Acknowledgements

Firstly I would like to express my gratitude towards the Max group for giving me the opportunity to work for them, and for trusting me with sensitive information. I would also like to thank Mr. Akshay Nair for his constant support and guidance throughout my internship.

Internship Letter

Introduction

Maxspare limited a manufacturer of oil seals and engineering rubber products has its largest manufacturing unit at Khopoli Maharashtra. With progressive growth and expansion, the company like most other manufacturing units was badly hit by the acute shortage of labour due to migration during covid. Being in an industry which makes essential parts of most machinery,we could not afford to shut down and needed to keep up with the restarting of other companies.

It was at this time that we felt the need to cut fat in the systems to improve production and efficiency despite reduced labour .

Problem

With the expected and anticipated growing demand, we were certain to have a drop In production and decreased supply due to the sudden drop in labour and manpower. Thereby impacting sales in an already distressed phase in income due to lockdown in covid .

Plan & Method

Plan

After careful introspection in our various departments and understanding of the chain from production to finishing, it was identified that 3 workers performed 3 different tasks at stipulated intervals but the same could be managed by 1 worker in the time taken between the cycles. Hence we restructured the shop floor and rearranged the machinery to be aligned in a way that 1 operator put in the rubber piece (seal) for moulding and in the time taken for the curing, which was approximately 5 minutes, he completed the finishing of the previously mounded product and simultaneously inspection of the same to clear for packaging.

Hence as opposed to having 3 different workers at 3 different workstations 1 unit was created for moulding - finishing - inspection and ready for packaging.

Benefits

We were able to significantly cut costs in the long run but above all we reduced labour requirements by 60 percent, now 1 worker could do the job previously done by 3 different workers. This also improved speed and efficiency and created a one stop shop from production to finishing. This helped boost our production significantly enough to actually have surplus stores in current times once our labour strength improved thereby allowing us to have online delivery with possibility to have instant dispatches within 72 hours of receiving orders. Helping us set up a max spare express department, where order to deliver happened between 24 to 72 hours.

Drawbacks

During the pandemic with already distressed sales and loss of income , the restructuring and relocation of machinery added to the costs initially. Also significant time and cost was involved in retraining the staff to perform these multiple tasks.

Conclusion

Despite the initial hike in cost, time and effort, the overall efficiency of this change has proved to significantly improve production efficiency and thereby also resulted in boosting sales due to the company being able to meet the sudden growing demand, in a short interval of time, of other industries with restarting post covid.