Raghuram.

The success of a 5 S implementation is dependent on how we handle the 6th S which is safety. This is directly related to people and always the most difficult and challenging. Safety can be divided as physical and mental. Physical safety can be enforced by putting relevant controls and use of automation and alerts etc. Mental safety involves the psychological aspects of a human and is very complex in nature. This is dynamic in nature and constantly changing according to time. To understand this, let us broadly divide the work force in 3 groups and see how to engage them in any new initiatives Group 1 : Young entry level aspiring and talented employees who are willing to lean, adapt to change and highly focused on getting their career building. High on risk taking and quickly adaptable to change. Group 2 : Mid level experienced employees who are in the process of looking at stability and are in the process of building their family. Risk taking ability and adaptability to change with caution. Group 3 : Senior employees who have been loyal to the organisation, have high experience and are in their last leg of employment. Have families who are settled. Low on risk taking and high resistance to change. To explain the above in detail, I would like to take the example of a MNC packaging company with plants having mix of unionized as well as young staff cadre work force working on the same st of machines. A management decision was taken some time back to stop recruitment on workmen cadre who would by default be part of union and employ diploma holders who would be in staff cadre and not part of union. Both these groups are deployed as operators on the machines Problem : It was decided to implement 5 S program in the shop floor represented by all the three groups of people. What are the challenges which we encountered and how did we address these groups separately and go ahead with a successful implementation. Group 1 : Educated, talented , young, energetic and aspiring group of individuals. A very low level of loyalty towards the organisation. Constantly seeking opportunities outside the company and using the current experience as a stepping stone. High level of attrition. A training program was undertaken to cast a vision for these individuals and a road map was drawn for them to understand how they could become shift supervisors and floor managers over a period of time. The key was to reduce attrition and use the talent pool for Business Excellence initiatives. During the 5 S initiatives, these group was involved in creating visual displays across the shop floor, creative ideas to re organize the shop floor, work on the physical safety programs and nominate them for six sigma green belt certifications. This helped in reduction in attrition and enhanced participation in Business Excellence initiatives. Group 2 : This group has talented and experienced work force with growing family and willing to run the extra mile to support the growing financial requirements of their families. This group is open to new ideas and are willing to participate in new initiatives with caution. They are part of the union and do not want themselves to be branded as pro management as being in the union givens them a safety cover and sense of security. To empower this group training programs were conducted in Fire safety, First aid using external training agencies. They we empowered to organize the safety week celebration programs, participate in safety quiz, spot the defect and spot the hazard programs in the shop floor. Team sports activities like volleyball, Cricket, Carrom and Table tennis were conducted during Republic day and Independence day . Best attendance awards were given to reduce absenteeism. Members were drawn to conduct internal shop floor audits to build a competitive environment. Group 3 : This group has semi literate skilled experienced work force actively involved in union activities with families resonabilly settles and over a period of time have a stable financial situation. High resistance to change and not open to new initiatives. For this group a training program on self introspection called " Jeevan Yatra" was conducted. This program focused on the following Know yourself. What is your role in your family What is your role in the society What is your role in the organisation A change management program was conducted to sensitize the changes in technology and how to be updated and use of the new tools like ERP systems, SFDC despite having limitations in literacy and computer skills. These programs helped in mitigating the resistance and made them receptive to change. A monthly news bulletin was started to encourage and unleash hidden talents. This bulletin had a page dedicated to safety measures and ideas published . Each bulletin had profile of one senior work man which he could share it with his family and created a sense of pride in them. Conclusion : Identification of the groups, understanding their mental build ups and designing the training programs and initiatives to enhance participation of all the 3 groups was the key for a successful implementation of 5 S program. This also enabled to fast track all Business Excellence initiatives in the shop floor. Today this plant is a role model plant and bench marking with other group plants situated in India as well as countries like Germany, Italy, Thailand, Vietnam and Dubai.

Balanced score card is a effective management tool which can be used to measure metrics which can help in the company to evolve strategies and develop action plans. This score card consists of both Lagging and Leading indicators Lagging Indicators show how the company has been performing and capture measures of events already happened. Financial Metrics: Last Quarter Sales performance, PAT, Year on year growth trends etc can be called as lagging indicators. Customer Metrics: Sales achieved from existing customers, New customers added during the last quarter , Profitability achieved from each product group etc. Internal Business Process : Current productivity measures, Inventory levels, Throughput times, wastage percentages etc. Learning and Growth Metrics: Training programs conducted, Current competency mapping etc. Leading Indicators show how the company have planned to perform in line with the strategies and the plans for achieving them Financial Metrics: Plans for the next quarter, estimated PAT, New investments etc Customer Metrics: Plans for adding new customers, new markets , launch of new products, new business strategies etc. Internal Business Process : Improvement plans for productivity measures, Inventory levels, Throughput times, wastage percentages etc. Learning and Growth Metrics: Training programs to be conducted, Skill and Knowledge assessment improvement plans etc. Only by looking at the lagging indicators it would be difficult to asses the performance of the company and coupled with the leading indicators gives a better picture and enables the company to undertake relevant improvement projects.