POLYMERS Communiqué Aug – Sep 2017

A CUSTAGE I N I T I A T I V E Aug - Sep 2017 l Issue 3.6 l ` 150

ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Founders Share Their

Mission,Vision & Zeal Special Supplement on Sintex with this Issue

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

1

CONTENTS

Aug - Sep 2017 l Issue 3.6

32

44 30

93

40

70

88 48

98

FOUNDERS SPEAK

OPEN MIND

On our anniversary, ‘Nostalgia’, we thought, would be the best gift we could give back to the industry. We strongly believe that nothing can beat experience and that’s what motivated us to go to the ‘founders’ of companies and here them out.

P. P. Kharas, Chairman

Nostalgia: Founders Speak

32

KING TALK

Mahendra Patel, Chairman Mamata Group, Ahmedabad

Never Fear Failure

52

Ecoplast Ltd., Mumbai

THEN AND NOW

Dr. Hiralal (Hiru) N. Patel, Chairman

Career Commencing When 25: Still Agile at 97 Interplex India Pvt. Ltd.; Interplex Mazzucchelli Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai

HEART-TO-HEART

56

READING THE FUTURE

Hargovind Bajaj, Chairman Emeritus

Arvind M. Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director Welset Plast Extrusions Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai

40

STANDING TALL

58

ROTATIONALLY MOULDED OPPORTUNITY

Pawan Poddar, Managing Director

L. K. Singh, Managing Director

At 90+ Years: Still Studying and Guiding the Industry Bajaj Group of Industries, Nagpur

Grit, Guts and Gumption: Driving Change in Indian Plumbing Industry Ashirvad Pipes Pvt. Ltd., Bengaluru

44

BUILDING CAPABILITIES

Mahendra Sanghvi, Executive Chairman Shaily Engineering Plastics Limited, Vadodara

2

Why the Negative Connotation Associated with Promoter Run Businesses?

36

Built Standards and Processes: Not Only Businesses

36

52

From Bicycle to Mercedes: A Journey Laced With Commitment and Hard Work

Considerable Influence of Family on Business Fixopan Machines Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

61

TURNING POINT

Narindra Nath, Managing Director Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices Ltd., Faridabad

Professionally Managed Enterprise: The Big Change Embraced

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

64

SELF EMPOWEREMENT

Baldev Boolani, Managing Partner

I Read for a Whole Year 1948-49 to Understand Plastics

A CUSTAGE I N I T I A T I V E Aug - Sep 2017 l Issue 3.6 l ` 150

Boolani Engineering Corporation, Mumbai

67

GROWTH STORY

ANNIVERSARY

Premraj Bafna, Chairman Polyset Plastics Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai

70

HBR PAGES

What Sets Successful CEOs Apart?

Presented by POLYMERS Communiqué in syndication with Harvard Business Review

80

WEEKEND DELIGHTS

82

LITTLE ACTIONS BIG RESULTS

Shirish V. Divgi, Managing Director

Responsibility: A Big Virtue

Plastics Machinery Asia, Ahmedabad

Designed by Custage Marketing Solutions LLP 401, Vikas Classic Building No 4 4th Floor, Near Basant Cinema Chembur, Mumbai 400 074, INDIA Founders Share Their

Mission,Vision & Zeal

Chief Editor Jyoti jyoti@polymerscommunique.com

Prof. (Dr.) N. C. Saha Director, Indian Institute of Packaging

Advertising Sales - National

N. K. Balgi formerly President & Director at Ferromatik Milacron India Pvt. Ltd.

Bengaluru Siddhant +91-90290 32767

85

SIVARAM SPEAKS

Dr. S. Sivaram, Former Director, CSIR-NCL

Mumbai Sanjana +91-99872 62726 sanjana@polymerscommunique.com

HEAD TALK

Hyderabad Vani +91-93924 28927 vani@polymerscommunique.com

Yukio Iimura, Chairman

High Temperature Polymer Fuel Cell Membranes: Fascinating World of Invisible Polymers Honorary Professor and INSA Senior Scientist Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune

Toshiba Machine to Increase Production Capacity in India by 30% Toshiba Machine Group, Japan

93

CREATING MARKETS

Building a Customer-centric Organisation: The Taj Approach

Chinmai Sharma, Chief Revenue Officer Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris, Mumbai

98

THOUGHT-OUT

Shailesh Sheth, Corporate Strategy Adviser

Privately Owned, Professionally Managed

Management & Manufacturing Technology, Mumbai

102 RBSM at PLASTINDIA 2018

NEW DIMENSION

Rajeev Chitalia, Chairman - NEC, PLASTINDIA 2018

104 HR Roadmap: An Enabler in Building Competitive Advantage

OUT-OF-THE-BOX

Dr. Naveen Malhotra, Group Head HR & CC

108

Sintex Industries Ltd., Kalol

KALE’S KUIZ

109 Framing Petrochemicals Vision 2030:

IN PERSPECTIVE

IOCL’s 6th Petrochemical Conclave

112 Plastic Pipes 2017: SPE India’s International Conference

MEETING POINT

NEWS

22

EVENTS

116

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Editorial Advisory Board Arvind Mehta Chairman and Managing Director Welset Plast Extrusions Pvt. Ltd.

Special Supplement on Sintex with this Issue

88

Manish Chawla manish@polymerscommunique.com

E DIT IO N

Started Thermosetting and Thermoplastics in 1961

Printed and Published by

siddhant@polymerscommunique.com

New Delhi Vijay +91-98100 15111 vijay@polymerscommunique.com Vadodara Devindra +91-81289 90887 devindra@polymerscommunique.com

Advertising Sales - International Dubai Pritam +971-5548-32330 pritam@polymerscommunique.com

Pushp Raj Singhvi formerly Vice Chairman and Managing Director at Borouge (India) Pvt. Ltd. Rajesh Nath Managing Director VDMA German Engineering Federation India Liaison Office Rakesh Shah formerly Managing Director at Windmöller and Hölscher India Pvt. Ltd. S. K. Ray formerly Sr. Executive Vice President (Polymers) at Reliance Industries Ltd.

Printed at

Silverpoint Press Pvt. Ltd. A-403, TTC Industrial Area Near Anthony Motors Mahape, Navi Mumbai - 400709 District - Thane

Content Alliance Partners

USA Manisha +1-908-720-3510 manisha@polymerscommunique.com

Subscriptions

Bhavesh +91-22-2520 4436 bhavesh@polymerscommunique.com Printed and Published by Manish Chawla, and printed at Silverpoint Press Pvt. Ltd., A-403, TTC Industrial Area, Near Anthony Motors, Mahape, Navi Mumbai - 400709, District - Thane and published from 401, Vikas Classic Building No 4, 4th Floor, Near Basant Cinema, Chembur, Mumbai 400 074, INDIA. Editor: Manish Chawla.

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Views and opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of POLYMERS Communiqué. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication, which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances and so POLYMERS Communiqué does not take any responsibility for any loss or damage incurred or suffered by any of its subscribers / readers / advertisers of this magazine. The publisher makes every effort to ensure that the magazine’s contents are correct but do not take any responsibility for the absolute accuracy of the information. Subject to Mumbai Jurisdiction. Some of the images used in this issue are from Shutterstock.

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POLYMERS Communiqué reserves the right to use the information published herein in any manner whatsoever. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged.

3

Mind Speak Pushp Raj Singhvi

formerly Vice Chairman and Managing Director at Borouge (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Rakesh Shah

formerly Managing Director at Windmöller and Hölscher India Pvt. Ltd.

th

a Rajesh N

g Director Managin gineering erman En G A M VD n Federatio son Office India Liai

ght which brou urial spirit o ne tw re ith ep w tr It is the en a by Calico and DCM g to the in ow is it PVC in Indi o, ls edstocks. A ands that different fe t of Kilach urial spiri tion with ne ra re bo ep lla tr co en styrene in ly tablished po es t at gh th up brou Mafatlal Gro of international e th is It .

Dow ker m units hylene crac downstrea the first et htra with as are the ar e ah es M th size in PVC. Well, d an in the ns n efi of polyol t revolutio the ho brough e story of th is r people w ila dustry. Sim here even w a di In polymer in industry in ld entered processing related fie urs from un ark. It is to ne m re a ep e tr en mad and have ry sing over st es du oc in pr this now at we are 20 MMTA th h al ac ze re r thei e poised to ar proud d an be y TA el in 12 MM can genu e they W le 2. ro -2 e by 2021 urs for th d entreprene polymer an e th r of these fo a ed in Indi have play industry. processing ne and later the discovery of polystyre lite, PVC and LDPE synthesis of Parkesine, Bake and performance to the modern commodity epreneurship of entr of y stor long a is plastics epreneurs – Entr ury. cent half a and over one ition have amb and n visio with e small and larg plastics the of th grow the to been contributing universe of plastics industry. This makes the and entrepreneurs truly a very large one t critical role in continue to play the mos ions and the vast licat app t, men elop dev its them. economic activity around

From

strong culture economic of entrepreneurship ntry. It is heartening development of the cou has been growing at a to mention that India last few years, and is the in rate high ly relative y in the world by nom eco est larg the likely to be ng country with you a is a Indi , tely 2050. Fortuna ently being in curr ion ulat pop t about 63 per cen years.

59 to 15 of up the working age gro

t for a Creating an environmen is key for

N. K. Balgi

All the business ventures find dreams, thou their roots in ghts and actio ns of people a distinct tra with it of ‘dream an society calls d dare’, who m ‘entrepreneu th rs’. During 20 century, midmany of our entrepreneu ‘future with pl rs saw astics’ and ve ntured into pl processing an astics d polymer pr oduction. Go friends to de t their velop the m achinery to pr plastics. Parti ocess cipated in ex perimentatio enhance perfo n to rmance. All of it was happen in the plastic ing s industry w he n us had little only a few of access to th e in our cont rolled econom outside world y; but everyo co-operated ne to grow by choosing to different mar serve ket segments.

So, we all ow ‘shine’ today e our to the people who ventured plastics proc into essing in ’50 s to ’80s of century with the last the spirit of entrepreneu and deep co rship mmitment to serve the unse This culture co rved. ntinues.

formerly Presid ent & Directo r at Ferromatik Mi lacron India Pv t. Ltd.

Prof. (Dr.) N

Director

. C. Saha

Indian Insti

tute of Pack

aging

Arvind Mehta

Chairman and Managing Director

Welset Plast Extrusions Pvt. Ltd.

An entrepreneur plays a key role with an optimistic vision in terms of finding a suitable, innovative plastic processing technology and its implementation for higher productivity with effective utilisation of resources at a minimum cost.

The industry has entreprene nearly urs today, 25,000 that com a burning e with desire to gr ow as thei aim. Their r chief leadership skills, coup the uncann led with y imaginat ion of en opportuniti cashing es have pl ayed an im role in th portant e convertin g industry from less th growth an Rs. 100 crore to m Rs. 40,000 cr ore than ore. They su rely have m country pr ad oud with th eir achievem e the ents.

Feedback Very inform ative mag azine, co articles, vers goo interview d s of in and con dustry ex tents ar perts e up-to-dat plastics in e from dustry p the erspective and packa . Print q ging is ex uality cellent w feel of re hich gives ading a a different the ord magazine inary on from e.

Articles technolo highlighti gy gaps ng and gove available rnment su should be pport in cl uded as it the indust will benefi ry. t

, e time ite som ighfor qu h s e ry e in az ev r mag My nts, th g you icles. conte of art readin e the k n n li e I io e . t rade b c re g e le u r v s e e s a a p a Ih ful al ple the p ts! e care is a re Even limen nd th which comp team. y ures a e t M ir . ic t d p n a y the e ood re qualit ts to d. A g t limen onitore h Bha -m comp ll e Sures vt. Ltd. on is w ork. ti w c P le d s e o s ite e go mpos up th PD Co Keep Arvind

AMAPLA

ST (C/o Th

We have been receiving your magazine regularly. At first sight, your packing of the magazine is very impressive and shows professional approach. Content of the magazines are also very detailed and informative. We eagerly await your new issues. We wish that your magazine grows by leaps and bounds.

The magaz ines al ways h contents ave su . We g perb et valuab from that le inform . Keep u ation p doing the good work.

Arti Che

Nilesh

Joshi e Indo-I of Comm talian Chamber erce and Industry)

Nisarg S

mical Ind

hah

ustries

The magazine has bee n extremely good .

It contains lot of topics which gives us wide range of informatio n about the latest trends in technology and other development s in the polymer world.

Mehul K. Maniar

Saikat Majumdar

Advance Plastics

Alpla India Pvt. Ltd

.

POLYMERS

CommuniquĂŠ provides very useful news, recent insight into the industry - which is a very essential tool to connect with the industry and upgrade ourselves.

Sanket Pandya

Amcor Flexibles India Pvt. Ltd.

Thanks for your dig ital edit latest issu ion of e of yo the ur magaz worthwh ine. It is ile and in really formative.

PASL Win

Biren Oza

dtech Pvt

. Ltd.

CommuniquĂŠ POLYMERS s for ceiving the re en be our colleague We have culated with cir g in e be eciat your d its nology. Appr magazine an polymer tech in e quality and dg t le in pr their know pt delivery, om pr d an w-ups od work! regular follo ep up the go excellent! Ke teiro packaging is Melvyn Mon Ltd. Pvt. ns tio lu So D-CAM Designcell CA

to apply for success, to apply for recognition to apply for...

