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AnuradhaSolutions

Dairy · Case study

A cold chain designed for the despatch pattern that actually existed

A chilled distribution business losing 9% of despatched value to shrinkage, returns and temperature excursions it could not locate.

Client
Nandini Cold Chain
Location
Belagavi, Karnataka
Duration
15 months
Engagement
Turnkey project management
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Headline result

9.0% → 1.8%

Value loss

Shrinkage, returns and excursions

The situation

What we walked into

Factory Setup & OperationsProject Funding & DPRTechnology & Automation

Nandini distributed chilled dairy across 340 retail points in two districts, with a route structure that had grown by accretion rather than design.

Shrinkage was known in aggregate and unattributable in detail. There was no temperature logging between the plant gate and the retailer's chiller.

A PMKSY cold chain grant application had been prepared and abandoned twice for want of a technically defensible project configuration.

What we did

The engagement, phase by phase

Including the phase the client least enjoyed, which in most of our case studies is the second one.

  1. Phase 1 · Weeks 1–4

    Find the losses

    Temperature loggers on twelve routes for four weeks, plus a returns teardown by SKU, route and retailer. 71% of the loss traced to two route legs and a retailer segment whose own chillers were failing overnight.

  2. Phase 2 · Weeks 4–9

    Redesign the network

    A hub-and-spoke structure with one new 400 MT cold store, revised route legs under a hard time-to-first-drop limit, and a segmented service model for the retailers whose infrastructure could not hold temperature.

  3. Phase 3 · Weeks 8–14

    Fund it properly

    A DPR and PMKSY cold chain grant application with the technical configuration the earlier attempts lacked. Grant of ₹2.9 crore sanctioned against an eligible project cost of ₹7.4 crore.

  4. Phase 4 · Months 4–15

    Build, instrument, hand over

    Cold store commissioned, reefer fleet specified and tendered independently, IoT temperature telemetry to a live dashboard with exception alerts, and route SOPs with a daily cold-chain compliance report.

Measured outcome

The numbers, with their baselines

These are the metrics written into the engagement letter before work started.

₹7.4 Cr

Project funded

Including ₹2.9 Cr PMKSY grant

340 → 610

Retail points served

Same fleet, redesigned routes

-94%

Temperature excursions

Logged incidents per month

₹2.6 Cr

Annual value recovered

From reduced loss

4.5 → 2.1 hrs

Time to first drop

Median across routes

82% → 97%

Fill rate

Retailer order fulfilment

Engagement visual

1Raw intakeWeighbridge, QC, chillingQC 12ProcessingPasteurise, separate, blendQC 23PackingFill, seal, code, cartonQC 34Cold storeBatch hold, FEFOQC 45DespatchRoute load, e-way billQC 5
We had applied for the same grant twice and given up twice. The difference was not the paperwork — it was that this time the project design could be defended.
Girish Kulkarni · Managing Partner, Nandini Cold Chain

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Dairy

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Call
+91 98765 43210
Email
engage@anuradhasolutions.in
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