Reliability

Management at
Asian Paints
Members:
Aathira M, Apoorv Raj, Aravind Nair,
Cherian S Cherian, Eby Jacob and Naveen
Wilson
Getting to Know Asian Paints

India’s Largest, Asia’s 3rd Largest and World’s 9th

Largest Paint Company

Founded on February 1st, 1942

Founders: Champaklal H. Choskey, Arvind R Vakil,

Suryakant C. Dani and Chimanlal N. Choski

Headquarters: Mumbai
Getting to Know Asian Paints
(Contd.)

Products: Chemicals, Decorative Paints,

Industrial Finishing Products and Coating
7600+ Employees Worldwide

Revenue: $2.9 Billion (as of 2020)

Phenomenal Supply Chain

Indian Presence
•State of the art supply chain

•2 Chemical Plants

•18 Processing Centers

•350 Raw Material and Intermediate Goods Suppliers

•140 Packing Material Vendors

•6 Regional Distribution Centers

•72 Depots
 Some Important Milestones

Asian Paints was ranked 9th Included in the Forbes List of

amongst the Top paint
companies in the world by
Coatings World - Top Companies
Report 2019 (July 2019 Issue).
Included in Forbes Asia’s list of
World’s Best Regarded
BEST OVER A BILLION
Companies (Sept 2019). Second
companies in Asia Pacific (Sept
Consecutive appearance for
2019)
Asian Paints in the coveted list.

In March 2012, Asian Paints was

Top Ranked Indian company in
presented the Asian Centre for
the “Forbes Most Innovative
Corporate Governance &
company List” in 2017 (Ranked
Sustainability Award for the Best
8th in the world)
Governed Company in 2011.
 Major Strengths

Global
Experience Brands
Footprint

World Class
Manufactur IT R&D
ing

Product Financial
Reach
Range Strength

Team Governance
 Reliability Management at
Asian Paints

Reliability is a broad concept that encompasses everything from vendor’s

reliability, to process reliability, to operations reliability and to human
reliability.
“Reliability is one of the solid pillars on which SCM rests upon & functions
effectively”.

Divides whole Supply chain into: Aids/Enablers and Drivers.

Aids: Encompass all software tools such as planners, B2B solutions, schedulers,
etc.
 Reliability Management at
Asian Paints (Contd.)

Drivers: Ground realities  -> and can be show-stoppers if not handled properly
& taken care of immediately(this is what Reliability is all about).

“R” factor - Making all the processes, systems, and drivers completely reliable.

Reliable systems, Reliable processes, reliable people, reliable vendors etc. all
form the backbone of a good SCM.

Five pillars of Reliability – Quality, Environment, Safety, People and Materials

 Problems at Asian Paints

In the early nineties quality was the inspection and it was the matter between
production and quality control. The period saw increased awareness about quality and
the company saw improvements in important quality parameters like approval with
deviations and rejection in finished goods.

After attacking the area of deviations in product quality the company shifted its focus to
reworks which was another problem that they were facing.

Asian Paints also placed lot of focus on problem selection criteria.

 Problems at Asian Paints (Contd.)

A s ia n P a in t s d r af t e d i t s e n vi ron m e nt p ol i c y i n t h e year 20 01, recog ni zi ng t h e need t o

f oc us o n e nv iron me nt p ro t e c t io n. Throu gh t h i s p ol i cy, t h e com pan y co mmi t t ed i t self t o
p ol l u t i on prev e nt io n, st a t ut or y c om pl i an ce a nd con t i nu al im provemen t .
T he co mp an y a dop t e d t he E nvi ron me n t al Ma nag ement S yst em   as p er ISO 1 4001  
s p ec i f i c at i on s w i t h a vi ew t o e n han c e e n vi ron m en t al p erf orman ce. As part o f t hi s
e n vi ro nm en t a l age nd a   ha s b e e n c at eg or i ze d i nt o f o ur b asi c el em ent s-
( I) .   R ed u ct i on at S ou rc e
( II ) . R e us e and Re c yc l e
( II I) . End o f t h e P i pe Tre at me n t
( IV ) . N at u r al R e sou rc e C on se r vat i on
 Problems at Asian Paints (Contd.)

