In my discussions and travels, I often meet engineers who have become supply chain professionals. To me, that makes a lot of sense. I think engineers, like supply chain experts, seek to make sense out of what appears chaotic and complex. Ask anybody with global experience, and they will tell you that supply chains and manufacturing in India can be the most complex of all. So, it should come as no surprise that two engineers are seeking to change that.

Entrepreneur India reports that Vineet Majgaonkar and Pranav Majgaonkar, brothers and mechanical engineers, started Armstrong Machine Builders in 2000. “The business kicked off with providing mechanical solutions to poultry farming, and now it is offering automated machinery solutions to marquee clients like Unilever, ITC and Amazon,” Komal Nathani writes. 

In the article, Vineet Majgaonkar insists on the importance of sophisticated supply chains because India is the second-largest consumer market in the world. In fact, he stresses that India was desperate for integrated manufacturing processes combined with innovative technologies. Armstrong Machine Builders produces intelligent sorters, lifts, profiling systems and solutions that integrate Industry 4.0. 

The brothers recognize that warehouse automation systems not only bring visibility into the supply chain but also cut costs, time and product damage. However, Vineet Majgaonkar dismisses the idea that the systems could decrease job opportunities. “Automation will be the driving force behind the creation of a smarter workforce as it will upgrade mundane jobs to a more skill-based work,” he says in the article.

Now the leaders of Armstrong Machine Builders are looking to the immediate future and the innovations coming with it, such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics. Using these new advances, their products connect with existing enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems, which enables smoother data collection and analysis.

A winning combination

As the Majgaonkar brothers recognize, supply chain management often is about combining operations basics with the latest technological advances. Often, a company’s ERP system is a tool on which professionals rely. Consider the definition of ERP as it appears in the APICS Dictionary: “[A] framework for organizing, defining, and standardizing the business processes necessary to effectively plan and control an organization so the organization can use its internal knowledge to seek external advantage. An ERP system provides extensive databanks of information including master file records, repositories of cost and sales, financial detail, analysis of product and customer hierarchies, and historic and current transactional data.” 

APICS strives to give its members and customers education and information that seamlessly balance supply chain basics with supply chain’s evolution in our complex global marketplace. You can see this balance in our products, such as APICS magazine, and in our conferences, such as APICS 2017. If you haven’t lately, take a look at what APICS can offer you. Visit apics.org/magazine to browse articles about a variety of important topics and apics.org/conference to discover what you could learn by attending APICS 2017, which will take place October 15-17 in San Antonio.