2018

P

lasticon Awards time again; the most coveted awards that bring global recognition! Instituted by Plastindia Foundation and sponsored by the industry, symbolise talent, innovation and perseverance in achieving the impossible.

Offered across a spectrum of 23 categories, including 16 for innovations and 7 for recognising outstanding performers, these awards cover the widest spectrum of the plastics industry.

An acclaimed and independent jury, who are brands in their own right, make sure that the ‘best’ is truly the best.

31st October, 2017

Come forward and apply for these www.plasticonawards.plastindia.org.

awards

at

Win the ‘Plasticon Awards’ and be a part of the glittering ceremony that is being planned during PLASTINDIA 2018 on 7th February, 2018 in Gandhinagar.

info@custage.com

Last date for entries

The industry will converge on that day to look for talent, to look for you…be there and win the glory!

7th February, 2018; Gandhinagar

Concurrent to:

Organised by

Supported by Founder Members

Plastindia Foundation 401-B, Landmark, Suren Road, Off Andheri-Kurla Road, Andheri (East), Mumbai - 400093.

Phone: +91-22-2683 2911; Email: plasticonawards@plastindia.org

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News Digest

ALOK Wins the National Award for Innovation Second Year in a Row

performance, durability and value for

the Indian farmers. Core philosophy of co-creating products and solutions with

C

onferred by the Hon’ble Union Minister Shree Kalraj Mishra on

Arburg will present the packaging version of its high-speed hybrid injection moulding machine the hybrid Allrounder 570 H at Drinktec 2017.

The

A-B 22

Alok

Technology

Incubation

of India for contribution to the Indian

of products for the plasticulture and

endorsement from the Government

Centre (ATIC) developed a multitude

agriculture sector.

horticulture sectors. This helped their

ALOK’s masterbatch products developed

products that were able to match the

for

the

mulch,

greenhouse,

shade

net, pond liner and micro irrigation

customers

to

develop

world-class

quality and performance of imported

products like mulch and greenhouse films.

Goals are in-line with the

Cosmo Films Breaks into BOPET Film Market – With Brückner at Their Side

C

osmo Films Limited, a significant

Pankaj Poddar, CEO, Cosmo Films

world has been continuously setting

benchmarks within the industry. A

our product portfolio with BOPET films, we had a precise catalogue of

manufacturer of BOPP films in the

recent example is India’s first 10.4 m Borouge’s ‘Polymers on the Move’ inspires the love of science among school children, over 200 students from ADNOC Schools and Emirates National Schools in Abu Dhabi have connected with the programme.

of why ALOK received this recognition.

27th June, 2017, the award was an

applications were recognised to deliver BOBST and Radex announce launch of Mouvent, a new company focused on inventing and delivering the future of digital printing.

customers and associates was a big part

wide BOPP line, successfully producing high quality films at Cosmo’s Karjan plant site near Vadodara.

Now Cosmo is breaking into the BOPET

film market – and once again is teaming up

with

Brückner

Maschinenbau.

says, “When we decided to enlarge

requirements regarding our stretching line supplier. The most important factors for us were advanced machine technology, excellent process know-

how and super project execution. All this, we found at Brückner and we

are happy to approach our BOPET market entry together with

our

proven,

long-term partner.”

The new production line will be installed

at Cosmo’s location in Aurangabad, next to the existing factory

building and is aimed to

produce

various

finest BOPET films for

both, domestic and export markets.

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

engineering thermoplastic compounds which will be augmented by the

license and use of Sirmax technology,

Digest

brands and global approvals that will cater to India’s growing demand for high

BrüggemannChemical’s BRUGGOLEN® TP-M1417 modifies high viscosity polyamides to quality injection moulding grades

of

to alleviate farm sector distress.

engineering to

global

A

Sirmax also produces a wide range of engineering thermoplastics compounds based on polyamide-6/66, PPO, ABS, ASA,

polycarbonate, PC/ABS, POM, PBT and styrenics. They cater to a wide variety of

Autotech Polymers India and Sirmax S.p.A. of Italy Establish a Joint Venture in India

markets, from appliance and households

to automotive, power tools, packaging and more.

utotech Polymers India Pvt. Ltd.,

Autotech Polymers, part of the Tipco

compounds and Sirmax S.p.A. of Italy

(Gujarat) and near Palwal (Haryana). In

venture in India which will be called

to reach annual sales of 40 kT/year by

be one of the few Indian companies

by debottlenecking, and planning a third

polymers, resins and thermoplastics

supplier of speciality polypropylene

Group, has two factories in India; at Valsad

have joined hands to establish a joint

the short-term, the joint venture plans

Autotech Sirmax India Pvt. Ltd. It will

adding new lines at Valsad and Palwal,

with capabilities to supply speciality

factory to cater to South India.

compounds using the latest state-of-

Elesa+Ganter Presents Tubular Handles

rapidly growing industry segments such

E

electricals etc.

of

the-art manufacturing and know-how

to provide indigenous solutions for the as automotive, electronics, appliances,

in Autotech-Sirmax. The remaining 50% will be held by the Nirmal Thakkar family

who are promoters of the 72 years old Tipco Group. The management team of

the joint venture will focus on production of

speciality

polypropylene

and

lesa and Ganter India Pvt. Ltd. (Elesa+Ganter), makers of standard

machine elements, offers a wide range tubular

handles

that, by virtue of the wide variety

of

production

materials,

polymer, aluminium, steel or stainless steel,

design and ergonomics makes it unique in size and is able to meet the most varied market requirements.

Elesa+Ganter available

tubular

with

handles

technopolymer

are

or

metal shanks matched with tubes (diameter from 20 mm to 35 mm) in Massimo Pavin, Sirmax and Achal Thakkar, Tipco Group sign the JV agreements.

24

and

supplying

MNCs. Apart from PP compounds,

agreement, Sirmax becomes 50% partner

B-E

polypropylene

thermoplastics

According to the terms of the JV

ENGEL will present its comprehensive inject 4.0 programme at Fakuma

performance

Sirmax is a non-integrated compounder

doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022 and

Dow launches tenter frame biaxially oriented polyethylene (TF-BOPE), an innovative and revolutionary addition to the INNATETM precision packaging resin family with higher mechanical properties and material rigidity, better optical and printing performance to meet commercial mass production requirements

superior

thermoplastics compounds.

Government of India’s stated aim of Comexi strengthens its position in the French market as LIVCER acquire its first Central Drum flexo printing machine, a Comexi F2 MC

quality,

anodised aluminium, epoxy coating or stainless steel.

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Meet us at Fakuma 2017!

Booth A6-6109, Hall A6

Xaloy® PLA Screw & Barrel Technology Meeting Your Injection and Extrusion Needs!

Proprietary Xaloy® screw designs tailored to specific resin grades provide superior homogenization with improved temperature control, excellent wear resistance and improved end product quality

Xaloy® bimetallic barrels with a Xaloy® X-800® barrel inlay provides exceptional wear performance and a longer working life against corrosive polymers Proven Technology • Extended Working Life

WWW.NORDSONPOLYMERPROCESSING.COM

EXTRAORDINARY TECHNOLOGIES FOR TODAY’S PLASTICS

Digest

Coperion Supplies IonPhasE Oy System for Processing Antistatic Polymers

C

operion

GmbH,

Stuttgart

has

implemented a complete system

EREMA, with its POWERFIL business unit extends its portfolio and offers the proven melt filter as individual components for existing extrusion plants

for IonPhasE Oy for the manufacture of

inherently

dissipative

polymers

(IDP). The scope of supply included the entire system – from raw material handling through conveying, feeding

and processing the dissipative polymers up to handling the finished products.

Inherently,

dissipative

polymers

are

suitable for a variety of applications Husky Injection Molding Systems will be featuring its breakthrough multilayer technology and will be running a system with this technology for the first time at Drinktec 2017

where antistatic plastic products are of considerable significance.

The bush and the retainer clip are

interchangeable according to DIN 98314 / ISO 9448. Due to the G6 tolerance, the

play between the pillar and the bush is

increased. Therefore, the processing of thicker metal sheets during which high shear forces may occur is possible.

In addition, the standard guiding system has been expanded with a diameter of 80 mm and up to length 400 mm which

is especially suitable for large dies. It is,

therefore, especially suitable for uses in large dies. The guiding system is available

as a ball guide as well as with sliding guide bushes.

Hyflyer Innovations selects Tritan™, a crystal clear and durable polymer from Eastman, for its newest Nani drinkware

The

Finnish

technology

company,

IonPhasE Oy is a leading manufacturer of static dissipative polymer additives, commonly known as permanent antistatic additives. These serve to control

static electricity in plastics. They are used

in a variety of industries – wherever antiLyondellBasell to build the world’s largest PO/ TBA plant in Texas

static properties are needed; for example,

in the electrical, chemical and automotive industries. They are also incorporated

in consumer goods that need to be protected from electrostatic attraction

such as air-conditioning units, vacuum MSM POLY successfully converts Anobex® resin into film and component parts

E-M

cleaners, switches and housings.

Meusburger Offers New Guiding Elements in the Area of Die Making

T

Nordson Technology Optimises Production Process and Extends Equipment Working Life

N

ordson’s Xaloy® PLA Screw and Barrel Technology features screws with

proven PLA screw design geometries

combined with Xaloy bimetallic barrels with the Xaloy X-800® inlay for both, extrusion and injection processes. These custom-designed systems are tailored

to the specific resin grades for optimum working conditions. Proprietary screw

designs, such as the Xaloy Stratablend® II Mixer

screw

design

for

extrusion

processes or the Xaloy EasyMelt® or Xaloy EasyMelt with Xaloy Z-Mixer™ designs for injection processes, with Xaloy X-183™

he standard parts manufacturer,

Meusburger Georg GmbH & Co KG

expands its range with the E 5126, a new sliding guide bush with solid lubricant rings and collar, that is characterised by optimal sliding properties; thanks to

resistant bronze and the graphite solid lubricant rings in the sliding surface.

26

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

screw hard facing provide superior

from all over India. In all, 12 companies

temperature of the compound, while

the final round.

homogenising without increasing the

Digest Perstorp Capa™ grades 6500D and 6800D have been given food contact approval in US, with this Perstorp can now offer a higher molecular weight products to customers

Polyone’s Bergamid™ nylon helps premium sporting knife manufacturer Avanona to create a sheath to reflect the high quality of the brand and thus help it to extend its brand message

offering optimum wear resistance. The

barrels feature the Xaloy X-800 inlay, a nickel-based alloy with tungsten carbide.

This inlay is more wear-resistant than

iron-based, iron-chromium and nickelcobalt

alloys,

providing

exceptional

abrasion and corrosion resistance with corrosive polymers.

It was Windsor’s presentation that ultimately sealed the deal, impressing

upon the jury the company’s dynamic rise from a challenging past.

Why Windsor?

In the early 2000s, Windsor was plagued by

labour

problems

and

the

jury

injection

considered this nothing short of a miracle

and are guaranteed improved end

problems would normally head to closure,

Extrusion

processors

and

moulders are able to increase productivity

as a company with that magnitude of

product quality.

while Windsor rose from there, today to

be nominated for the AIOE Award. Since

Windsor is 1st Runner-up at AIOE National Awards for Outstanding Industrial Relations

then, the company embarked on a slew of positive measures to rebuild trust among employees and improve working conditions; that paid off, and in 2011, the

T

o be singled out among contenders much bigger in size and turnover is

no mean feat, but Windsor Machines Ltd. has accomplished this. The company has been conferred 1st Runner-up by the All India Organization of Employers’ (AIOE)

Teknor Apex to build a compounding and R&D facility in Germany, creating a ‘hub of innovation’ for the European market

representing all four regions made it to

National Award for Outstanding Industrial

Relations 2015-16, at a ceremony on 12th May, 2017 at FICCI House, New Delhi.

company made noteworthy profit.

A large part of this success story owes to the unique HR policies that have

gone a long way in keeping employees happy and productive. Only at Windsor,

employees who complete one year of service can avail of 49 days basket

leave. There is also a concept of short

leave where employees can take two

hours twice every month to attend to emergencies

or any personal work. In the event of death of

an employee, he or she WITTMANN net5 conveying system has made a strong breakthrough into the market as it is very flexible to use

P-W

continues

be

paid

he or she would have attained 60 years of age, had

The Award

they

been

alive.

There is also a death relief fund where

Instituted in 1983 on the occasion of

in case of death of an employee, his

for Outstanding Industrial Relations’

25 lakh. Not surprisingly, workers’ CTC

innovative methods for fostering lasting

to 2015-16.

AIOE’s golden jubilee, the ‘National Award

or her family gets a minimum of Rs.

recognises

has risen considerably from 2006-07

harmonious

industries

industrial

their establishments.

for

adopting

relations

in

It has been an uphill task for Windsor Machines

Ltd.

Nominations

were

submitted by a total of 36 companies

28

to

gratuity till such time

A journey such as this would not have been complete without the whole-

hearted participation of workers, and the management wishes to express its sincere gratitude to each one of them!

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

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17-81843

Narindra Nath

Hargovind Bajaj

Mahendra Patel

Nostalgia

Founders Speak Pawan Poddar

Baldev Boolani

Arvind Mehta

Dr. Hiralal (Hiru) N. Patel

With this issue, POLYMERS Communiqué turns 3 years!

