteran with a rich and varied experience across the vertical, and one who has seen the turn of the tide for the industry from its nascent days to the powerhouse it has become today. He talks about his first job, his long and fruitful journey with Seimens, and the impact of the current government on manufacturing
I have been brought up in Nasik. I’m a mechanical engineer, from Sardar Patel College of Engineering. I did my diploma in business management from Pune. After this, I did various courses related to supply chain management. Once my education was over, I went back to Nasik, and started working with Crompton Greaves, where I worked for around seven years.
After that fulfilling tenure with Crompton Greaves, I joined Siemens in supply chain procurement in the year 1989. At that time, there were very few engineers who were venturing into supply chain roles. In fact, in those days, the term supply chain hadn’t even been coined; it was called the purchase department or the materials department. I joined it and after a few months began to find it very interesting. In Siemens, I got a lot of opportunities to learn. When you work with a global company, you have a wide variety of roles. We have close to 11 verticals like wind power, healthcare, power generation, etc, and they are all different. In the beginning, I was working in the Nasik factory for close to nine years. I have always had a close bond with Nasik and was happy to be placed there. I was heading the strategic purchasing department. I moved to Mumbai in 1999 due to company requirements, and took over the project purchase function. I also took over the indirect materials function, which included things like logistics and travel. A big company like Siemens spends over Rs. 100 crore only on travel, so you have to negotiate and have arrangements with airlines, hotels, cabs etc. Doing that gave me tremendous experience and I learnt the power of bargaining, which can be applied from the simplest thing like buying vegetables, all the way to multi-million dollar deals. After this, the company trusted me to head the import export function for the company. To give you an idea of the scale I was dealing with, we pay close to Rs. 800 crore only as custom duty per annum. Our exports are close to Rs. 2000 crores. The best part of this was that, in these roles, I received complete autonomy and independence along with global support. I believe the Siemens think tank is way ahead of time, and by working with them, you learn a lot. .
I agree that it is definitely not glamorous. If you ask me the name of the top five people in finance, you might be able to answer immediately. If you ask the names of the top technology people, you will definitely be able to ananswer with a Mark Zuckerberg or a Bill Gates. However, if you were to be asked the names of the top five people in the supply chain industry, you may not know even one. It will never be as glamorous as tech or finance, but I believe supply chain is finally getting its due. Today, supply chain plays a very vital role in determination of new factory locations. If you do not have an efficient supply chain mechanism in that country, then the factory may be useless. There was a case where a transformer making company in the UK, which was well established, decided that the factory would directly put the finished transformers on the vessel, and then it would be shipped worldwide. However, they later realised that the cost of getting the vehicle to the factory was so high that they had to shift the factory. If they had consulted the supply chain department, this could have been avoided. The supply chain personnel’s role has become critical in industries today. I directly report to Sunil Mathur, MD and CEO of Siemens India. Earlier, the supply chain head would report to the factory head, or the commercial head, but now you will find that the supply chain reports directly to the top level in companies. They now form a part of the core leadership team. We have a supply chain person in our board of directors too. If you look at e-commerce, the supply chain is paramount and it is actually the chief expenditure of the industry. In fact, you rate these different e-commerce companies based on their efficient and timely delivery. Supply chain has become the chief differentiator. Even in B-schools, I find that over 30% students are now opting for operations and supply chain management.
Yes. If you look at the finance ministry, the customs department or the tax department, you won’t believe that in the last two years, they have come up with so many changes in line with their ease of doing business initiative. Some changes are extremely useful. For example, they introduced a policy called single window. When you import anything, it is inspected based on the type of product, a food product will be inspected by a food agency, medicines will be inspected by the drug control authorities, and so on. By having multiple agencies involved, the time increases substantially. Now, they have formed a single process called single window. When you import something, you declare the contents in advance. Then the approvals will be taken by the responsible agency online itself, without you having to go to them. The customs will take care of everything, and the clearance time, which was earlier very high, has been brought down substantially. This concept is far better than the policies in even some advanced countries.
“ If you look at e-commerce, the supply chain is paramount and it is actually the chief expenditure of the industry. In fact, you rate these different e-commerce companies based on their efficient and timely delivery. Supply chain has become the chief differentiator “
You learn unparalleled practical knowledge on the shop floor. It is on the shop floor that you find out what you actually know and whether you are cut out for the industry or not. Theoretical knowledge can only get you so far. The shop floor is where you can test your mettle. You also get to meet a lot of people from different social classes, age groups and skill sets. On the shop floor, your output can be directly seen. It is not intangible, and you cannot hide behind technical jargon while you nap at work.
If you look at the supply chain industry, there are very few women. My logistics head is a woman. When she went to the port for the first time, the officials working there were not allowing her to enter. She was not allowed to board the ship. Even safety shoes for women are not readily available in India. Same is the case with helmets. It is a sad fact. In the case of Siemens, we have no barrier for women. We encourage women in every facet of our business. Despite that, I agree that a lot more needs to be done to encourage women in the industry.
We have a very good web based system, which we have built to track shipments. We are able to track each and every one of over 38,000 shipments originating from over 33 countries around the globe. The system also gives you great KPIs, which help us track performance of each and every person in the supply chain. When the World Bank prepares its rankings, they analyse this data and the customs depart-ment also monitors this data. I, along with my team, helped to make this system. There are also some awards that customs department received from the government based on our data, and I am very happy about that.
I feel there is no work life balance. It is a myth. One often bleeds into the other. Work today is everywhere. You are in contact with your office through your smartphone all the time. Going forward it will be extremely difficult to separate work and home. What you need, therefore, is a good hobby. I, for example, like world heritage sights. Across the globe there are 1400 world heritage sights. In India, there are around 30. I love to visit these places in my spare time. I have seen around 65 of these sights along with my family. Places like India, Italy, Egypt and Cambodia are a delight to visit. Also, you must be seeing large trucks carrying shipments on the roads. Every logistical company keeps a miniature model of these trucks, and I love to collect them. That is another hobby of mine. I have been carrying these models from the 80s. I also collect miniature bells. I have over 600 bells from around the globe.
My wife is a housewife; who is a wonderful classical singer. My daughter has done engineering in computer science and is now in the US for further studies. My son is giving his 12th board exams.
By Neeraj varty
