The entire routine of Pawan Singh, who works at the paint shop of Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest carmaker, has changed. They now have to arrive 15-20 minutes early for their 8 o'clock shift so that body temperature can be checked and followed by the whole body sanitization process. The company has carefully crafted the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as a precaution, including an in-house app and other measures, amid the growing threat of coronavirus infection. The company has tried to ensure that the factory premises remain free of Covid-19. However, after the work started in the factory, there was a case of infection after which more precautions are being taken.
Maruti has also changed the time of its shift and the number of employees working in each shift. Sources say that only 20-25 percent of the total workforce is being called to maintain physical distance compared to the earlier era of Covid. Is it harming production? Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC Bhargava says that there will be a loss in production, but this is the only way to move forward. As cases of Covid-19 increase in the country, companies have realized that maintaining production and ensuring employee safety is a major challenge.
In Bajaj Auto too, cases of Covid continued to rise and at least half a dozen workers died from the epidemic. In such a situation, from Friday, Bajat Auto and other manufacturing units in Aurangabad will shut their plants for 9 days as the district administration has shown strictness in the lockdown. Certainly, this will affect production but companies are expected to be compensated for the rest of July.
At this time, meeting the cash requirement is a priority, so most companies are exercising considerable control in work shifts so that workers are less in need and their health can be monitored.
Employee safety
FMCG companies have less need for workers than heavy engineering, vehicles and auto parts. Nevertheless, many companies are focusing on products that can be sold quickly and which are highly essential goods. FMCG companies are operating only in single shifts. The double shift is closely monitored to reduce the risk of fatigue and infection.
Mayank Shah, senior category head of Parle Products, says that the company is strictly following the rules to reduce the number of workers entering and exiting its plant by 50 percent keeping in mind the social distance norms. On the other hand, Dabur has also provided transportation services for its workers from the manufacturing site. Apart from this, some workers have also been provided with accommodation near the manufacturing plants. Mohit Malhotra, chief executive officer (CEO) of Dabur India, says that also, Dabur is providing medical cover to all its employees so that they feel safe about health concerns. Vishal Jain, partner at Deloitte India, says the epidemic has made everyone feel that SOP needs to be redesigned and that building safety and trust at the workplace will be an important road to recovery.
A spokesperson for Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), a company that has reported some cases of infection, says, "With the guidance and support of national and local authorities, TKM is taking the comprehensive action necessary to prevent the infection from spreading further and the company is taking its Adequate internal precautions are being taken based on guidelines and standards of care. One of the confidence-building measures that companies are adopting is Covid testing and health screening.
Officers visit JSW Steel's Bellary plant every week to check on everyone, especially the elderly, people with mild or mild symptoms. A large number of infections were reported in the plant in early June.
Vedanta's oil and gas operations work has a system of 21 days of work (change of staff) so that workers can be kept in quarantine for four to five days. Here also the workers are being examined for their symptoms and Covid-19 is being tested. Sunil Duggal, CEO of the group at Vedanta, says that if the report is correct then they can be hired. Anyone coming from outside in plants and mines is kept in quarantine for four-five days and only those who come negative in the Covid test are allowed to enter.
Impact on production
Bhargava says, "There is a lot of uncertainty about when the recovery will happen." The new physical distance law also reduces productivity. ' Bajaj Auto's unit in the Value Industrial Area was operating at 30-40 percent capacity as per the guidelines. The unit accounts for half of Bajaj's total annual production. Shree Cement officials say that a particular production activity has been impacted due to norms of social distance, of course.
Kamal Nandi, executive vice-president, Godrej & Boyce, says that social distance has led to a decrease in the workforce and has also reduced productivity. However, he now believes that the situation is improving rapidly. A spokesperson for Panasonic India says that manufacturing operations were resumed with 25 percent capacity and could be extended every month.
But the road to recovery will be full of challenges but the business continuity plan is being implemented. Vinod Naval, deputy managing director of JSW Steel, says, "We have an immediate replacement ready so that time is not wasted and the work can go on." In some places where the situation is critical, senior people will take steps if needed.
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