THE HOUSE MAGAZINE OF GODREJ & BOYCE MFG. CO. LTD., VOL 10 NO. 5-6 and VOL 11 NO. 1, Sep 2011- Feb 2012

BRIGHTER BY DESIGN

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Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. - Steve Jobs

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Edito

rial

Multi-generation Product Planning process. The story of Chrysalis- the NID Design Award winning hospital bed and Bravo range of Forklift which competes well in the premium segment of the market make an interesting read.

Mobile telephony has changed lives of millions in the country. M. G. Parmeshwaran of FCB ULKA tells us about their engagement in the telecom space.

Our Industrial businesses have well developed capability in the area of engineering design. We have quite a few features from them especially a contribution from Tool room which tells us what it takes us to design a set of press tools for fuel tank of a Motorcycle.

The concept of Jugaad is very Indian in its original practice. Rashid Ahmed has written an insightful article on it. S. M. Nayak of Automation cell, Industrial Products tells us how he applied the key principles of Jugaad successfully in many robotic applications across businesses.

The institution of Dabbawallas is unique in the world. Read this feature to appreciate how a well thought, simple, robust system can deliver at Six Sigma levels consistently. Dashrath Patel, a pioneer and distinguished teacher of Design passed away recently. A brief tribute to him perhaps captures the vast amount of work he did to raise Design consciousness in India.

Design Thinking is a new discipline. In ‘Not Just Jargon’, it is elaborated upon briefly. But make no mistake it is absolutely crucial to deliver on Brighter Living. Nature can be a great design guide, says Adittya Dharap who also writes on the importance of maintaining a notebook to become an effective designer. All this and more is there in this issue of CHANGE to help you appreciate how Design can be one of the key driving forces which can help us change the rules of the game.

Let me wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2012. I hope you will all strive to dexterously design our way forward to overcome challenges that lie ahead.

Indrapal Singh

Changing the rules of the game - by Design

Today, it is extremely difficult to completely understand or grasp the ways and pace

at which the Indian consumer is evolving. Conventional ways of doing business are of no help either. For sustainable growth, the businesses will have to develop deep consumer insights, user centric innovations and good designs which when combined together will provide us the much needed edge today as well as in the future. Hence, we must deliver positively and strongly on Brighter Living- the promise of Godrej brand.

Design at Godrej has emerged as a strategic imperative. Thereby executing user centric design across businesses, processes and products that has emerged as a key priority. As a result, a lot is happening in the area of Design at Godrej which we wish to share with our readers in this special issue of CHANGE, which has the theme of Design & Innovation. Also, we have a few success stories of innovative businesses and happenings from across India.

Anijo Mathew, a faculty at Illinois Institute of Design exhorts Godrejites ‘Are you ready for the Information Economy?’ The challenge he poses is formidable and is worth responding to.

Godrej Interio wants to become a design led business. Anil Mathur, COO-Interio takes us through the journey so far and the way ahead.

New, path-breaking innovations call for new business model innovations. G. Sunderraman, Neville Mevawalla and Manoj Rathi tell us how they have gone about building new business models in different categories such as Appliances, Material Handling and Home Furniture.

In Commercial Aviation industry where most of the players are losing heavily or are on the verge of bankruptcy, IndiGo stands shinning with 20% market share and Rs. 650 crores of profit last year. Please read this fascinating story.

Creating new delightful customer experiences can lead to a huge pay-off. Do read a feature on Flipkart and appreciate how it started with a humble beginning but aspires to become a Rs. 5,000 crores business in about a decade.

New product introductions help retain and expand market share and margins. Our team from Appliances shares with us intricacies of

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Contents

54 Chrysalis- the bed that cares and helps heal

32 Jugaad – Innovation, to better life

34 Robots at work

38 Not Just Jargon- Design Thinking

40 Design- a critical success factor at Godrej Storage Solutions

06 Message from the President’s Desk

08 Change by Design

10 Are you ready for the Information Economy?

14 India’s Mobile Magic Mantras

16 Godrej Interio- A design led business

20 ChotuKool- Experiments in reshaping the business in the market

22 Small today, large tomorrow

26 Flying High-IndiGo

30 Mumbai Dabbawallas: Spell-binding us with their uniquely designed and robust systems

42 How is Flipkart creating a new customer experience?

44 Written Briefs- essential, useful yet resisted

46 Customer Value Creation through Collaborative Design @ Interio

50 Nature- the ultimate Design Guide

54 Chrysalis- the bed that cares and helps heal

58 Vibrant Product portfolio through Multi-generation Product Planning- Appliances’ experience

62 High performance Bravo forklifts address new markets

64 Designing Energy Efficient Motors- The Lawkim Journey

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90 Iconic products of Godrej and Boyce

66 A Designer’s Notebook

68 Designing Press Tools at Godrej Tooling

72 Challenges of Designing to International Codes

76 Changing Locks for the Better

80 Godrej Material Handling- Perpetually in Motion

84 Design and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

86 Remembering Dashrath Patel- A pioneer of teaching design in India

88 Designing the way forward for Business history: Contribution of Dr. Dwijendra Tripathi

90 Iconic products of Godrej and Boyce

92 Design for Rhythm and Rhyme

94 Young Minds. Creative Minds.

96 Dassera- Diwali Function at Godrej & Boyce

98 Design…for a living?

100 Design your mind

102 K. Kartik makes us all proud!

Team

For private circulation only. No part of the magazine can be reproduced in any form without due permission of the editor.

You can mail your contributions, suggestions and feedback to: The Editor, Plant 11, 2nd Floor, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli (W), Mumbai 400079, INDIAor email at change@godrej.com

Published by Indrapal Singh on behalf of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.

Design & layout by thought blurb thoughtblurb.in

Photography by Ashwin Manani

Printed by Silver Point Press Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai

Visit us online change.godrej.com

Anil Verma | Head, Edit Board

Adittya Dharap | Guest Contributor

Nalini Kala | Edit Board

Sana Anjum | Edit Board

Nariman Bacha | Distribution

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New year’s message from the president’s desk

It has been a very difficult year, and at times, immensely disappointing. Inspite of herculean efforts, most of our

Businesses have been battered by external pressures, both domestic and international, and the “will to buy” is painfully absent in our customers across the board. Even in this hour of gloom, a few of our Businesses have continued to excel, providing a beacon for all of us to follow.

But the strength and courage of every Godrejite is apparent in the will and the thirst to succeed. The economic environment around us, instead of dampening our spirits, has given a new fillip, a new rejuvenation, a new cause to rise above our shortcomings, and excel. I am heartened to see our morale flying high, across the length and breadth of our Company, encapsuled in the solemn pride and the promise, to succeed at all cost. It is in moments of darkness, despair and deprivation, that one

finds the strength within oneself to rise to the occasion, and I believe deep in my heart, that we at Godrej shall overcome whatever crisis comes our way, and march forward, hand-in-hand, side-by-side, into the New Year.

All of us must share a dream… a dream of a vibrant, successful, warm and caring Godrej. We must dream where we want to be in five years from today, and strategise how we will get there. And, in this process, no sacrifice is too much, for it will enrich us and our Company in the bargain. This is our sacred pledge.

I wish you and your families a wonderful 2012 with good health and peace of mind. My affection and prayers are always with you.

By P. D. Lam

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Change by DesignIn today’s hyper competitive market arena, merely offering well-designed products is not sufficient. The new age consumers are looking for new experiences which delight them, surprise them and make them feel good.

By Indrapal Singh

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Today, Godrej has a strong portfolio of 16 businesses that serves the diverse needs of household, institutional

and industrial markets.

In all these businesses, Design plays a somewhat flanking role in making these businesses relevant to their customers, especially in the context of a rapidly changing, volatile and intensely competitive business scenario.

Broadly, customer insights are fed into R&D that comes back with feasible product-solutions that are then selectively commercialised.

Differentiation based on design can give us a competitive advantage and is of course worth pursuing. However, lasting competitive advantage can be achieved by adopting an approach commonly known as Design Thinking (more known than understood!) across the organisation. Design Thinking focuses not only on solving the apparent problem faced but also broadens the approach by forcing the organisation to devise a solution that is holistic, value-creating yet elegant in terms of its ability to delight customers. As part of the solution being holistic, it must take into cogniscence cultural and resource-led realities within the organisation. Such an all-encompassing approach significantly increases the chances of acquiring and maintaining competitive advantage in a global, volatile market.

Cultivating Design Thinking calls for taking a perspective of design which is more strategic in nature. Design being viewed more strategically implies that Business Heads and senior management personnel understand that ‘design’ choices are strategic in nature and have the potential to fundamentally change the way we do business now and in future. Needless to mention that embracing this perspective may not be easy. Each member of the senior members of the top team must think like a designer and ask the right questions in order to foster the design thinking within the organisation to pursue sustainable and profitable growth.

In today’s hyper competitive market arena, merely offering well-designed products is not sufficient. Today’s consumers are looking for new experiences which delight them and make them feel good. It is therefore obvious that the power of Design Thinking is applied by each one of our businesses to create wonderful customer experiences.

What actions do we take to create these experiences? No easy answers here, but answers could be found through commitment, top-led push and smart work at all levels. In other words, we must learn to Change by Design. Maybe we will have to give more education and

training, maybe we will have to strengthen our design teams, maybe we will have to become more marketing-led and reconstitute our marketing functions…whatever is called for must be found out and institutionalised.

How can each of us become a Design Thinker… Good Design may exist in our products, systems, processes, plants, infrastructure, workplaces and work routines, the way we connect to our customers, our distribution system, relationships, etc. But, do we know what good design is?

The most effective way of doing this is to use the customer as the touchstone of good design. The customer may be internal or external, the principles are the same. After all, it is the customer who pays for what we’ve worked hard at for months on end. However, more often than not, evaluations are done and decisions tend to be made on the basis of speculation about what customers would like – a more comfortable approach? Also, it would be useful to bring in the customer’s point of view at various points in the experience creation process because at each intermediate stage of the process there are choices to be made. Customers need to be given a voice to guide these choices. It takes humility and courage to do so. We, therefore, have to cultivate a sense of humility and a belief that we could make an error and are wrong and that we have to go back to the person who is going to pay for our products and services. Working this way is difficult, but there are no easy roads to take. One could say that the difficult journey to provide delightful customer experiences is made easier when we listen to the voice of the customer…not hear but listen…This paradigm shift is what we call Change by Design or better still Brighter by Design.

