Rawats set big hairy audacious goals at STB
Arun Rawat and his son, Devang Rawat held an interesting STB session (13 January) at the BMPA Secretariat during which they focused on long-term goals of three-to-five years that could galvanise a SME or MSME print firm.
18 Jan 2016 | 3232 Views | By Ramu Ramanathan
The Rawats based their sharing from their learnings at Bhiwandi-based Quality on Time Packaging (QOT) a new name in packaging printing. Its parent company, Print Services, is an old-timer in the commercial printing sector. With only five in the new business, QOT has managed to tap 30 well-known biggies of the pharmaceutical and FMCG sector.
The Rawats spoke about the core values of the organisation. Devang Rawat said, a visionary company was guided by a core ideology—core values and a sense of purpose. He repeated that this goes beyond making money. He said, “A deeply held core ideology gives a company both a strong sense of identity and a thread of continuity that holds the organisation together in the face of change.”
These core values could be: 3M's dedication to innovation, P&G's commitment to product excellence, Nordstrom’s ideal of heroic customer service, HP’s belief in respect for the individual—those were sacred tenets, to be pursued zealously and preserved as a guiding force for generations.
Later the Rawats spoke about Value Stream Mapping (a process where an organisation lists down each and every process it conducts in detail in order to eliminate waste processes and reduce overall lead time); and the quarterly QOT dhamaka, QOT holds a dhamaka party at the factory. This involves few simple management games where every employee, from workers to the senior staff are involved. These games act as on-the-job learnings through a fun way rather than a boring classroom session. This also encourages participation and attention. At the end, we hold an auction for the entire team. All the workers and staff are given certain incentives for earning “khoka’’
While talking to PrintWeek India, Devang Rawat, spoke about the importance of a daily huddle. He said, “At QOT, we practice a daily huddle in all departments of the organisation. This daily huddle is an eight-minute meeting, which keeps every department up-to-date with the company’s progress. The huddle starts with every member announcing his foremost focus for the day, moving on to the important numbers for the organisation like sales targets, rejections, etc. Later, we discuss about any missing system and/or opportunity that a member would like to highlight. This is how we kickstart the day with a cheer on our face. This simple daily agenda acts as a refresher for all the departments and creates an open forum for discussion where every employee is given equal importance and is informed about the company’s progress.”
The Rawats kept reiterating that "the process is more important than the result. (Since) the power of the process is that it gets you out of thinking too small." This theory is based on the famous BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) theory which has since galumphed into management lexicon thanks to Jim Collins and Jerry Porras who studied companies that have prospered over the long term. The duo were able to uncover timeless fundamentals that enable organisations to endure and thrive.
As Collins says, “We studied those visionary companies not only as big business but also as start-ups and growth companies. And they succeeded from their earliest days by adhering to the same fundamentals that can help today’s growth companies emerge from the turbulence of the 1990s to become the HPs, 3Ms, and P&Gs of the 21st century. By paying attention to the six timeless fundamentals that follow, you can learn from what those organisations did right and build your own visionary company.”
QOT shifted its manufacturing facilities from Shah & Nahar to Bhiwandi in 2012 keeping in mind the shift in focus from the commercial sector to the packaging sector and moving the manufacturing under one roof. The shopfloor is equipped with two five-colour KBAs and one single-colour Adast.
Devang Rawat said, “We plan to continue growth in the packaging sector with our current plant and establish another BRC approved plant which will focus on food packaging since we see it as the next big sector.”
PRINTWEEK INDIA'S TAKEAWAY FROM THE STB SESSION
The main takeaway from the STB session was: how to reshape your business into something that will give you a better return without having to invest heavily or opt for a merger or acquisitions strategy.
Since the PrintWeek India team has been privy to some of the process, it basically boils down to the fact the some printers are doing great work, some are doing ok, but lots are doing really badly.
At a time, when many print firms feel business is all about 1+1 being equal to 3, the QOT method provides a re-looking at the stress and drudgery of running your business; and the fantasy of thinking big, step by step.
All in all though the STB was pretty good, it is just the first step. A lot of work needs to be done.
But sometimes it is all about the first step, isn't it?.