Implementation of HR Initiatives in Enhancement of Productivity a Case Study in a Railway Wheel Manufacturing Unit of India

Abstract

Wheel & Axle Plant at Durgapur Steel Plant, a unit of state owned steel giant SAIL, was Commissioned in 1961-62 to produce forged and machined railway wheels for locomotives, coaches and Wagons of Indian Railways with an annual capacity of 90,000 nos. wheels & 45,000 nos. axles. During Modernization of Durgapur Steel Plant in 1992-93 Rated Capacity of W & A Plant was revised to produce 50,000 OK wheel sets or 1, 00,000 nos. wheels per annum, which is equivalent to 42,000 T wheels and 16,000 T axles. But unfortunately, this unit of DSP could never achieve the desired volume of production, neither with respect to its Rated capacity nor in terms of APP fulfilment (i.e. Indian Railway’s annual Order). Lot of corrective measures were taken by Management including experts, but average rated capacity Utilization remained around 60% or even less. To improve the poor performance of W&A Plant with respect to its rated capacity and increase the productivity of the shop, initially various technical & special studies had been carried out to find out the reasons and remedial measures but that also didn’t yield desired result. Therefore focus given on motivational aspect of human resource to explore the possibilities of bringing the desired break through changes and turn around in this plant and HR initiated was taken for re-designing the existing incentive scheme and its implementation to improve the motivation level of human resource associated to Wheel & Axle Plant. This initiative brought the desired turnaround in the W&A Plant and now W & A Plant is the Centre of Excellence in the Company.