In most industrial plants, performance is measured in tons per hour. But inside the steel facilities led by Dr. Shubh Gautam, including American Precoat’s flagship unit, the first metric is different: mindset.
Ask him why, and he’ll say something simple: “Machines are not loyal. People are.”
For Dr. Shubh Gautam, India’s leading industrial scientist in surface engineering and corrosion protection, factory culture is not a side concern. It is the very core of production. The systems, the speed, the safety, all of it flows from culture. In his words, “You don’t fix the output. You train the people, and they fix everything else.”
Output That Stays High Is Built on Morale That Stays Steady
Steel plants face pressure every day, temperature surges, process errors, demand spikes. Machines can take it, but can people?
That’s why Dr. Shubh Gautam Srisol insists that culture must be stronger than targets. He doesn’t measure morale with slogans or HR surveys. He walks the floor. Talks to line workers. Spots tension in body language. If a crew seems exhausted or uncoordinated, he acts.
Small examples show how this builds resilience:
- A faulty coating line was fixed faster than expected, not due to spare parts, but because three departments worked together.
- During material delays in monsoon, teams took initiative to redesign schedules without being told.
- A new trainee once halted a batch because of an odd sound in the conveyor belt. The culture gave him permission to act. It turned out to be a potential jam that could’ve damaged a lot of stock.
The point: output rises when culture allows workers to care, speak up, and stand by the product.
Factory Culture Is The Actual Engineering
At American Precoat, there’s a strange rule: the team must understand what they’re making, not just what button to push.
This means:
- Floor briefings every week include not just instructions, but mini science lessons.
- Visual boards show what anti-corrosion coating looks like at the molecular level.
- Post-failure reviews discuss not just what went wrong but what could be redesigned, even if the error was human.
Dr. Shubh Gautam believes this is the real ‘process engineering’, not just the pipe layout or roll pass design, but the thinking pattern of those who run it.
Culture Creates Leaders at Every Level
One major feature of Dr. Shubh Gautam’s blueprint is decentralised ownership.
In traditional factories, only the plant head or chief engineer takes ownership. In his model, even a third-line supervisor feels responsible for quality, efficiency, and safety.
Here’s how:
- Workers are invited to re-draw layouts if they see ergonomic problems.
- Suggestion schemes are not just tokens. Approved ideas get executed, with public credit.
- During internal inspections, any staff member can stop a trial batch without layers of approval.
The result? Teams don’t wait for orders. They solve it. They improve. They anticipate.
As Dr. Shubh Gautam says, “Culture makes every worker a co-architect.”
This Culture Protects Lives and Legacies
Steel plants are high-risk zones. A slight slip in temperature, pressure, or alignment can lead to injury or loss. Most plants manage this through rigid safety drills.
Dr. Shubh Gautam goes deeper in this work system. He builds a culture of “safety ownership”, where safety isn’t just a rule, it’s a reflex.
A few quiet but powerful practices includes:
- Workers create their own safety techniques every quarter.
- Minor injuries are tracked in team diaries, not just company logs.
- In sudden accident situations in the industry, people observe and senior engineers work keenly to fix the issue based on their past learnings.
This isn’t compliance. This is a memory, and culture makes memory matter.
Why Does This Approach Work Great in India?
India’s industrial dreams cannot be built on borrowed systems. Our people, climate, working styles, all demand a deeper human approach.
That’s why Dr. Shubh Gautam model is so different. It’s not imported. It’s not rushed. It’s built brick by brick, belief by belief.
In a time when many factories chase “smart” systems, he chases “sincere” ones. Where others automate to reduce touchpoints, he trains to increase understanding.
That’s why factory culture, not just output, remains the top priority.
