AGAINST THE CLOCK

(This case has been written to present the decision dilemmas in the area of
manufacturing management)
By V.Suresh Chandra ,Indus Business cademy (Bangalore)
!a"i loo#ed at the polymer slee"e samples brought to him
by the molding section super"isor !a$an.It was another
hectic day at %&' Val"e Company which had been growing
steadily in the past few years building on the reputation of
product e(cellence and technical support of the $oint
"enture partners %&' International located at
Cincinnati,)S.The manufacturing systems had been
closely following the procedures and *uality systems at the
)S factory. %&' had made substantial in"estments in the
training of #ey personnel including operators on critical
machines. The endea"our was to create a world class
manufacturing facility in the Indian factory located +,, #m
south of Chennai.
-ne of the product lines of the company was a "al"e called
as Taper &lug Val"e (see illustration below )

Plug valves are "al"es with cylindrical or conically.tapered
/plugs/ which can be rotated inside the "al"e body to
control flow through the "al"e. The plugs in plug "al"es
ha"e one or more hollow passageways going sideways
through the plug, so that fluid can flow through the plug
when the "al"e is open. &lug "al"es are simple and often
economical.The "al"es can be made to si0es as large as 12
inches port .3aterials of construction can be chosen to
withstand the most se"ere wor#ing conditions and certain
ser"ices may need e(otic alloys li#e Titatanium and
Incolloy which are e(pensi"e.In such ser"ices,to prolong
the ser"ice life of the "al"e plug,they are coated with
polymer slee"es which a"oid e(posure of the basic metal to
the ser"ice fluids.Slee"es are replaceable but need to be
manufactured to demanding engineering standards.Val"es
can be offered from 4 port to 5 port construction.
&lug Val"e6

&olymer Slee"e6
Care had been ta#en to go through all the manufacturing
steps strictly in accordance with the technical guidelines
gi"en by the collaborator for the parts re*uired for a new
launch of "al"es for the rapidly growing refinery sector.
7owe"er the properties re*uired in the samples did not
seem to be alright .The *uality would not meet the
re*uirements for the ma$or pro$ect order to be e(ecuted for
one of the large customers of %&' Val"es .
!a"i, a graduate engineer from a leading college at
Coimbatore was the production manager in the
plant..)nless samples were pro"ed in another two days 8
there would not be enough time to get the slee"es ready for
for final assembly of the slee"es into the "al"es had to be
thereafter sub$ected to a series of rigorous performance
tests
!a"i9s mind raced bac# to the past ,about si( wee#s ago
when he had a tal# with the &resident of the organi0ation.
3r :rishnan on this pro$ect .
;7i !a"i.how are things in the shop floor ; said :rishnan.
!a"i smiled and said ;<"erything loo#s alright Sir ;
;!a"i 8did you ha"e a loo# at that ma$or order we got from
lliance !efineries 8understand the ser"ice conditions are
"ery to(ic and harsh ,which calls for some special
properties in the polymer slee"es .=e cannot ta#e any ris#s
on this $ob either on *uality or missing the scheduled date
of supplies, because our reputation and hea"y penalties are
in"ol"ed .This has been a brea#through order for us with
this organi0ation and our products are getting into their
plants for the first time .=e were preferred on account of
the assurances and guarantees we ga"e on the technical
specifications .The customer has been gi"en the option to
source from any where at our cost if there are any product
problems and you understand that the liabilities, if such an
e"ent happens ,can be "ery high distressing financially and
will tarnish our reputation .<(ecuting this order
competently will open up enormous opportunities for us in
the refinery mar#et.
The positi"e side has also been the good feedbac# from
their Vice &resident who "isited our plant and who was
e(tremely happy about our manufacturing practices .>ou
did handle his "isit *uite capably I must say ;
;Than# you Sir.I ha"e gone thro the specifications for the
slee"es, and a there were a couple of clarifications I
needed technically on the manufacturing cycle.I ha"e
already spo#en to 3r &aul ?enton ,the Technical 3anager
at the $oint "enture partner9s Cincinnati plant ; said !a"i
;@ood .this $ob adds a lot of critical importance to the
de"elopment of the polymer slee"es indigenously !a"iA
:rishnan said .
