Job design (also referred to as work design or task design) is a core function of human

resource management and it is related to the specification of contents, methods and

relationship of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well
as the social and personal requirements of the job holder. Its principles are geared towards
how the nature of a person's job affects their attitudes and behaviour at work, particularly
relating to characteristics such as skill variety and autonomy. The aim of a job design is to
improve job satisfaction, to improve through-put, to improve quality and to reduce employee
problems (e.g., grievances, absenteeism).
Core job dimensions
Skill variety This refers to the range of skills and activities necessary to complete the job.
The more a person is required to use a wide variety of skills, the more satisfying the job is
likely to be.
Task identity This dimension measures the degree to which the job requires completion of
a whole and identifiable piece of work. Employees who are involved in an activity from start
to finish are usually more satisfied.
Task significance This looks at the impact and influence of a job. Jobs are more satisfying
if people believe that they make a difference, and are adding real value to colleagues, the
organization, or the larger community.
Autonomy This describes the amount of individual choice and discretion involved in a
job. More autonomy leads to more satisfaction. For instance, a job is likely to be more
satisfying if people are involved in making decisions, instead of simply being told what to do.
Feedback This dimension measures the amount of information an employee receives about
his or her performance, and the extent to which he or she can see the impact of the work. The
more people are told about their performance, the more interested they will be in doing a
good job. So, sharing production figures, customer satisfaction scores etc. can increase the
feedback levels.
Techniques of job design
1. Job Rotation: Job rotation is a job design method which is able to enhance motivation,
develop workers' outlook, increase productivity, improve the organization's
performance on various levels by its multi-skilled workers, and provides new
opportunities to improve the attitude, thought, capabilities and skills of workers. Job
rotation is also process by which employees laterally mobilize and serve their tasks in
different organizational levels; when an individual experiences different posts and
responsibilities in an organization, ability increases to evaluate his capabilities in the
organization.
2. Job Simplification
3. Job enlargement: Hulin and Blood (1968) define Job enlargement as the process of
allowing individual workers to determine their own pace (within limits), to serve as
their own inspectors by giving them responsibility for quality control, to repair their
own mistakes, to be responsible for their own machine set-up and repair, and to attain
choice of method. Frederick Herzberg referred to the addition of interrelated tasks as
'horizontal job loading'.
4. Job enrichment: Job enrichment increases the employees autonomy over the planning
and execution of their own work. Job enrichment has the same motivational
advantages of job enlargement, however it has the added benefit of granting workers
autonomy. Frederick Herzberg viewed job enrichment as 'vertical job loading' because
it also includes tasks formerly performed by someone at a higher level where planning
and control are involved.
5. Scientific management: Under scientific management people would be directed by
reason and the problems of industrial unrest would be appropriately (i.e.,
scientifically) addressed. This philosophy is oriented toward the maximum gains
possible to employees. Managers would guarantee that their subordinates would have
access to the maximum of economic gains by means of rationalized processes.
Organizations were portrayed as rationalized sites, designed and managed according
to a rule of rationality imported from the world of technique.
 6. Human Relations School: The Human Relations School takes the view that businesses
are social systems in which psychological and emotional factors have a significant
influence on productivity. The common elements in human relations theory are the
beliefs that Performance can be improved by good human relations Managers should
consult employees in matters that affect staff Leaders should be democratic rather
than authoritarian Employees are motivated by social and psychological rewards and
are not just "economic animals". The work group plays an important part in
influencing performance.

The ABC approach states that, when reviewing inventory, a company should rate items from
A to C, basing its ratings on the following rules:

A-items are goods which annual consumption value is the highest. The top 70-80% of the annual
consumption value of the company typically accounts for only 10-20% of total inventory items.
C-items are, on the contrary, items with the lowest consumption value. The lower 5% of the annual
consumption value typically accounts for 50% of total inventory items.
B-items are the interclass items, with a medium consumption value. Those 15-25% of annual consumption
value typically accounts for 30% of total inventory items.

