Tata Indica - The Making Of The Small Car
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SUPPLY CHAIN contd...
For Telco, a crucial link in the supply chain was its
ability to forecast demand accurately, which would help the vendor plan his
production-schedule in advance, thus lowering costs. Telco and Concorde[2]
employed market research agencies to help forecast demand through trend
analysis, using the historical data technique.
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It used a complex web of correlation involving the
country's economic situation, competitors'products, and their USPs. To
ensure quick flow of information along the value chain, Telco
electronically linked its demand forecasts to production, and backwards
to its suppliers.
All its dealers were linked to the plant through VSATs[3] connected by
e-mail to relay demand patterns on-line to the Pune plant. This reduced
the order-processing time by 80%. Analysts felt that by being online,
Telco would save a minimum of 4 days from the order-to-despatch
lead-time. |
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For speedy delivery, Telco resorted to
inter-location transfers of the product between dealerships. This would
ensure movement of the product to a place where there was more demand.
This would make a big difference to finished goods inventory management
once Telco started producing at optimum capacity. Telco also trimmed
costs by making Concorde leaner than other dealerships, with just 3
levels: managing director, general managers, and managers[4]. Each of
Concorde's general managers worked as profit-centre heads of their
individual business regions, and reported directly to the managing
director.
Added, A.K. Seth, General Manager (Delhi), Concorde, “The company wanted
to create a lean and responsive network, with the primary objective
being to meet customer requirements as quickly as possible.”
LEVERAGING THE SUPPLY CHAIN
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
[2]
Telco's dealer for Indica. It had 9 dealerships and 25 outlets.
[3] Very
Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) is a satellite communications system that serves
home and business users. A VSAT end user needs a box that interfaces between the
user's computer and an outside antenna with transceiver. The transceiver
receives or sends a signal to a satellite transponder in the sky. The satellite
sends and receives signals from an earth station computer that acts as a hub for
the system. Each end user is interconnected with the hub station via the
satellite. For one end user to communicate with another, each transmission has
to first go to the hub station which transmits it via the satellite to the other
end user's VSAT. VSAT handles data, voice and video signals.
[4] Most
other car-marketers in the country operated with a minimum of 5 levels.
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