IMPROVING THE LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY LEVEL AT NEW FIBRE PLANTS

V. G. Verentsova, E. N. Mamchenkov, K. N. Zamelina, R. G. Bondareva, and O. A. Gubanova

UDC 677.494:65.011.4

Man-made fibre production in the Soviet Union will increase significantly in the near future when new fibre plants and production sections come on stream. The contribu- tion of these new capacities to a higher output of synthetic fibres will increase con- siderably. It is, therefore, urgently necessary to ensure that the level of labour pro- ductivity at the new establishments is significantly higher than the existing one.

Every new plant is being equipped with modern machines and in some cases the production techniques will be more sophisticated. Nevertheless, the necessity for a high labour productivity at the new plants remains.

The unsatisfactory level and slow rate of improvement of the labour productivity at the new plants already operational are attributable to a lag in scientific and expe- rimental research on the development of fundamentally new production processes and new high-productivity equipment. In some design projects new fibre plants are to be given equipment the productivity of which is much lower than that already existing in world practice. Technical advances have been made mainly in the chemical and spinning pro- cesses of the fibre production cycle. Yet it is in the textile section where the latent potential for higher labour productivity is to be found. In this section the new fibre plants unfortunately differ scarcely at all from existing establishments. For example, the K0-228-I cord twister with its relatively low speed and small packages which was installed in fibre plants for the eighth five-year plan has again been included in the design projects for the tenth five-year plan. The new models like the combination cord twister give only a very slight increase in labour productivity. This means that in this technological operation, which accounts for 43 - 45% of the total labour content of the polyamide cord process, the labour productivity at new establishments will not increase to a significant extent. The position is the same in the case of certain other machines in the labour-intensive processes in fibre production,

Another important cause of the unsatisfactory la0our productivity level at new establishments is the fact that questions relating to the mechanization and automation are not dealt with adequately in the design projects. ~he proportion of manual labour in these projects is sLill very lsrge. Frequently no provisions sre made in the projects for new fibre plants for the automated doffing of large packages and for conveying them automatically to the next operation.

However, the position as regards the mechanization of the auxiliary operations is particularly disquieting. In this field only 25 - 30% of the workers concerned are engaged on mechanized labour. The proportion of workers in manual auxiliary jobs (i.e. goods and material handlers, loaders, fitters, etc.) is almost the same at the new as at existing establishments. The labour productivity of the auxiliary workers at the new plants is only marginally above that at existing establishments. The number of auxili- ary workers is already larger than that of key operatives and will continue to increase so that the mechanization of auxiliary jobs is a very urgent task. The solution cannot be arrived at one stroke, of course. It will require the combined efforts of designers, technologists and mechanical engineers but it is the workers of the industry which must show the greatest persistence and energy in this respect. The writers calculate that

All-Union Scientific Research Institute for Synthetic Fibres. Translated from Khimicheskie Volokna, No.2, pp. ~9 - 61, March - April, 1975. Original article submitted February 25, 1974.

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every time one worker in a hundred is released for other work as a result Of mechanisa- tion, labour productivity increases by at least 1.2 - 1.5%.

The growth rate of labour productivity in the industry is affected adversely by the excessively long construction time for new man-made fibre establishments. For exam- ple, the Kemerov plant produced its first fibre 11 years after the construction of the plant was started. The construction times of some plants were two and a half to three times longer than the norm. In cases like these even the most advanced production pro- cesses incorporated in the design project are cbsolescent by the time the plant comes on stream. I

~he All-Union Man-Made Fibre Society and the State Institute for the Planning of Man-Made Fibre Establishments must be I given their due for revising the various draft pro- jects systematically. The project for the Kemerov plant, for example, was revised four times, and the projects of other plants, viz. for the production of polyamide fibre, are currently being revised. The result will be.a considerably higher level of labour pro- ductivity, i.e. twice as high as in the original project, but still below that of the best establishments outside the USSR.

The problem of reaching the design labour productivity at new fibre plants within the specified period is a very important. The key to its solution lies in the supply of skilled operatives able to master complex production techniques rapidly. The process of mastering the technology and reaching the design cost-benefit indices can be accomplished successfully only by training the key operatives beforehand at other establishments, by recruiting graduates of job-training colleges, or by transferring key workers from other fibre-producing establishments. These sources of labour for new plants are limited, how- ever. Most (~O - 80%) workers for new plants are recruited from outside sources. Often they are unacquainted with the fibre production process so that working-up to design capacity is slow, labour productivity increases at a slow rate, and the quality of the product is unsatisfactory. The staffing oS new establishments must be planned beforehand and must be completed when the establishment is rea,ly to start production. A certain amount of experience in this respecthas accumulated in the industry and this experience must be generalized for the purpose of preparing recommendations aimed at improving the organization of training operatives for new fibre-producing establishments.

