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Priyanka Lal

Assistant Professor

Envelope

Biography

Dr. Priyanka Lal is a researcher and supply chain professional with over two decades of combined academic and industry experience spanning strategy and on-ground operations across Demand, Supply, Distribution Planning and Logistics. She earned her PhD from IIM Mumbai (NITIE), where her doctoral work addressed profit maximization for third-party reverse logistics providers under stochastic market price and return-quantity variations. Over her corporate career she has held senior supply chain and logistics roles at Mondelez India, Johnson & Johnson, Monsanto, Colgate-Palmolive and Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand), and spent four years as Associate Professor of Operations and Supply Chain at the Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai. She has presented her research at national and international conferences and published in Scopus and peer-reviewed journals, with active research engagement in the behavioral dimensions of operations and logistics.

Academic/Professional Qualification

  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), IIM Mumbai (NITIE), 2017
  • Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Engineering (PGDIE), IIM Mumbai (NITIE), 2002
  • Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.), Electrical Engineering, Government Engineering College, Ujjain, 1999

Areas of Specialization

  • Behavioral Aspects in Operations and Supply Chain Management
  • Demand, Supply and Distribution Planning
  • Logistics and Customer Service (CS&L)
  • Reverse Logistics and Supply Chain Analytics

Projects

  • Research Fellow, India-Japan Centre on Climate and Culture (IJCCC), IIM Kozhikode (2025–2026)
  • Branch Logistics Manager – Western Region, Mondelez India: led CS&L for the West Branch supporting ₹200 crore sales across 7 warehouses, 100+ refrigerated vehicles; drove 18% sales growth, transitioned the Bhiwandi and Ahmedabad warehouses to modern WMS-enabled facilities, and implemented D+1 dispatches (2018–2020)
  • Senior Manager – GPEx Supply Chain Analytics, Johnson & Johnson: APAC Regional Lead for the Global Plan Excellence forum, analyzing demand-forecast outliers across 15 markets and reporting MAPE, BIAS and Service KPIs globally (2013–2015)
  • External Consultant, Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand): customer service, inventory management and S&OP implementation design (2009–2010)
  • Manager – Import & Exports, Monsanto India: supply planning and trade for chemicals and hybrid seeds (2005–2007)
  • Assistant Manager – Planning & Logistics, Colgate-Palmolive India: All-India demand and distribution planning (2002–2005)
Research Publications
  • Lal, P. (2022), "Application of Lean Principles for Improving Customer Service: An Indian Case Study," Journal of International Business Education (SCOPUS, CABS-2), Vol. 17, pp. 327–338.
  • Lal, P., Ganapathy, L., Sambandam, N. & Vachajitpan, P. (2010), "Heuristic Methods for Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem," International Journal of Management, Business and Economics, Vol. 4 (1), April 2010.
  • Lal, P. (2010), "A DEMAIC Approach for Customer Satisfaction: A Case Study for Chemical Industry in Thailand," International Journal of Business and Economics, Vol. 2 (1), June 2010.
Seminars & Conferences Attended
  • Lal, P., "Consequences of Front Line Executives' Workplace Dignity on Logistics Service Quality," POMS India International Conference, 4–6 Dec 2023, XLRI, Jamshedpur.
  • "Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Operations and Supply Chain Management," 7–8 Nov 2023, SJSOM, IIT Bombay.
  • Lal, P. & Narayanswamy, S., "Impact of Predictive Maintenance using IoT," International Conference on Smart Supply Chain: Navigating the Future, 2022, K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai.
  • Lal, P., Ganapathy, L. & Sambandam, N., "A Column Generation Approach for the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem," ISDSI Conference 2010, SJSOM, IIT Bombay.
  • Lal, P., Ganapathy, L. & Sambandam, N., "A Heuristic to Minimize Total Cost in a Multiproduct Supply Chain Network," GLOGIFT Conference 2009, NITIE Mumbai.
  • Lal, P., Ganapathy, L. & Sambandam, N., "Heuristic Methods for Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem," ICLT Conference 2009, University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, Chiang Mai.