Partners:
Digitization-led logistics
Produced by Jassen Pintado Interviewee Carlos Caratachea, Supply Chain Director for Danone México
Danone México
Food
A complete operation willing to develop, obtain and make the most from the best available resources, enabled to get to know clients, ease their access to products and achieving their satisfaction while benefiting the company, its partners and suppliers
W
ith more than a
contributing to consumers’
century since it first
diet and nutrition.
opened for business in Europe, Danone
at 7th place worldwide, performing
established a solid
a key role in the company’s global
presence around
business strategy.
the world in the dairy products and drinking water industries. The Danone group set foot in Mexico almost half a century ago and has strengthened its leadership through an important
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Danone’s operation in Mexico ranks
SOLID NATIONWIDE OPERATIONS
The brands managed by Danone in Mexico are grouped into three business units: • Essential Dairy Products (EDP)
product portfolio, fulfilling the mission
and plant-based products: Activia,
of bringing health through food and
Bene G, Danmix, Danone, Danonino,
hydration to the most possible people.
Danup, Danette, Dany, Oikos, Vitalínea,
Also, Danone has established a solid
YoPro and Leche de Origen Danone
reputation as a reliable household
(milk), all of these are dairy products,
name as a result of the highest quality
besides the Silk brand of coconut, oat,
standards shared by its products,
rice and soy beverages.
Food
Danone México
• Bonafont: One of Mexico’s
2020 Sustainability Prize from the
beloved brands of quality drinking
Transportation Innovation Week, for
water, available in sizes from 20oz.
the first electric refrigerated truck
to 340oz.
prototype. In 2017 and 2019 the company was awarded the National
• Bonafont en Tu Casa (home delivery service): Bonafont water
Prize for Logistics. The first of these for using a natural gas-fueled delivery
straight to Mexican households through fleet and a strategy optimization in the Greater Mexico City area, and the recyclable and returnable bottles in 45oz. and 83oz. sizes.
second time for their control tower app. During the last five years, Danone’s
Danone supplies nearly 300,000
facilities have been reconditioned
clients involved in the retail industry,
to guarantee service and supply for
besides convenience store chains and
consumers nationwide.
supermarkets. The company has 45 facilities nationwide. Danone’s almost 1,000 delivery routes serve approximately 50,000 clients every day. Danone’s plant in Irapuato, Guanajuato is the group’s largest yoghurt plant in Latin America and in recent years has earned important accolades, such as the
“100% of these facilities were conditioned to support the company’s organic growth and innovation strategy,” said Carlos Caratachea, Supply Chain Director for Danone México. PROVED EXPERIENCE IN EVERY DEPARTMENT
Caratachea, a biochemical engineer, graduated from ITESM (Monterrey
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Danone México
Food
Institute of Technology and Higher
Besides all the awards obtained in
Education) - Queretaro Campus.
Danone, as well as the Total Productive
His wide experience in the food
Maintenance award, from the Japan
and beverage industry has taken
Institute of Plant Maintenance for
Caratachea to leading companies such Unilever’s Tultitlan plant, in 2020 as Jumex, Jugos del Valle, Comedores Caratachea became recipient to the Industriales, Coca-Cola FEMSA and
Eminence in Logistics award, on behalf
Unilever, where he has performed in
of the Soy Logístico association.
areas such as production planning,
“I never accomplished any result by
materials, demand, quality control,
myself, I always did it with help from
warehouse management (both for
focused, disciplined teams, striving
finished products and raw materials),
for ‘how should we’ ways to achieve
systems and distribution, among
results,” the executive declared.
others, obtaining knowledge about every link in the supply chain. Caratachea arrived at Danone in
One of the supply chain’s main traits
2005. Before being named Supply
at Danone Mexico is the willingness
Chain Director in mid-2020, he was in
to explore, learn and include new
charge of nationwide Distribution and
technologies enabling them to ease
Storage for five years, and from 2012
tasks, save and improve results, thus
to 2016 he led the production plant at
leading to increase the value chain.
Irapuato to be the best plant during
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TECH DRIVEN
Danone’s investments in disruptive
five straight years among 140 Danone
technologies, such as smartwatches,
plants worldwide.
