This document summarizes a conversation between the sales manager of Radial Engineering Works and a dealer from a small textile company about the impact of power cuts in Tamil Nadu. The power cuts are causing delays in order fulfillment and decreased productivity and worker satisfaction at REW's manufacturing plant due to increased setup times and idle periods. Worker attrition has also risen due to the unpredictable work environment. Both parties agree the power cuts are negatively impacting many small and medium businesses in the state.

1. POWER, PRODUCTION AND POLITICS
Radial Engineering Works is a pioneer in manufacturing gears in
orks
Coimbatore. This document depicts the conversation between the REW
and one of his dealers regarding the power cut prevailing in Tamil
Nadu and its Impact in indu
industries. Mr. RED is the Sales and Operations
manager of REW and Mr. BLUE represents the purchase department of
urchase
a small company who are dealers in textile spare parts
parts.
“Good morning blue. Take your seat.
Good seat.”
“Thank you red. I have here a list of gears for enquiry and please tell me their availability
Thank ry availability.”
“Yes all are ready to dispatch by Monday eve, except for item number 6”
“I’ve planned to take it as soon as possible. When can I receive it?”
“Thursday afternoon.”
“You never take so long Ji! ?”
“All this delay is due to the power cut prevailing in the state.”
s
“The power cuts are becoming more like a menace. I expected some delay, but not this much!! ”
“Well, I, myself having a rough time with the machine operators in the workshop. People lose their
ough
interest if they can’t work continuously for 4 hours.”
t
“What do the workers feel about their work with power cuts?”
“Being a manufacturing company, for every machining process there is a setup time, operation time
and idle time. Due to power cuts, the machine operators feel they have repetitive setup time and too
feel
much idle time which hinders their flow of handling the equipments. They get mentally stressed too.
Hence the shop floor workers result in low productivity”
“I have read a similar article regarding BHEL’s heat treatment plant heavy loss due to intermittent
power supply. The heat treatment plant needs continuous power supply in order to maintain
isothermal condition in the system. Due to power cuts they have to reheat to the same temperature
every time, which is similar to our setup time. But that is PSU. People won’t quit so soon. But h
how is
the attrition rate in our company ji?”
“Besides an attrition rate of 2 standard workers per month in January
and February, I don’t get the enough productivity I used to earn out of
,
them before this power cut season. Without power cut I had been
producing in surplus, but now I am in such a position that I can
can’t even
satisfy my best customers like you and Green Industries Ltd.”

2. “Oh! That’s bad for all of us Ji. We are small level company and we will be satisfied with the orders
!
we get. But Green Industries Ltd. is one of the earliest players in our market and also they are huge
players in this business. Hope they are not that pissed. Everything will turn good Ji”
.
“Yeah right! That good will not happen until the next state election, we should have voted the party
t
who satisfies everyone’s need without sacrificing that of others”
“I think our conversation is getting hott ji! First it was Power, then your productivity and
hotter !
everything is blamed on the politicians which is true to some extent”
“Not to some extent but to most of the issues they are to be blamed. They are very ineffective in
issues,
meeting the requirements of the state and also feed on our money. In our religion the priority of
respect in the society declines in the following steps: An active manager, a responsible family man, a
self satisfied worker, an underdog worker, sewer workers, film stars and at last are these politicians”
“I can see u have a lot against them ji, but everyman is for himself. So I think maybe you should
everyman
plan your work force effectively, why don’t you shift your shop floor working hours to night shift or
early morning shift. By doing so they get at least 3 hours of continuous power supply”
“That is good move, but don’t feel discouraged
ve,
by my answer. Every company has its own code of
conduct and kind of people. My workforce is
geographically diverse in the city each of them are
city,
in eight directions from the company. They like
flexibility not constraints and if we constraint them
for the salary we pay them, we may result an
increase in the attrition rate”
“Oh, I see!”
“It’s a typical plant location factor. While
starting my company I wanted to ensure whether all my resources for manufacturing are available
nearby. I have enough resource and equipments, but no power supply and not enough motivated
rby.
machine operators to come from a long distance and find that we don’t have sufficient working
hours”
“So how can we arrive at a solution to
So
this problem ji! Everyone i affected one
is
way or the other”
“Let us not generalise that everyone
will be affected, cause consider the
educational organisations, retailers, and
some other similar industries which don
not rely much on power source, they

3. are not that much affected. Only small and medium scale manufacturing industries are having the
maximum hit. The big manufacturers have their backup power generators. One idea which I got was
that the government can have 24 hour power shut down for two days a week, rather taking every
day. Let’s wait to see what the future has in for us. Hope the government and concerned officials
are able to empathize our loss.”
“Yes ji! Let’s hope that the situation changes in the next ruling period!”
“I really don’t want to wait that longer, because if the power cuts continue I might shut down
before the current ruling part shuts down. Let’s hope for the best to occur.”
“Don’t worry. OK, then I will come on Thursday same time to pick all of them together. See you
then. Thank you.”
“I’ll remind you on Wednesday eve about item 6. Have my regards for Mrs. Yellow. Take care”
“Sure. See you on Thursday.”
CASE ANALYSIS:
1. Mention the learning points of
the case.
2. Describe the impact of power
cut in other industries
3. From reading through the case,
construct a Fish Bone diagram
to represent the factors affecting the productivity of small and medium scale manufacturing
companies.
4. From reading through the case, suggest tips to enhance employee satisfaction.
5. From reading through the case, suggest ideas regarding the work hours to achieve maximum
efficiency with power cuts.
6. If you had given the authority to control the power cuts in the state, how do you sort out the
issue in order to satisfy the needs of the people with the available resources (shortage).
7. If you had been a marketing manager of a backup power generator company, provide a
product design, marketing strategy and advertisement for a power generator to target these
small and medium level manufacturing industries.
8. Suggest other sources of power, which are feasible for state.
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