The annual consumption value is calculated with the formula: (Annual demand) x (item cost per unit).

Through this categorization, the supply manager can identify inventory hot spots, and separate them from the
rest of the items, especially those that are numerous but not that profitable.

Value chain analysis (VCA) is a process where a firm identifies its primary and
support activities that add value to its final product and then analyze these activities to reduce
costs or increase differentiation.
Value chain represents the internal activities a firm engages in when transforming inputs into
outputs.
Understanding the tool- Value chain analysis is a strategy tool used to analyze internal firm
activities. Its goal is to recognize, which activities are the most valuable (i.e. are the source of cost or
differentiation advantage) to the firm and which ones could be improved to provide competitive
advantage. In other words, by looking into internal activities, the analysis reveals where a firms
competitive advantages or disadvantages are. The firm that competes through differentiation
advantage will try to perform its activities better than competitors would do. If it competes through
cost advantage, it will try to perform internal activities at lower costs than competitors would do.
When a company is capable of producing goods at lower costs than the market price or to provide
superior products, it earns profits.

M. Porter introduced the generic value chain model in 1985. Value chain represents all the
internal activities a firm engages in to produce goods and services. VC is formed of primary
activities that add value to the final product directly and support activities that add value
indirectly.
Although, primary activities add value directly to the production process, they are not
necessarily more important than support activities. Nowadays, competitive advantage mainly
derives from technological improvements or innovations in business models or processes.
Therefore, such support activities as information systems, R&D or general management
are usually the most important source of differentiation advantage. On the other hand,
primary activities are usually the source of cost advantage, where costs can be easily
identified for each activity and properly managed. Firms VC is a part of a larger industry
VC. The more activities a company undertakes compared to industry VC, the more vertically
integrated it is. Below you can find an industry value chain and its relation to a firm level VC.

Using the tool

There are two different approaches on how to perform the analysis, which depend on what
type of competitive advantage a company wants to create (cost or differentiation advantage).
The table below lists all the steps needed to achieve cost or differentiation advantage using
VCA.

Competitive advantage types

Cost advantage Differentiation advantage

This approach is used when organizations try to compete The firms that strive to create superior
on costs and want to understand the sources of their cost products or services use differentiation
advantage or disadvantage and what factors drive those advantage approach.
 Competitive advantage types

Cost advantage Differentiation advantage

costs.

Step 1. Identify the firms primary and support activities.
Step 2. Establish the relative importance of each activity
in the total cost of the product.
Step 3. Identify cost drivers for each activity.
Step 4. Identify links between activities.
Step 5. Identify opportunities for reducing costs.
Step 1. Identify the customers value-creating
activities.
Step 2. Evaluate the differentiation strategies
for improving customer value.
Step 3. Identify the best sustainable
differentiation.

Cost advantage
To gain cost advantage a firm has to go through 5 analysis steps:

Step 1. Identify the firms primary and support activities. All the activities (from
receiving and storing materials to marketing, selling and after sales support) that are
undertaken to produce goods or services have to be clearly identified and separated from each
other. This requires an adequate knowledge of companys operations because value chain
activities are not organized in the same way as the company itself. The managers who
identify value chain activities have to look into how work is done to deliver customer value.

Step 2. Establish the relative importance of each activity in the total cost of the
product. The total costs of producing a product or service must be broken down and assigned
to each activity. Activity based costing is used to calculate costs for each process. Activities
that are the major sources of cost or done inefficiently (when benchmarked against
competitors) must be addressed first.

Step 3. Identify cost drivers for each activity. Only by understanding what factors drive the
costs, managers can focus on improving them. Costs for labor-intensive activities will be
driven by work hours, work speed, wage rate, etc. Different activities will have different cost
drivers.

