Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is digitising its manufacturing ecosystem to be future-ready, CEO & MD Rohit Jawa said in the latest annual report of the country’s largest consumer goods company for FY24.
Jawa, who took over from Sanjiv Mehta in June last year, said that two factories at Dapada in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Sonepat in Haryana, had implemented fourth industrial revolution solutions on the shop floor. This had earned them the title of an “End-to-End Lighthouse” factory at the World Economic Forum, making them members of the global Lighthouse network.
This network recognises factories that incorporate artificial intelligence and big data analysis to maximise efficiency and drive sustainable growth, while upskilling their workforce and protecting the environment, Jawa said.
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The Dapada factory manufactures home care products such as Surf Excel, Rin and Vim while the Sonepat unit makes functional nutrition brands such as Horlicks and Boost. Sonepat is the largest manufacturing site for Horlicks.
HUL reaches nine out of 10 Indian households and India is the second-largest market for parent Unilever, after the US. The Indian subsidiary achieved sales of Rs 59,579 crore in FY24, growing 3% year-on-year amid subdued demand, uneven rainfall and deflation.
Jawa said that HUL had 28 of its own factories and 50 manufacturing partners. The company, he said, was looking to make its supply chain nimble and agile as it sought to rollout products faster into the marketplace.
“We instituted single-minute changeovers and online changeover lines across several manufacturing sites,” Jawa said. He said the firm had also introduced nano factories or small-scale production lines, which had helped reduce the batch size of production. This had helped accelerate the launch of innovations into the marketplace.
“Currently, over 250 stock-keeping units (SKUs) are manufactured in our nano factories,” Jawa said. He added that HUL had strengthened quality norms across all manufacturing sites and had developed digital twins for a few critical processes.
Jawa also said HUL had maintained its focus on embedding sustainability across its operations and value chain.
“We drove initiatives in communities aimed at making a positive difference to the people and the planet. For instance, in our journey towards net zero, we announced our collaboration with key chemical companies to pilot the production of near-zero emissions, synthetic soda ash – a key ingredient in laundry powder,” he said.
Jawa also said that the company had engaged with partners to build supplier capacity to reduce plastic in its packaging. This included building capability for post-consumer recycled material including rigids and flexibles. The company had also asked some of its key supplier partners to join its global supplier climate programme through which it could help them develop their emission reduction plan.
From: financialexpress
Financial News
