"Along with the ownership, we ensure lot of visibility of quality related issues across the organisation. Nobody wants to see his name next to a ‘failure complaint'." Quality of vendors is equally important to a plant's success. "A very strong vendor evaluation system, involving regular audit, training, reward and penalty, etc. is in place. Our ‘Green Channel' vendors are ensuring 100 percent defect free items delivered on time and competitive cost," informs Ghosh.

So how does Ghosh perceive the role of his supply chain partners? What are his expectations from them? "In capital goods industry, the nature of items procured is large in variety and small in numbers. Also, there is a big cyclical nature of the demand. This requires a complicated sourcing pattern and thereby unique strategy. Having right quality partners and maintaining relationships with them over long period is important. Lot of customised parts and one-off parts are to be developed to meet unique customer need. Vendors need very high levels of technical knowledge and experience and at the same time have to be very flexible to develop, experiment and deliver such small quantity of complicated parts."

Ghosh also points out that Disa has been partnering with highly motivated and committed vendor base over a long period and have helped them grow together with Disa. "Our supply chain partners are considered the extended workshop of Disa, enjoying high level of focus, training, quality systems implementation, audit process, etc."

Ghosh identifies safety as his priority number one. "There can be nothing more important than safety of people. We believe, if we do not have the capability to give someone a hand or leg or part of his body, we have no business of being responsible for him losing one. There are absolutely no excuses and no compromises on safety related issues. At Disa, safety of plants is monitored across the world and regular audit is conducted by a global safety director. A dedicated safety officer keeps watch over entire operations and is empowered to shut down operations, in case of a serious safety risk identified."

Plant's overall approach

Technological leadership: Keep the team ahead of competition through training, communication and culture change.

Respect and empower: Inculcate the feeling of belongingness

Customer first: Deliver to commitment. Commercial considerations become secondary, in case of a failure in meeting customer commitments.