0

PROJECT
REPORT

Supply Chain Management

in
Asian Paints
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SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN ASIAN PAINTS

Executive Summary

Introduction
The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals defines Supply Chain Management
as the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement,
conversion and logistics management activities. It also includes coordination and
collaboration with channel partners, which may be suppliers, intermediaries, third party
service providers and customers. In essence, Supply Chain Management (SCM) integrates
supply and demand management within and across business organisations.

Recent advancements in automation, smart devices, Big Data analytics and Artificial
Intelligence have contributed towards improving collection, analysis and application of
meaningful data which can be applied for planning, implementing, and controlling the
operations of the supply chain to satisfy customer requirements as efficiently as possible. It is
expected that improvements in technology will enable lean production, reducing overstocking
or understocking issues besides reducing overhead costs and costs for end-users.

In the manufacturing sector, efficient Supply Chain Management can benefit a business in
terms of improved forecast accuracy, improved planning and scheduling, increase in asset
utilisation, reduction in inventory levels and replenishment lead times, efficient process cycles
and improved service levels.

This project report focuses on the Supply Chain Management Practices followed in the Paints
Manufacturing Sector, with special emphasis on Asian Paints, one of the market leaders in
Paints manufacturing. The report analyses the trends in Indian Paints manufacturing industry
and the factors that affect Supply Chain Management of major players in the industry. With
regard to Asian Paints, the project report covers the end-to-end supply chain in the company
to include Manufacturing, Purchasing Management, Inventory Management, Packaging and
Transportation, Warehousing and Distribution Management. The unique Supply Chain
Management practices implemented by Asian Paints and their impact in making its operations
more effective have also been highlighted in the report. Finally, the challenges faced in
management of a vast network comprising eight manufacturing plants, six regional
distribution centres, 55 depots and more than 15000 retail dealers in over 3500 towns and
cities across the country, have been elaborated upon in the report.

Objective and Scope

The objective of this report is to study and analyse the Supply Chain Management in Asian
Paints, India’s leading manufacturer of paints. The report will focus on the end-to-end supply
chain analysis in the company, challenges faced and best practices in SCM adopted by the
company to improve the efficiency of flow of information, material and finances.
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Data obtained from both primary and secondary sources has been used for the purpose of
compiling the report.

Paints Industry – Indian Perspective

The market size of the Indian paints sector has been pegged at Rs 170 billion in value terms.
The industry in India grew at a CAGR of 12.9% from 2011-12 to 2014-15 to Rs.40,300 crores
owing to improvements in disposable income, rising urbanisation, increasing trend of nuclear
families and reduction in average repainting cycle (from 15 years to approximately 7-10
years). In 2016-17, the industry’s value grew by 8% on a year on year basis to Rs.46,980
crores.

Demand for paints comes from two broad categories:-

• Decoratives: Major segments in decoratives include exterior wall paints, interior wall
paints, wood finishes and enamel and ancillary products such as primers, putties etc.
Decorative paints account for over 75% of the overall paint market in India. Demand
for decorative paints arises from household painting, architectural and other display
purposes. Demand in the festive season (September-December) is comparatively
higher than in other periods. This segment is price sensitive and is a higher margin
business as compared to industrial segment.

• Industrial: This segment includes automotive coatings, powder coatings and

protective coatings. Users for industrial paints include automobiles, engineering and
consumer durables. This segment is more technology intensive as compared to the
decorative segment.

