AUTOCONNECT 2022

SETS THE STAGE FOR INDUSTRY

STAKEHOLDERS TO CONVERGE AND UNLOCK
EFFICIENCIES IN THE NEVER ‘NEW NORMAL’

HIGHLIGHTS
8TH DECEMBER 2022, NEW DELHI

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HIGHLIGHTS
8TH DECEMBER 2022, NEW DELHI
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S
urecom Media has time and again bested its parallels
through the diversity and variety of minds that it brings
onto a common platform to discuss on issues that have
been there but not adequately touched upon or amply
discussed but in a conventional manner, following a
particular discourse. And yet again, AUTOCONNECT
2022, rightly touted as Asia’s Biggest Automotive Logistics Conference,
uniquely built the perfect atmosphere at Pune’s Novotel Hotel for
deep deliberations and contemplations on topics that the industry
holds close to the heart of its supply chain, especially owing to the
changes that have been experienced in the post-pandemic world.
With a gathering of 200+ professionals from engineering and
manufacturing as well as service provider side of the industry, the
conference proving itself as a pedestal platform, discussed issues that
are deemed to determine the future of the industry.
Looking at the areas that needed brainstorming by the best, the
conference brought forth four gripping multifaceted panel discussions.
The conference kicked-off with the opening remarks of Surecom
Media’s Director Ajeet Kumar, who noted the organisation’s commit-
ment to delivering top-rated conferences from their CONNECT series
to the entire industry, providing a definite context of the idea that the
HIGHLIGHTS
8TH DECEMBER 2022, NEW DELHI

event was devoted to stand for the issues that would be discussed through-
out the day with active contestations from the industry players. The confer-
ence formally commenced with the lighting of lamp by dignitaries R S Kapoor,
Senior Advisor– Logistics, Maruti Suzuki India; Yuvraj Sharma, Cluster
Head-Sales and Marketing (India, Sri Lanka and Maldives), Kuehne +
Nagel; V Ramachandran, Head- Domestic Sales Logistics, Hyundai
Motor India; and Ajeet Kumar, Director, Surecom Media.
Briefly touching upon the internal and external challenges, accentu-
ated by sectoral and structural challenges, thereby showcasing the need
for a rigorous approach to build a tailor-made integrated supply chain
set-up that leverage advanced analytics and give a turnaround to business
operations, Upamanyu Borah, Special Correspondent and Sub-Editor,
Surecom Media delivered the welcome speech, addressing each and
every one attending the event, to network, to gain insights and most
importantly, be a part of the think tank that decides and determines what
is being done and what needs to be done.

CARGOCONNECT JANUARY 2023 | 95

 PANEL 1

T he first panel discussion, titled ‘The New is

Never Normal’ covered the post-COVID automo-
tive landscape, aiming to magnify the layers of
disruption caused by the pandemic, of which the effects
are bound to linger for a while. The discussion, hence,
pliers. Santosh Wagh, Head– SCM, Kalyani Maxion
Wheels and Maxion Wheels Aluminium India,
the moderator of the panel, pulled from these points
the topic of globalisation. He pointed out how the
trend of going for shared-cars shifted to an innate
desire to have personal
cars, after the pandemic.
Pramod Lakhera, Head–
SCM, Rheinmetall be-
lieves that trust and
revolved around the newly set parameters for excellence transparency is always
and endurance among the vehicle logistics players as THE PANELLISTS WERE at the bottom of a suppli-
well as the paramount need to formulate strategies FELICITATED BY TWINKLE ROY er-user relationship and
that will ultimately, if not conquer, keep on provision- that is exactly what was
ally overcoming the ‘new’ that is ‘never normal’. As FROM CARGOCONNECT needed, along with pa-
global markets opens slowly and steadily, at their own tience to endure, during
pace, albeit with a lot of pent-up demand, and trade the entire period of semi-
dynamics and Export-Import (EXIM) gimmicks hav- conductor shortage. Al-
ing changed considerably, companies will have to catch though the semiconduc-
pace with the changing times. In the wake of these tor shortage has not been
shifts and tilts, it has perfectly dealt with,
become necessary to companies going as down
understand the inter- as possible in the supply
nal processes of com- R S KAPOOR ACHAL PALIWAL chain, has strengthened
panies and how they the earlier ignored and
rebuilt strategies from underserved parts and
scratch to adjust and has supported the de-
accommodate accord- mand in the best way
ing to the changing possible. Yuvraj Sharma,
H I G H L I G H T S scenarios. The sudden
8 DECEMBER 2022, NEW DELHI
TH
Cluster Head-Sales and
realisation of what the Marketing (India, Sri
modern world needs, Lanka and Maldives),
maintaining a perfect balance of globalisation and Kuehne + Nagel talked
deglobalisation, was almost equal to a “Shock Thera- PRAMOD LAKHERA YUVRAJ SHARMA about the difficulties that
py” for supply chain managers and now that the in- were hailed upon the
dustry has successfully mapped the losses, it becomes masses during the pan-
important to contemplate on what needs to change. demic. Port congestion,
Industry veteran R S Kapoor, who happens to driver shortages contin-
be Maruti Suzuki India’s Senior Advisor– Logistics, ued as problems and si-
began the discussion with his insights on why a lot multaneously, impacted
of companies chose to near-shore their operations the container and carrier
and what led to setting this idea in stone, rebuilding rates, which is still soar-
what has been built with decades of effort. He point- ing up till the moment.
ed out how the pandemic compelled companies to SANTOSH WAGH SARANG PRACHAND However, to streamline
go down to their tier II and III, and even tier 4 sup- all of this, one has to see