‘Nostalgia’, we thought, would be the best gift we could give back to the industry. We strongly believe that nothing can beat experience (right or wrong). The right experience helps us grow, innovate and visualise tomorrow, while the wrong experience helps us eliminate mistakes and, most importantly, keeps us grounded to our roots.

Mahendra Sanghvi

The polymer industry is today a fairly evolved industry; and I am given to believe that the changes have been very rapid in the last

few decades only! That’s what motivated us to go to the ‘founders’ of companies, who came in and set-up their shops much earlier.

What did they think? How did they see tomorrow? Was it passion

or was it knowledge or was is just hard work? With markets not

that evolved (domestic or overseas), how did they go about market

development? How did they manage to adapt to newer technology

then? No CRMs and ERPs to report! No emails and, in fact, no thought of mobile communication platforms also in sight. It’s amazing how

did they build such sound business platforms that are relevant even today on which the 2nd and 3rd generations are growing businesses

with relative ease. When money was scarce and cost of capital very

high, how did they plan their growth? With limited resources, how

L. K. Singh

did they innovate? With such and so many more questions, we

thought they can only be answered by these founding visionaries!

So that’s what we did! We decided to speak to some of them and

simply loved what they shared with us and we put it together to share with you all...this Vintage Ensemble!

Being such an entrepreneur-driven industry, it is obviously difficult for

us to cover all; however, with this edition and with this endeavour,

we salute the indomitable spirt of Indian entrepreneurs and we, at POLYMERS Communiqué, stand in solidarity for the growth of this

wonderful sunrise industry! We promise to continue bringing these ‘experience notes’ in subsequent issues as well!

As we commence our 4th year, we wish to thank you for being a part

of our success. Without you - our advertisers, subscribers, readers and

patrons; POLYMERS Communiqué magazine, India’s premium and

luxury communication brand, would not have achieved so many

P. P. Kharas

milestones in such a short time. Your continuous drive for us to excel has been the sole reason of our wide acclaim, nationally and

globally. Thank you for your confidence reposed in us; we assure

you that we will always endeavour to live up to your expectations.

While the high delivery standards that you expect from us does put us under tremendous pressure, but reaching those standards gives us

far more satisfaction. We cherish your patronage and are privileged to have you as a part of POLYMERS Communiqué.

Here, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our ‘highlyexperienced and ever-energetic’ editorial advisory board members

who are actively involved in the publication and constantly guide us on how to better our product each time.

POLYMERS Communiqué Bureau

Premraj Bafna

KING TALK

Never Fear Failure “There need be no fear in business, except missed opportunities or misreading of customer needs. Fear of failure is escapism,”

shares Mahendra Patel in dialogue with POLYMERS Communiqué.

Q. How were the early days of your career in business and the challenges then?

Training on the job was a necessity with the

I started my career in 1975, at age of 26 years

attendant. All this resulted in lower productivity

main challenge was to get adequate licensed

real competition. This gave me an opportunity

make. It was a challenge to get sufficient steel

manufacturing organisations. People are my primary

during the days of the notorious License Raj. The

and high costs. License Raj protected us from any

capacity for a product which one wanted to

to learn to develop people and build machinery

and cement to build a factory. It was the time of

strength. Many of my colleagues are still with me

shortages of almost all industrial inputs. When

through changes of companies since 1978!

I reflect on that time, I sometime wonder how did I manage to setup new projects! Before

Q. As you look back on your journey, what do you consider as the most pivotal period for you?

relaxing of License Raj in 1991, I had setup half a

dozen manufacturing projects – manufacturing process equipment for paper mills, sugar refining,

mineral beneficiation, coal washeries, public

sewage treatment, NPK fertilizer plants, iron ore slurry dewatering, industrial valves, alloy steel

castings, wire drawing and cable armouring etc.

My first JV, with the help from Indian investors,

was with an American company when I was 28 years old.

Other challenge was finding manpower with

32

required skill set. That was next to unavailable.

In September, 1994; I resigned as Jt. Managing

Director of erstwhile Klöckner Windsor India Ltd., where I served as a professional manager. Contrary to public belief, N. K. Patel was not an investor in the company when it was started in 1962. He To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Mahendra Patel Chairman Mamata Group Ahmedabad

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

33

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HEART-TO-HEART

At 90+ Years Still Studying and Guiding the Industry

“I have met people in Europe who have partnerships of

more than 100 years! Why

and how? All our present and future generation need to

find out and act,” Hargovind Bajaj, raises a thought.

How It All Began... The Struggles... The Achievements I started my career as a manufacturer of light engineering machinery i.e. cotton gins.

I saw an advertisement in the Times of India in late sixties about a

new packaging material produced by Mr. B. S. Kamath in Bangalore.

This created an interest in me to know more about this new product.

I started obtaining knowledge from various sources. Met people manufacturing raw materials i.e. Hoechst, I.C.I. and others. A. S. Athalye of Hoechst gave me an insight about this industry.

We started manufacture of woven sacks in 1972. The knowledge garnered helped us in deciding to enter into manufacture of plastic woven sacks.

Import of machinery was out of the question because import licences were not available. As such, we had to fall back upon locally manufactured machinery from Bangalore.

If I look back, I have to say that the machinery was awful, not properly

manufactured. We had our own engineering company at Nagpur.

Therefore, whatever best could be done to make it operative was done.

As a businessman as well as managers of engineering products as well as users, lots of modification were made to manufacture a marketable product i.e. woven sacks.

That time the only market that was prevalent was phosphate fertilizers. To hold 50 kgs of materials, sacks were made, whose weight

itself was 200 grams per sack. Our fight was to reduce the weight of empty 50 kgs sacks for fertilizers and also compete with the jute lobby.

36

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Hargovind Bajaj Chairman Emeritus Bajaj Group of Industries Nagpur

“One has to work hard, learn continuously and never miss an opportunity to

go ahead, forecast future

of that industry and try to

become the best. Business in not about speculation

and betting, but is a studied calculated venture.”

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

37

I had no knowledge of this industry. Therefore, to obtain knowledge, I made several trips to Europe

to meet machinery manufacturers, and through them, to plants of woven material producers.

European machinery manufacturers were septic about any Indian buying their machinery because of import restrictions in India.

We overcame this problem and were the first

in India to have fully efficient tape lines in

this industry. Thus, one obstacle of producing high quality tapes for weaving was overcome.

The second obstacle was to weave the tapes efficiently and at high speed. This obstacle, we also managed to overcome.

Thus, we were the only company in the whole country who could produce high-tenacity tapes

efficiently and weave the same into superior HDPE

woven fabrics and bags. This helped our company, Bajaj Plastics Ltd. in marketing and obtaining premium for the same.

I had made a mission for myself ‘to produce high

quality standardised products, in large quantity’.

For that, I made several trips to Europe and Japan

to learn and develop systems of quality control.

During my training with other companies, I was trained for quality production and made to work for long hours.

My Guide Light...

As a Marwari, I received training in accounting, lean management, working for long hours and always learn, learn and learn. In the course of

my training, I spent all my free time with a very seasoned, knowledgeable engineer, Mr. Vertak

who made me learn the engineering side in any industry. This solid foundation of basics

enabled me and is still enabling me to develop our business.

My family background is of a cotton trader. A

friend of my father always said, “One has to work hard, learn continuously and never miss an opportunity to go ahead, forecast future of that

industry and try to become the best. Business in not about speculation and betting, but is a studied calculated venture.”

To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

STANDING TALL

“The water management solutions industry in India is still in

a very nascent stage. There are several companies in this race

trying to manage transportation of water right from its source to its final disposal,” opines Pawan Poddar in dialogue with POLYMERS Communiqué.

Q. What was the driving factor for you to start this enterprise?

All this happened because of our non-compromising attitude towards quality and customer service. We

A strong desire to do something new, to make a

have set up stringent quality check systems and

be known as an innovator, were the four driving

they enter into the market. Even after 2 decades,

product and a company. It was more than 19 years

mechanism, availability of our products across the

memory lane, it still feels like yesterday. I came to

service is what drives us and this organisation.

new world-class product, to make a difference and

all our product have to go through that before

factors which helped us to innovate and make a

a penchant for innovation, a strong quality control

ago when we started, but when I go back into the

retail spectrum and a dedicated team for customer

Bangalore in 1992 and my two younger brothers,

Q. How do you see your journey this far?

Deepak Poddar (Technical Director) and Vikas Poddar

(Director - Sales and Marketing) followed me. The

first unit of Ashirvad Pipes started in 1998. All these years, we have worked untiringly and looking back,

I feel that all this would not have been possible without the support and help of my brothers.

Today, we not only manufacture and sell plumbing,

sanitary and drainage products in India, but we are also the pioneers and the world’s

largest manufacturers and exporters of

uPVC column pipes. Our column pipes are sold in more than 35 countries across the globe.

Life is a journey and I am a traveller. For me, the entire journey is important. From a team of 50 to a team of over 4000 people, from a one-acre plot to a facility spread over 50 acres and from a turnover of

INR 4.7 crore in 1998 to a turnover of INR 2,400 crore in 2017, and projected to achieve INR 3,000 crore

in FY 2018. We have come a long way. And what a

wonderful journey this has been! It is a dream come true for me! I am living my life to

the full and enjoying this journey.

For all this, I am thankful to my family,

my colleagues and all our business partners, for being my cotravellers and without whom,

we would not be what we

are today. I am blessed and

40

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Grit, Guts and Gumption Driving Change in Indian Plumbing Industry

Pawan Poddar, Managing Director Ashirvad Pipes Pvt. Ltd. Bengaluru

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

41

thankful to my wonderful co-workers for their continuous hard work and trust in the management.

Q. How difficult was it for you to migrate from a family held business to a professionally managed setup?

I would not say ‘difficult’. Yes! there were challenges, but we kept our focus and stayed positive. From

the day of inception, we kept our management principles transparent and simple and over a

period of time, with our untiring efforts and hard work, things kept falling in place. In March 2013, we entered into a joint venture with Aliaxis S.A., a

global leader in the manufacturing and distribution

of advanced plastic piping systems. This joint venture was another turning point for Ashirvad Pipes and since then, we have brought more quality products for the Indian market.

Q. In today’s scenario, can water management solutions get smarter and more intelligent than what they have been so far? How is Ashirvad placed?

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

The water management solutions industry in India is still in a very nascent stage. There are several companies in this race trying to manage transportation of water right from its source to its final disposal. Then there are others who are into recycling of water and waste water management,

for which they need high-tech systems, which are still not available in India.

In this scenario, Ashirvad Pipes stands

out as the leading manufacturer and

supplier of CPVC, uPVC, SWR plumbing

systems and uPVC column pipes which are

being used in the erection of submersible borehole pumps. As mentioned earlier, today we are the

world’s largest manufacturer and exporter of uPVC column pipes. Our strength lies in uPVC column pipes and CPVC hot and cold plumbing systems. We To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

43

BUILDING CAPABILITIES

Why the Negative Connotation Associated with Promoter Run Businesses?

Q. How were the early days of your career in business and the challenges then?

made is nearly impossible to source

initial market research, I realised that

ours. Compounding these issues was

moulders manufacturing commodity

raw material for new start-ups, like

Shaily was registered in 1987 and

lack of basic infrastructure, including

this point, I had just moved back

to put in a request with the board to

North America. India in 1987 was

it would take hours before I was able

we started operations in 1988. At

telecom. I still remember that I had

to India after spending 20 years in

connect me to my home, and at times,

very different than what it is today;

to speak with the family.

bureaucratic challenges, mostly on

Q. What was the driving factor for you to start this enterprise?

and lack of governance. Licenses

I had worked in injection moulding

raw materials etc. On the domestic

that is essentially what defined the

starting a business was fraught with account of poor policies, corruption

were required to import machines,

front, we had the quota system which

44

right from the start of my career and

choice of business I started. During my

while there were several large traders /

items such as buckets, bins, chairs etc., most engineering plastic components

were being imported into the country, and as a result I decided that the right path for Shaily would be to specialise and focus on precision components

manufactured out of high performance engineering polymers. Having said all this, the ultimate driving factor was my wife, she wanted to expose our

kids to the Indian culture and that led us to move back to India and start Shaily.

POLYMERS CommuniquÊ l August - September 2017

Indian businesses are not where they are today because of government support, we are there inspite of it.

It was this epiphany that made me roll up my sleeves and work towards making Shaily a success.

Q. You are in the business of working with speciality resins and commodity resins. Is a different mindset required to build these businesses?

Had you asked me this question several years ago, I would have said that yes there is a different mindset

required, primarily because customers expectations on products made from commodity resins were not high and

as a result subpar quality products

Mahendra Sanghvi Executive Chairman Shaily Engineering Plastics Limited Vadodara

were being manufactured. The India consumer,

today,

has

significantly

matured and has aspirations and

expectations that are very much like consumers in developed countries; as

a

result

commodity

products

have also evolved and become high quality. I feel that in today’s business

environment whether it is engineering or commodity, the mindset has to be one of systems, quality and efficiency.

But, when you get into specifics, the

“I am not sure if we

answer is that while the mindset need

have fully migrated

not be different, the level of technical know-how and capability required

to being professional

and I personally do not think it would be wise for us to do so,” says

Mahendra Sanghvi in

dialogue with POLYMERS Communiqué.

more downs than ups. During the initial stages of the business, not

being accustomed to the Indian way of working, I would often come home

thoroughly frustrated with serious thoughts of going back to Canada.

