SURGE
ISSUE 9 APRIL ‘14
Employee Newsletter
Moving forward with safety
Weir BDK, vision We will be India’s top 3 flow control solutions providers by 2018, meeting the needs of our customers in a manner that delights them!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Keep your hands safe - 2 Weir BDK Channel Partner Meet
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Weir BDK launches standard work cell in BFV stream
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Weir BDK conducts fire safety training for women employees - 3 Swapan Samaddar bids adieu to a 30-year career
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Randeep Mahajan President, Weir BDK
In March this year, we received recognition from CII’s Southern Chapter for our efforts in Environment Health and Safety practices. It is a significant milestone in a very important journey, and through this note, I wish to reiterate its significance. Customers around the world are increasingly becoming particular about who they partner with. The products we supply are often used in applications that need to be safe. Naturally then,
customers view our safety norms as a direct indicator of the kind of products we make. An important criterion while selecting vendor is the safety practices of the vendor. Many world-class companies have laid down policies that must be adhered to by the vendor, in order to even qualify. It is therefore critical that we understand the importance to strengthen our safety standards for a sustainable business growth. The Weir Group has clearly laid a special emphasis on safety standards across all operations. At Weir BDK, safety occupies a central pillar in our vision, and is one of the most important elements in the way we see our business going forward. Over the past several months, the EHS team has worked
hard to improve safety standards. From safety training, improving safety awareness and relevant safety tools, the team has contributed towards improving safety standards. However, unless all of us embrace safety as a part of our daily conduct, inculcate it as a culture and practice it rigorously, we will remain short of creating a true safety culture at Weir BDK. Therefore, it is vital that all of us understand the importance of safety in our business, and in our lives. Embrace safety practices; strictly follow the safety rules at work and outside of work; share your safety suggestions with safety captains and representatives. I am keen to see a participative safety culture emerge at Weir BDK, where we all share and contribute to making it a safe workplace.
Weir BDK receives approval from GE Oil & Gas Weir BDK added another significant player to its list of approvals. In March it received approval from GE Oil & Gas, allowing Weir BDK to supply all
products for GE Oil & Gas requirements. GE Oil & Gas is a unit of the US industrial giant General Electric Co and offers a comprehensive range of Oil & Gas solutions.
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Keep your hands safe hands and fingers. Using gloves at the time of doing the task could have prevented most of these incidents.
Weir BDK is running a safety awareness campaign, urging associates and plant employees to avoid any metal to skin contact. With the key message, ‘No metal to skin contact’, the campaign is about educating employees on how to keep themselves, especially their hands and fingers, safe while working on metals and avoiding any potential accidents. At Weir BDK, 73% of incidents reported in last three-andhalf years were related to
Employees are being urged to strictly follow ‘No metal to skin contact’, as a rule. While working with metals, potential small incidents of cuts and bruises to workers can easily be avoided. Thus it is critical to wear gloves while handling metal work. This prevents sustaining cuts and bruises to the hands, especially when dealing with sharp edges or hot metals. Choosing the right glove is also critical, as inappropriate gloves may prove useless to prevent incidents. All employees must adhere to wearing appropriate gloves while working. Employees are required to be careful and alert while
working with metals. Often, not paying attention while working on machines, handling metals, or working with tools can lead to small accidents. They may occur because of slipping, tripping, keeping hands or other body parts in line with machine action while using tools or piercing/ cutting of gloves due to sharp tools. It is therefore important to pay utmost attention while working with metals. It is equally important to avoid distracting a fellow worker while he or she is working on metals. As a part of the campaign, Weir BDK has held several discussions on the topic at monthly meetings. Tool box talk for hand and finger safety was conducted at every shop-floor, led by the EHS team. Posters driving the awareness have also been put up in the premises.
Weir BDK Channel Partner Meet
Weir BDK organised its annual channel partners’ meet at Hubli on 25 March, 2014. Channel partners from across the country attended the meet, including newly appointed partners. The theme of the meeting was Level Nxt to showcase the improvements that Weir 2
BDK has undertaken for its next level of growth, and how the partners can contribute and be a part of this progress. The meeting started with a guided plant tour for all the partners, to let them witness the improvements at the Weir BDK facility.
This was followed by several presentations to share functional level improvements; including operations, engineering, supply chain, quality, and products. The meeting helped the channel partners to get a first-hand perspective
around Weir BDK’s chosen path – to become India’s top 3 flow control solutions provider by 2018 and meeting the needs of customers in a manner that delights them. The ensuing in-depth discussions helped the partners understand the growth envisioned, and also clarified several of their queries and issues. “We are confident that the changes within the organisation will help us accelerate the pace of growth. After witnessing the improvements, I believe our partners are also confident about stretching their targets,” said Pradeep Banerjee, National Sales Head, Weir BDK.