11.00% 2.00%

Asian Paints
15.00%
53.00% Berger Paints
Kansai Nerolac Paints
19.00%
Akzo Nobel India
Shalimar Paints

Market Share of Top Players in Organised Paints Industry in India (2016-17)

(Source: ICICI Securities Ltd, Retail Equity Research Report Jan 2018)

The Indian paints industry is largely dominated by organised players accounting for about
65% of the industry’s value and the unorganised players accounting for the rest 35%. Of the
two segments in the paints industry, the industrial paints segment mainly comprises organised
players whereas the decorative segment also involves some unorganised players involved in
selling low end products like low end distemper, cement paints etc.
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More than 95% of the organised market of paints industry is covered by the top players with
the largest share of 53% held by Asian Paints followed by Berger Paints India, Kansai
Nerolac Paint and Akzo Nobel India with a share of 19%, 15% and 11% respectively, during
2016-17. Asian Paints is the market leader in the decorative paints segment while Kansai
Nerolac Paints is the market leader in the industrial paints segment.

Company Number of Sales in 2016-17 Sales Growth over

Manufacturing Plants (INR in billion) 2015-16 (in %)
Asian Paints 8 (domestic) 159.97 8.27
Berger Paints 13 50.5 7.30
Kansai Nerolac 4 49.36 7.20
Akzo Nobel 6 31.34 7.00
Shalimar Paints 3 3.71 -8.10
Financial Performance of Leading Indian Paint Manufacturers

Factors Affecting Supply Chain in Indian Paints Industry

There are many factors that have a direct or indirect bearing on supply chain management and
related issues in the paint manufacturing industry. Some of the prominent factors are as
follows:-

• Raw Materials: The paints industry is raw material intensive, with over 300 raw
materials (30% petro-based derivatives) involved in the manufacturing process. The
manufacturing of paints involves a significant input cost as raw materials account for
around 45-50% of the average sales. Since most of the raw materials are petroleum
based, the industry benefits from softening crude prices. Other raw materials used for
manufacturing paints include resins (binders), pigments, solvents, additives.

One of the key pigments used in the manufacture of paints is titanium dioxide which
provides white colour to liquids, pastes or coatings. It accounts for about 15-20% of
the total raw materials cost of the industry. Most of the paint companies in India meet
the requirements of titanium dioxide through imports, with China being the major
exporter (41.6% in 2017). Accordingly, changes in prices of titanium oxide have a
direct bearing on input costs for paint manufacturers.

• Demand and Supply Dynamics: Supply exceeds demand in both the decorative as
well as the industrial paints segments. Demand for decorative paints depends on the
housing sector and good monsoons and is therefore variable. Industrial paint demand
is linked to user industries like auto, engineering and consumer durables and is usually
predictable and constant.

• Inventory Management at Dealer Level: Product differentiation is minimal in paint

industry. Very close substitutes are readily available (e.g. Berger can be a very close
substitute for Asian Paints Royale). Hence inventory management at the dealer level is
of prime importance. It is also important to ensure brand visibility and occupy shelf
space at dealer level.
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• Distribution: As the shades offered by the paints companies are very high in number,
(e.g. Asian paints offers more than 1200 shades), the problem of distribution becomes
very significant. The demand for a particular shade may peak suddenly in a particular
region, accordingly, inventory management at the distributor and dealer level is of
great importance. Distribution costs are also important for lower priced products like
distemper which is sold on weight basis and has the highest consumption. Hence, the
cost associated with distribution of such products is also of importance.

• Bargaining Power of Buyers and Suppliers: Buyers of domestic paints are primarily
domestic households which are very sensitive to price as they have the power to
choose between the brands. The unorganized sector also provides such customers with
cheaper options which further increased the buyers bargaining powers. Suppliers
include chemical manufacturers and petrochemical manufacturers and the supplier
segment is oligopolistic in nature, hence bargaining power of suppliers is high.

Asian Paints – Supply Chain Management

Profile

Asian Paints is India’s leading paint company with a group turnover of Rs 170.85 billion. The
company manufactures paints for Decorative and Industrial use. It operates in 16 countries
and has 25 paint manufacturing facilities in the world, servicing consumers in over 65
countries. Besides Asian Paints, the group operates around the world through its subsidiaries
Berger International, Apco Coatings, SCIB Paints, Taubmans and Kadisco.

