Operations management has always been one of the core functions of any organization. With operations becoming the powerhouse for efficiency in industry, operations managers are now expected not only to be cost efficient and productive, but also bear strategic responsibilities. Operations continuum covers the latest issues and trends a manager can encounter in this domain.

The seminar witnesses brisk attendance by delegates from different organizations, our distinguished alumni and Faculty, students from various Business Schools. This one-day event continues to be one of the best learning experiences for the students. It provides a platform for the inquisitive minds to get face to face with industry stalwarts. An enlightening session by an eminent speaker is generally followed by a round of interaction between the speaker and the students which help them get a holistic picture of the industry trends. The event also involves Panel Discussion, Case study competition and Business games.

The world is currently witnessing turbulent weather patterns. In addition, the rapid economic growth has lead to shortage of resources. A sustainable Green supply chain management has the potential to address some of these issues. A Green Sustainable Supply Chain can be defined as "the process of using environmentally friendly inputs and transforming these inputs through change agents - whose by-products can improve or be recycled within the existing environment. This process develops outputs that can be reclaimed and re-used at the end of their life-cycle thus, creating a sustainable supply chain." The whole idea of a sustainable supply chain is to reduce costs while helping the environment. Delivering profitable and sustainable supply chains has become the new mandate.

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Continuum, the rolling seminar series, is an annual event at Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay. The Continuums are held across the various domains of management like Consulting, Finance, Human Resources, Marketing, Operations and Systems. This event aims to cover the latest trends in management by inviting eminent speakers from industry and academia. Each of these seminars focuses on issues and challenges faced by a management function, and aims at drawing insights from the knowledge and experience of the speakers.

This year, Operations continuum 2010 took place on 21st March 2010. The theme for the continuum was “Towards Creating Sustainable Green Supply chain”.

A Green Sustainable Supply Chain can be defined as "the process of using environmentally friendly inputs and transforming these inputs through change agents - whose by-products can improve or be recycled within the existing environment. This process develops outputs that can be reclaimed and re-used at the end of their life-cycle thus, creating a sustainable supply chain." The whole idea of a sustainable supply chain is to reduce costs while helping the environment. Operations Continuum 2010 witnessed a host of Industry experts sharing their insights on the theme.

The event started with the keynote address delivered by Mr. Sukumar Narasimhan, Senior Vice President - Supply Chain at Reliance Industries. He spoke about “What is not so obvious within the Supply chain ecosystem” and emphasized the importance commonsense going back to basics. He stated that if all processes are standardized, maintaining these processes takes precedence over completion of tasks. Also, flexibility to respond to unforeseen events is reduced. He suggested that rather than standardizing entire processes, firms should standardize and automate routine transactions.

The seminars were followed by a panel discussion among speakers from a wide range of industries. The members of the panel were, Mr Hans-Henrik Hansen, Cluster Manager, South Asia from Maersk Group, Dr. Prasad Kanitkar- Director Plant Operations  of Pfizer India Ltd, Mr. Jagadeesh K Math – Director at Rolta India Limited and Mr. Sukumar Narasimhan, Senior VP - Supply Chain at Reliance Industries. Moderating the panel discussion was Mr. G. Chandrashekar, Associate Editor, Business Line. The theme of the panel discussion was “Role of Technology in Creating Sustainable Green Supply Chain”. Points mooted were: the role of organic, biofuel in the supply chain to enhance “greenness”, the importance of conserving water through reuse after purification, the use of geographic Information Systems (GIS), to visualize an area and make it easier to understand and implement green practices there. The panel also emphasized the role of small actions, such as switching off those lights which are not required in company offices. The panel agreed that there are enough governmental policies in place to protect the environment; these just have to be well enforced.

Next was Mr. Sivakumar Periasamy, Vice President - Procurement, IBM India. He spoke on IBM‟s efforts towards sustainability, including the design of green, energy efficient, data centres. He also spoke of IBM‟s procurement policy, wherein the company only chooses suppliers that are known to comply with environmental norms.

Next, Mr. Chandrashekar shared his views on macroeconomic environment indicators and their relevance to the environment. He said that it will be necessary to choose between growth and environmental sustainability, since both are unlikely to occur for a developing country like India: a case of having one’s cake and eating it too.

Mr. Hans-Henrik Hansen, Cluster Manager, South Asia - Maersk Group, spoke about sustainability in shipping by combining CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) to benefit both the business and society. He explained on how these activities are carried out in Maersk group. 

Next was Mr. S. Seshasayee, Senior General Manger - Supply Chain, Mahindra & Mahindra. He spoke about the triple bottom line principle of “people, planet and profit” wherein a firm should perform financial accounting as well as social and environmental accounting. He emphasized that the journey toward sustainability does not have a finish line. The target is always moving.

This was followed by a talk by Mr. Ashu Khanna, Head Supply Chain, Marico, who spoke about building a sustainable organization. He suggested involving employees on both a personal as well as professional level in such an initiative. He also suggested involving business associates including suppliers and distributors.





This was followed by Mr. Jayant Ambast, Head Supply Chain, Perfetti Van Melle. He spoke of the importance of austerity, efficiency in the usage of scarce resources and technical efficiency, in creating a green supply chain. He suggested that suppliers should be located close to the manufacturer, to ensure low transportation.





The last speaker was Mr. Rajiv Mehta, Head SCM, Ultra Tech Cement. He spoke of how the cement industry has started to go green by introducing other industries wastes as components of cement, ex: tire chips and fly ash from thermal power plants. He also suggested switching to the sale of unpackaged, ready-mix cement in bulk to be transported to distribution centres by rail.

An underlying theme, in all the discussions, was that economic sustainability has now become imperative for all businesses. With growing preference of consumers for green products, “green” is a competitive advantage. Also, introducing environmentally friendly measures makes good business sense as these improve efficiency and decrease costs, thus improving profits.

The first leg of continuum was a huge success and was well attended by management students from different B-schools, students and faculty of IIT Bombay fraternity and had representation from companies like Morgan Stanley, TCS, L&T to name a few.