Remaking of India 1975 to 1995. 'Before and After!'

The Remaking of  India: 

The special issue of 'India Today' celebrating its 50th anniversary inspired me to blog with the same headline. The magazine covers a wide spectrum of topics and events! 

It was indeed so, for many!
 My focus is on Manufacturing Industries!

A video shared by D A Prasanna, the founding  CEO of WiproGE  and a pioneer in the MedTech sector motivated me to write this blog. Especially his views on how the Government of Ghana, which had sought his advice, could develop the Med/Tech Industry in Ghana. The quotes from his book 'Innovate Locally To Win Globally' in the video entices one to read the book!

The book deals with India's healthcare industry in depth and in great detail. It is fascinating to read how WiproGE navigated the early periods when the 'Control Raj' made it challenging. And how he and his team managed to build a very successful JV with GE after the structural reforms in India. It is a must read for those involved in the manufacturing industry! The story makes us feel proud. 

 Before: 1975 to 1985..

Others adapted!

Very creditable that others who persisted  progressed!

My story is a bit long, but I feel it does illustrate how things can go wrong even when you have put all the effort. Was it just our karma !

 I joined Elpro International, managed by GE in the year 1975. The company had four different products. I took charge of the manufacturing; parts and the assembly of x-ray machines! Thankfully, I inherited a good team of supervisors and engineers! My shop floor experience, was majorly in toolmaking and import substitution. Making protypes from design drawings was my forte.

I had an interesting entry into the company, IGE the sales unit of GE, arranged my visits to a couple of government hospitals wherein Elpro made x-ray machines were installed. The technicians I spoke to said that the units were electrically good, but mechanically so-so. They added that Siemens made better tables and columns, the mechanical part of the x-ray machine. 

My task was very clear. I had to work with the designers and strengthen the mechanical parts. Thanks to my experience in making protypes, I could move fast. The toolroom support was excellent. The orders for tables and columns went up.

I was sent to GE Milwaukee to see and learn and also seek new products to make in India. It was clear that Elpro facilities needed to be upgraded for making the high-end products. Our engineering department had developed good electrical systems. However the prototype table was not up to the mark. Volumes did not justify tooling up. Getting licenses to import just parts was not easy.  Hence IGE was quite happy to import the machines from GE and I guess the bigger hospitals were able to get licenses to import. 

Meanwhile Patil, who also headed the toolroom and I were deputed to visit a GE factory making vacuum tube circuit breakers. We saw no problem in tooling up for  the manufacture of parts for the Circuit Breaker! We did need help with the manufacture of the vacuum tube, and the operators required training to develop the necessary skills! Both Patil and I were confident we could do it. Sadly, for reasons not known to me, the project was dropped! It could be that even though we had enough place in the Chinchwad factory,  the government wanted us to set up a plant to manufacture this product in Aurangabad! Perhaps there were other reasons! As I had worked earlier in a factory making conventional circuit breakers, for me it was a disappointment!

Later, Nadkarni who headed the Engineering and I were once asked to rush to USA. It was a visit to a GE factory which manufactured Ultrasound equipment. The product was compact and looked easy to make!  When we said that GOI would not allow us to import a fully assembled product as suggested, and that import of only CKD or Semi CKD parts was possible. The GE manager lost interest. He said  importing parts would cost us more. Added that they did not have people to deal with this! A stalemate again. Apparently the young executive from GE who was the coordinator had no clue about the Indian bureaucracy!

It was also the time Elpro began producing GE made CNC. I had no role to play in that project. While it was disappointing not to have a GE product to work on.  I had a bigger challenge. It was the manufacture of  a Cancer treatment equipment! 

The cancer treating equipment Elpro had developed was sold by IGE. They had sold twelve units. I had put my heart into it to fix many issues in its design. It was a reverse engineered product. It did have a little jerky patient handling table. All it needed was the right kind of Ball Screw. We needed an import license! Our consultant who dealt with GOI took me along to meet a DGTD officer. I explained the importance of the ball screw we needed to import for a life saving equipment. The officer was nice and friendly and promised to take it up in their next meeting and I thanked him profusely. As we walked out, the consultant told me candidly that nothing will be done! 

We were also trying to get work with AECL, Canada. In fact, Sam who had designed the equipment made a visit to AECL. I had suggested to our president Ketkar, that we should go see an installation ourselves. We traveled to Indore and saw the machine installed at the hospital. I still remember the special room where the machine was installed, with mild calming lighting. We saw an old lady walking out of  the room. Her son, when told we were from the factory, came to thank us and said 'You should have seen her earlier. She could hardly stand'. There were no complaints and we returned feeling happy. Then there was a bolt from the blue. IGE decided to stop selling the machine. 

It was the last straw. Times were confusing at Elpro at that time. It was after  B.Sircar, President, a very dynamic person had sadly died while in office. Around this time a stream of  GE executives visited Elpro. They gave us advice and lectured us about being number 1 or 2.  I do remember a one-to-one talk, with the current GE head for India. I think my irritation about this constant flow of advice showed! 

There were also positives, GE Milwaukee had suggested I try visit GE Spain, which I did. They were making X-machines closer to the ones needed in India. People were very hospitable and said 'take whatever you like'. Their mobile x-ray unit was just right for us. When I said I wanted drawings, they said it was free for us. Only asked me to arrange printing it. I thought it was a good opportunity and a few young engineers joined me. They saw the factory, met the people and printed the drawings to take home!

Around this time, I learnt about a  factory coming up in Thailand. I knew the person promoting the project.  He had also a worked in Elpro in Pune before moving to Singapore. As it happens sometimes in our life, things moved fast and I was in Bangkok by mid December 1987. A story to blog!

I must add that while I had moved out of GE, a mention that I was working in a GE company in India helped me immensely. 

I had made cold calls to the many factories around Bangkok to introduce our company, Wireforms! Many of our possible customers were Japanese. I remember this visit distinctly. It was almost lunchtime and the lady in the purchase department, politely agreed to meet, even though it was her lunch time. She asked me put the brochure on the table and she would look at it later!   

About a month later, a Japanese and a Thai Chinese gentlemen came to visit our factory. It was a requirement for them to buy springs made in Thailand. Luckily the purchase-in-charge had saved our company brochure and remembered. It so happened that the spring coiling machine we had just installed was Japanese! And we had also a few coils of spring wire bought for trials and demo. When I told them I was ex-GE, I guess the deal was done! 

Soon these two gentlemen and  I were on our way to Japan. The Thailand factory had an order from GE. The purpose of our visit was to understand the product, the function of the spring and its importance. I was treated like a partner! The news spread amongst the many expat Japanese executives. In time many Japanese factories working in Thailand became my customers! When things fall in place, it looks easy!  They also saw that we were prompt in delivery and fully committed to quality! Once there was a problem with dimensions of a critical spring. I remember the spring was at the upper level of the tolerance. I just replaced thousands of these springs. Also took back the springs that could not be used! I did not argue. There were murmurs about me being too soft etc., in our factory. I did manage to salvage the springs later on! 

The After... 1985 -1995

Is it all timing?

While it was good to make cars, India needs to do more!

There is no way I can summarize 'the after' story briefly. The book 'Innovate Locally to Win Globally' has so much to share. I can only say  'just read it'!

A few quotes: ????

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