Design Thinking focuses on holistic solutions that align well with today’s culture, resources & consumer needs.

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A new challenge at the fuzzy front end.The result of the industrial revolution was that significant advances in industrialisation and technology led to deep rooted industrial knowledge and complex machine craft. In response to the growing middle class that could now afford products produced in mass, factories responded through economies of scale. Developing new production technology, quality control programs, and business models, have become prudent investments for large corporations. The thrust is on “how to make” and sell things faster and better than anyone else. Steelcase, for example, has become amazingly efficient at manufacturing office furniture;

DHL, and UPS can deliver packages on the same day through their technology supported operations; airline companies like Southwest, and IndiGo are able to offer efficient self-booking systems that allow them to transfer the cost savings to customers [2].

But here is the problem. Organisations that know “how to make” seldom understand “what to make”. This question “what to make” creates what we call the fuzzy front end of business. In most businesses, the fuzzy front end is resolved by cursory analysis of market research, by looking at unrealised revenue potential, or come from intelligent guesswork by the leadership. No focus is placed on understanding users’ patterns of daily living. This divergence between having increased knowledge of how to produce almost anything and decreased knowledge of what users need is referred to as the innovation gap [3].

The question “what to make” creates what’s called the fuzzy front end of business.

By Anijo Mathew, IIT Institute of Design

On Oct 14th, Engadget, a popular technology blog posted a review of the new iPhone 4S. The review was positive, not particularly

flattering. Over the course of the weekend, the review logged 3,175 comments; Apple, Android, and other mobile phone users debated and argued about the merits and de-merits of the review, and the phone. A competing tech blog Gizmodo’s review of the same product saw the article fetching over 46,000 unique visitors, and over 600 comments. Sites like Engadget and Gizmodo have become important backchannels for conversations about technology products. So influential are the conversations on these blogs, that Apple, Google, Microsoft, and HTC all track these conversations and respond to them through direct responses or modifications in their products. These sites have readership in the millions, receive review units weeks in advance, and can drive sales even before the product is launched in the marketplace.

Welcome to the information economy!

Are you ready for the information economy?

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Today, the innovation gap is further aggravated by the fact that not only do users have needs and wants, they have avenues to tell us what they want. We live in a society that is highly connected, highly mobile, and heavily invested in technology. The internet has disrupted all forms of communication. New tools of “social media” create unprecedented opportunities to create, share, cooperate, and take collective action. Through portals like Engadget and Gizmodo, users today can congregate to profess their love or express their displeasure. Because information is free to produce and broadcast, it spreads fast and virally. Often times an aggregate effect of this viral reaction can build or kill brands. We are moving from an industrial economy to an information economy.

The information economy is not a post-industrial economy. In fact value is embodied as much in material products as in hybrid platforms of material and information. However, if the product of the industrial economy was the appliance - products that do one thing and do it well, the product of the information economy is the platform - where users use information to build appliances that fit their specific user need. In the information economy, the dominant voice is no longer that of the corporate which says “you can have it in any colour, as long as it is black”, but that of the anonymous consumer who says, give me what I want, in the style I like, via the channel I want - and I want it at a lower price than yesterday.” [3].

So, what can organisations do to innovate in the information economy? Here I offer three strategies that might help organisation reduce the innovation gap:

Strategy 1: Prototype at the fuzzy front endAn executive who worked at both Apple and Microsoft described the differences in the two organisations this way:

Microsoft tries to find pockets of unrealised revenue and then figures out what to make. Apple is just the opposite. There’s only one person in Apple responsible for profit and loss. The CFO. Everyone else is charged with coming up with great products. Prototypes and demos always come before spreadsheets [1].

Organisations that were founded by visionaries often find it difficult to carry on the same pace of innovation once the founder leaves the organisation. The problem is in infancy, an organisation is nimble and quick on its feet, but as it grows, larger organisations have to consider multiple factors before making an investment decision. Understandably so - a large organisation is responsible to its investors, its employees, and its own brand. A healthy balance sheet is a signifier of a healthy organisation. But innovation does not come from a healthy balance sheet. Innovation is about taking risks. One way to take risks without breaking the bank is to prototype everything – ideas, products, services, business models, sales strategies, communication strategies.

An organisation that is constantly prototyping with users is more likely to close the innovation gap. The real question is not if you prototype, but where you prototype. In the industrial economy, prototypes came at the end of the design process and were used to validate business decisions about the fuzzy front end. In the information economy prototypes come at the beginning of the design process and are low fidelity, low investment experiments to understand the fuzzy front end. Take Google for example. In the past few years, Google has released three fully working versions (in beta format) of social networking platforms. None of them were wild successes but Google builds on its failures by understanding what users need. The information

how to make business modelstechnology innovations

what to makepatterns of daily living

orga

nisa

tiona

l kno

wle

dge

time

innovation gap

industrial revolution

Sites like Engadget and Gizmodo are important backchannels for conversations about IT. So influential are the conversations on blogs that they’re tracked by Apple, Google, Microsoft and HTC for product development.

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economy allows prototypes to be built faster, cheaper, and deployed in front of more people than ever before. Prototypes should be built sooner and built to fail, so that organisations can learn from early failures to succeed later.

Strategy 2: Listen to the BuzzSir Richard Branson, the visionary CEO of Virgin has over 1.4 million followers on Twitter, and follows about 6,000 people. He confesses that with over 200 business ventures, it is difficult keep track of everything; Twitter has become a way for him to follow the pulse of his organisation, without being actively involved [4].

An organisation that listens to users is most likely to anticipate user needs before they are expressed. The results (in terms of products, services, and experiences) always seem “magical”, forcing users to ask “how did you know I needed this?” The answer is simple – you have been telling us all along, we just listened. The beauty of new media like Twitter is that it is perfectly acceptable to eavesdrop on conversations. The information on these portals gets created by users on the ground; real people talking about real experiences, real needs, in real time. The buzz on Twitter and other outlets like blogs, review sites signal a new paradigm shift in the way information is processed, produced, and consumed. The information economy means that keeping up to date and current with the buzz is no longer a competitive edge, it is a necessity.

If you are not listening in to the buzz, users will not only shun your product or service but also ask why you were not listening even though you had the opportunity.

Strategy 3: Technology at the front, information at the backNike+ is a service from Nike where a sensor in your shoe can track how you run and visualise that data for you on your mobile devices. Or you can pull it up on a computer at a later time to see how you did, share this information with others in your group, or compare your statistics with others. In the information economy, cheap accessible sensing and computing technology enables the digital to be seamlessly crafted into what used to once be purely analog artifacts. In addition, each one of us, with our mobile phones, tablets, and laptop computers carry with us immense amounts of computing power. Services like Nike+ make use of these resources to provide an information rich experience to users which on the front end enables them to transcend their relationship with physical artifacts (shoes) into data rich experiences (how was my run today in comparison with yesterday). As users engage with such front end value, Nike is also able

Organisations can aggregate data without compromising the privacy and security of users.

What business am I in?What are my capabilities? Can I address this unfulfilled need?Who is the competition?What are the risks/rewards?

What should I make?What mix of products, environments,interactions, messages and services will be sufficient to provide an experience?

What should my offering be like?What are the functions, features,price and style of my offering? Product

Experiences

Arena

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to track large amounts of aggregate data at the back end. Data about what people, how people run, where people go, and what kind of experiences are valuable for people.

At no point in our history, have the analog and digital been so much in sync with each other. This sync enables people to view and share information about how they use products. Unlike survey, data from market research, this is real time data - localised, personalised, and cherry picked by the users themselves. Once organisations are able to aggregate this data without compromising the privacy and security of users, complex analytics can provide deep meaningful lenses into users’ lives. Multiple such lenses across a portfolio of products and services will provide organisations with the ability to envision future scenarios based on the information derived from current and real time snapshots.

Innovation in the information economyPatrick Whitney, in his upcoming book offers three levels of innovation in response to Roger Martin’s challenge of where to play and how to win. Here I offer a derivation of the model which will help Indian organisations like Godrej think about where to play and how to win in the information economy.

The lowest, widely prevalent, and easiest questions are at the Product level – what features should my offering have that responds to complex user needs in the information economy? Ford working with Microsoft to develop the SYNC system in their cars is innovation at this level. The second level is Experiences – what combinations of products, environments, interactions, messages, and services can respond to the unmet needs of the user in the information economy? Amazon using its Amazon Prime platform to deliver media across the web, mobile phones, as well as it’s Kindle products, is innovation at this level.

The highest and perhaps the toughest question is at the Arena level – based on my capabilities, what new businesses can I move into that satisfies users’ unmet needs in the information economy? Apple using its iTunes platform to move into the music business is innovation at this level.

Are you ready for the information economy Godrej?

Based on my capabilities, what new businesses can I move into that satisfy users’ unmet needs in the information economy?

References:1. Allworth, J. Steve Jobs Solved the Innovator’s Dilemma, Harvard Business Review, 2011.2. Kumar, V. A process for practicing design innovation. Journal of Business Strategy, 30, 2009), 91-100.3. Kumar, V. and Whitney, P. Daily life, not markets: customer-centered design. Journal of Business Strategy, 28, 4 2007), 46-58.4. MacMillan, D. and Reisner, R. CEOs Who Use Twitter. Bloomberg Businessweek, 2009.

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India’sMobile Magic MantrasBy Parmeshwaran, Head, FCB Ulka

Indian mobile industry has been the toast of the entire telecom world. In July 2011, the total telecom

connections in the country crossed a number of 892 million, reflecting a tele-density of over 74.5%; of these telephone connections just 34.18 million were accounted for by landlines. In effect India has more than twenty-five times the mobile customers as compared to landlines.

What has driven this flurry of activity in India? Is it sustainable? And what can other marketers learn from the Indian pioneers? I believe Indian market has been driven by a few specific innovations that have driven consumption. I call them the 5 Magic Mantras of Indian Mobile Industry.

