INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP

ON

Logistics And Supply Chain Management (IWLSCM 2009)

Held at CIT During 7-8,  AUGUST 2009. 

An International Workshop on LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (IWLSCM 2009) jointly by the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Business Innovation Research Centre (BIRC), Charlton College of Business, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, USA was organized during 7-8, August 2009 at Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore. During the inaugural function, Dr.N.Murugan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering welcomed the gathering. Dr.Rajesh Ranganathan presented the overview of the workshop. Dr.R.Prabhakar, the Secretary, CIT, threw light on the various issues of Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Dr.Gunasekaran and Dr.Steven White from University of Massachusetts, USA spoke on the need and importance of Logistics in cutting down the expenses incurred during the process of manufacturing and transportation. Dr.R.Sivasubramanian, the convener proposed a vote of thanks at the end of the inaugural function. About 40 delegates from industries, academic institutions, business schools and R & D establishments participated in the seminar.

The inaugural function was followed by a Technical Session in which Dr.Steven white delivered a Guest Lecture on STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF GLOBAL LOGISTICS. He described about various logistics modes followed by the common problems being faced by manufacturing industries in the area of Logistics and Supply Chain Management. He narrated various logistics environments besides hierarchy of logistics management decisions. He gave simple and practical examples of how products are designed and delivered in order to suit customer requirements. He highlighted and emphasized the trade barriers and mentioned about high-tech, high value goods along with keys to fast cycle logistics. He also enlightened the participants on various strategic management goals. His lecture was very much encouraging and was appreciated by all the participants.

In the next technical session, Dr.A.Gunasekaran delivered a Guest Lecture on RESPONSIVE SUPPLY CHAIN: A COMPETITIVE STRATEGY IN A NETWORKED ECONOMY. He mentioned about the fundamentals of Supply Chain and Responsive Supply Chain (RSC) and also its relationship with Agile Manufacturing. He spoke on the literature survey besides making a comparison among Lean Manufacturing, Agile Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management. He gave some examples and case studies from Libbey. Inc, North America, AT&T Electronic Consumer Products of USA, CEMEX (Largest producer of cement in the US) and Nissan (producers of cars) and Wedgwood (porcelain and luxury ceramics in the US). He also explained about the Responsive Supply Chain and its strategic planning, virtual enterprise/organization, Knowledge and Information Technology Management and some recommendations to achieve RSC.

The next day, the workshop continued with a technical session in which Mr.R.Seshadri, Executive Director, Take Solutions Ltd., Chennai delivered a lecture on AGILE SUPPLY CHAIN. He spoke on the activities taking place in a supply chain. He gave some examples of Inbound and Outbound supply chain along with Reverse Logistics. He discussed on several issues and challenges faced by the enterprises in the area of supply chain. He also highlighted the importance of information technology and also the benefits and outcome of IT enabled supply chain. The next session was handled by Dr.Rajesh Ranganathan of CIT who gave some examples of SCM driven by Rapid Prototyping (RP) processes. He also presented a demonstration on the products developed by RP used in the medical applications. The topic which he spoke on was “INTEGRATION OF TECHNOLOGICAL FORECASTING AND SUPPLY CHAIN”. His lecture was well appreciated by all the participants. At the end, the participants gave the feedback and the workshop came to an end with the distribution of certificates to the participants.