PROJECT ON

Understanding of
SELF MANAGED TEAMS
At
Dr. Reddy’s Labs – FTO VI (Baddi)

Submitted By: Under Guidance Of

Anagha Yeri
Mr. Surinder Pal Singh
Roll No. 2007 B-30 Head HR
Dr. Reddy’s Labs

Mr. R.K. Vivekaananda

Centre for excellence in
organization

Sadhana Centre for Management & Leadership

Development (SCMLD), PUNE

1
 Acknowledgement
I take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to all those people
who have helped me reach a platform in my life where I could put to
use all that I have learnt till date & also give me a chance to learn more
that will help me equip myself with better tools to enhance my
performance in the future.

At the outset I express my gratitude to Prof. M.S. Pillai, whose

valuable teachings throughout the two years have sown the seeds of
continuous learning in me which helped me in performing in my
project.

I would like to thank our Business Head, S. Karthikeyan at CEO

who thoughtfully gave us a project which presented us with a platform
to learn a totally new concept & thus build our knowledge. I am also
thankful to our project guide Mr. R.K. Vivekaananda & Mr. Umanath
from CEO who were always helpful to guide us during our difficulties.

I am immensely grateful to our project guide Mr. Surinder Pal

Singh Head HR, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, FTO VI who left no effort in helping
us in every aspect of our project & without whose help our project
would have remained incomplete. His timely guidance has resulted in
the growth of our knowledge about the HR functions to a great extent.

I specially thank the Self Managed Team Members as well as the

Hand Holding Team Members at Dr. Reddy’s Labs, FTO VI, who were a
great help to us in understanding the finer aspects of the SMT concept.
I am the most indebted to my parents who have been the pillars
of support & confidence for me & who have always stood behind me in
whatever I did. They trusted me with my abilities in doing my project

2
outside my home city. I seek God’s blessings to strengthen me with
the ability to live up to everyone’s expectations.

CONTENTS:

1) About Center for Excellence in Organization…………………………

04
2) Abstract………………………………………………………………….. 07
3) History of SMT………………………………………………………….. 08
4) Terminologies of SMT…………………………………………………..
09
5) Difference between traditional organization & HPWS………………..
10
6) Key disciplines of SMT…………………………………………………..
11
7) Advantages of HPWS…………………………………………………….
13
8) Challenges of HPWS……………………………………………………..
14
9) HPWS Implementation approach……………………………………….
15
10) SMT systems &
outcomes………………………………………………. 18
11) About Dr. Reddy’s
Labs………………………………………………….. 19
12) Executive
Summary………………………………………………………. 21
13) Introduction……………………………………………………………
……. 23

3
 14) Scope of Study,
Sample…………………………………………………… 26
15) Need for the study, Significance, Objective, Method, literature
review... 27
16) Actual
Study………………………………………………………………….. 28

Centre for Excellence in Organization Pvt. Ltd.

Often an organization, after ages of its existence, despite an

established culture that has weathered the ravages of time, the
organization discovers that the world around it has transformed without
a word. Now, plans that have proved to be profitable are in need for a
revamp.

Adding to this the developing trends in harnessing and utilization of

human potential and the evolving environments of human relations
propounded by a hundred new gurus and theoreticians - Great
solutions that just don’t look so practical when they near the
implementation phase…

4
Centre for Excellence in Organization realized that in these times of
hard survival what is needed are not conceptual ideas and solutions but
practical remedies that might deviate from the perceived norms but
GENERATE RESULTS!

CEO prides itself in having brought out radical changes in the business
culture and performance of many goliaths. By emphasizing the power
of human resources and handholding the client in every aspect of the
business processes, it has carved for itself an indisputably unique niche
in the consulting firmament.

Expanding its horizons relentlessly during its existence for nearly a

decade, CEO has been the catalyst for path breaking innovations in
some of the most reputed organizations in the Indian soil as well as in
Global Business.

Over the years CEO believed that no pre-packaged methods exist than
are universally applicable but rather believes in handholding to
construct the best possible solutions to the organization’s unique
culture and position.

CEO Vision

“To be the most preferred partner for holistic growth of every

constituent of Business”

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CEO Mission

“Value Exploration through People & Process Integration”

Provides Expert Services in

• Creating High performance work systems

• Culture building

• Competency mapping and development

• Performance Management System

• Balance Score Card

• Operational Excellence & Resource Optimization ( TQM/ TPM/

Kaizen/Process Mapping)

• HR Process Re-engineering & Outsourcing

• Organization Surveys

• Green field turn-key recruitment

• Family business

Among others

CEO Spread

As on today CEO operates across 3 countries (India, Malaysia and

Dubai) and has clients across India, Middle East, South East Asia and
West Africa. CEO has branches in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and
Haridwar in India, Penang in Malaysia and Dubai.

6
This project is being hand holded by CEO in Dr. Reddy’s Labs, FTO VI
Baddi

Abstract:
In the challenging climate & environment, to survive in the market
place, it is increasingly apparent that one of the key to successful

7
organizational performance is the people within the organization, & the
management system that harness their talents & capabilities

Organizations & the way they are managed have evolved over a period
of time. Right from the beginning of the nineteenth century till today,
long living companies have adapted themselves to the changing
requirements of the market place. Earlier the culture in most of the
organizations was of hierarchy & a boss & subordinate relation existed
amongst the employees where the boss or the manager was the
decision maker & the subordinate was just an executer.

Over a period of time organizations have realized that empowering

their employees & enabling them to take the right decision will be
beneficial to the overall success of the organization in the long run.

Simply put a Self Managed Team is a group of people working

together in their own ways toward a common goal which is
defined outside the team.

The basic aim of high performance work systems or a Self Managed

Team (SMT) is to enable employees to exercise decision making,
leading to flexibility, innovation, improvement and skill sharing. By
facilitating the development of Self Managed Teams we help
organizations make continuous improvement a way of life.

As organizations move from a paradigm valuing individual work to

focusing on team efforts, the leader no longer simply manages tasks.
The role instead requires facilitating processes to create fertile team
environments. This demands a different orientation to leadership and
different skills and actions. Leadership, rather than residing in one
person, is now "accomplished as a team function, with and through
teams.

8
SMT History:
In London a study was conducted by the Tavistock institute & a system
called the socio technical design was developed. The system arose
from work done in the coal mining industry. Under this study
conducted in the coal mines of London, it was observed that the miners
worked without any supervisors or any sort of technology. Therefore in
order to increase productivity supervisors as well as technology like
wireless etc. were introduced. It was however found that the
productivity decreased instead.

This was because earlier the miners worked without any supervision &
they had an emotional connect between them. With the introduction of
the technology as well as the supervisors their emotional connect was
lost.

Later, miners were formed into multi skilled work groups to support a
redesign of the way in which work was carried out underground. Teams
were made responsible for their own decisions & for the flow of their
work. The system achieved greater productivity & better morale within
the workforce.

In the USA P&G based an entire new facility on the concept of SMT’s.
the success was so spectacular that P&G treated it with the greatest
confidentiality, classifying information about their team organization &
treating it as a trade secret. Later Volvo, with the commissioning of it’s
now famous Kalmar plant, broke new ground. Teams built complete
components of cars as manufacturing cells rather than as operators
supporting zones of a linear production line. This produced a dramatic
increase in productivity & demonstrated the power of teaming.

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TERMINOLOGY:

The concept and principles remaining same, different companies have

given different terms to SMTs:

Self Managed Teams are also known as:

• Socio-Technical Systems
• High Commitment Systems
• Technician Systems
• High Involvement Systems
• Participative Management
• High Performance Work Systems
• Self-Directed Work Teams
• Empowered Work Teams
• Autonomous Work Teams
• Performance Development Systems, etc.

A BREAK THROUGH APPROACH TO DESIGNING WORK

HPWS represent a new approach to the way work is organized and performed.
Instead of organizing work based on the traditional Taylor model-reducing a
process to individual simple steps, work is restructured around the whole
processes. The new system integrates the needs of the people with the work to

10
be done and those closest to the job help design the job. It redistributes power,
authority and responsibility so that people closest to the customer and the
end product or result have decision-making facility.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL ORGANISATIONS AND HPWS

HPWS differs from a traditional organization in structure, design,

process, communication flow, leadership roles, and reward and
recognition systems. It is a shift from individual based design to team
based design.

The following are the differences between Traditional Organization and

HPWS

Traditional
Ele Organizatio Self Managed
ment n Teams
Organizationa Layered/ Flat/Team-based
l Structure Hierarchical
Job Design Narrow/Singl Whole Process/Multi-task
e-task
Manager’s Direct/Contr Coach, Facilitator
Role ols
Leadership Top-down Shared with team
Rewards Individual Team based
Performance

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Information Controlled Open and Shared
Flow and limited
Job Process Managers Teams Plan, Control and
Plan, Control Improve
and Improve

KEY DISCIPLINES OF A SELF MANAGED TEAM:

Self-management for teams involves, a team, assuming a set of new

roles and responsibilities that have traditionally been the exclusive
preserve of managers and supervisors. As a result, when a
conventional group or team moves to become self-managed work
team, a whole host of new challenges emerge along with, exciting
opportunities. To successfully survive these challenges and achieve
self-management, the traditional team must learn certain key
disciplines of the self-managed team. These disciplines are a set of
skills, approaches, insights and practices that are to be mastered and
gradually to become self-directed. The six key disciplines are: -

1. Establish and communicate the boundaries of team authority

Self-managed work teams should develop charters that define the
boundaries of their work and communicate to its members, to the
steering committee, to other teams and to entire organization. Every
Team member must have clarity of his roles and responsibilities and
the boundary within which the team operates.

2. Develop Cross Functional Skills

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A key factor that sets self-managed work teams apart from
conventional teams is that all members of the team are intimately
familiar with all of the tasks done within the team. All members of a
SMWT must not only understand the variety of jobs and tasks within
the team; they must also have the capability to perform each of these
tasks. Training all team members in each other’s tasks is an important
component of SMW skill set.

3. Develop Critical Thinking Skills

Self- Managed teams must critically evaluate its role in organization, its
charter, its goals, its evolving norms of behavior, its performance, its
successes, etc. A critically thinking SMWT does not settle for
yesterday's success. It is always examining its processes, its
environment, and its results.

4. Becoming Self-Directed Learners

Traditional work groups and teams depend upon the learning priorities
set by management. Self-Managed Teams must break this dependency
and define for themselves what they need to know. This must happen
not just to learn what they must do to get their job done today, but the
team has to take responsibility for identifying needed skills and
knowledge essential for their and the company's long-term success.
The team assumes full responsibility for exploring the methods and
approaches for learning to become self-directed, long-term learners.