Let us start with the first magic mantra: ‘Pre-Paid Mobile Services’. Indian mobile operators started business just as was written in the book, with high tariffs, bundled handsets, deposit amount as a surety and post paid connections. In spite of the precautions, mobile operators were often left with large unpaid bills. They soon realised that in a country like India verifying credit history is an impossible task. Mobile operators like Airtel started experimenting with a pre-paid form of service, where the customer buys ‘minutes’ just as he/she buys sugar or cigarettes. I remember speaking with some of the telecom marketing experts in the US who opined that ‘prepaid is for drug dealers - why will anyone want to pre-pay, when you can pay at the end of the month’. Even the Indian players were in the beginning not sure how this would pan out, some tried to create sub-brands that

were treated as poor cousins of the mother brand. But soon they realised that the poor cousin is bringing over 80% of the revenue, and he was quickly adopted as the long lost son of the family. As was predicted by the article in one of the previous issues of HBR, pre-paid mobile service is the ultimate example of ‘productisation of a service’.

The pre-paid revolution opened up the second magic mantra, ‘unlocked handsets’. With mobile service available like a product, at the neighbourhood grocery store, mobile handsets too had to be sold like a packaged product. Seeing the opportunity offered by

The final magic mantra was unleashed by Tata Teleservices with the launch of their Tata Docomo GSM mobile service in the middle of 2009:‘Per second billing’.

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the new prepaid segment, companies like Nokia started developing handsets that were attractively priced for the Indian pre-paid customer. They also managed to bundle interesting add-on features. One of the more popular handset had a flash light built into it, a true innovation in a country where power cuts were not too uncommon. Low priced handsets with colour screens and FM radio became very popular given the desire to listen to the latest Bollywood hit songs.

The third mantra was chanted by the GSM players when they heard that a CDMA player was going to offer a special in-coming service: ‘in-coming free’ said all the operators. Suddenly people were no longer scared of receiving calls. The concept of in-coming became a true business builder for petty traders, handy men, electricians, plumbers and self employed workers. Owning a mobile phone and taking calls on mobile phones was no longer the preserve of the rich. A plumber could now carry a mobile, give the number to all his potential customers and even speak with them at length.

The fourth magic mantra was chanted soon after one of the players offered a two-year incoming validity product: ‘Lifetime incoming free’ said all the players. Now you could buy a mobile service, pay a flat fee of just Rs 99 [USD 2] and receive calls on that mobile number for life. There was no need for you to recharge your account every month. Again given the vagaries of income of the blue collar class, this feature meant that the plumber could receive calls on the same number even if he paid the mobile service provider no money for months on end.

The final magic mantra was unleashed by Tata Teleservices with the launch of their Tata Docomo GSM mobile service in the middle of 2009: ‘Per second billing’. This mantra coupled with the astute positioning of Tata Docomo as a smart, young brand that asks consumers ‘when life can change in seconds why pay in minutes?’ changed yet another paradigm in the Indian market. Tata Docomo moved to the top of the charts, and as can be expected all the players soon started chanting the ‘per second billing’ mantra.

While the numbers keep growing at an astounding rate, experts feel that many customers today have more than one mobile connection, often switching between operators to use the best offer of the month. However, with the levelling of tariffs this multi-SIM phenomenon

will also soon dwindle. There is a suggestion that over 30% of the connections are not actively used, hence the real number of users is not 858 million but more in the region of 600 million. This too is an astonishing number, given the fact that India had less than 250 million mobile users just a few years ago. There is also a deep sense of fear that ARPU [average revenue per user] has hit abysmal levels, and may be stuck at these levels for a long long time. Though there seem to be some efforts by leading players now to stop the race to the bottom. In all likelihood this revival and the next success mantra may be led by data and 3G services with operators launching innovative plans, sampling, etc.

Those are real concerns that worry marketers in India. However, there is growing evidence that increased mobile penetration is helping the lot of underprivileged Indians. If one were to believe the economists, a 10% increase in mobile penetration helps the GDP grow by about 1.2%. It is reasonable to assume that this economic growth will help increase consumption of mobile services as well. Operators are today experimenting with added value services like mobile cash transfer; the husband working in a big city can now send a thousand rupees through an SMS to his wife in the village, through the click of a few buttons. A farmer can ascertain the best price he can get for his crop through a few SMS messages. Fishermen of a remote Tamil Nadu village are even told where to go to get the best catch, and where to land to get the best price.

I am sure there will be many more interesting opportunities for mobiles to transform lives in India, and other developing countries. But let us not forget that the transformation, as was said in the ancient holy books of India, it all started with a few words, mantras to be precise.i

The concept of in-coming became a true business builder for petty traders, handy men, electricians, plumbers and self employed workers.

i http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/view-point/mobile-phone-charges-gdp-growth/articleshow/7861551.cms

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Godrej Interio-A design led businessBy Anil S. Mathur, Business Head, Godrej Interio

Design should play a much larger role and be more holistic to address different facets of business strategy. No longer is design a lag function in the business.

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Here is how Godrej Interio integrates design in all its functions to become a leader in furniture and interior

solution space and domain.

Generally, the word ‘design’ if uttered brings to mind the concept of product design. However, in today’s competitive marketplace, the role of design ought not to be restricted to designing creatively products which meets the needs of the customers. Instead, design should play a much larger role and be more holistic to address different facets of business strategy. No longer is the design a lag function in the business. Successful companies have proved that the design-led business strategy does lead to enduring Profitable Growth.

Interio’s challenge:

Interio operates in a business environment which is

highly fragmented with no entry or exit barriers, a market

which is flooded with many look-alikes available from

low-cost manufacturing countries, which is a market

where basic external designs are easily replicated.

In such a market it is a major challenge for Interio to

achieve profitable growth and attain market leadership.

Adopting a systematic approach, Interio began with

capturing consumer insights, their aspirations, attitudes

and needs, segmenting

markets, understanding

of environmental factors

affecting the market etc.

Findings of these studies

clearly showed us that unless we are able to create a

distinctive differentiation and go beyond products and

services, then and only then we will be able to realize the

vision of our business- The choice for home and work

place solutions. Our offerings have to satisfy a larger set

of needs beyond those of function and aesthetics.

Strategic intent:

Flowing from the above, Interio’s strategic intent can

be stated as achieving profitable growth and attaining

market leadership through offering distinctive design-led

furniture and interior solutions.

Thus, design has become an integral part of the

business strategy. It is, therefore, essential to detail out

the role of design in the business plan itself for both B2B

and B2C businesses so that it could be deployed across

them from strategy to activities.

Good design emanates from understanding the latent needs of the consumers and fulfilling them by offering experience centric products and services which help increase brand desirability. Apple is the most commonly cited example of good design strategy creating unique customer experiences for which the customers willingly pay more. Hence, it can be concluded that good Design is essential in today’s business context and plays an important role in the formulation of business strategy.

The key question is how do design and business strategy mesh together and become what could be termed as design-led business strategy.

Offering experience centric products and services definitely increase brand desirability.

Design at Interio- A strategic imperative:Interio being both B2B and B2C segments, there is a need to clearly articulate design strategy as applicable to these market segments so that design becomes an effective, integral part of them. Interio decided that in B2B market segment it is imperative that design provide distinctive, design-led green product and service solution and for B2C segment design develops distinctive offerings for creating lifestyle oriented experiences.

To embark upon the journey of fulfilling the requirements of the strategic intent, Interio crafted design strategy which also supports initiative of Interio’s brand leadership and of cost competitiveness.

Design Strategy:

Godrej is a trusted and reliable brand while being perceived as traditional and not contemporary. Through various make-over exercises of Interio, efforts were put in to alter these perceptions. These efforts, however, needed to be supplemented by clearly visible changes in the products and services, so that customers can experience the change. Thus, a two pronged approach was adopted in the deployment of the new design strategy:

Freestile & Benchmark

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Develop and market products that could change the image of the brand.

The design team took upon themselves the task of development of the products which were:

•Contemporary, trendyandwithnewandmodern fit-feel-finish.

To cite a few examples, the picture shown below, shows the change in look fit, feel, finish of traditional standard products to more modern look.

•Capable of being customized and modular inconstruction so that customers can personalize them to meet their needs. This is to bring to the fore that Godrej has become more customer-centric and a solution provider as opposed to being only a product provider.

•Versatileandflexibletoprovideathematicsolutionacrossthe room and other work spaces (as shown below).

Image Builders

Develop products that would make the brand more aspirational. To do so, the following measures were adopted: • Embedding of technology in Interio’s products tocreate unique customer experience and create a strong product differentiation in both B2B and B2C segments.

•Designing of products to green standards and tocommunicate that we are committed to conserve the environment.

• Using new materials and technology to best globalpractice and boost the image of the brand. It involved showcasing our capability for designing and executing premium, high-standard products.

Image Changers

High End Suites: Pu Painted Panels

Office Desk

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•Developedproductswhichwouldbeflatpacked-thisinitiative helps businesses in reducing transportation costs and thus, it supports strategic initiatives of becoming cost-competitive. Also, it reduces emissions of GHGs, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of the business.

Interio is now firmly on the path of achieving its strategic objectives and its long term goals by becoming design-led which involves:

• Integratingdesignintobusinessstrategy

•Establishingdesignasfundamentaltostrategicbrandintent

•Promotingadaptationofnewtechnologiesinmanufacturingand in products

•Prioritising the introductionofproductsandserviceswhich are image changers and image builders.

Interio is now on its way to being recognised in the market as a brand that fulfills its promise of

“Thoughtfully designed furniture.”

The design strategy formulated and implemented as above began giving good upward push to effectively communicate its promise of being “thoughtfully designed furniture” and interior solutions.

Further, to achieve the twin objective of profitable growth and market leadership. It was essential for the business to become agile, adaptable and cost-competitive.

To meet these requirements, design implemented the following measures successfully:

•Creatednewproductplatforms-Asaresultofthis,thebusiness could now introduce new variants at a faster pace and low-investment, thus providing much required vitality to the business.

•Developedsegmentspecificproducts-Thisrangeofproducts supported the strategy of being present across various market segments especially in B2B vertical. It helped the business in encashing opportunities in the fast-growing segments.

FIZZ & SQUBA

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Business Model Innovation? When we look back, we started Chotukool in a bliss called ignorance!

