Arun Shankar Velayudhan Pillai

Operations Management
• Oversee end-to-end logistics including shipment receiving, preparation, labeling, pricing and dispatch to retail stores.
• Support retail operations for generating AED 16M annual revenue by maintaining efficient supply flow.
• Implement process improvements to reduce delays and operational errors in productions and procuring shipments
• Coordinate imports with suppliers in China, India and Germany, ensuring timely shipment and documentation.
• Manage local shipping agents for customs clearance and transport of goods to the warehouse.

Inventory Management
• Coordinating with buyers for shipments as per their OTB plans annually
• OTB Planning and sourcing for In-house production of DIY categories and its resources along-side maintaining stock levels
• Leading end-to-end procurement cycles from PR/PO creation, GRN, Invoice matching, closure of the order
• Monitoring shrinkage of the inventory every quarter and coordinating for clearance of ageing stocks
• Lead annual stock audits for multiple categories (Confectionery, Toys, Apparel etc., )
• Annual inventory reporting and write-offs to maintain healthy inventory
• Monitor real-time stock accuracy and reduce discrepancies through process controls.

Procurement & Buyer Coordination
• Coordinate with buyers across all categories to manage reordering, replenishment, and purchase planning.
• Communicate with suppliers for material availability, shipment schedules, and documentation.
• Lead training initiatives to improve productivity and workflow understanding of in-house production needs.
• New product development planning to capitalize from the park customers
• Material buying plan for in-house design printing on apparels, mugs, and tote bags.

Team Coordination & Operations Support
• Supervise a team of 5 warehouse staff, assigning tasks, and oversee performance.
• Providing leadership & coordination support across sales, strategic planning, system implementation and operations planning
• Coordinate production workflow, ensuring materials and finished products are available for dispatch.
• Sales invoicing and monthly closing of financial transactions of retail department in coordination with finance department with proper documentation.

• Forecasted and managed an AED 21 million annual payroll budget impacting 19 retail stores constituting the top tier international brand’s franchisee of Marvel and Cartoon Network groups
• Teaming with Buyers, Merchants and Supply Chain Management for seasonal & regular buying strategies
• Assisting team in setting goals for revenue, gross margin, inventory that meets the FY budget.
• Demand planning for monthly and seasonal products with respect to sales forecast and maintain inventory levels as per the budget
• Closely monitoring the royalty payouts of each franchises for every categories of products
• Assistance in proposing and executing operational policies for the retail department in coordination with IT, HR and Finance departments
• Documentation of MS-AX operational modules with respect to the modifications
• Preparing weekly and monthly sales report by point of sale across retail
• Inventory analysis by product category, brands, sub-brand and assisting the buying team with merchandise planning in line with the budget
• Monthly promotion analysis along with other sales planning and forecast for monthly management meeting
• Preparing weekly and monthly report summary for meetings to understand the targets achieved and planning for future actions to be taken
• Liaising and partnering with marketing and event teams for new trade plans and possible point of sales for retail
• Assisting buying team’s for effective partnership and negotiation with suppliers for optimized payment solutions to release and clearing previous debts
• Ensuring brand policies and pricing are adhered as per the contracts with our franchisee including maintaining confidentiality of the documents entrusted

• Strategic management of the receiving, warehousing, distribution and maintenance of warehouse operations in-line with company procedures and policies at the warehousing facility based in Al Quoz Industrial area
• Planning the delivery schedules across UAE with optimum usage of the vehicle and fuel expenses
• Managing the team of 23 staffs and allotting the required duties based on their expertise and experience.
• Replenishment of showroom stocks on time as required and assigning teams depending on the priority of the works involved.
• Keeping track of the KPI’s of the staffs along with continuous support and empowerment
• Timely maintenance of the vehicles and equipments involved in warehouse operations
• Process improvement initiatives depending on the requirement
• Monitoring stock transactions and having control over the entire movements with EPICOR software
• Control over attendance and timesheet management of the staffs
• Monitoring the claims received for the customer depending on the repairs requested for our customers.
• Adhering to Health and Safety standards, working procedures with respect to company policies
• Weekly meeting with staff to ensure proper working environment within the team and briefing as required depending on the requirement of operations
• Planning and assigning annual vacations of the staffs depending on the priority of the operations as required
• Training staffs with new techniques and methods for internal operations with respect to stacking of the stocks
• Documentation of the records regarding the transfer and movements of goods

