Interview: Nokia
Name: Sushil Agarawal
Job Title: Senior Manager, Channel Logistics
Development, Asia-Pacific
Company: NOKIA
How long have you worked for Nokia?
More than 2 years
How long have you worked as a Senior Manager, Channel Logistics
Development, Asia-Pacific?
More than 1 year
During your time in this field, what changes have you
seen?
Customer Collaboration is becoming more and more important. It
brings operations and sales staff together with key customers to
increase the customer's top line and improve responsiveness to
customer needs. It helps us to achieve joint goals including
on-time delivery, reduced order fulfillment lead times, increased
planning accuracy and lower inventory levels.
Understanding of supply chain costs to distribute products is
also getting more attention, Cost to market for current
distribution network and possibility to reduce cost by designing an
alternative distribution network is now senior management's top
agenda.
Is it very different from when you first started out? How has
the industry changed in regards to supply chain planning?
End-to-end connectivity is precipitating a fundamental change in
supply chain management, as static supply chain are quickly giving
way to more flexible value chains composed of partners that can be
assembled in real-time to meet unique requirements. The internet
has lowered the barriers to effective collaboration allowing
companies to easily share demand-forecast information,
production-capacity requirements, manufacturing schedules and new
product designs. It is becoming apparent that the competitive field
is no longer limited to company A versus company B. The game is now
supply chain network versus supply chain network.
How has your job changed as a result?
The job is adding more dimensions like Planning and
Replenishment Solutions, System-to-System Integration, on-line
channel development etc.
What is your opinion on the future of Supply Chain
Planning?
Future supply chain planning will require superior decision
flows and workflows that can leverage the available data, and in
real-time maximize performance. These processes need to support
among other things collaborative forecasting and planning,
Procurement workflows, transportation planning and demand-supply
matching. Greater use of technology will be a key differentiator
for optimal supply chain planning.
What personal challenges do you face on a day to day basis in
your job?
We have to deal with set of customers like operators,
distributors and retailers. Each customer has unique requirements
from supply chain solutions perspective. We have to constantly find
innovative ways to create customer value and have an efficient
supply chain. To ensure we have continuous innovation in supply
chain, we hire good talent and find the ways to keep motivating
them by creating opportunities for personal development.
How do you overcome these?
Its all about having right people in the team who can make the
things happen. Our biggest contribution is to support business in
ensuring we fulfill customer's requirements with least possible
cost. We are able to achieve this with a talented team of
people.
What software packages do you use to assist you with your
job?
We have catalogue of tools to facilitate and optimize our supply
chain from receiving customer order to manufacturing to fulfilling
customer's order.
What is your hot tip to others who do a similar job to
you?
Try not to think about the current blocking points and don't
take anything in your supply chain as given. See the pain points in
your everyday operations and the requirements of your customers and
define your strategy, your customer classes, your product classes,
your supply chains as your future setup.
Dare to break assumptions and come up with more innovative way
of working.