But even as the team conceptualised the business in the early workshops, it became clear that the unique consumer value proposition and the resources required would have to be significantly different if it has to make a business sense. The business model innovation was imprinted in the very DNA of Chotukool.

Chotukool was conceived as a small, cooler powered by solid state cooling engine that meets the needs of the small rural and semi-urban families. It was a ‘just right’ – 43 litres, 10-12 degrees Celsius temperature cooling, 9kg weight product. But it could operate on 12V DC, was easy to move and affordable at half the price of the normal refrigerator. The value it delivered was different. The ‘job’ it could address was unique.

Technology and product design for Chotukool, in retrospect, turned out to be relatively easy. We experimented with several prototypes and technology combinations. We could even come close to the target

cost and a viable business plan. The early customers loved the value proposition.

However, when we began commercial pilots in the market, we realised that reaching out this unique value proposition to the intended users needed several breakthroughs beyond product innovations. For example, we had to communicate the benefits of a smaller cooler to the people in rural areas who rarely used refrigerators. Conventional advertisements and sales promotion were less effective. Reaching out the product to the consumers’ doorsteps in small villages was beyond the capabilities of the established supply chains. This initiated us into our journey of Business Model Innovation.

We forged a partnership with India Post to reach out Chotukool to several rural villages. Chotukool is displayed in a small kiosk in select post offices. The post staff is trained to explain the benefits to potential customers. The order is booked and payment is collected by the post office. The order is electronically transferred using postal IT Network and consolidated payment is sent by India Post to Godrej. Chotukool is collected from the Godrej warehouse by the postal van and is delivered at the door- step of the consumer within a week through their network. The ‘value’ is delivered in a completely different way than how the conventional supply chain for Appliances works.

Chotukool was conceived as a small cooler that meets the needs of the small rural and semi-urban families.

Experiments in reshaping the business in the market.By G. Sunderraman, Head-Corporate Development

Chotukool

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We also realised that some of the small shops used Chotukool to store and sell cool drinks. They could earn additional income. Chotukool transformed into an investment that made an economic sense for them. Approaching such potential kiosk businesses needed a different value delivery through a more personalised shop to shop canvassing. Small shop owners rarely comprehend the benefits upfront and visit conventional shops to purchase appliances.

Simply put, these innovative approaches to deliver value to the target users collectively form the basis of the Business Model Innovation. Interestingly, how the value gets delivered also has a bearing on how cost structure builds up, revenue streams get generated and investments are scheduled. In other words value delivery also spells out how we create a surplus. So Business Models also define the profit formula.

Business model innovations get inspired from deep user insights. Understanding how a rural housewife lives her daily life revealed how she could leverage the ‘just right’ Chotukool to buy and store vegetables for her use more effectively.

Our understanding of the strong community bonding within the target segment inspired us to look at Self help groups and NGO. Several users hesitated to try the new concept Chotukool. We realised they needed a credible, trustworthy point of purchase communication. India Post provided that touch of trust. Chotukool as a Business Model Innovation was built from the user insights gathered from several immersive experiences during market pilots.

This leads to another important point. Product innovations can be prototyped and tested in the labs. Business Model Innovations get shaped in the real market. It is like redesigning the aircraft while it is flying –a phrase coined by Arun Maira, Member of the Planning Commission.

We carried out several commercial pilots as a set of carefully planned experiments with different price points, channel options, communication and promotion schemes in the market to gain inputs for business model redesigns.

Needless to add, that extreme care was taken that the users are not at all put to a loss in these experiments. But some times, these experiments change the established practices of the value networks – a new business model does disturb the established business models.

Why disturb business models? When we had to address the latent needs of the users that even users cannot express, conventional communication did not work. When we had to reach out to a spread out market, conventional supply chains did not provide viable solution.

When price for Chotukool was driven by affordability rather than cost structure of technology and design, we had to find an economical solution for diffusing the idea. In other words, while attempting to make a difference to the lives of the people at the Bottom of the Pyramid, we encountered the limitations of the conventional business model. Business Model Innovation for Chotukool was inevitable.

Our experiments have given us some new directions –solved some problems. Going forward, we may encounter many more challenges. We have to literate several times before a new robust business model gets established. But the journey so far has given us the skills and confidence to embrace the challenge.

In years to come, our experience indicates that Business Model Innovations combined with design and technology breakthroughs will offer manifold opportunities to differentiate us in the market. Enhancing the user experience rather than just driving product or service improvements creates tremendous value both for the user as well as for the Company.

The entire usage of life cycle of awareness, search, purchase, use and disposal provide multiple interfaces between user and the Company to create unique experiences. Distinctly different user value can be created by opening the design, manufacturing, sales, service and logistics processes of the organisation for user interactions and co-creation. And Internet and web through mobile offer huge opportunities to leverage new interactions and build innovative business models. Our experiments in shaping a new business model for Chotukool have been a valuable learning for the team.

In closing, Chotukool business model innovation is still evolving as a unique solution to make a difference to thousands of lives it touches.

Chotukool transformed into an investment that made economic sense.

Customers collecting their Chotukool from an Indian post office.

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In matured businesses, it is not possible to overhaul completely the existing business model i.e. the way

we make money in a given business. New market segments have emerged in many industries because the markets have grown at unprecedentedly high rates during last decade or so. Currently, these marketing segments may or may not be as large as we would like them to be but taking a long term view it may offer significant business opportunity if today we can design our way to address it. The story of Godrej Material Handling is a case in point here.

GMH’s foray into equipment hiring services is the case

in point. Designing of a new business model becomes worthwhile in a situation where a large market already exists but somehow we have not been able to exploit it, as neither we have an offering nor an infrastructure to cater to it.

At Godrej Interio we have designed a new business model called ‘U & US’ for a segment of customers who want custom built furniture for their home to meet their needs, specifications and the budget.

Read ahead how our well established businesses in matured industries have designed their ways to cater to unaddressed business segments for growth in future.

“If you see a Dog’s tail, who knows there, could be a large dog behind it.” - Late Dr. Elli Yahu Goldratt

Small today, large tomorrow

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Material Handling Equipment Hiring Services- a new avenue for growthBy Neville Mevawalla, Godrej Material Handling

The Indian lift truck market enjoyed healthy growth in the years prior to the crisis of 2008. During these

years, a small portion of lift truck demand came from customers who wanted to hire their forklifts instead of purchasing the equipment outright. Discussion with these customers led to further research and the conclusion that offering forklifts on hire had clear potential to become a new, self-sustaining revenue stream.

There are a few companies present in the space of equipment hiring in India but none of them are manufacturers of the original equipment and hardly any have a pan India network to offer the back-up support which is so vital to operating mobile industrial equipment. Further, most hiring companies offer more commonly used forklifts such as 3 and 5 tonne capacity diesel or 2 and 3 tonne capacity electric, while none of them offer on-hire heavier capacity trucks, special forklifts or high end warehouse trucks.

Sensing a good business opportunity with long-term potential, Godrej moved into the hiring space some years ago with a single contract to supply forklifts, manpower to operate and maintain the trucks, maintenance services and diesel fuel. Learning the ropes quickly, we rolled out hiring services across the country.

Today, in addition to offering Godrej equipment on hire, we also hire lift trucks from our principals such as Crown and Komatsu.

We also included pre-owned and refurbished lift trucks into our fleet to meet the needs of users who needed to use Forklift for only few hours a day. Besides offering long term contracts extending up to 5 years, GMH offers short duration rentals only for about a month.

There are few unique advantages that only Godrej offers:•A wide range of lift trucks and allied equipment- toenable users find just the right equipment they need.•A wide sales and service network across India- toensure that Godrej support is close at hand, wherever the user’s operations.•Flexible hiring programs- to ensure availability ofcommercially viable solutions to customers’ material handling operations.•Full compliance with safety and other regulations toguarantee our customers’ peace of mind.Today, the Godrej lift truck hire fleet is nearly 200 trucks strong and we have set a goal to grow this fleet to a 1,000 truck strong in the coming 3 to 4 years. We strongly believe that our full commitment to this new business model will lead us to assured growth in revenues and margins in future.

Customer Testimonials “We are pleased with the hiring contract we have made with Godrej for material handling operations at our plant. Godrej looks after

the operations and maintenance of the fleet, including the truck operators. Apart from the performance of the forklifts themselves, the overall management and maintenance of the equipment is of a high order and we are happy with the fleet uptime delivered by Godrej. Godrej actually takes on the entire hassle of having to deal with the various aspects of materials handling and we can focus on our core operations. Looking back on this decision, I think we’ve made a really sensible move to hire our lift truck fleet from Godrej.” - Head of Logistics of a multinational in the mining industry.

“We are satisfied with the services and response time provided by the company. The company has delivered uptime of the equipment more than 85% mentioned in the contract, month-on-month.” - Regional Depot In-charge of a multinational FMCG company.

Godrej trucks in action

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Customer co-createdHome Furniture Solutions- A story of U & USBy Manoj Rathi, Godrej Interio

This is a typical customer who is being catered to by the unorganised segment in the furniture industry

by the carpenter & designer community.

Interio U & US thrives on meeting such challenges and is piloting a unique Business Model to cater to such customers.

In India, 85% of 15,000 Crores Home Furniture market is catered by the unorgansed sector comprising carpenters and interior designers. At Godrej Interio, through disruptive innovation project, the imperative was to create a new growth opportunity by identifying a completely new set of customers and providing them with a right solution.

To take this challenge forward, U & US team did a survey with various stakeholders such as customers, raw material suppliers, transporters & carpenters to understand value networks created by these stakeholders. During this survey, pain of the customers were captured:

•Difficultyinfindingskilledcarpenter

•Difficultyincreatingrightdesigns

•Cannotvisualizefinaldesigns

• Inconvenienceintermsofmaterialselection&site supervision

•Budget&timeescalation

After thoroughly understanding the “jobs to be done” a new business model was developed by the DI team led by Mr. G Sunderraman in which:

•Customerswouldco-createfurnituredesignsandselectmaterials leaving the execution and site supervision to U & US team.

•Assistance from expert designer to make surecustomer gets right functional and aesthetic solution.

