Train 18 series, part 11...preparation of key drawings and keeping the team intact

One day circa mid November 2017, before our meeting with the car body consultants, I found Sri Srinivas, the CDE/M sitting in his room with shoulders drooping, looking visibly flustered. Generally given to enquire after people’s personal state of affairs and health, I checked with him. He said that the number of iterations in the designs, whether with the consultants or vendors, was proving to be a nightmare. He added that our designers and drafters had to rework on the detailed drawings repeatedly. In addition, there were some components which were imported and required changes after validation and analysis either at vendors’ place or at ICF. He was worried that this was the status even before the actual manufacture of Train 18 platform had started at ICF and he wondered aloud if the same cycle of work would repeat once a prototype was applied on the platform at ICF. I told him not to forget that his men were breaking new ground and that this was a learning process which would hold them in good stead in future, e.g., for the Train 20 project. Train 20 project, the Aluminium-bodied train set to take us another quantum up the league of modern railway systems? Well, that has been a story of missed and miffed opportunities. I will, hopefully, write about this project as to how it was put in quasi-moratorium and ironically, this procrastination was later meekly veiled under the garb of our success in Train 18. But not now, let me first keep recounting the positivity around the Train 18 project.

So the flustered Sri Srinvas was partly placated. His problem was that he must make the engineering 3-D model containing the key points to enable manufacture of under frame, sidewalls and roofs at ICF as also incorporate description of all components which defined and communicated parts of the complete design to other interested parties, within ICF and outside. He mentioned that as it was, the basic 3-D model and key drawings, which were the top level assembly drawings defining the concept in all its details, were made with incomplete information and, on top of that, issuing final detailed drawings with inadequate or tentative information could lead to major chaos.

To put things in perspective, let us understand what detailed manufacturing drawings mean at ICF. The practice at ICF is to start with 3D models which are the starting points but they have to be used in conjunction with 2-D drawings; these models are a good visual representation of the desired item but do not contain all the information that drawings do. The 2-D drawings, which are made after the 3-D model is finalized,  must have enough orthogonal views describe the component fully with reference to the parent assembly drawing, dimensions evenly distributed, structured and not duplicated, drafting Standard, material, specification, manufacturing tolerances, surface roughnesses, treatments and coatings, and revision details etc. A detailed 2-D drawing is a specific engineering tool that shows all the information and requirements needed to manufacture an item; It is more than simply a drawing, it is a diagram in engineering language that communicates ideas as well as all the information. Making these drawings with, say, mounting dimensions or envelope of some child component not frozen, can disturb the applecart of the entire assembly.

Sri Srinivas lamented that, ideally, it was not a good practice and no major rolling stock manufacturer would proceed without complete information, lest it causes problems in and rework in future. I told him that we did not have the luxury and we had to do with what we have and take risks; not only order components but also start components/details level manufacture at ICF. Too risky, he said. I knew what he was saying but nevertheless, told him shamelessly, “Of course, it’s risky but you have to do with a calculated and calibrated risk. Remember, Rome was not built in a day, for sure, but you have to build your Rome in days, not months. If you do not start manufacture in January, the train would not be ready by August’18, our unofficial target date for turnout.” I knew that the gentleman was merely expressing his exasperation; he was more devoted to the time line than me and his occasional outburst was all in the game.

The train’s out in 2018 mantra was forcing the vendors also to work tirelessly. I would frequently get calls from key vendors apprising me of the status, a kind of FIR before someone from the DC flagged an issue. The work continued even as information flowed from various quarters and we were well on way to start manufacturing in January 18 or at least the early months of 2018.

