Saturday, April 12, 2014

the first night hero

It was my first week on floor. News came that the night shift manager met with an accident. I had to fill his shoes. I took up the challenge although reluctantly. There was a big lot of 100K meters running on the continuous mercerizer and the saying was 'bigger the lot, easier the life'.

At around 3 AM, an operator pointed out to me that stains were visible on the fabric at regular interval and casually suggested we stop the machine. I was of two minds. I had heard that operators will find minor reasons to stop the machine and then go to sleep. On the other hand if he was right I was wasting 60 meters of fabric per minute. At Rs. 300 / meter, each minute wasted was equal to my two months salary then !

Just the moment before I was going to say 'lets continue', an old worker pulled my sleeve, took me to the corner and said 'aa naa chaale saab, ye fabric white che'. I looked at him, saw genuine concern in his eyes and immediately asked the operator to shut down the machine.

Next day 'my' decision was applauded and I was declared 'the first night hero'. The name of this old worker was Adil. He became a trusted assistant and a friend. He taught me my first lesson on people management at Arvind Mills.