They may be old hat today, but it was this ‘boys- brigade’ that shaped Chemplast in its early years when it was fraught with challenges. Murali Prasad, Kalidas, Sivaramakrishnan, S R Seshadri and others made up a fiery young team that loved challenges and cricket. They were grappling with technology, financial constraints and a ‘not-so-liberal’ business climate. They worked with commitment and ownership, like the organisation belonged to them. They were mavericks who shaped management theories with their bold approach – got together, thought together and worked together.
They pooled their individual resources towards one goal – from a dead-end situation to a total turnaround, they DID IT. The reminiscence of these stalwarts and how they worked would perhaps be the story of perfect execution!
It is about 40 years now and Chemplast has come a long way. Let us look back at those days and hear from the stalwarts how things got done.
Murali Prasad was the accounts whiz-kid at Chemplast. “When I think of those days, I can’t but talk of the people I was associated with, for, these are the people who steered the company through difficult times. First and foremost is K S Narayanan (KSN), Chairman Emeritus. His kindness was his weakness. He can completely forgive an erring colleague – a trait arising out of an innate kind heart. He and the late TSN provided Chemplast with a beneficial mix of contrasting styles – the combination of a great head and heart. S Ramaswamy, the GM and my boss, was all grace, and quiet confidence. He had an uncanny knack of striking a chord with anyone he came into contact with-directors, bankers and government officials. I particularly recall a tough meeting we had with ICICI. Their team of analysts tore our proposal apart – the reschedulement of loans we sought stood no ground against their supportive facts and figures. Yet, after the bombardment when Ramaswamy reconstructed the story of Chemplast, the adverse meeting turned positive. Essentially, it was his own conviction about the inherent strength of the project, a certain transparency, his cool approach with no hype attached and the power of his communication that built the confidence. Young executives like me blossomed under his mentoring. Marv Larson, Director, B F Goodrich stood by Chemplast during the toughest times. I recall the ‘quickies’ that he made us churn out during his visits! We had to produce a profit forecast within 15 minutes and the calculators we had took 30 seconds to churn a multiplication.
We would use our own creative ways to arrive at these ‘quickies’, but what came out of this was a very clear understanding of the profit model for Chemplast. T S Narayanaswami (TSN) the other promoter-Director was a person who could think big! His memory, perceptive abilities and attention to detail were extraordinary. N Sankar and I were the youngest of the team and shared a cabin for some time! To me it was an experience seeing a great industrialist take shape. He had the same insatiable appetite for knowledge and facts then, and used to ask a lot of questions (some uncomfortable ones too!). I also recall, with warmth, working with Dev, Kali, Sesh, Pad, Siv, Renga and others.
“My days at Chemplast resulted in some strong convictions I nurture even today.
“There has to be a deep sense of ownership and commitment to the organisation which employs you-whether as an employee or as a consultant. I carry it forward even today in my consulting business in the way I approach my clients’ problems. When I talk about commitment, I must also acknowledge management’s commitment to me. It couldn’t have been one-way. It was never about pay scales but more to do with position, role and management’s commitment.“ People will get old but organisations do not have to. The average
age of a company should be kept low, as this encourages positive vibes. To do something special, the core team has to be young. Chemplast was turned around because of a committed young team. I was in my 30s when I was heading the accounts function at Chemplast. People at the sunset zone of their career, I find, are reluctant to take on big challenges. I must also add that during my time in Chemplast, we had no sacred cows to challenge and organisation politics was almost non-existent.
“There is no company or business that can’t be turned around. In spite of the trying time we had, we turned the business around to post very good profits.
“Today things have changed, TQM and TPM have dramatically improved shop-floor practices, but I am saddened that these efficiencies have not percolated to accounting practices.”
