Shankar Rao

Operations and supply chain leader with 20 years of experience across manufacturing, industrial engineering, production planning and control, procurement, warehousing, order fulfilment and logistics. Track record of leading multi-shift operations and large frontline teams; establishing and scaling manufacturing and warehouse facilities; improving OEE, OTIF, productivity, inventory accuracy and customer service; and delivering measurable cost, quality and throughput improvements. Experienced in Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Six Sigma, ERP-enabled planning, 3PL transformation, NPI industrialisation, CAPA and cross-functional project leadership.

Lead – Warehouse,Factory Operations, Logistics & Supply Chain - K12 Techno Services Pvt. Ltd. - Bengaluru, India

(2023-06)

• Lead end-to-end kit manufacturing operations for Orchids and B2B businesses, delivering more than 800,000 kits across six subjects.
• Oversee factory maintenance, production readiness and logistics execution, ensuring reliable and on-time fulfilment for both business segments.
• Direct warehouse operations for the Orchids business, including academic and non-academic inventory planning, stock deployment and replenishment across pan-India branches.
• Own annual inventory planning for books and uniforms, warehouse stock governance, logistics planning and branch-level service performance.
• Lead weekly and monthly business reviews with senior leadership, tracking operational KPIs and driving corrective and preventive actions.
• Deliver cost and productivity initiatives spanning process improvement, material utilisation, labour productivity, freight and packaging.
• Lead 3PL evaluation, commercial negotiations and transition of B2B and Orchids operations to outsourced warehouse operations for cost and space optimisation.
• Manage factory administration across three Bengaluru warehouses.

Senior Manager – Order Fulfilment & Warehouse Operations - BYJU’S Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd. - Bengaluru, India

(2022-01 - 2023-06)

• Directed end-to-end order fulfilment, warehouse operations and outbound logistics for the Electronics business, with accountability for customer TAT and inventory accuracy.
• Established plant KRAs and operating reviews; monitored performance against service, productivity and cost KPIs and led recovery actions.
• Managed inbound-to-outbound warehouse processes, finished-goods availability, dispatch planning, workforce capability building and continuous improvement.
• Reduced packaging cost by 50% by developing a local Bengaluru supplier for Learn Station device pulp packaging, lowering dependence on imports from China.
• Cut customer order fulfilment TAT from 72 hours to 24 hours through a 40% improvement in manpower productivity, better inventory availability and process redesign.
• Established a new warehouse, including layout design, inventory migration, utilities, resource planning and phased operational ramp-up; increased dispatch capacity from 1,000 to 3,000 orders per day.
• Led warehouse scrap-disposal activity covering e-waste and non-e-waste, including vendor sourcing, quotation evaluation and commercial negotiation.

Senior Manager – Operations - Funfinity Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Magic Crate) - Bengaluru, India

(2019-01 - 2021-12)

• Led integrated manufacturing, procurement and logistics operations, managing more than 250 associates across three shifts and overseeing CNC machining, assembly and finished-goods dispatch.
• Owned production planning, output, material availability and delivery performance; managed inventory across 3,500+ part numbers.
• Implemented Lean systems and flow controls, including FIFO, Kanban, bin-card discipline, Kaizen, one-piece flow, JIT and line balancing.
• Drove TPM pillar deployment, OEE governance, supplier audits and ratings, sourcing strategy, cost negotiations and supply-risk mitigation.
• Established incoming-to-finished-goods quality controls, customer complaint analytics, CAPA closure and external audit readiness.
• Led NPI industrialisation and production ramp-up, plant KPI reviews, workforce development and emergency preparedness.
• Expanded monthly assembly capacity from 15,000 to 35,000 kits by establishing a new warehouse and redesigning assembly, raw-material and finished-goods layouts using Lean principles.
• Improved labour productivity by 25% through time-and-motion studies and movement elimination, reducing conversion cost per crate from ₹25 to ₹15.
• Raised CNC line OEE from 61% to 78% through TPM deployment and cross-functional improvement projects.
• Established end-to-end quality control from incoming raw materials to finished goods, reducing customer complaints from 15% to 5%.
• Reduced soldering-part transit damage and related customer complaints by 35% through improved packaging methodology, generating savings of approximately ₹2.5 lakh per month.
• Played a key role in implementing an end-to-end ERP platform for Operations and Procurement.

