Kathmandu University School of

Management

Operations Strategy Report

Bottlers Nepal Limited

Prepared By: Nikhil and Group (BBA 6th Semester, Room: 208)
Members: Aashish Piya (11716) || Crystal Manandhar (11722)
Kamal Koirala (11732)|| Nikhil Narsingh Shakya (11740)
Roshan Gautam(11758)|| Sujan Adhikari (11775)|| Suman Poudel (11776)
Submitted To: Mr. Sandeep Shrestha
Faculty , Operations Management

Acknowledgement:

This research paper would not be completed without the contribution from various individuals and
organization. We are really grateful for their generous help and support during the preparation of this
project report.
First of all, We would like to offer our sincere gratitude to the KUSOM management in general and Mr.
Sandeep Shrestha (Faculty of Operations Management) in particular who has given this wonderful
opportunity to engage in research at this undergraduate level. It is because of this project that we get to
learn many things regarding the operations of Real world organization like Bottlers Nepal ltd. His
guidelines and persistent support has been of great boost to complete this paper in time.
Further, We would also like to thank Bottlers Nepal ltd management for their generous acceptance of
plant visit ; To be particular, We would like to thank Miss Pallavi Gautam ( PAC executive) who
managed for our plant visit in such a short notice of 2 days, Miss Shraddha Khadka for continuously
keeping up with us regarding the visit and Miss Jarina Bajracharya, who guided us the whole time during
our tour and patiently answered our all the queries without hesitation
Finally, We would also like to thank Ms. Kriti Manandhar, for her consistent support during the
preparation of this paper being an Implant Trainee at the Bottlers Nepal ltd and to all our classmates for
their Ideas, Inspirations and Help as they are assigned with the same project ( But at different
organization).

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Study Background ..............................................................................................................1
1.2. Objectives of the Project .....................................................................................................1
1.3. Scope of the project ............................................................................................................2
1.4. Limitations of the Project ...................................................................................................2

Chapter 2: Methodology
2.1.Data Collection Procedures..................................................................................................3
2.2.Variables Measured .............................................................................................................3

Chapter 3: Company Information

3.1.Brief Introduction to Coca-Cola Company ..........................................................................4
3.2.Introduction To The Bottlers Nepal Ltd ..............................................................................4
3.3.Company's Vision, Mission and Purpose ...........................................................................5
3.4.Operations Strategy and Competitiveness ...........................................................................5
3.5.Competitive Strategy ...........................................................................................................5

Chapter 4: Product Information

4.1.Product History ....................................................................................................................6
4.2.Product Design Specifications .............................................................................................6
4.3.Production System ...............................................................................................................7
4.4.Product Lifecycle .................................................................................................................7
4.5.Product Strategy ...................................................................................................................7
4.6.Product Development Process .............................................................................................8
4.7.Production/Operation System ..............................................................................................8

Chapter 5: Process Design

5.1.Process of Manufacturing The Product................................................................................9

Chapter 6: Other Operations Strategies and Analysis

6.1.Location Strategy ...............................................................................................................14
6.2.Layout Strategy ..................................................................................................................15
6.3.Supply Chain Strategy .......................................................................................................15
6.4.Inventory Management/Warehouse Strategy .....................................................................15
6.5.Human Resource Strategy..................................................................................................16
6.6.Production Scheduling Strategy.........................................................................................16
6.7.Quality Control ..................................................................................................................16

Chapter 7: Recommendations ...................................................................................................17

Chapter 8: Conclusion .................................................................................................................18

Bibliography .................................................................................................................................19

Annex ............................................................................................................................................20

1. Introduction:
1.1. Study Background:
The need for practical knowledge is indispensable in the present context of Management study.
To utilize the theoretical concepts that is learned within the classroom, The need for observing,
analyzing, understanding and criticizing the real world application is the must. It is therefore,
every management course today has some kind of project and field work to be done such that the
student's horizon of knowledge will not remain limited within theoretical study.
This report on Operations strategy within Bottlers Nepal ltd. is an project undergone as the part
of requirement of 3 credit course of Operations Management. As an opportunity to understand
the operations concept and their application in the real world application, This project was
conducted with thorough study of operations within Bottlers Nepal ltd. With the group of 7
members contributing to the entire project, not only does it try to fulfill the requirement of the
credit course but ensures to provide some valuable information to the readers in terms of
Operations Management and strategy.

