S3 Group: Augmenting Digital Supply Chain Operations the Right Way

“We are committed to delivering exceptional operational, functional, and technical supply chain solutions to our clients.”

S3 Group, a Georgia-based leading consulting firm, offers extensive supply chain integration and implementation experience, providing its clients with best-of-breed operational and technological solutions. It serves across the United States.

The company was founded in 2013.

Senthil Angamuthu, who serves as the President of the company, spoke exclusively toThe Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Q. When it comes to emotional branding, s3 Group sounds highly promising. As a journalist, I find it quite striking. My question to you is, how did you come up with the brand name, and what does it depict?

As we had sought to focus on the supply chain, I wanted the name to reflect our core offerings and named the company accordingly—supply chain, systems, and solutions group—S3 Group. That’s how we came up with the brand name.

Q. Have you always been passionate about the logistics/supply chain industry? Tell us what inspired the foundation of the s3 Group.

I started my career in a warehouse management software company in the ’90s when WMS was in the infancy stage and mainly focusing on reducing the chargeback by big retailers. Later, I moved into retail and designing solutions to move inventory from warehouses to stores. I was passionate about resolving wholesale and retail companies' issues in terms of inventory and goods movement. This helped to start the company to help clients identify and resolve their supply chain challenges. 

Q. Given that S3 Group is a premier consulting firm providing strategic supply chain solutions and services to the logistics/supply chain industry, how uniquely do you address your clients’ pain points?

Most of our supply chain strategies are tailored to meet individual customer’s demands. S3 Group works with clients to map their current supply chain process. Additionally, the mapping process provides an understanding of supply chain dependencies, bottlenecks and allows for risk mitigation. This includes information technology and transaction flow. This process provides a holistic view of the customer's supply chain and all involved in executing the activities.

Q. How effectively does s3 Group tackle the challenges of supply chain management?

S3 Group helps clients identify, quantify, prioritize the risks, and then develop a strategy to mitigate these risks. For example, having multiple sources of capacity and leveraging them quickly can help mitigate supply disruptions. Maintaining a diverse base of suppliers even when equivalent materials are available from suppliers in the same region will help when one country or region experiences a disruption. We help clients plan and collaborate with their suppliers, logistics service providers, and customers and drive toward mutually available risk plans for each link in the supply chain.

Q. What are your focus areas? And delineate a short overview of the services your company offers.

Our services include supply chain strategy, system implementations, system integration, PMI-based project management, software development, and customized training programs.

Though our major focus is supply chain execution, we offer transportation solutions, supply chain planning, and demand forecasting services.

Importantly, our software methodology supports the development of customized solutions. Even though the industry is leaning toward implementing “off the shelf” software solutions, we understand that these packages do not always provide the optimal solution to meet your business needs. In such instances, we can provide proven methodologies, leadership, and programming resources to develop and implement your customized solution. We will expedite the design and development of these solutions.

Moreover, we provide an Operations Assessment service to our clients. This service is designed to provide them with an objective analysis of their current warehouse or distribution operation and identify potential improvement opportunities.

It may be performed as a standalone activity to benchmark an operation or may be used to set the stage for significant change.

Q. Who are your partners? Please share an overview of how these partnerships help you deliver unique services.

S3 Group partnered with Infor, a leader in supply chain planning and execution. When we partnered with Infor in 2019, we were overwhelmed with the products the company offered. But with our rich experience in distribution and 3PL, we quickly identified other verticals that need the solution with their ERP and distribution. With these partnerships, we can offer solutions to our customers in the distribution and other verticals like manufacturing, retail, pharma, govt., 3PL, apparel, fashion, transportation, etc.

Q. Forming and managing innovation teams is overwhelming. That said, how do you keep your decision-makers focused?

Assembling the right team and motivate them with the right message is very critical for me. My Engineering Development Head, Boopathi, has a wealth of experience in R&D in the area of cloud computing, ML, and distribution. We identify the area of improvement in the supply chain, and our team carries out extensive research to develop a solution.

Q. Let's talk about your team of experts and their role at s3 Group. How did you form your dream squad, and how unique is it?

I want to offer solutions from planning to execution. This offering requires operational, functional, and technical resources. My team comprises experts in these areas of the supply chain. Besides, our average team member has over seven years of experience in the area of the supply chain. 

Q. Can you provide us with one or two case studies describing the challenges your clients were facing and how did your solutions help them overcome those challenges?

One of our clients in the electronics reverse logistics business faced challenges in serial number tracking and tracking the product from one grade to another with the new serial number. Our team came up with a solution to move the serial number from one grade to another and keep the history of the product for client reference.

Q. Will your company be expanding, bringing on any new products or services that we should be aware of?

We have partnered with SKANDH systems to develop transportation systems, global inventory allocation—an omnichannel order management product, and vendor/supplier connect (EZ connect) to improve our clients’ supply chain visibility. We are also piloting several AI/ML solutions to help clients in their inventory planning and cycle count/physical inventory.

Q. You must be decisive and persistent to succeed in this competitive industry. That said, how do you plan to combat your competition?

Innovation is the key to combat our competition. Bearing this in mind, we have formed S3 Lab to innovate and transform ideas into reality. 

Q. About your plans, where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

S3 Group will be positioned to play a one-stop solution for our clients’ supply chain needs, from distribution network design to deliver goods to the end customer.

Q. Is there anything else you want us to highlight that we might have missed?

The supply chain is very dynamic, and constant changes and improvements are needed to be competitive. S3 group helps clients identify their strengths and weakness and allows them to improve in their operations.

Importantly, companies are changing the conventional way of doing business with the current pandemic and changing geopolitical climates. They are moving to adopt the new SCM model for products to reach consumers quickly and safely. Moreover, with globalization under pressure, companies want to be close to customers and service them more agilely and improve consumers' buying experience. This is where S3 Group comes into play. We are dedicated to delivering exceptional operational, functional, and technical supply chain solutions to our clients.

The Resilient Leader Upfront

Senthil Angamuthu serves as the President of S3 Group. He has over 30 years of experience in the supply chain/logistics information technology industry. He started his career with Manhattan Associates and developed PKMS/WMi product on IBM AS/400. He has played a crucial role in hundreds of successful projects in large and medium-sized projects and organizations.

"We help clients plan and collaborate with their suppliers, logistics service providers, and customers and drive toward mutually available risk plans for each link in the supply chain."

“Our consultants are industry seasoned professionals who understand the day-to-day challenges of effective supply chain management.”