There have been times when we actually packed our bags and were on the verge of leaving, but it was my

wife that after letting me calm down,

Q. As you look back on your journey, what do you consider as the most pivotal period for you?

I have seen lots of ups and downs over the last 30 years, and definitely

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

explained to me with examples of

other businesses that were flourishing in India. It was then that I realised that Indian entrepreneurs have an innate

ability to not only survive, but also

thrive in the most adverse conditions.

to build a successful speciality resin

business are significantly higher than those required for commodity resins.

For example we manufacture certain

components for life saving medical devices

using

high

performance

engineering polymers that weigh less than 0.03 grams. Again, keep in mind that I am being stereotypical here, because there are products made from commodity resins that require very high precision as well.

To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

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45

OPEN MIND

Built Standards and Processes Not Only Businesses

“A lot of problems then, are now history. So, one can now focus on innovation and

growth of the business. According to me, the only hurdle today is competition from China,” suggests P. P. Kharas in dialogue with POLYMERS Communiqué.

Q. How were the early days of your career in business and the challenges then?

I look back with pride that Ecoplast played its role in the development of the flexible packaging industry in India; it

refers to the converting or lamination industry which uses multilayer polyethylene and/or ethylene copolymer

films for lamination to one or more substrates, such as

polyester film, polypropylene film; often in combination with aluminium foil and/or paper, depending on the

packaging system. The multilayer polyethylene film

forms the innermost layer - the heat-seal layer - of the laminate and is in contact with the product packed.

The process of evolving customer satisfaction was a huge task and how it happened is explained.

As it happens, in all pioneering efforts, the knowledge

on designing a multilayer film structure for a specific

application was very limited in the early 1980s. In the

supply chain, each entity had an opinion on the raw

material grades best suited to design a film structure.

You can well imagine the confusion that prevailed; most

often the film supplier was the target of package failures.

During those days, we wondered why nobody made the

effort to define the performance expectation of the film in

a laminate. In the midst of this confusion, we had begun to study each complaint on package failures and to determine

its cause. We had, over time, accumulated information which was systematically arranged to help

development of a film structure, for

a

wide

range

of

packaging applications.

P. P. Kharas Chairman Ecoplast Ltd., Mumbai

48

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Also, during this period, we came across a relevant article by Dow Plastics, USA in a technical journal.

This article gave us the confidence to inform a customer that a raw material grade is only partly

responsible for film performance for a specific

application. The polymer grade, the equipment and the process variables combine to determine the level

of crystallinity, orientation and the corresponding film properties.

Q. How should an entrepreneur handle ‘Fear in Business’?

Fear in business most often comes from a sudden

change, one that is least expected, triggered by an event that cannot be anticipated. If I recall correctly,

in the years 1987-88, both Imperial Chemical

Industries (ICI) and Union Carbide India Ltd. (UCIL) closed down their polyethylene production facilities.

There was already an acute shortage of raw materials,

This allowed us to totally change the approach to

the only supplier being - Indian Petrochemicals Ltd.

accumulated knowledge we were able to provide

only 20% of our monthly requirement,

could use to make an informed opinion about how

had stopped. The prices of

storage and transportation. This became the

escalated by over 60%.

designing a multilayer film structure. Based on our

(IPCL). The allocation of raw material to Ecoplast met

customers with background information which they

the rest 80% was from UCIL, which

the film should perform in the packaging process,

raw materials had sharply

subject of a technical service note titled, ‘The Right

Due

Multilayer Film for a Packaging Application’.

to

foreign

exchange

crisis

The factors which influence the performance of

prevailing at that

under three major heads:

required

the film for a specific application were segregated l

Compatibility of the film with the product (More details on compatibility was provided

through a technical service note titled, ‘Chemical Resistance of Polyethylene to Various Chemicals and Reagents’). l

Capability of the film to move and seal at predetermined speeds on a packaging line (This

aspect was discussed in detail in a technical service note titled, ‘Factors Affecting Seal Integrity of Films and Laminates’). l

Optimum mechanical strength to withstand handling, storage and transportation.

These

technical

service

notes

helped

the

printed format which was used by us to develop a film structure for every new application.

Unfortunately, this was not the end of the story.

We found that customers were not systematically evaluating the film sample roll supplied, nor

maintaining a record of the evaluation. This resulted in occasional quality issues. This prompted us to prepare another technical service note titled, ‘Evaluation and Validation of Films’, so that the

customer was committed to the performance of the film sample and its related properties. We were, thus, happy to build a reputation in the industry as a knowledge-based reliable supplier with quality

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

banks 100%

margin

to

establish a Letter

of Credit for import of

raw

Interest

materials.

rates

were

at an all-time high. In this

capital severe

situation, had

working

come

pressure;

raw

under

materials

available in the ‘grey market’ had a premium of 12

-

15%.

We

were

at

a

significant

cost

disadvantage, as a result profit margins, initially and then, reserves were rapidly eroding.

customer to provide us critical information in a

assurance levels unmatched in the industry.

time,

Additional working capital (offered by our Bank)

would not work because that would increase our ‘cash break-even point’. What we needed was

additional equity capital. We made a business plan with a three-year projection based on the

assumption that the government would reduce the import duty, so that the landed price would be at

domestic price levels. This assumption was based on a representation made to the government by OPPI and other industry associations. We were fortunate to get a sympathetic ear from two To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

49

THEN AND NOW

“At the age of 97, I can say that yoga and pranayam, carefully

tailored to each individual, and the chanting of the Gayatri

Mantra brings lasting benefits and peace of mind,” explains

Dr. Hiru Patel in dialogue with POLYMERS Communiqué.

Q. How were the early days of your career in business and the challenges then?

My professional career commenced in England on 19th September, 1945 when by an accident

of fate, I accepted a job offer from the pioneer

thermosetting plastics company, Bakelite Ltd., four months after World War II ended.

Career Commencing When 25

Still Agile at 97 Dr. Hiralal (Hiru) N. Patel Chairman Interplex India Pvt. Ltd. Interplex Mazzucchelli Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai

52

My father, an agriculturist, Mukhia of our village

Danilimada, Ahmedabad and leader in the district

and staunch Gandhian decided to send me to England in 1938 at the tender age of 18 after

1st year at Elphinston College, Bombay to pursue undergraduate studies, ostensibly to join Indian Civil Service. He wanted me to study whatever I

wanted and as much as I wanted, but made me promise that I would return to India to contribute my might for its welfare.

I qualified to enter leading Imperial College, South Kensington, Near Royal Albert Hall London,

to pursuemechanical engineering. A year later,

World War II broke out in 1939 and most of our countrymen left in a hurry, I decided not to

run but stick it out to pursue my goal thinking that war may be an interesting experience. And

indeed, it was tough, demanding, heart rending,

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

sometimes horrible and indomitable courage for a besieged nation.

I kept upgrading my goal and ended up doing B.Sc.

D.I.C (M.Sc.) and Ph.D. in aeronautics in 1945, just before the end of the war.

Bakelite Ltd. trained and taught me all aspects of business, particularly marketing for 9 months and

sent me to India, armed with lots of samples and 16 mm – 30 min documentarily on ‘Bakelite Material

of Infinite Uses’ to spread the message travelling all over India and assess the potential for a plan of

action to be drawn. We set up a marketing company, Bakelite (India) Pvt. Ltd. in Bombay in 1947 and a Nizam government joint sector manufacturing

company, Hylam Ltd. in Hyderabad which were later merged to form Bakelite Hylam Ltd. in 1969,

which I headed until I got transferred to Union Carbide India Ltd. to be Director of corporate

development including government relations and publicity public relations.

Q. What was the driving factor for you to start this enterprise?As you look back on your journey, what do you consider as the most pivotal period for you?

After retirement from UCL in September, 1977,

I had consultancy assignments with Bright Bros Ltd., Bombay and with Lala Bansidhar of DCM

Chemical Works Ltd., New Delhi. I also was a

Non-Executive Director with a few companies

By

good

fortune

and

coincidence, a friend of the children’s US guardian, Don

Morrison

of

Rowland Corporation was

a

pioneer

in

the manufacture of

multi-colour cellulose

acetate sheets by co-

extrusion process and

took Sunil under his wing

and Interplex India Pvt. Ltd.

was set up in Halol, Baroda as a joint venture.

It was a coincidence that Baroda, Gujarat was the centre of spectacle frame manufacturing industry

(small scale) which used Interplex sheets. I was recharged with fresh batteries and after along struggle with permit License Raj, production commenced at a state-of-the-art factory at

Baska, Halol in 1989 which now supports 100

families and is recognised for import substitution and ‘Make in India’ motto, well before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream. My son, Sunil, is dubbed as ‘Harvard to Halol Entrepreneur’.

We also have a joint venture with the oldest

Italian firm in this field, ‘Mazzucchelli 1849 SpA’ who have 70% of the world market.

My chest swells with pride in the knowledge that

and institutes.

we, at Interplex, have been associated by heritage

However, after working for MNCs for 32 years,

plastics

the desire to build an enterprise of my own, particularly located in Gujarat, kept motivating

me and I looked at a few projects which did not materialise.

to the global experts of thermosetting in the industry,

Sir

James

Swinburne

/

Dr. Baekeland 1907 and Sir Alexander Parks British Celanese 1869 and Mazzucchelli 1849 SpA, Italy.

I was fortunate to provide for foreign education of

Q. Anyone you would like to point out as your mentor and guide?

graduation and I took them to meet Dhirubhai

various stages and incidents that leave a lasting

my children. When my sons visited Bombay after

In one’s life, there are inspirers, mentors and guidesat

Ambani to seek his guidance and blessings,

impression. I have been fortunate to have them all.

Dhirubhai Ambani told them, “If you want to work

for others, stay back in US and amass wealth. If you

want to work for yourself; come back, go through the ground and build something you can be proud of.”

My elder son, Sunil took the advice and proposed

that he would like to follow me in the plastics

industry by setting up a venture for manufacturing some products no one else had been able to do at that time.

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

My

father,

Mukhi

Naranbhai

V.

Patel

of

Danilimada was my first inspirer. It amazed me

that inspite of interrupted school education owing

to

family

social

circumstances,

he

To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

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53

READING THE FUTURE

Arvind M. Mehta Chairman and Managing Director Welset Plast Extrusions Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai

From Bicycle to Mercedes A Journey Laced With Commitment and Hard Work

Q. How were the early days of your career in business and the challenges then?

Born in an average income group family, it was

consider, were like my training ground to build my ‘future factory’.

tough. Passed B.Sc. (Hons.) in Karad, joined Indian

My father, a successful businessman, a rice mill

this meant a 14-hour day i.e. 3 + 8 + 3 = 14 hours

which was on sale in 1968, at a reasonable price.

Dyestuff Industries (IDI), Kalyan. Living in Parel, working in any 3 shifts with a salary of Rs. 260

per month; tremendously challenging, but the strong desire was burning within me to achieve

56

something significant in life. These initial days, I

owner in Burma, bought Welset Extrusionist That is how I got into the plastics business, with

CAB reprocessing as the main application for the pen industry. Love for hard work helped

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

years, I delivered 25 kgs bags on my bicycle to

customers of Andheri, Jogeshwari, Goregaon and

“Books like ‘Think & Grow Rich’, ‘Law of Success’ and ‘Thus

Spake Vivekananda’ are the only three

Malad who were pen manufacturers having hand moulding machines.

I earned recognition with the Welset name in the pen and ball pen industry. Gradually, the sales

reached a figure of 80 - 100 tonnes per month,

all India. I am happy to say that such was our

position that the prices quoted by us became the market price of that day in India.

books I repeatedly

read and get inspired,” says Arvind M.

I humbly say that this is my journey from a bicycle to a Mercedes.

Q. What was the driving factor for you then?

Mehta in dialogue

The driving factor was the burning

with POLYMERS

desire to be a leader in our field.

Communiqué.

Q. As you look back on your journey, what do you consider as the most pivotal period for you?

The pivotal role was to see the future

that hand moulding machine will soon

die and be replaced with screw type injection

moulding machines. Welset should thus change

the line from CAB reprocessing (as our product was

for hand moulding machine only) to PE masterbatch. me to grow. First, I mastered the art of colour matching. Being a B.Sc. graduate, the concept of quality was clear. I was keen to give the best

to customers with regards to colour granules and myself worked a lot on extruders. For three

Mastery of colour matching proved to be our winning To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

It’s our country, let’s keep it clean!

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

57

ROTATIONALLY MOULDED OPPORTUNITY

L. K. Singh, Managing Director Fixopan Machines Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi

Considerable Influence of Family on Business

58

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

“Knowingly unknowingly, the family, specially the spouse, does play a very important role in business. Incidents of encouragement, appreciation and warnings do influence a business owner considerably,” shares L. K. Singh in dialogue with POLYMERS Communiqué.

Q. What was the driving factor for you to start this enterprise?

In my case, the main driving factor was my education

abroad. As an engineer trained in UK, in design, I

found the standard of production very boring and came across lack of technology and equipment in

the opinion of the client. They demand contracts and guarantees.

Q. What role does the family play in the success of a business owner? Any specific incident that you wish to highlight?

India, so I jumped into this field. My educational

Knowingly

develop my export market.

business. Incidents of encouragement, appreciation

Q. How different was it to run business then and run business now?

considerably. When the family compares to the

background, past associates and contacts helped me

Communication

and

business

has

changed

unknowingly,

the

family,

and warnings do influence a business owner success of competitors, one is challenged and strives for more, and vice versa.

immensely. I cannot imagine the days when we

This encourages or discourages

Phone calls were common; however, overseas was

be conservative.

dictated a letter, posted it and waited for a letter.

not easy, and had to make do with telegrams. Slowly the fax age started and now the internet is fantastic,

with emails, SMS, WhatsApp etc. and looking back, we cannot understand how we managed then.

