256560380-Yakult-Report.pdf

School of Business, Public Policy and Social Entrepreneurship Ambedkar University Delhi

YAKULT FIELD REPORT (OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT)

Submitted By: Group 5 Akriti Sondhi Deepti Bandooni Neha Bajaj Shalini Gupta 0

CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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OBJECTIVES OF OUR STUDY

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4

INTRODUCTION

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ORGANISATIONAL BACKGROUND

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 

VISION MISION

ABOUT THE COMPANY

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ABOUT THE SOINIPAT PLANT

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LOCATIONAL BENEFITS

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THE PRODUCTION FLOW

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 Mixing of raw ingredients  Sterilisation  Fermentation tank  Control Panel  Flavour tank  Storage tank  Water steriliser  Mixing tank  Injection blow-moulding machine  Bottle storage tank  Selector  Printing station  Filling, capping and sealing machine  Shrink wrap and packaging machine  Finished product 1

 Finished product  Refrigeration room  Distribution  Hygiene  Yakult quality management system  Waste management  Energy management SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT    

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DEMAND PLANNING FORECASTING DYNAMIC INVENTORY TARGETS ALLOCATING STOCK IN SHORTAGE SITUATIONS

TRANSPORTATION OPTIMIZATION AT YAKULT  

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LOAD BUILDER LOAD SCHEDULER

SYNCHRONIZATION AT YAKULT

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

Forecasting Accuracy

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Matching Production to Replenishment Schedules

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Integration With The Corporate ERP Environment

QUALITY AT YAKULT

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WASTE MANAGEMENT

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SIX SIGMA

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CAPACITY BUILDING

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ISSUES IN CAPACITY

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UTILIZATION OF RESOURCES

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PROCESS AND CAPACITY ANALYSIS

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SUPPLY CHAIN

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CONCLUSIONS

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The project was started on 20th January 2015, gradually developing and compiling information about various operational and strategic aspects of the YAKULT

plant under

the guidance of our mentor professor Dr. Anshu Gupta. The first part of our project involves the study of organizational background, operations of Yakult which is helping Yakult to full fill the set objectives. To surmise upon these crucial factors, our professor of Operations management organized a field trip to Yakult Production Plant which is situated in Rai Sonipat. The second part of this study involves the competitive advantage and the product which is being produced or manufactured by Yakult. This study required a detailed scrutiny of Yakult and how it operates to compete with the brands like Amul, Mother Dairy etc. The third and the last section of our project includes the awareness activities that have been undertaken by Yakult in order to promote its organizational culture, apart from that we have also included the four most important test which Mother Dairy takes in order to enhance the quality of its products. The main focus of this study is to determine the operations strategy of Yakult and find out some recommendations if required.

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OBJECTIVE OF OUR STUDY The main objective of this study is to report the operation system of Yakult.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Methodology is the rationale behind collection of concepts, ideas, theories, and assumptions. Our research methodology requires gathering relevant data from the specified documents and compiling databases in order to analyze the material and arrive at a more complete understanding of operations management of Yakult. So, the founds that we have included and talked about in our project are based on following procedures: 

Field Trip to Yakult

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Database Collection

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Compiling the collected information

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Analysis

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Interpretation

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Find out the recommendation if there is some scope

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INTRODUCTION

VISION: Yakult pushes forward with the quest for new possibilities for probiotics in the academic and medical fields MISSION: The global corporate philosophy of the Yakult Group is: "We contribute to the health and happiness of people around the world through the pursuit of excellence in life sciences in general and our research and experience in microorganisms in particular.” ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND Yakult is a probiotic dairy product made by fermenting a mixture of skimmed milk with a special strain of the bacterium Lactobacillus casei Shirota. It was created by Japanese scientist Minoru Shirota. In 1935, he started manufacturing and selling Yakult. Since then, Yakult has also introduced a line of beverages for the Japanese market that contain Bifidobacterium breve bacteria, and has also used its lactobacilli research to develop cosmetics. More recently, the Yakult Honsha played a major role in developing the chemotherapy drug irinotecan. After its introduction in Japan and Taiwan, Yakult was first sold in Brazil in 1966, due to the large number of Japanese immigrants in the country, before it was marketed elsewhere. Today, Yakult is sold in 31 countries, although it’s bacteria cultures are provided from a mother strain from Japan regardless of production location. Yakult is marketed in different sizes. In Australia and New Zealand, Europe, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam Yakult comes in 65mL bottles. In the Americas (including Mexico, one of Yakult's largest selling markets), Japan, Philippines, Thailand and South Korea, 80 ml bottles are available. It is also available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China where Yakult comes in 100 ml bottles. The product is made by Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd., where Groupe Danone has a 20% share. The company also owns one of Japan's major baseball franchises, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. It has been also one of the partner companies of the FINA World Aquatics Championships since 2005.

