Client:
A manufacturer of perishable food items.

Challenge for client:

Increase demand predictably from retailers, ensure proper stocking for the ‘72 hour shelf life’ products and reduce wastages   losses arising out of unsold food products.

Issues involved:

1. The shelf life of products was 72 hours.

2. Retailers refused to stock sufficient quantities of food products.

3. Losses arising out of returns and wastages as food products were taken back from retailers on a replenishment basis.

4. Demand was seemingly unpredictable.

5. Further demand seemed to fluctuate across days of the week and across months.

6. Perished (returned) stock was as high as 6-7% of sales.

7. Gross Profit on most SKUs was about 16%.

8. One unit of return negated profits on 6 units of equivalent SKU.

Aspect Ratio Approach:

1. Actual demand data (as against sales) was tracked for 800 retailers for 20 SKUs for 360 days.

2. Build a prediction on demand (µ + σ) for each SKU at each retailer for each day of the week in each lunar month.

3. This provided a more predictable demand.

4. Stocking done against this predicted demand reduced wastages (perished – returns) down to 2%.

5. Savings per annum were in the range of Rs. 1 – 2 crores.

 

Client:
An airline.

Challenge for client:

Reduce wastages in airline catering.

Issues involved:

1. Lot many unconsumed meals were wasted and these were a drain on resources.

2. Optimising the catering requirement as passenger loads varied greatly as per time of the year and days of the week on the same sector.

Aspect Ratio Approach:

1. Modeled the passenger load

   1. Per flight

   2. Per sector

   3. Per day of the week.

2. Measured meal consumption after each flight for 60 days.

3. Built meal loading plan for index of 100 passengers on board – geared to refuse 1st meal to less than 1 in 100000 passengers.

4. Annual savings – Rs. 1- 2 crores.