From Role Confusion to Operational Clarity
How a RACI-led intervention helped a ₹180 Cr textile business reduce rejection, speed up decisions and avoid unnecessary ₹3.2 Cr capex
1. OBJECTIVE
Improve decision-making and accountability across the order-to-dispatch process, while identifying the real cause behind rising customer complaints and quality issues.
Improve decision-making and accountability across the order-to-dispatch process, while identifying the real cause behind rising customer complaints and quality issues.
The business was considering a ₹3.2 Cr investment in new finishing machinery to address what appeared to be a quality problem.
2. PROBLEM
A second-generation textile processing business in Surat with:
- ₹ 180 Cr revenue
- 340 employees
- Dyeing, printing and finishing operations
was experiencing significant operational friction.
The warning signs included:
- Customer-end rejection rate of 6.4%
- Customer complaints up 38% YoY
- Internal QC overrides occurring 11 times a week
- Quality decisions being countermanded by two family members
- 24 recurring decisions mapped during diagnosis
- 11 decisions had multiple Accountables
- 4 decisions had no clear Accountable owner RACI_Role_Clarity_Playbook V1
The apparent problem was machinery. The underlying problem was role ambiguity.
3. STRATEGY
Instead of immediately recommending a ₹3.2 Cr capital investment, the approach focused on the order-to-dispatch value stream.
The team:
- Mapped 24 recurring business decisions
- Identified where accountability was duplicated or missing
- Separated commercial and operational ownership
- Re-defined quality and procurement authority
- Established a clear escalation mechanism
- Used RACI principles to assign one Accountable owner per decision RACI_Role_Clarity_Playbook V1
Key insight: The business didn’t need more machinery. It needed clearer ownership.
4. SOLUTION
The intervention created clear ownership across critical decisions.
- A dedicated Quality Head became the sole Accountable owner for finished-fabric acceptance.
- Procurement became Accountable for incoming-material rejection.
- The two family members were given clearly separated commercial and operational ownership.
- Cross-functional decisions were supported by a defined escalation protocol.
5. EXECUTION & RESULTS
The engagement ran for 6 weeks, followed by measurement over 120 days.
| Metric | Before | After | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Customer-end rejection |
6.4% |
2.1% |
67% reduction |
|
QC overrides |
11/week |
2/week |
82% reduction |
|
Decision latency |
3.2 days |
0.6 days |
81% reduction |
|
Planned machinery capex |
₹3.2 Cr |
₹ 0 |
₹ 3.2 Cr avoided |
THE BUSINESS IMPACT
What looked like a ₹3.2 Cr machinery problem turned out to be an accountability problem.
By identifying the root cause before investing in a solution, the business achieved:
- 67% lower customer rejection
- 82% fewer QC overrides
- 81% faster decisions
- ₹3.2 Cr capex avoided
Want to know what's really holding your business back?
TAKEAWAY: Don’t solve the symptom before diagnosing the problem.
Our approach is: Discover → Diagnose → Design → Execute → Govern
Because sometimes the biggest opportunity for growth isn’t another investment.
It’s fixing what’s already happening inside the business.