Track: Case Studies

Abstract

Manual operations are a huge part of supply chain in India. As a supply chain company scales, following needs are the first to be addressed:

• Auto data capture and runtime data visibility for planning, reconciliation and issue resolution

• Process Improvement: Removing non-value-add & redundant activities, clubbing sub-activities

• Productivity and reliability improvement, efficiency improvement in value-add activities

Mobility solutions, ranging from Handheld Devices (HHDs) to voice-assistance to Augmented Reality (AR), can help achieve these goals. This case study describes how mobility technology solutions can help overcome data & manpower challenges present in scaling an ecommerce supply chain logistics operations in India, like at Flipkart. Through these solutions, we target design flexibility, reducing infrastructure and operational cost, improving operational efficiency. Mobility solutions integrate well with other automation technologies, and act as a stepping stone for end to end supply chain automation.

This case study further gives an in-detail analysis of

• the socio-economic challenges, in adopting mobility technologies, such as low wages, skills, english-proficiency etc of operator manpower;

• natural progression of mobility technologies and the suitable time to adopt these in the industry; and

• appropriate strategies around cost-effective deployment & user-friendly device/application design to overcome above mentioned barriers