Profiles in OR/MS: Deep Parekh
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Manager, Consulting Services, Ernst & Young LLP B.S. Industrial Engineering, University of Wisconsin at Madison | M.S. Statistics & Operations Research, NYU/Stern School of Business
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Questions & Answers
Q. Tell me about your academic and professional background and how you arrived at your current job as Management Consultant for the Supply Chain Division of Ernst and Young LLP?
A. My interest has always been in the area of systems and process improvement, hence, the degree in Industrial Engineering. Going through the IE program at Wisconsin-Madison then focused my interest further in the analytics involved with Operations Research, and how one could mathematically model a cornucopia of systems and processes in such a versatile and flexible manner.
My first job out of undergrad was at Unilever Research, US, the R&D arm of Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant, where I focused on the product innovation front, a somewhat more engineering related job. Moving on from there, I transferred to another operating company of Unilever, Lever Brothers Company, moving down the supply chain, into the manufacturing front, in the area of Manufacturing & Distribution Capacity Planning. I felt the lack of analytical tools at my disposal, and really needed some tools to properly model the supply chain appropriately, which really spurred my interest in the MS program in O.R. at NYU.
At Lever Brothers, I had a chance to work very closely with Manugistics, a supply chain software company at the time, in a collaborative project for developing a supply chain optimization tool, Supply Chain Navigator™. I was at a point where I needed more lateral experience within the area of supply chain management. This lead me to E&Y, which was doing several supply chain optimization projects at the time, and was looking for subject matter expertise in this area. Implementing these systems at several clients, in the Retail/Consumer Products and High Tech areas enhanced my knowledge in these verticals.
Q. How long has Ernst and Young LLP been involved in providing consulting for the Supply Chain Industry?
A. E&Y has had been providing services for the supply chain market for the past several years, hard to put a number on it, since it was just called by different names over time.
Q. How large is the Supply Chain Practice division?
A. The practice is about 400–500 strong, and growing rapidly.
Q. Who are some of your customers?
A. We are unable to provide client names, but I can tell you that they include several of the Fortune 50 clients, as well as a range of 'high-growth', middle-market clients, in pretty much all industry verticals, and particularly in the Retail/CPG, High Tech, Automotive, and Healthcare areas.
Q. What are your main job responsibilities and what are some of the OR/MS problems that you have worked on while employed at Ernst and Young?
A. Being in consulting, one has to really be flexible with the responsibilities on any engagement, but they can be categorized under 2 main headers: Sales and Delivery. The OR/MS related responsibilities fall mainly under the latter. The relevant responsibilities in this function include overall project management and resource coordination, process design and development, IT infrastructure design & development, and overall solution design and execution.
Some of the OR/MS related problems that we have worked on while at the Firm include designing a scalable optimal supply chain solution for a large e-tailing client, determining the location of a new Distribution Center (DC) for a office supply retailer, developing a sourcing strategy for a global high-tech / electronics client, as well as determining optimal order and inventory quantities for a smaller high growth high-tech client.
Q. What tools and OR/MS techniques did you use to solve these problems?
A. The tools that we use are pretty much what is available in the market place in the supply chain arena, such as Manugistics, i2, Numetrix, APO, etc. In addition, we have also created some value-measurement methodologies of our own that we use very often to determine and demonstrate the value generated through the course of these supply chain projects.
Q. I recently read that you and your fellow co-workers proposed a new supply chain planning method called Constrained Resource Integrated Supply Planning (CRISP*). How does this method differ from traditional planning methods?
A. Sumantra Sengupta (a Senior Manager with the Firm) and I have written a paper on the CRISP concept, called "A Paradigm Shift in Planning for the Connected Enterprise", which was published in the Supply Chain Management Review publication in June '99 (available at the Ernst & Young Consulting site).
The CRISP concept differs from traditional planning methods in that it consists of simultaneous solving of constraints throughout the enterprise vs. the linear solution of functional constraints (i.e. first solving a distribution constraint, then a production constraint, then a warehousing constraint, and then a materials constraint).
