The concept of ‘supply chain management’ is not very well understood, locally, thus resulting in heavy productivity losses said, former Unilever, Sri Lanka Limited Customer Services Director Gayani De Alwis, who is currently the Vice President of the Institute of Supply & Materials Management (ISMM).
Speaking at a recent forum organised on supply chain management, jointly by the Import Section of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the ISMM, De Silva also said that this situation is highly visible in the agriculture sector.

“Agriculture supply chains for instance are mostly impacted due to poor supply chain practices leading to productivity losses. For example, post-harvest losses contribute to almost 40 percent in agriculture supply chains, which is impacting food security,” said De Silva.   

She also said it is time that businesses and policymakers in Sri Lanka realize the true potential of supply chain management to achieve competitive advantage by learning from global players and start investing in supply chain professionals to contribute to business and economic growth.

The topic on ‘Managing Supply Chain Risks’ was covered by ISMM Vice President I.G. Perera during the seminar.

Speaking here, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Import Section Chairman Dinesh De Silva said the latest seminar was conducted with an aim to introduce modern supply chain methods practiced by industry champions.

He said Sri Lanka needs to embrace modern supply chain management in order to successfully handle the increasing variability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in the supply chain networks. 

The half a day seminar saw the participation of over 70 supply chain professionals in Sri Lanka and they were given certificates of participation.