Our training department is an active participant during the development stage of new products

Hemant Mathur

Assistant Vice President – Sales and Marketing,

Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery Company Private Limited

There is a growing demand for newer and broader skill sets at different levels driven by surging demand and technology updation. How has your organization overcome these challenges in the assembly line / shop floor?

Adoption of the latest manufacturing technology is imperative to ensure competitiveness in the ever-demanding market scenario and ensuring long term sustainability.Evolution of new methods and technologies for manufacturing necessitates effective and prompt reskilling of the manpower. The reskilling curve includes unlearning and subsequently relearning new process and methods in the shortest possible timeframe. To achieve this objective, Tata Hitachi has a robust internal skill monitoring and development program designed keeping in mind early adoption of disruptive breakthrough technologies which are evolving at a rapid pace, suitable for enhancing the shop floor and assembly line efficiencies. This is achieved by developing a pool of talented and motivated production engineers who become mentors for further disseminating the knowledge to operators and associates responsible for daily production.             

The engineers are regularly exposed to best processes in the industry via –        

• Higher learning and continuing education programs partnered with premier technical institutes in India.
• Long duration stays at HCM Japan under the Shuttle Project Scheme for learning latest in the Japanese manufacturing processes, where our people are assigned to ‘live’ jobs under Hitachi’s supervision.
• Visits and participation in various industry level seminars and conferences discussing on the new emerging trends in Manufacturing Technology in India and abroad.

These core group of production engineers undertake planned training exercise at dedicated training zones across all manufacturing locations and sub locations to impart the know-how to the targeted and identified associates enabling skill upgradation and exposure to best practices.      

The availability of dedicated training cells in respective production functions act as a nucleus for disseminating the knowledge to all operators and associates on a periodic basis.   

Selected associates and senior operators are also sent to HCM Japan under the Shuttle Project Scheme which gives them hands on working exposure in HCM Factory at Japan. This enables to broaden their horizon with regards to exposure to latest global processes prevailing in the manufacturing domain. Regular coaching of an identified leader/mentors above is achieved by “Train the Trainer” program, which enables imparting newer and broader skill sets relevant for achieving effective training of other associates by the leader/mentor.

This program is part of HCM Japan’s initiative for developing key associates as higher-grade mentors in respective manufacturing domains.              

Does the existing workforce get adequate exposure and opportunities to enhance and update their skills?  What are your initiatives in this area?

Tata Hitachi firmly believes that the staff who undertake learning activities are more able to adapt to the changing requirements of the organization and that such continuous learning is necessary for the organization to gain and retain its competitive edge in the market.

Hence, updating and enhancing of skills necessarily form an integral part of the KPI’s of each field support engineer. Each engineer must mandatorily undergo a minimum period of training man-days depending on his job role. Based on feedback from regional service managers, the training department develops skill enhancement training packages every year and these are incorporated in the annual training calendar. Employees can nominate themselves for such trainings.               

Additionally, our training department is an active participant during the development stage of new products. This enables us to design training programs and impart field training before the actual launch of the product, keeping the engineers market ready.  

Digital transformation through disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence or robotics is being witnessed for enhanced productivity. What is the impact of this on your workforce?

Advancements in technology have given Tata Hitachi additional tools and resources to transform customer service interactions. Enabling our workforce to provide better response times and thereby increasing their quality of interaction with customers.              

Our implementation of mobility solutions in customer support has improved customer service, customer loyalty and brand reputation, while enabling employees to focus on higher value tasks that provide greater returns.          

Real time data generated through remote machine management (ConSite & InSite) enables field service engineers to productively engage with customers. Inferences from data available in these telematics suites are used to increase productivity and reduce downtime of our products.       

According to you, what are the different initiatives that can be undertaken to foster the skill ecosystem within your sector?

Being service oriented, skill development has emerged as a key capability for the CE industry.     

In the past, there has been a lack of focus on developing manpower and skills for the sector resulting in a significant gap in the numbers and quality of manpower, especially for equipment operators and repair mechanics. The tough working conditions prevalent in the industry is also a major deterrent for youngsters.     

Do you have any tie up with training associations like IESC for skill updation of the existing workforce?

Tata Hitachi has a tie-up with IESC to provide the following PMKVY trainings for the construction equipment industry:

• Backhoe loader operator
• Excavator operator
• Supervisor-plant and machinery

This can be addressed by:           

• Appointment of competent mobilizing agencies by the Government who have in-depth knowledge about youngsters entering the workforce each year in both urban and rural areas
• Such agencies should have proper systems for screening candidates through various psychometric tests to ensure that correct candidates are selected for specific skill development courses of the CE industry
• Increase awareness of the scope and prospects of the industry to ensure more participation in the skill development programs

The substantially high cost of training operators and mechanics for the CE industry is also a major reason for limited presence of training centers across the country. Currently training is conducted mainly by OEMs at their manufacturing locations or at selected dealerships. Hence many interested and deserving candidates are not aware of such centers and even if aware they do not have the means or resources to travel to the nearest center and stay there during the training period. The Government should work out a different payment structure for CE sector trainings to facilitate training centers in every state.  

How do you assess the knowledge gap in the CE sector with regard to the standards of curriculum of different streams? What are the challenges? 

The curriculum followed by the engineering colleges have been designed primarily for manufacturing and automotive sectors. The skills required for the CE industry are a combination of mechanical, hydraulics and electrical & electronics. Hence fresh engineering graduates are equipped with just the fundamentals on which we must build upon through extensive in-house training programs before they are assigned job roles. Recently, the introduction of courses such as mechatronics have managed to bridge a part of this knowledge gap.

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