Of equal importance is the problem of labour turnover. All is not well at the new plants in this respect either. Labour turnover at new plants during their most important period of operation, i.e. the first year or two, is as high as 45 - 55%. A reduction in this index to the average level of the industry as a whole would result in a 15 - 20% increase in the labour productivity of new fibre establishments.

An analysis of the causes of this high labour turnover at new fibre plants during their first years of operation showed that among the principal ones was the fact that some of the machines had been installed in an unfinished conditions and the equipment often suffers from design snd manufacturing faults so that normal production processes are impracticable. Other causes are: delays in sLarting production in individual sec- tions, housing construction not keeping pace with the coming-on-stream of new production sections of the plant, and in many cases lack of facilities for children and of cultural and social amenities. The causes of heavy labour turnover can be eradicated only as a result of comprehensive measures initiated by the local associations and organizations of the region where the new plant is situated.

The design labour productivity might be reached sooner if improvements were made in the economic effort at new plants, notably during the initial period after production has started. There is evidence that the scientific level of the planning of the cost to benefit indices must be raised. There have been cases where the plan for output volume and labour productivity was fu] filled by 120 - 130% or even more. A performance analysis of these plants showed that this high level of overfulfilment was the result not of the introduction of certain technological, organizational, etc. measures but of a badly pre- pared plan largely unrelated to the design indices.

The discrepancies between the projected indices and the planned and, consequently, actual indices ~iake it impossible to monitor the progress towards the projected target. Yet the achievement of the design indices of labour productivity on schedule represents a task of the highest importance to the national economy, and the more so now in view of the universal shortage of labour. It is necessary, therefore, that ~verything be done to ensureagreement between the projected, planned and achieved indices of labour producti-

vity.

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It will be necessary first to make sure that the projected and real production conditions are comparable. The point is that new establishments cannot normally prepare their first production plan on the basis of the projected labour productivity because the project indices (output, labour intensity) were determined for a completely finished fibre plant whereas in reality the plant becomes operational in phases. The construction of a plant requires several years during which the design indices of labour productivity cannot be used for practical purposes. In the writers' view, the design project should specify not only the indices for the plant as a whole but also for the individual phases. This method would make it possible to monitor the actual progress towards the design labour productivity.

The monitoring process would not be complete, however, until yet another problem has been resolved, i.e. the hardening of the design indices for labour (number of wor- kers, labour intensity, tending norms, etc.) at the instant when an individual phase or the plant as a whole comes on stream. This is a necessary step because for one reason or another a design project will sometimes deviate from the design assignment in terms of the level of mechanization and automation of production processes. There have been cases, moreover, when installed equipment failed to function or the projected range of fibres to be produced differed sharply from that which the plant was in fact able to produce.

This latter fact is hizhly significant for man-made fibre plants in their endea- your to reach the projected labour productivity. It is well known that the labour inten- sity of textile yarn spinning increases with a decrease ~n the tex so that an increase in the proportion of low-tex yarn calls for an increase in the nUmber of operatives, The design projects of recently commissioned fibre plants usually specified production of low-tex textile yarns but none of the plants concerned complied with these specifica- tions. The average tex of the yarns actually produced was one and a half to two times higher than specified in the project. Under these conditions a comparison of the actual with the design labour productivity is meaningless, of course, even when the latter was projected for a specific construction phase of the plant.

Under conditions which would permit the design and actual indices to be compared the function of economic analyses i.n the endeavour to reach the design labour producti- vity on schedule could be greatly enhanced, A comparative analysis of this kind is the practice at only a very few man-made fibre plants and even then without the thoroughness demanded by an efficient accounting system,

The writers consider it necessary to establish a procedure according to which the scientific organizations jointly with every new fibre plant are obliged to carry out an analysis of the progress towards the design labour productivity. This must be done in two stages:

- constant comparison of the actual with the projected labour produCtivity from the instant when the phase or plant as a whole become operational to the end of the period of e~onomic adjustment;

- a final analysis (at the end of the period of adjustment).

The constant comparison must become an operational tool. Its prime purpose should be to disclose in time any deviation from the projected labour productivity so that appropriate correcting measures can be applied.

The results of the final analysis must form the basis for a report containing a precise definition of the causes of deviations from the projected labour productivity. After approval by the All-Union Man-Made Fibre Society this report must be made available to the relevant design and planning organizations for consideration in later projects.

The introduction of such an analysis of the progress towards the design labour productivity at new fibre plants would permit fuller utilization of such a powerful fac- tor in production efficiency like socialist competition which is clearly underestimated at new fibre plants. In fact, these plants do not participate in these competitions at all during their first two years of operation. The inclusion of these plants in a social- ist competition for ahead-of-schedule attaiument of the most important projected indices including labour productivity would undoubtedly be a fruitful measure.

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