Asian paints operations fall under the ‘Hazardous process’ industry as per
Factory act 1948.
Asian Paints   believes that positive safety culture are characterized by
communication founded on-
• Mutual trust
• Shared perceptions of importance of safety
• Confidence in efficiency of preventive measures

1999: Study to gauge the health of safety systems.

2002: All 4 manufacturing units started adopting ‘British Safety Council
standards.
 Problems at Asian Paints (Contd.)

• The next problem at Asian Paints was Human Resource

which is undoubtedly the most important factor in
ensuring reliable operations. So, it can be improved
through technology and automation.

• The other problem that they were facing was the

quality of vendors.
 Solutions from the Case

Reliability   is the answer to the problems faced by Asian paints.

It consist of five pillars:

•Quality
•Environment
•Safety
•People
•Materials

ISO Quality systems were adopted and with the consolidation of Quality system
significant improvements were seen.
 Solutions from the Case (Contd.)

•Millennium Quality policy

-Adoption of Philip Crosby standard of zero effects

-Concept of “doing it right the first time”

•All plants certified under ISO 9001:2000 standards

•5s and dealer tinting system   were brought under the purview of ISO9001
•Customer impacting process like new product introduction ,customer
feedback ,customer complaints handling process, design and development
process were assigned to process owner

•Adoption of six sigma

Environment
• Over 15 crores was invested
• Adoption of environmental management system
• Reduction at source
• Mass balance audits which comprise measuring waste generated in each stage in the
production process and identifying waste minimization opportunity
• Reuse and Recycle 
• End of pipe treatment
• Zero effluent disposal at the plants, improved effluent treatment facilities and
monitoring of input and output parameters
• Natural resource conservation
• Safety
- Migration to world class standards 
- All four plants adopted the British safety council standards
• First phase- Safety manual  followed by detailed gap analysis 
• Reduction in number of reportable accidents
•Human Resources
• EHS aiming at reliable safer and high quality 
• Adoption of 5S,TPM,RCA
• Roles were redefined-employees at lowest levels were empowered.
• Performance based wage system
• Suitable reward mechanism
• Suitable training program for staffs
•Vendor Reliability 
Operations Concepts
in the Case
•Root Cause Analysis (Six Sigma)

•TQM (Total Quality Management)

•Zero Defect (Right First Time)

•BSC (Balanced Scorecard)

•5S Concept

•Kaizen (Continuous Improvement)

•TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)

•MBA (Mass Balance Audit)

•Agile Supply Chain

 • Root Cause Analysis (Six Sigma)
• TQM (Total Quality Management)
• Zero Defect (Right First Time)
• BSC (Balanced Scorecard)
• 5S Concept
• TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)
•Effective root cause analysis is the core of any problem-solving method.

•Essential step for identifying critical components of chronic issues.

•Six sigma was the method used by Asian paints to analyze the root cause.

•The root cause analysis process is a subset of the larger DMAIC(Define,

Measure, Analyze, Improve & Control) process.

•Aimed at bringing down the deviations in the products and also to identify the
reworks in the Processes.
 • Root Cause Analysis (Six Sigma)
• TQM (Total Quality Management)
• Zero Defect (Right First Time)
• BSC (Balanced Scorecard)
• 5S Concept
• TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)
• To achieve quality requirements and business objectives throughout
an entire organization.

• TQM is focused on employee involvement and product improvement.

• Training employees in Six Sigma
• Mandatory for staff/executives/managers in Manufacturing
• All expected to complete at least one project in a financial year.
• All factory managers trained in Six Sigma Green Belt.
• Implementation of ISO:9001 and ISO:14001.

• ISO is not however a part of TQM.