RFID and warehouse management
Danone México
Food
I’ve never accomplished any result by myself, I always did it with help from focused, disciplined teams, striving to achieve results Carlos Caratachea, Supply Chain Director for Danone México
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ENTENDEMOS EL MOVIMIENTO
Gestionamos y digitalizamos las flotillas con telemetría e inteligencia artificial generando grandes beneficios para nuestros clientes Ahorro en su distribución. Incrementar productividad. Crear estrategias operativas eficientes. Prevenir accidentes. Optimizar la cadena de suministro Crear una cultura diferente en hábitos de manejo.
“Transformamos el movimiento en información útil para la toma de decisiones en sus flotillas”
www.gosmo.mx
Food
Supplier Profile
systems have been useful for inventory management, orders and also for digital research resulting in the detection of new clients. For planning and consumer service tasks, Danone relies on RPA for data
N u m b e r o f E m p l o ye e s : 82
Ye a r E s t a b l i s h e d : 2004
Industr y: Logistics
Main Ser vices: Te l e m e t r y, F l e e t M a n a g e m e n t a n d Fu e l M a n a g e m e n t w i t h e - w a l l e t
R e c e n t P r o ye c t s : C o n t r o l To w e r w i t h D a n o n e , D i g i t a l i z a t i o n o f distribution and supply chains, cold chain control, control of pharmaceutical fleets, c o m m e r c i a l a n d d i s t r i b u t i o n f l e e t s , p r ov i d i n g a fully managed end-to-end ser vice
P r e s i d e n t /C E O : J o a q u í n B e r n i We n n e ke r s
extraction and analytics. “We’ve thrusted the use of technology to simplify tasks and improve our service and savings indexes,” Caratachea explained. Digital technologies in vehicles and devices have made operations easier, providing delivery workers predetermined routes, designed according to each day, schedule and other conditions in their area, aligned with the control tower, which not only monitors delivery times, but also offers support in client geolocalization. The control tower allows making decisions to plan routes and delivery times
We b p a g e w w w.g o s m o. m x
according to possible traffic conditions
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Danone México
Food
The “Proyecto Ma rga r ita” strategy helps smal l mi lk producers in the Jal isco Highlands
such as temporary road restrictions,
in possible unscheduled stops in the
roads under construction or repairs
delivery route.
and traffic accidents, among other critical events, in real time, protecting
understanding of what the market
operational continuity.
offers to create solutions which
Currently, the Danone fleet is working with new devices that not only share the vehicle’s location, but also its temperature and built-in photosensors detect cargo door openings involved
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“We are evolving toward an
become sustainable,” the executive declared. STRATEGIC PARTNERS AND SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT
Creating synergies and establishing
Food
Danone México
collaboration programs is a key factor
solutions. There’s a willingness to
for Danone Mexico. The main goal of
explore new business opportunities,”
working hand in hand with large retail
Caratachea commented.
chains is finding solutions able to
On the other hand, there are
optimize supply while reducing costs.
suppliers evolving into levels of
The company has strong relationships
highly specialized collaboration.
with Ferrero Rocher and Mars in
The company that first supplied a
logistics and product delivery.
monitoring system for Danone’s trucks
“The most important aspect is the creation of mutually beneficial
is currently in charge of Danone’s control tower. Freight trucks with two
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Danone México
Food
decks and dedicated freights are a
propose bring business opportunities,”
result of built trust after accomplished
the executive explained.
goals and the vision of economy of scale and volume sales. In fact, the refrigerated electric truck -which already earned a prize- was a Danonedriven collaboration between a truck manufacturer, a car body maker, the refrigeration system supplier and the
GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR ONE OF THE BEST MARKETS
Being part of a global corporation like Danone implies aligning and following determined standards, as well as fulfilling its commitments to
financing entity. The company also
subjects such as the environment,
models.
having multiple resources available
shares close relationships with startups health and sustainability. On the other hand, this also means as a reference about different operation A common trait about these and other suppliers and their relationship
to share experiences and success
with Danone in Mexico is their vision
stories to improve best practices.
to create high-value, appealing, sustainable and solid strategies. “Danone stands out for venturing
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which help every operation worldwide
Support from the global headquarters also includes digital resources such as the “Campus X”
into investments with support and
e-learning platform, which offers
collaboration from local suppliers.
training sessions in different topics
They’ve helped us with their flexibility
such as quality, R&D, production,
and willingness to take steps along
supply chain and sales, among others.