Today, we expect reply in hours, if not immediately.

The industry, especially in capital goods market, that we are in, a buyer has become much wiser, and an average buyer is much better informed

with access to internet. They are conscious of the economics, efficiency, manpower etc. We cannot just

sales talk our way now, but have to get qualified in

specially

the spouse, does play a very important role in

the owner to greater risks or

Q. Any surprises on the evolution of rotational moulding machines?

Which were the hits and which were the misses?

There has not been a big change in To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Educate Every Child...

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

59

TURNING POINT

Professionally Managed Enterprise

The Big Change Embraced Q. How were the early days of your career in business and the challenges then?

Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices

Ltd. (HMD) was the very first Indo-Japanese

joint venture in India. Japanese leadership in medical technology was not so developed at

that time. We were the first company then to start making essential, low cost medical devices in India.

We overcame the initial challenges by looking

at

open-minded our

them

customers,

from

attitude

acting

of

a

progressive,

listening

swiftly

on

to

their

suggestions and by following fair and ethical practices, along with updating ourselves with

technological

time to time.

Narindra Nath, Managing Director Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices Ltd. Faridabad

“The company turnover has grown from a mere Rs. 2 crore to over

Rs. 600 crore in the year 2017, an impressive growth rate of 300

times in the last 30 years,” conveys Narindra Nath in dialogue with POLYMERS Communiqué.

60

advancements

from

Q. As you look back on your journey, what do you consider as the most pivotal period for you?

In 1986-87, HMD came out with the concept

of single-use syringes under the brand name

of ‘Dispovan’, at a time when we were having 80% market share for our ‘Glassvan’ brand of glass syringes. That was the turning point as it

accelerated our growth rapidly from as small factory. Today, ‘Dispovan’ is the most popular brand in the syringe market in India with over 60% market share.

To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Media for Packaging Professionals Your Partner in Packaging Sector

Editor: Prof. (Dr.) N. C. Saha (Director - IIP) - 9819996630 For Advertisement and Articles Contact: Asst. Editor: Bhushan Surpur (Assistant Director) - 9821022112 Email: director-iip@iip-in.com/infoiip@iip-in.com Website: www.iip-in.com

Published By

SELF EMPOWEREMENT

“Early days of my career due to

circumstances led me to struggle and hard work, but I continued my diligent perseverance to acquire knowledge about

plastics,” shares Baldev Boolani in dialogue with

POLYMERS Communiqué.

I Read for a Whole Year 1948-49

to Understand Plastics

Q. Making extruders in 1949-50 and making an extruder today. What according to you has been your biggest learning?

Making an extruder in 1949-50 was a struggle as there was no academic and technical knowledge needed by

us available then. Over a period of time, we improved

the material of construction and screw design technology to process various complex polymers.

Q. With the single and twin-screw equipment that you manufacture, what do you see as the exports opportunities?

We are uncompetitive in pricing with China for export of single and twin-screw extruders. Our markets in Africa, Middle East and SAARC countries have been

taken over by China. India is a huge market and we are busy with innovative products for research and

development centres with cost competitiveness compared to USA and European manufacturers.

To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

64

Baldev Boolani, Managing Partner Boolani Engineering Corporation, Mumbai

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

3.0 million tonne/annum of PP & PE to our customers in around 80 3.0 million tonne/annum of PP & PE to our customers in around 80 3.0 million tonne/annum of PP & PE to our customers in around 80

GROWTH STORY

Started Thermosetting and Thermoplastics

in 1961

Premraj Bafna, Chairman Polyset Plastics Pvt. Ltd. Mumbai

Q. How were the early days of your career in business?

After my masters in the year 1959, I thought of putting

up a factory and not joining my father’s business of

textiles. In the same year, I joined hands with some Maharashtrian who were running a Backelite factory. In

one year’s time, the factory which was making losses

started making very good profits. Those partners became

“I believe that there is a lot of

scope in improving the products

and reducing costs. If this is done properly, one can expect a 15% growth year-on-year,” conveys

Premraj Bafna in dialogue with POLYMERS Communiqué.

greedy and requested me to take back my money with

interest and leave the company for them. As a young man, I thought that they created the whole thing and I should be happy to get back the money with experience.

Then I searched a place for myself and set-up a factory in 1961 in Goregaon, to make thermosetting as well as

thermoplastics. Thermosetting was mainly for L&T. Out

of 18 machines, we were running 16 machines for them.

Q. Any specific opportunity that excited you?

Once during my travel to Germany, I saw excellent products made in nylon which was being used by

railways. Nylon was a very difficult material to mould To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

67

HBR Pages

What Sets Successful

CEOs Apart?

While there is certainly no ‘one size

fits all’ approach, focusing on the four

essential behaviours will improve both, a Board’s likelihood of choosing the right CEO and an individual leader’s chances of succeeding in the role.

Presented by

POLYMERS Communiqué in syndication with

Harvard Business Review

70

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

T

he Chief Executive role is a

with analysts at SAS Inc., we tapped into

2013, about a quarter of the

advisory

tough one to fill. From 2000 to

CEO departures in the Fortune 500

were involuntary, according to the

Conference Board. The fallout from these dismissals can be staggering: Forced turnover at the top costs shareholders an estimated USD 112 billion in lost

market value annually, a 2014 PwC study of the world’s 2,500 largest companies showed. Those figures are discouraging

for directors who have the hard task of anointing CEOs - and daunting to any

leader aspiring to the C-suite. Clearly, many otherwise capable leaders and

boards are getting something wrong.

The question is, what?

In the over two decades we have

spent advising Boards, investors and Chief Executives themselves on CEO transitions, we have seen a fundamental

disconnect between what Boards think makes for an ideal CEO and what actually leads to high performance. That

disconnect starts with an unrealistic, yet pervasive stereotype, which is shaped in

large part by the official bios of Fortune

500 leaders. It holds that a successful CEO is a charismatic six-foot-tall white man with a degree from a top university,

who is a strategic visionary with a seemingly direct-to-the-top career path and the ability to make perfect decisions under pressure.

a database created by our leadership firm,

ghSmart,

containing

over 17,000 assessments of C-suite executives, including 2,000 CEOs. The

database has in-depth information on

each leader’s career history, business results and behavioural patterns. We

sifted through that information, looking

Too many CEOs fail at their jobs. From

not, and those who excelled in the role

Chief Executives who left their firms

got hired as CEOs from those who did

2000 to 2013, 25% of the Fortune 500

from those who underperformed.

were forced out.

Our findings challenged many widely

The Cause

held assumptions. For example, our

analysis revealed that while Boards often gravitate toward charismatic

extroverts, introverts are slightly more likely to surpass the expectations of

their Boards and investors. We were also surprised to learn that virtually all CEO candidates had made material mistakes

in the past, and 45% of them have had at least one major career blow-up that

ended a job or was extremely costly to the business. Yet, over 78% of that subgroup of candidates ultimately

won the top job. In addition, we found that educational pedigree (or

That

realisation led us to embark on a 10-year study, the CEO Genome Project.

Its goal is to identify the specific attributes

that

differentiate

high-

performing CEOs (whom we define as Executives meeting or exceeding expectations in the role, according to interviews with Board members and

majority investors deeply familiar with the CEOs’ performance). Partnering with

economists at the University of Chicago

and Copenhagen Business School and

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

disconnect

between

what Boards of Directors think makes

for an ideal CEO and what actually leads to high performance.

The Findings Findings from a database of 17,000 C-suite

assessments

reveal

that

successful CEOs demonstrate four specific behaviours that prove critical to their performance: They are decisive,

they engage for impact, they adapt proactively and they deliver reliably.

performing CEOs we studied had an undergraduate Ivy League education,

and 8% of them did not graduate from college at all.

in candidate interviews with those that

profile.

fundamental

performance: Only 7% of the high-

encountered

this

One major reason is that there is a

lack thereof ) in no way correlated to

However, when we compared the

fit

The Problem

for what distinguished candidates who

Yet we have been struck by how few of the successful leaders we have

In Brief

qualities that Boards respond well to help leaders perform better, the overlap

was vanishingly small. For example, high confidence more than doubles a

candidate’s chances of being chosen as CEO, but provides no advantage

in performance on the job. In other words, what makes candidates look

good to Boards has little connection to what makes them succeed in the role.

But, our most important discovery was

that successful Chief Executives tend to demonstrate four specific behaviours

Authors

Elena Lytkina Botelho Partner, ghSmart

Founder, CEO Genome Project Kim Rosenkoetter Powell Principal, ghSmart

Co-leader, CEO Genome Project Stephen Kincaid

Principal, ghSmart

Past President, Society of Consulting Psychology Dina Wang

Principal, ghSmart

Formerly Fellow at the Forum for Growth and Innovation at Harvard Business School

© 2017 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp.

71

that prove critical to their performance.

We discovered that high-performing

the executives who were rated poor

on those behaviours in their selection

making great decisions all the time;

6% received low marks because they

We also found that when Boards focus and

development

processes,

they

significantly increase their chances of hiring the right CEO. Our research

and experience suggest that when leaders who aspire to the CEO’s office - 87% of Executives, according to a 2014 survey from Korn Ferry deliberately develop those behaviours,

they dramatically raise the odds that they

all

become

Chief Executives.

high-performing

The Four Behaviours It is rare for successful leaders to excel at all four behaviours. However, when

we dug through our data, looking at

the ratings our consultants had given candidates when evaluating them on fit for a CEO job and performance on

30 management competencies (for

example, holding people accountable and the ability to motivate a team),

we found an interesting connection.

Roughly half the strong candidates (who had earned an A overall on a scale of A, B or C) had distinguished themselves in more than one of the four

essential

behaviours,

while only 5% of the weak candidates (who earned a B or C) had.

CEOs do not necessarily stand out for

rather, they stand out for being more decisive. They make decisions earlier, faster and with greater conviction.

They do so consistently - even amid ambiguity, with incomplete information,

and in unfamiliar domains. In our data,

people who were described as ‘decisive’ were 12 times more likely to be highperforming CEOs.

Interestingly, the highest-IQ executives we coach, those who relish intellectual complexity, sometimes struggle the most with decisiveness. While the

quality of their decisions is often

good, because of their pursuit of the perfect answer, they can take too long

to make choices or set clear priorities - and their teams pay a high price.

These smart, but slow decision makers become bottlenecks, and their teams

either grow frustrated (which can lead to the attrition of valuable talent) or become

overcautious

themselves,

stalling the entire enterprise. So, it is no surprise that when we looked more closely at

on decisiveness, we found that only made decisions too quickly. The vast

majority - 94% - scored low because they decided too little, too late.

High-performing CEOs understand that

a wrong decision is often better than no decision at all. As former Greyhound CEO, Stephen Gorman, who led the bus operator through a turnaround, told us, “A bad decision was better than a lack of

direction. Most decisions can be undone, but you have to learn to move with the right amount of speed.”

Decisive CEOs recognise that they

cannot wait for perfect information.

“Once I have 65% certainty around the answer, I have to make a call,” says Jerry Bowe, CEO of the private-label manufacturer Vi-Jon. But they do work

actively to solicit multiple points of view and often poll a relatively small, carefully cultivated ‘kitchen cabinet’ of

trusted advisers who can be counted on for unvarnished opinions and sound judgment.

Jerry Bowe motivates himself

to

act

on

decisions by framing things this way: “I ask

myself two questions:

First, what is the impact

The behaviours

if I get it wrong? And second,

describe sound

other things up if I do

we are about to deceptively simple.

But

the key is to practice with

them

maniacal

consistency, which our work reveals is a great challenge for many leaders.

Deciding With Speed and Conviction Legends about CEOs who always seem to know exactly how to steer their companies to wild success seem to abound in business.

72

how much will it hold

not move on this?”

That he

approach,

says,

also

inspires his team

members to trust

their own judgment

on operational decisions

- which is critical to freeing the CEO up to home in on fewer, but more important decisions.

To that end, successful CEOs

also know when not to decide.

Stephen Kaufman, former CEO of

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

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Arrow Electronics, suggests that it is all too easy to get caught up in a volley

of decision making. He advises pausing briefly to consider whether a decision

should actually be made lower down

in the organisation and if delaying it a week or a month would allow important information to emerge without causing irreparable harm.

But once a path is chosen, highperforming CEOs press ahead without

High-performing

wavering. Art Collins, former Chairman

CEOs understand that

and CEO of Medtronic, told us: “Employees

a wrong decision is

and other key constituencies will quickly

often better than no

lose faith in leaders who waffle or

backtrack once a decision is made.” And,

decision at all.

if decisions do not turn out well? Our analysis suggests that while every CEO

makes mistakes, most

The single most

common mistake among first-time

CEOs - committed by a surprisingly

high 60% of them - was not getting the right team

in place quickly enough.

of them are not lethal.

We found that among CEOs who were fired over issues related to

decision making, only one-third

lost

their

jobs because they had

made bad calls; the rest were ousted for being indecisive.

Engaging for Impact Once CEOs set a clear

course for the business,

they must get buy-in among their

employees and other stakeholders. We found that strong performers balance

keen insight into their stakeholders’

priorities with an unrelenting focus on delivering business results. They start

by developing an astute understanding of

their

stakeholders’

needs

and

motivations, and then get people on board by driving for performance and

aligning them around the goal of value

creation. In our data, CEOs who deftly engaged stakeholders with this results orientation were 75% more successful in the role.