1.2. Objective of the Project:

With the broad objective to learn and analyze and then present in paper the actual operations
process in the real world organization (i.e. Bottlers Nepal ltd) with respect to the concepts of
operation management, We have undergone this project work . However, we have listed out the
following as our objectives in the more narrowed points :

To familiarize with the industrial sector and to gain practical knowledge by observing
and getting the detailed overview of the operations process in the Bottlers Nepal Ltd.
To analyze the operations( The actual manufacturing process of CocaCola) of Bottlers
Nepal ltd from the perspective of various operations management concept like Process
strategy, Location strategy, Layout strategy, Quality control strategy and so on.
To find out the rationale behind the various operations strategy used from the on-visit
interview with the operation manager and fit it with our understanding of OM concepts.
To analyze the information collected , understand the effectiveness of the concepts used,
problem therein and the potential drawback and concerns
Finally, To provide recommendation for the betterment of the process , if we consider
there need to be any with explicit description

1.3. Scope of the Project:

Bottlers Nepal Ltd in itself is a larger organization in perspective of Nepalese industrial sector.
As already stated in the introduction, The entire plant is divided into different managerial
departments as in the bureaucratic larger organizations:
Marketing section/Demand Creation
Finance Section
Human Resource section (Administration section)
Supply chain (includes Production and Quality Control)
In this regard, since we were observing the major operation process in terms of production and
quality control, so our analysis and description is limited only to the supply chain department.
Other sideline operations in other department were not the part of our study. And with this
concentrated scope, this paper tries to provide in-depth description and analysis of the operations
within supply chain part of the organization and provide recommendation for any improvement
needed.

1.4. Limitations of the Project:

The limitations of this project can be listed out as:

The scope limited within the study of supply-chain Department of organization (i.e.
Production and quality control)
As a observer from management background, We didn't have any knowledge of technical
aspects (Like chemicals, Details of machinery etc), The analysis of the operations is
limited within the simple operation process without any use of jargons.
Some confidential information like the Water Treatment Plant layout chart were not
provided. So, in that context, The paper is limited by the ability to present detailed
information.
Focused more on the description and matching the actual operation with that of the
concept learned, This paper may however be limited by the researchers(group of
students) ability to do in-depth analysis regarding concerns and problems from operations

2. Methodology:
2.1. Data Collection Procedures: Here is the list of method and procedures used for collecting
the data to be used in the paper
Primary Method: Primary method is the process of collecting the data first hand by the
researcher of the paper themselves. Here, in this report, we have relied majorly upon the
primary data collection procedure to make our paper more credible and accurate. Two major
process used under it are as follows:

Observation Method: As a part of the OM project, we, the group of seven people visited
The Bottlers Nepal ltd situated in Balaju Industrial District on the date 26th of may 2014.
The confirmation of same can be found on the annex which includes the confirmation
letter for visit by Bottlers Nepal ltd. For the major text/body of the paper i.e. process of
manufacturing, Detailed observation was inevitable. It is therefore we had a thorough
observation of the Plant for about half an hour guided by the Supervisor Miss Jarina
Bajracharya.
Direct Interview: Another primary method we relied upon is the direct interview method.
After half an hour session of plant visit, We indulged in another half hour for the direct
interview regarding the questions we needed to get answer of ,with Miss Jarina
Bajracharya( Touring supervisor) and Miss Pallavi Gautam( PAC executive at Bottlers
Nepal ltd)

Secondary Method: Apart from the primary source of the information, completing the
project required the use of secondary sources like the internet searches for the introduction
part ,for downloading some of the layout of Coca-Cola as suggested by Miss Jarina
Bajracharya herself and any other unclear part that we needed to search. Furthermore, A part
of implant report was also provided by one of the implant trainee Miss Kriti Manandhar, so
that we could understand the process better.

2.2. Variables Measured:

The following are the variables measured and analyzed not in the quantitative term but in the
qualitative term as :

Overall Operational effectiveness,

Quality Maintenance effort,
Employee efficiency ,
Inventory and warehouse effort
Supply chain effort.