* Any reference to 'CRISP' in the "A Paradigm Shift in Planning for the Connected Enterprise" is not to be confused with E3CRISP, a registered trademark of E3 Corporation, a global supplier of supply chain solutions.
Q. What were some of the challenges you faced when implementing this method at the customer site?
A. While implementing this concept at a global high-tech client, it was important to keep in mind that how one defines an 'enterprise' is important, since there are several international considerations to take into account, such as corporate metrics, sourcing laws and rules, measurement systems, and organizational structures, since these significantly impact the inter-function movements of goods, money, and information.
Q. In a talk you gave to the Student Consortium gathered at the Cincinnati INFORMS Conference last May 1999, you stated that there are two types of Management Consultants—Strategy Consultants and System Integrators. Can you elaborate on the differences between each type and the difference in skill sets required for success in each area?
A. The basic difference between these two groups can be summarized in that the Strategy consultants are involved in more of a 'Think' role, whereas the Systems Integrators are in more of a 'Build' role, with respect to solutions for a client.
Whereas Strategy consultants focus more on longer-term, more enterprise related projects, Systems Integrators tend to be more focused on tactical projects, involving a less-than-enterprise scope. This is a broad definition, and there will always be exceptions to this, but generally speaking, it's a pretty good rule of thumb to go by.
The skill set needed for a strategy consultant is a broadminded, multidisciplinary, philosophical approach to problem solving vs. a rigorous, task-oriented, IT-oriented (without discounting the business-process angle) approach of a systems integrator consultant. A term that one of the consulting firms used, 'package enabled reengineering' most appropriately describes what systems integrator consultants do.
E&Y, like the other Big 5 companies, has services which span both areas, Strategy as well as Systems Integration.
Q. What category of Consultant do you consider yourself?
A. Personally I consider myself more of a systems integrator, with a strategic bent (how's that for straddling!), but I'm hoping to change that, and start viewing the forest for the trees, so to speak.
Q. Do you travel often? How much of your work is done at the customer site vs. at your office?
A. Typically, people in the management consulting arena are away at a client site for 4-5 days of the week, traveling home on the weekends, unless you luck out and have a client site within a ½ hour from home (a fairly rare occurrence). The work that needs to be done at the client site can rarely be done from the 'office', since you require a great deal of interaction with client staff and systems.
Work in the office typically comprises of internal firm meetings, training courses, computer updates, and 'networking' types of activities generally.
There is a relatively new consulting model emerging in the market, however. This new model involves work being done at a 'development center' or 'center of excellence', where client & consultant teams join forces at an EY site, which is dedicated to solution development, and has the technical infrastructure to handle all kinds of projects. Large 'chunks' of the solution can be hammered out of these centers, and only part of the work is done at the client site. This serves to greatly accelerate a solution development and delivery, which accelerates, in turn, the benefit and value delivery for the client.
Q. Prior to your employment at Ernst and Young LLP, what are some of the past OR/MS projects that you found especially memorable and rewarding? What were the main tools and OR/MS techniques that were used on these projects?
A. When I was at Unilever (Lever Brothers Company), some of the projects that were a challenge, and hence exciting to work on, included key strategic and tactical decision analyses, such as whether to shut down a plant or not, and where to build inventory, when, and in what state (a freeze-point-delay / postponement analysis), as well as the traditional make vs. buy decisions regarding production capacity. Such problems required your standard LP/IP/MIP type of solution, without much more sophistication.
These solutions are rewarding mainly because of the 'ease-to-robustness' quotient of the analyses. The results were obtained in an elegant fashion, without getting lost in theory, and yet obtaining valid results that were subsequently implemented. Just a bit more on this topic: we see all-to-often, that people can get lost within the theory of OR/MS or the actual numbers, and lose sight of the problem. Whereas I don't condone shooting solutions from the hip, I do believe (after having been accused of it myself!) that we OR/MS folks are susceptible to what they call 'analysis paralysis'. Waiting for each verified number and technique can be a long process, which the client may not necessarily want to pay or wait for, and hence knowing when to make educated and researched assumptions is a key factor. Another point is to emphasize simplicity. Use as simple a technique when possible, because often times the improvement in the quality of the solution may not warrant the additional time, effort, and money that you may have to spend on it. Again, not to condone shoddy and incorrect analyses, all I want to emphasize is the parsimony of analysis, without compromising the quality of the solution.
