Mandeep J. Sachdeva, Chief Supply Chain Management Officer, Indus Towers
Mandeep J. Sachdeva has spent a major part of his three decades of work life in the automotive industry, holding leadership roles at Escorts, Maruti and Mahindra. In December 2011, he decided to take the plunge and move to a new sector, telecom, joining Indus Towers with the responsibility of transforming the company’s supply chain management (SCM) function. As chief SCM officer, he spearheads several strategic initiatives, adding value to essential areas such as supply chain operations, people development, business partner relationship management, warehousing and logistics, and product development.
As per Sachdeva, “With the changing times, the business models of the telecom tower industry have also undergone major changes. Increasing competition and the need to be compatible with ever-advancing technologies have pushed the telecom tower industry to pursue innovative and leaner business models in order to maintain positive margins. This has resulted in the adoption of best practices for the SCM process to bring a higher value proposition to the complete supply and delivery chain of constructing and maintaining telecom towers.”
Sachdeva’s ideas and initiatives at Indus have delivered industry-leading results for the company’s SCM function. An example of this is the boost in Indus Towers’ partner satisfaction score from 3.45 to the industry benchmark of 4.33.
Sachdeva believes in strong process orientation with a result-oriented approach and achieving it through team work. “I believe that excellence in an organisation can be achieved only if you create an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence, encourage engagement while being a part of the team, appropriately delegate work and responsibilities, and recognise achievements at all levels,” he says. Sachdeva is a graduate in production engineering from BITS, Ranchi. He has also attended training programmes at IIM Bangalore, IMD Switzerland and Harvard Business School.
In his spare time, he loves to read fiction and watch movies, and has built his own library. “I like to watch movies in the comfort of my home and have built a library of some 500 DVDs.”
Sachdeva’s family comprises his parents, his wife Kanan, who is a homemaker and a spiritual teacher, and their two daughters. “Our elder daughter is a law professional with a keen interest in human rights and public policy. The younger one has completed her postgraduation in environmental economics and is currently working on UNDP-sponsored projects,” he adds.
