Lockdown: 65 pc capacity utilisation, focus to optimise limited manpower: Britannia

FMCG major Britannia Industries on Thursday said it is now utilising 65 per cent of its installed capacity and is "better poised" to tackle challenges in the extended lockdown period.

In a bid to scale up production quickly, the leading food company said it is focussing on stock availability rather than consumer demand with staple stock keeping units (SKUs) being preferred rather than those SKUs which demand labour intensity in order to optimise limited available manpower.

"While the business dynamics has changed in the last few weeks, we are now better poised to tackle the situation. With close to 65 per cent manufacturing capacity utilisation till now, we have stepped up efforts to address the challenge of inadequate labour in our factories," Britannia Industries Managing Director Varun Berry told PTI.

He was responding to a query on the company's preparedness for the extended lockdown.

Elaborating on the company's strategy, he said, "to optimise on the limited labour permissions obtained, we are focusing on staple SKUs rather than SKUs which demand labour intensity.

Stating that the challenge is to quickly scale up production, Berry said, "the current model is largely based on stock availability rather than on consumer demand."