31st October, Hyderabad: “Cradle to grave “which is also known as “lifecycle thinking” is an approach in operations that considers the impact of a product on environment not only in the disposal stage but throughout its product life-cycle i.e., starting from the extraction of raw materials, manufacturing the products, its usage of resources, emissions and waste management and finally the ultimate disposal.Whereas,cradle to cradle approach refers to a biomimetic approach to the design of products and systems. It models human industry on nature’s processes viewing materials as nutrients circulating in healthy, safe metabolisms. Understanding the need and importance for the companies to adopt the cradle to cradle approach the operations club of VJIM VOPTIMA has organized a Seminar on “Cradle to Grave V. Cradle to Cradle”
Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management (VJIM), Hyderabad hosted a seminar which started with the introduction of the three eminent speakers Dr. Jaganath Reddy, Mr. T Venkata Ramana Rao and Mr. Arun Mahato. The three speakers briefed students one after the other about the current business scenario of operations and how the approaches cradle to grave and cradle to cradle impact the sustainability of business.
The session started with Mr.Venkat Ramana Rao addressing the gathering after a brief introduction about him was given. Mr.Rao is presently working as “head-operation excellence” in ITW signode, he previously worked in companies like Ashok Leyland and has a black belt in “six sigma “from Motorola University. He started his address by advising students that students should be able to take their own decisions and also should be able to give reasoning for the decisions taken. He talked about the concepts of sustainable development and triple bottom line approach and gave that the need for sustainability arises because of the reasons like limited resources, growing population, increasing levels of consumption etc. He said that the future of globe in in production of most “eco-friendly”products.The speaker then made students familiar with what industries do in real time to reduce the wastage and said that the performance depends on two main factors of efficiency and effectiveness. He also introduced to students the concepts of “product Life-cycle thinking”, the application of cradle to grave approach and the eco-design concept which has three main dimensions of material, energy and waste. The speaker finally spoke about the cradle to cradle approach, reasons behind the emergence of the concept and said that the three main principles of approach are eliminating the concept of waste, use of renewable sources of energy and celebration of diversity. The speaker finally concluded his part by making aware the students about the cradle to cradle certification and provided examples of Eames chair and Method products which successfully implemented the approach.
The second speaker Dr. Jaganath Reddy is a consultant strategic sourcing, procurement and logistics at the Hetero group. He previously worked with Mylan Laboratories and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.Dr.Reddy is distinguished strategist in handling all supply chain functions. He advised students that they should plan their career and the career planning of any students begins with his admission for MBA.in his address he focused on how triple bottom line approach and sustainable PLC impact supply chain management. During his speech he said that the traditional Indian living is very much similar to the cradle to cradle approach where nothing goes waste after usage. The demand for products is affected if a company goes with cradle to cradle approach. He then highlighted the importance of CSR of the companies and the quality standards of ISO90001 and ISO1400001.He then gave students the meaning and importance of “social audit” and sustainable supply chain. He also mentioned and discussed the emerging concepts of operations like reverse logistics, social sustainable supply chain and gave the real life examples of the industry with this regard. He questioned students on innovation in PLC in automobile industry asked students to observe the changes that few automobile companies are making in Their PLC these days and said that it is nothing but the practical application of cradle to cradle approach.
The third speaker of the day was Mr.Arun Mahato, assistant manager supply chain management, Parker Hannifin Corporation, Alumnus of VJIM.The third speaker made students familiar with Supply chain and parties involved. He also explained in detail the logistics cycle and inventory management. Lastly he briefed students on E-comm supply chain model and highlighted that the supply chain model of Ecommerce companies is different from the regular manufacturing companies and said that the importance of supply chain is growing in Ecommerce industries.
Thus the seminar made students aware about the Approaches of cradle to grave and cradle to cradle and it also familiarized the students with other basic concepts of operations like SCM, Reverse Logistics, PLCM etc.