VOLUME 9 ISSUE 3 1 JANUARY 2021

PULSE
The monthly newsletter by OPEP - The Operations & Supply Chain Club of IIM Raipur

SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYSIS - ARTICLE AREA

TRANSPORT LOGISTICS OF FORMULA 1

Article by – Kalyani Soholkar

Formula 1, which is called the "Queen" of motor sports, is one of the most logistically challenging sport on
the planet. Scheduling and Planning for these races is one of the most challenging tasks for the teams. A
chaotic ballet of trucks, Container ships and Planes transports the teams while carrying thousands of tons
of equipment and personnel across the globe. Which is why logistics play a crucial role here. A typical
Formula 1 season consists of 21 races or Grand Prix’s across 5 continents with as little as a week’s time
between them. Each F1 team will travel 160,000 km during the entire season. To know more click the link.

Dive in….
OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
– LIQUID SUNSHINE
Insight by – Rishav Parashar

It is said that for whisky, life starts at 40. No, it is not that every
bottle is curated for 40 years it is the minimum strength of 40%
ABV which means life really begins at 40 for this fabulous drink.
But what makes gives over 200 years old product the extra
edge that still makes it the most valuable ethanol-based spirit
in the commodity market. The taste, the legacy surely does
account for it, but it is the operation process associated with it
that gives whisky the added charm in compare to the
counterparts.

See more.…

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 VOLUME 9 ISSUE 3 OP U L S E 1 JANUARY 2021

SUPPLY CHAIN – INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

VENDOR RANSOMWARE ATTACK DISRUPTS

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
The impact of cyberattacks on retailers and their vendors is even greater during this digital-first period brought
on by the coronavirus pandemic. Designer Brands' digital sales have been up double digits YoY throughout 2020.
But in October, U.S. digital sales were down 22% YoY, bringing company-wide digital growth for the quarter to
just 3% YoY. Any kind of software interruption to inventory management functions can wreak havoc with order
fulfilment — eventually impacting sales. The shift to digital shopping has made the retail ecosystem a particularly
ripe target for cyberattacks this holiday season, Curtis Simpson, chief information security officer at Armis, told
Cybersecurity Dive last week when media reports surfaced alleging Kmart had been similarly attacked. The Kmart
attack, however, was an internal problem, affecting mainly human resources functions.

Learn more….

SUPPLY CHAIN OF
THANKSGIVING
The turkey is out of the oven. Rolls are on the table. Family
members are starting to find their way into the kitchen, and
Thanksgiving dinner is about to begin. The meal is the
combination of days of shopping, hours of cooking and
endless arguments over what exactly goes into the gravy,
but many forget how grand the scope of simply preparing
Thanksgiving dinner can be. Think about where each
ingredient came from, its journey over the roads, its
production and refinement and its cost. Now, multiply that by
250 million Americans celebrating the holiday, that adds up
to $2.375 billion spent on food for Thanksgiving dinner.
Explore….

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 VOLUME 9 ISSUE 3 OP U L S E 1 JANUARY 2021

LOGISTICS

HOW WE PLAN TO HANDLE COVID-19 VACCINE

DISTRIBUTIONS
GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC) has produced a white paper by recognizing that it has a major role in the
entire value chain of vaccine shipments to provide the necessary infrastructure for unbroken cool-chain for the
global vaccine shipments to maintain the vaccine integrity. The Covid-19 vaccines require specialized handling,
hence the procedures are being developed in coordination with manufacturers and supply-chain players to
mitigate any risk during the process of transportation of vaccines right from the manufacturers’ facility to the final
destination, says the white paper. As the vaccines are highly sensitive shipments, GHAC will leverage its
efficiency in handling Pharma from last 12 years of operations to maintain the unbroken cool- chain. The terminal
offers one of India’s largest fleet of the modern temp-controlled Cool Containers viz. Envirotainer, VaQtec, etc.
GHAC recently launched Cool Dolly- a mobile refrigeration unit for airside transportation of temperature-sensitive
Pharma and Vaccine shipments.

Dive in….

SUPPLIER OF THE
YEAR:3M
The supplier was already working with FourKites although
not for all shipments and distribution channels. 3M put its
critical shipments on the FourKites system to get real-time
data in one place, which allows 3M to keep less buffer
stock on hand, the manufacturer transitioned from sales
and operations planning to integrated business planning
about three years ago, The planning transition helped 3M
combat siloed operational issues. And it helped 3M
exchange data with suppliers and customers to better
match supply and demand.
See more….

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ESSENTIAL PIECE

THE BULLWHIP EFFECT

Definition
The bullwhip effect is a distribution channel phenomenon in which demand forecasts yield supply
chain inefficiencies. It refers to increasing swings in inventory in response to shifts in consumer demand as
one move further up the supply chain. The bullwhip effect was named by analogy with the way in which the
amplitude of a whip increases down its length, the further from the originating signal, the greater the distortion
of the wave pattern. In a similar manner, forecast accuracy decreases as one moves upstream along the
supply chain.

Causes

Moving up the supply chain from end-consumer to raw materials supplier, each supply chain participant has
greater observed variation in demand and thus greater need for safety stock. In periods of rising demand,
down-stream participants increase orders. In periods of falling demand, orders fall or stop, thereby not
reducing inventory.

1. Disorganization 4. Lack of communication

2. Free return policies 5. Price variation
3. Order batching 6. Demand Information

Counter measures
1. Vendor management inventory 5. Information sharing
2. Just in time 6. Smooth the flow of products
3. Demand Driven MRP 7. Eliminate pathological incentives
4. Strategic partnership

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8 ISSUE 3
4 OP U L S E 41OCTOBER
JANUARY 2021
2019

CONNECTION GAME

Connect the images: Decode the Operations terminology

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