5. Manage Team Performance

Conventional teams may be involved in goal setting and performance
evaluation, but management still plays a major role in molding these
goals and in evaluating the team's performance. A SMWT assumes full
responsibilities for these tasks. The SMWT must therefore be trained in
the skills and knowledge of team’s performance management. This

13
includes the skill of goal setting, establishing benchmark standards,
evaluating performance and developing plans for performance
improvement with minimal assistance from management.

6. Manage Human Resources

In traditional work groups, management usually assumes the
responsibility for defining needed positions, recruiting the right
candidates, establishing criteria for evaluating the candidates and
orienting him/her to the job. However in self-managed teams, teams
assume full responsibility for managing its human resources. As a
result, team members must learn to master such HR skills i.e.
recruiting and selecting new incumbents, monitoring individual
performance and then taking action to correct performance plans.

ADVANTAGES OF HPWS
It has been observed that organizations practicing HPWS are on
average 30 to 50% more productive than their conventional counter
parts. The following are the advantages of HPWS:

1. Improved quality, productivity and service.

2. Greater participation, autonomy and flexibility.
3. Reduced operating costs.
4. Faster response to technological change.
5. Fewer, Simpler job classifications.
6. Better response to workers values.

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7. Increased employee commitment to the organization.
8. Ability to attract and retain the best people.
9. Improved employee quality of work life and job satisfaction.
10. Reduced absenteeism and employee turnover.

CHALLENGES OF HPWS

Most of the managers and supervisors are uncomfortable with losing

power and control over people and process. They viewed these
processes as geared at making them look weak and tend to confuse
them as roles becoming blurred. This creates a lot of resistance as
issues of accountability are challenged.

HPWS encourages substantial investment in people who become highly

skilled and thus opening a multitude of attractive opportunities that
other companies might have at levels that the parent company cannot
afford. Those systems tend to promote predatory tendencies from
competitors who do not want to develop employees but prepared to

15
buy skills. Implementation of HPWS is a long-term process and requires
patience and enduring support of management and employees through
out the process. HPWS entails continuous learning and up gradation of
skills and many incur huge expenses in training the employees.
Developing HPWS requires a high degree of planning, selecting the
right team players, designing the work, training continuously and
carefully managing the shift of power and responsibilities from
supervisors to team members.

The major challenges organizations face in changing from a traditional

environment to a high involvement environment includes developing
the teams and fostering the culture of management support. Teams go
through several stages of increasing involvement on their way to self-
management. This journey can take between two and five years and is
never ending from a learning and renewal perspective.

An SMT coordinator is a facilitator. He realizes that like a seed, will be

productive only as long as they have the necessary resources.
Although, not all team members are productive, just like not all seeds
germinate, most produce results in favorable conditions. SMT
coordinator creates favorable conditions for higher crop yield.

HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK SYSTEMS – IMPLEMENTATION

APPROACH

The HPWS model would pass through various transition stages to reach
the ideal HPWS structure (with having only three layers and
supervision-less functioning). Better the maturity level of the teams
better the autonomy and empowerment.

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 - The teams are configured based on VAPs (Value Added
Processes). The ideal team strength is around 8 to12 members.
- A team could be of members from across shifts or within shifts
also. Also, it could consist of members from cross functional /
section or within functional / section.
- Maintenance function generally gets disintegrated as
autonomous maintenance except for specialized maintenance
and projects. Quality team would extend support - acts as a
trainer and conscious keeper, and not as an inspector.
- Stores would remain as a centralized support team but will have
a defined resource person to support each team.

The project shall be executed in 4 stages with clear objective

and distinct approach for each stage.

Stage I Stage 2 Stage 3 Step 7 Stage 4

Step 1 Step 1 Step 1 Step 1

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 Sourcing &
Selection (Based Designing
Studying on skill & Introducing Skill
Organization personal SMT Teams Team Score Evaluation
Expectations qualities) Configuration card Tools

Step 2 Step 2 Step 2 Step 8 Step 2

Institutional
Training
(Extensive
Mapping Biz preparation for
Processes (To High
Determine Performance - Initiating
Selection Criteria Technical & Creating Initiating Human
& Training Behavioral Empowerment Sunrise Value
Module) Focus) Map Meeting Action Team

Step 3 Step 3 Step 3 Step 9 Step 3

Blue Print Conducting

Creation Skill
(Selection, On The Job Selecting SMT Initiating Assessment
Training & Culture Training (During Leaders/ Team &
Building) Commissioning) Facilitators Meeting Certification

Step 4 Step 4 Step 4 Step 10 Step 4

Leadership Conducting SMT Designing Commensing Initiating
Alignment & Awareness Team Score Detailed skill Open House
program Launch Programs Card Mapping Forum

Step 5 Step 5 Step 5 Step 11 Step 5

Initiating Conducting
Forming Steering HPWS Readiness Launching of Face to Face Reviews &
Committee Programs SMTs Review Audits

Step 6 Step 6 Step 12

Initiating Learn Initiating
Teach Learn Designing Star Model
Session Team Charter roles

Stage 1: The pink cells represent the processes that are aimed at
diagnosing the requirement properly and aligning all the stakeholders
on the challenges and outcome.

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Stage 2: The blue cells refer to processes that are foundation for
creating the HPWS culture, which are to be carried out before the roll
out of teams.

Stage 3: The yellow cells refer to processes that are core processes of
a SMT. To start with, these can be implemented in pilot area and on
seeing results (say within 4-5 months) it can be replicated to others
areas.

Stage 4: The green cells are the advanced processes which can be
initiated only after establishing the core processes of SMT.

SMT Systems Outcomes

1) Team Formation 1. Emphasizing on team work and
team deliverables
2. Sharing of accountability and

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 ownership with the grassroots
3. Facilitating performance
through coaching and guidance
(not thru
supervision)
2) Team Charter 1. Agreeing on common goals and
building synergy & team bonding

3) Team Leader Role 1. Enabling grassroots to take-up

and perform leadership role within
the
defined boundary
2. Managing through peer
management than hierarchical
powers
4) STAR Roles 1. Sharing the ownership of
delivering critical success factors
(CSF)
among the team members
2. Gaining clarity and focus on the
CSF
5) Team Score Card 1. Converting the feel good factors
into measurable business
performance parameters
2. Continuous monitoring and
updating of the team performance
and
creating healthy competition
among the teams through
benchmarking
3. Establishing objective reward
and recognition mechanism

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6) Communication 1. SAM - Facilitating timely
Continuum exchange of information (shift
handing over
and taking over)
2. Team Meetings - Thoroughly
analyzing the improvement areas
and
preparing the SMART action plan
3. Face to Face - Reviewing the
monthly performance of the teams
4. Open House – Creating space
for transparent exchange of
information about company’s
business plan, customers, future
goals,
challenges, opportunities etc
7) SBPS (Skill Based 1. Enabling individuals to progress
Progression System) in the career ladder through
proper
skill acquisition (Identifying value
added processes, defining skill
blocks & inventory, evaluation,
training and certification)
2. Transparent understanding of
the skill levels and its related
reward /
Recognitions
8) HVAT (Human Value 1. Facilitating celebrations,
Action Team) perception surveys, handling
disciplinary
issues, thinking from macro level
for higher level of team

21
 empowerment
9) Training & 1. Enabling all participants across
Development levels to acquire the skill sets /
qualities required to perform their
role in SMT context

ABOUT THE COMPANY:

Dr. Reddy’s Labs is an Integrated Global Pharmaceutical Company.

With a purpose of providing affordable & innovative medicines for
healthier lives, their vision is “To be a Top 20 global pharmaceutical
Company by 2020”.

Dr. Reddy’s aim is to help people lead healthier lives through two
parallel objectives:

1) making medicines affordable & accessible in all parts of the world

so that as many people as possible benefit from them;
2) Discovering, developing & commercializing innovative treatment
options that satisfy unmet medical needs.

Headquartered in India, it has a presence in more than 100 countries. It

has wholly-owned subsidiaries in the US, UK, Russia, Germany & Brazil;
joint ventures in China, SA & Australia; representative offices in 16
countries; & third-party distribution set ups in 21 countries. Dr. Reddy’s
is the first pharmaceutical company in Asia outside of Japan to be listed
on the NYSE.

Its strong portfolio of businesses, geographic & products gives it an

edge in an increasingly competitive global market & allows it to provide
affordable medication to people across the world, regardless of

22
geographic & socio-economic barriers. Dr. Reddy’s is a global, vertically
integrated pharmaceutical company with a presence across the value
chain, producing & delivering safe, innovative, & high quality finished
dosage forms, APIs & biological products. Its products are marketed
across the globe, with an emphasis on North America, Europe, India,
Russia & other emerging markets.

It conducts NCE drug discovery research in the areas of metabolic

disorders & cardiovascular indications at research facilities in Atlanta
(USA) & Hyderabad (India). Through its custom Pharmaceutical
Services business unit, it provides drug substance & drug product
development & manufacturing services on a proprietary basis.

Their near medium term value creation business encompasses:

Preparation of Active pharmaceutical ingredients & Custom
pharmaceutical ingredients & Global generics.

Long Term Value Creation (Proprietary Products): Drug discovery,

specialty pharmaceuticals, Biologics.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

More often than not a seasoned organization looks back over its
shoulders only to realize that its performance over the years though
good (or even excellent) is just not maximal. A reigned in business,
when harnessed & trained to maximum efficiency would undoubtedly
take the venture far beyond lines that are now perceived as intrinsic
limitations.

Getting yourself to do these need a change in the business process

redesign of your systems.

Self Managed Teams is an organizational architecture that brings

together work, people, technology and information in a manner that
optimizes the congruence or fit among them. A specific
combination of HR practices, work structures, and processes that
maximizes employee knowledge, skill, commitment, flexibility and
contribution.

24
The basic aim of Self Managed Teams is to enable employees to
exercise decision making, leading to flexibility, innovation,
improvement and skill sharing. By facilitating the development of high
performance work systems we help organizations make continuous
improvement a way of life.

The Self Managed teams not only to do their routine work but also,
take on Management functions formerly performed by Supervisors,
Engineers and Managers.

This allows Supervisors, Engineers and Managers to focus on

teaching, coaching, developing and facilitating rather than
controlling.

Just like any other organization, Dr. Reddy’s laboratories is an

organization which would like to improve it’s performance &
productivity in the long run.

In the year 2000, with the help of CEO consultants Pvt. Ltd., Dr.
Reddy’s became the first pharmaceutical company in India to
implement Self Managed Teams in it’s organization.