3. Company Information
3.1. Brief Introduction of The Coca Cola Company:
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer,
retailer and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, which is headquartered
in Atlanta, Georgia. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in
1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia. The company operates
a franchised distribution system dating from 1889 where The Coca-Cola Company only produces
syrup concentrate which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the world who hold an
exclusive territory,except for the two countries Cuba and North Korea
3.2. Introduction to The Bottlers Nepal ltd:
As stated in the introduction part of The coca-cola Company, The Bottlers Nepal Ltd is the part
of a franchised distribution system holding the exclusive territorial right to bottle and sell the
flagship product of The Coca-Cola company like Coke, Sprite, Fanta within Nepal. In fact,
Bottlers Nepal Ltd is a part of another large bottler of the Coca-Cola brand named Coca-Cola
Sabco which introduced bottling rights from The Coca-Cola Company for Nepal in
2004.However, with the establishment of Bottlers Nepal Ltd in 1979, local production had
already started .
Bottlers Nepal Limited(BNL), established in 1979 is located in Balaju Industrial District (BID) 7
km from central Kathmandu. The organization is a public organization occupying a total area of
23.6 Ropani with almost all area covered by the plant. Bottlers Nepal limited(BNL) is the only
bottler of Coca-Cola products in Nepal, and has two bottling plants; namely Kathmandu(Bottlers
Nepal Limited-BNL) and Bharatpur (Bottlers Nepal (Terai) limited) which is 160 km from
Kathmandu, its capital. the company as of now is one of the major industry in Nepal under the
beverage sector with high end manufacturing plant and process as per the standard of the
CocaCola company. This plant currently runs under the country manager Salman Latif Rawn. B
The BNL plant located in Balaju (Our project is based on this particular plant, not that of
Nawalparasi, though there exists similar arrangements )has been divided into different sectors for
the proper management and running of the plant. Although the plant is divided into different
sectors, all the sectors are co-related to each other, and follow the motto to be successful in both
producing quality beverage and earn a good profit.
The plant is divided into 4 major managerial departments:
Marketing section/Demand Creation
Finance Section
Human Resource section (Administration section)
Supply chain (includes Production and Quality Control)

3.3. Company's Vision, Mission and Purpose:

Basically, Bottlers Nepal Ltd being a part of Coca-Cola Sabco, one of the larger bottler of
the Coca-Cola brand in the world, It shares this company's vision , mission and objectives
modified as per the need of our country.
Vision: To support Coca-Cola Sabco be the best bottler of CocaCola in the world in terms of
return on capital employed as well as sales volume.
Purpose: To create value for everyone touched by our business by providing, with passion and
focus, the right refreshment, at the right price, in the right place.
Values: To create an environment where our people are passionate about performance.
3.4. Operation Strategy and Competitiveness:
Basically, Coca-Cola Sabco, a South African bottling company, being one of the largest bottlers
of the CocaCola Brand, The competition it faces is majorly from the other bottlers of the same
brand. Apart from, promoting the CocaCola brand against other brands like Pepsi, It also has to
maintain its supremacy among the bottlers of the same brand. So, these two aspects of the
competition affects their operation strategy and competitiveness, which ultimately can be seen
within the BNL plant in Balaju.

3.5. Competitive Strategy:

Against other Brands: To compete against other brands, Product differentiation has always been
the major aspect. This can be apparent from the fact that the major syrup concentrate is directly
produced under the Coca-Cola company and distributed around the world to the bottlers. Till
date, No other company has exactly duplicated its formula.
Against other Bottlers: Now that, competing against other brands is majorly done by Product
differentiation strategy. But then to compete against other bottlers of the same brand (along with
competing against other brands), Other micro aspects like Operation strategy plays a vital role.

Basically, again under the operations strategy, Differentiation strategy is maintained by

CocaCola Sabco at the Bottlers Nepal Ltd Plant in Balaju. BNL plant in Balaju is a high
end facility plant with millions of investment on Water treatment, Effluent Treatment and
Filling plant, probably the only such plant in Nepal.
Apart from Differentiation, their operations strategy even focus on the high speed
response. With a robust Consumer Response System, BNL plant addresses any
consumer/customer concerns, ideas, suggestions - either on product and its quality or on a
sock supply-maintenance of equipment etc in friendly and timely manner.

4. Product Information:
4.1. Product History:
The major product we focus in this Paper is the Coke or Coca-Cola itself with slight references
to other flavors of this carbonated Beverage brand like Fanta, Sprite and Kinley soda bottled by
the Bottlers Nepal Ltd within Nepal.
Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John
Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing
tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century. As
a substitute for dangerous opiate The prototype Coca-Cola recipe was formulated at Pemberton's
Eagle Drug and Chemical House, a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia, originally as a coca wine.
So, The product's initial history dates back to 1886 . From then, Till now, the major concentrate
is a still a outcome of secret recipe sold by The Coca-Cola company throughout the world.
Though the major aspect, the secret recipe still remains unchanged, The evolution has occurred
in other part of the product including bottling and introducing other flavors as well. With the
start of bottling in 1891, The bottle design has gone through continuous evolution which can be
seen in the picture attached here. Furthermore, Coke has itself introduced many other flavors of
the coke itself, like Diet Coke, Cola lime and so on , including other product line as well like
Fanta and sprite. In this Regard, BNL plant has a product with a really impressive history.