with us, because the solutions we
Each country’s operation is subject
Danone México
Food
We’ve thrusted the use of technology to simplify tasks and improve our service and savings indexes - Carlos Caratachea, Supply Chain Director for Danone México
D a n o n e’ s p r o d u c t p o r t f o l i o i s compr ised of Essential Dai r y Products, Danone en tu Casa b o t t l e d w a t e r d e l i v e r y, a n d Bonafont bot tled water
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Danone México
Danone’s commitment to sustainabi l it y is ca r r ied th rough ever y day actions based on its “OnePlanet. OneHealth.” vision
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Sector
Food
Danone México
Danone stands out for venturing into investments with support and collaboration from local suppliers.
They’ve helped us because we create business opportunities - Ing. Carlos Caratachea, Director de Cadena de Suministro de Danone México
to reviews, detecting improvement
becoming a safe and healthy space
areas and also to exchange resources
for its staff by conditioning its facilities
which are not in use in a certain
to comply with sanitary measures
country.
and preventive protocols, besides
“The support we have from the group arranging new operation models supported on technology, such is key to achieve our goals faster,” Caratachea declared.
as virtual meetings, new digital platforms for communication and
CHANGES DERIVED FROM COVID
Consequences derived from the
other resources alike. These conditions also resulted in
COVID global pandemic resulted
improvements in communication
in a flurry of new measures in
with clients and detecting a rising
businesses worldwide, and Danone
awareness in consumers about product
Mexico was no exception.
sizes from the data generated during
Danone’s operation was transformed, the quarantine period.
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Danone México
Food
The p roduct del ive r y depar tment is furnished with the best dig ital resou rces, besides earning Danone an awa rd fo r the electr ic refr igerated tr uck p rotot ype
“COVID has led us into a more mature and complete operation, able to fulfill our clients’ and consumers’
individuals and the planet. In terms of sustainability, there’s been significant progress in efforts
expectations,” the executive explained. aimed at renewable energy, packaging, CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: CONTRIBUTING TO GROWTH
Both in Mexico and on a worldwide
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water, regenerative agriculture and carbon footprint reduction, among other matters, as it actually happens with the company’s vehicle fleet, two
level, Danone engages in active efforts
cargo decks in trucks and reducing
to achieve its “OnePlanet. OneHealth”
the use of fossil fuels is focused on
ambition, focused on the wellbeing of
reducing the carbon footprint and other
Food
Danone México
emissions. Also, the plant in Irapuato runs on wind power. Danone also runs important projects
Currently, more than 500 Mexican producers from the state of Jalisco have become small entrepreneurs,
which have become a transforming
or the Madre Tierra (Mother Earth)
force in its social environment,
program, a regenerative and
as it has been with the Margarita
sustainable agriculture program
program, a sustainable strategy
offering a significant increase in
favoring milk supply by developing
productivity to small producer
small producers who lacked the
communities with strawberry crops
proper technical advice to increase
in Maravatio, Michoacan.
and improve their production.
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Danone México
Food
The “Madre T ier ra” prog ram benef its strawber r y c roppe r s i n Ma ravat i o, M i choaca n
Evolution and increasing digitization as a process facilitator Upcoming developments at Danone undoubtedly bring some kind of excitement amidst the evolution that
whom different distribution models are being developed, according to context and conditions. The arrival of the refrigerated vehicle becoming part of Danone’s distribution
the logistics and chain supply areas are network for smaller clients is servicing capable of displaying. The pandemic brought along new entrepreneurs that must be serviced and supplied, for
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a recently discovered sector which seems to grow. For Danone it is highly important to offer
Food
Danone México
variety in its portfolio with water and other products able to contribute to the transformation of Mexicans’ diet and for consumers aware of the products they use. Undoubtedly, it is expected that Danone will continue adopting digital resources and directing efforts toward reducing any environmental impact. “Driving green tech helps a lot, that’ll be here in upcoming years, more digitization producing data that enables us to serve what clients need and demand,” finalized Carlos Caratachea, Supply Chain Director for Danone Mexico.
FOUNDED: 1919 (in France) INDUSTRY: Dairy and plant products, drinking water WEBPAGE: www.grupodanone.com.mx
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www.grupodanone.com.mx carlos.caratachea@danone.com