People underestimate the power of an Access/Excel combination! We consistently used these tools to do our analyses. In addition, we also used a couple off-the-shelf O.R. packages that are advertised in several technical journals.
Q. What are the most valuable technical skills that you believe are needed to be successful as a Consultant within the OR/MS industry?
A. Technical skills that I have used most often include basic-intermediate knowledge of statistics, calculus, and OR/MS theory and principles (clients need to be taught basics of OR/MS sometimes). In addition, the most important technical skill is the ability to figure things out, deduce intelligently, and form conclusions that are justifiable.
In addition, whether you like it or not, finance and accounting are always going to be involved, so you better brush up or take those courses (and do well!). But seriously, it's all fine and well to do an OR/MS-centric analysis, but think about what impact is finally felt – it's a monetary impact at the end of the day, one which needs to be understood, quantified, and justified.
Further, you may not think of marketing or sales as a traditionally 'technical' skill, but you don't get your foot into the client's door without these skills. I'm not saying you need to be a marketing major, but you certainly should learn about positioning, important trends, and sales skills.
Q. What are some of the most valuable non-technical skills that you believe are needed to be successful as a Consultant within the OR/MS industry?
A. Project management is a big one, as well as knowing where to find what piece of information – you don't have to be a source, you can be a 'router'. In addition, you need to know how to leverage people, systems, research, and solutions, as opposed to re-creating the wheel each time. Thinking in a 'template' form is key for this. Always think about generalizing, extrapolating, and 'palletizing' your solutions, so that other people can use them in an effective manner. Managing people (client, EY, third party) is another skill you need to pick up along the way. Working with new people, in new environments, etc. – basically adjusting rapidly is a very essential ingredient as well.
Q. In what ways do you continue to expand your knowledge of new technologies and techniques in OR/MS?
A. Being part of CLM (Council of Logistics Management) and IIE (Institute of Industrial Engineers), and especially INFORMS enables me to do this. In addition, reading journals, related magazines, and related books keeps me in the loop regarding the practical applications of OR/MS knowledge. Further, working closely with companies who roll out these technologies, as well as keeping in touch with professors in the area, and attending lectures in the area helps as well.
Q. What do you find most rewarding about your career as a Management Consultant for Ernst and Young LLP?
A. The experience is really unparalleled, no matter what industry you're in. The base of knowledge that you can gain via consulting is extremely wide, and gives you the opportunity to go as deep as you want to go in any vertical. In addition, you get to know giants in the industry, meet and exchange ideas with them, in different client situations, and, thus, the potential for learning is enormous. The networking and the Rolodex that you build up aren't bad either!
Q. What advice do you have for those just starting out in a career in OR/MS?
A. Keep up with academia, and find ways to leverage your academic side with what you're doing. Write more papers, and spread the knowledge to all. Innovate new ways to solve a problem faster, more elegantly, and with a wider application. Learn, learn, learn – you can never learn too much! At the same time, apply, apply, apply! Take a holistic view of the world – read about different disciplines, it's amazing what we can learn from the world of biology. Think global – no single country matters any more, it's all about the world. We have a saying at E&Y— "Think Global, Build Regional, Act Local"—this really has a lot of insight in it.
Q. What do you predict the future has in store for the field of OR/MS and for OR/MS practitioners?
A. I think we have a brighter future than we've ever had before. As more and more e-fulfillment companies start up, the price wars will begin, as they already have in some cases. The price wars are going to force the companies' supply chains to compete, which is where we come in. In order to make these supply chains more competitive, these companies are going to need the skills and expertise of the OR/MS community.