The field visit report summarizes a visit by interns to the Madras Rubber Factory in Nettapakam, Puducherry. The factory produces passenger car and truck tires. It has 3,200 employees across various departments. Key learnings included the factory's emphasis on transparency, bottom-up decision making, strong employee relations, and sustainable water and energy management. The factory achieves 95% water conservation and has stringent safety protocols to reduce accidents.

1. VISITED ON 24.05.2019
YOUTH ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME, RAJ NIVAS, PONDICHERRY
FIELD VISIT REPORT
MADRAS RUBBER FACTORY (MRF), NETTAPAKAM, PONDICHERRY

2. 1
FIELD VISIT REPORT
MADRAS RUBBER FACTORY (MRF), NETTAPAKAM, PONDICHERRY
Date of Visit: 24.05.2019
Intern team: Aditya V Gujjar, Anvita H, Karthik Kothari, Karthikeyan.K.H, Sabarinathan S,
Saikiran Bogyam & Robert.
Contact person at the plant: Mr. Bharathi, Chief Production Manager, Mr. Baskar HR
Manager, Mr. Srinivasan, Safety Manager, Mr. Palaniappan, Mech. Dept, Mr. Hari ram,
Knowledge centre.
BRIEF / PURPOSE OF THE VISIT
We the team of interns from Raj Nivas, Puducherry has been given an opportunity to visit
MRF, Nettapakam as a part of goodwill through their CSR done for water rich Puducherry.
The moto or objective of the visit is to know about the entire functioning of the plant and their
key strategies on water conservation and other success mantras.
BRIEF ABOUT THE FACTORY
The MRF Plant at Nettapakam has been started in the year 1997 by the Founder K M Mammen
Mapillai. The plant here produces only the Passenger car Radial (PCR) tyres & Truck Bus
Radial (TBR). Recently they have manufactured the tyres for the Monorail Project too. The
total area of the plant is about 3,11,814 Sq.m & Built up of 1,35,175 Sq.m.
LAYOUT OF THE FACTORY
Figure 1 Google Map of Nettapakam Plant.

3. 2
FACTORY TIMELINE
MANPOWER AND PRODUCTION AT THE PLANT
The plant has around 3200 employees of various category like Full time, Contract basis, Permit
basis & Apprentices. The plant runs with 8 trade union with various identity or common factor
among them. The plant produces the following category of tyres in the plant
S.NO TYPE OF TYRE MANUFACTIRED
1 PCR/ SUV
2 SCV
3 TRUCK BUS RADIAL
4 MONORAIL
Table 1Tyres Manufactured at the plant
The plant has around 13 executives heading various department with the subordinates under
them with the category of employees mentioned above.
1996
•Ground Breaking and Bhoomi Pooja was done.
1997
•Nettapakam Plant was Inaugarated
1999
•First TBR Manufacturing started.
2000
•First supply was done.
2003
•Plant has got ISO Certification
2006
•Q1 Supplying started
2010
•Company has reached a milestone of 1000 CR.
2011
•Landscaping was done
2012
•Environmental sustainability was achieved
2014
•Regoconised with many awards and the journey is still on
Figure 2 Factory Timeline

4. 3
INDUSTRIAL RELATION
The success mantra of the plant was very clearly seen that the transparency level was so high
and involving the grass root employees for taking decisions at various levels. The company
relay/ follow the following system for their success.
The company make sure that even the families of their employees are happy and absolute care
and responsibility is taken among them also. The company has family welfare association
which works on the families good. They conduct various events and programmes to encourage
more bonding among the employees and their family. Company even provides a medical
insurance which covers an amount of 1.75 lakh per family. The company has various frame
works as follows to maintain its standards.
Industrial
Relations
Relation
building
TEE Training
Conflict
Resolution
Improve
Ordenity
Figure 3 Industrial Relation
Family
CommunityEmployees
Commitment &
Competence
2C
Pride,
Performanc
e &
Productivit
y
3P
Role &
Responsibil
ity
2R
Chart 1 Trimodal of the company
Chart 2 Strategic plans of the company

