Measuring performance in electrical equipment makers: what to track and what to ignore

In a motor works, the winder with the highest stator tally is applauded at every monthly meeting. After the pump season, burnt motors start returning from dealers. When the returns are opened, a worrying number carry his code stamped on the frame. The tally captured how fast he wound. It said nothing about whether his windings would survive a summer of borewell duty.

Electrical equipment works overflow with numbers: units per day, hours, overtime, dispatch value. Some help. Others steer people straight towards the wrong habits. The electrical equipment manufacturing overview argues that goals should reward right first time. Here is what that means for each role.

• Wiremen and fitters: cubicles clearing functional test first time, faults found at test or site traced to their bench, redline and label completeness, and help given to helpers.
• Winders: units clearing the first surge or bench run, rework by cause, conductor scrap and learners signed off.
• Testers: tests completed to the sheet, red tags raised and whether they proved justified, sheet completeness and bay turnaround.
• Cable line operators: scrap metres by cause, spark tester trips, handover notes complete and changeover time for a new size.
• Luminaire and charger assembly hands: burn-in rejects traced to the station, and sealing or soldering spot checks passed.
• Supervisors: right first time for the section, overtime against plan, learners progressing and shift-start safety checks done.

• Raw units per day. Alone, it rewards rushing. Count only units that clear test first time.
• Hours present and overtime. Long evenings usually signal weak planning, not devotion.
• Month-end dispatch value. It blends sales, planning and luck, and it pressures the bay to wave units through.
• A rework log showing zero. It can mean flawless work or quiet fixes behind the cubicle. Check people feel safe reporting.
• Training attendance. Count sign-offs instead.

Name, grade, section and month.
Cubicles wired, and how many cleared functional test first time.
Faults found at test or at site traced to this bench, with stage and cause.
Redline and labelling completeness, checked on two cubicles picked at random.
Shift-start checks: crimpers, torque driver and protective gear inspected.
Teaching: helpers coached and rungs signed off.
Supervisor note: one thing done well and one to work on.
Action agreed for next month.

One sheet is enough. The same layout fits winders and busbar fitters with the trade words swapped. Testers need their own version that rewards accurate sheets and well-judged tags, never units released.

Most of these numbers already exist on paper somewhere in the works. The trick is to read them per person and per stage rather than per month. A small shop can manage it with five sources and one hour a week from the supervisor.

• Route cards or travellers. Each stage carries a name and date, so a fault found later points back to a winding table or a wiring bench.
• Rework tags. A coloured tag tied to the unit, noting the fault, the stage and the hours spent fixing it.
• The hold register in the test bay. Every red tag, who raised it, why, and whether retest showed it was justified.
• Burn-in and spark tester logs. Luminaire racks, charger load banks and cable spark testers already record failures; add the station or line.
• Site snag reports. One line per snag from the commissioning engineer, with the stage where it began.

Some results belong to a crew, not a person. A cable line's scrap metres depend on the drawing operator, the extruder hand and the take-up crew together. A transformer's first-time pass rests on winding, core building, drying and assembly. Score those as section figures and discuss them at the bay huddle. Keep individual sheets for what one person controls, such as terminations, coil layering or a tester's paperwork. Mixing the two breeds resentment, because nobody accepts blame for a colleague's shift.

1. 1

   Agree the measures with the section first

   Show the draft to seniors and ask what feels unfair. A measure the floor distrusts will be gamed within a month.

2. 2

   Trace faults to a stage before a name

   Use the job's route card to locate the stage that produced the fault. Coaching follows; blame does not.

3. 3

   Review monthly and briefly

   Ten or fifteen minutes per person with the supervisor and the sheet. Look at trends over three months, never one rough week.

4. 4

   Link grades with care

   Use the scorecard for grade moves and increments, not daily deductions. The process for setting goals and reviews sets the link.

5. 5

   Protect honest reporting

   Never penalise someone for logging their own rework. Penalise hiding it.

The right-first-time note for cubicle builders covers measures that do not punish honest rework reports. The motor works version shows a winder count that credits first bench-run passes. Why some shop-floor numbers backfire unpicks the wider problem.