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About the Company:

Yakult DANONE India Pvt. Ltd. Commenced production in Delhi NCR in 2007. An investment of 200 Crore INR was made. The brand belongs to Yakult Danone India, the 50:50 joint venture between Japan's Yakult Honsha and France's Group Danone, both of which are global probiotic companies. The JV was formed in 2005 for the manufacture and sale of probiotic products in the Indian market. Yakult was launched in India in 2007. In the same year, the brand had appointed M&C Saatchi as its creative agency. At the initial stage of the product roll out, the brand leveraged media channels such as print, radio, out of home and on-ground. A large part of the initial onground promotion campaign was an aggressive home delivery system wherein 'Yakult Ladies' reached out to people at their doorstep and advocated the benefits of consuming probiotic drinks on a daily basis. This below-the-line campaign is something Yakult has adopted in other markets as well. In fact, this system of educative door-to-door distribution was created in Japan in 1963.

About the Sonipat Plant: The plant in Sonipat (Haryana) has a factory area of 8 acres which can provide a production capacity of 10 Lakhs units of Yakult PROBIOTIC Dairy Based Drink, which is a fermented milk based drink. Yakult contains probiotic bacteria - Lactobacillus Casei strain Shirota, which can help the digestive system to remain healthy. The factory now produces at least 2,00,000 Lakhs bottles annually, supplying Yakult to Delhi NCR, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune market to name a few. Inside the automated factory, raw ingredients (skim milk powder, sugar and dextrose) are mixed together with filtered water and undergo sterilization. Live Lactobacillus Casei Shirota strain is added to the milk to begin the fermentation process. Citrus flavor is added to the mixture. During fermentation, the bacteria rapidly multiply. The mixture is homogenized so that it has a smooth consistency and then it is diluted with filtered water to produce the final product.

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Yakult’s unique plastic bottle (they are very small - 65ml) are created on site, and manufacturing staff monitor the quality of product to ensure it meets the highest standards. A filling machine which has the capacity to fill 36000 bottles per hour fills the bottles with Yakult. They are then capped with a foil lid, printed with a use-by-date, sealed and transferred along the conveyor belt to the packaging facility. Yakult needs to be stored and distributed at temperatures below 4 degree Celsius.

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LOCATION ADVANTAGE OF SONIPAT The HACCP certified factory in Sonepat was inaugurated by Mr. Subodh Kant Sahai, Honorable Minister of State, Food Processing Industries, Govt. of India, on January 18th 2008. Haryana government has established two food parks at Rai of Sonipat (about 35 km from Delhi) and Saha of Ambala district over a total area of 186 acres equipped with facilities like reliable electricity, water, roads and communication. With a stable political environment, successive governments have been committed to creating a progressive environment. The state offers a wide range of fiscal and policy incentives for businesses under the Industrial and Investment Policy, 2011. Moreover, it has sector-specific policies, particularly, for IT and food-beverages. These Parks have been equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure and the most modern technology essential to cater to the food processing industry. These Food Parks provide locational advantage for all small and medium scale entrepreneurs and industrialists with a food processing idea. The proximity to metros such as Delhi and Chandigarh is one of the major advantages of this Park as these offer a good market where majority of the consumers are well-educated and are able to appreciate the advantages of this product. Connectivity holds the key to growth of any belt and acts as a magnet for investment. Creation of world-class infrastructure has been and remains top priority of the Haryana Government. Constant and consistent efforts are being made to improve connectivity, ensure adequate power supply, water supply and provide effective logistics support, which is vital for industry. This is specifically helpful in the case of Yakult as a constant power supply is required to maintain the temperature of the cold room. Good roadway connectivity also helps in transporting the product in refrigerated trucks to supermarkets and obtaining raw materials. A constant water supply is also necessary as water is a major ingredient in making the probiotic drink.