Sivaramakrishnan the marketing man at Chemplast was with the organisation from 1967 until 1994. He wore many hats during his tenure, marketing a host of products, purchasing raw materials, import and export activities, Government liaisons, Legal, etc. He accepted various responsibilities assigned to him and continued to serve as Advisor for some more years till he finally called it quits. The man who introduced Chemplast rigid PVC pipes in India and abroad and whose efforts won the Best Exporters’ Award for Chemplast from Plastics Export Promotion Council, Govt. of India – that’s Sivaram. He was one marketing man who understood the implications of his marketing decisions. His ways and means may well be theorized as measures of marketing profitability, but at that time, it was his native financial and marketing sense that ensured marketing with profitability.
Murali Prasad recalls that Sivaram would pull out the P & L statement from the competitors’ balance sheet, divide the profits by the output, deduce raw material costs per ton, wages, etc., to arrive at their cost and give a drill down to the accounting person on the costing strategy! But Sivaram believes, his strength was his documentation. He would document all the discussions in meetings. “If something happens to me, the organisation should not suffer,” says Sivaram. His children got wind of it and once entered their own agenda in his meticulous event calendar - Lunch with Sriram, dinner with Usha!
“I am honoured to be considered a stalwart of this company for, I owe it to the management. They recognised a person’s strength and provided the opportunities. I made full use of these opportunities using my own style of operations. The only parameters were that there can be no short cuts, no underhand dealings and total honesty. I was considered as one of the family, but from my side, I never took advantage of my relationships. That’s why it extends even after 13 years of retirement.
“One incident I recall was the time I had a heart attack in 1991. My wife called KSN. I was rushed to the hospital and I found KSN and Sankar waiting for me at the hospital and they were there the whole night through.
“Today’s environment is different. What we did those days may not work. Yet quality and efficiency, commitment and integrity stand you in good stead then and now. It is the survival of the fittest!”
(Trust Chemical Industries LLC, Egypt)
The very first employee of Chemplast, R Kalidas looks back at his career as one colourful rainbow, a spell of uninterrupted joy of doing things and learning on the job. He celebrated the 25th year of his life, standing on the soil where the Chemplast facility in Mettur stands today. Brick by brick, he saw the company being established. “I had the opportunity to work with experienced professionals like Dan Campbell and Elmer Schroeder and learn from them which helps me
even today. Some of the engineering solutions I came up with are in effect to this day. Manufacturing PVC through ethyl alcohol was the first of its kind. The supply of alcohol for ethylene swung like a pendulum. Times got rough. At a ‘B F Goodrich know-how exchange’ program at Berlin, I met an engineer from British Petroleum who lamented about his piling ethylene dichloride (EDC) stocks. Sivaram took over and in a license-raj regime, we imported EDC and the company turned around. Then came the PVC pipes business. Sivaram built up the order books with requirements for the Middle East. We worked into the wee hours of the morning to fulfil the customers’ orders and Sivaram kept us awake with his repertoire of jokes and stories. A 20-wagon goods train fully-loaded with just Chemplast pipes was a great sight to see! I miss those days. Now history is repeating itself in a way here at Egypt. We still have challenges, some ten times bigger. Nevertheless, I am hoping to create the Mettur magic here, ‘Insha Allah.’ The team of yesteryears is missing though. Reliving the magic of those years I can go on singing the old Hindi song, ‘Woh jab yaad aaye, bahut yaad aaye’, but I must cry for a halt some time!”
His career spanned 30 years at Chemplast and he retired as Advisor - Marketing in April ’97. In an old issue of Matrix he wrote, “Like the simple farmer who watches the seed being sown, and, over the years, revels at its marvellous growth into a big banyan tree, under which not only he but many more persons enjoy shelter and shade, while scores of birds rest and nest on the treetop, my heart warms to our organisation’s growth today.”
‘Project EDC’ was still very fresh in his mind. This could well be a case study for delegation and execution. Kalidas took care of the technology aspect, Sivaram the purchase and government liaison work and Rangarajan was in charge of identifying the port, storage facilities and onward transportation to Mettur. Sounds simple. But at that time it took ages for a telephone call to come through, one had to yell into the receiver to be barely audible, documents had to travel from Delhi to Khandla for customs clearance and the nightmare of interstate logistics! “At that time there were only a handful of us working under the stewardship of N Sankar. That the whole operation went through without a hitch, speaks of the immense commitment of the team, which enabled the company’s PVC operations to leap-frog to what it is today.”
