Neelesh Balakrishnan

• Process owner for rough cut long term Demand-Supply optimization and inventory planning for global Ethylene Amine business including 3 continuous production sites and 12 warehouses.
• Initiated and executed a defined supply optimization from forecasted customer demand and capacity structure, and communicated to various stakeholders within the organization.
• CI Lead for a L6S Green Belt project to improve On-Time deliveries to customer improving a key KPI in IBP - CRIT%. On completion of the project, there was a 13% improvement on CRIT vs prior project initiation, meeting 6 Sigma criteria.
• Trained and provided orientation for a very fresh team of Supply Planners in Europe and North America.
• Developed analytical solutions in excel and power BI to montior inventory levels and manage the supply network.
• Steered the allocation calls cross-region and also led the weekly DSR (Demand-Supply Review) in monitoring the weekly order progression on demand against the dedicated supply plan.

Heidelberg, Germany

• Supply Planner responsible for end-to-end forecasting and planning of finished products and also in procurement and inventory management of the packaging material that goes into the creation of displays and mix cases for the Austrian market - acting as a key bridge between sales and supply services.
• Handled 6 power brands in portfolio - Airwick, Durex, Dettol, Finish, Vanish and Veet
• Undertook complete ownership of the Austrian Embellishment portfolio, handling inventory of 65 active SKU's with a net revenue of 8.5 Million Euros annually.
• Responsible for maintaining outstanding service levels of over 95% to all customers with a lead time of 4 weeks between delivery of packaging to production till final delivery to customer.
• Developed an excel reporting tool to extract data from SAP and automated it to provide visual representation of key KPI's such as Demand Variation, Forecasting Accuracy, Capacity Utilization, Efficiency of the warehouse and Production Costs, and the co-relation between them on a Year-To-Date scale.
• Recognized by the Supply Management of DACH and Nordics with the 'Star of Supply' award for initiating a project that reduced the bullwhip effect of demand fluctuations by analyzing historical forecasts and ordering relevant packaging and base items in advance from factories.

Heidelberg, Germany

Master Thesis

• Researched on the potential for optimizing warehouse operations for FMCG companies using various objectives to study dependencies such as Trust and Motivating factors to felicitate Crowd Logistics.
  
• Proposed the implementation of findings to the management at Reckitt Benckiser and initiated a project to test the feasibility of Crowd Logistics in Unna, Germany close to the main Distribution Center.

Internship

• Assisted in data migration of the newly implemented SAP system at Reckitt Benckiser.
• Undertook responsibility of daily operations coordinated by the Demand Planning and Logistics teams.
• Built reports that automatically downloaded data from SAP and populated on excel, felicitating easier access to data.

• Implemented the SAP Production Planning and Material Management modules for major FMCG clients in India. The clientele included Future Consumer Enterprise Ltd, Unilever, Nilgiris Diary Farms Pvt Ltd and GSK. 
• Major part of the implementation process involved studying the clients operation processes and efficiency, re-modelling it into SAP data specific structure and initiating back-end master data for the end users. 
• Documented and maintained a very detailed  business blue print and risk mitigation plan, and consequently the As-Is and To-Be documentation for the entire duration of all the projects. 
• As part of one implementation project with Unilever, continued as an in-house support resource responsible for troubleshooting issues regarding SAP data migration. 
• Closely worked with the technical SAP ABAP team in building queries to generate customized reports and with CO and FI consultants.

Representing the port and logistics locations of Bremen/Bremerhaven having received an award from the Senator for Economics, Labor and Ports to represent Bremen globally showcasing its Logistical capabilities.

Official Link - Bremen Logistics Ambassadors

Presented solutions for Supply Chain related case studies organised by Association of Supply Chain Management And Deloitte Consulting LLC

Worked as a student journalist covering motor sports in Chennai, India. 

Sample published article