ISCON-2023 concludes on a successful and cheery note

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The Chamber of Visionary Supply Chain Leaders (CVSCL) – which is now the Supply Chain Association of Leaders and Experts (SCALE) – together with Logistics Insider organised the first edition of the India Supply Chain Conference (ISCON) 2023 on 19th January at the Leela Ambience Hotel in Delhi. The event made its debut with the theme ‘Future Proofing Supply Chains for a New India’.

The event was sponsored by Skyways Group, Ethics Group of Companies, Gear India, Blume Global, Intugine, Shypmax, XCELL Supply Chain Solutions & Pando.

A robust logistics sector is extremely crucial in our nation’s journey of being at par with developed nations and materialise its dream of becoming a manufacturing giant and global logistics hub. So with this thought, SCALE and Logistics Insider developed the idea of ISCON 2023.

INAUGURAL CEREMONY

The inaugural ceremony of the event started with the lamp lighting by Chief Guest Dr. Surendra Ahirwar (Joint Secretary Logistics, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry), Mr. Ashish Mendiratta (General Secretary, SCALE and Founder, SIMSA), Mr. Yashpal Sharma (Managing Director, Skyways Group and President, ACFI), and Mr. Tariq Ahmed (Editor and Co-Founder, Logistics Insider).

Mr. Ashish Mendiratta addressed the audience on behalf of Mr. Umesh Madhyan (President, SCALE and VP Logistics, Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages). Mr. Tariq Ahmed gave the welcome address and Mr. Yashpal Sharma presented the opening remarks.

The ceremony ended with Dr. Surendra Ahirwar’s keynote address to the audience.

“As experience goes, there have been a couple of realizations from the times of crisis. One is that there is a need to focus on the supply chain as a whole, not just talking about it. We need to talk about it in greater dissection and greater details. The current situation is challenging us to ensure greater robustness in the supply chain and develop endurance to overcome crisis times we’ve been through.”
Dr. Surendra Ahirwar, Joint Secretary Logistics, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry

PANEL DISCUSSION 1

People in India, irrespective of their location, education, and age, are reaping the benefits of the digital storm, gaining immense thrust from tier-II and tier III cities. As these cities and towns have reached a point of saturation, it has become imperative to boost the supply chain infrastructure and connectivity of these cities, equipping them with all the required facilities to further augment the growth.

The first panel discussion of the day was woven around satiating the supply chain needs of Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, and was themed ‘Supply Chain Fortification to Gratify Demand from Tier-2/3 towns/rural markets’.

The panel was moderated by Mr Chetan Kumria (Managing Director, XCELL Supply Chain Solutions), and speakers on the panel included Mr. Ashish Pande (Head SC South Asia, Nestle), Mr. Dharmesh Srivastava (VP Supply Chain AgroTech Foods), Mr. Yashpal Sharma (MD, Skyways Group), Ms. Jivisha Joshi Gangopadhyay (Deputy Secretary (Logistics) DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry), Mr. Vishal Kothari (Director, Ethics Group), and Mr. Kartik Shah (Regional Manager APAC – Logistics, Sennheiser).

The panel talked on various points including –

Warehousing availability
Hyperlocal setup and Hub & Spoke Model
Role of e-com in uprising of the Tier-2 / Tier-3
Improvement of Road/Rail infrastructure

PANEL DISCUSSION 2

The logistics and supply chain industry has been hugely impacted by advances in communication technology, information technology and the transformation of technology from manual to automatic. However, bringing in new technology also means installing a workforce who can make the most of it.

In the second panel discussion our speakers will talk about technology adoption in the industry, the barriers to it, and overcoming those barriers. It was themed ‘Overcoming Barriers to Adoption of Technology and Automation’.