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THE PRODUCTION OF YAKULT (STEP-BY-STEP) Yakult's purpose-built factory in Sonipat (Haryana) is a technologically advanced manufacturing facility. It incorporates some of the most up-to-date food-processing equipment available. Strict standards apply to producing Yakult, ensuring a drink yield that is close to 99 per cent (this means that 99 per cent of the raw ingredients end up in the bottle). There are no by-products and little waste. The Yakult factory in Sonipat is based in Haryana, India, which produces Yakult for the whole of Delhi NCR, Chandigarh, Jaipur to name a few. It was launched in India by the partnership of DANONE India Pvt. Ltd. in 2007 due to its close proximity to Asia. Steps in the production process

1) Mixing of raw ingredients Skim milk powder, sugar and dextrose are mixed with filtered, sterilised water a sweet sterilised water to make a sweet milky solution 2) Sterilisation The sweet, milky solution is sterilised at a high temperature for a short time, destroying any bacteria that may be present. This process is called UHTST (Ultra Heat Treatment, Short Time). The solution is then transferred to a 6000-litre fermentation tank via a closed system of pipes and valves. 9

3) Fermentation tank Live Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain, cultured and tested in our laboratory, is added to the tank. The temperature of the tank is then reduced until the contents are at 37°C (body temperature). The solution is allowed to ferment in the tank for 6–9 days or until the numbers of Lactobacillus casei bacteria reach their ideal concentration. 4) Control Panel This machine is fully computerised and controls the flow of production. Different coloured lights indicate any areas that need attention. 5) Flavour tank Citrus flavour is added to the concentrate. 6) Storage tank The flavoured, concentrate is transferred to a 12 000-litre storage tank, containing a chilled syrup solution. The tank is chilled to around 2°C. 7) Water steriliser Yakult uses water that is de-mineralised (any dissolved chlorides and fluorides are removed) by a process called ‘reverse osmosis’. The water is then UV sterilised, after which it is stored in a 25 000-litre holding tank before being used in the production process. 8) Mixing tank Prior to bottling, the concentrate is diluted with filtered, sterile water at a ratio of 1:1. 9) Injection blow-moulding machine The plastic bottles are produced, on-site, from triple-grade food polystyrene. The injection blow-moulding machine has the capacity to produce 11 000 bottles per hour. 10) Bottle storage tank Extra bottles are made and stored in a large, sterile bottle storage tank that is capable of storing 750 000 bottles. 11) Selector Bottles drop down a large funnel from the bottle storage tank into a large circular selector that places the bottles in an upright position before being fed onto the filling line. 10

12) Printing station Bottles move along the conveyer belt to the printing station where the name ‘Yakult’ and the appropriate labelling information required by law are printed on the bottle in an instant-drying, red ink. 13) Filling, capping and sealing machine The filling machine has the capacity to fill 40 000 bottles of Yakult per hour. After the bottles are filled with Yakult, they are capped with a foil lid, printed with a use-by date, sealed and transferred along the conveyor belt to the packaging facility. 14) Shrink wrap and packaging machine It is here that the single bottles of Yakult are sorted into groups of five or 10 andshrink wrapped in polyethylene film. Ten x five packs are grouped together and wrapped again in polyethylene film and then heat shrunk, forming a ‘slab’ of 50 Yakult bottles. 15) Finished product 16) Refrigeration room The slabs are transferred to a pallet, wrapped and stored at a temperature of 2–3°C while awaiting delivery to the stores. 17) Distribution Refrigerated trucks deliver Yakult to the warehouses of the major supermarket chains (e.g. Woolworths and Coles) for distribution to individual supermarkets. Yakult is also delivered directly to independent supermarkets, milk bars, gyms, health food stores, motels, hospitals and other outlets by Yakult sales consultants.

18) Hygiene Yakult is a fermented milk drink that contains a live bacterial culture. In order to maintain the high quality of Yakult, strict hygiene standards must be met in the production. 19) Yakult quality management system Yakult maintains a comprehensive quality management system that complies with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9001:2000). This ensures that its products and services meet the highest international food-manufacturing standards. To

