he technical worker was absent. Therefore the average daily production was revised for 38 days for the group of three workers including technical worker were present. This understanding helped me to formulate the problem.

Problem statement
Does the coating section require four workers including technician?

Solution
To solve the problem, a test of hypothesis is performed by the use of Z test particularly to find the difference between the two sample means.
Sample 1 when there were four workers including technician
Sample 2 when there were th

Background
I finished my MBA in October 1985 and placed at M/S. XYZ Pvt. Ltd. (the real name of the company is hidden)as a Management Trainee. The Company produces empty containers used by tooth powder, face powder and paint manufactures. The process of production of containers was as follows.

Production Process
Tin plate sheets are cut according to the size of the containers and then transferred to coating and printing departments where first coating used to be given to the sheets and then as per the buyers instructions, the printing of label, logo, etc. get printed. After drying in the oven, the sheets were shifted to fabrication department to mould and weld the sheets to get the containers. The finished containers will be send to the quality control to check the quality aspects and the good containers will be given to the packing section from where the packed containers will be dispatched to the buyers.

My Assignment
I was posted to the coating and printing department to evaluate the productivity of the coating section. In the coating section the maximum allotted workers were four of which one technical and the rest were non-technical. My assignment was not clear and specific.

Methodology I followed
After going through the daily attendance record for the previous three month period, I came to know for a good number of days the coating section was run with three workers (one technical and two non technical) also. It gave me an idea to proceed further. I found there were three workers present for 41 days and four workers were present for 49 days of the selected period of 90 days. I collected data of daily production in terms of number of sheets coated when three workers were present and when four workers were present separately. I computed daily average production using arithmetic mean and standard deviation for the two groups. Apparently I found there was difference. Based on this, I found there was a problem of more number of workers allotted than required. Before formulating the problem I interviewed the workers and the supervisor. In the interview process it was revealed that when technical worker was absent, the supervisor used to help and when non-technical worker was absent the workers used to adjust. Of the 41 days, only for three days the technical worker was absent. Therefore the average daily production was revised for 38 days for the group of three workers including technical worker were present. This understanding helped me to formulate the problem.

Problem statement
Does the coating section require four workers including technician?

Solution
To solve the problem, a test of hypothesis is performed by the use of Z test particularly to find the difference between the two sample means.
Sample 1 when there were four workers including technician
Sample 2 when there were thr

printed. After drying in the oven, the sheets were shifted to fabrication department to mould and weld the sheets to get the containers. The finished containers will be send to the quality control to check the quality aspects and the good containers will be given to the packing section from where the packed containers will be dispatched to the buyers.

My Assignment
I was posted to the coating and printing department to evaluate the productivity of the coating section. In the coating section the maximum allotted workers were four of which one technical and the rest were non-technical. My assignment was not clear and specific.

Methodology I followed
After going through the daily attendance record for the previous three month period, I came to know for a good number of days the coating section was run with three workers (one technical and two non technical) also. It gave me an idea to proceed further. I found there were three workers present for 41 days and four workers were present for 49 days of the selected period of 90 days. I collected data of daily production in terms of number of sheets coated when three workers were present and when four workers were present separately. I computed daily average production using arithmetic mean and standard deviation for the two groups. Apparently I found there was difference. Based on this, I found there was a problem of more number of workers allotted than required. Before formulating the problem I interviewed the workers and the supervisor. In the interview process it was revealed that when technical worker was absent, the supervisor used to help and when non-technical worker was absent the workers used to adjust. Of the 41 days, only for three days the technical worker was absent. Therefore the average daily production was revised for 38 days for the group of three workers including technical worker were present. This understanding helped me to formulate the problem.

Problem statement
Does the coating section require four workers including technician?

Solution
To solve the problem, a test of hypothesis is performed by the use of Z test particularly to find the difference between the two sample means.
Sample 1 when there were four workers including technician
Sample 2 when there were th

t were non-technical. My assignment was not clear and specific.

Methodology I followed
After going through the daily attendance record for the previous three month period, I came to know for a good number of days the coating section was run with three workers (one technical and two non technical) also. It gave me an idea to proceed further. I found there were three workers present for 41 days and four workers were present for 49 days of the selected period of 90 days. I collected data of daily production in terms of number of sheets coated when three workers were present and when four workers were present separately. I computed daily average production using arithmetic mean and standard deviation for the two groups. Apparently I found there was difference. Based on this, I found there was a problem of more number of workers allotted than required. Before formulating the problem I interviewed the workers and the supervisor. In the interview process it was revealed that when technical worker was absent, the supervisor used to help and when non-technical worker was absent the workers used to adjust. Of the 41 days, only for three days the technical worker was absent. Therefore the average daily production was revised for 38 days for the group of three workers including technical worker were present. This understanding helped me to formulate the problem.

Problem statement
Does the coating section require four workers including technician?

Solution
To solve the problem, a test of hypothesis is performed by the use of Z test particularly to find the difference between the two sample means.
Sample 1 when there were four workers including technician
Sample 2 when there were th

present and when four workers were present separately. I computed daily average production using arithmetic mean and standard deviation for the two groups. Apparently I found there was difference. Based on this, I found there was a problem of more number of workers allotted than required. Before formulating the problem I interviewed the workers and the supervisor. In the interview process it was revealed that when technical worker was absent, the supervisor used to help and when non-technical worker was absent the workers used to adjust. Of the 41 days, only for three days the technical worker was absent. Therefore the average daily production was revised for 38 days for the group of three workers including technical worker were present. This understanding helped me to formulate the problem.

Problem statement
Does the coating section require four workers including technician?

Solution
To solve the problem, a test of hypothesis is performed by the use of Z test particularly to find the difference between the two sample means.
Sample 1 when there were four workers including technician
Sample 2 when there were th

he technical worker was absent. Therefore the average daily production was revised for 38 days for the group of three workers including technical worker were present. This understanding helped me to formulate the problem.

Problem statement
Does the coating section require four workers including technician?

Solution
To solve the problem, a test of hypothesis is performed by the use of Z test particularly to find the difference between the two sample means.
Sample 1 when there were four workers including technician
Sample 2 when there were three workers including technician
After the test of the hypothesis it was found that there was no significant difference in the average daily production between the two samples. This implies that there was one extra worker allotted to that extent the productivity of the coating section was affected.

Reporting and Execution
The finding was reported to the General Manager (works) and discussed. The method of identifying and confirming the problem was appreciated and discussed with the supervisor. I arranged a meeting by calling the leader of the workers union and the supervisor in the presence of the General Manager and I suggested to transfer one non-technical worker from coating section to other department where his services are required. The General Manager (Works) as well as the leader of the workers union and the supervisor had accepted and immediately executed. I observed the average daily production for three months after the execution of the suggestion and did the analysis. It is revealed that the average daily production was same when compared to that of before execution of the suggestion. With this the Management was totally convinced. Thus the cost of running the coating section was reduced and was reflected on the productivity of the section favorably. That is how I identified the problem and solved the same.