Step 4. Identify links between activities. Reduction of costs in one activity may lead to
further cost reductions in subsequent activities. For example, fewer components in the
product design may lead to less faulty parts and lower service costs. Therefore identifying the
links between activities will lead to better understanding how cost improvements would
affect he whole value chain. Sometimes, cost reductions in one activity lead to higher costs
for other activities.
Step 5. Identify opportunities for reducing costs. When the company knows its inefficient
activities and cost drivers, it can plan on how to improve them. Too high wage rates can be
dealt with by increasing production speed, outsourcing jobs to low wage countries or
installing more automated processes.

Differentiation advantage
VCA is done differently when a firm competes on differentiation rather than costs. This is
because the source of differentiation advantage comes from creating superior products,
adding more features and satisfying varying customer needs, which results in higher cost
structure.

Step 1. Identify the customers value-creating activities. After identifying all value chain
activities, managers have to focus on those activities that contribute the most to creating
customer value. For example, Apple products success mainly comes not from great product
features (other companies have high-quality offerings too) but from successful marketing
activities.

Step 2. Evaluate the differentiation strategies for improving customer value.Managers

can use the following strategies to increase product differentiation and customer value:

Add more product features;

Focus on customer service and responsiveness;
Increase customization;
Offer complementary products.

Step 3. Identify the best sustainable differentiation. Usually, superior differentiation and
customer value will be the result of many interrelated activities and strategies used. The best
combination of them should be used to pursue sustainable differentiation advantage.

Module-V
Quality:
In manufacturing, a measure of excellence or a state of being free from defects, deficiencies
and significant variations. It is brought about by strict and consistent commitment to certain
standards that achieve uniformity of a product in order to satisfy specific customer or user
requirements. ISO 8402-1986 standard defines quality as "the totality of features and
characteristics of a product or service that bears its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs."
If an automobile company finds a defect in one of their cars and makes a product recall,
customer reliability and therefore production will decrease because trust will be lost in the
car's quality.

There are five aspects of quality in a business context:

1. Producing providing something.

2. Checking confirming that something has been done correctly.
3. Quality Control controlling a process to ensure that the outcomes are predictable.
4. Quality Management directing an organization so that it optimizes its performance through
analysis and improvement.
5. Quality Assurance obtaining confidence that a product or service will be satisfactory. (Normally
performed by a purchaser)
Eight dimensions of product quality management can be used at a strategic level to
analyze quality characteristics. The concept was defined by David A. Garvin. Some of the dimensions are
mutually reinforcing, whereas others are notimprovement in one may be at the expense of others.
Understanding the trade-offs desired by customers among these dimensions can help build a competitive
advantage. Garvin's eight dimensions can be summarized as follows:

1. Performance: Performance refers to a product's primary operating characteristics. This dimension

of quality involves measurable attributes; brands can usually be ranked objectively on individual
aspects of performance.
2. Features: Features are additional characteristics that enhance the appeal of the product or service
to the user.
3. Reliability: Reliability is the likelihood that a product will not fail within a specific time period.
This is a key element for users who need the product to work without fail.
4. Conformance: Conformance is the precision with which the product or service meets the
specified standards.
5. Durability: Durability measures the length of a products life. When the product can be repaired,
estimating durability is more complicated. The item will be used until it is no longer economical
to operate it. This happens when the repair rate and the associated costs increase significantly.
6. Serviceability: Serviceability is the speed with which the product can be put into service when it
breaks down, as well as the competence and the behavior of the serviceperson.
7. Aesthetics: Aesthetics is the subjective dimension indicating the kind of response a user has to a
product. It represents the individuals personal preference.
8. Perceived Quality: Perceived Quality is the quality attributed to a good or service based on
indirect measures.

Statistical Quality Control

Statistical Quality Control (SQC) is the term used to describe the set of statistical tools used by quality
professionals. SQC is used to analyze the quality problems and solve them.

Statistical quality control refers to the use of statistical methods in the monitoring and maintaining of the quality
of products and services.

All the tools of SQC are helpful in evaluating the quality of services. SQC uses different tools to analyze quality
problem.

