4 Mar. 1987
To:
Dear Colleague
A
THANKLESS JOB ?
A few days
back Mr. K.Chakravarti, Mr. A.M. Deshmukh and myself were literally "gherao"-ed in the reception-hall by a group of Shop-Reps from "C" building. As we returned from a meeting, they were all waiting and
they all seemed very agitated. One of them had a snack-packet in
his hand.
- "Why don't you call it Bone-Masala Instead of Mutton-Masala ?"
- "We don't want to
eat in the canteen,
give us Dabba-Allowance."
Someone said,
Third said,
I was reminded of the story of seven blindmen and
the elephant. Each had his own,
unique way of "seeing"
the elephant by touching some part of it, but nobody could touch the elephant as a
"whole".
For the next few minutes, I tried to make them see the whoIe of the elephant - called canteen- but I don't know whether I succeeded. But when you finish reading this circular, I am sure at least you would understand.
And since It may sound as though I am trying to defend
the canteen operations, let me admit one thing right at the beginning.
Yes, I do believe - and strongly - that there is a lot of scope
for improving the canteen services - in the same way that there is a lot of scope for
improving all our operations at Powai !
In Improving things at Powai, we need whole-hearted co-operation, dedication, commitment and TEAMWORK of everybody In Powai - from the employees at the lowest rung of' the ladder to the General Managers!
- The "Cost" at
which we produce our products
? - Keeping them low so that we can compete in the market and get some orders to keep our machines and
manpower busy ?
- Our "after-sales-service".
I have been talking about these things for many
years and you already know my views. Today, however, we are going to talk about our Canteen:
- It's resources
(
Resources )
A. VOLUME
OF SERVICE
Nature of
Service
|
To how
many persons
|
How many
times/ day
|
No.of
days/ year
|
Total "Service-events"
/ Year
|
1. Lunch
|
5150
|
1
|
305
|
15,52,550
|
2. Tea
|
6500
|
1 / 2
|
253/305
|
32,40,950
|
3. Snacks
|
6500
|
1/2
|
305
|
21,96,000
|
4. Trays
|
200
|
2
|
253
|
1,01,200
|
5. Coffee
|
1900
|
1 / 2
|
253/305
|
5,52,100
|
6. Dinner
|
750
|
1
|
305
|
2,28,750
|
7.
Lunch-Cottage
|
2,300
|
|||
TOTAL
|
78,73,850
|
B. RESOURCES
Manpower
|
1983 - 84
(Base-Year)
|
lncrease/
Decrease
|
|
|
Cooks
& Grain Cleaners Sweepers
Casual
|
39
219
48
22
38
|
35
210
45
24
12
|
(-4)
(-9)
(-3)
(+2)
(-26)
|
Sub-Total
|
366
|
326
|
(-40)
|
O/T converted to
|
59
|
32
|
(-27)
|
GRAND-TOTAL
|
425
|
358
|
(-67)
|
POWAI MANPOWER
1983 -84
(Average)
|
1986 -87
(Actuals)
|
lncrease/
Decrease
|
|
- Sup and
above
|
1479
|
1598
|
|
- Daily Rated
|
3888
|
3722
|
( - 166)
|
- Monthly Rated
|
1141
|
1140
|
|
- Trainees
|
765
|
556
|
( - 209)
|
GRAND -
TOTAL
|
7273
|
7016
|
( - 257)
|
|
Canteen Manpower
|
17.1
|
19.6
|
- Canteen manpower
went down by 15.8%
and canteen
(no. of
service-events/ canteen employee)
D. CANTEEN DELIVERY
Yes, of course,we had a few occasions
when tea-service was
late by 15-30 minutes or when lunch was not ready.
What percentage
(%) of the total "Service-events"
of 78,73,850 during the
year ? And how does this "Service-level" compare with the
percentage of delayed
deliveries ( of our products) to our customers ?
But whereas
acustomer will
fret and fume, he will still
wait for for us to deliver his order a day, a
week or may be a whole month beyond the promised delivery-date. At that stage he has very little choice ! But when it comes to Canteen, no one is
prepared to accept
a "delayed delivery" !
D. CANTEEN QUALITY
When It comes to food, the concept of quality becomes very subjective
especially in a place like Powai where people come to work from all parts of
India.
We have
- "East"
Indians
-
And whereas they are quite willing to put-up with whatever food their wives offer for dinner,
they are quite critical of the lunch served In the Canteen .!
I would like our employees to appreciate that a Canteen can neither give you home-food nor it can give you hotel-food .
When you
cook food for 5000 people, you Just cannot get the same quality which you get when you
cook for 5 persons ! Ask any mother ( or wife).
And please
do not hurry to compare
with the hotel-food.
-If.you were to order the same THALI In a hotel, you
would end-up paying between
Rs. 10 to Rs. 25/-
And In case
you are not too keen on
such a superior quality,
the canteen can offer you-the SAME quallty( as the hotels) for ONE-FOURTH
( 1/4) the price charged by the hotels
!!
F. CANTEEN COSTS
Whereas Expenses have been going-up
year—after-year, the Income
(coupon-sale) has remained
more-or-less the same ! So no wonder, LOSSES
have mounted.
And If we
cannot get the employees to agree to Increase the selling-prices, what else can we do to reduce the losses ?
Labour Cost ................. Rs. 141.92 lakhs
Misc.
................. Rs. 15.99 lakhs
TOTAL Rs. 307.44 lakhs
Targetted Saving
(Rs in lakhs)
|
||
1.
|
18.90
|
|
2.
|
Cut down
on overtime
|
9.68
|
3.
|
Reduce use
of crockery
|
2.20
|
4.
|
1.81
|
|
5.
|
1.71
|
|
TOTAL
|
34.30
|
Reasons for
the Shortfall ?
3. Managers/Supervisors/Workmon
(LR-1/LR-2/LR-3) do not like increase In selling
prices ! (1+1 is a different matter when it comes to
salary and wages ! )
- Absenteeism (excluding PL) brought down from 11.36% in 1985
to 11.02% in
1986 ( reduction
of 0. 34%)
- Absenteeism (including PL) brought down from 18.68% in 1985 to
17.00% in 1986 ( reduction of 1.68%).
- O/T brought down from 166772 Hrs/Year (
1984/05) to 107190 hours (targetted) In
1986/87. ( a
reduction of 36%)
- Mechanisation of the grain-cleaning/utensil-washing/vegetable-cutting.
- Introduction of pressed stainless steel dishes In LR-I and LR-2
(provided Managers and Supervisors co-operate !).
And all this is possible only through your active co-operation. It is never easy to tame a wild elephant !
Hi nice reading your post
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