•Newwayofdeliveringfurnituresolutionstocustomersthereby creating a unique experience for customers.

U & US Design Studio is a first of its kind experience space designed for customers to brainstorm on ideas, discuss these ideas with an expert designer and come

“How about this for a challenge? Create some innovative layout for my new home with furniture not too bulky, not too traditional, but definitely using solid wood with some carvings. It should offer solutions for the three niches and of course with my choice of laminate & polish colours. The sofa in the living room has to be L shaped. Get me all this in 4 weeks in my budget of Rs. 3.5L”

U & US Design Studio in Mumbai.

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by Mr. Anil Mathur, COO, Godrej Interio at Mumbai in November 2011. This is in-tune with the aim of U & US to take the carpenter community along by providing them with entrepreneurial opportunities.

Further, till date 15+ carpenters have successfully completed 1 month training on various semi-automatic machines such as band saw, thickness planer, panel saw, and multi-boring machine. These trained carpenters are now creating products for U & US Design Studio which conforms to high standards of quality, safety and good manufacturing practises. A well designed skills imparting training programme has boosted productivity of carpenters by manifolds.

Once the customised furniture is ready, it is flat-packed into a re-usable packaging and then dispatched directly to customers’ homes. A team of carpenters from the workshop visit the customer’s home and assemble & install the furniture in a hassle-free manner. A progress report is given every day to the customer on U & US website.

Pilot U & US Design Studio was launched in March 2010 at Thane. During the pilot we had added around 50+ customers and at the moment we are iterating & tweaking in the business model to create a sustainable, scalable & profitable business so that the diffusion can be carried out with ease.

up with furniture solutions which will match their needs, home layout and budget.

Co-creation experience at U & US Design Studio starts with designer visiting customer home to understand layout and customer expectations. The U & US Design Studio houses a discussion lounge where customers can discuss ideas, and communicate it to the designer using miniature designs, sketches and images. The visualization zone helps customers visualize furniture designs options and co-create designs based on platform (functionality) and themes (designs) in a 3D home environment on a life-size screen and a material library, where customer can interact with the physical materials for selection of colours & finishes through an innovative colour wheel. In the entire process, designer acts as a facilitator and guides customers to create unique designs. Once the designs are finalised, customers sign-off a design specification sheet and all details are given to the customer.

One of the main challenges was to develop a delivery ecosystem to offer budget solution to customers. Every minute step from manufacturing to delivery & assembly went through a detailed cost analysis. With constraints of offering a budget solution, U & US team worked out various innovative approaches like local manufacturing, re-usable packaging & direct delivery.

As all the products are designed to be flat-packed in re-usable packaging, the packaging cost has come down from 8% in normal product to 2% for U & US. Also with direct delivery to customer from the workshop, the transportation cost has come down from 7% in a readymade product to 2% for U & US. U & US Design studio operates through small footprint area of 750 sqft against a readymade furniture showroom of 2,000 – 10,000 sq. ft. This helps U & US Design studio to breakeven at a much lower sale and become a profitable venture. The entire business works on Zero stock as furniture is made only on order basis and boasts negative working capital as 100% advance is taken from customers. All these steps have helped U & US to eliminate non-value added costs and provide budget solutions to customers.

In U & US Delivery model, designs finalised by customers are sent to Network workshop, where a team of skilled carpenters under the direction of Carpenter entrepreneur creates these products on semi-automatic machines. 1st Network workshop was inaugurated

U & US Design Studio is a unique space designed for customers to brainstorm with the designer and come up with solutions to match their needs, home layout and budget.

The entire business works on Zero stock and boasts negative working capital as 100% advance is taken from customers.

Mr. Mathur unveiling the Skill Training Manual.

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In today’s times when all other airlines are in the midst of debts and struggles, one airline manages to shine

above all- IndiGo airlines. Although it may be the new kid on the block, but IndiGo has taken the Indian airline industry by storm. Established in 2006 by visionaries; Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gunwal, it has taken off in a big way, becoming a big name in the low-cost carrier market in no time. It took delivery of its first Airbus A320-200 aircraft on 28th July, 2006 and commenced operations on 4th August, 2006 with a service from New Delhi to Imphal via Guwahati. By the end of 2006, the airline had six aircraft and nine more aircrafts were acquired in 2007 taking the total to 15. In 2011, the fleet stands 51 strong.The success story of low-cost carriers is linked to the growth of India’s small towns and IndiGo has thrived on this. Offering routes which were hitherto unconnected, IndiGo has scored high satisfaction ratings in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow. IndiGo has been awarded the best low-cost airline by MaRS (Monitoring and Research Systems Private Ltd.) airline survey. 2011.

In a price sensitive market like India, IndiGo scores a hit by offering cheaper deals. Passengers from all across India rave about IndiGo’s on-time performance and the highest domestic operations. The turnaround time for an IndiGo flight is less than 30 minutes, a hard feat to match. Though there

are no complimentary meals on this no-frills airline, the service and performance matches the best.

The IndiGo formula seems to be working its magic, as it is the only profitable airline this year. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation shows that the Rs. 2,665 crores IndiGo made profits of Rs. 650 crores, with a margin of 25%, while veterans such as Jet and Kingfisher have accumulated losses of Rs. 13,000 crores and Rs. 7,000 crores respectively.

Aditya Ghosh, President, IndiGo, says there is no magic mantra and IndiGo sticks to the business plan laid out some years ago:

“There is no Rocket Science. We have staggered our growth and kept the model simple. We are an economy product and want to be better than the best amongst low-cost carriers.”

Confronted with the unprecedented economic meltdown, most airlines have revisited their business plans and cut aircraft orders or delayed them; IndiGo has decided to stay with its original plan to take deliveries of another six aircrafts this year, apart from the eight that joined its fleet last year.

As it inducted a new aircraft every 6-7 weeks last year, IndiGo has the youngest fleet in the sky with an average age of just one year. New aircraft, of course, require low expenses on maintenance.

What is it that makes IndiGo one of the best airlines today? IndiGo closely adheres to 3 basic principles described in this article.

IndiGo reduced the turnaround time in secondary cities to a mere 22 minutes and less than 25 minutes in busy airports such as Delhi.

Flying high-IndiGoThey say you can’t make money in India’s airline business. IndiGo is simply proving them wrong.

Compiled by Sana Anjum, Corporate Communication and Shruti Nair

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Principle No. 1: Keep costs lowest amongst low-cost carriers;On an average, an IndiGo aircraft flies for around 12 hours a day, compared to 8 to 10 hours logged by most airlines. The extra hours flown allows it to undertake one extra flight daily, which translates into more seats and revenue. To do this, the airline realised early that it has to ready its aircraft for another flight quickly. Its first target was 30 minutes. Aviation experts scoffed at IndiGo as the norm in the industry for turnaround was an hour. To everyone’s amazement, IndiGo bested the target: it reduced the turnaround time in secondary cities to a mere 22 minutes and on many days it has achieved the feat in less than 25 minutes in busy airports such as Delhi.

This is vital for IndiGo, Mr. Ghosh said, “We have broken up the job into small parcels like loading, unloading and cleaning with time targets and each of these is monitored. The team is trained to focus on its job. We have even turned around an aircraft in 14 minutes.”(!)

Mr. Ghosh, however, makes it clear that this does not mean that the airline is liberally hiring staff to achieve these targets. The targets have been achieved without bloating the company’s rolls. IndiGo employs about 100 people for every aircraft and this number is monitored tightly. Other airlines typically have over 130 employees.

There are other simple ways IndiGo has employed to trim costs. The airline, for instance, was amongst the first customers for the Select1 V2500 engines manufactured by Zurich-based IAE, a joint venture between Rolls Royce and Pratt & Whitney, which will help it cut fuel-burn by around 2 percent. To reduce its cost of holding inventory of components, IndiGo has done a tie-up with Air France under which the French airline will stock components required by the Indian carrier. The inventory will not be on their books and that will help it in reducing costs.

Like a model in a beauty pageant, low-cost carrier IndiGo is obsessed with weight management. The light coat of paint that it uses on its flights has reduced their weight by around 50 kgs. It has ordered seats which weigh just 12.5 kgs, a new record in India. All its aircrafts are cleaned and scrubbed thoroughly everyday so that garbage does not increase its weight. All this is mainly done for the purpose of economy of fuel usage. IndiGo believes it pays to fly light.

The light coat of paint that’s used on its flights has reduced their weight by around 50 kgs. It has ordered seats which weigh just 12.5 kgs, a new record in India.

Flying High-IndiGo Airline

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the air travel boomed, the new players expanded their capacity heavily to meet the demand. High capital costs coupled with rising fuel cost, high taxation and increased operational cost forced the new players to live up to the promise. To survive, these players increased air fares, added free refreshment and beverages and almost became full service carriers. In brief, they abandoned the low-cost dream and were saddened with unclear identity and huge cost burden.

Amidst this turmoil, IndiGo remained deeply committed to its strategic intent of being a low-cost carrier. It ensured low-cost by resorting to measures like having a homogeneous fleet of aircrafts and outsourcing wherever possible. It simply refused to tamper with its core business model. Cynics say that because IndiGo buys aircrafts in bulks from aircraft manufactures, sells them to leasing companies at a profit and leases them back to lower costs, hence it is profitable. However, introspection on some of the measures that IndiGo has taken will make it clear to them that IndiGo’s outstanding success is an outcome of sound strategic thinking, carefully crafted business model, competent management team and strict adherence to being a low-cost carrier. IndiGo today is poised to become one of the fastest growing airlines in the world and will soon have more than 100 aircrafts in its fleet - something all of us as Indians can be proud of.

IndiGo’s outstanding success is an outcome of sound strategic thinking, carefully crafted business model, competent management team and strict adherence to being a low-cost carrier.

Principle No. 2: Provide passengers best on-time performance, clean aircraft, affordable fare and reliability;IndiGo has tried to attract customers with more than just low fares. And the clincher is its on-time performance of 94 percent - nearly two percentage points higher than its closest rival. This has helped the airline gain customers without having any loyalty programme.

IndiGo doesn’t cancel or withdraw flights suddenly. 50 percent of their fliers are repeat passengers.

