National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) Placement Interview Questions

• Q1. Why you moved from one company to another?
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• Q2. Why consulting?
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• Q3. Why PwC?
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• Q4. The most interesting project, and what optimization I had done there, what more could have been done?
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• Q5. Estimate the number of pasta sauce bottles that are sold in a month in Mumbai.
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• Q1. Reduce costs for an automobile company.
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The client is the CEO of the pharmaceutical company making generic drugs. The client is contemplating the acquisition of another smaller player in the market specializing in the same domain which is also making generic drugs. What operational synergies should be considered for the M&A case?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: I summarized the case and reiterated the objective of laying out the various parameters that should be considered for M&A and make an informed decision for the acquisition based on operational synergies of the two companies. I also asked if I need to look into anything else.

I: Correct. No need to look into anything else.

C: Will the smaller player add any additional service or product line to the existing one?

I: No

C: I shall solve this case by value chain analysis algorithm and try to look into the operational synergies across each segment of the value chain.

I: Great. Please proceed.

C: I made the entire value chain and started to explain each segment of it.

I: Let's focus on sourcing and list down its components.

C: I enlisted a number of factors like raw material sourcing partners and how we can collaborate with the sourcing partners of both the companies, how economies of scale can be brought into the sourcing of raw material, MRO products, and packaging services.

I: Let’s into the direct and indirect costs of the company.

C: I listed all the direct and indirect costs and explained how synergy can be brought into these costs. Also, I explained how distribution channels can be integrated and how the network of small company can be leveraged to venture into markets which were not touched by the company.

I: Do you know about any statistical technique to locate the DC and other facilities.

C: I explained the considerations to be taken while locating any facility, how cost changes with an increasing number of facilities. Then talked about network analysis to locate a higher concentration of customers and the location of facilities optimally, near to the dense clusters.

• Q1. My introduction.
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• Q2. Why after doing electrical engineering, did I switch my career into consulting and asked about my association with different firms.
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• Q3. My expectations from the firm and how do I see career growth in this sector?
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• Q4. The most interesting projects I worked on.
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• Q5. What was my biggest achievement.
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• Q1. Why Consulting?
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• Q2. How did you approach the project (a particular project mentioned in the CV)?
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• Q3. What were the challenges?
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• Q4. Few questions on pharma industry.
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• Q5. A drug manufacturer (USD 3bn) has 3 products, X, Y, Z & Per unit cost being $1, $2, $3 respectively. Find the aluminum foil requirement for the Indian market.
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A Chocolate manufacturer is having a warehouse. From last 3 months, there’s a problem of Warehouse inventory level increment leading to increased holding costs.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: What are the different SKUs that the company produces

I: Chocolates in 7 variants. Anything else you need?

C: Yes. Do we see a trend in the SKU pile up?

I: Can you be a bit more specific

C: Do we see that a particular SKU is getting piled up in the warehouse?

I: Yes. There are 2 SKUs that are getting piled up. These are relatively newer ones to enter the market

C: Has there been a sudden shift in the demand of these SKUs?

I: Think from the supply side

C: Since the problem has risen for the newer products, I would like to delve a bit deeper into the forecasting aspects. What is the current forecasting technique used in Company?

I: moving average

C: Do we use the same method for old and new products?

I: Yes

C: Okay. This could be of interest. As the newer ones are getting piled, this could be because of seasonality aspects. The seasonality is not considered in the moving average technique.

I: Okay. What do you recommend?

C: Since, we need to proactively monitor the actual demand as well, we need the forecasts to be based on real time data. This can be achieved by Adaptive forecasting method with Winters model.

I: Okay. That should be good enough.

After this, I was asked to build a warehouse layout. For this, I considered the following areas: SKU based area segmentation, Loading and Unloading, QC area, Stability test area, Washroom, Admin section, Change room, Canteen, Parking area, Small, Equipment area, Quarantine area, Measurement area, Garden area, Security area.

• Q1. Why consulting?
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• Q2. Why PwC?
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• Q3. Biggest challenge you faced and learnings thereof.
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• Q4. Tools you know (Excel, Tableau etc.).
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• Q5. Most successful project.
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• Q1. Introduce yourself.
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• Q2. Why the firm?
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• Q3. What are your weaknesses?
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• Q1. Resume based round. First Question was to introduce and talk about my experience.
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• Q2. The interviewer asked about my ERP experience in the procurement domain.
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• Q3. He also gave me a situation where there were several suppliers with different attributes and I had to formulae a methodology to select the best supplier.
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The client had a Saloon shop and wanted to buy a new equipment worth 8 Lakhs and wanted a Bank loan, but then he did not have a great credit history. So, Bank insisted that he had to return the money in 2 years and only in that terms, the loan would be sanctioned. What should the client do?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Should we help the client decide whether to take the loan or help in planning his payback?

