Title: Dells’ channel transformation: Leveraging Operations Research to unleash potential across the value chain
Speaker: Mr. Murugan Pugalenthi, General Manager, Johnson and Johnson Consumer Ltd.
Date: Thursday, 12/2/15
Time: 4:00pm
Venue: ME217, 1st floor, Mech Engg Bldg
Abstract: This talk is about the finalist entry on Franz Edelman Award 2013. Dell has been leveraging its Center of Excellence for operations research & advanced analytics to drive critical initiatives across the value chain to deliver profitable growth in the new channels. It covered three key aspects:
- The Configuration Optimization solution successfully identified the optimal set of Fixed Hardware Configurations for each product category. It involved demand cluster analysis to identify naturally occurring demand patterns in billions of historical transactions. Further optimization involved multiple considerations such as modeling the cost of upgrading customers to higher configurations, technology trends and competition landscape.
- Website Layout Optimization aims to improve the online purchase experience and maximize the conversion rate of potential fixed configuration visitors into end customers. A number of techniques such as driver analysis & competitive benchmarking were used to identify key factors that influence visitors’ purchase behavior.
- Retail Margin Maximizer utilizes better demand sensing processes and promotion uplift model to proactively manage inventory risk and recommend promotions for margin improvement. The solution comprises of a combination of inventory optimization and promotion uplift models.
About the speaker: Murugan Pugalenthi has 10 years in FMCG/ Manufacturing/High-Tech sectors, currently operating as General Manager for the New products development at Johnson and Johnson consumer Ltd.
Responsible for introduction of new products and its performance for India market for baby, beauty, OTC and women care portfolio. He was working as Analytics leader – Operations with Dell and was a Senior Manager - Supply Chain at Cadbury Kraft. Experienced in Planning, Sourcing, Sales Operations, Manufacturing, Product Management, Business Intelligence, and Project Management. Received Edelman Laureate award – global apex award in analytics from INFORMS during 2013 for the nomination “Dell’s channel transformation” . He has received India Innovation award in Dell in 2013 and received best SC manager award twice in Cadbury. Gold medalist both in UG and PG.