Looking to grow leaner, meaner and smarter with the changing times, industrial units located at Mohali (Chandigarh’s satellite town) are working on a cluster-based approach to enhance operational efficiency.
Mohali has more than 1,000 small-scale units engaged in the manufacture of railway components, electronic goods, auto parts, tractor parts, hospital equipment and furniture.
Industrialists in Mohali believe the cluster development approach is a key strategy for enhancing the productivity and competitiveness of the MSME sector, facilitate skill development and product marketing, as well as secure the future of micro and small scale units.
K S Mahal, president of the Mohali Industries Association, said that to make MSMEs globally competitive it was essential to adopt such practices as lean manufacture, total quality management (TQM) and skill development techniques.
Mahal, who intends to set up a heterogeneous lean manufacturing cluster of several diverse units in Mohali, said the process of setting up the first bath fittings cluster in the town was underway.
Mohali Technology Cluster is a mini cluster of nine bath fittings units under the lean manufacturing competitiveness scheme of the Union ministry of MSMEs. Mohali’s small entrepreneurs believe once this cluster achieves tangible results, units making other products can be brought into the existing cluster, making it a heterogeneous one.
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The detailed project report for the bath fittings cluster is ready, and the report has been forwarded to the appraising authority for its approval.
Naresh Chawla of Punjab Technical University’s Gian Jyoti School of TQM and Entrepreneurship, which is acting as a consultant to the Mohali units and helping them to set up the bath fittings cluster, said the units when operating in isolation were found to be uncompetitive.
The preliminary data collected in an effort to assess the status of each participating unit and make a unit-specific diagnostic study report (DSR) suggests that the units were functioning in a manner that resulted in low delivery compliance, high manufacturing lead time, high inventory carrying cost and high manufacturing cost, thus making the unit less competitive.
With the demand for products manufactured by Mohali-based units picking up, it was essential the units are able to manage their resources in a healthier way, said Chawla.