Technology driving dairy business
Some examples of implementation of low-cost yet viable technologies in Dairy Industry
Traditionally, Indian dairy industry has been fighting many difficulties relating to inefficient systems which results in deterioration of dairy product quality, and malpractices in pricing and weighing at collection center, loss and pilferage during transit, corruption and poor delivery time, involvement of too many intermediaries.
Streamlining of business process with usage of smart low cost technologies enables a dairy company to overcome the hurdles. Technology and increased access to data are enabling dairy business to make smarter day-to-day decisions to stabilize milk procurement, production and supply chain solutions. Data driven technology doesn’t replace good management; it enhances it. Further, any technological solution to support management should not come at exorbitant pricing.
A technology driven dairy has to have four pillars:
-Own smart milk procurement network and efficient raw milk transportation
-Dairy processing plant automation for quality and consistency using online smart sensor technologies
-Marketing with cold chain monitoring.
-E-admin/ finance management
Here are some examples of implementation of low-cost yet viable technologies by “Dugdh Dhara” in action:
Procurement Network driven by Mobile Phones and 4g Network
Mobile App based procurement at village level, which reduces the cost of Automated Milk Collection Units (AMCUs) and enhance the transparency of transaction between the farmer and the Dairy. Standalone proprietary AMCUs are pricier and involve costly maintenance charges. Availability of 4g Network and mobiles in rural Bihar has helped in reducing the cost from Rs. 20,000 per AMCU device to almost nil. An annual charge for cloud services is common cost factor for both the setups.
This Smart Milk Procurement System (SMPS) not only ensured the transparency but also gave a unique advantage by reducing the processing time to 10 percent against manual processing of bills of farmers. Further, it helps in gaining confidence of milk producers.
Indeed, Dairy gets the entire supplier information through this systems integration on real time basis. The information related to members, fat content, volume of the milk procured and the amount payable to the member are accessible on real-time basis. This helps in stable milk supply and deters intermediaries in disposing milk locally during peak requirement seasons. Milk Procurement is all about “monitoring of intermediaries and servicing to milk producers”.
GPS driven Supply Chain Network
Low cost GPS driven technology stop theft of goods and fuel, and increase savings. Reduced cost of GPRS data packs with the increased competition in telecom sector has helped further in cost of operating such devices.
Usage of this technology in procurement and delivery vehicles has reduced unauthorized usage of vehicles and increased the accountability of drivers and employees.
Quality control using Temperature tracking
IOT based in house developed device to track the temperature of cold room, incubation chamber, refrigerated Vans and refrigerators at retailers. This device is based on Arduino and GSM/GPRS module to upload temperature data to cloud based services. This device cost less than Rs. 1,500/- and serves the purpose of other high end costly technologies available in market.
Implementation of this technology is helping us in keeping track of cold room, refrigerated vehicle and maintaining the quality of dairy products. No risks of product damage because of non-compliance of temperature. Early stage monitoring enables proactive action in cold chain and refrigerators at retailers’ point of sale.
Temperature recorded is also displayed locally so that people who monitors the storage can also get to know what is recorded which would enhance the compliance level. Staying on top of the technology, SMS based alerts and push notifications (cost effective) through mobile apps are also planned to be implemented.
