Anshuman Shrivastava: Introducing Novel Innovations With A Quantitative Approach Towards Achieving Organizational Objective
Anshuman Shrivastava
CCO- Mines
Exclusively interacting with the CEO Insights team, Anshuman Shrivastava highlights some noteworthy moments of his illustrious professional career.
Give us a brief detail about your educational background and professional background and how has it helped you in your journey so far?
I have completed mechanical engineer & have completed my MBA in marketing as well as in export and import management. I started my career in 2004 with the company named PPL (Huhtamaki group) though campus recruitment and then moved to the Vedanta Group in 2006. After joining BALCO as a commercial employee, my first assignment in the Vedanta group was to establish a logistics department in one of the completely new set up plant of the company. Subsequently moving up to different profiles like establishing logistics, evaluating and selling assets, I was made the commercial controller of Bharat Aluminum Company Limited in 2010. At that time, I was looking after the procurement activities, inventory management, sourcing management which majorly included for businesses aluminum smelter and power plant.
Then after few years in the profile I was elevated as Regional Manager – Aluminium Business looking after sales & marketing along with business development. I was moved to eastern India and was based out of Kolkata. Therein I had a brief stint in sales and marketing wherein I was able to achieve what was assigned to me for delivering.
Post which I was moved to Hindustan zinc limited as a lead commercial officer for one of the mines. After a one-year stint as a lead commercial, I was made the head commercial of the largest mine of Hindustan Zinc Limited which is Rampur Agucha Mines & Kayad Mines. Along with that, I was also made the Global Category Manager of Fuel and Lubricants for the Vedanta group which included 18 sites across the country& outside, encompassing the finalization of key commodities like HSD, furnace oil, LSHS, Natural Gas and lubricants.
Subsequently I was elevated to the designation of Chief Commercial Officer Mines of Hindustan zinc limited wherein I involve myself with Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, Strategic Planning, Contracting, Inventory Management, Logistics Management, Warehouse Management and Commodity Management.
What different roles have you been undertaking at Hindustan Zinc? How does your vast experience help you out to chalk out business operations for the company?
Senior Management of Vedanta group have always supported me and have given me chance to work into multiple roles at multiple locations leading to overall business knowledge and hands on experience from bottom most level to senior management level. The different roles worked upon has provided me overall exposure.
I was given chance to sit on both sides of the table both as a procurement, supply chain individual negotiating & finalizing the commercials as well as a business development, marketing and sales employee carrying out sales of commodity. I also had a brief stint as a planner and NPA, by products & scrap seller which helped me understand the entire business perspective. Having diverse experience across all these roles at different capacities helps me to devise different innovative strategies for the company.
In the present scenario when Supply chain across is severely disrupted due to the COVID situation, Role of CCO becomes very crucial.
Presently country’s economy is limbering as a lot of industries have closed or are at verge of closure. It has led to stoppages of the fluent acquirement of raw materials. This has heavily impacted the procurement of raw materials, commodity which has ultimately led to the pricing increase and lack of continuity in supply.
On top of it, when in pandemic scenario, our peer industries across the globe are working remotely, in mining industry working remotely is difficult without digitization.
So, as a CCO right now, my priorities are to ensure all my deliverables are in place without affecting any day-to-day operations of the mines. We are moving towards a new era with digital or technological initiatives to improve the entire supply chain.
It is also priority to work upon the entire core function of our supply chain, including procurement, working on supply chain then working on new products and innovations. Focus has shifted to make organisation ‘fit & win’ in the new norm by working on cash flow levers, Innovation, Digitization,
What different roles have you been undertaking at Hindustan Zinc? How does your vast experience help you out to chalk out business operations for the company?
Senior Management of Vedanta group have always supported me and have given me chance to work into multiple roles at multiple locations leading to overall business knowledge and hands on experience from bottom most level to senior management level. The different roles worked upon has provided me overall exposure.
Pandemic has made mankind do things that was believed to be not possible to attain. Focus has shifted to make organisation ‘fit & win’ in the new norm by working on cash flow levers, Innovation, Digitization, Automation, customer obsession, build agility speed in decision making & be biased for the action
I was given chance to sit on both sides of the table both as a procurement, supply chain individual negotiating & finalizing the commercials as well as a business development, marketing and sales employee carrying out sales of commodity. I also had a brief stint as a planner and NPA, by products & scrap seller which helped me understand the entire business perspective. Having diverse experience across all these roles at different capacities helps me to devise different innovative strategies for the company.
In the present scenario when Supply chain across is severely disrupted due to the COVID situation, Role of CCO becomes very crucial.
Presently country’s economy is limbering as a lot of industries have closed or are at verge of closure. It has led to stoppages of the fluent acquirement of raw materials. This has heavily impacted the procurement of raw materials, commodity which has ultimately led to the pricing increase and lack of continuity in supply.
On top of it, when in pandemic scenario, our peer industries across the globe are working remotely, in mining industry working remotely is difficult without digitization.
