S RAMAKRISHNAN

Divisional Vice President – IT, United Breweries

hat does it mean to you and your organization?

Going Digital according to me is the ability of the organization to be able to leverage the digital tools and technologies and bring about an impactful change in the way business is conducted. While every organization has the opportunity to leverage digital tools and technologies, the impact on the business and transformation capabilities varies depending on the industry and the economic environment the organization is operating. The business is under the purview of the state government and requires numerous documentation for the movement of goods within the State as well as outside the state.

What is your Digital Transformation plan, strategy and the deliverables you expect or already coming in?

We have over the last couple of years leveraged Digital tools and technologies very effectively to digitize various business processes to improve efficiencies and at the same time gain competitive advantages. One of the first digital initiatives that were rolled out was RFID based keg tracking system. Every keg was tagged with RFID tags and its entire movement across the supply chain from the brewery to the distribution points and thereon to the bars and finally return to the brewery is recorded in the system. The system helped improve the turnaround time of kegs thereby increasing the availability of kegs for distribution which in turn helped improve the entire supply chain. The system helped to keep track of the keg inventory on a real-time basis at all locations and the distribution team had clear visibility of the entire supply chain. This helped improve the overall supply chain planning and execution.

The digital sensory evaluation system was another initiative that was undertaken that involved digitization of the complete Sensory Evaluation processes and records. The sensory Evaluation system is a structured process defined for the tasting of beer samples before the product is released in the market. Implementation of this system helped standardize the complete Beer Sensory Evaluation process across all breweries. The structured process discipline mandated by the system improved the overall efficiency of the tasting process. The system saved a considerable amount of time spent on compiling of tasting results for further analysis.

WE HAVE OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS LEVERAGED DIGITAL TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES VERY EFFECTIVELY