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make sure that Yakult’s product is of the highest quality, samples are collected for laboratory analysis throughout the production process to confirm that the quality assurance measures and the quality control testing have been effective. Yakult testing involves more than 120 samples per production run, upon which a total of more than 120 tests are conducted. These determine Lactobacillus case numbers, check for potential contaminants, microbiological quality, composition, acidity, physical attributes and taste. In addition, each bottle is inspected for undesirable markings and incorrect printing. Quality assurance measures are in place to maintain standards for personnel and factory hygiene, equipment cleaning, processing methods and parameters, and product handling. Yakult's quality assurance utilises a system called ‘Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points’ (HACCP). The principles of HACCP are internationally recognised as an excellent method for assuring stringently high standards. 20) Waste management Cleaning: Yakult adheres to a comprehensive hygiene and sanitation program, following a cleaning program that is predominantly governed by CIP (Cleaning in Place). Steam, an environmentally friendly cleaner, is used to sterilise the pipes and tanks. A single-phase chemical cleaner is used, reducing the numbers of chemicals introduced into the drains; chlorine-based chemicals are not used. Solid wastes: the amount of solid waste is relatively small and a number of measures are made to reduce waste. Recycling occurs where it is economically and environmentally viable. Paper products (skim milk powder bags, etc.) are recycled. The bottles are crushed and mixed with other resin to be made into a variety of plastic products, such as chairs and tables. Liquid wastes: any liquid waste goes into a holding tank in our water treatment facility. The acidity (pH) of the water is adjusted with acid or alkaline to meet Melbourne Water standards before being released into the sewage system. 21) Energy management Yakult has a commitment to using energy efficiently and wisely for sound environmental and economic reasons. The factory incorporates the latest equipment and techniques to reduce the amount of energy used. For example: • All fluids are heated using heat exchange plates 12

• All machinery is well maintained to function optimally, ensuring that energy is not lost or wasted • No CFCs are used in cooling or refrigeration • Off-peak rates are used for utilities whenever possible. For example, the ice bank water storage keeps all water at 0°C using compressors that are run in the evenings, during off-peak rates • Yakult’s boiler uses natural gas and is run for short periods as required (therefore, no pollution is emitted).

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SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AT YAKULT

DEMAND PLANNING Estimate daily requirements by warehouse and product. From the plant warehouse perspective, there are 3 types of customers demanding product on a daily basis: major supermarket chains, distributors and all the warehouses (regional and/or local). Supermarket chains and distributors daily demand is deterministic, given by confirmed orders placed before 4pm on the day prior to shipments. Warehouse requirements, on the contrary, have always been quite volatile and therefore problematic to estimate. At the time the Supply Chain organization was established in 2007, warehouse daily requirements were ‘guesstimated’ by the warehouses themselves, which at the time happened to report into Sales. Supply Chain management decided this had to change. Detailed daily warehouse product requirements would no longer be estimated by the warehouses themselves. It would be done by the system based on a forecast and dynamically adjusted inventory targets:

If we define: F (t) Sales forecast in period t Inv (t) Inventory target at the start of period t (or open inventory for t=1) Inv (t+1) Inventory target at the start of period (t+1) Req (t) Net product requirement in period t Then: Req (t) = Inv (t+1) + F (t) – Inv (t)

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

FORECASTING

A time series forecasting model was developed to forecast weekly sales by product family and warehouse. Smoothed historical splits are then applied, first to split the weekly family forecast by product, then to allocate it by day of the week. Yakult network has a two-tier configuration (plant to regional distribution center to local warehouse). The Demand Planning module uses a ‘bottom up’ approach, forecasting at the local warehouse level, consolidating daily requirements at the ‘parent’ level and scheduling deliveries accordingly. This approach allows Yakult to quickly adjust the system to any changes in the configuration of the network. 

DYNAMIC INVENTORY TARGETS

Because of the seasonality pattern of daily sales within the week, YAKULT felt it necessary to dynamically adjust inventory targets by product and warehouse on a daily basis. The Demand Planning module incorporates an inventory control model developed specifically for this purpose. It will automatically adjust safety stocks and daily targets based on lead times, estimated sales, forecast errors and the importance of the product in terms of demand (ABC classification). 

ALLOCATING STOCK IN SHORTAGE SITUATIONS

Once the detailed daily requirements are calculated, the system consolidates the information at the plant level and totals the daily demand by adding to these requirements the corresponding supermarket chain and distributor orders. The module incorporates a model that, based on priorities, will allocate available inventory in shortage situations.

