Amul gold UHT Milk Logistics: Food Systems Logistics

INTRODUCTION

The aim of the project is to take a deeper look into the whole supply chain activities of the final product Amul gold UHT milk, manufactured by Amul dairy, from farm to fork. We will explore the intricate web of activities starting from livestock rearing to distribution channels that enable the safe and quality products to reach the retail outlets and consumers’ home. Most of the information for this project was obtained from Amul TV, the YouTube channel of Amul1.

COMPANY PRESENTATION

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) popularly known as Amul dairy after one of its brand names, is India's largest food products marketing organization with a total brand turnover of US$ 6.2 billion (2021-22) [1]. Its daily milk procurement is approx. 25 million lit per day from 18,600 village milk cooperative societies, 18 member unions covering 33 districts and 3.6 million milk producer members [2]. It is the apex organization of the Dairy cooperatives of Gujarat [2].

GCMMF was founded in pre-independence era in India, as a response to the exploitation of small dairy farmers by traders and agents, especially the monopoly set up by a company called Polson dairy. Following the suggestion of the freedom fighter Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the farmers formed cooperatives and resolved not to provide Polson with any more milk. Milk collection was decentralised, as most producers were marginal farmers who could deliver, at most, 1–2 litres of milk per day. Within 2 years’ time they began pasteurising the collected milk and sold them to consumers in Bombay (now Mumbai) [2].

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

SUPPLY VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS

The Amul model is a three tiered structure. The member milk producers give their milk to village dairy cooperative society, from where it goes to district milk cooperative union. Then the milk goes to state cooperative milk marketing federation. And finally it reaches the consumers.

4.1. Inbound logistics

4.1.1. Purchase of raw materials

Amul collects milk every day from its 3.6 million milk producers spread across thousands of villages in India. Amul procures more than 20 million litres of milk every day [7]. Most of its milk are from small farmers with one to two buffaloes or landless labourers deriving subsistence income from selling few litres of milk to the village cooperative societies. But in the recent times this picture of the cooperative exclusively for the poor producers has been undergoing a subtle change. These farmers are considered by Amul as ‘large’ and they own herd sizes from 10 to more than 100 cows or buffaloes. These large farmers who approach dairying more as a business than subsistence activity, are reckoned to account for about 5 lakh litres a day [6].

The milk comes from cows, mostly Holstein-Friesian (HF) crossbred cows, and buffaloes. Because of the union, the member farmers need to only take care of the production of milk, and there are no worries of price fluctuations and an there is an existence of assured market. As of 2014, roughly three fourths of the consumers price go to the farmers [8]. Amul also provides veterinary doctor services at farm level. Milking used to be done by hand but many initiatives like 50% subsidies for milking machine has made a significant transition to milking machines [6].

The milk is carried by the farmers to their local collection point where they wait in long lines for their turn to handover the milk. The society collects milk twice every day. Before collection, a sample of each member’s milk can is immediately tested for its quality especially milk fat percentage using an electronic milko-tester that measures the fat percentage in the milk. According to the system, cow milk containing 3.5% fat will be paid at half the rate of buffalo milk containing 7% fat even though the solids-not-fat content of both the milk is nearly the same [10]. All the village dairy cooperatives are accredited with ISO 9001:2000.

After confirming the quality of the milk, the milk is poured into cans through a filter to remove any physical contaminants and then pumped into bulk milk coolers where it is store under 4℃. The member farmers will be given their price for their milk directly to their registered bank account. Amul has created a mobile app for the farmers. Once they give their milk, a message comes to their phones giving information about the volume of the milk supplied, the fat content, solids not fat content, and the money earned [11].

In fact, Amul has created mobile applications available for the village dairy cooperative societies and the district milk cooperative union and employees as well. This was made possible with PROMPT equipment Pvt. Ltd., which created these applications and other systems to forge an automatic milk collection system for Amul [17], [18].

Chilled milk is then pumped into an insulated tanker under controlled temperature. Each collection centres or society is also equipped with automatic weighing machine for weighing of milk with data processing facilities and the entire operation is electronically captured with member-id [9]. These co-operative societies have elected board which put forward their own actions to promote dairy and keep it under check. The Amul model of milk collection eliminates middle-persons.