An innovative scientific selection process & an intensive training

curriculum were devised for the spanking new plant at Yannam, a town
in the Union Territory of Pondicherry on the eastern coast. It was
decided to recruit young people who had completed 12th standard (with
science background) & filtered out the best candidates through a series
of tests – written, psycho diagnostic & neuromuscular - & a group
discussion & personal interview.

25
 In the bargain these young people were getting an opportunity
to pursue their B.Sc. in Pharmacy totally funded by the organization, &
a free hostel accommodation.
. Later on, after a technical & a behavioral training of 45 days,
these employees were ready to be inducted in the organization.

At the plant, these employees were divided & were formed into
self managed teams, who then went on to manage their daily work in a
systematic way. A team from the middle level management, known as
the Hand Holding Team facilitated the formation of the Self Managed
Team.

Later on the experiment was repeated at Baddi, in Himachal

Pradesh in December 2005, where the current study was undertaken.

INTRODUCTION:
As discussed a Self Managed Team is a group of people working
together in their own ways towards a common goal. It is a team of
people with individual strengths & weaknesses which compliment
each other in managing their daily work management activities &
improve their performance & to achieve their goals.

These team members take their own decisions w.r.t. planning,

executing & evaluating their daily work activities.

Traditional organizational systems, suffer from a tall hierarchal design.

Under such a system there are a lot of layers between the top
Management & the lower level management.

26
The organization’s situation here becomes like a dinosaur, if something
hits the tail, it will take a long time to reach the head. I.e., if something
is wrong at the lower level management it will take a long time to reach
the top management, by which time the situation would have
worsened.

Moreover, most employees would not be able to reach their maximum

potential under constant supervision.

An SMT is an empowered, multiskilled team with operational decision –

making authority. The team largely handles plant operations on it’s
own, with minimal supervision.

Therefore the basic objective of a Self Managed Team is:

1) to break the hierarchy
2) to improve production

The Self Managed teams not only to do their routine work but also, take
on Management functions formerly performed by Supervisors,
Engineers and Managers.

This allows Supervisors, Engineers and Managers to focus on teaching,

coaching, developing and facilitating rather than controlling.

Under this concept the hierarchical structure of the organization takes

the following form:

I. Plant Head
II. HHTs (Hand Holding Team members)

27
III. SMT members

28
 In fact, one of the major differences between SMTs & traditional
teams is the complete lack of layers of seniority & hierarchies. This
concept empowers the first level people. Generally there are 4-5 layers
in an organization, with the result that people often don’t feel
ownership; they feel disconnected.
Under this model, people are responsible, accountable & feel a
sense of ownership.
There is also a financial benefit in this model. At the Yannam
plant, the initial manpower requirement came up to 120 people, but
when the SMT concept was put on the table, they realized they could
manage the same operations with 40 people & the work done was
more effective.
Similarly, the Baddi plant which gives an output of 130 million
tablets & capsules, 2.5 lac vials of injectables, 6 – 7 lac tubes of
ointments & pastes & a revenue of 30 – 35 crores every month is
managed by just 120 SMTs, who take care of the entire chain of value
addition right from management of warehouse to the dispatch of
goods.

The number of SMT as well as HHT team members at the plant is as

follows:
Department HHTs SMTs Total
Production
(Tablet &
Capsules Mfg.) 6 26 30
Production
(Packaging) 4 28 34
Production
(Injectables) 5 11 16
Production
(Ointments) 3 7 10
Ware House 1 6 7
Engineering 9 9 19
Quality
Assurance 13 1 14
Quality Control 13 17 30

29
Supply Chain
Management 1 0 1
Safety health &
Environment 1 0 1
Finance 1 0 1
Human
Resource 1 1 2

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

The study is conducted at Dr. Reddy’s Labs, FTO VI, Baddi.

Geographical Scope: The geographical scope of the study is limited to

the SMT & HHT team members at Dr. Reddy’s Labs, FTO VI, Baddi.

Functional Scope: The functional scope of the study covers the

understanding of the SMT concept & it’s various tools with a focus on
one of the Tools i.e. SPBS (Skill Based Progression System) all the areas
where the SMTs are deployed & are working, i.e. the shop floor, the
Quality Assurance department, the Quality Control department, as well
as the HR department.

SAMPLE SIZE:

The plant runs in 3 regular shifts i.e. the A shift (7 a.m. to 3 p.m.),
General Shift (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) & B shift (3 p.m. to 11 p.m.) If however,
there is a demand for higher production, then the plant also runs in an
extra shift (11 p.m. to 7 a.m.).

For the purpose of understanding the concept of SMT, the interaction

was done with around 35 SMT team members as well as 8 – 10 HHT
team members from A shift & General shift.

30
NEED FOR THE STUDY:

The concept of SMT was earlier implemented at Dr. Reddy’s plant, FTO
IV, Yannam, with a great success. The experiment was replicated at the
Baddi plant.

The study is being conducted to understand the concept of SMT at FTO

VI, Baddi & to understand how one of the tools i.e. Skill Based
Progression System (SBPS) can be implemented by understanding the
various processes.

SIGNIFICANCE: This study would be significant in understanding the

challenges as well as advantages of a SMT concept.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the challenges & advantages of

implementing SMT in an organization.

METHODOLOGY: For the purpose of the study, primary data was

gathered by visiting the plant & interacting with the SMTs. The SMTs
were interacted through a random sampling method.

31
LITERATURE REVIEW: For the purpose of the study, various articles
from websites have been read, books like “The Toyota Talent” have
been read.

ACTUAL STUDY
In an SMT concept the Team Members are inducted within an
organization through a proper selection process.
1) Scientific Selection Process: In an SMT model the team
members are selected through a well developed Scientific
Selection Process. First of all, the business processes of an
organization are mapped & the requirements of an organization
are determined in order to know the selection criteria.
The team members are selected through a series of tests - written,
psycho diagnostic & neuromuscular - & a group discussion &
personal interview.

The following shows the process flow of a Scientific Selection

Process.

32
 P
Psycho Yes
Requirement Initial a
Aptitude Test Diagnostic
Profiling Screening s
Test
s
Neuro Muscular
Test
No
No
Yes

Group
Discussion / Task
Exercise
Multi Mode Integrated Talent P
No
Selection Thank a
You s
s
Yes

No No
P Medical P
Yes Yes
a Checkup & a Structured
Induction Offer
s Antecedent s Interview
s Verification s

P = PASS

33
 For the purpose of Dr. Reddy’s Labs, the selection criteria
was identified as 12th pass students from science Background
(Non medical + Medical). Candidates from almost every district
of Himachal Pradesh underwent the selection tests. These
candidates under went an Aptitude Test, Psycho diagnostic
Test, a Neuro muscular Test, Group Discussion & then a
personal interview. Later on the selected candidates were
called for a medical test the next day.

At the time of selection most of the candidate did not

know about the SMT concept and they were new to it. Initially
the young team of selected candidates was trained at Punjab
University for two months.

According to one of the SMT members, “initially it seemed to

be very difficult that whether we would be able to coordinate
properly with each other or not, but at the time of training in
P.U. we came closer to each other and started understanding
each other in a better way. After training we had to join the
new plant at Baddi. Hostel was provided to us for the initial
two years. During the hostel period our relations grew so
strongly that we were residing like family members.”

Moreover, this initial orientation marked an important

phase for the SMT members as this training period laid a
foundation for all of them to strengthen their relationship &
develop a feeling of being in a family & not just as employees
of the organization, which is hardly found in other
organizations.

34
SMT Tools: The implementation of a proper SMT concept involves the
execution of certain tools. Most of these tools are yet to be
implemented at unit FTO VI & will be put into action after the VAP
(Value Adding Processes) model comes into existence. Though not fully
implemented, we can see the impact of these tools at various places in
the organization. These tools are as follows:

1) SMT team formation:

In order for the Self Managed Team members to perform to their
fullest, proper team formation has to be done.
Three major aspects have to be kept in mind before the formation of
a team.

I. Skill: As mentioned earlier, the traits or skills of a team

member should compliment each other in order to achieve
expected results. Their strengths & weaknesses will help them
perform all their work from end to end, right from planning to
dispatch. If this happens, then they will become more
independent & productive.

II. Process: The processes followed will differ from organization to

organization & from industry to industry. In such cases, the
teams will have to be formed keeping in mind the processes
that an organization follows.

For eg: In some organizations teams are formed to perform a

particular process, where as in some organizations, teams are
formed to perform the end to end process.

35
 III. Layout: The layout also differs from organization to
organization & the formation of a team to a great extent is
determined by the layout.

For e.g. the team formation in an organization with a process layout

will be different from product layout.
Before forming a team, we should keep in mind that the Size of
the team is in terms of numbers should be appropriate.
We should work towards building proper compatibility &
cohesiveness amongst the team members. This will help to build proper
synergy amongst the team members.
The aim of the team formation is that the team should be able to
sustain & manage itself as well as to achieve it’s goals.

At Dr. Reddy’s although formal Teams for various

departments have yet to be rolled out, an informal team
formation can be seen within the various departments. There
are SMT members who look after the production of tablets &
capsules, there are others who take care of Ointment, of
Injectables etc., who together act as a team fulfilling their
responsibilities & achieving their goals.
This shows that the concept of SMT itself creates the
feeling of a team & the attitude of team work amongst
individuals, making it beneficial both for the organization to
achieve it’s goals & create a right atmosphere for the
individual to work.
This is also the result of the seeds of an emotional
bonding laid down during their training period which has
developed further in the form of informal teams within the
departments.

36
 2) Star Caps: According to the structure of the SMT model, after
the formation of the SMT team, one of the steps is the formation
of the Star Caps.

Star Caps are the captions or leaders to take care of particular

contingent situations, which arise within a team. For any team
generally, there is a Production Star Cap, Safety Star Cap, HR Star
Cap, Quality Star Cap, etc. These members take up their role
depending upon any situation that arises in front of a team
otherwise they are as good as the other members of the team.

For e.g. If the productivity is not met according to the planned

schedule, & there is any problem to be solved, then the production star
cap will take the lead to analyze the situation, & solve the problem,
while the other members will follow his advise.

The guiding philosophy of STAR model is to propagate ‘situational

leadership’, where the role & accountability are clearly defined.
The model can be better understood in comparison to the SEAL
model of the US commando force. SEAL is a team of 4 commandos
where one is an expert in Sea, one on Earth, one in Air & the last one

37
is an expert of Landmines. Based on the situation one of them
becomes the leader of the team & the rest follow his instructions. For
example, when the team should accomplish a task of defusing
landmines in the sea, the Sea expert takes over the leadership of the
team till they reach the landmines. Once they reach the spot, the
landmines, the Landmine expert takes over the leadership & others
follow him.