The meeting with foreign consultants were always very interesting. A typical meeting would go on without a break from 9 AM to 8 PM, which, they were not so accustomed to. Sri Srinivas always ordered pizzas for lunch in the middle of technical discussions. Occasionally, a consultant would fall sick, perhaps due to overwork but we conveniently blamed it on the change in content and pattern of meals. Invariably, those falling sick would come back cured for the meetings within a day or two; we had managed to Indianise them. Whenever these consultants and participating suppliers came to say final bye to CDE/M, the latter would start conducting another round of discussion on in-house made tea/coffee for another two hours. Once at one of the concluding sessions I asked if the visitors had gone around Chennai and nearby places of interest. The poor chaps replied that for that to happen, I had to advise the CDE/M to loosen a bit and go easy. In one of the meetings, an ICF designer asked a Polish consultant during the makeshift lunch, “Why don't you bring along with your girlfriend next time to Chennai?” The Polish gentleman quipped, "What? In this madness with you guys! You want her to leave me for good, or what”.

As these struggles continued, I had to battle another nagging problem. I will never tire of saying that a success of any major project is an aggregation of the efforts at various level of the team. The team is of paramount importance. In private sector, usually, whenever a new leader takes over a challenging job, he is free to build his own team. No such extravagance, if may say so sardonically, is available to a General Manager of IR; his core team comprises of officers posted under him by the Railway Board. As GM of ICF, however, I was fortunate that a great team was already in place and I have already named most of the top level officers of the team. But the good fortune was not going to last. Some key officers would come up for promotion or some other consideration and the threat of their transfer would loom large. At times, some myopic officer in Board would not look at the importance of the work in hand or the accomplishment of an officer; he would look at the number of years the officer had put in at ICF and declare that it was time to move him. I doubt if these hidebound officers had heard of Bassanio saying, “Wrest once the law to your authority. To do a great right, do a little wrong” in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. A common refrain would be that no one was indispensable. That is one of the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Of course, no one is indispensable but there is something like a good fit for a job! If everyone could fit everywhere, evaluating any merit in officers was meaningless. This by the way is one of the reasons why the government of the day goes through the 360 degree exercise before an important appointment. If something meaningful has to be achieved, it has to be done by showing some special consideration towards competent officers; lack of recognition of this principle just to satisfy some rigid but pedestrian sense of justice to all is definitely one of the reasons of the mediocrity and averageness of performance.

I did not let go and kept beseeching and cajoling the Board, trying to ensure that key officers of the team were not disturbed and mostly succeeded with some exceptions. For example, I had to let Sri Vavre, CDE/E to leave in the middle of the most crucial part of the project as he was going on promotion and there was no way to retain him at ICF. Similarly, Sri Trivedi, PCME, a one of his kind capable officer, left us midway as he was slated to go places, beginning with his posting as GM of East Central Railway. While a replacement for Sri Vavre was not difficult with Sri Dash being available close at hand, getting the right replacement of Sri Trivedi was not going to be easy. I know nearly all the officers of that level in Mechanical department of IR and not many fitted the role. An officer of Board asked me to submit a list of three officers for Board to choose one as if I was out conducting some petty purchase and three quotations were required; regrettably, the officer in question had no understanding of the working of a PU in general and of the type of projects we had in hand at ICF in particular. I knew this would not work. I had to plead with the then Chairman Railway Board, Sri Ashwani Lohani, who as most people know, was one of the most level-headed leaders IR ever had. He understood our predicament and we got Sri Shubhranshu as PCME. To my mind, the best man for the job, given the complexities of the job as well as the convoluted way one has to adopt frequently on IR to keep moving ahead towards your objectives and bottom line.

As for the team at lower level, it was within my competence. Ensuring that was not a piece of cake but not so difficult and we did manage continuity of the team of middle level officers and supervisors. Eventually, and thankfully too, we did not suffer any major rupture in the entire team Train 18 and it indubitably was one of the reasons of the success of the project. 

Meanwhile, time had passed quickly and we were nearing the end of 2017. The Train 18 journey had become more excitable than ever. Yes, Mr. Iago, I know what you meant when you said to Roderigo, “Pleasure and action make the hours seem short.”

Well, also, to misquote the poet Adam,

Main  maikade  ki  raah  se  ho  kar  nikal  gaya,

Varna    safar    hayat   ka   kaafi   taweel   tha*

(* I found the tavern (pleasure) on the way, otherwise life’s journey was very long)

(to be continued...but after some days as I am travelling to Chennai for some lectures in the corporate world)