1) Descriptive Statistics

2) Statistical Process Control (SPC)

3) Acceptance Sampling

Descriptive Statistics involves describing quality characteristics and relationships. SPC involves inspect random
sample of output from process for characteristic. Acceptance Sampling involve batch sampling by inspection.

Objective of Statistical Quality Control

Quality Control is very important for a every company. Quality control includes service quality given
to customer, company management leadership, commitment of management, continuous
improvement, fast response, actions based on facts, employee participation and a quality driven
culture.

The main objectives of the quality control module are to control of material reception, internal
rejections, clients, claims, providers and evaluations of the same corrective actions are related to their
follow-up. These systems and methods guide all quality activities. The development and use of
performance indicators is linked, directly or indirectly, to customer requirements and satisfaction, and
to management.
 Total Quality Management (TQM) describes a management approach to long-term
success through customer satisfaction. In a TQM effort, all members of an organization participate in
improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work.

British Standards Institution standard BS 7850-1:1992

"A management philosophy and company practices that aim to harness the human and material resources
of an organization in the most effective way to achieve the objectives of the organization."
International Organization for Standardization standard ISO 8402:1994
"A management approach of an organisation centred on quality, based on the participation of all its
members and aiming at long term success through customer satisfaction and benefits to all members of the
organisation and society."

Total Quality Management Principles: The 8 Primary Elements of TQM

Total quality management can be summarized as a management system for a customer-focused

organization that involves all employees in continual improvement. It uses strategy, data, and effective
communications to integrate the quality discipline into the culture and activities of the organization. Many
of these concepts are present in modern Quality Management Systems, the successor to TQM. Here are the
8 principles of total quality management:

1. Customer-focused
The customer ultimately determines the level of quality. No matter what an organization does to foster
quality improvementtraining employees, integrating quality into the design process, upgrading
computers or software, or buying new measuring toolsthe customer determines whether the efforts were
worthwhile.

2. Total employee involvement

All employees participate in working toward common goals. Total employee commitment can only be
obtained after fear has been driven from the workplace, when empowerment has occurred, and
management has provided the proper environment. High-performance work systems integrate continuous
improvement efforts with normal business operations. Self-managed work teams are one form of
empowerment.

3. Process-centered
A fundamental part of TQM is a focus on process thinking. A process is a series of steps that take inputs
from suppliers (internal or external) and transforms them into outputs that are delivered to customers
(again, either internal or external). The steps required to carry out the process are defined, and
performance measures are continuously monitored in order to detect unexpected variation.

4. Integrated system
Although an organization may consist of many different functional specialties often organized into
vertically structured departments, it is the horizontal processes interconnecting these functions that are the
focus of TQM.

Micro-processes add up to larger processes, and all processes aggregate into the business processes
required for defining and implementing strategy. Everyone must understand the vision, mission, and
guiding principles as well as the quality policies, objectives, and critical processes of the organization.
Business performance must be monitored and communicated continuously.
An integrated business system may be modeled after the Baldrige National Quality Program criteria
and/or incorporate the ISO 9000 standards. Every organization has a unique work culture, and it is
 virtually impossible to achieve excellence in its products and services unless a good quality culture has
been fostered. Thus, an integrated system connects business improvement elements in an attempt to
continually improve and exceed the expectations of customers, employees, and other stakeholders.

5. Strategic and systematic approach

A critical part of the management of quality is the strategic and systematic approach to achieving an
organizations vision, mission, and goals. This process, called strategic planning or strategic management,
includes the formulation of a strategic plan that integrates quality as a core component.

6. Continual improvement
A major thrust of TQM is continual process improvement. Continual improvement drives an organization
to be both analytical and creative in finding ways to become more competitive and more effective at
meeting stakeholder expectations.

7. Fact-based decision making

In order to know how well an organization is performing, data on performance measures are necessary.
TQM requires that an organization continually collect and analyze data in order to improve decision
making accuracy, achieve consensus, and allow prediction based on past history.

