Chennai: Information technology (IT) application in supply management is yet to take off in India in a big way, says S B Lovekar, vice-president (south), Indian Institute of Materials Management (IIMM), and general manager (commercial plant management), Motor Industries Company, Bangalore.

Addressing mediapersons in connection with the two-day national convention (Supply Management in the e-Era) of IIMM, to be held in Chennai on 30 November and 1 December 2001, he said the convention would focus on the benefits of managing supplies using IT. Proper IT-based supply chain management would result in a minimum of 10 per cent cost-reduction for companies.

Says IIMM chairman M Sundaram: Sourcing methods have changed today. For instance, I have to log on to my customers website and learn about his production schedule and plan my production and supplies accordingly.

With competition increasing, leaving no space for companies to jack up their prices, the only way to show better profits is to reduce costs. And big companies are increasingly getting focused in plugging the loopholes in their supply chain to boost their bottomlines.

Many big corporates are now installing appropriate software at their vendor places using their own money to attain efficiency in the supply chain. While the immediate benefit will be for big companies when they start practicising concepts like Just-in-Time, over a period of time their vendors too will reduce the inventories.

Further, the functions of a materials manager too have undergone a vast change. From just looking after purchases, a materials manager has to take care of other activities in the chain like planning, logistics and others.

Says Anil P Agarwal, convention chairman and senior divisional manager, dumper plant, Caterpillar India: Natcom 2001 will have five technical sessions that would discuss on topics like the impact of supply system in the current business scenario, international practices in e-supply system, e-procurement case studies, third-party service providers for e-procurement and emerging technologies in e-commerce.

Speakers from corporates like Wipro GE, Hyundai Motors India, Ford Motors India, Lucas TVS and Infosys are expected to participate in the convention.