They say the supply chain is as strong as its weakest point. I always wondered what this meant until I reached the final year of my undergraduate studies wherein I studied a course related to optimization in the supply chain. The professor who taught us this subject was an industry professional before he joined academia. He explained us how the supply chain functions on different levels and how the entire flow or the speed of the supply chain depends completely on the weakest possible link. Some examples showed that a minor calculation error in the holding time for any project be it in the field of construction or manufacturing yields to catastrophic results. This actually proves the theory correct and increases my desire to study this in-depth. Owing to this desire of mine, I believe pursuing a Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering would help me understand these concepts in an efficient manner.
A comprehensive program of Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from ____________ College, __________ University, where I achieved an aggregate score of 69% GPA laid a strong fundamental base for my career. Acquiring an extensive industrial exposure through internships was useful in confirming my inclination towards Industrial Engineering. During the third year of my curriculum, I had an opportunity to do an internship at Mather and Platt pumps. In my stint there, I was involved in ‘Layout Optimization’ used for the flow of material from assembly till dispatch. I made use of ‘Queuing theory’ to determine the waiting time required for the tested pumps to be dispatched and applied knowledge of CPM-PERT techniques gained in undergraduate courses like Industrial Management and Operation Research to redesign the activity flow. An industry-sponsored project in the final year under the guidance of Mr. _____________, was even more decisive, where I worked on ‘Design and manufacturing of special purpose machine (SPM) for re-boring of printing machine walls’. The project was focused on solving real-life industry problem of production loss during maintenance.
The SPM helped in increasing productivity by reducing the machine downtime due to maintenance activity. I further extended the scope of this project by conducting a market analysis and selecting suppliers. Strong knowledge of Mathematics and Machine Design helped me carrying out a major role in design calculations, thus helping me in fulfilling the task efficiently. Along with these, my knowledge of manufacturing processes helped me in optimizing cycle time.
This project provided me an insight into industrial engineering and thus, I developed a keen interest in the field and started looking forward to working in the same field. I entered the industrial domain by joining Tata Technologies Limited, through campus recruitment drive, with an aim to work in the field of Industrial Engineering. I executed competitive teardown-benchmarking and Costing-Sourcing activities. During one of the Value Analysis and Value Engineering (VAVE) sessions, I proposed an idea to replace the current practice of top aperture door panel making with a new method of the vertical sash and bend sash welded sheets. The implementation of this new method led to 15% saving in costs, as it made use of sheets of different thickness for door making and reduced the additional reinforcement. The experience gained during my antecedent internships proved to be useful in my future role in Supply Chain Management (SCM) wherein I provided ‘Global Sourcing’ and established a reliable local supplier network for a multinational manufacturer such as PSA Peugeot Citroën.
My contribution to Global Sourcing involved, making parts available at a lower cost in France from Indian suppliers by coordinating with the client and potential supplier companies to build a reliable supply chain for the client. I was involved in all phases of the supply chain start from component development to logistics. This was the time wherein the importance of teamwork got imbibed into me and my interpersonal skills were enhanced. My team also bagged the ‘Best project of Quarter’ award for our outstanding performance. Impressed with my contributions to the first project, management decided to involve me in conceptual costing of Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery (THCM) Backhoe Loader. I applied my knowledge of VAVE on the concept models, which in turn helped the project management team in maintaining the target cost. This is important as it avoids the unnecessary hustle of reaching cost and weight targets in the product prototyping stage.
Further, my analytics skill helped me conduct comparative serviceability study in successive projects on client vehicle and devise valuable inputs for ongoing full vehicle development program. I have always been a consistent performer and have always handled my responsibilities with dedication. In order to gain knowledge and enhance my understanding of current industry practices, I have attended international conferences on Lean Manufacturing and also completed Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification. Along with this, I have participated in various workshops like Non-Destructive Testing, Internal combustion engines, to get hands-on training experience. As a departmental coordinator of the National Social Scheme (NSS), I also volunteered in the support campaigns for survivors of natural disasters like Malin landslide. The motto of NSS ’Not Me But You‘ inculcated in me a deep sense of empathy towards the problems faced by the community and thus I continued my social work through the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Tata Technologies Ltd. Coming from a technical background and inspired by the concept of management, I wish to climb the ranks of a management consultancy wherein I would be able to develop solutions for a diverse range of Industrial Engineering applications.
This will further help my clienteles to increase their productivity and profitability by implementing optimization techniques on the acquired data. Having gained a strong foothold in technical aspects of design and manufacturing through my undergraduate program, I now plan to gain in-depth knowledge of topics such as Supply Chain Design, Fundamentals of Supply Chain and Logistics, and Modeling Systems under Risk. An opportunity to work under the aegis of Dr. Scott J. Mason, whose work in Modeling and analysis of large-scale supply chain and manufacturing systems is of special interest to me, makes this university my first option for higher studies.
I’m also interested in the work of Dr. Kevin Taaffe in the field of Simulation in the Supply Chain as this would help me understand the concepts better. I have also read about the Clemson Institute of Supply Chain Optimization and Logistics (CISCOL) & Center for Excellence in Logistics and Distribution (CELDi) labs at University of Clemson. I’m fascinated by the applied research on improving the management and control of supply chains and next-generation systems used for solving new and unique supply chain issues. Hence I would like to be a part of these labs and learn about focused research with principal expertise in the area of Supply Chain Optimization, Logistic & Distribution. This makes Clemson University a perfect choice for me and I am optimistic to work with expert faculty and be a part of their avant-garde research.