This philosophy is important for an organization when there is more

than one critical factor for success that a Self Managed Team needs to
address. A STAR Cap is assigned for each of these critical factors, who
will be accountable for the delivery of a critical successes factor & will
guide the rest of his/her team members in ensuring the delivery of the
results.

For a Star Cap:

Situation (Job context)
To understand the current situation, opportunities and constraints that
existence at the work place
Task (Job Content)
To know what are the tasks that are relevant to achieve team goals
Action
To understand what are the actions that are necessary to
improve the current situations / achieve the team goals
Result & Review
To understand the results that are achievable on taking the correct
actions.
The Star Caps are formed within a team on rotation basis. Even the
selection of Star Caps is preceded by some evaluation & Selection
criteria. The following knowledge, skills & attitudes are important.

38
 1. Attitude
• Regular Attendance
• Involvement in improvements ( Suggestions & other
improvement activities )
2. Skill
• Interpersonal Skill
• Planning Skill
• Communication Skill
• Data Management & Record Maintenance Skill
• Problem Solving Skill
3. Knowledge
• Knowledge on cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing
Practises).
• Knowledge on Equipment & Accessories
• Process Knowledge
• Product Knowledge
• SAP & Computer Knowledge

Benefits of STAR model

1. Structured process for empowering employees

2. Teams operate under a situational leadership model.
3. Ensures the focus on all the critical success factors of an
organization
4. Develops future leaders from within the organization
5. Focuses on continuous improvement

Steps for implementing STAR model

Step 1: Defining the STAR points

Step 2: Evolving the roles of the STAR Caps

39
Step 3: Defining the critical skills required for a STAR Caps
Step 4: Identifying STAR Caps
Step 5: Training the STAR Caps
Step 6: Implementing the STAR Caps
Step 7: Handholding the STAR Caps

3) Skill Based Progression System:

Traditionally the work structure for any organization was based upon
the concept of “Division of Labor” i.e. the work is divided & broken into
various parts & each individual is expected to perform only one task &
excel in that area. As a person would do the same work again & again,
it was believed that such a method of working would reduce the time
taken to do the work & thus would improve the efficiency of the
employee.

It was soon found that such a method of work structure makes

the work monotonous for the employee; lack of any other task to be
done decreases the level & application of creativity; it ultimately
decreases the efficiency of the employee. The employee would then
look for other job opportunities in search of challenging jobs. This would
ultimately increase the attrition within an organization. Moreover along
with the employee, the skill & the talent of the organization also move
away. It is therefore important for organizations not to depend on
individuals but a multiskilled team.

40
Organizations today are looking for highly efficient people who can
deliver superior performance in their work, people who are adroit at
multi skilling.

Multi skilling: The Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) defines multi

skilling as the “Acquisition of additional skills, supplementing those
already achieved in a craft”.

It can be defined as a way of working where the traditional divisions

between areas & the separate disciplines are removed & individuals
are given a range of responsibility for a range of different types of task.

Fundamentally multi skilling can be considered as:

• Increasing people’s skills & competencies &,

• Enabling & allowing them to carry out tasks previously or
traditionally carried out by another function.

SBPS helps organizations to overcome their dependence on individuals

& help them to achieve results through a multiskilled team of
employees.

Skilled Based Performance System: SPBS is one of the tools of the

SMT concept which classifies the skills required to perform a particular
task & also the various levels of that particular skill. There are four
levels on which any skill can be classified:

S.No. Level Definition

1 Learn Individual is at the learning stage by shadowing
others.
2 Execute Can perform task with the assistance of others.
3 Excel Can handle tasks independently
4 Propagate Can teach others & is a resource for the

41
 organization

Skill Based Progression Systems recognizes the actual & the desired
skill level amongst individuals & tries to bridge the gap through focused
training. It promotes vertical & horizontal multi skilling within
individuals.

SPBS can be designed from two perspectives:

Horizontal or breadth of skills: This aspect talks about acquisition

of skills across various departments of an organization. Here cross
training is emphasized. (E.g. a multi-skilled trade worker possesses
electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and carpentry skills.)

Vertical or depth of skills: This aspect talks about acquisition of

various different skills within the same department or across different
functions within the same department. Here specialization and
expertise is valued (e.g. an electronic technician possesses the entire
range of electrical and electronic skills).

Steps to implement SPBS:

Step1: Analyze the business process and identify the Value Adding
Process (VAP) –
Here the various processes done for each function is mapped &
skills required to perform these processes are identified.

42
Step2: Identify Skill Blocks in each VAP – The accumulated skills
required to perform a particular function or within an area
together are known as a Skill Block. Thus the next step would be
to study the various functions & identify Skill Blocks for these
functions.

Step3: Prepare Skill Blocks - Identify the Knowledge and Skill

requirements for each task at various skill levels (Operate,
Maintain, Improve, and Resource). The various skills for different
functions at the four levels are identified.

Step4: Design progression system – Then a road map is developed

according to the requirement of the function or the area & the
team is trained on the skills. The team members would then be
rotated later depending upon the level they are at to skill blocks
in order to develop other skills.

Step5: Design & develop training manuals & training methodologies –

After identifying & developing the skill blocks, it is important to
train the employees, so that they develop on the various levels.
Therefore the next step would be to design proper training
modules & methodologies for the same.

Step6: Develop assessment criteria for progression – The objective of

developing the assessment criterion is to identify at what level
the employee is & what training should be imparted to him in
order to develop his skills further. It is a sort of identifying the “As
Is” & “To Be” stage & to further bridge the gap.

43
Step7: Implement the system – The final stage is the implementation
stage, wherein the employees are evaluated on their current skill level,
& a skill matrix is developed for the organization.

1. Skill Based Progression System recognizes employees for the

depth, breadth, and types of skills they obtain and apply in their
work.
2. The foundation of Skill Based Progression System improves the
performance & productivity of employees as they demonstrate
that they are obtaining and using more and more skills that are
valuable to the organization.

Benefits of SPBS:
• Organizational flexibility: As employees become efficient in
performing more than one task/job, they can easily take over the job
performed by the other employees in case of their absence or
unavailability. This also reduces the functional demarcation within
the departments & the work of the organization does not come to a
still in case of non availability of man power. Thus makes the
organization flexible.

• Reduced Labor Costs: Traditionally organizations employed one

or more than one employee each for the various tasks to be done.
However through multi skilling, one employee becomes efficient
enough to deliver the work of more than one employee. It thus
reduces the number of people to be employed, ultimately reducing
the labor cost for the organization.

• Reduced Downtime: If employees start performing more than one

employees’ task, it will reduce the time taken to form the finished
product. For E.g. If the production employee also knows the task of

44
 inspection or fault detection then he will inspect the work done
during the process itself. It will reduce the time taken for a separate
inspection process to be done later.

• Human Resource Issues: Multi skilling in organizations is also

beneficial from employees’ point of view. It develops & enhances
their skills, making them more efficient & increasing their job
security in today’s world where organizations are chucking out more
& more inefficient people.

Based on the above & with the help of the book, “The
Toyota Talent” a study was done focusing on this particular
tool at the plant as follows:

Guidelines for Multiskilling

Objective: To develop guidelines for identification of critical
knowledge/skills & transferring the same to the employees, thus
enhancing the people capabilities.

Scope: All SMT members of SMT members of FTO VI

Procedure:
 The foremost important step is to map the process & define the
critical requirements of work.
 From the perspective of skill development, work can be divided
into two further categories i.e.
o Task Variety
o Task Analyzability

Task Variety: It is the different types of skills required to do the job.

i.e. How many different types of tasks does the job require? Does the

45
 employee spend most of the time doing the same type of activities or
he is equally likely to move between different types of tasks?

Task Analyzability: To what extent the job can be broken down into a
set of clearly specifiable tasks that can be easily taught? i.e. Can we
specify what the content of each task is & the sequence of each task in
such a way that we can standardize the task?

Based upon the above classifications the Organizational Design can be

classified into the following quadrants.

Mostly organic structure organic structure

LOW

1. Moderate standardization 1. Low standardization

2. Moderate formal structure
3. Deep work experience &
formal apprenticeship.
Craft work
Analyzability
Task
2. Little formal structure
3. Professional training plus
extensive experience
under mentor.

Non routine work

Mechanistic structure Mostly Mechanistic
structure
1. High standardization
2. High formal structure 1. Moderate to high
3. Structured job specific standardization People
training.
HIGH

2. Moderate to high formal development

Routine work structure requirements
3. Job specific training &
mentoring.
for different
Technical work types of jobs
Type of work Example Jobs What can be standardized Accumulated know
LOW Task Variety HIGH how requirements HIGH
Routine (Low variety, Assembly line Work elements, Recognition of

46
high analyzability) work, fast food sequence, timing, problems, problem
server, bank teller, fundamental skills, response, problem
data entry clerk product specifications, solving
workplace layout – tools
Technician (High Inspection, material Generic procedures, core Trouble shooting
variety, high handling, lab data processes, fundamental ability, intuitive
analyzability) analyst, computer skills, product problem solving,
technical support specifications, workplace mental map of
work, equipment layout –tools problem situations
maintenance
Craft (Low variety, Group leader, Generic procedures, Intuitive problem
low analyzability) nurse, buyer, some fundamental skills, solving, reading
engineering jobs product guidelines, situations
workplace layout – tools
Non routine (High Program manager, Generic procedures, Creative –
variety, low variety) R&D scientist, fundamental skills, innovative ability,
development product criteria, intuitive problem
engineer, surgeon workplace layout – tools solving, reading
situations

 Identification of Skill Blocks: Different types of tasks & skills for a

particular activity together form a skill block. The different types
of skills/ tasks can be captured under the following sub heading;
o Fundamental: Fundamental skills are those that are
applicable to all technical situations. They are equivalent
to learning to use common hand tools for assembly
operation. The fundamental skills may be learned in a
classroom setting & would most likely be learned off line
i.e. not on the machine practically. Fundamental skills
are practiced prior to the actual task. They are
completed as a part of the primary job, but they must be
combined with other skills & accumulated know how in
order to do the complete task. They may be routine &
repetitive or non routine & repeated in a random
sequence. The fundamental skills are first learned off-
line if possible, & then after basic competency is
achieved, they are transferred to the actual workplace.

