Recipe adjustments driven by operator intuition, inconsistent batch quality, and lack of real-time traceability.
Annualized savings of approximately ₹7.4 crore, driven by yield gain, reduced rework, and minimized raw material wastage.
Taste and yield varied across shifts due to unrecorded tweaks.
Digital SOPs captured every setting; product consistency stabilized; yield improved 15%.
In the world of FMCG manufacturing, consistency is currency. Consumers expect the same taste, texture, and aroma with every bottle — regardless of where or when it's produced. This beverage company, one of India's most recognized brands, prided itself on quality. Yet behind its flawless packaging lay an operational inconsistency that silently eroded margins. Each plant followed the same recipe, but results varied — sometimes subtly, sometimes significantly. A bottle filled on the morning shift didn't taste identical to one filled at night. The culprit wasn't poor workmanship; it was human interpretation. Experienced operators had developed 'their version' of ideal machine settings — micro-adjustments to flow rates, filling temperatures, or carbonation pressure — never documented, always instinctive. Over time, these tribal tweaks became unofficial process variations. The brand's consistency, one of its strongest selling points, was at risk.
The company operated multiple bottling and packaging plants across India. While ERP systems handled supply chain and inventory, the shopfloor remained analog in its process control. Operators used physical logbooks and handwritten temperature notes. Quality teams frequently received complaints about flavour intensity or carbonation levels differing across batches. Investigations often ended inconclusively because the process data wasn't recorded in real-time. This invisible knowledge gap resulted in 15% reprocessing losses, wasted raw materials, and frequent customer complaints — translating into crores of rupees in avoidable costs.
Still relying on operators' intuition for recipe control?