8. Communications
During times of organizational change, as well as part of day-to-day operation, effective communications
plays a large part in maintaining morale and in motivating employees at all levels. Communications
involve strategies, method, and timeliness.

The ISO 9000 family of quality management systems standards is designed to help organizations
ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting statutory and regulatory
requirements related to a product or program. ISO 9000 deals with the fundamentals of quality
management systems, including the seven quality management principles upon which the family of
standards is based. ISO 9001 deals with the requirements that organizations wishing to meet the standard
must fulfill.
Third-party certification bodies provide independent confirmation that organizations meet the requirements
of ISO 9001. Over one million organizations worldwide are independently certified, making ISO 9001 one
of the most widely used management tools in the world today. However, the ISO certification process has
been criticized as being wasteful and not being useful for all organizations.

An ISO 9002 international certificate is a written assurance by a certification body that a company
follows the requirements, specifications and guidelines set out by the International Organization for
Standardization in its ISO 9002 standard. This standard, which applies to the requirements of quality
management systems, is now obsolete. It has been replaced by ISO 9001:2008, which replaced and
amalgamated ISO 9001, ISO 9002, and ISO 9003.
What is ISO 9002?

ISO 9002 is an industry standard created by the International Organization for Standardization. Its long
title is "Model for quality assurance in production, installation and servicing." Although ISO 9002 is now
obsolete and has been replaced by ISO 9001, the new standard has basically the same material with the
addition of a section covering the creation of new products.
ISO 9002 Standards

ISO 9002 provides detailed standards for creating and maintaining an efficient quality-management
system. The requirements are divided among 20 sections ranging from management responsibility, which
defines the company's policy on quality, to the statistical techniques, which detail the procedures that will
be used. ISO 9002 standard requires business to develop a standard language for documenting quality
practices, create a system to track and ensure and document that these practices are met, and the
establishment of an audit by an independent third party.

Reasons to Seek Certification

The standards published by the International Organization for Standardization are voluntary standards.
According to ISO, the best reason to follow its standards is to improve efficiency and effectiveness within
your industry. Companies are not obligated to get certified or follow ISO's standards. However, a company
may decide to seek certification to meet the contractual requirements of a regulatory body, attract
customers, or motivate its staff by creating a well-designed management system.

The ISO 9000 series are based on seven quality management principles
Principle 1 Customer focus
Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should understand current and future
customer needs, should meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations.
Principle 2 Leadership
Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization. They should create and
maintain the internal environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the
organization's objectives.
Principle 3 Engagement of people
People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full involvement enables their
abilities to be used for the organization's benefit.
Principle 4 Process approach
A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as
a process.
Principle 5 Improvement
Improvement of the organization's overall performance should be a permanent objective of the
organization.
Principle 6 Evidence-based decision making
Effective decisions are based on the analysis of data and information.
Principle 7 Relationship management
An organization and its external providers (suppliers, contractors, service providers)
are interdependent and a mutually beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create
value.

Industrial Safety: Definition, Need and Programmes for Industrial Safety!

Definition:
The importance of industrial safety was realized because of the fact that every year millions

occupational/ industrial accidents occur which result in loss of production time equivalent to
millions of man hours, machine hours etc.

Of these about one-fifth production time is lost by those actually injured due to temporary

and permanent disablement and the remaining production time is lost by fellow operators/

people in helping the injured, in taking care of the damage caused by accident etc. the loss to

the industrial unit would appear much more alarming when death cases due to accidents are
considered.

It is therefore essential to identify/examine the causes of industrial accidents and take steps

to control them. Many disciplines are concerned with this safety approach. Industrial

engineering is one field which deals with design of efficient work place, equipment and
industrial layout design. Other disciplines which can contribute to safe working environment
are psychology, sociology and Medicare science.

The following steps may be taken to effectively and efficiently eliminate an unsafe

working environment:
(1) Elimination if possible of the causes of accidents.