To ensure that flights depart and arrive on time in spite of the dense fog that envelops Delhi and other northern cities in winter, IndiGo has the highest percentage of pilots- 38% of pilots who are trained to fly under such conditions- the highest percentage of such trained pilots in other airlines is only 22%.

To support such high on-time performance, IndiGo has set up a centralised operations control centre which monitors the weather, anticipate delays and even provides advance information to the ground staff in case an aircraft requires some repair or maintenance while it is airborne so that the engineers are ready to rectify the problem and waste no time once the aircraft lands. This has helped the airline to get one of the best scores on technical dispatch reliability. At 99.97 percent, it is the best not just in India but across the globe. This means that only 9 out of 3,000 IndiGo flights are affected due to technical problems.

Principle No. 3: Grow cautiously without tinkering with the business model;Indian aviation was revolutionised in 2003, when Air Deccan pioneered the ‘low-cost’ model that focused on keeping operational costs low. Following suite, many airlines entered the Indian skies with the aim of capturing a share of the Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) segment. Each of these players promised low air fares. However, as

Compiled from Published sources.Inside the aircraft

IndiGo Cabin Crew

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The same face under the crisp white topi, at the appointed hour, every day at our doors. We have known our Dabbawallas for years

as carriers of lunches to offices, with rarely any mix-up. Now, in a gradual expansion of their role, they are lugging a lot more than just that.

Dabbawallas is a perfect example of Indian ingenuity in practice and it can inspire similar approaches for billions at the bottom of the income pyramid.

CHANGE marvels at the unique design of this system and shares a short feature on this system for its readers.

Mumbai Dabbawallas:Spell-binding us with their uniquely designed and robust system.

By H.C. Prashant, Godrej Security Solutions

Four lakh daily transactions conducted with an accuracy rate of 99.99% puts the Dabbawallas of Mumbai right up there with the highest achieving MNC.

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Background: Started in 1890, it’s the credence that the tiffinwala has earned over time, neither has somebody else’s lunch landed up on somebody else’s table, nor has there been any police case against them. They are world famous, a proof being that Prince Charles visited them. It would be an exaggeration to say that the cosmo-culture of Mumbai owes it to them in some way or the other, as the concept of lunching together in office has become a therapeutic experience with people from all backgrounds bringing in scrumptious food from home.

Core process innovation by Dabbawallas: The story of this 120-year-old institution is significant for anyone, who wants to understand the importance of processes. Started with 35 Dabbawallas, today there are 5,000 Dabbawallas who deliver 2,00,000 Dabbas every day. Adding to that number is the pickup service they handle everyday which is a total of 4,00,000. This entire process takes a total of six hours covering 70-80 Kilometres every day. There is absolutely no technology used and no educational intelligence behind this success, as 85% Dabbawallas are illiterate. With such a complex system they are able to deliver Six Sigma Quality (a case study was done by Harvard Business School on this fact), which means there could be only one error in 16 million transactions.

Business proposition and success:This process has never broken till date and as it has got to do with food, the ‘timely delivery’ is the key for customer retention; hence, their business proposition is also around their delivery and time management. Their estimated total revenue per month is 50 crores with each Dabbawalla getting 3,000-4,000 rupees per month as salary. By using Mumbai public transport system and cycles to pickup Dabbas in the last leg of the chain, they are able to run the business successfully with zero overhead. Added to that, there is no strike record till date, which makes this system all the more reliable.

The innovative coding mechanism:(The coding mechanism on the Dabbas) VLP: Vile Parle (suburb in Mumbai)9EX12: Code for Dabbawallas at DestinationEX: Express Towers (building name)12: Floor no.E: Code for Dabbawala at residential station3: Code for destination Station e.g. Churchgate Station (Nariman Point)

Achievements of Dabbawallas:• SixSigmaPerformance• GuinnessBookofWorldRecord• RegisteredwithRipley’s“believeitornot”

Destination railway station(3 means Churchgate station)

Area collected from within Vile Parle (E means

Hanuman road)

VLP

3E

9 A

I 12

Area to be delivered within Churchgate zone (9 means Nariman Point)

Origin railway station

(VLP meansVile Parle station)

Building to be delivered within Nariman Point (AI means Air India building)

Floor to be delivered to in Air India building. (Although 12th floor is mentioned, all dabbas are delivered at the ground floor only in high rises)

• ReceivedISO9001:2000Certificate• FieFoundationAwards2007

Apart from the robust support system, there are two more significant reasons behind their success- their sense of ownership and the healthy competition.

Each of the operator or Dabbawalla is a business partner of the smaller group operating in a specific suburb. While joining the group each Dabbawalla is required to contribute small capital in the form of two bicycles, a wooden crate for the tiffins, white cotton kurta-pyjamas, and the white cap (topi). The earnings of the group are distributed equally among all the members of the group including substitutes, irrespective of the number of tiffin boxes collected or delivered by each individual in the group.

If there are more than one group operating in the same suburb (each group’s strength is limited to 20), they compete against each other for getting business purely on the basis of service excellence. However, they support each other in logistics, quick regrouping and transportation of tiffin boxes to the destinations. Nobody is allowed to cut prices. All the disputes among them are resolved by governing council and the decision of the council is binding for all.

Though they have won many accolades and appreciation, the Dabbawallas have not lost their originality. With their feet firm on the ground and heads high, they are determined to serve their customers with the same dedication, precision and perfection, which have earned them the respect from the whole of Mumbai.

So next time when you are thinking of designing something - be it a software, greeting card or mud pot, think about having a core process around it for consistently delivering value for your customers.

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Historically, even at the times of plenty, resources have always been scarce when it comes to being available to the common person. And it’s the lack of something really needed, which drives innovation. We, as people, have always been pushed to find ingenious means of getting by, that have very often resulted in remarkable and inventive creations.

Take for example a hand cranked water pump developed by N. Sakthimainthan, a farmer in Tamil Nadu who found the cost of even the low-end motor pump too expensive to purchase. His need was to transfer water between his fields, without which, crops would be in jeopardy. His solution – a hand crank that turns a gear, which amplifies and transfers motion to a pump located at the base of the entire unit. Net result, an economical gadget that pumps water at up to twenty thousand litres per hour. This kind of innovation has far reaching consequences. The pump was recognised for its utility and further refined by various

Jugaad – Innovation, to better life.

By Rashid Ahmed, Group Account Director, Contract Advertising

It can be heard quite a distance away, a steady rumbling throb. But before you hear it, it’s likely that you’ll know

it’s coming toward you; by the wake of billowing dust it leaves behind, while it weaves its way over rustic cart-tracks and single lane muddy roads. Down dusty roads across rural India, are locomotive contraptions that ply between villages carrying people, livestock and goods for the market. Built by affixing diesel irrigation water pumps, coupled with a simple clutch system; and placed onto a steerable cart with modern inflatable rubber wheels – it’s called a ‘Jugaad’.

In India, the word ‘jugaad’ is synonymous with coming up with a solution, finding a way about or putting together a means to an end. At most times, the word simply means an arrangement that may be reached to accommodate any scenario that needs an answer. It’s all about innovating.

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soap product to over seventy percent so that is would float on water.

In the larger Indian context, the pressures of population coupled with the steadily decreasing availability and increasing cost of resources has led us primed to make innovations in an urgent manner. Even more so, when an innovation leads to change in accepted practice, and is for the greater good. Immediately evident is the need to provide enough water and power for the masses. However, potable water is relatively scarce, especially so when you take into account groundwater pollution. For some perspective, let’s look at some figures. Just over 70% of the planet’s surface is covered with water. However, only 2.5% of all water is ‘freshwater’. And, only a miniscule 0.3% of all freshwater is contained in rivers, lakes, groundwater and the atmosphere. When you consider that 70% of all freshwater is used for agriculture, you would probably realise how little is actually left for consumption. Now, throw in human, animal and vegetation population pressure and demand. You may begin to appreciate the dim scenario.

The reality of the matter is that even in villages where water was once plenty enough to grow crops and

government and extra-government bodies and has been made available to farmers nationally.

One of the larger aspects of innovation is actually recognising a need. Yes, we are able to see or be part of things that frustrate us; but it is actually p e n e t r a t i n g the root cause that actually matters when it comes to innovating. When innovating, the simpler the answer the better it is.

A popular Indian innovation came through an observation made of people who would go to ponds, tanks and streams to bathe; and invariably, lose their soap - which sinks. CA Vincent, a small scale soap manufacturer felt that having to replace unused soap meant having to possibly cut back on other essentials - especially hard on the less affluent. His observation, led him to experiment with soap formulations. Soap is essentially made from vegetable fat treated with a strong alkaline solution. Vincent’s idea was to increase the fat content in the final

sustain comfortable living (and we’re not even considering the massive burdens of metropolitans); acute shortages have driven people to re-evaluate options. Take Chhabisa in Uttaranchal at the foothills of the Himalayas. Water is a resource that is intermittently available at best. On moving back from Delhi to his home village, M.P.S. Rautela realised that the under maintained pipes and infrastructures combined with the unreliable government supply, meant people were forced to grow less and thus have lesser disposable income.

After a little experimentation and observation, he devised a strategy for communal waste-water usage; evenly distributed to all participants, whereby water used for washing and cleaning would be collected in a tank. This would then be systematically distributed to participating families for crops of chillies, tomatoes, pulses and potatoes without any ill-effect. This goes a long way in boosting immediate supply of consumable crops and supplementary income.

To innovate means taking something physical or even an idea and making it better. There are no ground rules to innovation, simply because innovation is usually the end result of a recognised need. However, it is possible to examine a product and its use, or even lifestyle; and identify points where a product or lifestyle may be made better. In fact, we innovate all the time. From figuring out the best place and time to cross the road at, to home remedies that actually work. The starting point is noticing a need. As people, Indians have always found ways to innovate; and as a species, innovation is the reason we have progressed to where we are today. With foresight and attention, each of us has the potential to bring about innovation that will change the fabric of society for the better. Let’s begin by noticing where change for the better may be made. Let’s innovate.

Truck customised to run on rails.

Things will always frustrate us unless we penetrate the root cause. This is what innovation is about.

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Robots at workBy S. M. Nayak, Industrial Product Group

A Robot is a machine having two main parts. It is reprogrammable, multi-function manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools or specialised devices through programmed motions for performing a variety of tasks.