“In my time the commitment index of employees was very high. The ‘one family’ feeling was foremost while other considerations were relegated to the back seat. Perhaps when an organisation on the fast growth track expands phenomenally in a short span, there is a price to pay, largely due to environmental changes and the price may well be a reduced level of commitment. I hope and wish that this is only a myth.”
“As a person who had exited the group a decade ago, and peering through the window now, my perception is that the achievements of Sanmar are truly rare and remarkable. Today The Sanmar Group has become a diversified conglomerate. The little seeds sown have grown to a “big banyan tree”. Starting from the first visionary, Late Sri Sankaralinga Iyer, eminently followed through by Sri KSN, and now by the third generation of the N Sankar/N Kumar combine, each one of them has put his best foot forward and taken the conglomerate to ever higher levels of success. As poet H W Longfellow writes, “their success was not achieved by sudden flight… but they while their companions slept, were toiling upward into the night”.
These are the young mavericks that flourished under the Chemplast umbrella. Will their ways and means be applicable today? Anyone walking in their shoes would have stumbled in their footsteps, for these stalwarts ran the gauntlet and came out winners.
While the old hat reminisced about the oneness and ownership they had with Sanmar, generation next, the new hat, look at the world in a larger perspective. It is no longer ‘my company, my people’ but it is ‘my world’ in an oyster. Several of Sanmar employees’ children have crossed the shores of India to experience new cultures and greater diversity. It is heartening to note that our employees’ children are doing very well for themselves. We proudly present to you some of them and their thoughts.
Cruising on chip design, working on cutting edge technology and creating tomorrow’s products today, young Vishwanath, has no cause to complain. This Design Verification Engineer at Silicon Graphics Inc. says he works at a place where employees are encouraged to be innovative, and taking on additional responsibility is considered a good thing. Generally the work culture is geared towards the highest productivity and efficiency. Studying and working in the US has made him independent and responsible and broadened his perspective both at a professional and personal level. He has the opportunity to work with people of different nationalities and cultures which he thinks will stand him in good stead. “While I am happy about where I am now, what I do from here is crucial. The greatest thrill is that I am working on next-generation technology in a field I am passionate about (chip design). But at times, when temperatures slide to -30 C, the greatest thrill in my world is the comfort of a room heater!”
(Vishwanath is the son of K V Ananthakrishnan, Asco (India) Limited)
Subramaniam lives in New York City and is a financial software developer at Bloomberg. His company does not give formal titles to anybody. He took the academic research route and did an advanced degree in Computer Science from the University of Austin, Texas. “I’m happy the way life has unfurled. I have been able to broaden my perspectives and increase my scientific temper to a large part attributed to the association with an extremely diverse set of people, intellectually and culturally. I have also been able to participate in state-of-the-art research with eminent professors and I continuously think about narrowing the spread between theory and practice.” Presently he is making use of his free time to pursue a part-time degree program in MS in Finance.
(Subramaniam is the son of K S Venkiteswaran, Corporate, IR)
Sandeep Ramesh, B Tech and an MBA from IIM –A aspired to jumpstart his career in finance and starting at New York, the nerve centre of global finance seemed the best thing to do. As Vice President at Lehman Bros., New York, Sandeep has had a wonderful experience. Living in the US has exposed him to various cultures and thoughts and has enriched him as a person. However flying off the nest,
away from family and friends has been a tough adjustment. How is it different working in the US? “My colleagues here are brutally forthright and expect the same of me too. The work environment is invigorating and there’s no power play. Weekends (Saturday and Sunday) are indeed sacrosanct. When I compared notes with my friends back in India, I find people in India tend to work harder and longer. My life here is dynamic and I get to experience something new ever so often but, when you say ‘home’, it is still India.”