Mr. Sujit Sahu (India GTM Leader for SaaS, Oracle) moderated the panel with finesse, and the speakers included Mr. Avinash Dhagat (VP Supply Chain, Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd.), Ms. Deepika Arora (Lead Supply Chain, Digital Transformation and Sourcing, Kohler Co.), Mr. Vineet Jain (Head of Supply Chain, Havells India), Mr. Umesh Madhyan (VP Logistics, Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages), Mr. Manish Lal (Director Supply Chain, Mondelez India) and Mr. Harshit Shrivastava (CEO and Co-founder, Intugine).

The points of discussion in second panel included –

Easing adoption by SMEs
Mitigating cyber-risks
Data integration
Introducing benefits of agile and lean supply chains
Human Resource

PANEL DISCUSSION 3

India has witnessed a considerable jump in the number of EVs being used commercially, solar panels being installed at airports, LEEDS certified buildings being constructed, and most recently, Adani Group announced their partnership with Ashok Leyland to deploy Asia’s first hydrogen fuel trucks for mining and logistics. It is evident India is on the right path towards a world-class yet sustainable logistics sector.

Third panel discussion of ISCON-2023 was an attempt towards deeper, practical discussions on inducing sustainability in supply chains. It was themed ‘Supply Chain Sustainability – Landing on Net-Zero Commitments’.

The moderation of the panel was done by Mr. Ajay Singh (VP Supply Chain Management, Hindustan Platinum) and the panel speakers included Mr. Varun Chopra (Executive Chairman, Gear India), Ms. Venu Vashistha (VP Supply Chain, ATC India), Dr. Anil Chinnabhandar (Senior VP Retail Planning and Supply Chain, Landmark Group) and Mr. Sagar Kadu (Director Logistics, Ministry of Commerce and Industry).

The following points were among those discussed in the third panel:

Innovation to reach maturity in developing alternative energy sources
Financial feasibility of green fuels
Ensuring commitments turn into actions
Requisites from policy makers

PRESENTATIONS

During the event, a segment was reserved for 3 special presentations.

First presentation was by Mr. Vishal Kothari (Director Strategy and Revenue, Ethics Group) in which he shared how end to end supply chain management made the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojna a success story.

In the second presentation, Mr. Varun Chopra (Executive Chairman, Gear India) talked about how the supply chain industry is accelerating towards its collective net zero commitments. He also talked about accelerating towards net zero targets via zero emission material handling equipment.

During the 3rd presentation of the event, Mr. Sanjeev Choudhary (Chief Operating Officer – sKart Global Express, a subsidiary of Skyways Group) talked about his organisation, their journey, their achievements, and their business offerings.

SUPPLY CHAIN STARTUP CHALLENGE

During the last few years, the Government of India has invested a lot in creating a conducive environment for start-up culture, in order to improve the trade and industry standing of the nation. Logistics Insider and SCALE invited a few such start-ups from the supply chain and logistics sector to participate in the Supply Chain Startup Challenge.

Out of all the aspiring entries received, the top 5 of them got the opportunity to present their startups in front of the esteemed jury members as well as all the supply chain leaders present at the event. During their presentation, they talked about the problem statement, the solutions, use cases, scalability, a summary of their business plan and customer testimonials, which was followed by an interaction with the jury members.

Mr. Dharmesh Srivastava (VP – Supply Chain, Agro Tech Foods Limited), Mr. Ashish Mendiratta (Founder, SIMSA) and Mr. Mani V G S (Founder of The Chainworks, Principal at EFESO Consulting) were part of the jury judging the participating start-ups.

Freight Fox was declared the winner of the challenge after all the participants went through extensive grilling by the judges in order to measure their potential. The coveted trophy was presented to winners by Mr. Otto Utriainen (Global Director Warehousing Technology (Atlanta), Coca Cola) and Mr. Umesh Madhyan (President, SCALE and Vice-President Logistics, Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages).

CLOSING CEREMONY

Mr. Ashish Mendiratta delivered the Vote of Thanks to the attendees. The governing body members of CVSCL also gathered on the stage to unveil the industry body’s new name i.e. Supply Chain Association of Leaders and Experts (SCALE).