5. 4
CONFLICT RESOLUTION
The company follows the above-mentioned hierarchy / system to resolve their conflicts and
find immediate solutions.
Even the company organises various inter departmental events and programmes to create a
healthy bonding among the employee which will in turn give backs more productivity and
discipline in the system.
Company even encourages the employee to participate in various events happening at state and
national level to bring out their skills and talents.
SAFETY SYSTEMS AT FACTORY
The plant follows a very strict and systematic safety procedures to avoid the major accidents
in the plant. the people under the safety committee make sure that anyone newly coming to the
factory is oriented to the safety procedures and then only permitted to go inside the factory.
The contract and permit workers are given orientation of safety instruction once in every 2 day.
The committee traces the accidents and minor injuries happened on daily basis and take
necessary action. The safety centre at the plant has a target of one accident per 10 million
hours of work to maintain the safety of the employees.
The following pyramid gives their target on the accident reduction
Chart 3 Conflict Resolution

6. 5
Any employee faced with any kind of injury has to return to his job within 48 hours. If not, the
accident is considered as Life hazard and necessary action will be taken immediately.
INFRASTRUCTURE DEMAND AND SUPPLY AT THE FACTORY
Water
The factory used around 660 Kl per day for its various process in the manufacturing. The plant
has 2 bore wells, 12 peculation pits, 140 direct recharges from rooftop & one hydrating pond.
The factory recycles around 80% of water consumption through its STP which matches their
daily water demand. The actual demand of the factory is 1220 Kl. The factory has a run of co-
efficient of 0.8 which gives them 95% water conservation through the rainfall. These all
initiatives make them to achieve the water neutrality.
Electricity
The plant has a sub station of capacity of 22Kv and the factory consumes around 12 to 15 Mw
per day. The factory is also encouraging many solar initiatives to meet its demand at its offices
and warehouses.
Waste generation
As the company is manufacturing tyres with synthetic fibres and natural fibres. So, it tries to
recycle the waste generated and puts it in the tyre manufacturing again. The plant has a very
great system of segregation of different types of waste at the source point itself. It helps them
for better recycling.
Chart 4 Accidents & Injury Pyramid

7. 6
LEARNINGS FROM THE VISIT
As learning from the visit, we would like to tell that as their Success mantras. Few have been
listed below
❖ Success Mantra 1: Transparency at all levels.
❖ Success Mantra 2: Bottom up process in the system.
❖ Success Mantra 3: Problem solving through good Industrial relation.
❖ Success Mantra 4: Tacking care of Employees family too.
❖ Success Mantra 5: Conflict resolution through a better planning.
❖ Success Mantra 6: Reducing the accidents through better safety management.
❖ Success Mantra 7: Managing the infrastructure in a very sustainable way.
OBSERVATIONS
❖ Factory has a very good strategic plan to succeed in all its matters in various
departments.
❖ They have a very good customer and employee relationship.
❖ The plant has a water efficiency of 95% through its various initiatives.
❖ The factory has a very good safety system.
❖ The success mantras of the company are well planned and implemented with timely
update.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We heartfully thank Dr. Kiran Bedi, HLG & Mrs. Asha Gupta, Comptroller of Raj Nivas for
providing such a wonderful opportunity. We extend our sincere thanks to Mr. Bharathi, Chief
Production Manager, Mr. Baskar HR Manager, Mr. Srinivasan, Safety Manager, Mr.
Palaniappan, Mech. Dept, Mr. Hari ram, Knowledge centre for sharing their insights and
knowledge.
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1 GOOGLE MAP OF NETTAPAKAM PLANT.......................................................................1
FIGURE 2 FACTORY TIMELINE.....................................................................................................2
FIGURE 3 INDUSTRIAL RELATION................................................................................................3
List of Tables
TABLE 1TYRES MANUFACTURED AT THE PLANT.........................................................................2
List of Chart
CHART 1 TRIMODAL OF THE COMPANY .......................................................................................3
CHART 2 STRATEGIC PLANS OF THE COMPANY............................................................................3
CHART 3 CONFLICT RESOLUTION ...............................................................................................3
CHART 4 ACCIDENTS & INJURY PYRAMID ..................................................................................3