Supply Chain Management

The class started with a bunch of concepts and terms, which it was kind of repetitive of what I have learned from my production and operation management class and refreshed with the assigned reading we have for the day. It was almost towards the end of the lecture when the professor finally gave examples of how Indian companies manage the supply chain. I didn’t feel like I got much out of the lecture, but the visit to Automotive Axles plant was very interesting, despite the “rough” travel we had.

Once I arrived at the plant, I was astonished by how beautiful the facility is. They got a garden where they grow a variety of medicine plants for the community. We started our visit with a presentation given by the CFO of the company. He said that his strategy for supply chain management is just in case, not just in time. The reason is that it is very difficult to manage their suppliers. If a supplier didn’t deliver the materials they needed, they will be in trouble. So, what Automotive Axles do is order more inventory than what they would actually need. I found this to be interesting. Like the CFO said, the business structure in India is not as well structured as America, but I’m curious about the bond of trust between the company and the supplier would be. I learned from Verna that Indians build strong relationships with each other, so it will be easier for them to get to the business done. If this is the case, then shouldn’t Automotive Axles also rely on their suppliers would actually deliver the inventories they ordered in time?
After the presentation, we toured the plant. I think it is nice to see a plant facility in India, but it would be a lot nicer if I could actually know what I was looking at. Although it wasn’t that hot inside of the plant, but I just can’t imagine when summer comes around, how are they going to be able to tolerate the heat? I highly doubt that they will get any air condition. In addition, I also observed that the workers did not have much of safety protection on. Most of them did not have their goggles on; they don’t have a safety belt on when they climbed to the higher area of the plant; they don’t even have mask on when they worked in the welding area.
Personally, I wasn’t very interested in this type of plant visit since I have no background knowledge of the industry, whereas Harvey and Gene found it to be fascinating. Anyhow, I still enjoyed the experience of visiting a plant in India!