Aavin plans to increase by 100%, the number of tubs meant to transport and store milk packets in, to improve the packets retaining chillness, leading to an increase in shelf life of the milk at the customer’s end.

The milk major is in the process of re-working the actual requirement of tubs utilised in the entire business cycle. “There had been complaints of delays in milk supply, which led us to study the system. We found that the dispatchers waited for the tubs to return after the first round of delivery to fill them again and send them for delivery. This also led to the temperature of milk touching 10 degree Celsius in place of the 4 degree Celsius that it should be when it leaves our dairy,” K.S. Kandasamy, Aavin, Managing Director told The Hindu.

Doubling of tubs would mean a reduction in loading time, thus leading to milk retaining chillness for longer. It would also mean a reduction of time that the cold storage room would be kept open. Customers who get milk packets delivered at their homes by 5 a.m. – 5.30 a.m. do not collect it till about 6.30 a.m. in many places. If the packets are delivered at lower temperatures, consumers would not be forced to boil the milk immediately, explained an official.

Officials of Aavin, the popular brand name of the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, had conducted raids recently to seize tubs that had not been returned by retailers. This had led to grumbling among retailers, who were mostly small traders.

“Recently we interacted with milk retailers and they told us that when they kept Aavin milk tubs outside their shops, customers would walk in and confidently ask for our brand. And they said keeping clean tubs helps even better than a board, which is another point in favour of new tubs,” added Mr. Kandasamy.

Aavin delivers around 12.30 lakh litres of milk daily to Chennai city from its dairies in Sholinganallur, Madhavaram, Ambattur and Kakalur.