“Digging into research by doing an MS in Computer Science at Salt Lake City, I thought, was a good way to postpone work! During the course of life in the US, I discovered the joy of cooking and was exposed to a great deal of diversity, both culturally and gastronomically. When I think of home, I recall the pampering, the food and, of course, the visits to the temples. As for life here in the US - I have started work with Microsoft Corporation and today the world and everything about it seems really good, except the weather at Seattle!”
(Sandeep and Sidharth are the sons of V Ramesh, Chemplast Sanmar Limited)
Saravanan, a masters in Computer Science is a software engineer in London, U.K. with a Bangalore based firm, Nous Infosystems. His focus at work is always to deliver service on time and to the highest standards of perfection. He admires the English people for their perfection in all that they do, amazing agility of the people even in their 60’s and 70’s, politeness and impeccable road -manners. According to him, the credit for what he has achieved so far in life goes to his teachers and his family members. Saravanan nurtures a wish to help people who are less fortunate and to motivate their children to be well-educated.
“The natural beauty of England can be called the best in the world but while I am here, home is always India. I must say, I feel so happy to be featured in the house magazine of Sanmar Group. I never knew such a magazine existed!” says Saravanan.
(Saravanan is the son of C Arumugam, Plant II, Mettur)
Takshin is a Channels Systems Engineer handling US-Canada Sales at Cisco Systems Inc., New York. He has an MS degree in Telecommunications from the Oklahoma State University, USA. The lure of working with cutting-edge technology drew him to the US. “I have always believed in learning from experience. I wanted to experience different cultures and learn the best from each of 'em. The exposure to various technologies, cultures, ethnicities, festivals, food, fashion, music and lifestyles has contributed a great deal in developing my personality. ”
(Takshin is the son of Ravinder Bhat, Flowserve Sanmar Limited)
Here is a global Indian who flows with the ‘reverse brain-drain.’ Sriram, an engineer from IIT left for the US to pursue an MS degree and later an MBA from Cornell University. He worked in the US for about 15 years holding key positions in US-based multinationals in the energy sector. Presently he heads an automotive ancillary business at Chennai, Madras Engineering Industries Private Limited. Sriram looks for challenges, keeps challenging himself, is full of optimism and confidence, and thinks like a maverick. The world to him is linked to one supply chain and one market. Living in the US, working outside of a protected environment, he believes, gave him this global mindset. Life overseas provided him with the spirit of entrepreneurship and there were no sacred cows. He made full use of the opportunities and enriched his life with experience. Yet this place called home – Madras, the friends, the relationships and the nostalgia remained with him wherever he went. Having touched base after a home run, what is it that irks him most? “The lack of respect for time drives me nuts. The other thing is that people tend to claim everything can be done even when it can’t be done!” Looking back, has he achieved all that he wanted? Yes. Could he have done better? Yes. Is he unhappy? No. Is he satisfied? “I still want more out of life!” says Sriram.
(Sriram Sivaram is the son of R Sivaramakrishnan who is one of the pioneering teams that laid the foundation for Chemplast)
Chitkala remembers her growing years in Mettur with fondness. The Chemplast colony was a cultural oasis in an industrial region, offering many social, cultural and sports events that fostered a strong sense of community bonding for Chitkala and her brother Sanath. As a Director at a multinational pharmaceutical company, Merck & Co, in Global Strategic Regulatory Development, she is working with worldwide regulatory agencies as well as internal product development teams to develop new medicines.
Prior to joining Merck, Chitkala was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in New York where she worked with Fortune 100 companies to develop business strategies for R&D productivity improvement, mergers & acquisitions and marketing. Chitkala has a PhD in Microbiology from Cornell University, New York. She now lives in Philadelphia, USA.
Sanath Kalidas, Chitkala’s brother, is an Associate Project Manager in Brailsford and Dunlavey in Washington DC. He has a Master’s in Construction Management from the School of Engineering & Architecture in Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He also has a LEED AP certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which focuses on energy conscious and sustainable building design for the future.
(Chitkala and Sanath are the offsprings of R Kalidas, TCI LLC, Egypt.)