REPORT ON INDUSTRIAL VISIT

Hindusthan National Glass & Industries Limited Rishra

Industry Overview
Hindusthan National Glass & Industries Limited was founded by Mr. C K Somany in 1946 following the commissioning of Indias first fully automated glass manufacturing plant at Rishra (near Kolkata). It is an India-based container glass packaging solutions provider. The Company is engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling of container glass. The Company manufactures container glass portfolio ranging from five milliliters to 3,200 milliliters and in various colors, such as amber, flint and green. At present, it is the key player in Indias container glass industry with a pan India presence and its plants located at Rishra, Bahadurgarh, Rishikesh, Neemrana, Nashik and Puducherry.

Its products are also available in more than 20 countries. Its customers include Hindustan Unilever, Nestle, Global Green, Heinz, Dabur, Pfizer, Cipla, Ranbaxy, Himalaya, SABMiller, Asia Pacific Breweries, United Spirits, Pernod Radico, Bacardi, Coca Cola and Pepsi. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, it had a production of 785,300 tons of container glass. As of March 31, 2010, the Company had installed capacity of 1030,925 metric tons of Glass Bottles and Vials, and 5,000 metric tons of pressed tumblers. HNG has captured a large share of the Indian market and also has an increasingly satisfied client base in more than 23 countries.

Strategy: We are the largest container glass solutions provider in India and we look forward to
be a global leader in container glass packaging industry. Our strategy is to create world class products, so that we can satiate the demands of our consumers and thus, surpass our contemporaries in competition. It is with our integrated efforts and customer service that we have managed to keep our growth rate on an upward swing; in spite of the present economic turmoil, which has adversely affected people's lives and ways in which business is being conducted.

Objectives: At HNG, we look forward to customer satisfaction. Our main objective is to

Values: As we climb the success ladder, it is becoming increasingly important for us to define
our core values, as it is our values that help us remain grounded and focused towards our goals.

It gives us a definite purpose and enables us to make the most of our resources. At HNG, we believe in the core values of people, operational excellence, innovation and integrity. It is our people that give us the gusto to move forward, keeping all the obstacles at bay. With our diligent workforce, production has become so much easy! Our operational excellence has given us the strength to launch our products with even more confidence. We have an installed capacity of 2825 TPD and this is what distinguishes us from our competitors. Innovation and integrity are two important things that drive the HNG team. These values are like assets that consolidate us in our march towards a greater future. The benefits of light-weight container glass bottles: -Accelerated bottling process - Increased bottles per ton - Reduced price per bottle - Improved bottle quality - Enhanced availability - Reduced transportation cost - Enhanced bottle transparency - Increased strength following uniform and optimum wall thickness

Milestones

1946

Incorporation of HNG in Rishra (near Kolkata) on the 23rd days of February

1952 Commissioning of India's first fully automated glass manufacturing plant with an installed capacity of 30 TPD 2001 Installed capacity was raised to 1100 TPD Certified with ISO 9001:2000

2002 Production strength was raised to 1800 TPD with the acquisition of Owens Brockway (India) Ltd. 2003 Unveiling of TPM with an objective to improve the draw-to-pack efficiency by nearly 300 basis points 2005 Acquisition of Larsen & Toubro Plant (Nashik) led to the escalation of installed capacity to 2150 TPD 2006 Debottlenecking further raised the installed capacity of HNG to 2435 TPD

2007 Lean Six Sigma was launched to reduce non-value added time (between production completion and revenue generation) 2007 Acquisition of Neemrana Plant through the merger of Haryana Sheet GlassInstalled capacity increased to 2540 TPD 2008 ERP was introduced to facilitate timely decision making, superior inventories management and eliminate data redundancies 2008 Received ISO 22000 certification

2009 Developed CAD/CAM facilities to design a variety of bottles in different sizes, customized to the precise requirements of pharmaceuticals, processed foods, liquor and soft drink industries 2009 2010 2010 Implementation of SAP Installed capacity increased to 2825 TPD through Brownfield expansions Singed largest deals in the Indian Glass Industry worth Rs 2.5 billion

New Developments

NNPB Technology NNPB is a revolutionary process that not only controls the distribution of glass inside the container, but also reduces the weight of glass by 33% without having any adverse effects on the performance of the glass containers. HNG is the first to introduce and commercialize this technology in India.

HNG introduced the narrow neck press and blow (NNPB) technology in 2007-08, which lead to the reduction in the consumption of molten glass per bottle without compromising on product strength. Facilitating superior glass distribution, this technology reinforces the bottle's resistance to pressure on the filling line. It also leads to a decrease in logistics cost and increase in consumer acceptability of the bottles

HNG invested a capital of Rs. 100 Cr. to introduce this technology in India. On one hand, this technology enabled the company to reduce production costs and wastages; and on the other, it strengthened capacity utilization. Through NNPB, HNG strives to remain competitive with other packing alternatives and continue to be the market leader in India.

Products Manufactured by them:

Container Glass/ Glass Bottle: It is a type of glass for the production of glass containers, such as bottles, jars, drinkware, and bowls. Most container glass is soda-lime glass, produced by blowing and pressing techniques, while some laboratory glassware is made from borosilicate glass.

