RE: Memoirs of L&T Alumni - Volume 2

Dear HRS,

Following is taken from " L&T Story " section of my blogging site

If considered suitable , feel free to include this in your Volume 2 ( or any other )

hcp

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Saturday, 12 December 2015

Toubro 's Wisdom

( Contributor : hcp )

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Year was , may be , 1960 or 61

G Ramkrishna ( GR ) was my boss

I was sitting with GR , in his cabin , discussing some production issues

In walked , Mr S K Toubro , unannounced

Out of courtesy , I started standing up

SKT just waved to me to sit down , as he pulled up a chair for himself

After inquiring how production was shaping up , he suddenly turned to me and said :

"  Parekh ,

In Switchgear factory , do we have any engineers having no work ? "


I was nonplussed  , puzzled , lost to grasp the meaning !


I said :

" Sir , absolutely not .

  How is that possible  ? Every engineer is neck-deep in work "


The , he quietly said :


"  We should always have some engineers with no work - that is , with no boss-defined jobs

Their only duty should be to roam around the factory and the offices , observing what exactly our employees are doing - and how 

And figure out what is ' wrong ' with the way they are doing their work

Then come up with ideas / suggestions , on how those work-processes can be improved to do a better / faster job

And then go ahead and implement their own ideas / suggestions

We must have such freelancers who are always looking for ways to do more work for less effort  "


This was years before " Productivity Improvement " became a popular management jargon !

And years before Google introduced for its engineers , that now famous , 

"  20 percent " rule ,

under which , every employee of Google is free to set aside 20 % of his working hours , to pursue any project he can think up  , without boss's knowledge  !

Soren Toubro was a visionary of an extra-ordinary stature  !

Incidentally , he was the only person among our Directors , who responded to my wedding invitation 

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13  Dec  2015

Warm Regards,

Hemen Parekh

(M)=91 – 98,67,55,08,08

From: Haridas Shenoy [mailto:hrshenoy1941@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2016 5:26 PM
To: Haridas Shenoy
Subject: Memoirs of L&T Alumni - Volume 2

Though I am addressing this to all my colleagues, I am sending it individually.

The above is the title for Volume 2. Volume 1 is L&T Switchgear & Other Stories. I will let you know when Volume 1 is available for online sale next week.

In the meantime, here is an extract of an article received for volume 2. My intention is to publish one article every Wednesday.

Those who feel like contributing articles to this Volume 2, please start writing and sending me.

Pilgrimage down the Memory Lane

By N Vasudevan

SK Toubro (SKT) on Inventory Management

I was asked to carry out a critical analysis of Parts inventory that year and show to Toubro. He was due to visit Powai on his way to the Airport, to catch a flight to Tokyo. I was also told that Toubro knew of this arrangement.

The D-day came. I was ready. Toubro was sighted in the Heavy Engineering Workshop. I can clearly recollect how he looked that day. A snow-white Safari suit – well cut and perfect fit – with a light brown colour straw hat and goggles. I could not take my eyes off him. What a grand sight, as he was approaching!

I showed him the file and started explaining. He signaled that it was not necessary. He glanced through the file in less than one minute which had taken me more than one fortnight and gave it back to me.

I was almost in tears.

SKT:           “Do you know what is on the other side of the road?” and gestured. That gave me the clue

Me:    ”Yes Sir, Powai Lake.”

SKT:           “Do you know there is an Angling Association?”

Me:    “Yes Sir, I have seen the sign board”

Here is what he told me.

“One day two members took a boat, reached the middle of the lake, the boat capsized and they died by drowning.

A detailed and accurate report was made, containing minute details like how they were dressed, what time they took the boat, when they reached the middle of the lake, what caused the boat to capsize, how they went down, came up; again went down, again came up; again went down, never to come up.

It was a total recreation and graphic description of the whole tragic incident. But how did it change the end result? They were dead.

Your file is like that report.

You are an expert. I know nothing of Parts. But I know one thing. If you order bad Parts and not good Parts, you will end up with dead stock. This Company will become bankrupt”.

So saying, Toubro walked away.

I was dazed and stood still like a statue, till he went out of my sight.

That chilling experience haunted me for long.

Kardex

Acharya Vinobha Bhave, of bhoodaan fame and a great follower of Mahatma Gandhi, prophetically declared “Time has come for science and religion to make way to technology and spirituality.”

In my days, all operations were carried out manually – work for the brain. Kardex in Parts Department was one of them and was then considered a novelty in space saving and easy handling.

A brief description: Steel cabinets, rectangular in shape of about 18” height, with one above the other sliding trays which can be easily pulled out and pushed back. Each tray had strong pockets into which the Stock Record Cards could be placed – easy to insert and remove. It will also enable to access both the front and back of the cards. The bottom edge of the pockets had plastic protection, to serve more than one purpose.

So far the body; now the brain.

The Stock Record Cards, in the Kardex system, with clearly defined columns would be like a mother to provide the base for a good inventory control to achieve the twin objectives

·              Maximum supply from stock, particularly the fast moving parts

·              Minimum stock, by a better turnover.

Minimum and maximum quantities for each part, on the basis of consumption and lead time, would be fixed, to establish an ordering schedule. This would be the responsibility of a senior hand. Kardex operator would insert a red signal at the visible edge of the card when the ‘Total Available’ figure reached the minimum level. Total Available column can be defined as what is ‘on hand’ plus what was ‘on order’ minus ‘reservation’. Reservations were quantities not initially supplied and therefore blocked for supply on replenishment of stocks (called backorder) by a minus entry.

The order processing clerk would go through such signaled cards at regular intervals and prepare Parts Order, on a specially designed form, the quantity to be ordered being the difference between ‘total available’ and ‘maximum’. (Hope I have not confused much!)

Thus an Inventory Control System was in place, subject to lapses here and there. To err is human. All said and done, those were the days when all problems would have solutions and all solutions would have problems, but exciting, nonetheless.

HR Shenoy, 7666128505

Co-Founder, Tejora Technologies Limited, tejora.com