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TRANSPORTATION OPTIMIZATION AT YAKULT Translate the requirements into a cost-effective replenishment schedule. Once Yakult have determined the daily requirements and volumes to be assigned by warehouse location and product, we need to translate them into a cost-effective delivery schedule. That is the task of the transportation optimization module. This module is composed of two integrated heuristic models: Load Builder and Load Scheduler. Both models base their decisions on the capacity dispatch table. In this table we include every feasible route, be it single or multi-stop. For each route and day of the week, the table will identify (with a zero or a one) what hours of the day a truck could leave the source point and arrive at the destination, based on loading capacity, time windows and maximum waiting time at the destination, transportation lead time and unloading time. Among other things, this unique table provides us with two important pieces of information: How easy it is to schedule the route on any given day (if the total ‘ones’ are close to 24) and whether it is difficult (just a few possible time slots) or even possible to be shipped at all on that day (zero entries). 

LOAD BULIDER

The deliverable of this model is a detailed list of loads to be shipped in each of the coming 14 days, using the following logic:  Based on the requirements, calculate the number of full trucks and partial trucks by destination. Full truckloads are ‘set aside’ for scheduling.  They are left with partial loads. If the load does not exceed the minimum pallet drop size, it is moved to the next day.  The next step is to try to combine partial loads in multi-stop deliveries. The model follows an iterative approach to check what loads can be combined and how to ‘top up’ the loads to fill the truck. These calculations are driven by a number of rules and parameters set by the user community.  All loads that cannot be scheduled (capacity dispatch table) or partial loads that cannot be combined are moved to the next day. 16

 Depots that have not any full loads scheduled are given priority among the partial loads scheduled (service level consideration)

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LOAD SCHEDULER

The Load Builder provides us with a list of loads to be scheduled in each of the coming 14 days, by day, shift and hour. It is the job of the Load Scheduler to build a feasible and efficient daily delivery schedule for them, based on the following logic:  Rank the loads as a function of the importance of the destination and the total loads already designated for shipping to it.  Starting from the top of the list, find a loading slot with a match in the capacity dispatch table. Assign the load to that slot. In order to balance shifts, start the search in the shift with most slots available  At the end of the first pass there may be still loads left to be allocated for which there is no available loading capacity in their permitted time slots, but there is still some available loading capacity available in other time slots. If so, we check each time slot that could have been used to ship this truckload but had already been allocated to see if the currently allocated truck could be shifted to one of the still available loading capacity time slots.  Once this procedure is complete for the day, we store the information of the loading pattern and continue to the following day until the end of the specified loading date range.  Once the schedule is reviewed and if necessary adjusted by the users, it is uploaded to the corporate ERP environment for further processing and, eventually, load picking and dispatching.

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SYNCHRONIZATION AT YAKULT Maximize effectiveness by ensuring the system communicates and is synchronized with key functional areas We knew upfront that the supply chain was going to experience dramatic changes in the not too distant future, including its reconfiguration and a significant expansion in volumes and products. Five key elements have helped make the system developed at Yakult a success:  Improved forecast accuracy at the warehouse/product level  The matching of production and replenishment schedules  Sound routing and delivery schedule algorithms  A user-friendly and reliable interface  Integration of the application to the corporate ERP environment We described the algorithms in the previous section, and will cover the user interface in the following one. In this section we focus on the other three elements, which were achieved by synchronizing and coordinating the activities surrounding the system with other areas in the organization.

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Forecasting Accuracy

The forecasting models in the Demand Planning module improved the accuracy of weekly and daily forecasts. However, they are time series models based on historical data, and do not factor future promotional activity so critical to actual sales levels. The Marketing/Sales department at Yakult generates monthly forecasts by warehouse and product, which reflect promotional plans for that particular location. This data is imported to the system, and compared to the aggregate monthly forecast it generates for the corresponding warehouse and product. Users can extrapolate detailed forecasts by applying the ratio of the two monthly figures. This process of synchronization was able to further improve the accuracy of the detailed forecasts generated by the system.

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Matching Production to Replenishment Schedules

Prior to the implementation of the system, there was no attempt to match production and replenishment schedules. This resulted in frequent supply-demand imbalances, shortages, spoilage and lots of stress. Yakult’s continuous replenishment system incorporates the logic and reports required to address this issue. The system does not schedule the plant. It aggregates daily requirements at the plant level and compares totals to the daily production schedules imported through the interface. A set of management reports helps synchronize the two sets of numbers and flags variances in total weekly production versus required quantities.