4.2. Product Design Specification:

As already stated, The product of the company is non alcoholic carbonated beverages. There are
4 different flavors. They are : Coca cola , Fanta , Sprite and Kinley Club Soda
They are packaged in

 250 ml RGB
200 ml RGB
500 ml PET
1.5 lt PET
2.25 lt PET
Note: Here RGB means returnable glass bottle, The one where the bottle is to be returned to the
seller and PET means Poly ethylene Terepthalate i.e. type of plastic. So basically one is
returnable glass bottle, other is plastic bottle which we can widely see in the Nepalese market.
4.3. Production System:
The production system can be more or less deemed as the continuous system. It is because the
plant operates 24 hours a day, under three shifts of 8 hours each. Only breakdown would be the
normal maintenance work every 48 hours that happens without dismantling. However, having
said that , This continuous working hour is only during the peak season that start from March to
October (summer season) and for the rest of the months the working hour is reduced due to lean
season (winter season). In fact, the major maintenance process happen in the month of November
and December every year when entire production come into an halt. They usually meet the
demand in this session through their stock.
4.4. Product Life Cycle
The product is in its maturity phase in terms of lifecycle. The fact that the Coke has established
itself as a quality beverage brand all around the world and successfully captured the major
market share of the beverage industry ( even in Nepal), shows that the product is in its maturity
phase. Another aspect of the Coke like developing another product flavor(line) like Sprite, Fanta
and continuous promotion to reinforce the same perception of CocaCola is the things normally
done under maturity phase of the product. Finally, The competitors like Pepsi has already
established itself and there's a huge competition within these two beverage giants; Again the
common feature of product which is under its maturity phase.
4.5. Product Strategies:
Basically, Bottlers Nepal ltd under the authority of The Coca-Cola company focuses on the
poduct differentiation strategy. Apart from the secret formula that is directly obtained from the
parent company which helps to maintain the differentiation of the product (Coke) from
operations view point, The overall marketing strategy of Coke also adds on to differentiate their
brand and product perception into the mind of customer. For instance: Coca cola( BNL plant)
successfully markets Coke not just any beverage product, but something that spreads happiness
within the consumer's life. It has successfully established itself as the complementary part of
people's life and continuously reinforce the same belief.

4.6. Product Development Process:

Basically, Product development if needed any starts with the research and recommendation of
the separate marketing department. Marketing Department under BNL continuously forecasts the
daily, monthly demand of its beverage product within Nepal. Apart from that, It continuously
research market for new opportunity as its one of the major focus is to make Coke available to all
segment of the customer. For instance: The recent introduction of 300 ml PET bottle of coke is a
result to penetrate the market further as per the need of customer.
Having said that, The above example is just the development of new bottle not the new product
in overall. As of now, The BNL plant in Nepal lacks separate product development department
for any kind of new product line as introduced elsewhere like Diet coke or Cola lime etc. After
the recommendation, The entire development process is directly handled by operations after
getting permission from the CocaCola Sabco Management.

4.7. Production/Operation System

The operation/system is continuous as already stated with following major aspects:
Input: The input i.e. raw materials like sugar, concentrate, packaging materials, crates etc are all
purchased from foreign countries like Egypt India, Bhutan , Pakistan etc. The more part of it will
be discussed on Inventory and supply chain strategy later.
Process: The process strategy is basically process focused as the facility for different processes
are separately maintained with Water treatment plant , Filling and bottling and Effluent
Treatment plant, separately maintained( The three major processes).Further details about the
process of manufacturing is the next topic to be discussed.
Output: The output from the manufacturing process is sent to the warehouse for the temporary
storage from where it is sent to distributors and retailers for sales. This will again later be
discussed under warehouse strategy.
Feedback: As stated previously, BNL plant strategy also focuses on rapid response especially
from customers. With a robust Consumer Response System, BNL plant addresses any
consumer/customer concerns, ideas, suggestions - either on product and its quality or on a sock
supply-maintenance of equipment etc in friendly and timely manner.
Random Disturbances: The Random disturbances in the production system usually comes from
maintenance work every 48 hours; But they have strict protocol to be followed in that period.
And for other emergencies like any type of disaster, leakage, employee problem, they have huge
board with detail about Emergency plan at front.