Asian Paints also operates through ‘PPG Asian Paints Pvt Ltd’ (50:50 Joint Venture between
Asian Paints and PPG Inc, USA, one of the largest automotive coatings manufacturer in the
world) to service the increasing requirements of the Indian automotive coatings market. The
second 50:50 Joint Venture with PPG named ‘Asian Paints PPG Pvt Ltd’ services the
protective, industrial powder, industrial containers and light industrial coatings markets in
India.

Asian Paints aims to become one of the top five decorative coatings companies world-wide by
leveraging its expertise in the higher growth emerging markets. Simultaneously, the company
intends to build long term value in the industrial coatings business through alliances with
established global partners.

Manufacturing

Asian Paints has eight plants for manufacturing decorative and industrial paints in India – in
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana and Maharashtra. Both Gujarat and Mahrashtra
have two plants each, which are strategically located to cater in order to cater for the
widespread market in these regions. Apart from the domestic manufacturing units, the
company has seven manufacturing plants in Asia, five in Middle East Asia, two in South
Pacific and three in Africa.
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Vertical integration has seen Asian Paints diversify into chemical products such as Phthalic
Anhydride (PAN) and Pentaerythritol (PENTA), which are used in the paint manufacturing
process Asian Paints has its PAN manufacturing plant at Gujarat (capacity – 25,200 MT) and
PENTA manufacturing facility at Tamil Nadu (capacity – 3000 MT). The company consumes
nearly 50% of its production as captive consumption and sells the remaining in the open
market. This business contributes around 3% to the company’s consolidated revenues.

Apart from the paints segment, the company is establishing its presence in the Kitchen and
Bath fittings space under Sleek and Ess Ess brand respectively. Sleek, a kitchen solutions
provider which is engaged in manufacturing, selling and distribution of modular kitchens as
well as kitchen components is a fully owned subsidiary of Asian Paints (since December
2017). Ess Ess Bathroom Products has introduced a premium range of bath fittings as well as
sanitaryware for the high-end customer segment.

Purchasing Management

The Paints Industry is raw material intensive with raw materials comprising 70% of
production costs. 300 types of raw materials used in manufacturing process. Of these,
Titanium Dioxide - 30%, Phthalic Anhydride (PAN) - 20 % and Pentaerythritol (PENTA) -
15 % are the major constituents. As highlighted earlier, while most Indian paints
manufacturing companies are dependent on imports for these products, Asian Paints, through
its vertical integration strategy, has its own facilities which produce PAN and PENTA (35 %
of production costs). Since only about 50% of the production capacity of these materials is
utilised for its captive requirements, the company sells the remaining quantity to other paint
manufacturers. This not only immunizes Asian Paints to the fluctuation in global prices, but
also enables the company to meet any sudden surge in demand for paints. Moreover, through
its sale of raw materials to other manufacturers, the company retains a strategic edge over its
competitors and can leverage its excess capacity to its advantage in a competitive
environment.

Apart from the above, Alkyd resin used in the manufacturing of paints is also manufactured
by Asian Paints itself, but as the quantity manufactured by it is not enough, the company
outsources from many domestic companies. Petroleum based raw materials are mostly
supplied by HPCL and BPCL. However, one of the major components – Titanium Dioxide
has limited availability domestically. While Asian Paints meets some of its requirements from
Travancore Titanium Products, Kerala & Kerala Minerals and Metal Ltd, around 70% of the
demand is met through import deliveries with China as the leading exporter.

Analysis: In the Indian context, Asian Paints is better poised than its competitors in terms of
its manufacturing capacity of PAN and PENTA which can help in lowering production costs
with an assured delivery of raw materials to cater for variations in demand. However, for
most of the other raw materials, the company is dependent on domestic and international
suppliers. Of the various raw materials used for manufacture of paints, cost of manufacturing
is directly proportional to costs and/ or supply of crude oil and Titanium Dioxide. Of these,
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Titanium Dioxide prices have increased more than 50% in the past one year, due to increased
demand and supply disruptions. If such a trend continues, it can be a cause of concern for
Asian Paints. Further, while demand for paints has grown at a steady and predictable pace, the
Supply Uncertainty of Titanium Dioxide places Asian Paints in the Risk Hedging Quadrant of
Lee Fisher Framework. Accordingly, the company can benefit from developing alternate
sources for supply of raw materials and increasing safety stock of key components to hedge
against the risk of supply disruption.