I: The client has no other means and has to take this loan, you have to help with the pay back.

C: First we should consider the cost side, how to reduce the cost associated.

I: The costs cannot be reduced from the current situation.

C: I will consider the revenue side.

I: Okay.

C: Asked about the number of customers, revenue per customer, number of employees and average time required per haircut.

I. There are 5 employees and average time per customer is 30 minutes Revenue per customer is 200 and the fill rate is 7/hour.

C: will the new equipment reduce the time per customer.

I: No.

C: Why does he want the equipment then?

I. To provide smoother experience, he believes in upgrading the shop regularly to provide better services.

C: We need to look at the ways to increase the fill rate?

I: How?

C: Advertisements, notices.

I: That would increase the cost significantly and the client doesn’t want to increase the cost in any case.

I was not able to think of anything else from here, but the interviewer helped me. He asked me to consider case where customer leave the shop due to waiting.

C: How much hours do they work?

I: 9 Am – 5PM, 1-hour lunch break.

C: All of them go for the lunch break together? If so, the 7 people coming in that hour might be leaving due to the over waiting hours.

I: Yes, that is an issue. What do you propose?

C: 3 people should be working during the lunch break, and they can go right after the first 2 comes back.

I: Good.

C: They can also consider increasing the working hours. But that would increase the cost, but I believe the increase in revenue would be high because the customer fill rate will increase after 5PM, especially on working days.

I: Thank You. That’s all.

• Q1. Introduce yourself.
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• Q2. Why the firm?
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• Q3. Where have you travelled?
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• Q4. Basically, this round was to test communication ability, many candidates were rejected in this round. Focus on what you speak and how you speak, keep a smile on...read more
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First Question was to introduce and talk about my experience.
I introduced and in my experience, I talked about project and asked about the interviewer. He said he was from IIM B, so I talked about doing my engineering from Bangalore and how I found Bangalore a wonderful place to live in.

The interviewer then gave me a case to solve.

The case was: The client is a company in the good living space like NDTV good times space. They are facing a lot of issues in profit. Their profits have been decreasing in the past 2 years and need us to help.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

Interviewer: Tell me how will you go about the case.

C: So, our client is a TV channel which deal in shows like travelling and cooking shows and are facing issue in profit, their profit is decreasing from the past 2 years. Is there any objective other than this?

I: No

C: Can I have 2 minutes to think about it and draw a proper structure for my solution.

I: Certainly.

C: As this is a profit problem faced by our client I will use E(P=R-C) M. I told him that as we are growing with around 7.5 % GDP and a lot of youth travel the economy of such a sector is in good shape.

I: Yes, go on.

C: I would like to know about the market. Is the declining profit issue faced only by us or also by competitors also?

I: Competitors are not facing such an issue.

C: Okay, so this is our client’s problem. I would now go into the parenthesis and find the sources of revenue and potential cost.

As I had no idea about how a typical show is produced and what are the costs involved, I told the interviewer upfront that I will try to come up with some revenue and cost drivers as I had no idea about TV industry. He said OK.

Revenue: Advertisement and any package that is being sold in collaboration with travel agency.

I: Good, but you are missing one more revenue stream.

C: Is it the amount they earn from TV channels.

I: Yes.

C: Then I asked about individual revenue streams, he told me everything is either stagnant or increasing.

So, the problem lies in the cost part. I will go towards the cost. I listed down some of the cost streams as below:

1) Actors
2) Directors
3) Rent of the set (Including lighting and clothes)
4) Administration charges (Including logistics)

I: Good, these are the important cost heads, but our client has outsourced production to another agency.

C: Okay, so how is agency charging us, per episode or is it for a defined number of episode.

I: Per episode.

C: Can you provide me last 3 year numbers.

I: I don’t want you to go into numbers, just concentrate on the issue.

C: Then asked if the agency increased the price.

I: Yes, they have increased their fees considerably and that is the issue for the lower profit. He then asked me to give some recommendation on how to solve this issue.

C: We can go for a long-term relationship with the agency. We can try to negotiate better.

If the show is not a new show, then we can change the agency all together. I told him some more points which I don’t remember. He seemed satisfied and said that would be all. I asked him what should I do to improve my case solving ability. He answered there is nothing to improve you at this moment.

Suggestion: Consulting firms looks for people who can come up with Suggestion/Recommendations to solve the case. So, while practicing cases practice providing suggestions too.

