Sakha Global empowers India’s first reverse logistics application.
About the Client
A value chain organization focused on niche areas of supply chain, adding value to services. It is started by professionals with more than 100+ man years of experience. Headquartered in Bangalore, the client has its offices in Chennai, Hyderabad, Hubli & Mysore, and is expanding to Delhi, Mumbai & Pune.
Business Need
Reverse Logistics can have a significant impact on e-commerce/services/manufacturing companies’ bottom line with immense potential to recover value and provide superior support, experience and service to their customers. Historically, Reverse Logistics represents one of the complex areas in supply chain & logistics with many supply chain actors, acting internally and externally, with their own objectives. The client required an alternative solution to the paper-based process of handling product returns, which was causing problems for their customers’ warehouse staff, finance department, retailers and consumers.
Challenges and Requirements
- A headache for many manufacturers & suppliers is providing a simple way for everyone in the supply chain to handle product returns.
- It’s a particular problem for consumer electronics suppliers, whose goods are often complex and expensive which means each return has many decisions and many players (freight, retail, repair, recycler, manufacturing departments, etc.) all making decisions and all unable to easily see what the others have done.
- This causes an expensive confusion of returned goods arriving at warehouses without the proper checks by retailers and without complete paperwork.
- Most businesses can efficiently manage forward logistics, but when they attempt to throw the supply chain into reverse, the wheels often start to wobble.
Our Role
Reverse Logistics application is a unique, end-to-end tech-enabled logistics solution for the most painful area of operations which has been a nightmare for all supply chain professionals. Reverse Logistics is one area where there has been huge revenue leakage across verticals and across the spectrum of business houses because of inefficient reverse logistics. This application is a first time in the history of India, covering most of the verticals and multiple business models; be it manufacturing or distribution or retailer or service center. This application is curated to solve multiple logistics issues at the door step of the consumer as well as provide L1 service for all verticals at door step. This is a major milestone in the history of reverse logistics industry in the country by providing a well-thought, complete solution for most problems in the reverse logistics area. The application prompts retail returns clerk for all of the pertinent information and won’t allow them to proceed until all fields are filled in correctly. There is even a drop-down menu with a series of questions designed to trouble shoot common problems that are a result of improper installation or operation. This helps reduce ‘no fault founds’. With the application, even a temporary staff member can handle a complex returns operation with minimal training and look like a professional while they do it. Customers are happy as the decision making process is immediate. Staff are happy because the application minimises the time they have to spend on returns activities, which means more time being able to sell. The retailer is happy as it means that any credit due is processed and applied to their account much faster. The client’s customers are happy because they are lowering their costs and increasing their efficiencies. The application is web & mobile-based and changes can be done on the fly – such as adding a new product or modifying a particular procedure – and roll them out immediately to various branches. Before the application, making changes was a long, drawn out process. Now, it is almost instantaneous. We’ve set up the application so that the client’s customers can quickly integrate their returns policies and procedures into the system and populate the database with all of their product details. The Reverse Logistics application can also integrate with customers’ finance or ERP packages.
Technologies
Alfresco Activiti, Angular JS, MySQL, Android Studio, Android SDK & Volley for client side REST API consumption.
Benefits
Sakha Global provided several benefits to the client including:
- The technology built enables the client’s customers to simplify process and deliver value. The solution is a more effective and cost-efficient method for handling returned goods.
- Reduced costs through efficiencies in freight, repair, and the correct & visible application of processes.
- Better service for retailers and consumers.
- Products sent to correct local repairer rather than turn up at the warehouse of the client’s customers.
- Enables consistent process by all retailers and other agents handling returns.