Industry case study · Heavy machinery

From managing problemsto leading the shift.

Programmes for the operators and supervisors of a mining and earth-moving company, built around what actually happens on a shift.

2tracks: operators and supervisors

BilingualHindi and English materials

Organisation: A mining and earth-moving company
Levels: Operators (L0) and supervisors (L1)
Format: In-person sessions with workbooks
Language: Hindi and English

1The challenge

Shift pressure, people issues, safety and targets, every day.

Machines move only when people work together. Supervisors coordinate vehicles, machines, roads and teams through every shift, and sit between the workers and management.

75%of coal mine workers studied work rotational or night shifts, driving fatigue¹

1 in 4workers held formal training or certification before their job²

20Mjobs projected in mining and construction equipment by 2030³

Challenges supervisors raised from site:

Experienced team members who don't follow break timings
Workers who don't listen to instructions
Drivers and operators who blame each other
Team members who argue when corrected

Sources

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (Nature), coal-miner shift study
CEEW, Assessing India's Coal Mine Workers
IBEF, Metals and Mining Industry in India

2What we delivered

Separate tracks for the people on the machines and the people leading them.

Shift supervisors

Parivartan

Level: L1 supervisors
Format: In-person sessions, group discussions of real site cases, workbooks
Language: Hindi and English

Focus areas

Their role and impact on the shift
Understanding and developing each team member
Handling conflict on site before it stalls work
Protecting the shift target with discipline and teamwork

Drivers and operators

Parivartan

Level: L0 operators
Language: Hindi and English

3In the room

Site stories, worked out together.

Supervisors worked in small groups on situations drawn from their own site, from handover delays to disagreements between drivers and operators, and agreed on what a good response looks like.

4In their words

Participants, in their own words.

We learnt how to improve shift changes and production, transform ourselves and bring positive changes to the team.

Supervisor