5. Process Design
5.1. Process of Manufacturing the Product:
The overall process of manufacturing the product ( CocaCola) as per our observation and direct
interview can be highlighted by the four aspects:

Water Treatment Plant producing processed or treated water that will be used as a input
later
Simple syrup manufacturing process that manufactures simple syrup ( again the input
to the final production process)
Mixing and bottling ( The major process where treated water , simple syrup and major
concentrate as a input gives way to the final Coca-Cola product)
Effluent Treatment Plant that process the outgoing water before disposing so that no
harm will be done to the environment by its excretion from the plant.

Out of these four aspect or separate processes, The first three directly links to the process of
manufacturing but the fourth one acts as the subsidiary/supplementary process after the
production. Even under those three aspects, The water treatment plant was not allowed to visit
and importantly it just provides input to an major manufacturing process. So, the major focus
hereafter will be on Simple syrup Manufacturing and Mixing and Bottling.

A. Water Treatment Plant:

The organization gets water from the BID supply and boring well of the organization. The water
needed in the beverage manufacture needs to be the Coca-Cola standard.
The WTP has two processing section of water:
Product water
-used in Beverage manufacturing
Process water(chlorinated soft water)
-bottle washing, Rinser
Process water(non-chlorinated soft water) -boiler, coolant
A series of actions are performed in water treatment process. Raw water is made usable by
removing undesirable matters that contribute unsafe for use. Some Basic steps of treatment
process of the water is that: The water goes through degasser, then product sand filter to remove
sediments. Then it goes through Product carbon filter to remove any leftover particle by sand
filter. And finally the water is processed into the micron filter for the filtration of the microbes
before passed to simple syrup, mixing and named as product water.

B. Simple Syrup Manufacturing:

Simple syrup is the concentrated solution of sucrose. Basically it comes from the mixing and
processing of sugar, water, activated carbon and dicalite. Syrup concentration may vary with the
final product i.e. Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite but overall process is however same. First,
preparation of filter is done and syrup production is done.
Process flow sheet of simple syrup manufacture:
Calculated amount of treated water ( From Water Treatment Plant)
Steam

Syrup tank

Maintain temperature at 75oC

Add half of the calculated amount of sugar
Add calculated amount of activated carbon and dicalite
Add remaining amount of sugar
Maintain and hold temperature at 85oC for half an hour
Filter the syrup tank with continuous circulation until clear solution is obtained
Syrup analysis for carbon residue
Lowering syrup temperature (if carbon is absent)
Syrup transfer to mixing tanks
Fig: process flow chart of simple syrup manufacturing
Calculation for sugar, water, activated carbon and dicalite:
Water: During preparation of simple syrup, amount of water and sugar is calculated in term of
unit of beverage where as carbon and dicalite is added in percentage basis of sugar added in
simple syrup tank. Water for syrup preparation is taken 100 times that of the unit of beverage.
Sugar: Sugar addition for simple syrup preparation depends upon the beverage type. For coke ad
sprite flavor sugar addition is done at the rate of 204kg/unit and for Fanta orange flavor sugar is
added at the rate of 270kg/unit.
Carbon and dicalite: Carbon and dicalite is added at the rate of percentage of sugar added .The
amount of carbon added should be 0.25% of total sugar in weight basis. Similarly, amount of
dicalite added should be 0.21% of total sugar during syrup preparation. Carbon is dissolved in a
tank and pumped to syrup tank. After completion of it, process is repeated for dicalite.

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C. Mixing And Bottling:

The first two manufacturing process were the important part of the final Process of mixing and
bottling. Providing the major input i.e. Treated water and The Simple Syrup , It makes way for
the final process of mixing and making the final syrup and bottling. The simple syrup is mixed
with the major concentrate in a fixed proportion as required by the Coca-Cola standards The
final syrup is called a Base or Beverage . The flow chart below shows the basic processes within
the mixing and bottling part of the manufacturing.
Simple syrup

concentrate

Final syrup
Treated water
proportioning
Final beverage
filler
filling
Crowning/closure application
Date coding
Final inspection
Casing/Crater

Ware housing

Fig: flow sheet of mixing and filling

With the mixing of the major concentrate directly distributed by The CocaCola Company with
the simple syrup manufactured as per the above process, Final syrup is obtained inside the
mixing tank of 1500 litres. Next step is to proportionately mix Treated water and final syrup to
make the final beverage which is then filled into the bottles under two production lines RGB and
PET . After this, The closure application like Date coding, Final Inspection and Casing is done .
Finally, The Ready product is sent to the warehouse for temporary storage.
Note: The Above mentioned basic processes are same more or less for two production lines
which in detail will be discussed below