(2) If it is not possible to eliminate the cause of accidents, make arrangements to shield the
hazardous place by guards, enclosures or similar arrangements.

Need for Safety:

In view of above discussion, need and concern for safety is therefore need of the hour. There

are some direct costs/ effects of an accident but there are certain indirect costs involved in it

also e.g. machine down time, damage to machine, ideal time of nearby equipment and horror

created among workers, loss of time etc. in aid cost compensation, legal implications and

allied costs etc. So safety measures would not only eliminate/ avoid above cost but would
mean performing their moral responsibility towards workmen/operators also.

An accident is by virtue of unsafe factor he results of an unsafe condition it may be the

combined effect of two. An unsafeact results in the form of operator/people doing thing
without proper authority, misuse of safety devices, ignoring warnings and precautions etc.
An unsafe condition may be present in various forms e.g. faulty or defective electrical

fittings, inadequate maintenance of gang way. Use of defective tools etc. So to prevent the
occurrence of accidents, unsafe acts have to be avoided/ eliminated or checked.

Unsafe acts:

For rectification of the causes because of unsafe acts attention must be paid to following

factors:

(1) Personnel adjustment:

If a foreman/supervisor identifies that a worker is unfit either physically or mentally or a job/
task, he should be quickly taken off the work in consultation with the personnel department.

(2) Method/technique used:

Some techniques requiring change should be replaced by safe methods.

(3) Operator training:

Job method may be safe or unsafe but the operator must be trained to perform the job.

(4) Publicity and education about accident prevention:

The workers/ people are led by the skill, energy and leadership of foreman/supervisor. So it is

the duty of these people to educate the workmen about prevention of accidents. The aim is to

teach them to become safety conscious so that they are able to recognize an unsafe act or
situation and act in such a manner that accident is avoided.

The unsafe conditions:

To avoid accidents due to unsafe conditions, various provisions have been discussed in the

Factories Act these may be concerned with moving parts of prime movers, electrical

generators and transmission machinery: fire protection devices, control of dangerous fumes,
lifting of excessive weights and safe guards over lighting machines, chains and ropes etc.

Thus safety in industry helps:

(i) Increasing the production rate.

(ii) Reducing the cost of production.

(iii) Reducing damage to machinery and equipment.

(iv) Preventing unwanted suffering and pain to employees of the organization.

(v) Preventing premature/untimely death of talented workers who may be an asset to the
enterprise and society.

Safety Programmes:
A safety programme intends to identify when where and why accidents occur. On the same

lines a safety programme aims at reducing accidents and associated losses. A safety

programme is initiated with the assumption that it is possible to prevent most work connected
accidents.

A safety programme is a continuous process and tries to be decrease the influence of personal

and environmental factors which cause accidents. Normally a safety programme consists of
providing safety equipments and special training to workmen or employees.

Indian standards Institute has done commendable job in this context and lays down as

follows:
(i) Safety precautions to be taken during manifesting operations.

(ii) Standards for proper lighting, ventilation and proper layout of the industrial unit.

(iii) Standards and specifications of safe industrial operations and practices etc.

(iv) Requirements for effective maintenance of tools and equipments.

(v) Guidance on safe cutting and welding processes.

(vi) Guidance on use of powered industrial trucks, belt conveyors and fire protection
equipments.

(vii) Safety requirements for personal protective equipments.

(viii) Classification of hazardous chemicals and provision of accident provision tags.

(ix) Markings for handling and lebelling of dangerous items/ goods.

(x) Standards for safety:

(a) In industrial building

(b) Safety procedures to be followed in electrical work

(c) in use of electrical appliances in hazardous area and explosive atmosphere.

(xi) Specifications for protective clothing, safety helmets face shields and safety equipment
for eyes ears lags hands and feet etc.

Safety management system (SMS) is a comprehensive management system designed to manage safety
elements in the workplace. It includes policy, objectives, plans, procedures, organisation, responsibilities
and other measures.[1] The SMS is used in industries that manage significant safety risks, including
aviation, petroleum, chemical, electricity generation and others.

