Seasoned Leadership in Action™ – An Interview with Raymon Krishnan!

Raymon Krishnan

At Supply Chain Game Changer we believe in sharing leadership experiences and expertise from people in every industry and from across the globe.  As such we have introduced our “Seasoned Leadership in Action™” Interview series at Supply Chain Game Changer. This interview is with Raymon Krishnan, President of The Logistics and Supply Chain Management Society.

Thank you Raymon for your support of Supply Chain Game Changer, and taking the time to share your experiences and expertise with us.

I had the opportunity to be a Judge along with Raymon for the recent Supply Chain Brief annual awards. Here is our interview with a great leader, Raymon Krishnan!

Tell our readers a little about your background and experience? 

Raymon Krishnan
Raymon Krishnan

I’ve worked in Supply Chain for close to 30 years. I started my career working in 3PL’s – one of which was the largest freight forwarder in the world in the 1990’s.

I then went on to work as a ‘shipper’, for a swiss confectionary manufacturer and then a global IT distributor. I then spent 10 years building up my own Logistics consulting business growing it to where we had close to 70 employees. After selling the business in 2009, I went on to work for a leading US Chemical company and then a global 3PL.

In the former I was responsible for Logistics & Trade Compliance across 30+ manufacturing sites in the Asia Pacific region and then with APL L I was the Global Commercial Director of the organization – which was a US$2 billion 3PL with offices across the world.

In the last few years I have been working in the policy advocacy space globally. Throughout much of my career I have been involved with the Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society and currently serve as President.

Our magazine, LogiSYM is the largest circulating supply chain magazine globally with more than 70,000 subscribers and we run symposiums in Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai.

What are some of your greatest achievements in Business? 

  • Starting and successfully selling a supply chain business
  • Managing a multi-billion supply chain commercial organization that eventually saw the business being sold successfully.
  • Running a cost effective and safe supply chain distribution network across multiple geographies in the Asia Pacific region manufacturing and shipping chemicals where we averaged one delivery every 50 seconds.

How has the Business and Supply Chain changed over the course of your career? 

Connectivity and visibility has certainly increased by leaps and bounds over the last three decades.

This has increased so much that today, many of us have information overload where it is not about having data but rather having data that is relevant or useful and being able to use this data to optimize or improve overall supply chain performance.

What are some of the lessons you learned in your career that you would like to share for others to learn from? 

Business nowadays tends to forget that it is still a business that focusses on relationships and having experience counts for a lot.

Technology is simply a tool or an enabler and whilst a strong academic foundation and theoretical knowledge are assets, it cannot replace people and experience. All these factors need to be considered and utilized in the design, implementation, management and optimization of high performing supply chains.

What challenges facing the world are important to you?

US-China trade tensions, Brexit, natural disasters and now the coronavirus are all factors that should be important to any supply chain professional. Supply chains are a derived demand and so anything and everything can impact it.

Having said that, supply chains are and should always be evolving so we need to stay current to what is happening globally, regionally and in our own backyards to stay ahead of the game and relevant.

What is happening as part of industry 4.0 is also a challenge that we need to face head on and leverage and last but not least the environmental, social and governance aspects of what we do must always be considered and managed in any supply chain.

What is the role of Business, Supply Chain and Change Leadership in addressing these challenges? 

The role cannot be emphasized enough although in the last few years it is with much concern that I see supply chain roles being merely analytical and implementing roles with very little influence on business strategy and implementation.

There are always exceptions to this but the trend is not a positive one – especially when you consider that much of these analysis can be replaced by AI in the next few years. 

What are you working on these days? 

LogiSYM and its sister brand CargoNOW take up much of my time and after Q1 I am looking for a new challenge and opportunity in business / supply chain.

I have tried working in the advocacy and lobbying space these last few years and it is not something I see myself doing in the long run. I want to be closer to actual business and making an impact.

What advice would you give people who have a career in, or who are considering joining, Business and/or Supply Chain? 

It has been a great run and working in supply chain has taken me all over the world but I think also I have been more fortunate than most.

Supply Chain / Logistics may not be the most glamorous of professions but it is a vital function in any business.

How can people contact Raymon Krishnan?

Raymon Krishnan can be reached at [email protected]

+65 9816 2740

Raymon’s Bio

Raymon has over twenty five years experience in the Logistics industry as an end user and service provider. This includes senior management, government linked and academic positions in a variety of international companies and institutions based in Asia, the US, Europe and Australia.

His experience covers the full Logistics spectrum, from raw material procurement to
physical distribution and eventually Customer Service and care, with a strong grounding in
Quality and Six Sigma. He has spent the last 3 years working in Trade Policy and Advocacy
and prior to this he was Global Commercial Director of APL Logistics after leaving W R
Grace where he was Director, Asia Pacific for Logistics & Trade Compliance.

Dr Krishnan, holds a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree, focused on the
concept of Combined Distribution Networks. He also holds a degree in Logistics from the
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and a Master of International Business from the
University of Wollongong amongst other qualifications. Raymon is a Fellow of the
Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and The Australian Logistics Academy, an
Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and was an Honorary Fellow of
the University of Wollongong, where he was responsible for teaching and representing the
interests of the University in the region. He has also been the Programme Director for the
University of Wales, Masters in Supply Chain Management offered in Singapore along with
a number of other senior academic positions.

Raymon is currently the President of the Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society and
under his stewardship the Society has been nominated the Best Logistics Education
Provider in ASIA in 2003 & 2004, In 2008, the Society won the Supply Chain Asia Education
Award and was again nominated for the award in 2010. He was instrumental is launching
LogiSYM, the collaborative platform of the Society and its sister publication Cargonow.
Aside from being the largest supply chain publication globally, LogiSYM symposiums are run
annually in Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai.

Originally published on February 18, 2020.