by ABFRLadmin | January 22, 2021
We at ABFRL present stories excerpted from our internal newsletter In Touch, where we celebrate our people and their contributions.
The pandemic has brought several of our heroes to the limelight, and our factories have been leading this transformation from the front. Heres the how ABFRLs Manufacturing Team at the factories helped manufacture PPEs and Masks quickly and safely.
This current situation had brought the world to a sudden standstill, and the demand for life-saving equipment for our frontline health workers in India was rising steadily. ABFRLs Manufacturing Team vowed to add PPEs as a new product category in a very quick turnaround time, and there were some obstacles in the beginning. Furthermore, specialised equipment was required to make both masks and PPEs, which wasnt readily available in the market due to huge surge in demand. Wearing the hat of innovators, our Maintenance Team developed various Kaizens (a Japanese technique to design processes that help reduced time and cost of manufacturing) to modify existing machines to meet the new requirements. Using in-house spare parts, the Team managed to save costs, and gained competitive advantage by ramping up production quickly, when the whole nation was in a state of lockdown.
These new machines, such as mask sterilization conveyor belt, mask folder making machine, taping machine, rotatory creasing machine were developed to cut down production time, thereby increasing efficiency and improving productivity overall.
These Kaizens also helped optimize manpower and put non-functioning machines to the best use. An in-house taping machine developed by our Maintenance Team at Rs. 20,000, which otherwise costs Rs. 5 lakh in the market and 82 such models are installed across our factories. Our in-house mask sterilization machine that uses UV light to disinfect the masks was developed at zero cost.
All this was done maintaining the utmost standards of safety, hygiene and social distancing within the factory premises.
Narahari N, COO – Sourcing, Manufacturing and Quality, Madura Fashion and Lifestyle
The maintenance team went out of their way to innovate, re-purpose and quickly set up machinery that helped us in manufacturing new products. They worked hand-in-hand with various teams, and their ingenious Kaizens helped in preventing COVID spread inside the premises. Their contribution to the cause is truly commendable.
