In April 2019, some member companies of Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) recognised the need to form a ‘Supply Chain Management Forum’, a platform where they can share best practices of the industry and provide appropriate solutions to the industry problems. The key members of the forum include representatives from Bosch Limited, Bayer India, BASF India, Brose India Automotive, Covestro India, Evonik India, Fuchs India, KSB Ltd., Lanxess India, Siemens Ltd., Thyssenkrupp India and Volkswagen India.
The first meeting of the forum was held at Siemens Ltd. on 4th April 2019 to set up the objectives and the functioning of the forum. An engaging dialogue and brainstorming among partners lead to the generation of several ideas of mutual interest or concern such as:
- Recommendations for suppliers / business partner development
- Focus on compliance, sustainability, digitalization, innovation, risk management, tail spend
- management, supplier finance, payment on time (PoT), GST and taxation
- Conducting expert talk sessions and trainings with regard to Purchase / SCM
- Discussing policies, guidelines and alliance sourcing
Considering the latest need of the business to strike out balance between the social, economic and environmental aspects, the second meeting hosted by Bayer Group on 25th July 2019 focused on the topic of ‘Sustainability in Supply Chain Management’. Representatives of the participating organizations shared their respective practices to achieve sustainability in Supply Chain Management (SCM) while also pointed the pain areas in maintaining sustainability.
- Bayer Group believes in adopting sustainability in SCM right from operations to the end of value chain by adopting 4 steps towards suppliers: Awareness, Nomination, Performance Evaluation and Development.
- BASF India states its purpose as ‘Chemistry for Sustainable Future’. BASF’s logistic team aims at reduction of carbon footprints by reducing the usage of coal fuel and road transportation and promoting railways and waterways. However, while doing so challenges such as limited awareness of suppliers, low importance of Environment Health Safety (EHS), resistance of suppliers to change and unwillingness of stakeholders to share responsibility are faced by organisations in the industry.
- “At BASF, sustainability means an alignment of economic success with environmental and social responsibility. To live up to its purpose of ‘Creating Chemistry for Sustainable Future’, BASF India has implemented the TFS (Together for Sustainability) initiative to improve sustainability practices within the supply chain. The company has also started auditing suppliers as a part of the TFS program. BASF shared how its logistics team aims at lowering the overall carbon footprint by reducing the usage of traditional fossil fuel as well as in road transportation, promoting railways and waterways. The company noted that during the implementation of sustainability-focused initiatives, limited awareness and thus resistance among suppliers, low importance paid to Environment Health Safety (EHS) concerns, and unwillingness of stakeholders to share responsibility are some of the challenges faced by organizations in the chemical industry.”
- Thyssenkrupp India shared its efforts toward maintaining sustainability among the civil / erection contractors from the unorganized sectors. It celebrates Supplier’s Day to recognise and to train their key vendor partners.
- Bosch Limited instituted a ‘Supplier’s Panchayat’ which is for ‘Voice of Suppliers’ (VOS).
- Siemens Limited links its organisational values – Excellence, Innovate and Responsible to sustainability.
The next meeting of the SCM Connect will be held in December 2019 and will be hosted by BASF India. The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce acts as an anchor and facilitator of the SCM Forum.
