Manhattan Associates expands client base in India

BANGALORE, INDIA: The US based global supply chain optimisation provider, Manhattan Associates, is looking towards increasing its footprint in India shortly. A world wide market leader in Supply Chain Management (SCM), the company plans to expand its client base here in India specifically targeting organized retail sector, besides planning a substantial increase in headcount.

Announcing this here recently, the company’s CEO, Peter F Sinisgalli said, “For any retailer, the biggest challenge is to keep the demand and supply in balance and achieve highest service levels possible with lowest cost.  In this big flat connected world, it is not enough to just optimize internal operations but to optimize the entire supply chain under which it operates.”

“Manhattan Associates with its offering on Supply Chain Optimization from planning through execution is all geared up to capture this market. In the next 3-5 years, the company aims to have 30-40 clients, covering a market share of US$40 million, besides increasing its head count in the R&D centre in Bangalore to 1000 from the present 850 with most of its product offering being conceptualized, designed and developed from this centre,” he apprised.

Typically, SCM focuses on improving the efficiencies of the supply chain from planning through execution by focusing on accurate demand forecasting, optimizing inventory, reducing warehouse costs, as well as efficient handling of both inbound and outbound stocks to save on transport costs.

India being the fourth largest economy and home to one quarter of the youth in the world with the second largest pool of technically qualified knowledge workers and a potential retail business worth US$325 billion, the business opportunities for a supply chain solutions provider are immense ticking 12 percent CAGR growth during the period 2002-06. While the market potential for retail in India is immense, there are many challenges in becoming successful in this space. Huge capital requirements, rising real estate costs, poor visibility into supply chain and lack of infrastructure facilities are few challenges to overcome.

“Presently, logistics cost in India is close to 20 percent of GDP as against 10 percent in the US. An effective SCM can bring this down to 10 percent,” says Pervinder Johar, CTO and vice president, Manhattan Associates. “This is where Manhattan Associates will help the retailers to be more efficient with its supply chain optimization solutions. Manhattan Associates through it management solutions, can effect 15-25 percent lower labour costs, 10-15 percentreduction in inventory holding costs, 10-20 percent cut in transport costs besides bringing in a host of improved operating efficiencies. Besides cost savings, smooth management of supply chain provides enhanced customer satisfaction by ensuring lower incidence of out of stock scenarios,” he added.

Manhattan Associates with singular focus of providing SCM solutions worldwide for last seventeen years, with deep domain knowledge in this space and a strong employee strength backing them up from Bangalore R&D centre is all set to make waves in the Indian SCM Market.