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PET AND RGB SECTION:

Production Line I (PET bottle Filling)
This production line is for the PET bottle filling which is commonly known as the plastic
bottle coke. In Line I operation, the pre-form of the PET bottle imported from abroad is first up
all blown up to a required structure -1.5 liter or 500 ml with the help of blown mould. The
capacity of blown mould is 6500 per hour for 1.5 L PET bottle and 7800 PET per hour for 500
ml. Another machine in the same line called labeler attach sticker to the full blown PET bottle
.The bottles then are moved to the filler machine through air conveyor. The final beverage is
made in a same fashion as in Line II but the difference lies only in de-aeration where the gas of
the water is de-aerated by using vacuum compressor and CO2 gas is injected in the beverage.
This all operation is controlled by a device called Paramix. After the production of final
beverage, it is filled in PET bottle and are dispatched cleaned and dried before labeling and
packaging in a secondary pack to a storage house.
In this line, as PET (Poly ethylene Terepthalate) are not returned so, the bottle cleaning or
sanitizing is done by chlorinated water by sprinkling the water in the bottle before filling the
bottle.
Production Line II (RGB Bottle Filling):
In the second production line, more sensitive filling is done in the Returnable glass bottle.
Firstly, The machine called Decrater helps the RGB to go through conveyer belt where
preliminary inspection is done by use of High intensity light to judge any unwanted material in
the bottle. Level 1 and level 2 being the signal for further travelling within conveyer belt, If it
shows so, The bottle needs to be washed properly into the bottle washer. The bottle washer
contains five steps:
Pre-rinse: The bottles are cleaned with water at 40C to remove the dirt and other wastage.
Soaking 1: The bottles are soaked at 65C in caustic solution for disinfection.
Soaking 2: The bottles are soaked in caustic solution at 75-80C.
Soaking 3: The bottles are soaked in hot water at 60C to de-neutralize or remove the caustic
from the bottle which might contaminate the final product.
Final rinse: It is divided into pre-final and final rinse, where the bottles are finally cleaned by
water at 40oc before moving out from the bottle washer. The water for the pre rinse cleaning are
then from the pre final chamber.
After bottle washing operation the washed bottles are keenly inspected twice to see if the
bottles are washed with the Coca-Cola standard or not before moving to filling section.
Thus washed bottles are inspected in each 2 hours (Using sampling method)for any fault in bottle
washing. Some technical test is done for 33 samples to make sure that bottles do not have any
microbial colonies. Finally rinsed bottle should be free of caustic residue. The frequency of
production of RGB is 430 bottles per minute. Then , The bottle is sent for filling. Next with the
another conveyer belt metal crowning and date coding is done and sent for final inspection. And
finally another machine, Crater stocks the bottle into Crates before sending to the warehouse.

12

D. Effluent Treatment Plant:

This plant basically is to process the waste water coming out of manufacturing plant other than
bathroom and kitchen. So, It is just the supplement process to manufacturing. The basic steps
under it are:

First, water sent through Bar screen chamber for large particle screening
Next, Water is sent through Grit chambers to further remove solid residue
Then it is sent through Oil and grease removal pump
Next the water is sent to the equalization tank where acidic or basic nature of the water is
neutralized and kept to the ratio of Ph 6:9
Then, It is sent through Aeration tank where Degradation is done by Micro organisms
After the previous process, Sludge so resulted are collected in sludge sump and made dry
before dispatching to the garbage collector
And the clarified water is then dispatched through drainage or any water source. Here, To
show that the processed waste water is treated enough for the survival of aquatic plant,
BNL plant has even maintained small fish pond with this treated water as demonstration.

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6. Other Operations strategy and analysis

6.1. Location strategy: The location decision is one of the well conceived decision of The
bottlers Nepal Ltd. Located inside the Balaju Industrial district, It is one of the first
company that you would see inside such a large industrial estate which increases the
visibility of the company for the outsiders . Just around 7 km from central Kathmandu , BID
is the perfect place for BNL plant. It is because, Industrial district by its concept tries to
provide every facility to the Industry located within it. One of the major input water for
BNL plant is provided by BID as well apart from their own boring site. The concept of
clustering of various industries even act as beneficial for them. And the major advantage is
that, as Balaju is well accessible via transport and lies within the major market i.e.
Kathmandu, so product distribution becomes very much easy to the company.