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Integration With The Corporate ERP Environment

As an operational, quasi-real time planning and scheduling tool, the system requires and consumes a large volume of daily input data. The resulting delivery schedule, including the composition of each load, is uploaded to the corporate environment for further processing. A major component of both the development and implementation focused on adapting the logic and interface to the corporate data structure, ensuring a seamless, relatively error-free operation.

QUALITY AT YAKULT Yakult’s quality management system (QMS) complies with the International Organization for Standardization’s relevant standard (ISO 9001:2000). This means that Yakult meets the highest international food manufacturing standards. All company procedures are documented and regularly audited. In terms of quality control, individual bottles are randomly inspected for incorrect printing and lid sealing. Product samples are collected and assessed for quality, composition and taste in Yakult’s on-site quality control area.

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WASTE MANAGEMENT Yakult Sonipat is very much aware of the need to minimize its environmental impact. Its waste management strategies, such as recycling of paper products and plastic waste, have resulted in more than 99 percent of raw ingredients being utilized. Cleaning waste goes into a holding tank in the on-the site water treatment facility.

SIX SIGMA OF YAKULT To break from competition an organization has to reconstruct the market boundary which is the first and the foremost principle in creating blue ocean strategy . There are six basic approaches to reconstruct market boundaries also known as Six Path Frameworks . These path challenge the conventional approach of the organization in strategy formulation to work within its boundaries , but instead break out of the known boundaries . Yakult competes with health drinks at the same time it competes with pharma industry . But health drinks producers and pharma brands don’t consider yakult as their competitor . Thus Yakult has created a blue strategy for itself across industries.

CAPACITY BUILDING OF YAKULT Capacity of Yakult depends on the amount of raw material it can obtain from the market. It also depends on the demand of the product in the market. In Yakult plant there are facilities like :Production facility Packaging facility Warehouse facility

ISSUES IN CAPACITY *Size of the market: The production depends on the desire of the market of the product .The company also looks at the structure of the market (oligopoly, monopolistic market etc.).They also look at the adequate number of sources of finance. 20

UTILISATION OF RESOURCES The Company also builds the skills required to have the capacity realized upto the benchmark set.

PROCESS AND CAPACITY ANALYSIS Capacity:-It denotes the maximum operation of product and services the company can achieve using the resources.

SUPPLY CHAIN It starts from the suppliers and ends to satisfying customer .Yakult has an internal capacity of 10 million. Plant size has land capacity of 10 million . Only 4 million bottles can be produced by the size of the employees

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CONCLUSIONS PROBLEMS FACED BY YAKULT: 

Poor availability of stocks

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Slow stock turnaround

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Shelf-life wastage

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Stock being positioned in the wrong place

Yakult has to make a change in how it operates. To stay competitive in a fast changing environment it has to improve its logistical processes and reduce overall supply chain costs. With pragmatic quantitative tools, strong management support and a practical implementation plan it will able to accomplish this in a relatively short period of time The ride is not always smooth, and the process definitely not painless. However, through true team effort and the ability to adjust on the go, without losing sight of the goals, the project team should generate very impressive results.

"India Probiotic Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2019" India's probiotic market is projected to grow at a CAGR of around 19% till 2019 The market has been segmented into Probiotic functional food and beverages; Probiotic drugs and dietary supplements; and Probiotic animal feed. Of these segments, tremendous growth is expected in Probiotic drugs and dietary supplements and Probiotic animal feed segment. Major companies engaged in offering probiotic food products in the Indian market includes Mother Dairy, Amul, Danone Yakult, Nestle, Tablets India, Dr Reddy Laboratories, Unique Biotech, Zeus Biotech, etc. Mother Dairy has the dominant position in the Indian probiotic functional food and beverage market, followed by Amul. Tablets India, on the other hand, has established itself as a major brand in Probiotic drug and dietary supplement market. Over the past few years, India has been witnessing a large number of deaths due to rising incidences of digestive, diarrhoeal and cardiovascular diseases. According to a study conducted by Centre for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), around 18.8% of all deaths in 2010 were caused by cardiovascular diseases alone.

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Yakult has to make a change in how it operates. To stay competitive in a fast changing environment it has to improve its logistical processes and reduce overall supply chain costs. With pragmatic quantitative tools, strong management support and a practical implementation plan it will able to accomplish this in a relatively short period of time The ride was not always smooth, and the process definitely not painless. However, through true team effort and the ability to adjust on the go, without losing sight of the goals, the project team weathered the storms and delivered a system that is currently generating very impressive results.

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