Maximizing Excellence: Hindustan Refines’ journey

towards Streamlined Performance

A Mid-term Submission for the BDM capstone Project

Submitted by

Name:Hemasri

Roll number:22f2000270

IITM Online BS Degree Program,

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai

Tamil Nadu, India, 600036

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 Declaration Statement

I am working on a Project titled “ Maximizing Excellence: Hindustan Refines’ journey towards

Streamlined Performance”. I extend my appreciation to Hindustan Refines, for providing the
necessary resources that enabled me to conduct my project.

I hereby assert that the data presented and assessed in this project report is genuine and precise to the
utmost extent of my knowledge and capabilities. The data has been gathered from primary sources
and carefully analyzed to assure its reliability.

Additionally, I affirm that all procedures employed for the purpose of data collection and analysis
have been duly explained in this report. The outcomes and inferences derived from the data are an
accurate depiction of the findings acquired through thorough analytical procedures.

I am dedicated to adhering to the principles of academic honesty and integrity, and I am receptive to
any additional examination or validation of the data contained in this project report.

I understand that the execution of this project is intended for individual completion and is not to be
undertaken collectively. I thus affirm that I am not engaged in any form of collaboration with other
individuals, and that all the work undertaken has been solely conducted by me. In the event that
plagiarism is detected in the report at any stage of the project's completion, I am fully aware and
prepared to accept disciplinary measures imposed by the relevant authority.

I understand that all recommendations made in this project report are within the context of the
academic project taken up towards course fulfillment in the BS Degree Program offered by IIT
Madras. The institution does not endorse any of the claims or comments.

Signature of Candidate: (Digital Signature)

Name: Hemasri

Date: 10-02-2024

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 Maximizing Excellence: Hindustan Refines’ journey
towards Streamlined Performance

1 Executive Summary and Title

The organization, operating in both B2B and B2C markets, offers services like car and bus
painting and skincare distribution. However, it faces four major challenges: data segregation,
efficient inventory management, and a nuanced market segmentation approach. Data analysis
is needed to segregate product lines, optimize suppliers and inventory, conduct market
surveys, and revamp brand strategies. The company is also committed to transparency and
ethical sourcing practices, as it acknowledges the prevalence of hazardous chemicals in
skincare products and is working towards a more sustainable future.

2 Organization Background

Hindusthan Refines, established in 2006, specializes in car painting and oil business in the
automotive industry. With a range of products including Aspa Automotive Paint, Automobile
Spray Booth, XTREME COLORS Automotive Paint, EXCEL Paint Automobile, and Duco
Automotive Paint, the company gained a reputation for quality and customization. In 2019, it
expanded into skincare cosmetics distribution, partnering with brands like Lotus,
Schwarzkopf, and Brillare. The company supplies professional items for spas and salons,
contributing to the grooming and beauty industry.

3 Objectives

3.1 Develop a strategic approach to mitigate stock-outs caused by distributors favoring new
cosmetic products during peak seasons and dissatisfaction during off-peak periods.

3.2 Enhance inventory control and supply chain logistics for skincare, hair, and automobile
products from different manufacturers.
3.3 Overcome limitations in marketing strategies by diversifying efforts to reach new
customers for both cosmetic and automobile products.

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3.4 Address concerns related to potential confusion, brand dilution, and loyalty impact from
merging skincare, hair products, and automobile services under one brand.

4 Proof of Originality

photographs:-link_for_images Interaction video with owner:-link_video

Letter from organization in letter head with stamp and sign:-

5 MetaData

The organization maintains its data in excel sheets in a very organized manner like:-

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I have gathered sales data from the company for the years 2019–2023, sales data for every
month from October 2023 to December 2023, and information on which consumers
purchased what and at what price. I also have statistics on inventories. The images up top
represent inventory information.The company even keeps manufacturer invoices such as
these:

invoices_link

preprocessing

Data Collection:Gathered monthly sales data from four separate Excel sheets, each
corresponding to a different year.

Data Integration:Merged the data from each monthly sheet into a unified Excel workbook to
facilitate cohesive analysis.

Data Cleaning:Conducted data cleaning processes to address any inconsistencies, missing

values, or discrepancies.

Format Standardization:
Ensured consistent formatting across all data points for accurate analysis.

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Considering the inventory, I have divided the data into Henkel, Lotus,and Brilliare since they
are major distributors. (Note that the below tables only represent a few rows from cleaned
data.). (Follow the link below to see the entire data.)

link to check the excel data,

This project focuses on analyzing sales data spanning four months, from September to
December. The objective is to gain insights into the products sold during this period, their
respective rates, and identify any patterns or trends that may inform strategic decisions.

click here to check 4_months_sales_data

We performed some pre-processing steps, such as replacing null values with zeros and
properly filling in columns that were left blank in the inventory , then we corrected the format
of dates. To begin with, we separated the data that denotes refill and sale from the main excel
sheet.
Prices extracted from company documents and then rounded to the nearest.

Following a thorough discussion with the Hindustan refines' owner, we have divided the
whole collection of data into five main categories.

1) Schwarzkopf for hair spa and care 2) Lotus Herbals for skin care 3) Glysantin for coolant
oil 4)Brillare for skin care 5)Glysantin for automotive paints and oils
descriptive analysis
During the fiscal year 2022–23, sales of Schwarzkopf: 5115876.07 Rs.,BASF: 1169395.22
Rs.,Lotus Herbals: 16624430.00 Rs., Glysantin: 7445734.00 Rs., and Brillare: 1012332.11
Rs. between September 23, 2023, and December 20, 2023 The details of the sale are as
follows:
-Schwarzkopf has the highest sales among the listed products, indicating its prominence in
the sales portfolio, with an overall 184 products sold in a span of 4 months.