 • Root Cause Analysis (Six Sigma)
• TQM (Total Quality Management)
• Zero Defect (Right First Time)
• BSC (Balanced Scorecard)
• 5S Concept
• TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)
• Z e ro d e f e c t s i s a wa y o f t h i n k i n g a n d d o i n g t h a t
re i n f o rc e s t h e n o t i o n t h a t d e f e c t s a re n o t
acceptable.

• Tr u e p e r f e c t i o n m i g h t n o t b e a c h i e v a b l e .

• Ac c o r d i n g t o t h e S i x S i g m a s t a n d a r d , t h e
d e f i n i t i o n o f z e ro d e f e c t s i s d e f i n e d a s 3 . 4 d e f e c t s
per million opportunities (DPMO).

• T h e z e ro d e f e c t s t h e o r y i s b a s e d o n f o u r e l e m e n t s .

•Q u a l i t y i s a s t a t e o f a s s u r a n c e t o re q u i re m e n t s .

•R i g h t t h e f i r s t t i m e .  

•Q u a l i t y i s m e a s u re d i n f i n a n c i a l t e r m s .

•P e r f o r m a n c e s h o u l d b e j u d g e d b y t h e a c c e p t e d
standards.
 • Root Cause Analysis (Six Sigma)
• TQM (Total Quality Management)
• Zero Defect (Right First Time)
• BSC (Balanced Scorecard)
• 5S Concept
• TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)
• A balanced scorecard is a performance metric
used to identify, improve, and control a
business's various functions and resulting
outcomes.

• Allows businesses to pool together

information and data into a single report.

• The balanced scorecard involves measuring

four main aspects of a business:  
•Learning and Growth  

•Business Processes

•Customers

•Finance
 • Root Cause Analysis (Six Sigma)
• TQM (Total Quality Management)
• Zero Defect (Right First Time)
• BSC (Balanced Scorecard)
• 5S Concept
• TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)
•First implemented by the Toyota Motor Corporation.

•Developed as a way to make just in time (JIT) manufacturing possible.

•Intends to produce only the amount of a product that is needed, when it is

needed.

• In Japanese, the five S's are Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke.

•In English, the five S's are translated as Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize,
and Sustain.
 • Root Cause Analysis (Six Sigma)
• TQM (Total Quality Management)
• Zero Defect (Right First Time)
• BSC (Balanced Scorecard)
• 5S Concept
• TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)
•Everyone in a facility should participate in maintenance, rather
than just the maintenance team.

•The goal of TPM is to Enhance the volume of the production,

employee morals, and job satisfaction.

•Total quality management (TQM) and total productive

maintenance (TPM) are considered as the key operational
activities as they require full support of total workforce.

•Fewer breakdowns, Safer workplace and Better overall

performance are some of the main advantages of following TPM.
 Enhanced capacity of solvent-based
paints through process
debottlenecking

Key Recent IMS certifications for plants in

Mysuru, Karnataka and
Highlights Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

Their plant in Gujarat achieved a 5-

star rating in safety audit by the
British Safety Council.
Key Highlights for FY 2020-21

Over 1900+ 5000+

Employees grouped into 150+ smaller
cross-functional teams for overcoming Kaizens/Improvement suggestions
operational challenges submitted by employees across cadres
across all manufacturing sites

39
Improvement projects identified and
implemented by teams in FY 2020-21
across 6 manufacturing facilities
 The Agile Supply Chain at Present

• The agile supply chain basically refers to the use of responsiveness,

competency, flexibility, and quickness to manage how well a supply
chain entity operates on a daily basis.  

• Unlike the lean supply chain, the agile supply chain uses real-time data
and updated information.

• Another key benefit of agility in the supply chain is focusing on

avoiding potential shortages and eliminating excessively stocked
inventory.
Conclusion

• Reliability is the heart and soul of the supply

chain and has to be taken care of before
embarking on any ambitious plans of
implementing the enablers.

• The advantages of reliability are straight saving

and a serious contribution to the bottom line.

• Having reliable operations can minimize

unwanted error and can help in keeping the
quality of the entire operation.