Balaji Bakthavathsalam
Associate Vice President & Capability Head in HCLTech - Supply Chain, Sourcing & Procurement CoE, 23 years experience in Supply Chain , Ex Ford / Honeywell / Bonfiglioli / CMCI USA / Fenner
- Role
- Associate Vice President & Capability Head at HCLTech
- Location
- Chennai, TN, IN
- LinkedIn followers
- 500 followers
About Balaji Bakthavathsalam
Possessing 23 years of prolific experience across Supply Chain Management/ Logistics & Warehouse Management/ Sourcing & Procurement / Material Planning & Control/Demand & Capacity Planning / Analytics / Industry 4.0 / MES / Automation & Digitalization / Program Planning & Logistics Costing / Order Management/ Product Life Cycle Management/ RPA/ Purchasing / Vendor Development/ Material Handling & Packaging/ Supplier Quality Management/Centre of Excellence/3 PL & 4 PL- Seasoned and a versatile Leader with creditable experience acquired over the years in diverse areas encompassing Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing, Material Planning, Automation & Digitalization, Logistics & Warehousing- Spearheaded several Supply Chain Digital transformation initiatives / Cost reduction projects and successfully established Center of Excellence Operations- Effectively driving competitive agility, business transformation, growth strategy, and customer engagement- Digitalization of supply chain processes to enable better visibility & improved decision making through the creation of a control tower set up- Lead big teams to ensure seamless production, optimization in freight & driving Continuous Improvements. Instrumental in setting up Centre of Excellence in Asia Pacific Regions for Global Operations- Skilled in Training/coaching/grooming young talents for establishing Global COEs supporting Remote Operations- Instrumental in setting up the Smart factory for Ford at Green Field manufacturing facility- Optimization of Logistics Network design resulted in improvement of cube utilization by 36% & reduction in freight cost by 23%(Six Sigma Project)- Successfully handled several risks in Supply Chain due to Force Majeure. Averted Line stop situations through efficient planning & alternate solutions (Out of the Box thinking)- Implemented Blue Yonder/JDA Transportation Management System (TMS) & Transportation Modeler (TMOD)- Engaging with Global Plants & providing Business consulting, problem solving & solution design, development & deployment- Building strategies & implementation of ideas for better inventory management, control & improving Customer OTD- Spearheaded a big team as an Senior Supply Chain & Quality Development Lead with CMCI,USA for Asia Pacific Region. Work location was China with frequent travel to Supplier bases in China & Korea- Constantly Inspiring the Team with various strategic initiatives, imparting continuous improvement mindset & be a change agent driving digital transformation
Experience
Associate Vice President & Capability Head
Jan 2026 — Present · Chennai, IN
Education
Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies
Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administrations, Operations Management
2004 — 2006
Indian Institute of Management, Indore
Executive Program in Digital Transformation
University of Madras
Bachelors in Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
1999 — 2003
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