ZF India – Suresh KV, president

As a global company, ZF has inherent advantages. Cross region learning is a natural phenomenon in organisations spread across the world. As in Q1 2020, wherein people learnt about the precautionary measures taken by its sister entities in other countries, today also, it is exchanging the experiences which they have, with other locations. The biggest impact is normalization of the so-called “new normal” seen in 2020.

Hybrid working model, virtual meetings, digitalization of official procedures including approvals, increased cashless transactions… to name a few have all become the order of the day.

The lockdowns reinforced the importance of localization like never before. The closures in different regions and locations varied in terms of timing and severity. This created major disruptions in the supply chain. Moreover, the availability of labour became critical, since the migrant labour did not return to the same locations once the unlocking started. This has led to the realization that the processes in manufacturing has to become lesser and lesser skill dependent. It is also important to note that even in the shop floor, there has been quite some advancements in the areas of digitalization and virtual working, even though the opportunities were quite limited compared to other functions.