An SMS provides a systematic way to identify hazards and control risks while maintaining assurance that
these risk controls are effective.[2] SMS can be defined as:
A businesslike approach to safety. It is a systematic, explicit and comprehensive process for
managing safety risks. As with all management systems, a safety management system provides for
goal setting, planning, and measuring performance. A safety management system is woven into the
fabric of an organization. It becomes part of the culture, the way people do their jobs.
For the purposes of defining safety management, safety can be defined as:
the reduction of risk to a level that is as low as is reasonably practicable.
There are three imperatives for adopting a safety management system for a business these are ethical,
legal and financial.
There is an implied moral obligation placed on an employer to ensure that work activities and the place of
work to be safe, there are legislative requirements defined in just about every jurisdiction on how this is to
be achieved and there is a substantial body of research which shows that effective safety management
(which is the reduction of risk in the workplace) can reduce the financial exposure of an organisation by
reducing direct and indirect costs associated with accident and incidents.
To address these three important elements, an effective SMS should:

Define how the organisation is set up to manage risk.

Identify workplace risk and implement suitable controls.
Implement effective communications across all levels of the organisation.
Implement a process to identify and correct non-conformities.
Implement a continual improvement process.
A safety management system can be created to fit any business type and/or industry sector.

Basic safety-management components

International Labour Organization SMS model
Since there are many models to choose from to outline the basic components of a safety management
system, the one chosen here is the international standard promoted by the International Labour
Organization (ILO). In the ILO document,[4] the safety management basic components are:

Policy
Organizing
Planning and implementation
Evaluation
 Action for improvement
Although other SMS models use different terminology, the process and workflow for safety management
systems are usually similar;

1. Policy Establish within policy statements what the requirements are for the organization in terms
of resources, defining management commitment and defining OSH targets
2. Organizing How is the organization structured, where are responsibilities and accountabilities
defined, who reports to who and who is responsible for what.
3. Planning and Implementation What legislation and standards apply to our organization, what
OSH objectives are defined and how are these reviews, hazard prevention and the assessment and
management of risk.
4. Evaluation How is OSH performance measured and assessed, what are the processes for the
reporting of accidents and incidents and for the investigation of accidents and what internal and
external audit processes are in place to review the system.
5. Action for Improvement How are preventative and corrective actions managed and what
processes are in place to ensure the continual improvement process. There is a significant amount
of detail within each of these sections and these should be examined in detail from the ILO-OSH
Guidelines document.

Maintenance management is the process of overseeing maintenance resources so that the

organization does not experience downtime from broken equipment or waste money on inefficient
maintenance procedures. Maintenance management software programs can assist with the process. The
primary objectives of maintenance management are to schedule work efficiently, control costs and ensure
regulatory compliance.
Importance of Maintenance Management:
Maintenance management is responsible for the smooth and efficient working of the
industrial plant and helps in improving the productivity.

It also helps to keep the machines/equipment in their optimum operating conditions. Thus

plant maintenance is an important and inevitable service function of an efficient production

system.

It also helps in maintaining and improving the operational efficiency of the plant facilities

and hence contributes towards revenue by decreasing the operating cost and improving the
quality and quantity of the product being manufactured.

As a service function it is related with the incurrence of certain costs. The important

component of such costs are employment of maintenance staff, other minor administrative

expenses, investment in maintenance equipment and inventory of repair components/ parts

and maintenance materials.

Absence of plant maintenance may lead to frequent machine breakdown and failure of certain
productive centres/services which in turn would result in stoppages of production activities,

idle man and machine time, dislocation of the subsequent operations, poor quality of
production, failure to meet delivery dates of product supply, industrial accidents endangering
the life of workers/ operators and allied costs etc.

However, the importance of plant maintenance varies with the type of plant and its

production but it plays a prominent role in production management because plant

breakdown creates problems such as:

(i) Loss of production.