CEOs who excel at bringing others

along, plan and execute disciplined communications

74

and

influencing

strategies. “With any big decision, I create a stakeholder map of the key people who need to be on board,” explains Madeline Bell, CEO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “I identify the detractors and their concerns, and then I think about

how I can take the energy that they

might put into resistance and channel

it into something positive. I make it clear

to people that they are important to the process and they will be part of a win.

But at the end of the day, you have to be clear that you are making the call and you expect them on board.”

When interacting with stakeholders,

CEOs like Madeline Bell are acutely aware of how their moods and body language can affect the impact of

their communications. Though much has been written about ‘emotional

contagion’, new CEOs are often surprised by the unintended damage that can be caused by a stray word or gesture.

“Every comment and facial expression

strong CEO candidates in our sample demonstrated calm under pressure.

CEOs who engage stakeholders do not invest their energy in being liked

or protecting their teams from painful

decisions. In fact, both those behaviours

are commonly seen in lower-performing CEOs. Instead, the skilled CEOs gain the

support of their colleagues by instilling confidence that they will lead the team

to success, even if that means making uncomfortable or unpopular moves.

These CEOs do not shy away from conflict in the pursuit of business goals; in fact,

in our analysis two-thirds of the CEOs who excelled at engagement were rated

as strong in conflict management. The

ability to handle clashing viewpoints also seems to help candidates advance to the

CEO’s office. When we analysed leaders

who had made it there significantly faster than average, one of the qualities that

stood out was their willingness to engage in conflict.

you make will be read and magnified

When tackling contentious issues,

Stephen Kaufman. “If you grimace during

give everyone a voice, but not a vote.

10 times by the organisation,” says someone’s presentation because of your bad back, the person making the presentation thinks they have been

fired.” Composure is a job requirement, and more than three-quarters of the

leaders who are good at engagement

They listen and solicit views, but do not default to consensus-driven

decision making. “Consensus is good, but it is too slow, and sometimes you end up with the lowest common

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

denominator,” says Christophe Weber, CEO

of

Takeda

Pharmaceutical.

Christophe Weber makes a habit of

having unstructured meetings with 20 to 30 of the company’s high potentials

before making key decisions. The goal

of those meetings is to challenge him

and

present

him

with

new

perspectives, but he is careful not to create the illusion of democracy.

None of this means that CEOs should

behave as autocrats or lone wolves.

Typically, we see ‘take no prisoners’ CEOs

last only as long as the company has no choice but to submit to shock therapy.

These CEOs often get

In their first weeks

on the job, reliable CEOs resist the temptation

to jump into execution

mode. They dig into budgets

and plans, and engage with

board members, employees and customers to understand

expectations.

ousted as soon as the

business emerges from crisis mode - they lose the support of their teams

or

of

board

members who have grown tired of the collateral damage. It is

no coincidence that the careers of turnaround CEOs are frequently a series of lucrative twoto

three-year

stints;

they put out the fires and then move on to the next assignment.

where a playbook simply cannot exist.

You’d better be ready to adapt.”

Most

CEOs

know

they

have

to

divide their attention among shortterm, medium-term and long-term

perspectives, but the adaptable CEOs spent significantly more of their time

- as much as 50% - thinking about the long-term. Other executives, by contrast, devoted an average of 30% of their time to long-term thinking.

We believe a long-term focus helps because it makes CEOs more likely to pick up on early signals. Highly

adaptable CEOs regularly plug into broad information flows: They scan

wide networks and diverse sources of data, finding relevance in information that may at first seem unrelated to their businesses. As a result, they sense

change earlier and make strategic moves to take advantage of it.

Adaptable

CEOs

also

of where and why they had come up

short and give specific examples of

how they tweaked their approach to

do better next time. Similarly, aspiring CEOs who demonstrated this kind of

attitude (what Stanford’s Carol Dweck calls a ‘growth mindset’) were more likely to make it to the top of the

pyramid: Nearly 90% of the strong CEO candidates we reviewed scored high on dealing with setbacks.

Delivering Reliably Mundane as it may sound, the ability to

reliably

produce

results

was

possibly the most powerful of the

four essential CEO behaviours. In our

sample, CEO candidates who scored high on reliability were twice as likely to be picked for the role and 15 times

more likely to succeed in it. Boards and investors love a steady hand, and employees trust predictable leaders.

recognise

that setbacks are an integral part

of changing course and treat their mistakes as opportunities to learn

and grow. In our sample, CEOs who

considered setbacks to be failures had

To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

50% less chance of thriving. Successful

CEOs, on the other hand, would offer

unabashedly matter-of-fact accounts

Adapting Proactively

For evidence of how important it is

for businesses and leaders to adjust to a rapidly changing environment,

we need look no further than the aftermath of Brexit and the recent U.S.

Presidential election. Our analysis shows that CEOs who excel at adapting are 6.7 times more likely to succeed. CEOs

themselves told us over and over that this skill was critical. When asked what

differentiates effective CEOs, Dominic Barton, Global Managing Partner of

McKinsey & Company, immediately offered: “It is dealing with situations

that are not in the playbook. As a CEO,

you are constantly faced with situations

76

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Weekend Delights Friday night to Monday morning, a time to unwind, rejuvenate and be geared to face another grueling week. Each one of us use this ‘my time’ is different ways. And why not, weekend is a time for expressing ourselves. We all have known the personalities featured here as astute business stalwarts; as life is more than just business, we at POLYMERS Communiqué, have started a new section called ‘WEEKEND DELIGHTS’. Live life...

Shailesh Lahoti Director

Blend Colours Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad

My weekends are for quiet and peaceful times. After a workout, I like to mediate. These relaxed weekends with meditation gives me inner peace, making me feel refreshed, energised and ready to take on the world. It also helps me to introspect the week which has passed and take measures accordingly.

J. R. Shah Director

Jayvee Organics and Polymers Private Limited, Mumbai

After a very hectic and busy schedule of the entire week from Monday to Friday, I look forward to a relaxing weekend to unwind myself and recuperate, keeping me in lively spirits, besides devoting maximum time to enjoying my favourite hobbies.

For me, I find tremendous relaxation listening to Indian classical music; not only on TV, but from my music collections. I even take the opportunity to attend musical programmes whenever time permits. Then, of course, I make it a point to visit my gymkhana where I indulge in various exercises for about an hour and a half, including 25 - 30 minutes of swimming which I enjoy thoroughly.

I am also a hardcore reader and enjoy reading technical and general magazines as well as financial newspapers to keep myself briefed and updated with the recent developments and happenings. I also devote considerable time for socialising and, time permitting, go for 2 - 3 kms walk, keeping me physically fit and alert. What I certainly do not indulge in is the afternoon nap and hence avoid feeling of laziness.

Anoop Srivastav

Head Marketing, Performance Films Division Supreme Industries Ltd., Mumbai

The day I look forward to the most is not Sunday, but Saturday. Because that is the day when I feel excited thinking of the things which I can do at leisure on Sunday like getting up late, spending time in my garden in Baroda, enjoying playing cards with family or friends or going out for a movie and dinner.

Rajeev Sanghvi CEO

Satellite Plastic Industries, Mumbai

Since I need to travel for my business for almost 15 to 18 days a month outside Mumbai, I make sure I am back home for almost all the weekends. It is the only time I get to catch up on my favourite hobby which is stamp collection. My father encouraged me to take up this hobby in 1978 and since than I have followed it passionately for all these years. I can spend hours together putting the stamps in order. On Saturdays, I am working until 4.00 pm and in the evenings, I prefer to stay home and relax. Sunday mornings is hobby time and on a few Sunday evenings we go for movies or a good English / Gujarati drama with friends. I do not prefer dining out on weekends as I cannot eat peacefully in crowded places.

Amit Ray

Group President

UFLEX Limited, Noida

I have a short weekend i.e. Sunday.

I endeavour to keep Sunday’s free of any official or social engagements. Reading, watching a movie, introspecting, having a coffee at the club and spending time with my daughters and grandchildren is what makes me feel complete and ready for the next gruelling week.

LITTLE ACTIONS BIG RESULTS

Responsibility A Big Virtue

Responsibility can not only make us a good leader, but also

can make us a better and respectful person. It is a choice that an individual needs to make in order to excel.

I

n these challenging times, we come

example, if one is a sales engineer,

things on a daily basis. Some of them

is accountable for the given targets in

across many important and urgent

are equally urgent to address within a

short time. It is important to prioritise and handle these day-to-day issues with clarity. For effective outcomes,

we need to be both, accountable and

responsible. But first, one needs to clearly understand what we mean by accountability and responsibility.

Accountability

is

what

we

are

answerable for. We do have our role

defined in our organisation. It is very important to focus on our role, the

priorities and promises we have made

to ourselves as well as others who are our customers (internal and external) in an organisation. Many a times, we have

multiple roles too. In such situations,

we need to trust our conscience. By being sincere, truthful and transparent, many Shirish V. Divgi Managing Director Plastics Machinery Asia Ahmedabad

82

difficult

situations

handled effectively.

can

be

Responsibility is one’s choice. We can always see what better we can

contribute while doing our role. For

getting orders is his primary role. He sales. Along with this, he can also be

responsible for helping customers in providing added knowledge, helping

in his pain areas, exploring new

business opportunities, sharing market updates etc.

While

accountability

is

basic,

responsibility is ownership and passion in all that we think positively and do!

Points to Ponder Some thoughts to think and deliberate on this important parameter for success, that is responsibility:

l

While working on our job, having basic understanding and clarity of accountability

and

responsibility

is good. But is it good enough to excel in our challenging work To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

SIVARAM SPEAKS

High Temperature Polymer Fuel Cell Membranes

Fascinating World of Invisible Polymers

F

and

POLYMERS

Communiqué

uel cells are marvels of modern

operation

integration of many disciplines

stationary power generation applications.

day technology representing an

of

science

engineering

(Refer

Figure 1). In the previous issue of

magazine

(June - July 2017), I described the use of perfluorinated ionomer membranes Dr. S. Sivaram Former Director, CSIR-NCL Honorary Professor and INSA Senior Scientist Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune

in fuel cell applications for conversion of hydrogen to electricity. Such membranes are

branched

polymers,

consisting

of only carbon - fluorine bonds with a pendant sulfonic acid group. Fuel

for

5,000

hours

for

transportation and 40,000 hours for However, proton transfer across such a membrane requires that the sulfonic acid

group in the polymer be fully hydrated,

thus, making available an abundant supply of protons which is required for

high proton conductivity. Fully hydrated

Nafion® will absorb twenty-one molecules of water per sulfonic acid group. Thus, the membrane can be considered as a

cell operates under extreme oxidative

To know more, please subscribe to

the polymer is an essential prerequisite

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

conditions; hence oxidative stability of for a good membrane material. Polymers

POLYMERS Communiqué at

containing only carbon - fluorine bonds are,

therefore,

ideally

suited for this application.

A commercially useful fuel

Many of the drawbacks of the low temperature fuel cells can be obviated if they can be operated at temperatures higher than 100° C. Operation at higher temperatures also results in better reaction kinetics for both, hydrogen oxidation and oxygen reduction at the electrodes. The waste heat generated is also of higher quality.

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

cell is expected to have an uninterrupted

Figure 1: Material science and engineering in fuel cells.

85

HEAD TALK

Yukio Iimura, Chairman Toshiba Machine Group Japan

88

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Toshiba Machine to Increase Production Capacity in

India by 30%

“Toshiba Machine deems India as an especially important market, and the unit sales for fiscal 2018 in the country is

estimated to rise to 1.5 times that for fiscal 2017,” points out Yukio Iimura in dialogue with POLYMERS Communiqué.

Q. What global trends are you witnessing in injection moulding machines?

Approximately, what would be the number of injection moulding machines that Toshiba would have installed, worldwide?

Q. You have been ‘Making-in-India’ for a while. What has been your experience of producing locally here? What has been the biggest benefits you have drawn?

As the development of more lightweight automotive

is famous for machines with the latest technologies,

parts

is

accelerated,

components

that

are

traditionally made of metal are being replaced with resin-made ones.

Further efforts are necessary, considering that more

lightweight moulding resin is made with injection moulding machines, the strength needs to be improved with metal parts replaced with ones made

of fibre-reinforced resin, and there is a need to better respond to the IoT+m platform.

Toshiba Machine Group has sold approximately 73,000 units of injection moulding machines to date.

Toshiba Machine is a globally renowned brand, which

a high level of quality and excellent performance.

Toshiba Machine manufactures machines for the

Indian market in the country, and the experience has

allowed us to establish a good track record there.

Our products have been well accepted by Indian

customers as machines with the highest performance.

As we succeeded in maintaining price competitiveness

in the Indian market through local production, the

sales of our products have risen 15 per cent or more annually since their sales started in 2013 under the

Toshiba Machine brand name. In addition, Toshiba

Machine is highly appreciated as a Japanese machine

We estimate 3,000 units will be produced in fiscal

maker that has a broad network in India, which allows

fiscal 2018.

valued customers.

2017, while 3,700 units are planned to be made in

us to provide after-sales-services quickly for our

Toshiba Machine deems India as an especially

The biggest benefit from our local production in

2018 in the country is estimated to rise

machines have become a core product for Toshiba

important market, and the unit sales for fiscal to 1.5 times that for fiscal 2017.

