On 16th July 2017, PG May 2017 students connected with SP Jain alumnus, Venkateshwaran Subramanian (GMBA 2013), a Logistics & Supply Chain Management specialist currently working as a Product Manager with MiDCOM Group, MENA. Venkateshwaran is responsible for product development, device testing, and compliance management for FERO mobile in the Middle East and Africa.

As part of the Global Learning Industry Voices Program at the SP Jain Dubai campus, Venkateshwaran’s session titled ‘A to Z Supply Chain in the Amazon era’ challenged the audience to come up with the biggest problem faced by even the most accomplished supply chains in the world: ‘change’.

Venkateshwaran emphasised that ever evolving change is a massive challenge and yet a key strength, for it gives dynamism to the value chains spread across the globe. Using ‘Amazon’, the largest internet based retailer in the world as a case study that is revolutionising, or more appropriately, disrupting the supply chain practices in the near future with IoT at its core. He brought to light various initiatives taken up by Amazon, for example, the Amazon Dash, a drone-based delivery system; the Amazon Prime Air, a cargo carrier service that will directly compete with global giants like DHL etc. Apart from new initiatives, Venkateshwaran also stressed on how Amazon has become a pioneer in taking the Warehousing practices to the next level with the usage of Kiva Robots integrated with the QR Code system.

The most staggering amongst the several facts and figures shared in the discussion was the reduction in Average Delivery Time achieved by Amazon over the past six years, from 5 days in 2010 to 2 days in 2016 – an unrealistic feat achieved by Amazon and the supply chain industry. Students shared that they now realized the fact that Amazon truly justifies its company logo – From A to Z.