47
 This also depends upon the importance of the task & risk
associated with working in the actual condition.
o Ancillary Task: Ancillary tasks are secondary &
supportive in nature. At some point it will be necessary
to learn to do these tasks, but it is entirely possible to
perform the core task without ever doing the ancillary
tasks. It would not make sense to attempt to teach the
ancillary tasks in the same session as the core tasks.
The trainer should teach each ancillary task separately.
These items may be covered in classroom training, but
this must generally be supplemented by on the job
mentoring (i.e. Offline + Online)
o Core Task: After the fundamental skills & sound
judgment regarding the operations have been achieved,
it is put it together on the actual job. This is the core
task. The learning process moves from “Offline” to
“Online”. The person learns to apply the fundamental
skills in context of the actual work & must deal with real
work conditions such as operating a different machine
with similar functions etc.
o Accumulated know how: The person, under the
watchful eye of the trainer, begins to acquire knowledge
on the job that will enable them to know instinctively
what to do. This is known as “Accumulated Know how”.
This is the ability to compile a mass of experience & turn
that into correct actions. There is no substitute for
experience. The experience may be gained by first
studying the policy knowledge. These skills must be
repeated numerous times before the mentor can be
assured the student is capable of handling the novel
situations he will face on his own.

48
All the above skills/ tasks to be based upon VAP
Study:
For the purpose of study, one of the processes of tabled manufacturing
i.e. Granulation was selected.
The basic activities for the process of granulation are as following

1) Dispensing
2) Segregation
3) Sifting/Milling
4) Binder Preparing
5) Granulation
6) Drying
7) Sifting/Milling
8) Blending

These activities were mapped & the various skills required to perform the
activities were identified
It was found that in case of shop floor SMT structure, as the SMT work
is “Low on task variety & high on task analyzability, the following
intervention to be followed:

1. Structured job specific training

2. High standardization of jobs/ tasks.

Based upon the study conducted in the granulation area the activities
were broken & studied in detail & the following skills & knowledge were
identified:

49
50
 Granulation
Accumulated
S.No. Activities Fundamental Core Tasks Ancillary Task knowhow
What is meant by Documentation of
dispensing dispensing
Cross verification of
dispensed material with
BMR reading label & BMR
Different ingredients
used in the products
What are the
measures to be taken
1 Dispensing while dispensing
The different types of
API's, excepients,
Binder materials &
2 Segregation lubrication Material. Material Identification
Able to identify
any abnormality in Trouble
What is Sifting & why Operation of Sifting machine shooting in
is it necessary machine operation sifting machine
Identification of sieves Setting of various parts of
& screens sifting machine
Utilities used in the Selection of different
process of sifting meshes sizes for sifting
Process flow, including
Knowledge of input & output weight
3 Sifting Process flow calculation
Identification of
any defect in
Effect of improper binder
What is Binder Preparation of binder binder on product preparation
Various types of Binder
Importance of Binder for different products
Knowledge of BAP Time taken to prepare a
Vessel Binder
Utilities used in the
Binder process of Binder
4 Preparation preparation
Importance of Inprocess
Granulation/ Why is PLC, MMI Control & Improper testing of the
granulation done Operations granulation material
Understanding of the
RMG machine Blade Settings
Utilities in the process Granulation end point
of granulation detection
Usage of Chopper &
5 Granulation Impella
Trouble
Utilities used in the Shooting,
process (Compressed Operation of FBD Defects of Over/ Defects
air, electricity, steam) machine Less drying Detection

51
 The Next Step……
Now we know the skill blocks as well the quadrant that the SMT’s are
in. The next step would be to prepare training module for standardizing
the work & methods.

For the purpose of preparing a training module, the knowledge & skills
& the processes were divided & the following framework was made.

Skill/ Processes Fundamental Core Miscellaneous

Machine
Operation
Maintenance
Quality related
Precaution &
Safety related

After the training framework has been prepared, the training hours for
each process or skill block has to be decided.
As a general guideline;

1) Each session should last approximately 30 minutes or less, &

later some time should be given in order to absorb & practice the
technique before moving to another training event.
2) For repetitive manual tasks, a work that takes about 15 seconds
to perform will take approximately 30 minutes to present &
teach.

Therefore each training session should be planned taking the above

things in mind.
If it takes 2 minutes on an average to perform an activity, & there
are 30 such individual tasks in one process. Hence the number of
training hours can be calculated in the following way.

Task duration Teaching time

15 seconds 30 minutes
2 minutes 240 minutes

52
One session of 30 minutes, therefore 8 such sessions for teaching one
process. The total training time in such a case would be calculated as
follows:

[(30 tasks * 8 sessions)] * 30 minutes for each session = 7200 minutes

or 120 hours
For our purpose, we first have to do the process mapping in the
area of granulation, calculated the total number of tasks in one process
& calculate the average time taken to perform each task.

Later using the same method we can calculate the total hours
required for training. The further work will be done after approval from
the Head HR of the organization.

At Dr. Reddy’s also multi skilling can be seen in all the

departments. A formal Skill Based Progression System is under
implementation in the organization. However, team members
working in the organization for more than 6 months to 1 year,
are capable of looking after the whole process of their
particular department, the various critical activities etc. Even if
one of the team members is not able to attend to his duty due
to any reason, another team member is ready to take up his
work because of his ability to perform both activities with
equal ease.
The SMTs are aware of this need to develop & improve
themselves & therefore are responsible enough to learn
newer skills pertaining to other departments in order to
enhance their knowledge. Whenever the SMTs find that they
can take time out from their work, they go to other
departments to learn work of the other department.

4) Team Charter:
It is very important for any team to have a common goal &
mission in performing any task. It is this common goal or objective
which unites all of them together & helps them succeed.

53
 Moreover having a common logo or a symbol brings together the
people members of the group as they find united to one identity,
making them work like a family & in harmony. It gives them a sense
of ownership & belongingness to that particular group & makes
them feel responsible for the success of that group.

Thus one of the SMT Tools, i.e Team Charter creates that feeling of
being in a harmonious group.

The designing of a team charter comes at a later stage after the

proper teams have been formed & rolled out. At this stage the team
members form a charter with their name, logo, photo etc. on the same.
An example of a team charter –

• SMT Name
• SMT Logo
• SMT Photo
• SMT Leader
• SMT STARS
• SMT Members
• SMT Score Card
• SMT Imp.
Projects
• SMT Meeting

54
 The importance of a formal Team Charter is

1. To show the commitment of Leaders towards their SMT

2. To increases the energy level & enthusiasm among SMT
3. To declare SMT goals and targets
4. To determine SMT boundaries
5. To communicate the purpose behind SMT design

The objectives of creating charter are as follows:

• Creating team synergy and bonding for producing extra-
ordinary performance
• Evolving Team identity: Team Name & emblem
• Evolving Team Vision and Mission and Goals

5) Team Score Card: As mentioned earlier, a Self Managed Team

is a group of people who manage their daily work management
activities. However it is also important to measure their
performance in order to improvise on them, because anything
that cannot be measured cannot be improved.
SMT Scorecard reflects the performance of the teams on a
daily basis. The scorecard captures the important attributes that
are required for the success of the organization (the end delivery)
which includes the technical attributes like Quality, Cost, Delivery
and softer attributes like Team (which includes parameters like

55
 Synergy, Innovation, Punctuality). These attributes are common
across the organization.
Parameters under each of the attributes are identified
team-wise, which could be different from team to team. Then,
targets are set for these parameters & scores are given based on
target Vs actual delivery. This scoring system helps the team to
understand & appreciate their performance better like that of
sports teams. They also compete with each other based on the
scores, thus enhancing the organization delivery, efficiency &
performance levels.

Steps for Designing SMT Score Card

The following steps are followed while implementing a scorecard

Step 1: Identify the Critical Attributes for Organization’s Success
Step 2: Identify the Parameters for each of the Attributes Team-
wise
Step 3: Identify the Units of measurement, frequency of
measurement & targets
Step 4: Design the Score Card
Step 5: Develop Reward & Recognition systems
Step 6: Create Awareness & Understanding
Step 7: Rollout

6) Communication Continuum: When we talk about a team, it is

important to have a transparent communication channel amongst
the team members. Because right kind of communication is one
of the important keys for a strong team & trusted team members.
The concept of SMT lays down provision for a strong
communication Continuum.

56
 The main aim of this tool is to:
• Create forums and devise channels of communication to
communicate all business related information to every
one involved in the business in a timely manner, to enable
decision making at action point.
• Foster a transparent culture for better teamwork.

There are various kinds of channels in order to foster communication

within an organization:
1. Open Board Communication System (OBCS): It is a platform
to explore people’s ideas, to suggest ideas by members & to ask
questions to clear any doubts or difficulties within the
organization. It is a board to wish & appreciate team members for
their contribution. This type of communication system plays a
vital role in empowering the team members.

2. Daily SMT Meeting (DSM): These are conducted in order to

convey about :
• The important happenings like cGMP incidents (current
Good Manufacturing Practices), Update on the Schedule of
the running batch of products, Update on the facilities/
Resources available
• Any business information
• The performance, productivity etc. in the previous shift to
the members of the next shift.
• The plan of the next shift to the incoming shift members.
The people who partake these meetings are the Outgoing
SMT leader, Star Caps, Members, Incoming SMT leader, Star
Caps, Members as well as the departmental HHT members.

57
 - It is a standing meeting for a maximum time of 10
minutes.
- The DSM format should be duly filled & the members
should come pre - prepared with the relevant data.
- It is important to stick to the time & agenda of the
meeting.
- The communication should be crisp loud & clear.
- Here only issues relating to the shifts can be raised &
solutions be found later.
- Moreover it should be noted that it is not a grievance
sharing forum.

3. Weekly SMT Meeting (WSM): This meeting is conducted in

order
• to analyze & review the performance of the SMT in the past
week
• To develop action plans for improvements & review that of
the previous week
All the SMT members as well as the department HHT members
partake this meeting.

- The SMT leader should convene the team meetings every week
for duration of 60 minutes.
- The SMT should come prepared to the meeting.
- The SMT leader should convene the meeting & ensure
participation of all the SMT members and could allocate activities
to the members.
- The SMT should adhere to timing & agenda of the meeting.
- The discussion should be data oriented to the extent possible.
- The meeting should be duly documented.

