abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
A key source of competitive advantage has been the enterprise's ability to continuously implement best practices across all elements of the network: the federation, the unions, the village societies and the distribution channel.
In developing these practices, the federation and the unions have adapted successful models from around the world. It could be the implementation of small group activities or quality circles at the federation. Or a TQM program at the unions. Or housekeeping and good accounting practices at the village society level.
More important, the network has been able to regularly roll out improvement programs across to a large number of members and the implementation rate is consistently high.
For example, every Friday, without fail, between 10.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m., all employees of GCMMF meet at the closest office, be it a department or a branch or a depot to discuss their various quality concerns.
Each meeting has its pre-set format in terms of Purpose, Agenda and Limit (PAL) with a process check at the end to record how the meeting was conducted. Similar processes are in place at the village societies, the unions and even at the wholesaler and C&F agent levels as well.
Examples of benefits from recent initiatives include reduction in transportation time from the depots to the wholesale dealers, improvement in ROI of wholesale dealers, implementation of Zero Stock Out through improved availability of products at depots and also the implementation of Just-in-Time in finance to reduce the float.
Kaizens at the unions have helped improve the quality of milk in terms of acidity and sour milk. (Undertaken by multi-disciplined teams, Kaizens are highly focused projects, reliant on a structured approach based on data gathering and analysis.) For example, Sabar Union's records show a reduction from 2.0% to 0.5% in the amount of sour milk/curd received at the union.
The most impressive aspect of this large-scale roll out is that improvement processes are turning the village societies into individual improvement centers.
In developing these practices, the federation and the unions have adapted successful models from around the world. It could be the implementation of small group activities or quality circles at the federation. Or a TQM program at the unions. Or housekeeping and good accounting practices at the village society level.
More important, the network has been able to regularly roll out improvement programs across to a large number of members and the implementation rate is consistently high.
For example, every Friday, without fail, between 10.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m., all employees of GCMMF meet at the closest office, be it a department or a branch or a depot to discuss their various quality concerns.
Each meeting has its pre-set format in terms of Purpose, Agenda and Limit (PAL) with a process check at the end to record how the meeting was conducted. Similar processes are in place at the village societies, the unions and even at the wholesaler and C&F agent levels as well.
Examples of benefits from recent initiatives include reduction in transportation time from the depots to the wholesale dealers, improvement in ROI of wholesale dealers, implementation of Zero Stock Out through improved availability of products at depots and also the implementation of Just-in-Time in finance to reduce the float.
Kaizens at the unions have helped improve the quality of milk in terms of acidity and sour milk. (Undertaken by multi-disciplined teams, Kaizens are highly focused projects, reliant on a structured approach based on data gathering and analysis.) For example, Sabar Union's records show a reduction from 2.0% to 0.5% in the amount of sour milk/curd received at the union.
The most impressive aspect of this large-scale roll out is that improvement processes are turning the village societies into individual improvement centers.