Conceived, Designed and Implemented Integrated Strategy for Product and Process Improvement through Innovative Methods to Ensure that M1 Division of Crompton Greaves Successfully Prevented from Slipping into Loss | Chapter 6 | Insights into Economics and Management Vol. 1

 

In the 1970s, Crompton Greaves, a multi-product company, had its manufacturing plants located only in Worli and Kanjur locations in Bombay. In the early 1980s and 1990s, it entered the mood of expansion and, under this programme, built production units at various locations such as Nashik, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad (in Maharashtra State), Indore, Gwalior and Bhopal (in Madhya Pradesh State), Bangalore (in Karnataka State) and Goa. Under this programme, from July 1979, the M1 Division belonging to the Industrial Goods Group transferred the most profitable products to the newly formed M3 Division at Ahmednagar. I developed Production Planning and Control System after joining the M1 Division in 1973, where I received a large hint that the delivery of custom designed engines was often delayed. Couldn't I find out why, though? When I took over production, I was introduced to the complete problems of low productivity and low quality that had led to a lot of rework resulting in delayed deliveries under the job rotation programme. At the same time, I witnessed a severe struggle to keep the level of output above 4000 per month, when the market needed engines of this range about 5000 per month. As I knew how work differed from that of Kirloskar Electric, where similar ranges of engines were made, this became unacceptable to my mind. With my senior, Works Boss, I opened this subject and projected that M1 Division would walk straight into the loss zone right from the first year itself after reorganisation from July 1979. He verified if I had any solution in mind while analysing my argument. I clarified that the main burning point is low productivity and indicated that the solution lies in raising productivity. As the increase in labour productivity was unimaginable in view of the prevailing climate of industrial relations, I proposed that this could be accomplished by improving productivity in management. This was done by introducing the Integrated Strategy to increase quality and efficiency through the Program for Change. I have therefore been made solely responsible for the introduction of this programme. Within three years of work, the desired goal of maintaining profit was achieved by raising efficiency by 35 percent, quality by 9 to 10 times, resulting in a substantial cost reduction by 25 percent. For at least 6 to 7 years, falling into failure was thus prevented.

Author (s) Details

Gururaj Kulkarni
Kirloskar Electric Co., Bangalore and Hubli, India, Crompton Greaves Ltd., Mumbai, India, Prince Containers Pvt. Ltd./Prince Multiplast Pvt. Ltd. Mumbai, India, JASANZ (Joint Accreditation Scheme for Australia and New Zealand), Canberra, Australia and Quality Council of India at National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies, New Delhi (based in Mumbai), India.

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