Aditya Birla Group cares!! - Ranga Ramanujam, MDI Gurgaon

After completing under graduation, I was placed in an automotive industry which makes Aluminium products by Die casting process. At the time of joining the industry, I knew only a little about Aluminium die casting process and techniques. To upgrade my knowledge in the field of die casting, I was browsing through various pages related to Aluminium manufacturing and die casting process. Then I came to know about Hindalco Industries Ltd, the leading Aluminium manufacturing company in India having a market share of more than 35% who turned to be one of our Aluminium ingot suppliers. Besides going through the manufacturing processes and advancement of Hindalco limited, one of the things which I got inspired through Hindalco is Mr. Askaran Agarwala’s hard-working personality coupled with the human touch he possesses. I still remember the words said by him during an interview which I want to quote here “If you start taking interest even in the personal activity of the employees that edge to your intimacy then you have the relationship created which otherwise will be only work relationship with worker. If you start considering them as a part of your family then your intimacy gets strengthened and start feeling as if you are one family”. Being a Chartered Accountant to becoming an expert in the field of Aluminium and a better people manager made him an inspiration to me.

The other sector which I feel has played a big part in my life is Textile/Clothing. Aditya Birla Group’s firm Aditya Birla Fashion and retail Limited which has a revenue of more than Rs 8000 crore has a strong network of 2700+ brand stores across 750 cities in the country. The common question which one gets is: Do ABG have a market share in clothing sector too? With brands like Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England and value fashion store brand Pantaloons in their kitty, Aditya Birla fashion and retail limited is turning out to be a powerhouse in the clothing sector. The two things which attracted ABG’s fashion and retail ltd. personally are

• Strategy (which revolves around quality, achieving scale and size, achieving market share and achieving customer excellence)
• Product variety (other than the much sought-after formal to casual wear, they have also started manufacturing yarns which are used for military, firefighting or medical purposes

With the future plan to acquire more ethnic wear brands, ABG will have a huge market share in the clothing sector.

How I have made an impact? 

As stated above, I was working in an automotive industry. Our team faced a daunting task to increase the production of a part by 25% within three months.

Just two weeks into this new project, my team leader was set to leave the organization in a month’s time. Being a newcomer with only six months experience then, I volunteered to take up the responsibility to lead the team. I was asked by the management to present a TIP (Target Image Plan) of the project. I planned to complete this project using G8D analytical technique for which I did a certification course. After a brainstorming session with my team, I presented TIP and the management was happy with the first draft. One of the key learnings from the struggle I faced in the initial stage is Team formation. Ideally, a team must comprise of both fresh minded, experienced people where fresh minded people will bring in innovation and experienced people will bring in technical expertise.

After an in-depth understanding of the process, we had another session to develop an action plan with the objective broken down into tasks and setting up timelines for every task. I delegated the tasks based on the process knowledge to the team members and approached the problem using the ECRS (Eliminate Combine Rearrange Simplify) methodology. The key learning from the middle phase of the project is Work delegation. Two key points to be considered for a better work delegation are 1) Let go of “It’s faster if I do it myself” 2) Let go of “It’s faster if I do it myself”. Finally, my team was able to increase the production by 30% within the stipulated time.

But the process does not end there. After a successful completion of the project, it is mandatory to congratulate the team which strengthens the bond within the team members, which ultimately have a positive impact in the future projects.

#ABGWooMe #MDIGurgaon #ABG