Training karigars: what works on the floor
Classroom training changes almost nothing in a sweets factory. Here is the approach that actually shifts behaviour on the line.
Thirty years of training production teams has produced one reliable conclusion: people do not change how they work because they were told something in a hall. They change because they were shown, then corrected, then checked.
Train on the line, on the product
Not a demonstration batch. The actual production batch, on the actual machine, on the actual shift. The learning has to happen inside the constraints the worker faces every day — the heat, the pace, the pressure to finish.
Train in the language they think in
Hindi, on the floor documents and in the session. A perfectly written English SOP that nobody reads is a decoration.
One change at a time
A karigar can absorb one new habit per week. Give them six and you get none. Pick the one that costs you the most money and work only on that until it is automatic.
Show the why
"Roast until the colour changes" gets followed inconsistently. "Roast until the colour changes because under-roasted besan gives you the raw smell customers complain about" gets followed. People execute a rule they understand and abandon one they do not.
Verify for two weeks
New behaviour reverts unless it is checked. Two weeks of daily verification by the supervisor is roughly what it takes for a technique to hold on its own.
Build the supervisor, not just the worker
The highest return in any factory is a supervisor who can plan a shift, allocate manpower, spot a deviation and escalate correctly. Train five workers and you improve five stations. Train one supervisor properly and you improve every shift they run, permanently.
Facing this in your factory?
Talk it through with Arjun Singh Gehlot. First conversation is free.