Inventory Management

Inventory management is essential to balance inventory needs and requirements with the need
to minimize costs resulting from obtaining and holding inventory. Accordingly, inventory
management is an important and major component of Asian Paints’ SCM strategy.

The demand for paints is usually static and deterministic with a predictable upward swing in
the festival season. Accordingly, Asian Paints uses the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ)
Model with back orders to manage its inventory levels with appropriate safety and
anticipation level stocks. Accurate demand forecasting by means of inventory management
software helps the company to avoid stockouts or overstocking. Asian Paints has
implemented i2’s planning solutions for supply chain master planning, materials and
distribution planning, materials and distribution planning and production scheduling. As a
result, the company has reduced its finished goods inventory from an average of 56 days to 30
days in 1999 to 30 days in 2017, thus improving its cash flow position and its ability to invest
in growth oriented acquisitions.

In 2015, as the complexity of its supply chain increased, Asian Paints sought to further
optimize its production planning capabilities by undertaking a project to develop a new lot-
sizing algorithm for better handling multi-level lot sizes and balancing its supply chain plan
across plants. The new algorithm is being used as part of Asian Paints’ regular monthly
planning cycle. The enhancement in lot-sizing logic has enabled Asian Paints in improving its
Service Levels and Fill Rates by providing inventory at the right place, at the right time and in
the right quantity. Additionally, inventory carrying costs have decreased as a result of better
production and safety-stock planning across its SKUs and plants.

Analysis: As a result of its sound inventory management strategy, the inventory cost for
Asian Paints is lowest in the industry. Average inventory levels in Asian Paints equal 28 days
sales as compared to the industry average of 51 days. This provides a 45% edge in inventory
costs to Asian Paints compared to its competitors. Similarly, Asian Paints stock of finished
goods is just 7 per cent of its net sales while for the others in the industry it is nearly twice
this level.

Inventory Turnover Ratios for Asian Paints have been consistently one of the highest in the
industry. Akzo Nobel is the only other company with comparable Inventory Turnover Ratios
in the last five tears. Higher Inventory Turnover Ratios imply that the business needs less
blockage of funds/investment in inventory and inventory operation is more efficient.
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Company March 2013 March 2014 March 2015 March 2016 March 2017
Asian Paints 6.78 7.00 7.24 8.81 6.55
Berger Paints 5.24 5.47 6.52 6.66 5.21
Kansai Nerolac 6.03 4.89 7.40 7.59 6.55
Akzo Nobel 7.25 8.28 7.67 8.45 7.73
Shalimar Paints 4.48 3.98 4.56 4.08 4.47
Inventory Turnover Ratios of Indian Paint Manufacturing Companies (Source:
www.moneycontrol.com)

Packaging and Transportation

For transportation, developing nearby and domestic sources is one of the important focus
areas in Asian Paints. Localisation helps to reduce cost, lead time and emissions in terms of
reduced distance travelled during transportation of goods.

Recycle and reuse jumbo bags are used for transportation and handling of powdered materials
in bulk. For monomers, which are categorised as hazardous liquids - transportation from ports
to plants has to be carried out in a safe and environment-friendly manner, accordingly,
stainless steel International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) tankers are used which are
not only more stable, but also less vulnerable to chances of pilferage. All the ISO tankers
carrying monomers are tracked real-time via GPS devices and safety-related exceptions like
over-speeding, night-driving can be monitored and regulated. A dedicated helpline provides
scientific assistance to the driver in case of an emergency. This not only ensures safety during
transportation, but also helps in determining lead times for raw materials more accurately.