The milk from the co-operative societies is transported to Amul Dairy Plant once a day through road milk tankers that keep milk under 4℃. These insulated tankers carry milk from three to four societies to achieve economy in transportation. These tankers have a tamper proof seal to prevent unauthorised access. Geo-remote sensor-based vehicle tracking system is used to efficiently transport milk [9].

4.1.2. Warehousing of raw materials and inventory control

Milk is a very perishable commodity and thus cannot be kept in the storage for long. The milk is stored in the societies after collection in bulk chillers below 4℃. This temperature is maintained even during transport where the milk is kept in insulated tankers. 

4.2 Production logistics

4.2.1 Manufacturing

Once the tankers reach the Amul plant, the vehicles are identified using the vehicle tracking system. Amul plants are spread across 10 states in India, mostly towards the northern end. At the milk receiving dock, a trained factory supervisor welcomes the tamper proof sealed milk truck. Milk samples are taken from each tank immediately and analysed for quality parameters in a sophisticated lab. A plunger is used to mix the milk thoroughly, also the sampling tool is sanitised in bromine solution before sampling.

Amul is accredited with certification of ISO 2200:2005 & ISO 9001 for its operations and plants [9].The quality control and quality assurance department of Amul ensures the quality of its products by performing organoleptic test, temperature, etc. in the Raw Milk Reception Dock (RMRD), Clot On Boiling (COB) test, pH, alkaline phosphatase test, titrable acidity, etc. in dairy laboratory. The results of each sample are recorded in the computer automatically and is communicated to the society from where the milk has come. After getting conformation from the quality control department the milk is pumped from the tankers to raw milk storage silos in the milk unloading station. The milk is stored in the silos under 4℃.

Some of the operations undertaken by the quality control and assurance department are as follows:

a) Performing organoleptic tests of incoming raw milk

b) Chemical and microbial analysis of incoming raw milk

c) Checking the quality of milk at processing stage and after processing

d) Conducting swab tests to ensure sterility of food contact surfaces.

e) Conducting tests to confirm the quality of dairy products.

g) Checking the quality of incoming packing materials for milk and its products.

h) Checking for the suitability of water for use in dairy industry.

Milk then undergoes a pre-treatment. It undergoes bactofugation to remove bacteria and foreign material impurities. After filtration milk goes for pasteurisation. Milk is pasteurised for 15 seconds at 72.5℃. Then it is instantly chilled. This kills almost all pathogenic bacteria in the raw milk. The milk for UHT process is then stored in storage tanks under 4℃ within the plant [7].

UHT (Ultra High Temperature) is a process where milk is heated very quickly to 135- 140℃, held at this temperature for 3-4 s. Then cooled down to around 20-30℃. This quick heating and cooling kills virtually all the bacteria in the milk. Out of the two types of UHT treatment methods, direct and indirect. Amul employs indirect heating where the milk is heated using plate heat exchangers.

After UHT treatment in the aseptic packaging section sourced from Tetra Pack, the milk is then standardised to contain minimum of 4.5% fat and Solids Not Fat (SNF) of minimum 8.5%. Homogenisation decreases the size and the total surface area of fat globules in the milk. This reduces the tendency of milk to form a creamy layer at the surface and in contact with the container. In the year 2022-23, Amul produced 2502 lakh litres of milk [12].

4.2.2 Product packaging

Amul has in house plant for various packaging requirements. Pasteurised milk that is stored in silos are sent to the aseptic packing section. The milk is now UHT (Ultra High Technology) treated. Amul’s APS (Aseptic Packaging System) has the capacity to pack 8 lack litres of milk per day.

Aseptic packaging material has 6 layers; 1) polyethylene or plastic that guards against moisture, 2) Paper board that gives strength and stability, and also can be printed over with colourful marketing information, 3) Polyethylene again that acts as an adhesive for the next layer, 4) Aluminium acts as a light, air and odour barrier, and prevents harmful bacteria, 5) Polyethylene which acts as an adhesive for the inner most layer, and 6) Food grade polyethylene which seals the flavour of the products.

Aseptic packaging material that is printed with Amul marketing information is stored in the inventory as large heavy rolls. These rolls are picked up by a worker using a pick and move lift and takes them to the aseptic packaging machines and loads the rolls on the feeder section of the APS section.

After loading, the operator takes a sample by cutting a piece from the packaging material to do lab test. APS unit works in a closed environment to facilitate a very high standard of hygiene. Workers use the disinfectant very frequently to keep their hands clean.