• Q1. She talked about my CV points, how college is treating me, different things I have done in the past 3 months during the college, some normal HR questions. Again...read more
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• Q2. Then she said let’s play some numbers. I thought it would be some puzzle, but it turned out to be a case. The case problem: Our client is a manufacturer who mak...read more
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• Q1. Walk me through your CV.
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• Q2. Why Consulting and why the firm.
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• Q3. Asked a few questions from my Work Ex. Points mentioned in the CV.
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• Q4. Then he asked me to do a zero-based costing for a pen.
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• Q5. The interview went for around 30-40 mins. (Be prepared to ask a relevant question to the interviewer at end of the interview.)
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Walk me through your CV.
I introduced and in my experience, I focused on the Work Ex. Achievements, then academic achievements and then my interests. Interviewer asked me about my hobby (that is travelling).

Case: The client is a Bicycle company selling cycles of all ranges pan India. The CEO had a thought of venturing into motorcycle business. He approaches us with his thought and wants to know whether they should enter him into motorcycle business.

We had a discussion for around 30 mins on this case.

Next was a guestimate to find number of black/ white boards available in Mumbai. Time given for this was 10 mins.

Next, the interviewer asked if I had any questions for him. I asked a question regarding the automobile projects in consultancy.

The interview went for around 50-60 minutes.

After this he guided me for the director interview.

Telephonic interview with the Director.

Walk me through the CV.

What is GST? Tell me about the Tax structure change? What will be its implications on the Automobile Industry?

Are you following any current Business news. What is happening in the Indian Telecom Industry? Reliance Jio and other providers.

Case Interview: Client is a mobile company. Wants to enter smart phone market in India. Should they launch a smart phone. How would you do the market sizing for the same.

After that director asked if I had any questions for him. I asked him a question regarding GST.

This interview went for around 45 minutes.

HR Interview:

Next I had a 5-min interview with HR and then she informed me that I was selected.

• Q1. Introduce Yourself?
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• Q2. Why PwC?
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• Q3. Why Consulting?
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• Q4. Product costing? Commodity hedging? Digital Invoicing?
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• Q5. Number of handheld thermal scanners currently available in Mumbai?
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Automobile Spare part distributor has approached PwC as he faces issues with the increase in distribution cost from the past year.
Business model: Procurement of spare parts at cheap rates from China, India, Vietnam and sell them in the USA.

Channels: Own e-Commerce platform, Retail Outlet & B2B bulk orders.

Asked me to focus on B2Borders. After a lot of discussion on the cost front, starting a new warehouse emerged as a root cause. Discussions around WMS like, what is transportation cost? Factors on which it depends. The steps involved in Warehouse Management.

He asked to strategize organic farming business.

Expectations were 15% ROI within a year & so on. Tell me the approach to proceed further.
Buckets in which I divided the approach was as below

Acquisition of land; Decide the crops to take for production on the farm; Investment in equipment & technology for farming; strategy for selling in the market.

Then he asked to go in-depth for each bucket.

1) Land: it should be fertile, should be near to city so that commutation would be easy, Abundance of water.

2) In crops, I have given two types like perishable vegetables (Cucumber, Chili, Tomato, Onion) & medicinal plants (Aloe Vera). He liked the medicinal plant's concept.

3) Technology: Tractors, Hydraulic Pump, Shade house, Playhouse, storage facility with cold supply chain.

4) I have suggested B2B business options like hotel chains, Reliance fresh, etc. For Medicinal plants contract farming with Patanjali or HUL for facewash, & beauty products.

• Q1. I was invited into the room and asked to take a seat. There was a single interviewer, a Sr. Consultant. The following questions were asked there after: Tell me ...read more
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• Q2. Some questions regarding work ex and CV points.
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• Q3. Why consulting?
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• Q4. Since I mentioned that I am passionate about football, he asked a couple of questions regarding that.
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• Q5. Guestimate: Estimate the number of MRI scanners in India.
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• Q6. Finally, I was asked if I had any questions for the interviewer.
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This is one of the most important round of the selection process as most of the candidates get filtered here.

The interview started on an informal note, the interviewers asked me about myself, hobbies etc. I had mentioned that I am a Chelsea supporter, there was a discussion on the football match the previous weekend.

Case Statement: Company XYZ is an electronic retail chain, with many outlets across the country. In the recent times, the profitability has decreased. Suggest steps for improvement.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: What is the essence of the case in one line.

C: Increasing profitability for the chain.

I: What are the different aspects that you would like to consider?

C: (Like any normal case, I broke it down into Profit= Revenue – Costs) Mentioned points like whether there is a decrease in Revenue or increase in cost.

Is it a market wide phenomenon or only specific to the chain. Have the customer requirements changed?

(Basically, majority of the points that are mentioned in Victor Cheng’s videos).

I: Answered my questions. (This was not used in the case as such, just to check if the interviewee was thinking in a structured manner).

The chain has decided to start an offer wherein they plan to sell 20 TV’s at a discount, they think that they can attract customers to the store and push them to a higher valued TV, with higher profitability. How many TV’s must they sell so that they are profitable?

