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

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 CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3
OBJECTIVES OF OUR STUDY 4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4
INTRODUCTION 5
ORGANISATIONAL BACKGROUND 5

VISION
MISION

ABOUT THE COMPANY 6

ABOUT THE SOINIPAT PLANT 6
LOCATIONAL BENEFITS 8
THE PRODUCTION FLOW 9

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

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 Finished product

Refrigeration room

Distribution

Hygiene

Yakult quality management system

Waste management

Energy management
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 14

DEMAND PLANNING
FORECASTING
DYNAMIC INVENTORY TARGETS
ALLOCATING STOCK IN SHORTAGE SITUATIONS

TRANSPORTATION OPTIMIZATION AT YAKULT 16

LOAD BUILDER
LOAD SCHEDULER

SYNCHRONIZATION AT YAKULT 18

Forecasting Accuracy
Matching Production to Replenishment Schedules
Integration With The Corporate ERP Environment

QUALITY AT YAKULT 19
WASTE MANAGEMENT 20
SIX SIGMA 20
CAPACITY BUILDING 20
ISSUES IN CAPACITY 20
UTILIZATION OF RESOURCES 21
PROCESS AND CAPACITY ANALYSIS 21
SUPPLY CHAIN 21
CONCLUSIONS 22

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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

Database Collection
Compiling the collected information
Analysis
Interpretation
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 its 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 on-
ground 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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Yakults 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.

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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
37C (body
temperature). The solution is allowed to ferment in the tank for 69 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 2C.

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.

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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

23C
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 Yakults 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

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 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 0C using compressors that are run in the
evenings,
during off-peak rates

Yakults 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.

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

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.

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.

Yakults 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.

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

Yakults quality management system (QMS) complies with the International

Organization for
Standardizations 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 Yakults 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 dont 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.

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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

Slow stock turnaround
Shelf-life wastage
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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