UUM ONLINE: More than 100 participants who connected through WebEx and Facebook attended the OYAGSB monthly alumni talk entitled, ‘Sinking Or Swimming In 2021’, The OYAGSB Monthly Alumni Talk for September 2021, featured fellow guest speaker, Prof. Dr. Premkumar Rajagopal.
Prof. Dr. Premkumar, the current President of Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST), began his career in 1994-1997 as a Manufacturing System Analyst at Seagate Technology. He later joined Intel Technology as Logistics Manager and worked his way up to Supply Chain Planning Manager.
A highly sought-after speaker in the field of Industry 4.0 and Supply Chain Management (SCM), Prof. Dr. Premkumar, has been frequently invited to speak on the trends of Industry 4.0 trends and SCM issues at international conferences in France, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Sudan, Riyadh, Thailand, India, Colombo, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, while most companies have charted remarkable growth, there have been instances where companies have sunk in their operations. However, for the first time in 2021, the global economy's expectations have tempered. Moreover, in several regions, economic sentiment has taken a negative turn since December 2020.
During his talk, Prof. Dr. Premkumar mentioned that the university should produce graduates that deliver the most excellent services to the nation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are up against challenges in their operations. To overcome these issues, most companies have adopted a digitalization strategy for their survival, such as virtual health advisory portals and booking online appointments with physicians to get online consultations.
In his talk, Prof. Dr. Premkumar also discussed the challenges confronting the supply chain during the pandemic. To date, supply chains lack global resilience and are breaking down in the face of multi-country disruption. The significant impacts of the supply chain and operations are not meeting stakeholders' expectations for sustainability.
He also highlighted the talent gaps across the supply chain and processes that continue to create high dependency on human resources. According to him, for the company's future growth, the supply chain must move from being a cost-reduction engine to taking centre stage in the battle to offer a superior customer experience and deliver a competitive advantage. At the end of his talk, he urged firms to develop the Supply Chain Fourth Industrial Revolution (SC4M) model of the supply chain to meet future challenges.
Among the other attendees who attended the event via WebEx were the Provost of UUMKL and Dean of OYAGSB, Prof. Dr. Hassan Abu Bakar; Prof. Ts Dr. Norazah Mohd Suki (Deputy Dean of Research, Innovation & Knowledge Transfer); Dr. Arfan Shahzad (Director of Alumni & Corporate Relations) and other UUMKL officials.