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What do Robots do?A robot can perform a variety of tasks as required by the users, some of which are:

• Assembly

• Packing and transport

• Earth and space exploration

• Surgery

• Activation of Weapons

• Production of consumer or industrial goods

• Welding, scraping and painting

• Fire fighting and bomb diffusing

• Inspection of nuclear site

• Industrial cleaning

Advantages of using Robot:As robots are essentially machines they can easily be deployed in hostile environment which could be considered dangerous for humans to work in. Robots can work in space, where there is no air or water. They can work 24 x 7 tirelessly

Robots reduce manufacturing costs because they yield high productivity and consistent quality, without needing even air or water.

For easy understanding a robot can be split into two parts- a manipulator and a controller. Manipulator has

mechanical joints & arms and is controlled by servo motors and they work like human arms. Controller has drives & software which gives motion to the joints in the manipulator. It also has a teach pendant and with this teach pendant a robot can be taught programmed motions of the joints as required. The robots perform its tasks once the program is executed. The manipulator and the controller are generally interfaced with cables or in some cases with wireless networks

Manipulator Controller with Teach Pendant

giving a high level of consistent performance. Robots are a great means for reducing manufacturing costs as they yield high productivity and consistent high quality.

Robots at GodrejProductivity improvement is a perennial challenge in manufacturing operations. One of the reliable approaches to improve productivity is deployment of Robots. The difficulty however is that Robots are expensive and if work out their cost of deployment

taking into account all the associated cost, the outcome is often not favourable. Even in successful deployment, payback periods are quite long because of high initial investments.

To circumvent these two challenges at Godrej we thought that if we could somehow acquire Robot at lower costs and develop in-house required hardware and software then there was a good chance of achieving substantially lower total costs.

To take this basis approach forward, we started searching for pre-owned robots. To our good luck, we could locate 40 odd Robots at an attractive price. We took the risk and purchased the entire lot. When we scouted the market for integrating the robots with our applications, to our horror we found that reputed suppliers were asking for astronomical sums.

Now we were stuck, we had no recourse but to develop the competencies in-house and carry out the refurbishment of the Robots for integrating them in our applications. Finally, months of dedicated hard work prevailed and we were successful in our endevours. We are proud to share some of our success stories with you:

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1. Heat exchangers at Process Equipment- In manufacturing of heat exchangers, hundreds of tubes are required to be welded to tube sheets as shown in the diagram. In the manual process, each tube is welded following a circular path using an orbital welding head which is placed on each of the tube one at a time. The entire operation is time consuming and tiring for the operator. Besides, a small shift in the placement of the head may cause a defective weld generating expensive rework.

To overcome these challenges, we chose to automate the process of tube to tube welding using robots. As the whole process is automatic and doesn’t involve any human skill

or effort, it is fast and free of any discomfort. The result is superior quality of weld, reduction in set-up time, elimination of dependencies on skills of welder, etc. the output as a result increase by nearly 100%. Well-designed robotic application led to this highly successful outcome.

2. Lashpot welding at Precision Engineering-Lashpot is a part of windmill gear/assembly. The component to be welded is a forged steel pot which is to be welded with the plate. The lashpot has elliptical shape as a result of which manual welding is time consuming and tedious.

On replacing manual welding with robotic welding several benefits have

accrued including 60% reduction in weld time, 60% reduction in operational costs, complete elimination of rework, etc. Besides achieving uniformity in welding, skill dependency is eliminated and manual welding process stands replaced by FCAW welding.

3. Robots in die-casting operations at Tooling- The 2,500 tonne die-casting machine at Tooling is used for taking trials of large die-cast parts. As the machine is not having an extractor for removing parts from the dies, the removal of large hot die-cast parts is virtually impossible which in turn led to a huge amount of idol time.

To overcome, this difficulty, the team decided to use a robot for removing

Tube to tube sheet welding.

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hot die-cast part from the machine. The outcome of this application proved to be highly beneficial- safety was enhanced multifold, human efforts was reduced, cycle time was reduced and in general the handling process became more efficacious. Deployment of robots eliminated pain and anxiety of operators.

4. Automatic bending of panels of Slimline cupboards at Interio- Sidepanels are required to be bent in a particular shape to conform to the design. Manual bending required multiple movements and an operation which was not only time consuming but was also requiring a large number (8 numbers) of operators.

To make the entire operation more efficient, robots were deployed and as a result the number of operator used came down to 1 from existing 8 along with the cycle time reduction of 22% i.e. 63 second from 81 seconds.

These 4 applications show that the potential for improving productivity significantly, on an on-going basis

exists. To exploit this potential, it is essential that we adopt an innovative strategy and design ingenious solutions which are well grounded in our reality. At G&B, we have formed an Automation Council which spans across businesses and it is entrusted with the

task of identifying and exploiting opportunities at low cost, promote deployment of solutions horizontally or across businesses and create a bank of case studies, processes, designs and experiences. We believe this kind of well-design effort will go a long way in enhancing competitiveness of our business.

We adopt innovative strategy and design solutions that are well grounded in reality.

Operator operating a robot.

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What is Design Thinking?

NOT JUST JARGON

Design Thinking (DT) is not a new or an unproven idea. Herbert Simon who was awarded the noble

prize in economics wrote a book ‘The Sciences of the Artificial’ in 1969 and has defined design as the transformation of ‘Existing conditions into preferred ones’. The DT is always linked to improved future. It is an integrative and creative process based around the building up of ideas. There are no judgments in DT, this eliminates the fear of failure and encourages maximum inputs and participation. Ideas are always welcome as they lead to creative solutions.

In recent times, Tim Brown, the CEO of IDEO, a global

innovation and design firm described DT as a process which can be thought of as a system of overlapping spaces rather than a sequence of orderly steps. There are 3 spaces to be kept in mind- Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation. Think of inspiration as the problem or the opportunity that motivates the search for solutions; Ideation as the process of generating, developing and testing ideas and implementation as the path that leads from project stage into people’s lives. Projects do not always pass through these spaces sequentially. They may loop back and forth through these spaces until the ideas are sufficiently refined and new directions are explored fully.

There are no judgments in ‘Design Thinking’. This eliminates the fear of failure and encourages maximum input and participation.

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DT hence, can appear to be chaotic initially but as the project progresses the team members come to see that the process makes sense and achieves results even though it differs vastly from the linear processes typically followed.

We are all designers in a way and DT is a way to apply Design Methodologies to our life situations. Be it carrying out our daily chores or pursuing somewhat lofty life goals. As an approach DT taps into capacities we all have but are not brought into use because of our tendency of sticking to conventional practices. The DT process is deeply human and it helps create products and services that are human centred. DT taps into our abilities to be intuitive, recognise patterns and construct ideas that have emotional meaning as well as have functional

appeal. It enables us to express ourselves in media other than words or symbols. It has a good balance of feeling, intuition, inspiration as well as rational and analytical aspects- which are just as essential.

As Tim Brown says that we need new choices, products that balance the needs of individuals and society as a whole; new ideas that tackle the global challenges of health, poverty and education; new strategies that result in differences that matter and a sense of purpose that engages everyone affected by it.

DT is a holistic, integrated approach which yields outcomes that are truly amazing.

Let us engage in Design Thinking to have the best chance of delivering on Brighter Living- the essence of Godrej brand.

Three Overlapping Spaces

Implementation

Inspiration

Good design

Ideation

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Design: a critical success factor at Godrej Storage SolutionsBy N. Raviswaran, Design, Godrej Storage Solutions

As each Storage Solution is unique, design function plays a crucial role in conceptualizing and executing

successful profitable solutions.

Role of Design in SSG:A designer at SSG has to be multi-faceted, handling right from core engineering tasks such as structural engineering and analysis to sheet-metal component design and up to rack configuration design inside a warehouse. Design performs off-line and on-line functions at SSG. As a part of value chain, Design plays vital link between customer and sales during pre-order to help co-create storage solutions.

The offline function of design is to create a strong product portfolio for SSG business. This function liaisons with external agencies such as academia, national laboratories and external industry experts and takes their assistance

as required. The online function includes support during post-order stage wherein design seamlessly integrates with supply chain for smooth project execution.

These twin functions of Design at SSG are rather unique and create many challenges.

Customer involvement in product design:It is popularly believed that it is not the consumer’s job to know what they want. However, other side is that, end users often get surprised when certain needs which pop up during operations are not met. SSG involves customers at early stages of Solution / Product Development. This is done in two ways, viz, direct interviews to gain from their experience and then actual observation at workplace to gather user insights. Such feedback are then converted to concepts and then presented in form of a product simulation to customer to re-validate the requirement. For New Product Development, Prof. Shiba’s approach of “Vertical exploration” and KANO methods are used to arrive at product attributes by means of gathering customer insights. Bin flow racks, Mobi Racks, Art storage racks (developed for National Gallery of Modern Art together with customer right from concept stage) are few products which were developed in line with emerging consumer needs and together with customer.State-of-the-art Structural Lab to conduct Rack tests.

Design @ SSG plays a fundamental role in developing product strategy, executing it and at the same time remains a critical link between key organisation processes.

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Design role in Value Chain for large projects:Storage business in India, a decade back, used to be predominantly with filling racks in a warehouse space. With retail boom and multinationals such as Wal-Mart coming in and an increasing awareness on logistics created by 3PL, 4PL companies, warehousing has undergone metamorphosis in the last decade. Changes in the warehouse footprint, its height and an increasing emphasis on operational parameters, today influences the way rack is designed. SSG Design has evolved closely following the basic changes in the way racks are designed internationally. Rack design is no longer sheet metal profiling alone to take care of loads. A large case like warehouse for Pepsi mother plant for instance, starts with SKU profiling, throughput needs and storage density.

The role of design starts with conceiving a solution to meet customer’s ‘3’ main operational parameters viz., cubic density, throughput (determined by ease of retrieval) and operational control. Such a large installation involving storage of 10’s of thousands of pallets brings into play safety needs such as earthquake resistance, fire safety etc. Design plays a vital role in simulation of rack under seismic action and also careful detailing is needed while laying out the racks to meet fire safety norms.