;If we decide to import these slee"es from our %V partners
it will ease the pressure and we should ha"e no worries
e(ecuting the order satisfactorily .7owe"er ,the finished
slee"es which we import are going to be prohibiti"ely
e(pensi"e and the recent changes in import duty structure is
also going to hit us a *uite bit .The order completion will
get us lot of accolades but the financial contribution could
be hardly significant if we consider the e(horbitant cost of
imported slee"es .-ther positi"es of course would be the
technical bac#ing from our collaborators and should we
decide now itself to import ,we could get these slee"es by
ocean freight and sa"e some money .I will also tal# to the
?irector (-perations) at Cincinnati and as# for a special
price on this $ob .A
;lternately 8we must de"elop these parts in our facilities
I ha"e seen your report on the four wee#s time you spent at
Cincinnati last year and feel confident that you ha"e *uite
efficiently assimilated the intricate details of their
manufacturing methods .If I consider the cost of that trip as
an in"estment by the organi0ation ,you would be returning
it many times o"er by leading this product de"elopment
e(ercise .Considering the criticality of this $ob and the time
you need to de"ote,it would be *uite in order if you can as#
your deputy Saran to ta#e care of the daily operations and
focus on this pro$ect .-ur material costs on this order
would be substantially lower if we do these parts
indigenously ,financial contribution will significantly
impro"e and we will ha"e the confidence of e(ecuting a lot
many orders in the future with reduced material costs .
3oreo"er this order impacts almost twenty
eight percent of our pro$ected sales for the year under
re"iew.-ur profits for the year will definitely e(ceed the
pro$ections if we ma#e the parts locally ;.
:rishnan summed up saying ;Thin# o"er !a"i 8and let me
#now your decision in a day9s time ;
!a"i a 1BB4 graduate ,was a consistent high performer and
always in the top three in the class. ?edicated wor# and
e(posure to a programs in 3anufacturing <ngineering ,
&olymer Science and -perations 3anagement catapulted
him *uic#ly to the position of heading production. 7a"ing
trained at the collaborator9s wor#s 8and successfully
managed the production acti"ities of the plant ,!a"i was
seen as a bright prospect to head the o"erall plant
operations soon ,which would mean that heads of Cuality,
7! ,3aintenance and &lant ccounts would report to
him.The position would also bring considerable financial
gains .!a"i always dreamt of studying abroad and he
wished to reali0e his unfulfilled dream by financially
supporting his only son !ohan to lea"e for an
undergraduate program in <ngineering at one of the best
schools in the )S
7e remembered the email which he sent to 3r :rishnan
after a hundred prayers,the one in which he confirmed that
he would commence the indigenous de"elopment of the
polymer slee"es immediately ruling out any need to import
the parts .
7e also recalled the tense moments o"er the last few
wee#s.There were many 12 hour days at the plant carrying
out trials with his e"er energetic super"isor !a$an,the long
telephonic tal#s clarifying technical points with &aul (e"er
so fussy and cynical about Indian operations ),and the final
moments of failure now ,where e"erything was seemingly
done alright but the failure stared at him.
;=e will meet after a few minutes again !a$ ,I need some
fresh air and a coffeeA said !a"i and decided to wal#
towards the rest room .=al#ing along the aisle of the well
lit forty thousand s*uare feet shop 8something which he
had done numerous times before ,!a"i did not miss this
time ,a cardboard bo( containing some untagged slee"e
samples .Strict adherence to *uality practices called for
e"ery component in the shop to be suitably tagged or
identified and !a"i could not resist the urge to call the
nearest Cuality Control super"isor to chec# the reason for
this de"iation .
;Sir.these are some samples left by !a$an.I really do not
#now what these are .Sorry about it,but I thin# I will call
him to e(plain D said the super"isor. .
mildly agitated !a"i was surprised when !a$an e(plained
that these were a few more samples of the polymer slee"es
produced for the lliance Chemicals $ob .AIn fact Sir, I
ha"e the *uality reports for these parts separately and was
*uite fran#ly not able to ma#e up my mind whether I
should discuss with you .The specifications tally perfectly
with the re*uirements of the lliance $ob. But the
temperature cycles used for this are not *uite e(actly as per
the guidelines we ha"e from Cincinnati. :nowing that you
belie"e in complete adherence to manufacturing guidelines
and do not appreciate any de"iations ,I was *uite hesitant
about how I could discuss this with you .I also #now how
fussy &aul is regarding procedures compliance and getting
him to clear this batch would ha"e been out of *uestion ;
said !a$an .
