The Indian Institute of Technology Madras has signed an agreement with Redington, a global technology solution provider, to enhance supply chain expertise.
Redington has partnered with the Institute to establish the R. Srinivasan International Visiting Chair dedicated to advanced research in logistics and supply chain management with emphasis on sustainable practices. The institutions signed a memorandum of understanding recently. Institute Director V. Kamakoti and Chairman of Redington J. Ramachandran signed the agreement.
Srinivasan was the founder of Redington group. The research will be in critical areas such as supply chain optimisation, digital transformation and sustainable supply chain practices. Mr. Kamakoti said a deep analysis of how a supply chain worked was essential to ascertain if a product would be delivered at a specific time during a crisis.
Mr. Srinivasan said supply chains constituted around 7-10% of the total costs in India. Post-Covid and owing to geopolitical crises, the globalisation of supply chains was under threat. He cited the example of vaccines during the pandemic to explain the need for research.
Mr. Ramachandran, chairman of Redington Limited, said the company was committed to bridging the gap between technology innovation and adoption in emerging markets.