Interview with Hepil Doshi Assistant Vice-President, Digital Transformation, Bikaji Foods International

The manufacturing industry is undergoing a significant digital revolution, driven by the adoption of cutting-edge technologies to enhance efficiency, speed, quality and decarbonisation. As companies strive to meet evolving consumer demands in a competitive environment, several key digitalisation trends are emerging in the sector. Automation and technologies such as, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms, predictive analytics, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) are streamlining operations, improving decision-making, and helping companies meet their sustainability commitments and maintain high product standards. For instance, by incorporating ERP systems across various functions, from procurement to sales, companies gain real-time visibility into their operations, allowing for more informed decision-making and better coordination between departments. However, despite the promising potential of these technologies, organisations face several challenges in their digital transformation journey. Cybersecurity remains a significant concern, along with high initial investment costs and training of employees to integrate these technologies in the most efficient manner. Top managers from companies in the food manufacturing sector talk about their digital initiatives, the key barriers to technology adoption (particularly for small and medium enterprises), and their road maps for digital transformation, going forward…

What are the key technology trends shaping the manufacturing sector?

For the FMCG sector, and specifically in food manufacturing, automation is playing a vital role, ensuring speed, accuracy, quality and growth. A couple of years ago, technology was considered a cost, but now the industry has changed its mindset and technology is considered an investment.

AI/ML, GenAI, RPA and chatbots are some of the key trends dominating the manufacturing sector. Such technologies are helping organisations improve their efficiency and produce better results within the same time frame, with higher accuracy.

As the world moves towards cloud technologies, cybersecurity is becoming the most critical component for each industry. In the future, it will become a necessity for all.

What are the key information and communication technology (ICT) technologies and solutions being used by your organisation?

We believe that technology is always a wise investment that gives good returns in terms of enhanced control with high accuracy. We are leveraging a renowned ERP system along with multiple automation systems at various levels. Moreover, our manufacturing facilities are highly automated, with advanced technology.

We believe that data is key for any decision, and hence we ensure that decisive data is available with the top management in the form of dashboards and analytical reports, with best-in-class business intelligence platforms.

Further, in an industry like ours, storage and retrieval of goods is always a challenge. To overcome this, we have installed an ASRS system that facilitates fast, accurate and maximum utilisation of storage space.

Normally, organisations make their decisions based on their primary data. But in this competitive market, relying only on primary data was not giving us a complete picture. Hence, we took a step ahead and implemented a system to manage and track our secondary data as well and give us a bird’s eye view of the market.

What are the key issues in implementing digital solutions?

Implementing digital solutions is always a bumpy ride due to many internal and external reasons. I would like to highlight a few of them:

• Long-standing legacy practices and ways of working
• Technology adaptability concerns and steep learning curves for users/age issues
• Fear of job loss due to automation
• Low acceptance of behavioural changes
• Finding the combination of the right technology, right partner, right time and right people – a single wrong step creates a hurdle in implementation
• Negative influences
  Apart from these obstacles, new and advanced technologies are also an expensive affair, and budget plays an important role in the adoption of these technologies.

What is your organisation’s road map for digital transformation?

We believe that technology is the future, and we have a well-designed roadmap of digital transformation. We are upgrading our ERP system and expanding it to all our subsidiaries and business units. We are also improving our security landscape with the aim of ISO certification for both the IT and OT landscapes.

In addition, we are onboarding advanced people and tech platforms, with the aim to increase the happiness index of our employees. We are strengthening our distribution network with advanced tools to capture market insights and gain visibility. We are also rebuilding our e-commerce platform with advanced technology, and creating a tool to increase our direct reach with retailers and consumers.

“We believe that technology is always a wise investment that gives good returns in terms of enhanced control with high accuracy.” Hepil Doshi