Started as Malabar Chemicals in 1909 with the first factory established in 1948, the legacy Ayurvedic manufacturer was rebranded as the Kairali Ayurvedic Group in 1989. With the integration of latest technology, the company now manufactures more than 923 stock-keeping units (SKUs) comprising traditional Ayurvedic products, proprietary oils and cosmetics, herbal cosmetics, herbal teas, proprietary medicines and hand sanitizers.
In an interview with Manufacturing Today, Abhilash K Ramesh, Executive Director, Kairali Ayurvedic Group shares how they are adopting the latest technology and manufacturing process to make their place felt in the holistic products market.Â
Here are the excerpts:Â
What’s the current market scenario, demand and competition?
The current market scenario is I would say quite good and has improved over the last few years as a lot more people have been moving towards a holistic or you can say a balanced lifestyle (side-effects free). So, People have been adopting Ayurveda all over the world, not just in India. It’s a constant uptick year on year in terms of the general market.
The scope for a country like India is also very large. The market has good demand and the potential is quite large. We’ve been trying to sustain and increase our territory and distribution outreach year on year in India as well as internationally.
What are the specialities of your products?
Since we have a vast array of products, each line has its own specialty, be it the Kairali Organics range which is more or less 90% chemical free. We’re trying to produce pure Ayurveda products. Our classical range maintains the traditional Ayurvedic standards, as per our traditional books. We are also trying to produce both old and newer products as naturally as possible. Sourcing from the correct resources matters here as well while producing as per the entire production process and steps without cutting corners or cost.
That I would say is our specialty. Each range has its own USP, specialty and benefits as such.
How are you competing with Allopathic products?
Allopathy is not considered a direct competition for us as we have selected a niche of products where I think we have an additional edge or benefit in terms of products and we would like to focus on those itself. We are at a stage wherein our products are sometimes even prescribed by certain allopathic doctors. A liver tonic cannot be replaced by any other product. Having said that, we also know that our clients are consistently searching for more holistic products. The method of treatment of patients in Ayurveda and the method of treatment of patients in Allopathy are very different. Therefore, you can see that both are not a direct competition to each other, rather at times complimentary.
It’s a choice for the patient to choose either science and which to follow.
Talk us through the manufacturing processes that Kairali follows?
The manufacturing processes that we now follow have been adopted recently. We work according to the TOC (Theory of Constraints) by Gold Wrap. This helps us focus on inventory turn, working capital, and cash velocity among others.
Those are pillars that basically surround our key result areas (KRA’s), key performance indicators (KPI’s) and management information systems (MIS’s).
This has helped us a lot in improving efficiency in our system, increasing margins, selecting vendors, etc.
What kind of quality control process and certifications do you have?
We have many certifications for ISO & WHO. Our products are also cruelty free. In terms of QC & QA, our systems have been upgraded to take care of a lot of the processes in terms of vendor sourcing and shortlisting to production at each stage as well as storage and distribution channels have all been implemented or are in the process of being implemented.
What parameters/technologies and processes do you follow?
We have been quite busy in the last two years. We have built our own customised ERP solution on the gold wrap principle of TOC. We have upgraded our entire production process and it’s been automated. What is to be produced and when it to be produced, what is to be produced and how much is to be procured when and at what rate is all now system dependent and it’s automated as a process. Which calculates how a day’s inventories are held, what inventories are moving at what rate, and accordingly as per seasonality everything is decided including the sales team, and everyone is monitored now through MIS’s and automated technologies that we have implemented. Our reports that are generated. We have implemented Machine Learning in terms of where we have to sell our products and who we have to sell our products to and at what margins, etc. So that has been a journey that now we have deployed in our systems.
What are some of the major challenges you faced during the pandemic?
Our current challenge was the biggest, because while being in the pandemic, we needed to upgrade our systems, our monitoring process had to go digital a lot faster and even our digital adoption had to be a lot faster.
Another big challenge was training and finding suitable staff. Logistics was a big issue as well and it still is. It’s quite a task looking at the current scenario, lockdown, fluctuating supply and demand, depleting resources, etc.
I can say though that things are slowly opening, things are getting better.
Earlier, the supply chain had broken down drastically, over the last few years; prices of raw material had gone through the roof. That’s a big challenge that we are facing. Also, now retaining and getting new manpower, quality manpower to get specially manpower that understands technology or stays long enough to adapt to new technology.
What are the key drivers of rising demand for Ayurvedic products?
India is the home of Ayurveda and it is this health consciousness amongst us that has really helped us in keeping the growing demand for Ayurvedic products.
This has definitely helped us boost sales across India. Our products were always in demand and the pandemic has helped create further interest bringing a big surge. The pandemic has also helped us in bringing Ayurveda education amongst the masses about living a more holistic and Ayurvedic lifestyle.