Protecting plant safety

As the Covid-19 pandemic swept across the world in 2020, manufacturing organisations faced significant operational challenges. Amidst these cataclysmic changes, a select group of employees like Khaja Mohinuddin of the Tractor Assembly department of Mahindra’s Farm Equipment Sector (FES) in Zaheerabad, Telangana, continued to provide critical services and monitored plants through the crisis.

When the nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25, 2020, he worked relentlessly to check the health condition of all equipment and tractors of the manufacturing plant. Khaja also handled the finished goods inventory in April 2020 during peak Covid-19 lockdown and provided support to maintain zero variance in inventory. His commitment to work was exemplary even during the devastating second wave that fuelled a massive spike in the number of cases. Once again, he did not let the pandemic interrupt production work. He handled the assembly line with unskilled operators to tackle production-related woes.

“I managed the entire tractor assembly operations during both the waves and ensured that production remained unaffected. If I didn’t love what I do, I could have walked away and sat at home. But that’s not me,” he reminisces.

As simple as that!

The pandemic compelled people to think carefully about what makes healthy and resilient communities. Sai Prasad from the ER&D department of Mahindra’s FES in Zaheerabad, Telangana, came up with innovative approaches to follow the Covid-19 guidelines. Keeping the risk of Covid-19 spread in mind, Sai Prasad designed tea and lunch table partitions to avoid facing each other. “I even conducted awareness sessions at tea tables,” he says.

In addition, he created audio-visual modules and display boards in Telugu for better awareness. Sai also sensitised new joinees in his department about the risks of the disease and contributed to spreading awareness about Covid-19 precautions.