Piramal Healthcare Limited, part of the Piramal Group of companies, has been awarded the Healthcare and Life Science Manufacturing Supply Chain Excellence Award under the aegis of the 2008 SCM Logistics Excellence Awards. As a reflection of the increasing competitiveness of Asia's supply chains, there were contenders for 12 manufacturer and vendor categories highlighting their achievements in supply chain excellence.

Dr Swati Piramal, director, Piramal Group, said, "We initiated the process of supply chain improvement about three years ago. The necessary methods of bringing about such cost reduction and reducing the cash to cash cycle, the swift action involved to bring the process underway and our consistent focus on customer service reflect our commitment to our group's values - Knowledge, Action and Care. Today, we are proud of our 27 distribution centres that sell to 3,500 stockists who, in turn, sell to 500,000 chemist stores across the country. We have successfully implemented effective tools to achieve the objectives we embarked upon and we are extremely happy to receive this prestigious SCM Logistics Excellence Award."

The SCM Logistics Excellence Awards are received by outstanding supply chain professionals in the Asia Pacific region. Each year, a community of SCM thought leaders on the SCM Logistics Excellence Awards' advisory board deliberate upon which companies deserve to be recognized for their supply chain excellence over the year.

Siddhartha Pahwa, vice president - Domestic Formulation Supply Chain & Trade Management, Piramal Healthcare Limited, received the award at the ceremony held in Singapore on October 15, 2008.

This year, the awards were adjudged by Professor Hau Lee, Founder & director, Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum, USA; Dr Peter Robertson, director, Centre for Supply Chain Management Research, University of Wollongong Graduate School of Business, Australia; Dr Rajesh Piplani, director, Centre for Supply Chain Management, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Vinod Singhal, Professor of Operations Management, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA and Bob Gill, Group Editor, Reed Business Information.