Who are hindering shop floor productive hours? An exploratory finding from discrete manufacturing industries of India

Indian manufacturing sector contributes about 15% of India's gross domestic product (GDP), 50% to the country's exports and employed about 12% of the total workforce. Government of India expects about 25% of contribution to GDP from manufacturing industries by 2022. This calls for a special focus on manufacturing sector and optimal use of resources. For effective availability time, idle hour have to be cut down from various operations. This study was conducted on three large scales discrete manufacturing industries of India. Based on the customer requests/requirements tailor made products are being manufactured in these organisations. This study found poor panning, unclear manufacturing documents to production, pending decisions, movement of materials from operations to operation, want of crane, layout, skill set of operators, absenteeism, union work, breaks between working hours, machine breakdown and rework as prominent attributes. Planning and workforce related issues are surfacing out clearly for gene...