-Lotus Herbal has contributed the maximum profits to the overall sales of skincare cosmetics.

-Glysantin and BASF are negatively correlated, while Schwarzkopf and BASF are positively
correlated.

-After conducting a trend analysis on the sales data for the specified products, it is evident
that there was a notable surge in demand during the months of October and December.

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-schwarzkopf:September had the highest sales for Schwarzkopf,Sales decreased in October
but increased again in November,December saw a decrease in sales compared to November.

-BASF:The highest sales for BASF occurred in September and November,Sales decreased in
October and then increased again in December.

-lotus herbal:Sales for LOTUS HERBALS were consistent in September and October.A
significant increase occurred in November, followed by a decrease in December.

-glysantin Sales:Glysantin Sales show a decreasing trend from September to December.

-brilliare:Sales for BRILLARE remained relatively stable, with a noticeable increase in

December.

-January of each year consistently shows high sales, suggesting a potential seasonal peak,
possibly influenced by factors like year-end promotions or increased consumer spending at
the beginning of the year.

-While there is an overall upward trend from 2019 to 2023, there are cyclical patterns with
periods of growth followed by periods of relative stability or slight decline.

-2023 has brought a maximum average of 8334119.85 sales across the four-year period.

6 Analysis Process

Excel, PowerBI, and Python were the three main tools used for the exploratory data analysis.
The procedure was set up methodically, as explained below:-

1. Preprocessing: To get the data ready for more analysis, Excel was used for the first round
of preprocessing.

2. Analyzing Trends:

-Categorization of Data: Initially, the data was divided into distinct groups as

Automobile products:- 1) Glysantin for coolant oil , 2)BASF for automotive paints
and oils

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 Skincare cosmetics:- 3) Schwarzkopf for hair spa 4) Lotus Herbals for skin
care5)Brillare for skin care

-Monthly Aggregation: To group dates by month and get the total number of products
sold for each month, an Excel pivot table was used.

-Visualization of patterns: Using Power BI's built-in features, line graphs were drawn
for each category to show the patterns over time.

- Revenue trend analysis:employed Power BI to create a stacked bar graph,

illustrating yearly sales trends from 2019 to 2023 based on the integration of quantities and
prices.

3.Descriptive Statistics: Excel was used to compute the sum, maximum, minimum, and
average after the data was manually categorized.
4. Donut Chart Production

Creation of Pivot Tables: Different categories were given their own pivot tables.

Donut Chart Illustration: The categorized data was then represented by the Donut chart that
was created.
With the use of this all-encompassing strategy, a thorough analysis was made possible,
utilizing Python, PowerBI, and Excel's capabilities to extract insightful information from the
data.

7 Results and Findings

● The Donut charts provide important information about the top-performing categories in
terms of revenue generation and sales.

We should focus our efforts on the category that is performing the best, given our limited
inventory capacity.

● This emphasis will help to prioritize these goods' continuous availability, which will lessen
the possibility of stockout situations.

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In order to achieve this goal, we may deliberately lower the number of less important items in
our inventory. This would make it possible to allocate resources more effectively to the
categories with the best performance.

-The sales data reveals noticeable fluctuations, suggesting potential seasonality with higher
sales in specific months and a general upward trend from 2020 to 2023. However, challenges
are evident in significant drops at times, like during the months of 20-03, 20-12, 21-05,
22-05, 22-06, 23-09, and 23-12.

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-To address this, initiatives include implementing targeted marketing and optimizing
inventory for seasonality, enhancing customer engagement strategies for consistent sales,
conducting thorough performance analysis to identify and rectify issues contributing to sales
drops, exploring diversification opportunities in products or markets, and fostering
collaboration between sales, marketing, and operations teams.

BASF-SALES GLYSANTIN-SALES

SCHWARZKOPF-SALES BRILLIARE-SALES

LOREAL-HERBAL-SALES

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-Certain transaction amounts, such as 34852.00 and 9090.00, appear multiple times,
suggesting potential regular and loyal customers for BASF as well as for Glysantin ; hence,
we shall need to widen up our customer base to sell.

-Fluctuations in Transaction Amounts: Throughout the dataset, there are instances of

fluctuating transaction amounts in the spikes, with some days experiencing significantly
higher values due to bulk orders.

therefore, categorizing transactions into different types (e.g., regular, one-time, high-value) to
gain insights into the nature of transactions and tailor business strategies accordingly.

-Brilliare, being a new product in the market, currently facing lower sales and volume as
customers are still testing and becoming familiar with it following its recent launch.
Establishing trust and awareness takes time, but with strategic measures like targeted
marketing and customer education, it is expected that Brilliare's sales will gradually increase
over time.

-In contrast to lotus herbal sales, which are pricey but yield the most profits, Schwarzkopf has
a lot of demand in the market despite its low cost, due to excessive spikes in the graph.
Schwarzkopf may require a large amount of stock based on this.

Additional graphs for sales trend analysis across for each categories

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negative correlation between positive correlation between
Glysantin and basf Schwarzkopf and basf

-Continuous monitoring and strategic adaptation based on market trends are essential for
staying responsive to changing preferences and dynamics.

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