OCTOBER 2021

OPERATIONS
MAGAZINE
 ,
CONTENTS
PAGE 1
GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN
MANAGEMENT
BY VAMSI TEJA

PAGE 3
IMPACT OF AFGHAN CRISIS
ON INDIA'S SUPPLY CHAIN
BY ROHAN KULKARNI

!
PAGE 4
VACCINE SUPPLY CHAIN IN
INDIA
BY PARAG SWAMI

PAGE 6

?
HOW EVER GIVEN BLOCKED
GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN
BY SOUMYASHREE BISWAS
 GREEN SUPPLY
CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Global concerns like energy security, rising prices, natural resources scarcity, &
climate change are the driving forces behind sustainable alternatives for energy
generation and production systems. This has led to the interest in integrating economic
and environmental aspects in supply chain management as environmental factors
become objective functions rather than constraints. Significant changes are being made in
SCM decision making.
The term sustainable or green supply chain refers to integrating sustainable
environmental processes into the traditional supply chain. This can include supplier
selection and purchasing material, product manufacturing and assembling, distribution
and end of life management. Reducing air, water, and waste pollution is the primary goal
of the green supply chain, while green operations also reduce waste and increase the
material's recyclability. The below image clearly explains the greening of the supply chain
of a child's crib.

GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN PRACTICES

It starts with sourcing green material, which means purchasing raw materials
and components that are eco-friendly, recyclable, and nonhazardous. Procuring green
material also helps in reducing waste. The next step is green marketing, in which the 4 Ps
of the marketing mix are done in environment-friendly methods. Green marketing
enhances the firm's competitiveness and gives a positive image to the firm in the
consumer's mind. Green management practices in production help firms to improve

PAGE ONE| GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

 efficiency, reduce environmental compliance costs. Research has shown that adopting
ecological design has reduced 80 per cent of the environmental impacts in the product life
cycle. This method also suggests using renewable biofuel and following green
transportation techniques to reduce the carbon emissions in the product cycle.

Many companies have already started adopting green supply chain methods.
Walmart adopted the Sustainability 360 method, which provides companies with a
packaging scorecard to the suppliers, which calculates the green quotient of the product
packaging based on different attributes starting from packaging to transportation. Ford
Motors uses the motto of "Material recovery starts and ends with great design" and
explains and issues recycling guidelines to its suppliers worldwide. FedEx has decided to
reduce its environmental footprint by using green transportation methods. Kodak
employed design for the environment to allow reuse, recycling and disassembly of the
camera and the packaging to facilitate the use of reverse supply chain and extraction of
companies. Still, green supply management has not become a formal practice; as global
temperatures rise, more companies will rely on using GSCM.

PAGE TWO| GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

 IMPACT OF AFGHAN
CRISIS ON INDIA'S
SUPPLY CHAIN
The recent Taliban takeover of
Afghanistan has created a lot of buzz
around the world. India, being a
neighbouring country to Afghanistan,
will experience various effects of this
event.

IMPORTANCE OF AFGHANISTAN
TO INDIA
India imports 85% of its dry fruits from
Afghanistan every year worth nearly Rs.
2000 Cr. The recent crisis has resulted
in the sudden crash of supply chains &
the prices of dry fruits have gone up. The $1.3B trade between Afghanistan and India
favoured India in 2020-21 with exports of around $800M, but the prospect of continuing the
same looks bleak now.

TAPI GAS PIPELINE

The TAPI pipeline project is crucial for
India. India stands to get around 38
million cubic ft of natural gas daily from
this pipeline, which originates in
Turkmenistan and travels from
Afghanistan as well as Pakistan before
reaching India. The project has
environmental benefits for India too.
Any doubts over the TAPI pipeline
would create multiple obstacles for
India’s strategic planning towards its
energy consumption.

PAGE THREE| IMPACT OF AFGHAN CRISIS ON INDIA'S SUPPLY CHAIN

 VACCINE SUPPLY
CHAIN IN INDIA
The largest vaccination drive is underway in India, with its third phase in
inception. As the world’s leading vaccine manufacturer, India has better access to vaccines
than many other parts of the world. Even though India has fully vaccinated 20% of its total
population, this percentage is meagre compared to countries like China (75%) and the
USA (57%). With India viewing a steep increase in vaccine demand in the past month and
with the impending third wave, the big question remains: is India’s supply chain ready for
the future challenges?
The Government of India has created task forces such as NEGVAC (National
Expert Group of Vaccine Administration for Covid-19) to formulate a comprehensive
action plan for vaccine administration, co-chaired by Member (Health) NITI Aayog and
Union Health Secretary. The government has also empowered various groups on vaccine
administration for COVID-19 to facilitate optimal utilisation of technology and make COVID
vaccination all-inclusive, transparent, scalable and straightforward.
Supply chain tracking & controls for the vaccines are done through the Co-
WIN digital platform, which is used to track the enlisted beneficiaries and is managed by
the GoI appointed Task Force. When phase 1 and phase 2 of the inoculation drive were
underway, the Centre had procured all the vaccine doses from the manufacturers and
had provided them free of cost to the states. Now, in the third phase, manufacturers are
required to provide the Centre with half of the vaccine doses they manufacture, which
would be supplied to the states free of cost, and the manufacturers would be free to sell
their remaining doses directly to the states & private hospitals.
Under the UIP (Universal Immunization Program), a vast network of cold
chain stores has been created at different levels: Government Medical Supply Depots
(GMSD), State/ Regional/ Divisional Vaccine stores, District and CHC/ PHC vaccine storage
points. In addition, in some states, municipalities act as separate health administrative
systems, with cold chain systems similar to district-level systems. Through the state,
divisional and district vaccine stores, Vaccines reach the last storage point of CHC or PHC.
From there, the vaccines are supplied to the outreach session sites for vaccination. The