While packing material rolls in to meet processed aseptic milk the operator also changes an adhesive plastic tape that seals the sides of the packing material which takes a cylindrical shape on a later stage. This special kind of plastic material sits in between the two ends and on heating sticks them vertically. After the two ends stick, a rolling two side arm presses, shapes, seals the package horizontally after filling with milk, and cuts each package separately. This machine makes 7 packs per second, that is 25,200 packs per hour. This APS system is fully automated.

Samples of package that are taken from various points are tested for its like conductivity test for leak proof, stretch test for strength of joints. Also, boxes are kept under observation for four days before sending them to the market.

4.3 Outbound logistics

4. 3.1 Warehousing and inventory management

Amul has a partnership with Attar logistics Pvt. Ltd. to manage their warehousing and logistics [14], [15]. This company has some features that ensure safety like biometric attendance, CCTV cameras, anti-theft alarm, and GPRS software for online tracing of vehicles.

The milk packets from the APS are blow dried and a printer mark these with a date and batch number. A laser gun counts the number of packs. After this, the packs enter a serpent like buffer machine so that the milk packs are stored for 5-7 minutes without holding the continuous process. After storage, the packets move to the secondary packing system. These packs are then separated into blocks of 24. And moved by a lever gently to a carton packing station. A vacuum cup pulls a strong corrugated box and places it on a platform. The block of milk packs slides on top of the corrugated box and then it is wrapped around from all directions. A conveyer then takes it to the shrink- wrapping area for sturdiness. A machine wraps these boxes with polyethene and then these are passed through a hot tunnel which shrinks the polyethylene. A laser beam system controls the movement of the boxes and directs them how to board a lift gently. The lift takes these boxes to ASRS (Automated Storage and Retrieval System) [7].

The packed milk cartons are stacked nicely in the store room to be delivered to the market. The aseptic packed materials nicely packed in delivery cartons reach from all packing stations to a fully automatic modern storage system, fully controlled by the computers which decides where to store the pallets made with these cartons. The pallets are stacked over a 30 m high specially designed marked place by a robotic system which places and later retrieves these pallets. This is called an Automatic Storage and Retrieval System, which also chooses the pallets as per the demand from the racks. A robotic system then brings it to the delivery platform. A trained forklift operator lifts these and places them in insulated trucks. An external agency person keeps the count of the pallets that are loaded in each container. The milk cartons are placed in the truck with some space in between to allow air passage and thus uniform temperature for all unit of product. The trucks deliver the product onwards to over 1000 cities and towns across India. An external agency person keeps the count of the pallets that are loaded in each container [7]. 

4.3.2 Order fulfilment, shipping

Amul and National Dairy Development Board, in collaboration with railway Rail Milk Indian railways decided to use Rail Milk Tankers (RMT) to transport milk to neighbouring states. The rail tankers store more than 4 lakh litres of milk [7], [15]. Amul gold UHT milk is distributed to the consumers through Amul franchisee parlours, food services and online platforms [16].

Conclusions

Amul has a very well established system that manages its logistics activities, especially in case of milk which is an easily perishable commodity. But there are some novel technologies that can be adopted by Amul to make the whole system more efficient, effective, transparent, traceable, and sustainable. Amul has already created a mobile app for its member farmers, village dairy cooperative societies (VDCS), milk unions and its employees. Amul in partnership with IBM, already has private cloud and disaster recovery systems, and real-time insights and control. But Amul can further adopt better AI and machine learning for predictive maintenance, demand forecasting, inventory management, route optimisation, etc. [19]. Even though many operations such as the aseptic packaging section is fully automated, there are still sections towards the milk procurement area that needs more automation. For example farmers have to wait in long lines to handover their milk to the collection centre. A possible solution for this could be an additional feature in the app that allows farmers to make appointments. The app can also indicate busy hours to the farmers so that they can arrive at a less busy hour. Amul already uses solar water heaters to supply hot water for the requirements of the processing plant, and has done some works in constructing biogas plants in the farms for the farmers use. But more sustainable options like innovative packaging with lesser plastic layers such as signature evo from SIG, can be used [7]. Amul can improve their reverse logistics and recycling by placing reverse vending machines for tetra packs in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Kochi.

Overall Amul being one of the largest producers of milk in the world, hopefully would be able to adopt and make the best suited improvements in the near future. 

References

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