Circa 1993: Production and profits at an old tyre-making unit in East India lie bruised under the assault of militant trade unionism. The atmosphere on the shopfloor is vitiated with 2,000 workers--affiliated to six unions--frequently resorting to strikes, gate meetings, slogans and dharnas. The situation turns ugly in an shocking incident: a worker attacks a manager with a knife.

Circa 1999: The same factory is now the most profitable unit in the industry. The loss of working hours is down to nil and production has increased by 2.09 times and revenue by 2.46 times compared to six years ago. But best of all, while all six unions still operate, worker morale is at an all time high.

At the SK Birla Group's Balasore unit of Birla Tyres, a quality culture is sweeping in a qualitative revolution. The plant started commercial production of tyres, tubes and flaps for trucks and passenger cars in March 1992-and soon ran into a rocky patch with obstacles like militant unions, lowmanager morale and high indiscipline.

The poultise of quality systems began healing the wounds. In 1994, the Balasore unit became the youngest tyre plant to be awarded the ISO/9000 certificate. In February 1998, it became the first tyre plant to win ISO/14000 certification, and in March 1999 it was again the first tyre unit to be awarded with a QS/9000 certification. But the real turning point came three years ago, when it started implementing Total Productivity Management.

Late last month, a CII TQM Technical Committee meeting was held at the Birla Tyres plant to felicitate the turnaround. From a flat performance, Birla Tyres now has a market share of 8.8 per cent in the truck tyres segment and a 3.6 per cent share of the overall tyre market.

It might not set rubber burning, but Birla Tyres' turnaround journey is marked by two major milestones. First lesson: If the management is sincere, it can bring the most miraculous of changes against all odds. Second: Only inefficient managements hide behind thefig leaf of trade union activity affecting productivity.

Systems for change

According to a Birla Tyres' official, during 1991 and 1993--the start-up years--the management tried to stabilise the plant and concentrate on human resource and industrial relations.

``There was no industrial culture in the area and in the plant. Relations between the management and the workforce was at its worst stage with the trade unions trying to look after interests of the workers only. All these factors resulted in huge monetary losses and no quality system could be introduced,'' he said.

From 1994 to 1996 began the long haul to put things right. ``We started by setting the systems in place and our goal was to achieve the desired production and quality norms. Implementation of ISO/9001 also started off in this period. Once the proper systems were introduced, we realised the benefits and started registering low operating efficiencies,'' the spokesperson said.

Interestingly, no major technical upgradation wasmade to spark off the transformation, nor was a single worker retrenched. Instead, the management decided to focus on boosting the motivation of the workforce and and on increasing productivity. Finally, the quality standards were clearly spelt out.

Changing the culture

``Workers are just a set of hands in the whole production process. The will and dedication of the management is needed to bring about change and then, automatically, the workers become a part of it. Initially, they need motivation, but once they start realising the better results they are creating, they themselves get interested and become enthusiatic participants in change,'' says the Birla Tyres spokesperson.

Of course, it was not that simple. As a prelude to change, the Birla Tyres management laid down strict ground rules. No trade union activity was allowed on the shopfloor. Workers were not allowed to leave the factory--even during lunch hour. Instead, an inexpensive canteen was set up within the factory premises. Even thefactory manager, whose residence was just outside the unit presincts, began taking lunch at work.

Next to boost worker involvement, a suggestion scheme was started--along with an incentive scheme. As more and more ideas for cutting costs and improving safety were implemented, employees were awarded and given recognition. Morale automatically began rising, as photographs of awarded employees began going up on a huge board at the entrance to the shop floor.

The management also initiated dialogues with the individual workers and the trade unions. ``I personally met more than 600 workers and today I am totally aware of their problems both within and outside the factory. I also had discussions with the trade union leaders. I told them that I too want to look after the interests of the workers. But first, the factory has to run properly. They agreed and things were soon settled,'' says a senior Birla Tyre official.

With open communications breaking down the barriers between workers and management, the nextstep was to channelise the positive energy into higher productivity. Over the next two years, the company therefore embarked on a TPM journey, with clear milestones: eliminate all losses, set zero targets for accidents and double the profits from the unit. ``Slowly the operating efficiencies went up and we started integrating all quality initiatives that were taken up,'' said the spokesperson. However, the process did not end here. Says an official: ``During 1998 and 1999, Birla Tyres initiated the Quality Management System, where TPM, ISO/14001 and QS/9000 were intergrated.''

Now, Birla Tyres is gearing up for the next decade--and a new millennium--with TPM as its axle. ``It is essential if we are to maintain market share. For, in the current scenario, we do not have any control over price--either of the inputs or the final products. It is thus essential to maximise profits and survive in a competitive market,'' the official said.

The market forces might be tough, but this time, Birla Tyres is ready toface all challenges--with all the workers supporting the corporate goals, all the problems are outside the factory gate.