Note: In the above map, green box represents Main entrance of Balaju industrial district
lying around 200-300 m away from Balaju ringroad. And just around at the distance of 100
m like Bottlers Nepal ltd plant indicated in the map as CocaCola Factory.

14

6.2. Layout strategy: Layout strategy of the BNL plant falls more into product oriented though
its process strategy as we analyzed falls under Process focused. It is because the facility is
maintained so as to facilitate easy flow of materials within continuous production. However,
having said that each major process has separate facility for protection. The Overall plant
layout is pretty effective especially the fact that Warehouse facility, the largest within the
plant exists just backside of the production line and from there the product is loaded and
sent through the truck using back door. Finally, The layout is effective in the sense of
emergency exits. The plant layout is properly designed with emergency exits to vulnerable
places subject to fire and other hazards. Separating the actual production facility from other
departments but still easily accessible is another layout decision they have made right. The
overall layout of the plant can be found in Annex .

6.3. Supply chain Strategy: The supply chain management of The bottlers Nepal ltd limited is
very strong as it is supported by the parent bottler CocaCola Sabco. Every raw materials
suppliers are foreigners. The raw materials for the manufacture are brought from different
country such as concentrate comes from Egypt, chemicals from India, sugar from Thailand,
packaging materials such as perform are purchased from India, Bhutan, Pakistan; returnable
glass bottle (RGB) from India, cartons and crates which are secondary packaging are
purchased from Pokhara (Nepal) and India respectively. They don't do any type of backward
integration with their suppliers. The concern here is that: Importing raw materials like sugar
from outside ( providing reason that they need the Coca-Cola standard) will not prevent any
kind of obstacles from local potential supplier once properly backed by government.

6.4. Inventory Management/Warehouse strategy: Inventory as stated above is supplied by the

foreign suppliers. The Raw materials/Inventory are not stored for a longer period and are
brought to the industry as per the demand at appropriate time. The demand here is
determined by the forecast done by the marketing department. The raw materials are stored
properly in clean and sanitized area with an average storage period before it processing
nearly being 60 days. There is a separate store department with 5 types of stores, one being
for the raw materials, handled by the separate store manager. The stock rotation uses First in
First out (FIFO) process (The raw materials that are stored first in the store house need to be
used first). For FIFO, batch no, date etc are properly coded within the inventory and is done
manually. Same FIFO method is applied for warehouse as well.

15

6.5. Human Resource strategy: Human resource strategy of BNL is to maintain proper
employee for every aspect of production process, focusing on the labor pool within the
Nepal itself. There are altogether 280 number of employees, having the unskilled person
only centralized to the loading and unloading area. The rest are all semi-skilled or skilled.
Their experience and qualification is either vocational trainee matriculate or bachelors.
Apart from the normal wages, Insurance for any kind of damages and incentives. On the
consent of workers themselves, They can even swap their shift to any of three 8 hours
working shift creating the flex-time. So, Human resource strategy is well managed under
separate HR department.
6.6. Production Scheduling strategy: Basically, Production scheduling strategy of BNL plant
is based on the forecast by Marketing department for the demand of its product on daily
basis. As per the demand, They schedule to produce only one flavor either Fanta, Sprite Or
CocaCola on a day. Here, proper analysis of Demand is the essential part of this process as
improper forecasting can cost a lot. Though we were limited to the operations, but as per the
direct interview, The information for forecasting were collected from the distributors,
retailers and then analyzed. the methods of analysis are not known.
6.7. Quality Control: One of the areas where BNL is very much cautious is the maintenance
and control of quality. The quality control parameters for beverage production can be
divided into BPQI and PCQI which are discussed below:
Beverage Product Quality Index (BPQI):
Beverage product quality index is a list of parameters by that the quality of beverage is
affected. The sensory and storage quality is associated with BPQI. These are:
Gas volume (G.V.)
Brix
Appearance and Taste
Micro-organisms
It is a necessary parameter of the organization and is performed with a great care where the
Brix and gas volume are regularly checked in the small interval of time of the product to
meet with the coca-cola standard.
Primary Container Quality Index (PCQI):
Container parameters are tested and defined by PCQI which is directly and indirectly related
to sensory quality, shelf life, finished product qualities and microbial standards. The
parameters are:
Container and closure condition
Closure function
Net content
Date code
By the virtue of these strict parameters, They've been Awarded ISO 9001:2008 certificate.