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

India is that India-made hydraulic injection moulding

Machine Group. They have already been exported

89

Toshiba Machine Group has sold approximately 73,000 units of injection moulding machines to date. We estimate 3,000 units will be produced in fiscal 2017, while 3,700 units are planned to be made in fiscal 2018.

but also because the unit sales of machines in the nation account for a large portion of Toshiba Machine

Group’s total sales. The Indian market will continue to grow in the future, so machines equipped with

the latest technologies will surely be more accepted

by moulders in India. Toshiba Machine is currently in a good situation to tap into this trend. We are now

proceeding with plans to expand production space and improve manufacturing efficiency, so we will

increase our production capacity by 30 per cent. We

will carefully monitor the growth of our Indian plant in the coming three years. We are also planning an extra investment to market die casting machines and other new products.

Toshiba Machine (Chennai), abbreviated as TMIC, is

Q. If you would like to invest USD 100 million in business, would your preference be to invest in making your existing machines cheaper for the market or invest in newer technologies?

Group’s hydraulic injection moulding machines.

would not be good. Toshiba Machine is working to

from India to Southeast Asia and the United States. regarded as the production base for Toshiba Machine

Q. With an increasing advent of local manufacturing in India, especially injection moulding machines, do we see newer strategies being worked out? Do you foresee that margins would be under pressure?

Toshiba Machine is the front-runner company that

has constantly developed new technologies, and this technical superiority has enabled us to win over many customers. For Toshiba Machine, new

Investing huge funds only in one of the two options meet requests from our customers to become their

best partner under the slogan, ‘Best Partner of Leading Industries’. Requests from customers are different,

depending on the region, the customer product and the future strategy of the client. I believe Toshiba

Machine, as the best partner of our customers, will

need to make efforts to develop new technologies as well as to lower prices, so we can have them buy our products.

development and engineering projects are part of continuous processes to review manufacturing costs.

Q. What does ‘sustainable business’ mean to you?

New strategies are continuously adopted by business

types and segments. For example, our products are

To enable a company to continue existing, keeping on

also sold to companies in the polyvinyl chloride

generating profits is essential. A sustainable business refers to one that can continue generating stable

moulding industry, because we can offer a high level of moulding quality with Toshiba Machine’s unique

screw technology. Meanwhile, as many new local manufacturers emerge, adding pressure on us to

further slash costs, Toshiba Machine has continuously been promoting cost reducing measures so we can generate profits by cutting costs in various fields.

Q. What does your Indian market mean to you today? What growth plans do you have for your Indian operations?

India is a large promising market and is expected to

grow 12 per cent annually, so many manufacturing companies throughout the world are trying to

expand into the Indian market. India is important

90

for us, not only because the market is large in size,

profits into the future. To realise such a business, it is necessary to bring benefits not only to the company’s

customers, but society and people connected to the company. What is essential is that the business

is beneficial to all relevant parties, including the company, society, the environment and people.

Q. Your direction to the group that could serve as a guiding vision for the next 25 years would be...

Toshiba Machine Group - a general machine maker To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

CREATING MARKETS

Building a Customer-centric Organisation The Taj Approach

Lessons in marketing tell us that good

companies meet needs and great companies create markets. Adding relevant scale to

operations that gives loyal consumers access to new products and locations is important in order to stay relevant in an increasingly competitive market place.

B

ill Gates could not have been more accurate when he

said, “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

In this era of hyper-connected and increasingly brand-agnostic

customers, all brands need to work harder than ever to stay relevant in the market place. There are multiple case studies

available of traditional companies not evolving in a timely fashion to match customer needs and squandering away their

market share to a new breed of agile companies that become increasingly more relevant in the market place. All successful customer-centric organisations have one thing in common - they

are obsessive about their customers. The DNA and culture of Chinmai Sharma Chief Revenue Officer Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris Mumbai

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

these companies reflect the fact that their products, solutions

and processes revolve around their customers. Invariably, the

senior management team at such companies is directly involved

in handling customer issues and consumer feedback metrics are fully engrained in their organisations key result areas.

93

The hospitality industry is a labour intensive

their stakeholders. Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts and

Many things can go wrong and hotel operators

of hotels and has been the custodian of Indian

industry with multiple customer touch points. need to run a tight ship in order to ensure

consistency in service delivery. In addition, the industry is in the process of being transformed

from a product-focused, physical-asset-intensive

business to a more customer-focused and

experience-centric one. It is this customercentricity that builds long-term customer value and eventually differentiates one company from another.

Safaris is one of Asia’s largest and finest group

hospitality with its rich portfolio of iconic hotels, authentic palaces, idyllic resorts and luxurious safari lodges for many decades. Taj creates value

for its guests by offering them meticulously curated experiences, sincere service, world-class amenities

and local flavours. Taj’s culture of sincerely caring

for all their stakeholders; inspired by the nobility

of the Tata Group Founder Jamsetji Tata runs deep in the organisation and all its associates.

‘Putting the customer first’ is a Tata group

In order to run a successful, customer-centric

encompassing and critical role in today’s

products and services, empowered employees

philosophy

which

has

assumed

connected world. All Tata companies are

reinventing

themselves

strengthen their relationship with their customers their most important stakeholder - to create long-term value for all

to

an

all-

organisation, it always helps to have great and

acute

customer

listening

skills.

Using

technology as an enabler always helps and

can make the processes around employee and guest engagement, a lot more efficient. Here

are a few areas that successful customer-centric organisations, like Taj, focus on.

Employee and Customer Engagement The Taj group continues to lead its effort with recognition programmes and awards for

employees, a strong focus on

learning and development

along with continuous support

that keep the teams empowered,

motivated and inspired round the

year. The group recognises that a

demotivated employee is as good as

a dissatisfied customer. Thus, rewards

and recognition go a long way and are

effective ways to ensure that employees

get on board the customer-centricity

journey. It is important to create an environment

where

if

something

simple can be done for a guest that can

add value, it should be done without layers of unnecessary approvals. The company

moments awarded

celebrates internally

to

guest

and

exceptional

delight

stars

are

associates

who go above and beyond their call

of duty to help our guests, thereby developing internal role models and standards

for

customer-centricity.

Happy employees do translate to happy customers.

Sheer customer delight.

94

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Customer Satisfaction Metrics and Senior Management Involvement Monitoring and analysing consumer feedback can be one of the most important business drivers. Taj

uses some technology solutions that are helpful in gauging valid, reliable and comparable guest data in real-time – which lead to competitor benchmarking

and

also

the

Net

Promoter

Score (NPS). These solutions also provide hotel managers with empirical evidence for operational

improvements including better informed marketing and sales strategies.

Given the shorter attention spans and a crowded market place, it is imperative for companies to listen. Apart from the hotel leadership teams,

the senior management at Taj including the Managing Director, the Chief Revenue Officer and Senior Vice Presidents of operations make it a

point to interact with guests, loyalty members and

diners on a regular basis every week for feedback and to help resolve queries or complaints. Their

involvement has twin impacts – it helps bolster the

confidence of the line associates and also sends the right message to the consumers.

Reaching Across All Platforms In today’s hyper-connected world, it is important for all companies to develop platforms for employee and customer engagement. Smartphone

usage is rising exponentially and user adoption

rates are the highest for solutions that are intuitive and mobile-friendly.

For Taj, the traveller experience begins with

the company’s digital touch points - the new tajhotels.com and the new mobile app. These are the frontline tools to deliver an experience to guests which build the bridge between

the virtual and the physical stay at a Taj hotel.

To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

Optical Surface/Web Inspection Systems Rapidly, precisely detect, classify, document and record all optical defects across a wide range of materials. ► Paper, film and foil ► Plastics ► Nonwovens ► And more...

Engineered by Making Light Work www.ndc.com

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

97

THOUGHT OUT

Privately Owned

Professionally Managed Those, who manage to break free and move on to become

significant players, are able to do so because they overcame the

‘one-man show’ syndrome; setting up a structured organisation, professionalising the way the company is managed.

Looking Deep If India has a distinct national competitive advantage amidst comity of nations, it

is the private entrepreneurship. Every student dreams of starting his own Shailesh Sheth Corporate Strategy Adviser Management & Manufacturing Technology, Mumbai

98

business one day, becoming his own

master. Willing to take risks, stories abound of how many people used their

last savings, their pension and provident funds, even their wife’s jewellery to start out on their own. Many succeeded. Many

did not. Yet, millions of such businesses

form the backbone of modern Indian

industrial economy. Mafat Gagal to Mafatlal Industries, Dhirubhai Ambani to Reliance and Karsan Patel to Nirma,

there are hundreds of such inspirational rags to riches tales. Looking deep into how a small entrepreneur grows his

business, and with it his enterprise, we can formulate an entrepreneurial stages (Refer Figure 1).

Somewhere after stage 4 or 5, these

entrepreneurs hit a roadblock, the ceiling.

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Table 1: Characteristics that Typify the Owner and a Professional Manager Owner

Professional Manager

Do whatever needs to be done

Don’t do work; delegate everything

Negotiate everything

Hire talent better than you and pay up

Cash is king: Protect your downside risk

Always be recruiting and fund raising

Nobody else will figure it out for you

Define objectives, provide resources and step aside

Personality matters

Give praise, share credit, encourage critique

Fortune favours the bold

Cultivate culture

Nothing is ever quite good enough

Hold others’ accountable for results, but encourage

What are you waiting for: Do it now

Coaching and cheerleading v/s Doing and directing

Build something to pass on

Have a big vision: Plan out the next 5 - 10 years

mistakes

Very few break this ceiling and continue their growth

journey. Most get stuck and remain there, fighting daily battles to stay ahead of inflation pushing and shoving growth with great difficulty.

Those, who manage to break free and move on to

become significant players, are able to do so because they overcame the ‘one-man show’ syndrome,

setting up a structured organisation, nurturing strong second line of command, leveraging power of

partnerships and above all, empowering his people.

In short, professionalising the way the company is managed.

Professional management does not mean divorcing

the owner. It is how decisions are made, how planning is done, how execution is carried out. Essentially,

there are three distinct facets to professionalisation.

These are organisational culture, skill set of its managerial personnel and strategic thinking.

“Professional management is a function, a

discipline, a task to be done; and managers are

the professionals who practice this discipline, carry out the functions and discharge these tasks. It is no longer relevant whether the manager is also an owner; if he is, it is incidental to his main function, which is to be a manager” Peter Drucker.

Organisational Culture The fundamental difference in an owner-driven company and a professionally-managed one is the organisational culture. A professionally-managed company, for example, will have more ‘open’ culture,

permitting people to air their views freely, even if

they are at variance with the owner; discourage yesmanship, let individuality blossom and foster team

work. This means the owner needs to transform

The biggest issue with many family businesses is that they get struck doing things the same

way they have operated for years even when the business outgrows that structure. The founding generation holds on to the reins of leadership too long and will not pass control.

To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

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POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

99

EXTRUSION | PRINTING | CONVERTING

What do you get when teams of brilliant minds scrutinize each component of the proven VAREX range to make it even better? Higher output, superb ergonomics, improved safety and a new world of energy efficiency.

More than just a pretty face: VAREX II.

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With the new ENERGY MONITORING module, you get real-time data, making it easier than ever to identify potential savings. And that’s just the beginning ...

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NEW DIMENSION

RBSM at

PLASTINDIA 2018

The Reverse Buyer Seller Meet (RBSM) aims to bring a huge

contingent of 600 specially selected and hosted international

buyers to meet and trade with exhibitors at PLASTINDIA 2018 thereby building a strong ground for business, networking

Rajeev Chitalia Chairman - NEC PLASTINDIA 2018

102

and tie-up for a better bilateral understanding that would

help both, the hosted buyers and the exhibitors to extract maximum value from this business-oriented initiative.

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

W

ith business being the prime factor

at PLASTINDIA events, and with the continued intent of adding business

convenience and opportunities for its exhibitors at

PLASTINDIA

with

the

B2B

Connect

2018,

support

of

Plastindia its

Special Entitlements Each hosted buyer is entitled to:

l

Foundation

founder –

upto USD 1000 or actual cost of return economy

class air ticket from their destination of origin to

Meet-2-Trade:

The Reverse Buyer Seller Meet for the hosted

international buyers to meet the exhibitors of

Ahmedabad, whichever is lower.

l

PLASTINDIA 2018.

Belarus and Uzbekistan), ASEAN + 2 Countries

buyers to meet and trade with exhibitors thereby

(Thailand,

building a strong ground for business, networking

from their destination of origin to Ahmedabad,

business-oriented initiative.

whichever is lower.

l

along with Plexconcil is facilitating, promoting and

relevant documents by uploading the same.

l

This programme is only open for international

buyers (i.e. buyers who are holding an Indian passport and residing in countries outside India

l

Transfers from hotel to exhibition venue and

Transfers from airport to hotel and back.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner on all days of stay

Visa invitation letter.

Factory visits to exhibitor facilities (Subject to

l l

Each company will be allowed to nominate only

The said application will be scanned by

the screening committee appointed by the Meet-2-Trade RBSM Authorities and every applicant accepted will be notified in writing

along with visa invitation letter to facilitate

his/her participation.