Asian Paints has redesigned its 20 litre pails from cylindrical to nested design. This has
helped the company to achieve significant savings in freight cost for transportation of
packaging material, reduced emissions, improved operational efficiency and scrap
management, streamlined quality checks and also helped vendors to better manage their own
spaces.

Nested design of pails to reduce Use of pilfer-proof ISO tankers for transporting
transporation cost of packaging material hazardous liquids
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In order to reduce damage and spillages of paints during transportation, dispatches are
palletised leading to lesser damage. Cargo is secured during dispatches by improving loading
procedures, by inserting plywood between the stacks and securing the cargo with straps and
buckles to unitise the load.

Analysis: Implementation of some of the industry wide best practices in packaging and
transportation has helped Asian Paints to protect goods against breakage or contamination,
reduce pilferage, cut transportation costs, group goods into convenient and efficient
distribution units and facilitate handling and storage.

Warehousing
In the early 2000s, before Asian Paints started expanding its product portfolio, it employed a
ground storage approach to store its inventory. In this method, finished goods were stored in
pallets on the floor and on two level racks. The entire warehouse operations of picking and
sorting were manual leading to frequent errors, besides requiring larger storage areas and
manpower requirements.
Keeping in view the increasing requirement of efficient management of inventory to achieve
desired Service Levels, the company adopted an Automated Storage and Retrieval System
(ASRS) that included storage racks 12 levels high. It was also decided that the proposed
solution should connect the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to ASRS, thereby
ensuring that there was no manual intervention at any level. Once the system was
implemented, it allowed the ASRS system to talk seamlessly to the ERP to take commands.

Key Technologies in ASRS

• Pallet conveyors
• Bar Code Scanners
• Warehouse Control System
• Interface to SAP warehouse Management
• Control System & Human Machine
Interface Displays
• Automated Storage Machines
• Onboard Camera to monitor Pallet
Transfers
• Depalletizers
• Vertical Lift Units
• Transfer Cars to service pallet flow lanes
• Truck Dock Monitor System
• Gravity Flow Lanes
• Single Mast ASRS Cranes

Robotic Order Picking in Asian Paints Automated Warehouse Facility at Faridabad

In this system, every day, based on the latest demand situation across the country and
inventory in the warehouses, the distribution planning system draws up an optimized truck
planning schedule. A pick up command is executed in the warehouse management system,
which identifies the optimized pick location in the warehouse. The command goes to the
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ASRS control system, and sequences all commands to pull the material out and make it
available in the pick-up area from where a human truck operator picks it up and loads it into a
truck.
The new system was a huge improvement over the cumbersome, time-consuming, and error-
prone manual process. Post its deployment, the company was able to reduce its inventory
target by 12-18%. As subsequent warehouses were launched, the company was able to
maintain same inventory levels but enhance service levels from 90 % to 95%, thereby,
servicing the market with same inventory levels but at a higher customer service level,
resulting in direct savings in working capital and preventing loss of sale.
The project has since been successfully executed in Asian Paints’ high-capacity plants which
incorporate complete automation from the time when raw material or packing material enters
the factory to the shipment of finished paint. At each stage, factory control systems interact
with the ERP systems to optimize the flow of material.
Analysis: In conventional warehouses, order picking time constitutes nearly 50 % of overall
labour time. Similarly, labour cost of order picking and sorting constitutes 50% of overall
labour costs. Implementation of an Automated Storage and Retrieval System has facilitated
Asian Paints in reducing labour costs, increasing levels of productivity, improving degree of
picking and sorting efficiency, minimising risk of processing errors and enhancing supply
chain speed ensuring that orders are delivered faster. The robotics based warehousing has
translated into an improvement in accuracy from 1% variance in normal packaging systems to
less than 0.1% variance in automated systems. The automation has also reduced factory level
losses by around 85% as against conventional plants which has resulted in substantial raw
material savings.