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 PRESENTATION 1

how supply turns up in

the coming years. Sarang
Prachand, Lead– Pro-
curement and Supply

Management – Import/
Export, thyssenkrupp
Industries India elabo-
rated on the underlying
conditions that bear all
sorts of ripple effects, to
particularly point out that
every time a geopolitical
crisis occurs, the basic
trade routes are always
affected. He also informed
that Russia-Ukraine war
has led to a severe en-
ergy crisis, such that
many European nations
like Switzerland may
restrict production of
electric vehicles to survive
the winters. Achal Pali-
wal, Chief Executive
Officer, TML Distribu-
tion Company (Tata
Motors), reiterating the
same, said that every tier
deals with its own prob-
lems. The constraints on
the supply side, energy
crisis and inflation have
plagued the system for a
long time. Hence, com-
panies are faced with the
dilemma as to whether
they should localise and
near-shore production
and if they need to review
the inventory policies.
F
THE EXPERTS ollowing the end of Panel
1, a speech presentation
WERE FELICITATED titled ‘Responsive Logis-
BY AJEET KUMAR tics for You’ was delivered by
Paras Rawal, Managing Direc-
tor, Indian Subcontinent, CEVA
Logistics – who was also a
partner at AUTOCONNECT 2022.
He was accompanied on the stage
by CEVA Logistics’ Chief Ex-
ecutive Officer for Asia Pa-
cific Bruno Plantaz and North
America President and Manag-
ing Director Shawn Stewart,
who collectively expanded on
CEVA’s standards and operating
philosophies and its consistency
in delivering value to clients
through integrated digital solu-
tions driving improved decision-
making. Rawal introduced the
audience to the company’s ser-
vices and the kind of reliability
that defines the company’s op-
erations and makes it so desirable
to its partners. Bruno and Shawn
talked about how CEVA has
improved on brand recognition,
giving the classic case of how
CEVA has taken Italian automo-
tive giant Ferrari as its frame of
reference, as the brand per-
fectly fits into the ideal that CEVA
wishes to represent, albeit with
some features that are exclu-
sively unique to the company.
They also shed light on how
sustainability has been one of
the major points of focus for the
organisation and that they have
taken real-world process models
in that direction as they are
committed to DOING, rather
than just TALKING about it.

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 PANEL 2

T he second panel discussion centred around

‘Localising Appearing Logical’ informed the
audience that India has a huge opportunity to
produce more components domestically, boosting
business of current and new manufacturers and OEMs.
efficiency. N Vikash,
Officer– SCM, JK
Fenner (India) con-
tributed to the discus-
sion by pointing out
THE PANELLISTS WERE
FELICITATED BY R S KAPOOR

