Schneider Electric, on November 11, 2019, opened its first Smart Distribution Centre in India. The Smart Distribution Centre, located at Bhiwandi — the commercial hub of Mumbai, has been digitally transformed with Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure architecture to be more energy efficient and provide real time access to information right across the supply chain. Early results from this digitization initiative are showing expected energy savings of 10 to 12 per cent and an increase in logistics efficiency of 5 per cent at the site.
This is Schneider Electric’s fifth Smart Distribution Center launch in 2019, following inaugurations in Australia, China, Brazil and France. Smart Distribution Centers are fundamental to Schneider Electric’s Tailored Sustainable Connected (TSC) 4.0 supply chain digital transformation. Under this initiative, Schneider Electric implements its EcoStruxure platform and architecture across its supply chain operations to deliver end-to-end integration to improve predictability and reliability for customers by providing visibility, early detection and mitigation of supply related incidents across the complete value chain.
The Smart Distribution Center in Mumbai is the first of Schneider Electric’s showcase Smart Distribution Centers that has been set up as a third-party logistics (3PL) site, in this instance in association with global logistics giant, DHL. The Smart Distribution Center takes forward India’s aspiration to evolve into a manufacturing hub for the world through ‘Make in India’ which made a strong case for creating robust supply chains with smart distribution centers as a powerful node.
The deployment of EcoStruxure at the Mumbai Smart Distribution Center has achieved the objectives of agile management and process efficiency; asset performance management; empowered operators; and, energy efficiency and reliability.
Speaking to a select gathering of media at the event, Anil Chaudhry, noted, “Today’s event reconfirms our commitment and ensures that all our customers and our supply-chain become efficient by the use of digital technology. Our Ecostruxure solutions, which are being provided to customers worldwide, will be adopted in our facilities as well.”
“All our products, all our solutions, are based on our platform of digital technologies. The future is in connected products and solutions. In fact, for doing that, Industry 4.0 is the platform we are using and deploying across various customer facilities, including our own facilities like the Smart Distribution Centre just launched,” Chaudhry observed.
The Mumbai DC will essentially cater to the Indian market, but it will also support nearby countries. Also, products stored in the Mumbai DC will be produced by SE factories in India, or if need be, imported from Schneider Electric’s global facilities.
Fifth Smart DC of 2019
Anil Chaudhry made a very interesting observation. He noted that while the Mumbai DC was smart by itself, thanks to the use of Schneider Electric’s Ecostruxure platform, the various digital applications deployed at the Mumbai DC was indeed making the entire supply chain, very smart, from end to end. With smart technologies, customers will be able to monitor, track and have the accessibility of how their products and solutions are being supplied. The status of orders, dispatch details and expected time of delivery will be known to customers. The application and analytics used at the smart DC will actually make the upstream and downstream of the supply chain very efficient.
Role of DHL
A very important aspect of the Mumbai smart DC is that Schneider Electric has partnered with a special logistics player – DHL. According to Javed Ahmad, Senior Vice Presient-Global Supply Chain – India, Middle East & Africa, Schneider Electric, the rationale behind partnering with a leader like DHL was to make the entire experience, from the logistics, technological and management point of view, very efficient.
It may be mentioned that DHL built the Mumbai logistics facility and one-third of this entire space will be dedicated to Schneider Electric with DHL being a very strong partner. “That is the differentiating factor that we are bringing to this market. This smart DC will make sure that our customers will be able to benefit,” said Ahmad.
“Our objective is that we want to give a very superior experience to our customers. There are two aspects—soft and hard. The soft aspect is our interaction with clients, sharing of information on orders, etc. The hard aspect is the physical delivery. Different customers, like distributors, panel builders, contractors, etc, have different requirements. We want to make sure we understand what those customer requirements are and we want to bring in those capabilities in our processes.We are bringing in those capabilities that can help us service our customers’ needs. We are deploying 17 different capabilities in our supply chain,” noted Ahmad.
Elaborating on the partnership with DHL, Javed Ahmad said, “DHL brings several capabilities. DHL has expertise in warehousing operations—maintaining free flow of goods, order processing, etc. DHL will take care of all the warehouse operations. The second aspect is that they are also interconnected with the global network. We are using DHL in a lot of places.DHL also has a control tower connecting all DHL operations. So, Schneider Electric gets advantage of this. They also have a warehouse management system where all transactions happen in paperless mode.”
Sustainability in operations
Schneider Electric India has ensured that the Mumbai smart DC, like all its other smart DCs, operates in a sustainable manner. Several Schneider Electric products and, more importantly, the EcoStruxure Power platform, have been deployed to make the Mumbai smart DC energy efficient and sustainable. Data on power consumption at the DC is collected, analyzed and remedial steps are taken. There are motion and light sensors that make sure that the usage of lighting devices is minimized during off-peak hours.
Any waste that is generated is given to certified recyclers. Speaking in general about Schneider Electric India’s facilities, Javed Ahmad said that the company was procuring renewable energy from energy exchanges and also from renewable energy companies through power purchase agreements. Several factories and distribution centres of Schneider Electric in India have solar rooftops, adding to the renewable energy consumption. The company aims at sourcing 80-90 per cent of electricity consumed by its factories through renewable sources.
Connected with MYSE
Customers have different requirements for delivery. For instance, some want it in kit form. Some customers want delivery only on a specific day of the week. The systems of Schneider Electric have such capabilities in place.
Javed Ahmad explained that when transactions are done, a large quantum of data is generated. This data is then analysed by the analytics team to generate insights and business intelligence. Schneider Electric is empowered with, for instance, intelligence on which supplier is performing better, which factories are performing better, which transporters are not performing as per their committed lead times, etc.
“We feel that all this is going to differentiate us with respect to the competition. It will help our customers to make onwards services better,” noted Javed Ahmad.
Committed to India
Summarizing his views on the Mumbai smart distribution centre and his company’s engagement in India, Anil Chaudhry said, “In this smart DC world where the end-to-end supply chain is digital, it is possible for decisions to taken proactively rather than reactively. This is essentially what the end-to-end digital supply chain is all about. We have been in India for over 50 years. The next phase of our journey in India is much more committed. We want to be part of the journey to make New India energy positive. Schneider Electric India is committed to the government’s “Make in India” programme of GoI. Almost 50 per cent of what is produced in the Indian facilities is exported. We have been a net exporter for several years. We have Make in India for India as well as Make in India for the world.”
Featured photograph shows Anil Chaudhry, Managing Director & Zone President, Greater India, Schneider Electric India (left) along with Javed Ahmad, Senior Vice Presient-Global Supply Chain – India, Middle East & Africa, Schneider Electric, at the newly-inaugurated Smart Distribution Centre of Schneider Electric India.
