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“Human Resource Department (HRD) in our industry functions more like a ‘time office’, ignoring their main role as a HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT. Of course both the industry owners (Management) and the HRD themselves are to be blamed for it. While the former considers production and merchandising departments over and above the HRD, the HRD is considered merely a ‘service’ department. It is high time they rise to the occasion and prove beyond merely being called THE TIME KEEPERS”, says Piyush R Vyas, COA – Mandhana Industries via blogspot.
(Wo)Men (humans), Materials (raw materials) and Machines (capital goods), and I would add one more aspect to the above three – Systems, all put together makes an Organization work. All components are critical for working of an organization – It’s like four wheels of an automobile – which one (of the wheels) will you call it critical? All the four have to work in tandem to make the business successful. (However I am keeping one (additional) quality of an organization out of this discussion, i.e. VISION. It is an abstract quality – led by the leader of the organization.) ALL other components can be bought! A BIG question, indeed!
I know the readers will have lot of perspective on the above subject matter. But I would narrate a few instances and then leave the subject open (for interpretation and debate).
First case – I happened to visit a garment factory – the main purpose was to evaluate the factory – we were considering them as a vendor. The building, and its entrance was impressive. The factory had a smartly dressed security guard. I was made to put on a visitor’s badge before being accompanied to a visitor’s lounge. The manager (of course marketing manager) greeted me and we exchanged pleasantries in their medium-sized conference room. So far so good.
I just had a glance at their range in the showroom – of course a very limited range – not much impressive. Next I visited the factory – the factory floor and the finishing department and looked at the finished product. The first impression was just lost. I was shocked seeing their product quality and the price range. The product was of a very poor quality. Presentation was poor too and the quality totally unacceptable.
We had to outsource production – about 8000 pcs. Our QA manager visited a job worker and rejected the factory. Since the owner of the factory was a non-garment person, the operational part of this factory was being taken care of by a production manager. Located in a small dingy place, the factory was small, not too “impressive”, and even the layout was not proper. The factory had a cement flooring (no tiles), with floor broken at couple of places and was located in a small dingy lane. But with critical delivery dates, we had to do the outsourcing, and hence I visited the job worker personally. The production manager turned out to be an old acquaintance of mine. We then planned the production from this factory. Result – the goods were on time and of acceptable quality. Everybody (in my organization) was surprised.
Second case – This was told to me by an inspector of a buying agency …. On the production floor, the inspector was watching a quality controller (QC) checking the garments quite swiftly. He had a measuring tape in his hand, 2-3 bins around and no measurement chart. When questioned, the QC responded promptly that it is his daily job and hence he remembers the specifications. Not to be taken by the answer, the inspector probed further. The inspector made the QC check each and every “point of measurements” – and the result was out. The QC was not a QC, he did not know a word of quality. When seniors are around, he would show that he is checking garments, else… loiter!
It is a common sight in a factory that a designated tailor is actually working as a helper or an ironer or a designated QC is working as a line feeder.
Third case – We daily keep getting DPR – daily production reports, from the I.E. department. Who sets the targets? The I.E. sets them. Now when the DPR does not tally with the targeted output, the I.E. is busy writing comments for not achieving the target. The I.E. is good at pulling out data from his bank but not at translating them into achievable production targets.
Fourth case – I happen to interview a candidate for Production Manager. He had a long experience of over 15 years and knew good fancy terms – Lean production systems, Kaizen, etc. Keeping aside his bio-data (which is normally outsourced – professionally written), I gave him two garments and made him write the operation bulletin. He could not write the operations. I then asked him approx. number of machines and output per batch per shift. He was off the mark by 50%.
A smart organization with a smart HR Manager took a test of an I.E. candidate. The candidate scored almost full marks in the test. A promising candidate. The production manager was impressed. But when he was interviewed for writing operation bulletin and arriving at approx. SAM value – he was off tangent. Nowhere near the reality.
Strengthening HR Department
We are always lagging behind in deliveries – production delay, but 50% of the delays are caused by departments other than production. The inputs are not in time – inputs meaning approvals and raw materials. There are merchandisers (I am not excluding merchandise managers) who cannot make a detailed BOM (Bill of Materials) and TNA (Time and Action Calendar). Leave aside the diligent follow-up of BOM & TNA – both are critical for execution of orders.
I have come across many candidates and even employees – merchandisers, I.E., accounts assistants – they lack basic mathematics knowledge – proportion, percentage, ratios.
I am not here on fault finding mission – trying to find fault with all (of course except me). But the point is that we have ignored the most important aspect of the trade – HUMAN RESOURCE. And for that we need to have a good HR Department headed by a strong HR Manager. In most cases (there may be exceptions), the HR Department is ignored. HR remains only as a Time Office function, i.e. to process salary.
We will never have a candidate who is ready fit for the organization. And that is where HR Department can take a lead in grooming this sparse resource and help the organization to grow. There will always be employee turnover whether small or large, but that is the challenge of HR Department to have next line of employees ready to take the challenge.
The management needs to involve the HRD into all critical areas of planning – be it expansion of capacity, to address lean season, or even cutting down on capacity. Let HRD have the future view of the organization – where it is going and prepare for the contingencies.
With constant growth of the industry – we need to keep pace with human resource and if we are not ready with human resource then our growth will be limited. HR Department should tighten its functions so that it get due respect from other departments.
[The views expressed in this article are writer’s personal views.]