Distribution Management
Till the early 90s, foreign companies and their wholesale distributors dominated the paints
business in India. They appointed a few wholesale distributors who were assigned large
territories and given the right to operate as the exclusive channel of the company in the
assigned territory. The companies extended virtually unlimited credit to the distributors. The
distributors neither invested in distribution infrastructure, nor focussed on rural or semi-urban
areas. Accordingly, the presence of the major brands and their distributors was primarily
restricted to urban areas.

In such a scenario, Asian Paints has adopted a different distribution strategy to capture market
share from the established players in the business. The distribution strategy adopted by Asian
Paints and its impact is as follows:-

• Focus on Individual Buyers: Asian Paints decided to bypass the well-established bulk
buyer segment and instead focus on individual buyers or retail customers. This strategy
has helped the company to garner constructive feedback from customers and adapt its
products, shades and pack sizes to meet customer requirements. Thus, Asian Paints has
been able to expand its product portfolio in a meaningful way, with different products to
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meet the varying requirements of different customer segments. Since the products are
customised to meet customer requirements rather than those of bulk dealers, it has also
helped the company to expand its customer base and capture a bigger chunk of market
share. For example, at a time when other paint manufacturers were supplying paint in
pack sizes of 500 ml or more, Asian Paints introduced packs of 200 ml, 100 ml and 50 ml
to harness individual buyers with smaller requirements.

• Expansion of Distribution Network: For expansion of its distribution network, Asian

Paints adopted a two-pronged strategy. Firstly, existing players in the sector were well
established primarily in urban areas, so Asian Paints decided to focus on expanding its
distribution network in semi-urban and rural areas, which had largely remained
neglected by major paints manufacturers and their distributors. Secondly, while its
competitors focussed on developing their distribution networks in limited territories
around their manufacturing plants, Asian Paints decided to focus on a nationwide
distribution network. Accordingly, Asian Paints has adopted a decentralised, field
focussed distribution system with a network of company operated depots located all over
the country. The number of depots varies from city to city and is dependent on the
demand in a particular region, with each depot typically servicing 200-300 dealers.

• Expansion of Retail Network: In order to ensure that its products reach maximum
number of customers, Asian Paints directly distributes its products to retailers all over
the country, without being dependant on a wholesale distributor dependent system.
Further, instead of limiting the number of retails dealers like its competitors, Asian Paints
has allowed all willing retailers to become dealers. With this strategy, Asian paints has
established a network of more than 15000 dealers spread over 3500 towns in the country
which is growing further with 200 -250 dealers being added every year.

Asian Paints offers a variety of retail experiences for different customer segments ranging
from its high end and exclusive Signature Store (Left) in metro cities to Colour Ideas Store
(Centre) and Colour World Stores (Right) in small towns and rural areas

• Distribution Cost Control: Asian Paints typically maintains a service level of 85% as
compared to other paint manufacturing companies which have Service Levels ranging
from 50 to 60%. However, higher Service Levels imply higher distribution costs. An
efficient Inventory Management System has helped Asian Paints to reduce distribution
costs without compromising on Service Levels. In addition to sound inventory
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management, Asian Paints has addressed the issue related to distribution costs through a
unique credit control strategy. In addition to offering 15-21 days credit to dealers in
urban areas and 22-30 days credit to its rural dealers, Asian Paints introduced an
incentive scheme to ensure timely receipt of payments from its dealers. A special 3.5%
year-end discount for perfection in payments was offered to dealers who made payments
throughout the year within stipulated timelines. A 5% discount was also offered for all
cash purchases made by dealers.

Analysis: With its unique distribution strategy focussing on customer specific requirements,
expansion beyond major cities, development of retail dealers rather than distributors and
effective distribution cost control, Asian Paints has secured a competitive advantage over
other manufacturers with a more efficient distribution network, committed retail dealers,
countrywide presence and lower inventory carrying costs, despite having the largest company
owned distribution network in paints in India.

