Niranjan Kulkarni, PhD

Kulkarni addresses supply chain efficiencies on Ingrained Insights podcast

Apr 28, 2022

CRB’s Niranjan Kulkarni, PhD., Sr. Director Consulting Services, joins Ingrained Insights, a Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery podcast. Kulkarni shares several strategies food manufacturers can implement to overcome supply chain disruptions and improve production and labor efficiencies to streamline operations.

“There are strategies that can be recruited to overcome some of the supply chain disruption issues that we are facing,” explains Kulkarni. “Adopting a multi-sourcing strategy, having not only a Tier 1 but also a Tier 2 supplier qualified for the same raw material, can be beneficial.”

Additionally, Kulkarni shares the importance of equipment maintenance and the different philosophies to consider, corrective verse condition-based maintenance, that can aid operations leadership in anticipating problems before they arise. In an effort to avoid downtime, proper equipment maintenance can be critical.

“Any unplanned downtime, any stoppage minor or major, has an impact directly on your throughput and efficiencies.”

He also speaks to the labor shortage and how automation can be leveraged in food manufacturing activities to both streamline processes and prevent workforce turnover.

“Maybe some of those have to be looked into to see if automation is justified – not to reduce workforce, but to better utilize the skills you already have and avoid turnover,” says Kulkarni.

Listen to the full podcast here.