50 Manufacturing Companies – Walchandnagar Industries

Speaking about some of the risks the company took last one year, Pillai says, “In spite of a bit lull in the company’s financial results, we took a decision to invest in additional capex in the plant and machinery for the aerospace and missiles sector. It’s a matter of great relief and achievement that these have resulted in not only meeting the lead time expectations of the client but also fetched additional orders of more than Rs 100 crore in the aerospace business.”
Besides this, the company resorted to reduction of work force by 20% through VRS in the foundry division. This has not only resulted in lowering manpower cost but also in an increase of production of almost 30%.
Pillai knows that as a manufacturing organisation speed with quality is the only mantra for success. As a manufacturing organisation having a presence in India for more than 100 years, the big challenge for him is to train and re-train the workforce to adopt modern manufacturing gadgets and methods. Individually, as head of the organisation, the challenge for him is upgrading the manufacturing set-up to be globally competitive.
The biggest challenge for Pillai has been in the realm of human resources. In today’s world, the biggest challenge for a CEO is his ability to be able and understand the human mind more intimately. “Identification and selection of the right personnel is the most critical exercise and to provide the right environment for their retention in the company is an equally challenging task,” he adds.
He is aware that 2019 is a critical year for the Indian industry, as  there’s a possibility that a new government might come in. “Personally, I’m optimistic and feel that whichever government comes into power, the momentum which started with the Make in India movement will continue and the next couple of years would be a growth period for the manufacturing sector,” he says.
Though the Make in India exercise did bring in some momentum last few years in the domestic manufacturing sector, unfortunately it did not translate into viable and clear orders to a large number of Indian companies.