Float Glass: It is a sheet of glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal, typically tin, although lead and various low melting point alloys were used in the past. This method gives the sheet uniform thickness and very flat surfaces. Modern windows are made from float glass. Most float glass is soda-lime glass, but relatively minor quantities of specialty borosilicate and flat panel display glass are also produced using the float glass process.

Cement

HR Policy
HNGs HR Policy is based on the Core Beliefs of the HNG Group as enumerated below: Employees, in a broad sense, are valuable resources. If effectively managed, rather than administered, from the strategic point of view they will contribute significantly to organizational effectiveness, and thus will be a source of competitive advantage to the Company Strategic Human Resource Planning is linked up with the business planning of the organization Organizational culture & climate influence the level of job satisfaction of employees Effective group working leads to greater synergy and enhanced performance Effective HRM can make a positive contribution to organizational effectiveness Employee Engagement for acquiring, retaining and grooming talent pool in the company HNG engages fresh Graduate Engineers from NIT and Regional Engineering Colleges to induct fresh talent, groom them in HNG Culture in order to strengthen the Middle Management

Salient features of the Policy

To create organizational capabilities as a means to building competitive advantage To create high performance culture as a way of life for all the employees in the organization To find the right people and to retain and empower them to achieve the objectives of the Company To create an HR brand for the Company by creating ownership internally and attraction externally To promote transparency within the Company and open the channels of communication

Process of Making Container Glass

The entire process of bottle making is almost fully automated. An automated feeder separates a stream of molten glass into individual gobs. These are then dropped through tubes in a moving track. The gob is shaped into what looks like a short bottle with thick walls and is called a parison. The parison is transferred to a final mould made of iron, which moves up and clamps around the glass. Air is blown into the glass till it acquires the final shape of the mould. This procedure involving expansion is called blowing. The bottle is then released from the mould and annealed.

Bottle Making (Molding Process)

Annealing is done by reheating the glass and gradually cooling it. Such a process removes the stresses and strains in the glass after shaping. This is an important step and if not done may cause the glass to shatter as a result of the build up of tension caused by uneven cooling. After the bottles have cooled to room temperature, they are inspected and finally packaged.

Plastic bottles may be made from polyethylene, polypropylene or polyvinyl chloride. Large cold drink bottles are made of polyethylene terephalate (PET). These bottles are designed in such a way that the gases used to carbonate the soft drinks are unable to escape.

There are three different methods used for processing plastic bottles extrusion blow molding (in which the parison is tube shaped), injection blow molding (in which the parison is prepared by injecting molten plastic through a small hole) and injection stretch blow molding (in which the plastic is blown into the mould while it is simultaneously being stretched by a metal rod).

HR Issues Identified

At Hindustan National Glass, the workforce seemed to be satisfied & happy with their work. They were enjoying their work & maintained a good relation with the organisation. Also the attrition rate was fairly low. However the following Hr issues were of prime importance:

1.) The workmen did not wear the safety gear provided to them by the company. They seemed casual & hardly even cared to wear proper shoes to the workplace. Upon asking the management, we came to know that these labours were mainly contractual in nature. Hence it was difficult to make them understand the company's viewpoints as then they would then demand for permanent workmanship as they already have started to. The management said that when the auditors etc come for the visit they also point at the same issue & it has been a primary cause of concern for them too & they are trying to resolve it.

2.) The second cause of concern was that of trade unions. HNG has 5 trade unions & the management has a practice of majorly dealing with the internal leaders rather than external leaders & this makes things simpler. Also they said that rather than fixing up collective bargaining with one or two primary unionism they prefer to sit & decide with all the unions as they realized that every union small or big has a contribution to the workforce & hence important.

3.) The third issue that cropped up was automation of the plant as Glass containers are used for medicines, soft drinks etc , where hygiene is of prime importance. This human intervention, the lesser the better. The management said that In the hot department where the bottles are being made, less human intervention is there as the whole process is extremely hot , i.e., between 1400-1600 degree Celsius & thus machines take care of the work as it is not possible for humans. The chunk of human workforce is involved in the last part of the process such as sorting, packaging, warehousing, Automated Colour Labelling (ACL) & such. However, they are trying to automate the whole process as the westerners already have done. But India being a population intensive country, the question of CSR also does arise wherein so many people losing job would also be a cause of concern. Thus, they are trying to take a balanced approach.

4.) The fourth issue was that of CSR wherein the management was asked that factory smoke pollutes the environment most & what they are doing to lessen the harm. They said that the process of injecting oxygen to the smoke coming out of chimney before emission is a very costly one. However, they are trying to put it in place as soon as possible as they are also equally concerned about environmental pollution & ways to combat the same.

5.) Last but not the least, they were asked that since it is a labour intensive industry & the workforce is mainly local what measures have they taken to deal with it. They said that they do not have residential facilities for staff & hence the workforce is primarily local. However, the higher ranked officials like batch mixer operators, furnace engineers etc are all head hunted selectively & given a high salary to retain them & they usually come from different parts of the country. They are trying to have a cosmopolitan culture as that would balance the negativities of different subcultures, thus, increasing the final Output. In fact this is one of their HR policies as of now.