58
 - The SMT leader should use this forum to appreciate & recognize
the performance of the SMT members whenever applicable.
- Any SMT issues should be raised & sorted out during the meeting.
- The SMT leader should use this forum to build trust & motivation
of the SMT members.
The Agenda should comprise of:
1. cGMP Standards Adherence
• Sharing of any violation in cGMP standards
2. Present the previous week’s performance
3. Discuss Customer Complaints & Concerns
4. Discuss the SMT Score Card Score
5. Analyze the Data
6. Identify areas for improvement & develop action plans along with
target dates & measure
7. Freeze the performance targets for the next week

4. Monthly SMT Meeting (MSM): This meeting is conducted in

order to:
• review the performance of the plant and SMTs for the pervious
month and to set goals for the next month
• To recognize best-performed SMTs and create positive
competition between the SMTs to strive for excellence
• To clarify the queries of the SMT if any in the open forum to
foster transparency and openness

Participants
• All the members of the SMT
• HHT
• HR Head &
• Plant Head

59
 - The performance of the SMTs should be reviewed monthly
where each SMT has about 15 minutes time to present their
performance
- The meeting would be spread over different weeks of the
month to cover all the SMTs effectively
- The convener of the meeting would be the HHT
- The SMTs have to come prepared for the meeting
- The forum should be used to motivate the members,
Reward & Recognize the performance of the SMTs & any
specific SMT members
- The forum should be used to address the grievances of the
SMT, and any inter SMT conflicts also can be addressed at
this forum
- The forum should focus on improvement than finding faults
or analyzing the past

5. Quarterly SMT Meeting (QSM): The basic objective of a

Quarterly meeting is to
- To clarify the concerns/ queries of the SMT members if any in
the open forum to foster transparency and openness
- To collect ideas from the SMT members for organizations
growth or development

Participants
All SMT members,
HHT
Head – HR
Plant Head &
Business Head

60
 - The meeting should be conducted once in every quarter to
start off & then move on to a half yearly basis once the issues
start coming down.
- The objective of the meeting is to allow issues to come to the
open forum so that they can be addressed, hence the
facilitators of the forum should encourage as much
participation as possible.
- The SMT members should not use the forum to complain or
criticize an individual but only to raise a genuine concern or
grievance with facts wherever possible.
- No abusive language is entertained.
- The forum is also to pool any ideas of the SMT members have
that would help in organizational development or growth.

At Dr. Reddy’s the above model will be implemented later in

the year. However we can still see informal communication
channels in some or the other form which foster
communication amongst members.

- Josh: Josh is a monthly meeting of the SMT members

which takes place at the plant. This meeting is for 1 ½ to 2
hours. All the SMT members, HHT members etc partake the
meeting. During this meeting the plant head addresses all
the members & discusses about the month’s production,
productivity, desired v/s actual targets etc & the team
members discuss about issues raised during the month.
This meeting is also a platform for the members to showcase
their talents in the form of any dance or singing which is
appreciated by the HHT members. The SMT members can
present on any topic they have gained knowledge on & can
share the same during these meetings. The birthdays of the

61
 team members is celebrated & all the employees generally
have fun.

- Saral: Saral is again a form of communication channel

which encourages ideas & new suggestions from the team
members. In this, the team members are encouraged to
come up with any new suggestions to improve production,
productivity, method of production, any solution to any
problem etc. At the end of the month, during the
celebration of Josh, the best suggestion of the month is
chosen, appreciated & awarded. According to an HHT
member, there have been several improvements on the
machine maintenance & operation front too, thanks to
suggestions by SMT team members. In fact, they are able to
come up with improved suggestions is because they are all
fast learners & are curious & not afraid to ask questions.

This is also useful, because at the end of the day, it is the

SMT members who actually work on the machines, & it is them
who can understand the problems related to machines &
productivity & come up with suggestions & ideas to improve
them.

62
7) Learn Teach Learn: Talking about a team, a successful team is
formed when within a team there are people with different levels
of knowledge, skills & attitudes & all of them work compliment
each others strengths & weaknesses.
A Self Managed Team goes on step further in strengthening
this team. This particular tool helps to improve the skills & the
knowledge level of the team members. This is a platform for the
team members to share their knowledge with others. Here the
team members teach others what they know & in turn learn from
others.

Thus the main objective of this tool is to:

- Enhance the communication & presentation skills of the
employees, which build confidence into the individuals.
- Enhance the bonding among the members to build trust &
respect.

8) Rewards & Recognition System: Motivation is a drive which

encourages individuals to perform better in whatever they do.
Similarly, in any system, rewards & recognition are a way to
motivate individuals.

Rewards & Recognition are to:

- To acknowledge positive contributions and achievement of
SMTs in way that:
i. Encourages desired attitudes & actions
ii. Enhances self esteem of the employees
iii. Motivates employees to strive for business
excellence

63
 - To recognize people who make the difference as well as
encourage
people to make a difference.
In What
Type Means For what Purpose Frequency

Extraordinary shift performance

On-the spot or day •Extraordinary performance in any of
during the daily the critical performance / score card
meeting by the HHT parameter Collectively achieved
or anyone the stretch target set for the first time. On the spot or
Quick appropriate as per •Idea generation or execution of idea during the shift
Recognition the procedure which brought significant change (Within the day)

Display of the
achievement in
notice board. •Any achievement which is a first •As and when it
•Highlighting the time achievement / a milestone / a happens (Within
achievement in the new positive trend achieved by the the next day)
Public DRL’s in-house team (this needs to be validated by •Magazine
Recognition magazine HHT before actioning) periodicity
•This requires deliberation at the SMT
Champion and HR level as it involves As and when it
•In any common finance. Also there has to be a happens or on a
Reward in gathering of small uniform approach to extending this defined
Kind or large groups reward. periodicity

As mentioned earlier, even at Dr. Reddy’s, there is an

informal rewards & recognition system existing in the
organization. Monthly gatherings like Josh recognize & reward
ideas & suggestions given by members to improve any existing
processes, any achievement by the team members during the
month etc.
Apart from that, the unit has display boards at various
places within the plant which displays daily achievements by
team members of various departments.

64
 For E.g. – the achievement of the Injectables department
to pack a whole batch within a short period of time by just 2
SMT members was displayed on the display board. These
small forms of motivation go a long way in increasing the
morale of the SMT members.

9) Empowerment Roadmap: Empowerment unlike authority does

not come altogether & suddenly. It is a step by step process &
has to be given with a little handholding till the team is capable
of taking all the responsibilities.

8 Principles for Empowering Employees:

- Tell Employees what their responsibilities are.
- Give then authority equal to the responsibilities assigned to
them.
- Set standards of excellence.
- Provide them with training that will enable them to meet
the standards.
- Give them knowledge and information.
- Provide them with feedback on their performance.
- Recognize them for their achievements.
- Trust them.

10) Human Value Action Teams (HVAT): One of the unique

features of the SMT concept is self governance, embodied in the
HVAT team. Since, under this concept, the team does not
operate within the traditional hierarchies, there was essentially

65
 no clear way to address the problems, enforce discipline &
recognize merit. Hence HVAT is a tool which governs discipline &
fosters a culture that is conducive to business. It is basically a
team representing employees from various functions of
Organization. This team comprises of SMTs, as well as HHTs. The
purpose of creating this team is to address any misconduct by
done by anybody in the organization.

The formation of this team takes place when individuals

from various departments are chosen to be a part of this team.
The membership is voluntary & members are selected those who
are free from biases, those who have a good conduct within the
organization etc. This team is not perpetual in nature & keeps on
rotating regularly.
A charter is prepared by the organization, which decides
upon 3 basic categories of misconducts in the organization viz.
Mild, Severe & the ones, which if done, the presence of the
member becomes detrimental to the organization, & also the
punishments to be given in case of the above mentioned
misconducts.
At Dr. Reddy’s an HVAT team exists which takes care of
the misconducts done by any of the members. Their
responsibility is to deal properly with the misconducts & see
that they don’t get repeated in future. In case of any
reportings, this team does the review & decides what is to be
done. It counsels the person who has done the misconduct, the
other members of the team in order to find evidence. The HVAT
team has to validate the evidence & argue with the evidence.

66
 For e.g. few of the incidents, which the HVAT team has
dealt with, are as follows:
a. In one of the cases, few of the team members,
during the time period of morning 7 to 9 & evening 7 to 10
were found using the Orkut website during office hours.
The HVAT team found that 5-6 people were involved in it.
Inquiry was made, & their parents were called up &
informed about this act of theirs. The embarrassment
caused in front of the parents itself was a punishment
enough for them. Apart from that, 2 days salary was cut &
their names were put on the notice board.

b. In another case, there was some delay in the

company vehicle leaving from the company. Some of
the members raised an issue which eventually
involved outside people. The HVAT team identified
the people & they were punished to work without
salary for 15 days.

c. In yet another type of punishment when, earlier the

SMT members were residing in hostels, they were
asked to implement 5S in not only their rooms, but
in whole hostel. Such type of punishment also is
constructive on one hand & on the other punishes
the people.

Moreover, the rules or punishments come out from the

suggestions from the SMT as well HHT members & therefore
are acceptable to them.

67
Before starting the actual study on any concept it is very important to
know & understand the business of the organization. It is the business
& the industry which determines the course of further action for any
process.

Even for the sake of our study it was very important to

understand the processes that take place in a pharmaceutical
drug manufacturing plant.
Dr. Reddy’s Labs being an organization which it into
manufacturing of Active pharmaceutical ingredients & finished dosage,
it is important to understand what the processes that are followed at
the organization are. At the plant all the processes right from
acquisition of raw material to dispatch of materials were studied.

VIABLE VISION: One of the things practiced within the company is to

Simplify things & make them easy. It is for this purpose that the
company uses Viable Vision. It is one of the concepts adopted by Dr.
Reddy’s Labs in order to simplify their inventory management. It is a
theory from Goldratt’s “Theory of Constraints”.
This concept was first introduced at the Baddi plant in March
2008 because the company felt that this concept can be readily
implemented at a plant where a team of young & energetic individuals
is working. Later on this was implemented at the other units as well.

68
 The company uses color coding for easy identification of the
stock of material. According to this concept, the level of both the Raw
Material inventory as well as the Finished Material inventory are divided
into four colors i.e. Black, Red, Yellow, Green according to the
availability of the stock. The motto of the company while using Viable
Vision is”EVERY COLOR SAYS SOMETHING! FOLLOW COLOR
PRIORITIES”
This stock is maintained in the online inventory management
system called “Symphony”. The material is procured or produced
when the stock available is less according to the Viable Vision.

Level of stock
> 10%
38% - 10%

64% - 38%

100% - 64%

Under this system, stock of goods & Raw material in black color
are given the highest priority, Red the next, followed by yellow & then
finally green for production & procurement respectively. This system is
connected with the vendor of material who sends the RM, PM according
to the requirement. This ensures that the level of inventory managed at
the plant is maintained accordingly & there is no excess inventory.
It is the responsibility of production SMT members to
ensure that no product under symphony comes under Black
color, & even if it comes, they have to rapidly bring that to
Yellow & Green level.

Raw Material & Packing Material: There is a certain buffer level of

RM & PM inventory which is maintained at the plant. As & when the

69
inventory goes beyond the minimum maintained level, a Purchase
Order is automatically generated by the system & it is sent to the
concerned vendor, who in turn sends the required material to the plant.

