Alphonse Rajee Michael

Operational risk rarely announces itself. It shows up as a missed audit finding, a vendor gap, a compliance detail deferred one quarter too many — long before it reaches a balance sheet.

Alphonse works with boards, executive committees and senior operating leadership across FMCG and food manufacturing to find that risk early — in quality systems, plant operations, supply chain, and regulatory posture — and to build the governance discipline that keeps it from resurfacing.

His expertise spans four areas built over 33 years: quality systems and audit, greenfield plant commissioning, regulatory compliance across domestic and export operations, and operational/supply-chain excellence.

Thirty-three years in FMCG and food manufacturing, starting as a trainee chemist in edible oil refining in 1992 with South India Viscose, then Marico, PepsiCo India and Kraft Heinz, followed by 14 years as Vice President of Technical, Quality & Regulatory Affairs at Del Monte Foods, leading greenfield commissioning at Hosur and Ludhiana. Since November 2024, Co-Founder at Seeli Terra Taste.

Operational complacency builds invisible fragility long before financial metrics reveal it. I encourage organizations on governance to enforce continuous improvement discipline even if the current situation is comfortable. What we measure can be improved, and what is improved needs to be measured, to set new heights and open new horizons before disruption exposes the weakness.

As an Executive Committee member, safeguarding manufacturing and FMCG enterprises from systemic operational and process risk as well as opportunities, thereby strategizing to prevent risks and enhancing organizational efficiency, growth and sustained success in the short and long term.

Translating the corporate vision and strategies into SMART business goals and ensuring execution. Ensuring operational efficiency and cost optimization by leveraging effective supply chain management, planning, lean, Six Sigma, 5S and TPM techniques, technology upgradation, performance monitoring, and improvement through KPIs.

A certified lead auditor for ISO and FSSC 22000, responsible for quality management system implementation of food safety systems, and reengineering process improvements for Pan-India operations of own and co-manufacturing / 3P facilities.

Team building — leading teams across production, maintenance, quality, HR, finance, EHS, purchase, warehouse and SCM — through team morale, and creating future leaders through training, mentoring and coaching talent.

Compliance with regulatory aspects like FSSAI, Factory Inspectorate, Legal Metrology, Pollution Control Board, plastic waste management and EPR compliances, and taking proactive measures on the evolving regulatory ecosystem.

Led greenfield projects for Del Monte Foods' South and North operations, establishing and starting up new operations, systems and processes that increased revenue by more than ₹500 crore.

Mastery across product ranges including tomato ketchup, sauces, mayonnaise and variants, fruit and carbonated beverages, canned fruits, pasta, edible oil refining, olives and olive oils, dairy, tree nuts, backward integration of farming operations, fresh operations and personal care products.

Delivered annual recurring savings of more than ₹2 crore through process reengineering and ₹6 crore through conversion cost reduction and yield improvement.

Customer focus, product and system compliance to standards across QSR and export channels. SAP system implementation and leveraging MIS for business process improvements.

Open to advisory conversations, executive committee and governance roles, and select partnership discussions across FMCG, food manufacturing and quality governance. Engagements are shaped around the specific risk, audit, or operational challenge at hand — from a single strategic conversation to an ongoing advisory relationship.