Unique Supply Chain Management Practices in Asian Paints

Some of the unique Supply Chain Management Practices implemented by Asian Paints
include Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) for warehousing, focus on
individual buers rather than distributors, expansion through retailers rather than wholesalers
and a unique credit control strategy to incentivize its dealers for timely payments.

Apart from these, Asian Paints has invested heavily in computerisation and IT to process sales
data for fastest moving SKUs. This analysis was used to project sales of specific products,
which helped plan production and raw material purchases. With computerisation, Asian
Paints was able to analyse past trends to arrive at a 90% accurate sales forecast. Such
computerised planning and control of production, sales and inventories has helped Asian
Paints reduce its distribution costs without compromising on the high level of service sought
by it in physical distribution.

It has also implemented an ERP solution from SAP which is further interfaced with its ASRS.
Recently, Asian Paints has leveraged JDA Software’s Manufacturing Planning solution to
optimize its master planning, material and distribution planning capabilities by undertaking
development of a new lot-sizing algorithm to better handle multi-level lot sizes and balance
its supply chain plan across plants, while increasing planner efficiency. Accurate demand
forecasting by means of inventory management software helps the company to avoid
stockouts or overstocking.

Asian Paints has also hired satellite communication links to network its offices, factories,
depots, distribution centres and warehouses. They transmit data daily to the corporate head
office, which uses it for sales and production planning and for streamlining distribution.

In 2016, the company has completely moved away from paper based transactions for
clearance of imported consignments. Moving to an electronic clearance system has helped the
company to speed up its consignments besides saving approximately 50,000 sheets of paper
per year.
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Conclusion

Asian Paints has shown a healthy growth trend of around 8 – 12 % in the past 5 financial
years. It has a wide footprint on the globe and offers a wide range of products. The company’s
strategy makes distribution one of the most important elements of its marketing mix and has
helped it to expand its network across the country through thousands of retail dealers. With
growth in the Indian Economy and developing infrastructure, Asian Paints has a chance to
increase revenue base by its venture into smaller cities, to increase sales.

However, any economic slowdown will have a direct negative impact on the construction
industry and consequently the paint industry will also get affected. Also, the unorganised
sector still has about 35% of the market share and this can prove out to be a deterrent to the
growth of the organised segment including Asian Paints. While Asian Paints has made
consistent efforts to improve its purchasing management, inventory management,
warehousing, transport, packaging and distribution, an important aspect related to
manufacturing is its reliance on exporters like China for supply of raw materials. Asian Paints
needs to address this issue of supply uncertainty by identifying alternate suppliers or
identifying alternate products which can be used to reduce dependence on imports.

References

1. Ronoh, Richard, (2016), Benefits of Supply Chain Management in the Manufacturing

Sector, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), 10.21275/ART20162219.

2. Madan Sabnavis, Bhagyashree C. Bhati (2017), CARE Ratings – Paints Industry.

3. www.equitymaster.com (2016), Paints Sector Analysis Report.

4. Hau L Lee (2002), Aligning Supply Chain Strategies with Product Uncertainties,
California Management Review Reprint Series, Volume 44, No 3, Spring 2002.

5. Jon Kemp (2017), Asian Paints Enables Growth Through Improved Planning,
www.digital.pnbmedia.com.

6. Asian Paints Ltd (2016), Asian Paints Sustainability Report, 2015-16,

https://www.asianpaints.com/content/asianpaints/website/secondary-navigation/about-
us/sustainability.

7. Sanjay Manyal and Hitesh Taunk (2018), ICICI Securities Ltd, Retail Equity Research
Report Jan 2018, Asian Paints.

8. Aspect Software (2013), Asian Paints – A Case Study, www.aspect.com/

globalassets/asian-paints-cs.pdf

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https://www.marketresearch.com/product/sample-7535894.pdf