Finished Goods: The Final products manufactured at the plant are

sent to Ghaziabad, which is the Hub for the Baddi plant. Here also a
minimum buffer of Finished Goods inventory which is maintained here.
As & when the inventory level goes beyond the minimum level
maintained at this hub, the Symphony system shows inventory of
Finished Goods in that particular color. Based on the color of the
product, further planning of production cycle of that product takes
place. The whole planning & production department at the plant runs
depending on this system.

This system is helpful because it helps in the lean inventory

management of both the Raw Material as well as Finished Goods, thus
reducing the holding cost for the company. It also helps in timely
production of those products which are in demand in the market.

Supply Chain Management: The process of supply chain

management at the company is based on the concept of viable vision
as mentioned above. The process of SCM is as given below.

SCM of Raw
SCM of Revenue Material & Pack. SCM of Capital
Items Material Items

Request is raised
by "SYMPHONY" &
a PR is generated
by the system
Request is
Request is raised raised by
by Authorized Authorized
Personnel Personnel

70
The PR goes The PR goes
through a chain through a chain
of approvals of approvals
A PO is raised in
the system & is
sent to the vendor
as well

Materials are
received at the
plant

They are cross

checked with the
PO

Basically, three kinds of items are procured at Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Baddi.
d. Revenue items
e. Raw Material & Packing Material
f. Capital Items

For the procurement of Revenue items (spare parts of machinery,

stationery etc.) & Capital items, (based on the value, E.g. the whole
Machinery itself), the request is raised by the authorized personnel,
either the SMT members or the HHT members. This request goes
through a chain of approvals like the FTO head, the Accounts Head &
when it is approved, a PR (Purchase Requisition) is raised in the
system.

For the procurement of Raw Materials & Packing Materials, the

request is raised automatically in the system with the help of Viable
Vision. When the stock of Raw Material or Packing Material goes below
the buffer stock, the SYMPHONY raises the PR.

71
There is one person who centrally looks after the PR of many FTOs. He
checks the PRs generated in the system & raises a Purchase Order or a
Stock Transfer Order with the particular vendor of the material.

A copy of the PO remains in the system. After the receipt of the PO, the
vendor sends the material to the plant. This material is then received
by the warehouse, after cross checking with the copy of PO that is with
them.

Warehouse: The warehouse is one of the important functions at the

plant. It is the place which stores the Active as well as the Inactive
ingredients. It is the responsibility of the team to manage the activities
of the warehouse properly. The process of a warehouse is as follows:

Physical Verification of
goods

GRN is Prepared

Pool Sample

72
 Attaching UNDER Container
TEST labels on them wise sample
Reserve
sample

Samples for QC
testing for both Active
as well as Inactive
ingredient

Not
Approved Approved

Sent back Destroyed

Ready for to the within the
dispensing vendor plant

When the material sent by the vendor the warehouse team

members receive it at the warehouse. First of all they do the physical
verification of the goods, to check for any damages, any kind of
spillage, weight (Net weight, Gross weight, Tare weight etc.).
After the receipt of the material, they prepare a Goods Receipt
Not, which includes information like GRN no., date of receipt,
Manufacturing No., Expiry date, Batch No. etc.

For any product, it is very important that the raw material that
goes in the manufacturing is of a very good quality so as to get a good
quality of output. Mores over if it is a plant manufacturing medicinal
dosage forms as it’s final product, it is very important that the raw
material that goes in the manufacturing of these products are of the
highest quality & without any defects as it will be affecting the person
who will intake the drug. Therefore Quality Assurance plays a very
important role in all the steps of the process.

73
 When the materials are received, immediately, Under Test labels
are attached on the containers. At this level also color coding is used
by the company for easy verification. The under test labels are yellow
in color so that they are easily identified & don’t get mixed with other
material.
After the GRN preparation, the samples of the materials are sent for
Quality verification with the Quality Control department.

The samples are taken out in three ways:

1) Pool Sample
2) Container wise Sample
3) Reserve Sample

Pool Sample: This is the sample taken from all the containers put
together. For E.g. if there are 10 containers of Raw Material, & we have
to take a sample of 100 gms, then a total of 100 gms. From all the
containers put together will be taken for verification.

Container wise Sample: This is the sample taken individually from

each container to verify the material.

Reserve Sample: At Dr. Reddy’s, the sample of the raw material

is stored till the expiry of the drug that is manufactured from that
particular material so that even after the material is consumed & any
complaint is received, they can go back to the input material & check
for defects. For this purpose only a reserve sample is maintained.

After the testing, the material is either rejected or accepted by

the QC department. If the material is accepted, then it is stored in the
shelves with a green label attached to it for dispensing. If it is rejected,
then it is either sent back to the vendor, or if it is not feasible to send it

74
back, then it is destroyed within the plant. The plant also has an
Effluent Treatment Plant for the purpose.

It is the responsibility of the Warehouse team members to

g. Receive the material sent by the vendor & maintain
the proper GRN of the same
h. Segregate & store the various raw materials as well
as the packing materials according to the different
color coding.
i. Maintain & continiously monitor the temperature as
well as the Relative Humidity of the warehouse after
every 4 hours.
j. Maintain the daily calibration log.
k. To maintain proper stock record of all the material.
l. Maintain proper documentation as per the
requirement of the SOPs.
m.Maintain the cleanliness of the dispensing area, as
per the QA & SOPs.
n. To dispense the correct material as & when required.

The whole of warehouse which stores raw material as well

as packing material worth 25 to 30 crores & it’s activities for
thousands of dosage forms is managed by just 5-6 Team
members, & one Hand Holding Team member.

Dispensing: According to the Viable Vision, whenever the stock

of Finished goods is seen in the priority color list in SYMPHONY, the
same is planned to be produced by the Planning & production
department.

75
Dispensing is done through the following process.

Requirement of Finished
products seen in SYMPOHNY

As mentioned earlier, the QA

BMR & BPR is raised to QA department plays a very important role in all
department
the processes of the plant, & therefore the
approval of the QA department is very
QA Approves & sends the same
important before the starting of any
processes.
Manufacturing Work order is
sent to the W/H requesting them
to send the required Raw
Material & the Packing Material.

The Warehouse receives a line

clearance from the QA before
dispensing the material The planning department raises a
“Batch manufacturing Record” as well as a

The material is dispensed under “Batch Packing Record” to the QA

highly controlled environment.
department. The same is approved & sent
by the QA. The planning department sends the Manufacturing Work
Order, which is a part of the Batch Manufacturing Record, to the
warehouse requesting them to send the required raw material as well
as the packing material for the production.

BMR & BPR instruct manufacture of a product in accordance with

prescribed specification & provide a means for ensuring that the
product is manufactured under controlled & orderly conditions & for
documentation of all operating & Q.C. related data required for final
acceptance or rejection of the product.

76
 Batch record shall contain a formulation work order for product to
be manufactured, packing & appropriate forms for recording of
production & quality control data for final disposal of product.

Before dispensing the material, the warehouse takes the

approval or the line clearance from the QA department. This approval is
necessary because the QA department checks whether the area is
clean & in accordance with the SOP mentioned for the purpose.

Before the dispensing of any raw material, high degree of

control is required to be maintained by the Self managed Team
Members who manage the warehouse.

It is their responsibility to:

1) Read the shelf life/ Expiry date & see that the
material being dispensed is approved & not yet
expired.
2) Read the Batch manufacturing Record in order to
send the right material in the right quantity & check
the material before dispensing.

77
 3) Analyze the report number of the accepted material
from the system.
4) Calculation of Essay. (Many products lose some of
their weight during processing, they have to
calculate this loss & send the extra material which
will cover the loss. This calculation is known as
Essay calculation).
5) Continuously monitor the temperature in the
warehouse.
6) To see that the dispensing booth is totally clean &
free from any cross contamination from any previous
product.
7) To check proper calibration of weighing machine.
8) Maintain proper cleanliness & hygiene in the
dispensing area.

The warehouse dispenses the material according to the requirement

mentioned in the BMP & BPR.

After the dispensing of the material is done, the Team Member from
the respective department receives the material at the dispensing
booth. The production team member accepts the material after proper
physical testing & cross verification with the copy of BMR which is with
him, for proper materials & weights.

The production area at the plant is basically dividend into:

1) Production: production of Tablets & Capsules.
2) Injectables: Production of Omez Injectable.
3) Ointments: Production of Pastes & creams.

The process of manufacturing a capsule is as follows:

78
Pellet Formation

Testing

Pellets are micro crystalline cellulose sugar

Further
particles. These small particles are coated with layers
Processing
of Active ingredient or the drug in a wruster coater

Filling in Shells machine. These pellets are then tested for Assay
calculation & water content. After testing these are
Testing further processed for Seal coating & Enteric coating &
finally filled in the empty capsule shells. After this the
Packing & capsules are tested & sent for packing & dispatch.
Dispatch
At times an individual SMT member is capable
of looking after 2-3 areas of pellet formation.

The process of manufacturing a tablet is as follows:

Sifting/
Milling

Binding

Granulation

GRANULATION
Drying

Testing
(LOD)

Sifting/
Milling

79
 Blending

Compression

Testing

Coating

Packing

Blister
packing Strip Packing

The formation of tablets is basically divided into 4 areas:

1) Granulation
2) Compression
3) Coating
4) Packing

Under this, the process of granulation is the biggest part, which is

again sub divided into: Sifting/Milling, Binding, Granulation, Drying,
Milling & Blending.

The process of Granulation starts with Sifting & Milling. The raw
material (the Active ingredient & Excipients) for tablet is in the form of
powder. This powder has to be first sifted & so that no big particles
remain in the mixture, which is known as Sifting. Next the big particles
that are remaining have to be broken down into uniform particles or in
the form of powder, which is known a Milling.
The powder form used in the production is not capable of getting
formed in a tablet. Therefore the next step is binding which will bind all
the material properly.

80
 For the smooth formation of tablets, proper granules of the
materials have to be formed. For the formation of granules, the next
step is granulation.
The material from granulation is still wet & not capable of getting
formed into a tablet. Therefore proper drying has to be done to get the
proper moisture content in the material. This process is known as
drying.
After drying again the process of sifting & milling is to be
followed, so that no lumps remain in the material, & it attains a smooth
flow.
The final step of the process of granulation is Blending. In this
process, the material is mixed with the blender & the lubricant so that
the material flows smoothly while compression & tablets are formed
easily.

The smooth & the right formation of the blend is the

responsibility of the production team member.
After the material is properly blended, it is taken in the
compression area. Here the material is put through a hopper & tablets
are formed through punches of various capacities, shapes & forms.
Here the team member has to continiously monitor the thickness of the
tablet, the hardness of the tablet, the Analysis of Balance, the various
types of testing of the tablet, the frequency of testing etc.
Thus a tablet is formed. These tablets are later sent for the QC
testing before they are packed.

