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LeanmanufacturingtheMarutiway|BusinessLine

LeanmanufacturingtheMarutiway
SRonendraSingh

EfficientexcellenceTheMarutiSuzukiplantatGurgaon,Haryana.BothGurgaonand
ManesarplantsfollowtheMACEprogramme.KAMALNARANG

Streamliningsystemsandreducingwasteforefficientproduction

PokayokeinJapanesemeansmistakeproofinganditisfollowedwholeheartedlyintheleanmanufacturingindustry,
notonlyintheirland,butinIndiatoo.
And,MarutiSuzukiIndia(MSIL),thecountryslargestpassengercarsmanufacturerisbeenfollowingthesamesystem
sinceitsinceptionin1984,inordertoimproveitsproductivityandlesserdefectsintheproducts.
Withtheadventofrecallsanditsexportstoglobalmarkets,thecompanyhasbecomestricterintermsofmaintaining
qualitystandards,notonlyinitsplantsinGuragaonandManesarinHaryana,buttoitsvendorstoo,sothatthe
componentsthatthecompanygetisparwithitsdemand.Therefore,itstartedaprogrammecalledMarutiCentrefor
Excellence(MACE)involving21ofitscomponentvendorstoreplicatebestpracticesfromshopfloorofMSILwhich
translatesintobetterqualityandbetterproductivity.
Aimingforexcellence
MACEwasstartedwithacorpusfundof10crorefromMSILandthevendorscontributing25lakheachand
identifiedareaswherethevendorscanimproveinqualityongloballevelsandalsofollowsomeparametersof
operations.
HeadedbyIVRao,ManagingExecutiveOfficerEngineeringandHeadofR&D,thecompanyhelpsthesuppliers
deployleanprocessestoimproveproductivityandreduceresourcewastages.Therearefourmainactivitiestraining,
audit,implementationandupgradationofsmallervendorswhosupplytothesetierIsupplierssothatthequalityis
maintainedinthechainofproducts.
Basedonsomebasicrequirements,MSILdecidesoncertaintopicsandtrainbothbluecollaredaswellasthewhite
collaredemployeesinthevendorsfactories.Then,theteamauditswhichqualitysystemsaretobefollowedinevery
operation.Foreveryoperation,thereisaprescribedwaysofdoingitasthequalitystandardisthebackboneofthe
companyinhowitoperates.
Lean,meanefficiency
ItistheimplementationofleanmanufacturingsystematitsvendorsbasedonwhatMarutihasinhouseproduction
systemsbasedonSuzukiMotorJapanandToyotaQualityManagement(TQM),whichmeansimprovingthe
productivity,eliminatingthewasteandreducingthedefects.
Thecompanythroughimplementingleanmanufacturingsystemshas720projectscompletedsofarforproductivity
improvement,quality,inventorycontrolandenergyconservation.MACEhasworkedwith146tierIIvendorsfor
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LeanmanufacturingtheMarutiway|BusinessLine

overallimprovementinperformanceresultinginreductioninrejectionsfrom10,933to1,180productspermonthand
defectreductionfrom432to146permonth.
However,whilethetierIsuppliershavedevelopedtheartofsuchproductivity,thecompanyhasabigtasknow,which
is,toenablesimilartrendinthetierIIandtierIIIsuppliersandeventhesmallervendors.
Rightnow,wefeelthattierIIaretheweakerlinksinthesupplychainandtherefore,wearenowworkingalongwith
tierIsupplierstobasicallyimplementleanmanufacturingagain,Raosaid.
Thatiswhythecompanyhasalsostartedclustersconsistingofabout1012suppliers,allsupplyingtoatierIandhave
madecounsellorstoworkallwithallthosesmallervendorstofigureoutwhatisgoingwrongonadailybasis.
Zerorejection
But,thetaskdoesntendtheretoo,especiallywhensuchsmallervendorshavemoreofcontractualworkers.
RaosaidoneofthemajorissuesMarutiisfacingiswiththeratioofregulartocontractworkerswhoareactually
workingonproductionlineswithtierIandtierIIandthereforetryingtoimplementthepokaiyokemethod.
Itmeansifwefeelaparticularprocessoroperation,iscriticalforquality,weinstalldevices,whichwillgiveaudioor
visualalarmsandthepersonworkingtheregetsalertedthatsomethingwrongishappening.
Therefore,itpreventsfromsomethingtotallywrongishappeningbeforehand.Forexample,ifaworkerhastopickupa
partamongstvarioustypesofpartsandifhepicksupawrongpart,therewillbeanalarm.Therefore,heknowshehas
tochangethepartandpickuptherightpart,Raoexplained.
Throughsuchprogrammes,manyofitsvendorshavenowgotzerorejectioninitspartsandwastageisalsocontrolled.
Forexample,partoftheMACEsinceitsinception,SuperfineComponentsisbeensupplyingpartstoMSILwithzero
rejection,continuouslyoverthelastthreeyears.
Goingforward,thecompanywouldworkmoreundertheMACEprogramme,notonlyforitsvendors,butforoverall
smallscaleindustryinthemanufacturinglines.
Tobeginwith,MSILhasalreadysignedamemorandumofunderstandingwiththeMinistryofMicro,Smalland
MediumEnterprises(MSME),mandatingthe35counsellorsofMACEtogotothefactoriesandcompanies,and
suggesthowtoimplementcertainprocesses.
MACEhasalsobecomepartofQualityCouncilofIndiaforsuchactivitiesandhastiedupwithKaizenInstituteIndiain
Ahmedabad,GujarattospreadsuchactivitiesinWesternandSouthernpartsofthecountry,fromonlydoingat
GuragonManesarbelt,Raoadded.
(ThisarticlewaspublishedonMay22,2014)
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