Senior Manager (Health & Wellness), R&D | Britannia Industries Limited | Bangalore
- Spearheaded the renovation of an INR 1000 crore key organizational brand and reformulation and launch of 14 new products by qualifying these through requisite stages of new-product development lifecycle.
- Led an industry-wide first-of-its-kind transformation of an entire brand of products from refined flour to whole wheat flour base; was responsible for the end-to-end process incl. qualifying vendors, assessing factories, and creating specifications.
- Oversaw 5 product development cycles focused on reducing sugar (by 13-20%) & sodium (by 10-30%) and increasing the fibre (by 10-20%) & whole grains (by +50%) within products to strengthen the health credentials of the brand
- Recognised as 1 of 13 from a pool of 100 young managers for the Future Forwards Program, tasked with improving BIL’s top-line through new category creation; the group collaborated on increasing Britannia’s relevance across consumer demographics by working on research-backed ideas pertaining to choices and palate preferences of different consumer sets
- Steered diverse R&D projects, leading a team of 2 while involving internal cross-functional teams (Purchase, Quality, Manufacturing, Marketing, and CMI) and external partners to drive innovation and execution.
- Conducted assessments and led pre-commercial trials across 7manufacturing sites nationwide to ensure seamless product implementation.
Manager (Health & Wellness), R&D | Britannia Industries Limited | Bangalore
- Contributed over INR 20 million to bottom-line profits through cost optimization strategies including initiatives focused on recipe optimization whilst ensuring that the products’ sensory qualities are maintained
- Oversaw the rollout of 10 product recipes and troubleshooting processes, conducting pilot trials followed by factory trials for commercialization across multiple national locations.
- Directly involved in 10+ consumer research studies (including blindfold tests A/B tests, consumer preference tests, and alienation studies)
- Collaborated with multiple internal stakeholders to execute cost efficiency programs (grammage reductions) across major brands for restoring gross margins and maintaining salience
- Handled the stage gate process for 16 products (domestic and export) utilizing SAP, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tool
- Developed a proof-of-principle for reducing negatives in key products using triangle and degree of difference tests, creating the template for all other BIL products. This eventually led to the organisation reducing 5.1% sodium and 1.13% sugar YoY (2022-23)
- Provided direct support to Quality and Purchase departments in qualifying new and alternative vendors, including conducting Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) for all new ingredients.
Management Trainee, R&D | Britannia Industries Limited | Bangalore
- Recognized the market opportunity and developed proof-of-principle for a gluten prototype within the hard and short dough category, introducing an entry-level product for a new market segment.
- Successfully reduced foreign body risks in product by 50% through the identification of contamination sources in bran and proposing enhancements to the wheat grain cleaning process at the supplier's facility to eliminate the same