Weir BDK launches standard work cell in BFV stream
In strengthening Lean operations in the Butterfly Valves stream, the Weir BDK team has successfully implemented the standard work play book for assembly and testing in one cell, having single piece flow for sizes ranging DN40 to DN150 butterfly valves. The effort has led to significant improvement in productivity by over 200%! After careful evaluation, the team had identified various waste elements that were leading to productivity loss. Amongst them, motion and movement and over processing were identified as the highest contributor. Through Kaizen, the team eliminated several processes, bringing down the process steps from 31 to 23. The improvements include: • Replacing screw drivers with pneumatic tools • Reducing travel distance from assembly to testing by organising a U-shaped assembly line • Reducing movement of operator for leakage testing by fixing mirrors at the back of the machines • Poke Yoke with a two-hand switch provided to eliminate possibility to get the other hand pinched in the leak testing press • Poke Yoke in test bench to ensure machine operation with safety guards, in required position • Providing guide to hold top plate, to replace removal of plate for each valve, thereby eliminating motion • Re-locating control within operators reach to avoid the movement of operator • Making parts were available at point of use, in sequence of operation with two bin replenishment system, thereby reducing motion & movement • Better visual management • Implementing standard operating procedure The team was led by Manish Khona and facilitated by Sanjay Katwe.
Weir BDK conducts fire safety training for women employees Weir BDK’s HR department, in collaboration with the EHS department, conducted a fire safety training session for all the women employees of Weir BDK. The programme included an in-house training with an out bound practical demonstration and it was attended with full enthusiasm. At Weir BDK, safety is of top priority and the company has undertaken several initiatives to improve safety standards. In addition, continuous efforts are made to ensure that employees understand the criticality of safe conduct within the business. 3
Swapan Samaddar bids adieu to a 30-year career Looks back at his Weir journey with fondness a big virtue for progress.
Writing a departing note after serving a company for nearly 30 years is like writing my own obituary. My first day at BDK is still fresh in memory — the day I joined and started my journey in the Valve Industry. It has been fascinating since then. In early days, like a child, whenever I came across any valve, I would be curious to know the ‘valve type’ and ‘make’. I was curious to know the history behind the invention of each valve type and the evolution thereafter. I continued to learn every day. I believe that ‘curiosity’ is
In 1984, we had only two major products to market Diaphragm Valves and Ball Valves. GGC followed the same year. I recall our mentor Bharat Khimji say, “Unless you have the confidence in your products, you can’t sell it.” We believed in our products and made the customers also believe in them. We used to market ourselves against leaders in the industry. Our personalised services to customers made a huge impact. Customers drive me even today and probably will do so till I am available. There is huge strength in being close to customers. An important element about BDK’s rise then was that there was a big void between the top three manufacturers and the rest of the players
in terms of product offering and credibility. With a whole bunch of dedicated team members, BDK filled in the void rapidly. Needless to mention, BDK had the most committed marketing team which was recognised as the biggest asset at the time of takeover by none other than Keith Cochrane. Another very important element was the ‘culture’ of the company. We always felt it was owned by us. We used to do everything possible to save and earn extra money for the company. In my view, the only way to work in a company is to treat it as your own company, taking full ownership of your work. There were many who worked for the company for long and customers as well as competitors would wonder what made them do so in this opportunistic world. During a conversation on this topic, Bharat Khimji called it, “Freedom to work.” After the acquisition, during our first official interaction with Naveen at Hubli, I
You can share your stories for Surge with Ravindra Shenvi at: ravindra.shenvi@weirgroup.com
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asked him whether we would have the same ‘freedom to work’ and he replied in the affirmative. I have huge respect for him and have always shared a great bond with him. Post-acquisition, I worked very closely with Randeep. We have great understanding and respect for each other. Acquisition brought a huge change and adaptability became the biggest challenge. In the process, some of our colleagues could carry through the change and some couldn’t. I feel for every one of them with whom I have worked to make this company grow and establish itself as a formidable brand in the valve industry. This dream of mine is yet to be fulfilled, but I have every faith that we are on track. I am certain that Weir BDK will achieve this goal and I’d feel proud of my association with this company. I will miss everyone in this company, especially the marketing team, through the rest of my life and I wish my colleagues all the very best for the future.