C: Did some basic mathematics and answered their questions.

I: We have noticed that if we decrease the price of the TV’s by 5,000, we lose 1 customer. Develop a mathematical equation, keeping the previous question in mind, to find the number of TV’s that need to be sold to remain profitable.

C: Used some basic mathematics and came up with a formula.

I: The chain would like to close some stores and move to an online platform. How many TV’s should they sell to ensure they maintain the same profitability, keeping in mind the discounts applied on the ecommerce portal.

C: Again, developed a mathematical formula to answer the question.

I: Should they move to an online platform? Will there be a decrease?

C: Spoke about push marketing, how they might lose sales as a person who comes to buy a TV might also buy a home theatre system.

I: Some stores are making lower profits than the others, if we close these stores, how much more money should the others make to compensate for the decrease in profitability.

C: (They had provided me some numbers) Basic mathematics was used to answer the questions.

I: Thanks, it was a pleasure to meet you, any questions?

C: Asked about how you manage through the Strategy and Operations.

• Q1. Director Round. How are you? How was your day?
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• Q2. Walk me through the case study.
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• Q3. Asked some questions regarding my CV and work experience.
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• Q4. Any questions?
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• Q1. (Duration – 15 mins) Asked about two points in CV.
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• Q2. Why consulting?
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• Q3. Guesstimate – “Number of fans currently (that point in time) running in the state of Kerala”.
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(Duration – 25 mins)

Asked about the day, how’s it going and then asked to introduce.

Gave basic introduction, work experience and interests. Stopped by saying about my interest in football and that I am a Manchester united fan – The interviewer knew a lot about football and this resulted in the following case “Manchester United’s profits down from last year. What is going on?”
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Can I have 2 mins to structure my thoughts.

I: Yes.

(I followed the basic profit loss framework.)

C: I would like to consider revenue side first. How has been the trend in revenue. Has it gone down from previous year.

I: Yes.

(He gave me a few numbers.)

C: Listed all the revenue streams for a club, as a big supporter this was fairly easy for me. Once I listed all I asked the interviewer for the trend in revenue for all these streams. He gave me the trend. There was a drop in the Sponsorship revenue.

I think here is the issue. I want to dig further to see why exactly the problem arose. And listed few reasons that could be causing the issue. The main reason could be because some deals might have expired and the club might not have been able to get equally good deals.

I: Yes, that’s the issue, the main kit sponsorship ended this year and the club was not able to strike a good deal. What could be the reasons?

C: Explained about the poor performance of the team in recent years, not playing Champions league football, No Asian players (Most of the United supporters are in Asia).

I: Good, how can we improve the situation?

C: United need to perform much better, and suggested some points – new players, academy revamp, more tours in Asia to keep the fan base. I looked into the cost side as well, but there wasn’t anything noticeable hence concluded the case.

He further asked about my work experience and if any questions for him – I asked about the career progressions, if it’s merit based and so on.

(Duration – 30 mins)

Asked to introduce, Couple of questions from CV, Why Consulting, why would the firm suit you?
Answered all. Talked about my previous consulting experience, why I found it challenging and focused on the work culture in the firm.

A food preservative industry in loss despite increasing its market share.
Profit and loss frame work, checked the revenue side to find why market share has increased. Looked at all the trends – the clients and competitors and found out overall market size has reduced but our market has remained the same.

The reason was that the client has kept the price as same, but competitors increased the price. Looked at the cost side to gain more insight – asked for different trends for cost streams – found out that the supplier has increased the cost because they had spent money on R&D too develop a new ingredient eliminating most of the health concerns.

This change was not communicated properly to the customers, who were not willing to pay higher prices, forcing the client to keep the price constant despite increase in the cost.

Interviewer asked for a few suggestions: Discussed about effectively marketing the product based on the improvements and health factor, targeted marketing, increasing price, releasing as a new product to change any perceptions, changing suppliers in worst case. Explained in details the circumstances where these steps must be taken.

She was satisfied.

• Q1. (Duration – 5 mins) Casual discussion on Kerala, Work experience and a challenging project.
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1 case on profit maximization by a firm was asked.
The intention was to see the depth of approach which was judged by the variety of questions that I asked during the case interview.

Basics of IT.

Questions on integration and differentiation because of my interest in Math.

Puzzle: Lastly, a puzzle was asked
I solved it using common sense instantly.

• Q1. In-depth questions on my work experience were asked, which spanned across the oil and gas. Each and every keyword was questioned, especially the quantitative fi...read more
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• Q2. A guesstimate on the no. of gaming centers in INDIA was asked wherein they wanted to see the span of my thought process.
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• Q3. Questions on the type of curriculum, the entrance tests, etc. that were followed in BITS.
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• Q1. Strengths, weaknesses, and future aspirations.
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