Policy of Zero Tolarance need to be adopted at this stage

Management Lessons from Your Cup of Tea

Indore Management Association organized Center of Excellence A WebEx Webinar on the topic “Management Lessons from Your Cup of Tea” on Wednesday, July 22, 2020.

The facilitator for the session was Mr. Shiv Kumar, Ex Cheif Buiness Manager, Sail & President – Corporate Affairs & Busines Develomemt, Indore Steel & Iron Mills Ltd.

Mr. Shiv Kumar started the session by stating that; World over first drink of the day is a cup of Tea. It is probably first things offered in corporate meetings.

To start or strengthen personal relation Cup of Tea plays an important role. Over a cup of Tea, lot of corporate decisions are taken. Day is planned over a cup of tea in office/ industry.

As the popular saying goes – “Ice Cream need to be consumed before it melts & Tea need to be consumed before it gets cold” so, “STRIKE WHEN THE IRON IS HOT TO GET THE DESIRED RESULT”.

Further he explained about the different stages of Tea & lessons of management:

Nursery – Used to prepare plants to be planted in tea gardens. The soil of nursery is prepared to keep it free from diseases and with highest level of fertility.

From the best mother plant carefully, strong saplings are selected and planted in the nursery under care and guidance of best planters. The saplings are looked after for a period of 12 to 15 months.

Plant after it is planted in the Tea Garden supposedly  to give production of tea for a period of 50 to 70 years. It also keeps the supply of plants to replace old non-productive plant and sick plant from the tea garden.

Lesson of Management– Best team must be given the responsibility to select the strongest possible idea for implementing in consonance with the strength and capability of the team.

The idea must be incubated under supervision and care of best brains of the organisation to study by best possible methods (AI, IOT) the pros & cons of the idea with a long-term vision.

Streaming new ideas is a continuous process to replace old and non-profitable products, production process and launch new products in consonance with the requirement of the market.

Keep Ear to the Ground and Eye focused on the target. Also keep mind open to emerging opportunities beside to close the business line which has lost their utility.

Shiftig the plants from nursery to the tea garden: Time of incubation of the plants in the nursery (12 to 15 month) is used to improve and condition the soil of the garden to get best growth and productivity. Care us taken to keep it disease free for healthy growth of the plants.

Lesson of Management – Incubation period of the ideas is utilized to create infrastructure, installation of Plant & Equipment or upgrade the equipment / production lines, upgrading skills of the workers, new recruitment if required.

Pruning: This is most important activity as the time to reap fruits has come. It is done to achieve the following:

To maintain convenient height of the plant for easy harvesting.

To maintain healthy frame of the plant

To stimulate shoot growth

To remove weeds.

Lessons of Management – To stimulate Growth; To maintain Volume of Production in Consonance with the requirement of the market; To maintain Financial & Technical Health; To close un productive Product Line, Upgrade Plant & Equipment in accordance with the requirement.

• Plucking Activity: Plucking worker are highly skilled to discriminate between bad and good quality of leaves, avoid damaging the plant as growth is stunted if the plant gets damaged.

Lessons of Management –

Skill of the manpower is of prime importance to operate and the run the plant efficiently with optimum capacity utilization.

Schedule planned maintenance help in limiting the breakdown.

Rejection levels come down increasing productivity and quality.

Brand value improves due to consistent quality and timely supplies.

Combined activities to get the final product: Withering( Reduce Moisture  Contents by 42 to 45 % and chemical change happens ) – Rolling( To break cells and mix its contents )– Roll Breaking( To segregate leaf bulks and prevent over fermentation in next stage)  – Fermentation( 45 minutes to two hour & at 24 to 29 degree centigrade depending upon quality, colour and strength required)  – Firing /Drying ( 90 to 95 degree centigrade to stop fermentation process and reduce moisture content not more than 3%). All these activities are interconnected, highly technical and need skilled manpower as well as quality control. Strict SOP are followed.

Lessons of Management – SOP need to be made and strictly followed to achieve desired level of productivity, reduction of rejection level and quality complaint from the end user.

• Grading / Tasting/ Packaging: This is the last frontier and any mistake will negate the effort of all the stages.

Lessons of Management – Policy of ZERO TOLARANCE need to be adopted at this stage.