Also, increasing existing trade opportunities enable that advanced planning

India to expand its trade footprint, typically keeping and inventory manage-
an eye on what can be done to turn things around in ment is very much re-
the right way. quired for an ingenious
Rajiv Ranjan, Head– SCM, Knorr-Bremse supply. Prem Prakash
Systems emphatically stated that localising does Srivastava, Cluster
seem logical and that it is an apt topic to be discussed Head– SCM, Badve RAJIV RANJAN PREM PRAKASH SRIVASTAVA
in the modern times, wherein India now has the Engineering detailed
infrastructure to support and shield localised produc- Badve Engineering’s
tion. According to him, exploring unexplored op- portfolio, its production
portunities should be the motto of the industry, capability and network
through optimised blends and optimised operating across India. He elabo-
parameters while maintaining requisite quality and rated on the company’s
p r o d u c t i v i t y. legacy that its effective
Pravin Bobhate, and diligent operations
Head– SCM, GKN have created, and today
Driveline through further transforming PRAVIN BOBHATE N. VIKASH
a thorough listing operations and deliver-
of their selective ing additional intan-
range of suppliers, gible benefits through enhancement of supply chain
proudly claimed productivity, KPI driven performance management,
that GKN Drive- focus on root cause analysis and outcome driven
H I G H L I G H T S line has the most
8 DECEMBER 2022, NEW DELHI
TH
daily meetings and stronger governance. Krish-
supportive set of namurthy K, Head– Manufacturing Excellence,
suppliers and that Log9 Materials, the moderator for the panel,
they too have been providing Indian OEMs with talked about how technology parks are taking over
much needed resilience and components availabil- and showcasing the immense success that can be KRISHNAMURTHY K.
ity. Bobhate also shared views on capacity enhance- brought to the table by using “Indian Brains”. Ear-
ment to get ready for producing more out of the lier, designs were sent from India to European coun-
existing capacity. He emphasised on the continuous tries but now, the country has the capability to
improvement KAIZEN philosophy to achieve more support innovative designs and materialise them.
out of available resources. On the organisational The most challenging point in India, however is
side, he said that process discipline, teambuilding, skillset, he said. We are one of the oldest civilisations
skill development, strong problem solving compe- and have many great universities which produce the
tency, attention on wastages of breakdowns, setup best of minds, but skillset is still the area where
losses, etc. need to be instantly introduced to increase India needs to do a lot better, he summarised.

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 PRESENTATION 2 PRESENTATION 3

A nother presentation titled ‘Green Practices in Auto-

motive Logistics’ shared by R S Kapoor echoed the
various initiatives taken by Maruti Suzuki to create a
greener and more efficient supply chain. According to the
information shared by him, Maruti Suzuki is the first auto-
T he third speech presen-
tation on was shared by
V Ramachandran,
Head– Domestic Sales Logis-
tics, Hyundai Motor India
motive manufacturer in India to have its own in-plant rail- highlighting the prominence
way siding. And, this is just one among many distinguished of ‘Automotive Sales Logistics’
features of Maruti Suzuki’s outbound logistics capabilities. and the ‘Challenges’ it faces.
He noted that in Europe, the company’s operations have He quite lucidly elaborated the
imbibed decarbonisation to a percentage as high as 50 per factors that influence timely
cent, with features such as triple deck rakes, seamless rail delivery. Among the many issues
connectivity to plants, and vestibule system for safety. India and challenges, depleting fleet
is trying its best to match the European standards with strength, incoming fleet visibil-
every passing day, he assured, giving contextual solutions ity, driver shortages, and mar-
adopted by auto OEMs like Maruti Suzuki towards delivering ket moving towards big cars
tangible benefit. were some of the dampeners
as pointed out by him. He also
listed the restrictions posed by
the lack of support by Railways,
in the form of paucity of NMG
rakes and availability of trailers
for first and last-mile. Elaborat-
ing on supply issues like chip
constraints, demand exceeding
production capacity, as well as
changing customer prefer-
ences, Ramachandran illumi-
nated every single point that
needs to be addressed for a
perfectly functional supply
chain along with process and
parameter optimisation.