16

7. Recommendations
As a student observer, we were new to the production process. So, this paper is in no way, in a
situation to recommend any improvement to the production process. That's very technical aspect
of this report. However, as per the analysis of other operations strategies and decisions, There
are something we strongly recommend BNL plant to improve. They are stated as follows:

First of all, The provision of separate product Development Department is something

desirable within the BNL. Considering their strategy to promote beverage of their brand
in every segment of Nepalese market and that the product is already in its maturity phase,
being limited to flavors like Fanta, Coke and Sprite may act as insufficient in the coming
days.
Second and the most important recommendation may be regarding supply chain
management. With every supplier being foreigner, It is highly likely that BNL may face
any kind of obstacles from local potential supplier, farmer of raw materials like Sugar.
The same case that happened recently with KFC. It is understandable that BNL wants to
have raw material with the prescribed coke standard and Nepalese farmer/supplier can't
meet that standard. But then, Investing on backward integration will help both them for
longer term as well as local suppliers, though initial fixed cost may be high.
Third recommendation would be regarding warehouse and inventory management.
Currently, FIFO method is used for both inventory and warehouse management. It
requires proper recording of batch no, lot no, date etc manually. This consumes time as
well as may not be accurate at times. It is therefore suggested to BNL plant to have RFID
technology to automate this system. Again, the cost will be very high, but given the
investment they have placed in this particular plant, it is better to improve this aspect as
well.
And the final recommendation would be regarding layout. The layout of the BNL plant
from the viewpoint of manufacturing is appropriate. But then, There is lack of proper
place for staff to hangout, sit within the premises. Further, There is no any kind of
waiting area for the visitors like us who were there for the visit. This may provide
negative image of the plant to the outsiders who visit the plant.

17

8. Conclusion
The process of spreading happiness by the brand coke isn't indeed the simple process. Analyzing
and describing the major part of any organizations i.e. Operations of BNL, this paper can
conclude Bottlers Nepal Ltd indeed has a lot to cover in terms of operations. The way BNL have
managed every aspect of operations from layout to location, Quality to Process and Inventory to
Warehouse is way ahead in terms of general Nepalese Industrial Operations. Apart from the
slight loopholes, undisputedly BNL plant is one of the High end , properly managed plant that
continuous meets the standard of The CocaCola Company.
With huge investment in place, not only has it maintained its money's worth, but has maintained
itself as a benchmark and industry leader. The part of Operations in this regard is very much
crucial as the concerns that need to be addressed on various operations process is very complex.
Operations has been the major aspect in their overall strategy of maintaining the brand and its
history among the consumer. Having said that, It is highly recommendable for the Coke and
BNL in particular to continuously search for any kind of Improvement they can, like suggested
above within recommendations, to grab the competitive advantage against its major rival Pepsi.

18

Bibliography
CocaCola Sabco ( Bottlers). (2014, May 26). CocaCola Sabco : Our Company. Retrieved May
26, 2014, from CocaCola Sabco Official Web Site:
http://www.cocacolasabco.com/Page.aspx/OurCompany/vision
CocaCola Sabco. (2014, May 26). Cocacola Sabco: Territory Information. Retrieved May 26,
2014, from Cocacola Sabco Official Web Site:
http://www.cocacolasabco.com/territory.aspx/show/nepal
Khetan Group. (n.d.). Introduction: Bottlers Nepal ltd. Retrieved May 26, 2014, from Khetan
Group Web site: http://www.khetan.com.np/bottlers_nepal.htm
Mahato, Y. R. (2010). Student. A report on Implant Training at Bottlers Nepal Ltd , 10-15.

19

ANNEX

20

N
LWD
Office

Guard
room

LWD Office

RGB Storage

Waste collection
site
Broken glass
dumping yard
RGB
Storage

Broken glass
dumping yard

RGB Storage

Warehouse
Office

PET
Storage

Hand wash
Quarantine
Area

Chemical Storage

Hazardous waste
collection site

Archive
Room
Retentio
n Room

Crown and Closure

Store

Toilet

Caustic
Store

Store
office

CIP
store

Union
room

Simple
Syrup
Room

Work
shop

PET
Packaging

Panel
Board
Room

Toilet

WTP

Electrica
l Room

Sugar Store

RGB
ware
house

PET
Filling

Marketing Store
Utility
section

Marketi
ng/
canteen

Toilet

Blow
Mould

Administratio
n

C
R

Administration
CO2
Room

ETP

Diesel
store

Micro
lab

Car parking

C
RGB bottling Room

ETP
lab

Control
Room

Mobike
parking

Final
Syrup

Security
post

Fig: Overall Plant layout of BNL

QC
lab

Pref
orm
store

Plant Visit Confirmation Letter

Photo Gallery