(ii) Rescheduling of production.

(iii) Materials wastage (due to sudden stoppage of process damages in process materials).

(iv) Need for overtimes,

(v) Need for work subcontracting.

(vi) For maximum manpower utilization workers may need alternative work due to temporary
work shortages.

Hence, the absence of planned maintenance service proves costlier. So it should be provided

in the light of cost benefit analysis. Since plant maintenance is a service function, it should be
provided at the least possible cost but it is very important as discussed above.

Objectives of Maintenance Management:

The purpose of maintenance management is to optimize the performance of productive

facilities of an organization by ensuring that these facilities function regularly and efficiently.

This can be achieved by preventing the failures or breakdowns if any, as far as possible and
by minimizing the production loss due to failures.

The main objectives of maintenance management are as follows:

(1) Minimizing the loss of productive time because of equipment failure to maximize the

availability of plant, equipment and machinery for productive utilization through planned
maintenance.

(2) To extend the useful life of the plant, machinery and other facilities by minimizing their
wear and tear.
(3) Minimizing the loss due to production stoppages.

(4) To ensure operational readiness of all equipments needed for emergency purposes at all
times such as fire-fighting equipment.

(5) Efficient use of maintenance equipments and personnel.

(6) To ensure safety of personnel through regular inspection and maintenance of facilities
such as boilers, compressors and material handling equipment etc.

(7) To maximize efficiency and economy in production through optimum utilization of

available facilities.

(8) To improve the quality of products and to improve the productivity of the plant.

(9) To minimize the total maintenance cost which may consist of cost of repairs, cost of

preventive maintenance and inventory costs associated with spare parts/materials required for
maintenance.

(10) To improve reliability, availability and maintainability.

Functions of Maintenance Management:

The important functions of maintenance can be summarized as follows:

(1) To develop maintenance policies, procedures and standards for the plant maintenance
system.

(2) To schedule the maintenance work after due consultation with the concerned production
departments.

(3) To carry out repairs and rectify or overhaul planned equipment/facilities for achieving the
required level of availability and optimum operational efficiency.

(4) To ensure scheduled inspection, lubrication oil checking, and adjustment of plant
machinery and equipment.

(5) To document and maintain record of each maintenance activity (i.e., repairs, replacement,
overhauls, modifications and lubrication etc.).
(6) To maintain and carry out repairs of buildings, utilities, material handling equipments

and other service facilities such as electrical installations, sewers, central stores and roadways
etc.

(7) To carry out and facilitate periodic inspections of equipment and facilities to know their
conditions related to their failure and stoppage of production.

(8) To prepare inventory list of spare parts and materials required for maintenance.

(9) To ensure cost effective maintenance.

(10) To forecast the maintenance expenditure and prepare a budget and to ensure that
maintenance expenditure is as per planned budget.

(11) To recruit and train personnel to prepare the maintenance workforce for effective and
efficient plant maintenance.

(12) To implement safety standards as required for the use of specific equipment or certain
categories of equipment such as boilers, overhead cranes and chemical plants etc.

(13) To develop management information systems, to provide information to top

management regarding the maintenance activities.

(14) To monitor the equipment condition at regular intervals.

(15) To ensure proper inventory control of spare parts and other materials required.

In terms of plants operations the functions of maintenance are:

(a) The plant must be available as and when required.

(b) The plant must not breakdown during actual operation state.

(c) The plant must operate in an efficient manner at required level of plant operation.

(d) The down time must not interfere with production runs.

(e) The down time due to breakdown should be a minimum.

To accomplish these conditions there must be complete cooperation and mutual

understanding between maintenance and production departments. There must be an effective

maintenance policy for planning, controlling and directing all maintenance activities.

The plant maintenance department must be well organized, adequately staffed sufficiently

experienced and adequate in number to carry out corrective and timely maintenance with the
efforts in minimizing breakdowns.