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 PANEL 3

T he 3rd panel discussion on ‘Optimising the

Logistics Ecosystem and Networks’ that
revolved around the need for reengineering
distribution networks in the wake of disruptions to
freight network and links that have taken place
tives — relationship
establishment and pre-
diction, robust teaming
of production and supply
chain teams to closely
THE PANELLISTS WERE FELICITATED
BY KRISHNAMURTHY K

post-COVID, setting logistics management on track track client require-

for a more disruptive — reset. As vehicle logistics ments. Manish Shriv-
faces capacity issues, driver shortages and rising astava, Deputy Gen-
costs, carmakers must reengineer distribution net- eral Manager– SCM,
works more frequently. The impetus will only increase Spark Minda enlight-
as new production hubs come online for complex ened the audience ex-
prototypes and end-use parts, demand patterns plaining that less than V RAMACHANDRAN SAMEER GHANGREKAR
change, EV volumes ramp up, and manufacturers 7 per cent of chips are
strive to decarbonise operations. consumed in the Asia
Sameer Ghangrekar, General Manager– Logis- Pacific region and hence,
tics, Cummins India said that the transport industry a question that has often
did a really good job in coping with the COVID restric- spiralled is how India
tions; Cummins was also delivering some essential can have such a huge
services during the crisis. They were able to identify percentage of require-
exactly how much freight needs to be shipped by the ments. Meanwhile,
ocean and how much should be transported
by air, understanding and mapping the time- GAUTAM PAL MANISH SHRIVASTAVA
lines of modes and routes for each form of
demand. He talked about imports too, where
the forwarding side is all about communicat- discerning and putting to-
ing. However, despite all efforts, imports have gether the links towards
still not healed from the blows of COVID, he moving the logistics system
informed. Gautam Pal, Head of Fleet Busi- and economy that is based
ness, Sun Mobility stressed on the impera- upon well-being and quality,
H I G H L I G H T S not
8 DECEMBER 2022, NEW DELHI
TH just quantity, Anil Syal,
President, Safexpress said
that driver shortages is not ANIL SYAL
an issue but mainly the shortage of employable drivers.
There are sufficient inefficiencies in the system. Ve-
hicles still keep doing empty runs for actual road
pickups, although the domestic supply chain saw a
major evolution post the introduction of GST. Syal said
that the connectivity of the supply chain through to
the visibility of products that are in the process of
reaching the final destination is very much needed,
and brought to light certain long-term negligent prac-
tices and low standards which makes it harder for us
to change until it is urgent – or even too late.

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 PANEL 4

T he post-lunch session witnessed the fourth and that speed is king, that THE PANELLISTS WERE
last panel titled ‘Digitalising is Desired to action is key, that perfect
Speed Up and Succeed’ covering the most is the enemy of good, and FELICITATED BY AJEET KUMAR
interesting and crucial aspects considering interplay that you should be willing
of operational parameters and deployment of digital and eager to fail fast, have
solutions spanning the value chain to leverage the all become clichés in
synergies and develop end-to-end visibility and con- management thinking.
trol, as the industry undergoes rigorous and extensive But, the only way to adapt
up-gradation of processes and people. In the digital to a constantly changing
economy, customers value visibility and velocity. The and rapidly disrupted
future belongs to leading companies who have set present is to speed up and
forth with strategies to digitalise logistics, including operate at pace. Of OM VIJAYWARGIYA JAYAPRAKASH LOGANATHAN
inventory and capacity course, there is
planning, tracking parts always a trade-off
and vehicles in real time between speed
and harnessing data ana- and quality, so if
lytics. Over and above, by you cannot fail
building a resilient, agile, fast enough —
and digital supply chain meaning you don’t
that optimises total cost have a culture in
of ownership and supple- place that toler-
menting traditional supply MOHAN KADAM KRISHNA SINGH
chain performance indica-
TH
H I G H L I G H T S ates
8 DECEMBER 2022, NEW DELHI quick ex-
periments with
tors like safety, cost, qual- the view that the
ity, and delivery – there is light at the end of the lessons learned from
tunnel for automotive supply chain stakeholders. those failed experiences
Jayaprakash Loganathan, Head– Logistics, JK will make you stronger
Fenner talked about the importance of resource and smarter, and then
planning which is carried out by JK Fenner in a you need to be sure that
physically separate yet centrally integrated ‘Digital your long-term bets are
Transformation’ office. Contrary to popular belief, working out. Krishna
digital transformation is less about technology and Singh, Cluster Head– SANDEEP CHATTERJEE DEVEN PABARU
more about people. You can pretty much buy any Integrated Logistics –
technology, but your ability to adapt to an even more India, Singapore, Aus-
digital future depends on developing the next gen- tralia, Kuehne + Nagel emphasised that digital
eration of skills, closing the gap between talent transformation is not instant but a journey and a
supply and demand, and future-proofing own and cultural change. Few years back, every department
others’ potential. Om Vijaywargiya, Head– SCM within a supply chain was highly siloed. And hence,
and Logistics, Schaeffler India said that digitisation data is still the biggest problem, especially when the
is the need of the time. WMS and SIP-based tools customer requires visibility into the system. A much
are highly crucial nowadays. Suppliers and freight bigger competitive advantage is to harness valuable
forwarders are thoroughly connected through in- data, having the necessary skills to translate that PRADEEP ARORA
formation shared to all stakeholders. The statements data into meaningful insights, and above all being

