siliconindia | | June 20144The recent fiasco in Europe over substituted horse meat for beef has raised crucial questions about the security of food supply chains provided by bigwigs like Tesco, Iceland, Aldi and Findus. This is just one of the more scandals - even Apple has been in headlines when poor working conditions were discovered at a factory belonging to one of its suppliers, Foxconn, in China. Is it the lack of supply chain solutions or transparency led to such worse scenarios and repeated flaws? Today most of the bigwigs are under pressure to win the trust over the customers amidst these threats in the supply chain industry. Though the top grocers like Tesco had strict control in place to ensure the quality of its meat products, including regular audits and tests, yet the supplier somehow slipped through the net, apparently buying meat from an unapproved Polish supplier for as long as a year. Such scenario calls for to understand the CIOs' ability to trace problems and truly understand the importance of audit trail in supply chain. Such repeated incidents in the market, is putting CIOs under pressure to find the right solutions for the enterprises and forefend such flaws. Research studies have shown most supply chain failures are attributable to internal process problems, customer-related issues, and inappropriate demand management. One of the most effective guards against these unwanted discoveries is transparency. Increasingly, retailers are working to ensure they have contact with every level of their supply base, well beyond first tier direct suppliers. Presently as there is huge number of ERP solutions either based on magnitude or business of organizations and vendors in the market, the selection of suitable ERP solution or vendor makes CIOs of any FMCG company even tougher. Most of the ERP vendors deliver their solutions that do not acknowledge the specific need of the clients and forcefully tries to fit the solutions to their client's requirement which results in loss of confidence of clients. The key is that either the CIO should be smart enough to identify whether ERP vendor will be able to deliver the solutions or should be transparent enough to open about the things which it cannot provide in its solutions to avoid another Horsemeat Scandal.To better comprehend about the supply chain challenges, this issue we have an in depth conversation with Irfan A Khan, Senior Vice President, Global Field Operations of Bristlecone, a Mahindra Group company that fuels supply chain management across multiple industries including High Technology and Semiconductor, Automotive, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Industrial Machinery and Components, Oil and Gas, Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals with its wide range of services spanning from implementation of integrated solutions, proof of concept, consulting, managed services, information management, technology and integration support, asset services and go-live assistance. Khan, with his two decades of experience, is recognized in the industry for his strong consultative and practical approach and his proven competency in initiating, leading and managing turnaround growth strategies in both complex multi-channel distribution as well as business-to-business environments.Please do let us know what you think.Christo JacobManaging Editoreditor@siliconindia.com Editor-in-Chief Harvi Sachar Managing Editor Christo Jacob Editorial Staff Anamika Sahu Dylan D'Souza Mewanshwa Kharshiing Rachita Sharma Sandeep Sen Sagaya Christuraj Sudhakar Singh Vignesh Anantharaj Sr.Visualiser Ashok kumar Circulation Manager Magendran Perumal Mailing AddressSiliconIndia Inc44790 S. Grimmer Blvd Suite 202, Fremont, CA 94538T:510.440.8249, F:510.440.8276 siliconindiaNovember 2013, volume 16-11 (ISSN 1091-9503) Published monthly by siliconindia, Inc. To subscribe to siliconindiaVisit www.siliconindia.com or send email to subscription@siliconindia.com siliconindiaeditorialConnect the DotsCopyright © 2013 siliconindia, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photography or illustrations without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the magazine and accordingly, no liability is assumed by the publisher thereof.siliconindia's circulation is audited and certified by BPA International. siliconindia is available through mainstream retail outlets such as Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Tower Records. It is also available at ethnic Asian Indian stores in major Indian hot spots across the U.S. The magazine is also distributed at major trade shows and conferences, including Comdex, Internet World and PC Expo.Visualisers Ranjith C Editor-in-Chief Harvi Sachar Managing Editor Christo Jacob Editorial Staff Anamika Sahu Anitha T.S Arun Kant Durgesh Prakash Maymol Philip Rachita Sharma Sandeep Sen Sagaya Christuraj Shariful Mondal Vignesh Anantharaj Sr.Visualiser Ashok kumar Circulation Manager Magendran Perumal Mailing AddressSiliconIndia Inc44790 S. Grimmer Blvd Suite 202, Fremont, CA 94538T:510.440.8249, F:510.894.8405 siliconindiaJune 2014, volume 17-6 (ISSN 1091-9503)Published monthly by siliconindia, Inc. To subscribe to siliconindiaVisit www.siliconindia.com or send email to subscription@siliconindia.com siliconindiaCopyright © 2014 siliconindia, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photography or illustrations without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the magazine and accordingly, no liability is assumed by the publisher thereof.siliconindia's circulation is audited and certified by BPA International.Visualisers Jayalakshmi Ranjith C
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