PPC & Conversion Operations Manager - Saint-Gobain India Pvt. Ltd. (Grindwell Norton) - Bengaluru, India

(2017-02 - 2019-01)

• Led coated-abrasives conversion operations, production planning and control, and raw-material procurement, with accountability for customer delivery, inventory replenishment, quality and plant performance.
• Managed conversion and manufacturing plans across finished-cloth, jumbo-coating, assembly, CFL and maker production lines, leading more than 200 associates across three shifts.
• Maintained more than 95% OTIF for make-to-order business and more than 98% replenishment performance for make-to-stock items across Indian warehouses, as stated in the original resume.
• Drove cross-functional lead-time reduction, quality improvement, NPI ramp-up, capital investment projects, TPM deployment and daily/weekly/monthly operating reviews.
• Led QCC initiatives that reduced in-house rejection by 15%, delivering reported annual savings of ₹1.2 crore; supported quality audits and CAPA closure.
• Represented management in union wage negotiations and led emergency response preparedness, mock drills and training.
• Established end-to-end raw-material-to-finished-goods planning, preventing recurring inventory-related sales losses reported at approximately ₹1.5 crore per month.
• Commissioned a new coated-abrasives manufacturing line with advanced equipment, reducing material wastage by 30% and increasing productivity by 40%; the resume reports savings of ₹4 crore per month.
• Improved customer OTIF from 78% to 94% by implementing an ERP-enabled production-planning module.
• Reduced Velcro disc quality complaints by 60% through automated glue application, generating reported savings of ₹25–30 lakh per month.

Manufacturing Team Leader - Wipro GE Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. - Bengaluru, India

(2011-01 - 2017-02)

• Led ultrasound assembly and probe-component machining operations, supporting domestic and global markets and managing approximately 200 associates.
• Owned production planning, CNC machining output, resource deployment, shop-floor execution and SCOT delivery targets, with a target above 95%.
• Executed NPI line readiness and production ramp-up, including equipment selection, procurement, installation and process validation.
• Drove Lean action workouts, Kaizen, cycle-time reduction, process simplification, quality improvement and supplier development.
• Applied NDT techniques, PFMEA, MSA, SPC, FMEA and Six Sigma problem-solving to investigate defects, strengthen process capability and prevent recurrence.
• Partnered with global engineering, supply chain and cross-functional teams on manufacturing improvements, customer complaint reduction and cost optimisation.
• Reduced product replacement cost by 30% and improved on-time delivery from 75% to 98% through a machining outsourcing strategy and supply-chain simplification.
• Reduced internal rejection for Sanjose matching layers by 40% through automated mixing, delivering reported savings of US$6,000 per month.
• Reduced rejection by 40% and defects by 20% through FMEA, Six Sigma and mistake-proofing initiatives; reduced customer complaints by 20% through Poka-Yoke and QCC deployment.
• Reduced high-volume product cycle time by 30% through process simplification with Global Engineering; automated CNC finishing to eliminate surface grinding and reduce cycle time by 50%.
• Delivered quarterly savings of US$25,000 through CNC tool-management improvements and annual savings of US$40,000 through packaging optimisation.
• Improved tungsten-powder material productivity by 60% through mould redesign; delivered US$20,000 annual savings through a Six Sigma Green Belt consumables project.
• Converted a push production line to a Lean-certified pull system, implementing end-to-end Kanban, takt-time tracking, FIFO, Water Spider replenishment, WIP reduction and visual management.
• Improved CNC line OEE from 65% to 86%; contributed to EHS risk-reduction initiatives and received first prize from the global EHS team for eliminating a recordable-injury root cause.

Manufacturing Engineer - Bosch Ltd. - Bengaluru, India

(2008-07 - 2010-12)

• Implemented Bosch Production System practices based on Toyota Production System principles, including WIP/finished-goods supermarkets, Kanban replenishment and structured Kaizen.
• Eliminated internal packing boxes by introducing reusable finished-goods trays, saving approximately 20,000 man-hours and ₹15 lakh annually.

Production Engineer - Kirloskar Toyoda Textile Machinery Pvt. Ltd. - Bengaluru, India

(2006-10 - 2008-06)

• Improved die-casting first-pass yield from 80% to 92% through process-parameter optimisation with Engineering support.
• Increased machining output from 300 to 340 units per shift by automating manual deburring and drilling operations, improving productivity by 12%.

B.E. - Mechanical Engineering - GMIT Institute, Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) (2006 - 2006)