CEO Insights India

Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, has launched the ‘Make in India’ program to put India on the world map as a premium manufacturing hub and give the requisite global recognition to the Indian economy. Manufacturing has emerged as one of the high growth sectors in India. As a trailblazing phenomenon contributing impeccably towards this extraordinary expedition of India to conquer the global manufacturing market, A J Hegde(CEO, Bhavani Industries) has managed to stand apart from the other leaders of the manufacturing industry. Owing to his expertise across several industries in India as well as in international markets, A J Hegde honed his skills as an industry leader and is successful in navigating the course of his firm to manufacture highly productive and technologically advanced products. Under the guidance and diligence of A J Hegde, his firm is demonstrating commendable performance in the production of high precision components for various industry verticals including Automobile, Aerospace, Medical, Electronics, Tele Communication and General Engineering Industries. “Whatever knowledge I have acquired till now, I want it to be passed on to the next generation. I am molding my firm and my manufacturing engineers, that can also benefit the country as well as society ultimately”, avers A J Hegde, when asked about his mantra that keeps him motivated as an industry leader.

Below is an excerpt of AJ Hegde’s interview with CEO Insights.

Describe the challenges you faced during the COVID and how did you overcome them?
We majorly serve the automotive sector and it was hit very hard during the pandemic. We were already prepared to shift our focus to the non-automotive sector, as the demand for the automotive sector had come down due to COVID. There were a few challenges and hurdles in front of us, but we didn't

have much difficulty in getting orders from the orders from the other sectors. To help us easily adapt to any product manufacturing, our machines and manufacturing setup are quite flexible. Equipped with the required technologies, we have set up technologists who can engineer the components and develop products faster. Although a few of our workers left us during the pandemic, we were able to recruit good people from the industry, and in fact, we have added around 100 people during this COVID period. By adding machines as well as people, we have diversified into the areas other than automotive such as textiles machinery, medical equipment, process automation, food processing industries, power tools and so on.

What are the unique propositions you offer to the clients and how do you stand apart from your competitors?
Our unique proposition is our development of new products within the shortest possible lead time. We develop our products at a much faster rate than the existing small and medium industry players. Wehave a team of engineers, who can comprehend the customers’ problems and develop prototypes in small quantities as well as in the minimum possible time. We take up challenges thrown not only in India but also from abroad, as many international customers are also coming to us for developing their products in the form of prototypes. Another unique proposition of ours is CNC, which makes manufacturing setup flexible. CNC machines are programmable and less dependent on skilled manpower.

So far, which are the major milestones that bestowedyou with utmost satisfaction, both as an

individual and as an industry leader?

In my career of 45 years, I have always tried to give back to society in some way or other. I have worked as a consultant across different industries starting from defense, railways and so on, and I have tried to improve the technology and productivity of the firms. During my journey, I have trained many people about the recent technological innovations as well as manufacturing domain and helped them in securing a job. Having trained several people including the engineers, diploma holders, and technicians gives me maximum satisfaction.

Apart from skill development and employment, I am recognized amongst my customers in India as well as abroad for promoting supply of quality products and components. We have been maintaining strong business rapport with all our customers and received best quality supplier award from them. We had developed many high precision components under the indigenization program of our customers. More than 30 percent of our products manufactured are exported to leading engineering companies in US and Europe.

In the upcoming days, what are the changes in the market behavior that you anticipate, and at the same time, what are opportunities you fore see as a leader?
Electronics is going to be the key and will be there in all products. That's why there is already a shortage of semi conductors and components. We need to tie-up with some electronic component or product manufacturers to comprehend the present scenario, but in the future, I would like to have an R&D center to develop our products, especially in the products involving electronics. We are also exploring the options of having some joint ventures so that we will be able to expand our business from component machining to the product level and then perhaps to the electronic products.

A J Hegde, CEO, Bhavani Industries
A J Hegde had about 25 years of experience in machining & production engineering and he took full charge of the company in 1995. His rich experience while working with HMT and CMTI Bengaluru in the areas of machining and production engineering has helped the company to grow faster.