Some of the tablets are sensitive in nature, & therefore they are
required to be coated with some chemicals before they can be packed.
Therefore the next step after compression would be coating. In case
the tablets are to be coated then they are sent for testing directly after

81
coating & not after compression. After testing if the lot is approved by
the QC department, the batch goes for packing.

The tablets & capsules undergo two types of packing.

o Primary packing: It involves the packing of tablets & capsules
in their first cover. The primary packing area as well as the
material has to be maintained & handled with care because here
the drug comes in direct contact with the packing material.
The primary packing material comes in two forms:
i. Strip packing: It is for those kinds of tablets/
Capsules which are sensitive to light & heat. This
type of packing is costlier as compared to Blister
packing as both the sides of the packet are of
aluminum material.
ii. Blister packing: It is for other regular tablets which
are not very sensitive to light & heat. This type of
packing has on one side the cover of aluminum foil
where as the second side is made of Polyvinylchloride
(PVC).

o Secondary packing: Here the strips & blisters are further

packed in cartons & shippers & sent for dispatch.

During one Shift, one team member takes care of

granulation, one of compression, one of coating, one does the
inspection, & 2 team members do the packing. i.e, the outcome

82
of a whole batch of millions of tablets is the result of a team
work of mere 5 – 6 team members.
These members work individually taking care of their own
areas, but the end result is that of a team.

This is possible because, within a given boundary, they have

been given the empowerment to plan, execute & analyze their
work amongst themselves, solve the problems, without any
supervision. Even if one team member is not able to finish his
work, the other member is ready to come to his help. At the
end of the day, what the management wants is productivity,
which the SMT members deliver. This outcome is the result of
not a team, but a Self Managed Team

83
The next type of product produced at the plant is Ointments.

Gum Soaking

Adding Ingredients

Water
based
Mixing in Manufacturing
Vessel
Oil Based

Sampling

Filling

Testing

Packing & Dispatch

Any type of Ointment or Cream requires some kind of base for it’s
formation, a base in which the Active ingredient & the Excipients can
be mixed to form the product. The base for Ointment manufacturing is
Gum. This Gum is first soaked in certain solutions. After soaking, the
Active ingredient of the particular product is added in the Gum. After
adding this ingredient, the mixture is properly mixed in the mixing
vessels.

The Ointments can be of two types: water based & Oil based.
At the plant, two different vessels have been maintained for the
purpose.

84
 After the mixing of the ingredients has been done, the sample of
the same is taken by the QC department for testing & verification. If
the test results are approved, then the batch goes for filling in the
tubes. Next, the tubes are also tested for any defects for in case of the
body of the tube or printing of the tube etc. After this the tubes are
packed & dispatched,

Again here, a team of 7 SMT members deliver the result of

around 6 lacs of ointment tubes per month.
During the month of March, the ointment department
reported a production of 7.3 lacs of tubes, which was the
highest, since the inception of the department in April ’08. The
department managed to cross it’s average productivity within
1 year. This is the strength of a SMT.

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The next type of product manufactured at the plant is Injectables:

Decartonating,
Transportation &
washing of Vials

Dry Heat
Unit Preparation
& Sterilization Autoclave
Moist Heat
Radiation
Filtration

Filling

Lyophilization

Sealing

FG storage

Inspection

Loading

Packing &
Dispatch

86
 Extreme care has to be maintained in the manufacturing of
injectables because it is that product, which, when injected gets in
direct contact with the blood of the individual. If there is any sort of
defect or negligence during manufacturing then it will directly affect
the patient who has been injected.
The first step is to decartonate (removal from cartons as supplied
by vendor), visually inspect the vials for any manufacturing defects like
cracks in glass, deformed shape etc. & transport the vials to the vial
washing area.
Vials are the small bottles in which the injectables are filled.
After this, the next step is vial washing. It is very important to
hygienically wash the vials taking utmost care because they will be the
carrier of the drug. The vials are washed with in the following cycle:

Water For
Recycled Compressed Purified Compressed Injectables Compressed
Water Air Water Air (WFI) Air

After vial washing, unit preparation is done. It is the sterilization of all

the components used in the manufacturing of injectables.
In the first sterilization, all components are passed through Dry heat or
Thermal heat.
In the next, i.e. Autoclave, Rubber bungs, Aluminum seals,
Garments, Gloves, Filling and Sealing Machine Change parts,
Autoclavable shoes and other items or equipments used in the Aseptic
and Drug manufacturing area are sterilized at 180° for 15 minutes.
The next step is sterilization through moist heat, & the last type
of sterilization is Radiation.
Radiation helps to kill the micro organisms in the solution through
UV rays. In the solution of the injectables, even though the micro

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organisms are killed through UV rays, their remains are still there.
Therefore in order to remove those remains which are approx. of 3
microns, the solution is filtered with 2 micron filters.

After filtration, the solution is filled in the vials. After the filling
activity, the liyophilization of the injectables takes place. It is the
process of converting the liquid injectable into a dry cake form by
freezing primary drying & secondary drying. Lyophilized Injectables are
made with the Products which are not stable in liquid form as well as
they are not stable at higher temperature.
The next step after liyophilization is the sealing of the vials. Here
full stoppered vials are sealed with 4 head sealing machines. After
sealing, the vials are manually inspected against black & white board to
inspect different defects in liyophilized a vial.
The sealed vials are kept in FG storage for 7 days before packing
& dispatch. After these 7 days they check whether there is any defect
in liyophilization, whether there has been any melt back of the cake
form etc.
If everything is inspected & is fine, then the vials are loaded on
the machine & are packed & dispatched.

Cleaning & Hygiene: The teams responsible for any type of

production will also be responsible for the hygiene & cleanliness of his
area.
Basically there are two types of cleaning –

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 Type A: It is the cleaning done when there is a batch to batch
change over. i.e. when there is production of the same type of product
but of a different batch. When there is production of the same type of
product, the raw material used is the same. Therefore, the cleanliness
to be done would mainly consist of dusting, & dry cleaning. It takes
around 1 hour to complete this type of cleaning. Type A cleaning is
done whenever the batch changes or after 24 hours whichever is
earlier.

Type B: It is the cleaning done when there is a product to

product change over, i.e when the production changes from one
product to different product. Here the raw materials used in one
product are different from the raw material used in the other product.
Hence there are a lot of chances of cross contamination of the raw
material used in one product to another product, the mixing of the
previous product into the next product etc. In order to avoid this, the
whole manufacturing area, the vessels, the machines etc are totally
washed & dried before starting a different product. This type of
cleaning takes 6-7 hours to get complete. In case there is no product to
product change, it is done after 7 days or 5 batches whichever is
earlier.
Before any type of production, either of these is followed. It is the
responsibility of the team members to follow the cleaning criteria &
clean the area as mentioned in the SOPs.
At Dr. Reddy’s FTO VI, so much care is taken that area for each
process is maintained separately to prevent cross contamination from
one drug to another, unlike other units or other pharma companies
where the process for one product is not separate. Even the SMT

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members are aware of this & they themselves take extra care to follow
the processes. They know the importance of manufacturing a medicine
& also that it is going to be consumed by a patient , therefore feel
responsible for it.

Gowning: Gowning is an integrated part of any pharmaceutical

drug manufacturing plant. Anyone entering the shop floor has to be
completely covered with the dresses meant to be worn while entering
the shop floor. In the area where the drug comes in direct contact with
the individuals, like production area, primary packing area etc.
secondary gowning has to be done over the primary gowning. It
comprises of a fully covered gown from shoulder to toe, a headgear,
long shoes covering the feet, gloves to cover the hands, & a mask to
cover the mouth. This is to prevent cross contamination from outer
environment.

QA & QC: As mentioned earlier both QA & QC play a very

important role in the pharmaceutical industry. Each & every process
has to be validated & tested by QC & approved by the QA department.

In the pharmaceutical industry, there is the concept of doer &

checker, i.e. the doer of an activity is a different body & the checker is
different, because incase the persons are same, then there is an
element of biasness in the processes. To remove this, the QA
department acts as a checker for the processes of all the departments.
Any process or activity has to be approved by the QA department.
Before starting any process, it is mandatory to take line clearance from
the QA department. The QA team member will come & verify whether
the area is fit for the continuation of the process or whether there are

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any chances of cross contamination from the previous product or any
harm from the external environment.
There is in process testing done by the QC department for every
product right from material handling to packing. The samples as well as
the results are passed through the QA department. After the packing, a
Finished Goods Transfer Note (FGTN) is prepared by the packing
department to take approval from the QA to dispatch the material from
the shop floor to the warehouse. Later a Final Release Request (FRR) is
prepared by the production to get approval from QA to dispatch the FG
to the final depo.
Apart from that, whenever there is any deviation in the
manufacturing of any process or if any batch has failed, the QA
department has to be intimated giving them the incident, as well as the
reason for the incident & what was done.
Any changes in the system, facilities, documentation etc will be it
has to be rooted through various stakeholders they give their
suggestions & the QA department does the review of the suggestions.

All the above are the requirements of regulatory authority in

order to avoid any biasness in the system.

All the above processes are more or less a part & parcel of the
pharmaceutical industry. However the concept of SMT has made these
processes work in a better way. Few of the examples of the
performances of the SMTs in the organization are as follows:
- Last year, the Baddi plant reported a zero accident year, a hit
miss ratio of more than 95% & a drop in cost of unit by 10%.
- During the month of March’09, the company reported “No Black”
in the symphony system, i.e. no product was in the black color.
- During the month of July last year, the pellet formation team of 5
members gave a production of 5.5 ton as against an average of 4

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 ton in a month. During this month the production was run in only
2 shifts. The efficiency increased by 45%, productivity by 50%, &
a cost saving of 3.32 lacs in terms of utilities & cost of casuals
etc. A detailed planning of 2 months & convincing the HHT
members with facts & data for 3 months resulted in such
achievement.
- Apart from that, in the month of December last year, the
production department gave a production of 154 million tablets &
capsules as against an average of 130 million.
These are just few of the examples of the success stories of
the plant.

Team spirit is probably the single most important ingredient for

the success of this experiment. The environment in which the SMT
members work in is hardly that of conventional work place, on the
contrary they work in friendly setting sharing jovial & cordial relations
both with all the team members, whether SMT or HHT.
The level to which the SMTs take their values to heart is what is to be
appreciated most amongst them. They have lived & worked together &
built a value system that is their own - it operates on a personal level.

Last but not the least, In the words of the Company HR Head,
”The organization has definitely benefited by implementing this
innovative concept.
The SMT model certainly makes financial sense, by keeping
manufacturing & manpower costs lower than in traditional plants, it is
also beneficial with respect to quality, on time delivery & overall
productivity”

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