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able to act on those insights. In our view, data with-
out insights are trivial, and insights without action PRESENTATION 4
are pointless. We cannot overemphasise the impor-
tance of this point, because too many business lead- oshua Ebenezer, Principal
ers operate under the false assumption that if they Consultant, Conmove –
hire smart data scientists or buy fancy AI tools, their who was also a partner at
problems will go away, or they will somehow become AUTOCONNECT 2022 delivered
more high-tech. Mohan Kadam, General Manager– the fourth speech presentation
SCMG, Dana India pointed out the lack of proper on the subject ‘Automotive –
strategy as the biggest reason behind the failure of Customs Investigation and
digitalisation initiatives. The first step should always Audit Challenges’ and talking
be a proper evaluation and analysis of equipment in length on how Conmove is
performance, and then comes digitalisation. He easing the complexities of con-
boasts that Dana India has already begun incorporat- tainer logistics through constant
ing Industry 4.0 in all its plants across India. Deven efforts, representing a revolution
Pabaru, Chief Business Officer, Stellar Value Chain in the freight transport indus-
Solutions says that adoption is always subject to try, facilitating economies of
pressure from competition. Top management support scale through improved speed
is required for a full-fledged transformation. In real- and transparency.
ity, change is much more likely to happen if you drive
it from the top down. In fact, it’s a simple matter of
leadership, whether transactional or transforma- THE EXPERTS WERE FELICITATED
tional. In, Stellar Value Chain, Pabaru said they work BY ANIL SYAL
in pace with the customer. India is catching up but
we are still 5-7 years behind. However, the huge bulk
of e-commerce products now can’t be handled with-
out the kind of automation that companies have
incorporated now. Sandeep Chatterjee, Director,
Deloitte India and CEO, International Supply
Chain Education Alliance (ISCEA INDIA), who was
the panel moderator, while focussing and observing
the fact that human beings are the common de- JOSHUA EBENEZER NITIN PARAB
nominator to the concept of future proofing, wheth-
er it’s as a complement to the technology being un-
leashed for remote working, or whether it’s because
we possess the soft skills and leadership needed to
navigate a historic crisis — asked the panellists how
they managed the data part and how they mapped
the ROI for digitalisation initiatives. Om Vijayvargi-

F
ya answered, first by proposing to decide the projects
that need attention on priority basis and will bring ollowing that, Pradeep
maximum ROI. He then pointed out to the need of Arora, Team Manager–
current times, which is to understand how to make SCM/Logistics Services,
digitalisation affordable. The customer’s needs and Renault Nissan Technology
quality of data need to be looked at, but predict- and Business Centre India,
ability of data is an invalid term in the automotive took to the dais and offered a
industry as the industry is highly volatile, he mentioned. kind and heartfelt vote of thanks
Pradeep Arora, Team Manager– SCM/Logistics to the entire team of Surecom
Services, Renault Nissan Technology and Business Media, for organising a highly
Centre India gave a little better peek into understand- distinguishable event and as-
ing of data. Traditional supply chains, he said, had certaining how the discourse
information flowing towards one way only but now, has served as a catalyst for
the data has to flow in every direction because today, incorporating new ways for
as and when the customer needs it, it has to be driving a comprehensive supply
existent then and there. No delay can be accom- chain.
modated; we have to have the options, he explained.
Importantly, cost, productivity and profitability are
the three things that need to be considered to decide
which project/initiative needs to be worked upon to
rationalise success.

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M arking the end of the ceremony, Ajeet Kumar,
Director, Surecom Media felicitated the
sponsor partners – CEVA Logistics, Kuehne
+ Nagel, Stellar Value Chain Solutions, Conmove,
Centiro Solutions, TCI Supply Chain Solutions,
MOVIN Express – with mementos and extended a
worthy note of gratitude for their contribution towards
making the 2022 edition of AUTOCONNECT an as-
tounding success.

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