Managed overall operations of warehouse of nearly 5000 SQM with racking capacity of 7200 CBM stored with stock worth SAR 9.5 Million and handling receiving, inventory & distribution process in parallel with the budget plan allowed for the year with a team of 28 staffs in line with other team members.

WAREHOUSING DUTIES

• Planning, coordinating and monitoring the storage and dispatch of goods
• Ensuring safety and efficiency of storage and retrieval of goods
• Maintaining stock accuracy and ensuring the same with the ERP software (Orion) provided
• Last piece checking for ensuring product usage and countermeasure customer satisfaction
• Stock auditing on a random basis every month for maintaining inventory levels
• Maximum utilization of the warehouse space available
• Developed and implemented bar-coding process for fast storage and retrieval of goods
• Timely maintenance of material handling equipments for full and maximum productivity, and fire and safety equipments
• Training for the internal staffs on the handling procedures of the storage, personal safety, etiquettes between staff groups, MHE, HSE, and company’s SOP
• Documentation of the receipt and dispatch goods
• Managing order picking, goods in and out operations to ensure accuracy with minimum handling and stock damage by transfers
• Monitoring and reviewing operational methods to facilitate qualitative and quantitative improvements within the operations for best customer service.
• Ensuring internal delivery process adheres to support dispatch time
• Taking corrective actions to eliminate repeat issues
• Ensure that security, access control of staffs and housekeeping is maintained
• Identifying errors and eliminating root causes hindering the operation by counter measure as required
• Motivating staffs by conducting personal and team meeting to understand operational and personal issues to increase productivity for achieving company’s target objective
• Reporting daily, weekly and monthly operations and its performance
• Documentation of shipment receipts, dispatch, inventory reports, warehouse petty cash expenses, import/export, pending shipments from suppliers & internal transfer, daily attendance, stock audit

DISTRIBUTION DUTIES

• Routing, planning, allocation of teams for daily deliveries of customers depending on the product, location, assembly time, team performance
• Training and reviewing of daily etiquettes of delivery team for better customer service satisfaction
• Distribution team training for assembling, delivery methods, material handling safety and performance review based on KPI’s
• Countermeasure for issues among team, operations deliverables at delivery site and eliminate repeating instances
• Liaising and negotiating with local and international fleet suppliers for outbound shipments
• Planning and arranging the export documentation for the transfer of stocks to UAE from KSA

Controlled the logistics operations with a staff of 18 and a warehouse facility having 8000 CBM capacity managing inbound and outbound operations in and around Saudi Arabia using various IT systems including Warehouse Management System and handheld devices for in-house operations

• Managing the logistics operations based on the training received
• Allocation of teams for each departments depending on work pressure
• Monitoring the inbound and outbound process
• Managing the inventory through WMS and ensuring stock level for next day deliveries
• Quality checking of the shipments received
• Timely maintenance of the warehouse equipments
• Biweekly meeting with supervisors for staff improvement
• Ensuring health and safety standards
• Managing staff records and assisting with HR department as required for staffs
• Managing the process flow in CRM, WMS and LN software’s
• Customer service as well as resolving customer issues

• Collecting customer & goods details, time of collection and delivery of goods.
• Cash collection from the company's placing order.
• Managing the payroll and helping with customer queries and needs.

• Briefing of financial data provided by CEO & COO of different MNC's
• Verifying the quality of the information provided

INTERESTED ACADEMIC AREA
• How sustainable strategy paves way for more stakeholder and shareholder
• Innovation and management leading to a Greener Environment
• Management Information System