Eor a few moments ,!a"i felt di00y. =as it confusion or
de$ection or e(altation ,he could not figure out .!a$an was
*uite right in what he said about &aul who was at heart a
cynic of operations and capability in India.
=ith his mind no more on the cup of coffee ,!a"i rushed
bac# to his room ,called !a$an and went o"er the test
reports for the compliant samples .The results were in
perfect agreement with the desired properties .7e pored
o"er other technical issues li#e calibrations ,measurements
and e"ery other point he felt was related.
Eor a while !a"i wondered if he should ha"e ta#en this
challenge under more fa"orable time schedules .But he was
ne"er coerced into a decision by any one and e"en in the
earlier meeting with the &resident ,a recommendation to
import the slee"es would not ha"e been ob$ected to.
Cuite li#ely howe"er that 3r :rishnan would ha"e thought
that !a"i was not upto the challenge.

decision to report to 3r :rishnan that he had succeeded
with the de"elopment (not to mention the de"iations on the
thermal cycle ) brought "isions of congratulatory responses
and timely e(ecution of the lliance order. ny discussions
with &aul could howe"er lead to speculations about product
failure gi"en the slight "ariations in the temperature cycles
and he would ha"e to be #ept out of this issue decision to
howe"er report a failure in the de"elopment brought the
"aried mental pictures of a se"erely unhappy &resident ,the
ramifications to follow and abo"e all self condemnation .
It was already B+, pm 8 his wife had $ust called to find out
what time he will be home .Through the glass window
panes of his cabin 8!a"i could see that drops of the hea"y
rain spattering the glass rhythmically .7e clic#ed on the
Dcompose mail9 icon of his mail bo( wondering what he
should do F
Post script
!a"i sent a mail to 3r :rishnan ta#ing him through the
entire e(ercise of de"elopment and summed up the final
findings .The last part of his mail con"eyed his profuse
apologies for what he felt was a wrong decision to de"elop
the slee"es indigenously .7e also emphasi0ed that &aul
?enton would ne"er appro"e the batch for ob"ious reasons
3r :rishnan issued immediate instructions to the materials
department to place a rush order on Cincinnati for the
slee"es and airfreight the materials .This in"ol"ed hea"y
financial outflows.7owe"er lliance Chemicals ran into
unforeseen re"isions in their pro$ect schedule on account of
which additional time was granted to %&' .The order on
Cincinnati was later amended to ocean freight .
!a"i was sidelined from direct production management
responsibilities and as#ed to head production planning
which was a demotion of sorts .!a"i was also se"erely
reprimanded by the management for failing to achie"e the
commitments made which resulted in higher material costs
de$ected !a"i resigned from the ser"ices of %&' Val"es
The usual e(it inter"iew due to e"ery lea"ing employee
was s#ipped in the case of !a"i,under instructions from 3r
:rishnan.
The ocean consignment of slee"es from Cincinnati was
misplaced during transfer at an intermediate port and the
clearing agents appointed by %&' Val"es tried to trace the
materials .Insurance claims were lodged since the
consignment could not be traced finally.
3eanwhile ,due to mounting pressure of deadlines and
threat of penalties from lliance Chemicals, !a$an was
ad"ised to manufacture the slee"es indigeneously 8which
were finally assembled in the "al"es and despatched
&aul was not fully #ept in the picture.lliance Chemicals
commissioned the "al"es immediately on receipt .The plant
has been operational for three months and the functioning
of "al"es has been free of any problems so far .=arranties
e(tended by %&' assure the customer of twel"e months
trouble free operation .Since %&' Val"es e(ceeded the
profit plan in the year, all employees were gi"en a bonus
The &resident is hoping that there would not be any product
recall.