PAGE FOUR| VACCINE SUPPLY CHAIN IN INDIA

 primary factors for vaccine logistics include vaccine temperature monitoring and cargo
monitoring with supply chain visibility. The process can be viewed in the below flowchart.

CHALLENGES AND FUTURE PLANNING

Lack of logistics infrastructure - The major challenge in the supply chain of vaccines is
not the scale but the need for a consistent and seamless cold chain transportation and
storage logistics capability. We lack this storage logistics infrastructure in our country, and
it is more challenging, especially in the hinterlands. Anticipating these challenges, the
Indian administration launched the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network, a digital
platform to manage its entire vaccine stock, logistics, and cold chain tracking of all the
country’s vaccine storage levels.
Shortage of vaccines - We could soon face a vaccine shortage given the risk of the third
wave with the upcoming festival season celebrated in the coming months. The Union
government has recently said that the nationwide vaccination drive has been ramped up
with the availability of more vaccines, advanced visibility of vaccine availability to States to
enable better planning and streamlining of the vaccine supply chain.
Inventory management - Managing vaccine stocks at thousands of local inventories and
health centres is enormously challenging. In a country often plagued by power cuts and
transmission faults, the stakes are higher than ever. Customised refrigerators are being
manufactured to meet the demand for covid-19 vaccine storage locally. These fridges can
hold temperatures at 2-8°C for several days in the event of a power outage.
For India, unprecedented challenges of this nature are nothing new. With the
emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, it is imminent that the third Covid wave will hit
India. This makes it imperative to vaccinate its citizens faster to prevent further disaster.

PAGE FIVE| VACCINE SUPPLY CHAIN IN INDIA

 HOW EVER GIVEN
BLOCKED GLOBAL
SUPPLY CHAIN
The Ever Given is free, but its effect on the supply chain could be felt for a
long time. The cargo ship, which is as long as the height of the Empire State Building,
blocked the Suez Canal on March 23, holding up traffic that carries nearly $10 billion worth
of goods every day, translating to ~$400 million per hour. Suez Canal is a man-made
waterway which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, providing a shipping
shortcut between Europe and Asia. Average of 50 ships pass through Suez Canal per day.
About 12% of all global trade flows through this 120-mile-long canal to avoid a long trip
around the southern tip of Africa. When Ever Given was refloated on March 29, as many as
367 container ships were waiting to pass through the canal.
There are no alternatives such as railways or roadways when shipping goods
from Asia to Europe. The blockage of Suez Canal delayed many raw materials for
European products like cotton from India, petroleum from the Middle East, automobile
parts from China and other commodities such as chemicals, apparel, iron ore, toilet papers
and manufactured goods. Imports from Europe were delayed, and the blockage prevented
empty shipping containers from being returned to Asia, which added to the container
shortage caused by rising demand for consumer goods like furniture, bicycles and home
appliances driven by consumers' lifestyle changes during the pandemic.
About 1.9 million barrels of oil per day pass through the canal, which translates
to ~7% of all seaborne oil. The blockage affected shipments of oil and natural gas from the
Middle East to Europe. The blockage pushed up oil and African coffee bean prices in many
parts of the world. Germany's economy suffered as the blockage delayed the shipment of
auto parts to its large car manufacturers, while Spain, Italy and France saw higher gas
prices because they relied on oil shipments through the canal.

PAGE SIX| HOW EVER GIVEN BLOCKED GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN

 The knock-on effects included congestion at ports, longer waiting time and
vessels not being in the right place for their next scheduled journey. There was an uptick in
blank sailings as carrier's ships began to miss port calls. It caused a delay in the final delivery
of goods. It further exacerbated the supply chains already suffering from a container
shortage amid the Covid-19 buying boom. Assembly lines were idled because parts did not
show up when they were expected. Smaller ports had trouble coping with the scheduling
conflicts caused by the traffic piling at the Suez Canal. The freight cost of shipping
companies increased by ~3 times.
Some shipping companies decided to reroute their vessels around Cape of
Good Hope, which led to an additional week of sailing time and higher fuel costs. For the
logistics industry, the canal blockage was just the latest and most visible manifestation of
the relentless cascade of problems created or catalyzed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

PAGE SEVEN| HOW EVER GIVEN BLOCKED GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN

 THANK
YOU!

CHIEF EDITOR :
PRANJALI JADHAV

PAGE EIGHT
OCTOBER 2021