REGIONAL ACTIVITY

Eastern Region

VISIT TO TELCO AND TATA CUMMINS : 15th JULY 1999

"DO WE IMPROVE OR DO WE DIE" is the motto of this company - Tata Engineering & Locomotive Co (TELCO), Jamshedpur.

TELCO, Jamshedpur, the eastern region office and plant to which ACMA's Eastern Region Chairman, Mr Beni Daga, led a 26 member strong Delegation, on the morning of 15th July 1999. The Delegation was met and given a warm reception by the Senior Management Team of TELCO.

Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, Morale (SQDCM) is the catch-phrase throughout the plant with enormous focus on House Keeping. Members of the ACMA Delegation were shown the new Gear Box Plant and Forge Shop and were informed that 100% of TELCO Trucks rolling out, were tested on the tracks.

Welcoming Members of the ACMA Delegation, Mr. Narayan, General Manager and leader of the TELCO Team, made a presentation in which great emphasis was laid on TELCO's thrust in areas of Customer Satisfaction, Quality, Productivity and Waste Elimination.

Highlighting the challenges faced by TELCO, Mr Narayan said that it was necessary to focus on:

• Production of eco-friendly vehicles
• Price of vehicle and customer expectation
• Maximising Cummins vehicles
• Improving life of vehicles and aggregates
• World class quality
• Vendors of matching quality and
• Adherence to schedules

Presentations were made by : (a) Mr. R. Chaturvedi on Quality Concerns and Supplier Quality Improvement Programme (SQIP) for TELCO vendors (b) Mr. Anuj Kathuria on the Product Profile and Range of Tata Vehicles fitted with Tata Cummins engines and (c) Mr. U.K. Mishra who spoke on the concerns of TELCO ; the production of all trucks fitted with Tata Cummins Engines, with effect from 1st April 2000 and the target production of 60,000 such vehicles for the following year.

TATA CUMMINS
Following the TELCO meeting on 15th July, 1999 was a visit to and interaction with Tata Cummins Ltd. Members of the ACMA Delegation were delighted to be shown a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant for TELCO engines. Mr Beni Daga, speaking on behalf of ACMA Members, confirmed their commitment to TELCO's development plans as "partners in progress".

Mr. Jaiswal, Plant Manager and General Manager Operations, welcomed the team. Giving a brief profile on the company, Mr Jaiswal stated that localisation of engine parts was, at present, upto 90% and while the company was working on a further 5% increase, the balance 5% was being imported. Intense Company focus was on TPM, proof of which were meetings held by the TCL Team on TPM, every afternoon.

Following was a presentation by Mr. Bose and his team on "Best Practices for Supplier Development" and another by TCL, highlighting the 10 steps that suppliers of TCL followed for continuous development and maintenance of Quality levels.

At the end of the visit, Mr. Daga thanked the TCL Team for welcoming the ACMA Delegation, the excellent presentations and for sharing the "Development Strategy" which was being followed by Tata Cummins Ltd. Stressing his belief that more members would be gearing themselves to ensure supply to TCL, Mr Daga reassured that ACMA would support TCL's initiatives.

Western Region

WORKSHOP ON "TEAM BUILDING & CONFLICT MANAGEMENT" : 3RD JULY, 1999
ACMA (WR), has been conducting joint seminars and workshops with other automotive related organisations to bring better understanding to members on manufacture, in particular spheres of auto components and accessories. In pursuit of this, Western Region held a workshop with All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA), on 3rd July, 1999.
Mrs Pilloo Aga, Chairperson ACMA (WR) along with Mr Yogen Lathia Chairperson ARIA, welcomed the participants.

The workshop, conducted by Mr Leslie Rebello, Management Consultant & Director, L R Associates Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, presented the efficiency of Team Work over individual or other groupings when multiple skills, judgement and experience was called for in a particular task. Teams, were more flexible and responsive to changing scenarios than other forms of Groupings. Team building, therefore, would be a more expedient way of utilizing employee talent. Participants, learnt of different types of Teams and different characteristics of "Groups" and "Teams".

Continuing into "Conflict Management", Mr Rebello pointed out that conflict was an inevitable product of change, growth and innovation and that there were four structural Conflict areas : Hierarchal, Functional, Line-staff, Formal and Informal. The Workshop, enumerated the 'positives' in Conflict, as in making one more aware of problems in relationships and the necessity of solving these, which in turn, encouraged change and increased motivation in dealing with problems. Since Conflict was a daily reality, Conflict-resolution Strategies was included in the presentation.