Buyer/Planner/Scheduler

Be a process expert says Raj Rajendran, CFO of nthOrbit, a San Jose-based supply chain software development company. He emphasizes that supply chain is all about procedure. People need to understand what the various processes are that make up the supply chain — designing the product, securing the order, processing it to the system, scheduling orders for production, purchasing the materials for production, manufacturing the product, shipping it, billing the customers for it and finally collecting the money from them. And then they need to make incremental improvements on each process.

Learning how to use systems, such as Oracle Database, SAP, and other ERP systems effectively is key. This allows you to employ the right software and adapt it to the needs of customers.

Entry-level workers need to be very detail oriented and keep three things in mind — meet the service level agreement (which is essentially fulfilling the promise of delivering the goods on time) because this provides credibility; keep inventory and overhead costs low and bring the product to the market speedily in a cost-effective manner.

Educational Background

As long as you know how to apply Oracle or SAP, you don’t necessarily need an engineering degree, Rajendran says. A degree in the sciences such as mathematics or physics is suitable too.

“You can come from almost any background because supply chain does not require specialized training, like medicine,” he affirms. “It is nothing but execution, so common sense is an important quality.”

Market Opportunity

According to Rajendran, many companies suffer from huge overhead costs, are often forced to write-off inventory and generally provide a very short lead-time to the customer, thus losing market share to competitors. He adds that inventory levels in high-tech companies are very high and even big companies cannot meet their service-level requirements easily. All this has combined to make a major market opportunity for supply chain management.

Software Engineer

To be a supply chain software engineer, technical skills like knowing Java, database technology, Web services and distributed architecture are key, but not enough. Be the best programmer, but also understand the supply chain process intricately. Knowing the process will help you to understand the software you create.

Consulting Qualifications

A good candidate for a position in supply chain software consulting requires an MBA with a specialization in production and systems, says Vikram Gulati, general manager, enterprise application services at Wipro Technologies. Having an APICS (American Production & Inventory Control Society) qualification is an added advantage. According to Gulati, supply chain can be split into a “planning” side and a “fulfillment” side, which includes manufacturing and logistics. You need to understand both these sides and be able to use and deploy supply chain packages such as i2, Manugistics and SAP; and integrate various applications.

Know answers to questions such as, “Why and how should we forecast the demand pattern?”, “Why do we need scheduling and how do we usually do it?” and “Why do we need to store products and how can we achieve a lower inventory?” As a consultant, you need to constantly work with the planning, forecasting and the logistics groups.

“A good supply chain consultant not only understands these concepts, but continuously thinks how to reduce the cost and prevent profit leakage,” Gulati points out.

Realize that consulting assignments are for short durations, companies want quick results and are deeply RoI driven. Gulati says that typically salaries in this field are 15 to 20 percent higher than equivalent positions in other fields.

Market Opportunity for Consultants

The current climate for a job as a supply chain consultant is good, although job seekers need to find the right place to work.

“Since this is a specialized area, not all IT companies have the capacity and the bandwidth to cash in on the opportunity,” Gulati explains. “The right place to start will be a medium to large sized consulting organization that takes in a good amount of consulting jobs. IT companies moving up the value chain are also a good place to build a career.”
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