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

accommodation in a 4-star hotel for 3 nights

l

one person for the hosted buyer programme. It

Each hosted buyer will be provided hotel and 4 days in Ahmedabad.

l

are not eligible to apply).

maker should be nominated for the same.

to Ahmedabad, whichever is lower. l

l

is strongly recommend that a purchase decision l

of actual air ticket from their destination of origin

Each applicant for the hosted buyer programme

published in the online form and submit the

Lanka and Bangladesh) and General Countries reimbursement of airfare upto USD 650 or cost

programme through its website.

will have to fill all the mandatory fields that are

Buyers from SAARC Countries (Nepal, Bhutan, Sri

(USA, Germany, Italy and UK) are entitled to a

inviting genuine buyers to apply for the hosted buyer

Indonesia,

airfare upto USD 650 or cost of actual air ticket

exhibitors to extract maximum value from this

l

Malaysia,

Zealand are entitled to a reimbursement of

that would help both, the hosted buyers and the

The criteria for selection is as follows:

Singapore,

Vietnam and Myannmar), Australia and New

and tie-up for a better bilateral understanding

Selection Criteria

Egypt and Oman), Africa (Nigeria, South Africa,

Ethiopia), CIS Countries (Russia, Georgia, Ukraine,

of 600 specially selected and hosted international

and with their grant received, PLASTINDIA 2018

Buyers from West Asia (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kenya, Tanzania, Algeria, Ghana, Uganda and

This unique initiative aims to bring a huge contingent

With the support of the Ministry of Commerce

(Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay and Argentina)

are entitled to a reimbursement of return airfare

member

Plexconcil introduces for the first time a unique Programme

Buyers from Latin America and Central America

back.

in India.

feasibility, time, travel and connectivity from the exhibition venue).

Note: The air tickets will be paid in accordance to

the norms and guidelines laid out by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India and the RBSM

Authorities. To claim the reimbursement, the hosted

buyer is requested to submit all necessary documents which will be notified at the time of approval of application of the hosted buyer.

103

OUT-OF-THE-BOX

HR Roadmap

An Enabler in Building Competitive Advantage Human resources

management leverages

human capital to achieve

the firm’s strategic business objectives and can help achieve considerable

success in the marketplace.

Conversely, failing to do so,

through lack of planning or poor implementation, can

result in reduced productivity and profits, and even a poor brand reputation.

T

he father of modern management,

not only to achieve market leadership,

of those great historical periods

products, services and competitors

Peter Drucker said, “We are in one

that occur every 200 or 300 years when

people don’t understand the world anymore, and the past is not sufficient

to explain the future.” Unremitting, unpredictable and sometimes alarming change

makes

it

difficult

for

any

organisation to stay current, to accurately

104

are emerging with tremendous speed.

Therefore,

today,

more

than

ever

before, it is important to understand

the sources of competitive advantage and disadvantage.

The Other Angle

predict the future and to maintain

In today’s highly competitive world,

of most planned organisational change

organisation is, “What will be the human

constancy of direction. The failure rate Dr. Naveen Malhotra Group Head HR & CC Sintex Industries Ltd. Kalol

but also to remain in the market. New

initiatives is dramatic.

Today,

competitive

a key question facing virtually every To know more, please subscribe to

pressure

is

intensified and it is becoming harder

POLYMERS Communiqué at

subscriptions@polymerscommunique.com

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

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EXTRUSION

Choose Your Best Answer

Mastermind: Prof. (Dr.) D. D. Kale

A quick check on how updated you are, a few not so difficult questions.

A 3-minute quiz...give it a try!

1.

Small diameter single extruders (diameter about 1 inch or less)

5.

are typically run over the speed

6.

is...

a) Longer than that for polyethylene

1: c; 2: b; 3: a; 4: d; 5: b; 6: a; 7: b; 8: d; 9: d; 10: a; 11: c; 12: b

7.

c) Is due to uneven opening of the die causing excessive flow.

d) Is the thermal effect of the

material in the die and can offer orientation.

Compression ratio is a ratio of...

11.

b) Leakages from the die.

to that in feed zone.

melted properly.

c) Defect due to excessive tensile

b) Flight depth in the feed zone to

force beyond a certain value for

that in metering zone.

Root diameter of extruder screw...

the specific material.

c) Pressure upstream of screen pack

d) Breakage of volatile bubbles in

to pressure in the die.

a) Is same as barrel diameter.

d) Barrel diameter to root diameter.

b) Is numerically equal to square root

8.

Sizing plates are placed...

Melt fracture is... a) Frequent breaking of extrudate.

a) Flight depth in the metering zone

d) Ensures that all the plastic is

flight depth.

the elastic nature of plastic.

b) Is a defect in the extrudate.

d) It is smaller for smaller size screws and longer for longer screws.

Die swell... a) Is a material property related to

screw.

b) Pushes the screw forward and

of screw depending upon the

10.

c) Shorter than that for polyethylene

backwards and absorbs the thrust.

d) Is less than the outside diameter

fall on the ground.

polyethylene screw.

a) Prevents screw from moving

screw.

cooling bath so that it does not

b) Of same length as that for

Thrust bearing...

c) Is same as outside diameter of

extrudate after its exit from the

screw.

d) 400 – 500 rpm

108

Feeding zone for nylon extruder

b) 30 – 100 rpm

of barrel diameter.

d) Pulls the sufficiently cooled

the flights.

c) 600 – 700 rpm

4.

cooling bath and guides it.

d) Mixing of plastic melt between

a) 500 – 600 rpm

c) Reduces the speed of the motor.

screen pack.

c) Pulls the material inside the

metering zone.

Large diameter extruders

increases the output.

die so that it flows smoothly.

c) Connecting feed zone to the

d) 400 – 500 rpm

3.

b) Pulls the molten mass from the

forward direction of screw.

c) 30 – 100 rpm

more) are operated typically at...

b) Excessive heating of plastic preventing flow of feed in the

b) 600 – 700 rpm

Puller unit... a) Pulls the molten mass out of the

material in the feed zone

a) 500 – 600 rpm

(diameters around 12 inches or

9.

screw.

range of...

2.

Bridging in extrusion is... a) Connecting the motor to the

the material.

12.

Screen pack is placed... a) Between hopper and feed zone.

a) Just before screen pack.

b) Before the breaker plate.

b) After the breaker plate.

c) After the exit from the breaker plate.

c) Just before the exit of the die.

d) Just before the material leaves

d) Inside the cooling bath.

the die.

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

IN PERSPECTIVE

Framing Petrochemicals Vision 2030

IOCL’s 6th Petrochemical Conclave

T

he 6th edition of the Petrochemical Conclave

The petrochemicals industry has the potential

to make greater impact through collaboration and innovation among industry members

through forums such as the Petrochemicals

Conclave,” highlights Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for

Petroleum & Natural Gas as he inaugurates

the 6 Petrochemical Conclave at Mahatma th

Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

on the theme, ‘India Petrochemicals 2030 Opportunities and Challenges’ held on 29th July,

2017 at Gandhinagar got off to a rousing start with the

lighting of the lamp by Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum and Natural

Gas in the presence of Mansukh L. Mandaviya, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of

India; Nitinbhai Patel, Dy. Chief Minister, Gujarat; senior government officials and heads of PSU oil companies.

In his inaugural address, Dharmendra Pradhan said that the petrochemicals sector is contributing in a big

way to all major sectors such as textiles, agriculture,

healthcare, consumer durables and packaging. “With

increase in the per capita income and discretionary To know more, please subscribe to POLYMERS Communiqué at

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POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

109

MEETING POINT

Plastic Pipes 2017

SPE India’s International Conference

The Plastic Pipes 2017 international conference will provide a comprehensive overview of the market and help identify challenges and opportunities in the plastics pipe industry.

S

ociety of Plastics Engineers India

manufacturers,

Plastic Pipes 2017 international

and certification bodies, infrastructure

(SPE

India)

is

organising

the

conference to be held between 23rd and 24th November, 2017 at Hotel

Leela, Mumbai.

The

Plastic

international

Pipes

2017

conference

will provide a comprehensive

overview of the latest materials,

additive

manufacturers,

producers, testing

projects management and consultants, pipe processors, officials from

associations and institutions, end-users and government

agencies, among others. The

conference will help identify

challenges and opportunities in

technologies, business trends

the plastics pipe industry.

offer

The Current Scenario

and

applications.

a

unique

It

will

networking

opportunity for delegates from a wide

Worldwide the demand for plastic

resin manufacturers, pipes and fittings

per annum through 2019 to about

spectrum of the industry which includes

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machinery

pipes is projected to grow > 5%

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

20 million kms. from the current size of about

Registration Fee

14 million kms. Construction applications make up the largest share of plastic pipes demand.

Delegates: Rs. 9,500 + 18% GST or USD 180 or

decelerating in China - the world’s largest plastic

SPE Members: Rs. 9,000 + 18% GST or USD 170

is still projected to rise by about 9%, annually.

l

Although construction spending is reportedly

EURO 160

pipe market, plastic pipe demand in the country

or EURO 150

Due to the ongoing efforts to expand the access

for

to potable water and sanitation systems, growth

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Technological advancements and improvements

energy, among others.

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pipes in 1960s. The sector has grown substantially in the last 5 decades and has reached the size of

the major factors facilitating the growth of the plastic

pipe industry in the country. Announcements from the government on development of smart cities,

AMRUT Yojana, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will also create excellent demand for plastic products, in general and pipes, in particular.

Some Topics of Interest

Practices in HDPE Pipe Welding

Innovation in Plastic Pipes

Your Know-how Partner for Manufacturing DWC

Plastic Pipe Downstream and the Future

Polyethylene Pipes for Gas Distribution, Current

HDPE Effluent Water Pipeline Off-shore Project

Foam Core PVC Pipes

PVC 4 Pipes

Indian Plastic Pipe Industry - Road Map to Growth

Quality Joints for a Leak-free System

The Evolution of Elastomeric Seals in PVC Pipes

NSF/ANSI Standard 14 - 50 Years of Service to

Smart Cities, Concept and Evolution

Misconceptions in the Design of PE and Other

Urban Utility Rehabilitation Renewal and Role of

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Pipe

Status and Outlook

Innovation and Trends in Underground Drainage

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India’s First Full City 24/7 Water Supply Project

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Application of Large Diameter Pipes

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Polymer Piping in Gas Distribution

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Microducts and Telecom Revolution

PE Piping Desalination Projects in India

Corrugated Pipe: A Niche Product for Wide Range of Applications

About SPE

O PVC Pipe Technology

Society of Plastic Engineers is a global leader in

Total Automation Producing Plastic Pipes

PVC Heat Stabilisers: The Economic and Technical

Role of Impact Modifier in Pipe Formulation

Importance of Welding Standards and Best

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114

Group Rates: For companies wishing to discounts are available.

established product since the first installation of PVC

irrigation and the ‘Make in India’ drive are some of

Early Bird Registration: Register before 15th

register two or more delegates, group

As far as India is concerned, plastic pipes is a well-

increasing urbanisation, government’s focus on

lunch

or EURO 10 on registration fees.

share of plastic pipes in sectors including telecom,

Nationwide infrastructure development, rapidly

sessions,

October, 2017 and save Rs. 500 or USD 10

in polymer resins have caused an increase in the

the awareness towards the ‘life cycle cost’ concept.

conference

conference proceedings.

to be robust in many developing countries.

the long-term performance, ease of installation and

all

and refreshment breaks and a set of

in the plastic pipe demand is also expected

~ 2.5 MMT. Their acceptance is increasing due to

The registration fee includes attendance

to Use Trenchless Installation With PE100 Pipes

Importance

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Plastic Pipe Industry

Plastic Pipes

Plastic Piping Systems

successfully managing seminars and technical

conferences. They have always managed to create a platform for techno-commercial discussions within

the plastics industry. Being a recognised body, there is no doubt that participants will go back with a lot of information and knowledge after the event.

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017

Supported by

Government of India

Organised by

SHOW PREVIEW Powered by

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Events 6th Speciality Films & Flexible Packaging, Global Conference 2017 14th – 15th September, 2017 Grand Hyatt, Mumbai, India

Plastic Pipes 2017 23rd – 24th November, 2017 The Leela Hotel, Mumbai, India

NPE 2018

Indplas’18

7th – 11th May, 2018 Orlando, Florida, USA

30th November – 3rd December, 2018 Eco Park Exhibition Ground, Kolkata, India

4th Plastivision Arabia 2017

PLAST 2018

26th – 28th September, 2017 NEC, Birmingham, UK

11th – 14th December, 2017 Expo Centre Sharjah, UAE

29th May – 1st June, 2018 FIERA MILANO, Italy

25th Fakuma

PLASTINDIA 2018

Non Woven Tech Asia 2018

17th – 21st October, 2017 Friedrichshafen, Germany

7th – 12th February, 2018 Gandhinagar Ahmedabad, India

7th – 9th June, 2018 Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, India

28th February – 4th March, 2019 India Expo Centre, Greater Noida, NCR Delhi, India

CHINAPLAS 2018

IPLEX 2018

K 2019

24th – 27th April, 2018 National Exhibition and Convention Center Hongqiao, Shanghai, PR China

3rd – 6th August 2018, Hitex Exhibition Centre, Hyderabad, India

16th – 23rd October, 2019 Düsseldorf, Germany

Interplas 2017

PLASTIMAGEN MÉXICO 2017 7th – 10th November, 2017 Centro Citibanamex, Mexico City, Mexico

116

11th PLASTIVISION INDIA 2019 28th February – 4th March, 2019 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India

Indiaplast 2019

POLYMERS Communiqué l August - September 2017