TCS moots pyramid approach for enterprises

Our Management Bureau in Chennai

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has suggested a pyramid approach for efficient supply chain management (SCM) for enterprises. Delivering his keynote address at Natcom 2001 here, Mr S Mahalingam, executive vice-president, TCS, said in the entire gamut of supply chain management, enterprise should act as a value hub integrating four key perceptions. The first is the customer perception where issues like customer segmentation etc would be addressed. Second internal perspectives for issues internal to organisations would be addressed. This may include all aspects relating to the enterprise.
The third aspect relates to people and the fourth relates to relationship, partnership and alliances. This include issues like inter-company transfer pricing and strategic alliances etc,
He said the enterprise would function as an interface between various aspects and bring in synergy in the entire operation. This solution is applicable not only to tier I firms but also to tier II firms, he added. In short, he said firms would act as a hub to make the framework efficient.

Earlier, speaking in the subject of SCM in the e-era, Mr Mahalingam said supply chain management has multiple functions from the point of view of different perspectives. He said firms should learn to move to superior trade-off curves rather than maximising inventory efficiency by compromising on services. Crucial for this is collaboration and sharing of information within the company and across the companies.

Towards this, firms should work with model Collaborations, Planning, Forecast and Replenishment or (CPFR). This encompasses the entire gamut of planning, execution and implementation, he added. The latest trends in SCM are blending of planning and execution, deep optimising capabilities, ERP to integrate with CRM and ERP II and moving away from dedicated solution to Web-enabled solutions. SCM practices are also blending with ERP and CRM.