So, as a CCO right now, my priorities are to ensure all my deliverables are in place without affecting any day-to-day operations of the mines. We are moving towards a new era with digital or technological initiatives to improve the entire supply chain.
It is also priority to work upon the entire core function of our supply chain, including procurement, working on supply chain then working on new products and innovations. Focus has shifted to make organisation ‘fit & win’ in the new norm by working on cash flow levers, Innovation, Digitization,
Automation, customer obsession, build agility speed in decision making & be biased for the action.
Integrity & Governance being paramount and keeping all the core values of Vedanta at first place i.e. Entrepreneurship, Innovation, excellence, care, trust & respect. We are also working to enrich our employees with new skill sets and motivations specially during the pandemic situation, which can enhance their efficiency, resilience, consistency without compromising on Integrity and Governance.
What are the key drivers that you deploy to ensure the company’s commercial operations meeting its short/long-term needs?
There are multiple strategies that needs to be adopted in such scenarios, which we are working upon. We have worked upon multiple steps to enable a defined and committed strategy to improve financial position, and resilience to make the organization fit as per the new norm.
Few of the steps being – working on cash out flow levers to make organization cost-effective with innovative ideas and through different approaches and strategies. We have also devised new model of contracting to plan out a long-term or a short-term strategy with our strategic partners. By working upon new concepts like VMI, consignments stock, MDO, shifting from OEM to OPM, CPH and more, we ensured that mining capacity should come from the increasing availability of equipment utilization and efficiency along with the enablement of digitization.
In your professional journey so far, which are the milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction - both as an individual and a CCO?
There have been many milestones achieved in my professional and personal journey so far which have given me a lot of satisfaction. One of them being entry into long-term strategic partnership with OMCs as it helped the organization get competitive cost advantage and acquire new technologies/products to increase productivity within stipulated time with the right quality. Major cost savings of around 15% -17% were accomplished through innovative methods of contracting, negotiation skills were achieved.
Around 10%-15% cost reductions in transactions-related activities through automation, SLAs and other activities were achieved. Finalizing strategic tie-ups with fuels, technology provider companies, chemical companies, raw material companies during the pandemic duration also helped the organization operate smoothly in cost effective manner. These are few major milestones that I have been recently able to achieve, and I am proud to be working with a company that has helped me grow both professional as well as personally.
Anshuman Shrivastava, CCO
With 16+ years of amazing experience spanning across Mining, Oil & Gas Industry, Zinc, Lead & silver Industry, Aluminium Industry, Power plant, FMCG & Flexible packaging industry. His responsibilities include and not limited to charting out commercial & marketing strategies, managing consistent revenue gains and profitability within defined timeframes. He also engages himself in formulating, managing & implementing strategic initiatives at the corporate levels while ensuring quality & service standards to achieve customer delight.
Integrity & Governance being paramount and keeping all the core values of Vedanta at first place i.e. Entrepreneurship, Innovation, excellence, care, trust & respect. We are also working to enrich our employees with new skill sets and motivations specially during the pandemic situation, which can enhance their efficiency, resilience, consistency without compromising on Integrity and Governance.
What are the key drivers that you deploy to ensure the company’s commercial operations meeting its short/long-term needs?
There are multiple strategies that needs to be adopted in such scenarios, which we are working upon. We have worked upon multiple steps to enable a defined and committed strategy to improve financial position, and resilience to make the organization fit as per the new norm.
Few of the steps being – working on cash out flow levers to make organization cost-effective with innovative ideas and through different approaches and strategies. We have also devised new model of contracting to plan out a long-term or a short-term strategy with our strategic partners. By working upon new concepts like VMI, consignments stock, MDO, shifting from OEM to OPM, CPH and more, we ensured that mining capacity should come from the increasing availability of equipment utilization and efficiency along with the enablement of digitization.
In your professional journey so far, which are the milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction - both as an individual and a CCO?
There have been many milestones achieved in my professional and personal journey so far which have given me a lot of satisfaction. One of them being entry into long-term strategic partnership with OMCs as it helped the organization get competitive cost advantage and acquire new technologies/products to increase productivity within stipulated time with the right quality. Major cost savings of around 15% -17% were accomplished through innovative methods of contracting, negotiation skills were achieved.
Around 10%-15% cost reductions in transactions-related activities through automation, SLAs and other activities were achieved. Finalizing strategic tie-ups with fuels, technology provider companies, chemical companies, raw material companies during the pandemic duration also helped the organization operate smoothly in cost effective manner. These are few major milestones that I have been recently able to achieve, and I am proud to be working with a company that has helped me grow both professional as well as personally.
Anshuman Shrivastava, CCO
With 16+ years of amazing experience spanning across Mining, Oil & Gas Industry, Zinc, Lead & silver Industry, Aluminium Industry, Power plant, FMCG & Flexible packaging industry. His responsibilities include and not limited to charting out commercial & marketing strategies, managing consistent revenue gains and profitability within defined timeframes. He also engages himself in formulating, managing & implementing strategic initiatives at the corporate levels while ensuring quality & service standards to achieve customer delight.