WEIGHING PROSPECTS

With most industries now providing a broad swath of flexible work arrangements to their employees, the dilemma for the Indian manufacturing industry looms large. Embracing the new culture of remote working and social distancing norms being far from possible, the industry is exploring possibilities to continue working traditionally without comprising its workers’ safety.

By now, all of us would agree that the Covid-19 pandemic is nothing less than a revolutionary wave that has changed the way we work in the recent past. Remote work, which employees of many companies were not even aware of, has now given rise to new work culture. Though all of us had heard the ‘work from home’ (WFH) in some context, it was always thought possible for certain job roles only. Surprisingly, many companies did not have any such policy in place before the outbreak of Covid-19. However, the current uncertain situation has led to the revision of priorities, working from home being one of them.

Now that there is complete unlocking happening in most places, many companies are embracing work from home as they wait for the situation to improve. The others, on the other hand, continue to face the dilemma of reopening the office. Companies have deployed best-in-class security systems, enhanced bandwidth, and provided several other facilities to their employees. However, it has severely hit the manufacturing sector hard where working from home cannot work. Thankfully, operations have resumed now and the management is trying all possible ways to ensure the safety of employees and not let the work get affected.

Impact on manufacturing industry

The Manufacturing sector is heavily hit as during the lockdown it shut the production in the Automotive, Food & Beverages, Electronics, Aerospace, Personal Care and many other sectors. It all began in China, the hub for the supply of raw materials to the global companies, and then impacted the supply chain for the manufacturing companies across the globe.

Considering the current market conditions, consumption, as well as the supply chain for the companies are heavily impacted. There has been a wide increase in the demand for sanitizers and daily consuming food products, leading to a panicky situation in the market. The sudden high demand for the number of raw materials and ingredients by the F&B companies hampered the production initially and even forced many manufacturing units to shut operations due to limited manpower. However, much has been sorted now. According to French trade group ANIA's study, F&B companies have suffered a revenue loss of around 22 percent worldwide.

New order of business

Transportation and logistics disruption, heavy financial burdens, product delivery difficulties in the upstream and downstream industrial chain, lack of orders and difficulties in order fulfillment are all problems enterprises faced when they resumed production. Amidst all these challenges, the manufacturing industry has successfully set its pace as a result of the new order of business in manufacturing establishments.

Many organizations including Kanchan Metals are ensuring a safe environment for the employees. These manufacturing units are leveraging technology to ensure social distancing and safety standards in production functions. We were following ‘work from home’ during the earlier days but have now shifted to the regular course of work. During the WFH days, we would regularly conduct meetings via video calls and coordinate over the phone.

Kanchan Metals has provided its employees with all the safety equipment including face mask and shield and has a strict enforcement policy. We have an HR officer whose primary responsibility these days is to monitor the shop floor and office areas to ensure that social distancing is being maintained. Also, we have almost completely switched to e-meetings to avoid in-person discussions. Moreover, we have appointed a doctor who checks everyone for their vitals when they report for work in the morning and have a quarantine room with all medical facilities for anyone not feeling well during work hours.

Survival technique

In addition to finding ways to handle challenges including labor shortage, many companies have adapted themselves to the new market environment by following long-term approaches that drive organizational change. These comprise building new business teams, forming complete workshops to efficiently develop new projects, and drawing the sales and product talent from within. These organizations have managed to survive despite the pandemic and subsequent lockdown and labor migration.

Some companies have been least affected by all these events and has successfully managed their operations. Being part of the Food industry, which is an essential commodity, Kanchan Metals has been fortunate enough to have a steady inflow of orders. Also, a lot of effort has been put into reaching customers digitally which has helped in securing orders. Luckily, labor migration never affected us because most of our employees lived nearby, and those who did not, were considerate enough to return when we resumed operations.

According to French trade group ANIA's study, F&B companies have suffered a revenue loss of around
22 percent worldwide due to Covid-19 impact.

In addition to hurting business operations, the virus has also created opportunities for the companies to innovate, strategize, and evolve with time to remain relevant. Likewise, the incorporation of automated technologies in factory operations and workers’ safety is enhancing the production capacities of companies and helping them gain employee and consumer trust.

According to French trade group ANIA's study, F&B companies have suffered a revenue loss of around 22 percent worldwide due to Covid-19 impact.