Such large projects invite global competition and hence are generally taken with an aggressive pricing strategy. Role of design hence follows in post order stage to do post order optimisation involving material reduction using value engineering technique. Design involves Cross-functional teams (CFT) including manufacturing / sub-con to reduce steel content / reduce complexity to reduce overall cost & hence improve throughput from the order.

Product Validation:SSG products are subjected to lot of experimentation to understand actual behavior. All component profiles are subjected to destructive testing to estimate actual behaviour. A state-of-the-art structural lab installed at a cost of Rs. 30 lacs in 2008 and inaugurated by Mr. J. N. Godrej helps in performing complex tests on Racking components. Distortional buckling tests and tests on beam-upright connections for estimating the Joint behaviour and its stiffness are main tests performed in this lab. This lab, which will be shortly accredited by Anna University, Chennai as an “approved R&D centre” can help performing more than 20 different tests on Racks & their components. This Centre of Excellence in Cold Formed Structural Steel Research, while helping in product validation also helps designers to experiment on contemporary materials like composites to develop new sections & next generation Racks.

To conclude, SSG has taken a direction towards being a product / Technology led organisation. Design @ SSG hence plays fundamental role in formulating product strategy and executing it and at same time remains a critical link between key organisation processes in main value chain.

With more than 10 Intellectual Property applications, of which 4 are granted, a world class R&D centre and a team of motivated young minds, SSG is driving towards becoming a product-led business.

R&D Structural Lab being inaugurated by Mr. JNG.

Rack expert Mr. Steve Cowen (UK), inspecting Rack test for certification to Euro codes.

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How is Flipkart creating a new customer experience?How it is distinctive from any other e-retailing firm - by Flipkart

Flipkart was established in late 2007. Sachin and Binny Bansal, both alumni of IIT Delhi and then

colleagues at Amazon, initially wanted to set up a comparison portal for online shopping sites. However, their initial market research revealed that the country hardly had any competitive e-commerce sites to speak of. This was when they decided to start an online shopping portal of their own.

The Beginning:Books were an obvious entry choice as they cost considerably less when compared to electronic items. As a result, it was easier for a first time customer to trust us with their money and make that initial purchase from an unknown site.

As is common to most start-ups, Flipkart too had its share of hiccups. Setting up bank accounts, getting an online payment option, convincing publishers to share their inventory with us – all of this was a challenge for an unknown company. It was difficult to generate supplier confidence and the inability to keep a large inventory was an issue. Tying up with logistics partners and ensuring timely delivery of products was another challenge. There was a time when we would pick up, pack and deliver the products on our own.

Initially we did not have any marketing budget. But we were confident of the space and the model we were operating in. Our obsession with providing our customers a superlative online shopping experience at every point of purchase won us a lot of goodwill. This is the base on which we have continued to build our operations.

Flipkart Today:What started as a two men team has today grown to 3,000 members strong organisation that delivers products to almost every pin code across the country. Today we are present across 12 product categories like movies, music, games, mobiles and accessories, computers and accessories, gaming consoles, MP3 players and iPod’s, televisions, personal and healthcare products and home appliances - and are still growing. In books alone we have nearly 11.5 million titles – making us the largest online book retailer in India.

Founders -Sachin Bansal &Binny Bansal

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We now have a registered user base of more than 1 million customers, are currently shipping out 28,000 items a day and clocking daily sales of Rs 2.5 crores.

Our Strength/USP:As a company we are obsessed with providing the best customer experience to everyone who visits our site or buys from us. We believe this focus on customer experience is what attracts people to Flipkart. Each and every Flipkart employee believes in taking ownership of the customer experience at every touch point – be it pre or post-delivery. We seamlessly combine technology with our day to day operations to create a unique user experience on the net.

Our website is characterised by a simple and intuitive user interface that is designed to help our customers search for their favourite products and place orders with the least amount of trouble. We even have a dedicated customer service team trained to walk our users through the order process and help them place the order over the phone.

We also provide great discounts and free shipping on most of the products. To deal with problems related to payment gateway processes and for those who do not have cards or are wary of revealing their card

details online – we have launched services like cash-on-delivery and card-on-delivery. With our customer base growing by 30% month on month, the importance of a robust and extensive supply-chain network, better logistics, etc. have become paramount. In order to meet the increasing demand and ensure that our customers have access to the widest variety and best discounts, we have always tried to maintain an extensive distributor network, which has only grown over the years.

In order to ease the bottle-necks in last mile delivery, we now have our own delivery service, Flipkart Logistics, in 15 cities and hope to take this to 25 cities by next year. With this, our order to delivery time line has reduced drastically - leading to an increase in the number of satisfied customers. Our focus on customer delight does not end there. We even have a 30-day replacement policy to help deal with any worries a customer may have over the quality of the product.

We want to be the most customer friendly e-commerce company in the country by providing value through every engagement we have with our customers. As a testimony to the superior customer experience, the company has consistently recorded repeat purchase rates of more than 70%. We plan to keep innovating within the online space and adding new categories to provide a wider choice to our customers.

The Future:As far as future is concerned, we will be looking at bigger investments in our supply chain and technology. This should result in larger warehouses and increased automation of our processes.

We will continue to expand our categories in order to meet the growing consumer interest in the e-commerce market. We will continue to add more products / selection to our existing categories as well.

In terms of sales we were earlier looking at a figure of $1bn by 2015. But we feel that we can achieve these figures in the next two to three years.

We want Flipkart to redefine the e-commerce ecosystem and to own the shopping experience in India and are looking at investments and innovations keeping that aim in mind.”

Every Flipkart employee believes in taking ownership of the customer experience at every touch point, be it pre or post-delivery.

Flipkart @ work

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By Nalini Kala, Corporate Communication

A design brief is the guidepost for the development of just about any creative deliverable. From a

personalised greeting card for a key customer, to a sales pitch presentation for a high-tech engineering product to even a fresh new identity for a business unit, the design brief is an absolute must for high quality design output.

Consider this matrimonial ad.

B’ful, cltrd, BE, MBA or equally P.Q. from Premier institute, above 5’4” from rep. Br. Fmly for Gaur Br. BE MBA (IIMB) Apr’79/6’1” smart boy, Own B’ness of Mgmt Consultancy.

The marriage of two people who met only on the basis of this ad is probably not going to succeed. While the physical attributes are listed, can easily be identified and aid selection, the whole emotional make up needed for a successful marriage is absent from this list of specifications. Similar situations are common in the business environment too. While the physical attributes are often articulated in the design brief, the emotional satisfiers are rarely listed. And this can make the world of difference- whether the end product is merely a `product’ or a far more satisfying ̀experience’. e.g. the experience of using an iPad over any other competing product, clearly indicated through all consumer reviews.

A design brief is a comprehensive written document which provides all necessary information required to create an end product and the ensuing satisfiers- both tangible/intangible, whether expressed or not- required by the consumer.

A well written brief is required to prevent gaffes such as in the illustration (refer image). It has the power to prevent wastage of time, money, effort and also the power of creating an image of being thoughtful, capable of listening, considerate- in short, empathetic. This is an important attribute for a well-conceived brand in today’s times.

A good brief helps to clarify what is expected at the minimum, and hence, what could entail going beyond it.

In situations where a selection has to be made between multiple contenders, a well- articulated brief can function as a touchstone to determine the merits of the offers presented. Absence of a well-accepted common yardstick very often creates conflict for both suppliers and the selectors/clients. Further, a well written brief can be used for reviewing the progress on the project and determining the amount of work done for making payments if necessary.

A manager can use well written briefs as a tool for scoping the developmental projects which are new in

In today’s challenging times, adhering to the discipline of writing briefs can be a great efficiency enhancer and a cost saver.

Written Briefs-essential, usefulyet resisted

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nature. Also, this brief can be used to set the context in terms of technology, application, targeted customers, performance, costs and similar other parameters. This can lead to much faster execution of a project as it was wanted.

A written brief is a great way to seek clarity on the details and the expectations from the concerned manager. This rules out ambiguities and helps bring underlying assumptions out in the open, thus leading to more harmonious, collaborative, blame-proof way of working. Zero room for mind reading.

At the bare minimum, a good brief must have certain elements adequately covered. The brief must focus on results and outcomes of the design and the related business and communication objectives for a specified targeted group of customers. It must provide the background, context and specific content/information to be used in a clear, concise manner, ending with a call for action. It should provide any additional information useful to the designer and should mention how success can be measured. It should neither be too open-ended and hence, vague nor too restrictive and limiting for the designer. A good design brief should never attempt to deal with the aesthetics of design or provide specific solutions as it is the responsibility of the designer.

These broad guidelines need to be modified suitably depending on what is to be designed- a product, a piece of communication or a process, or any purposeful system.

The discipline of writing briefs helps proposers and approvers make clear cut choices, as opposed to being ambivalent towards what is to be attempted; thus bringing clarity to cost, time and the end purpose to be served especially from a point of view of the buyers who are going to pay for it.

Thus it is easy to see that adhering to the discipline of writing briefs not only conserves resources such as time and money, but also creates the interactive dynamics that is perceived as fair and harmonious, creating an opportunity for fearless and free expression. It provides well-articulated specificity for critique.

Reflect for a moment and think of a situation where spending some time on writing a brief clearly could have saved huge amount of wasted effort, rework, time and obviously, money. Next time when you want something new to be done well, do spend an hour or two on writing a brief and you will find it worthwhile.

Writing a brief is as much an art as it is a skill. Writing it often oneself, inviting others to critique it, learning from it and sharpening one’s own skills is perhaps the only way forward. How about volunteering to write a brief, say six times a year? Surely, you have a chance to build your reputation of being an effective manager if you choose to master this vital skill.

What does the customer really want?

What the customer wantedWhat engineering designed

What marketing envisioned What was installed

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Customer value creation through collaborative design @ InterioBy E. Venkat, Design Head, Godrej Interio

Range of Bed Sets on existing successful platform.

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The design process at Interio is a unique amalgamation of customer centricity and collaboration. The on-going efforts for the refining of the process have made it the most efficacious one, today.

In today’s highly competitive market which demands products that are insightful, environmentally responsible

and have technology embedded in them, Godrej Interio is recognised as a leader.

The impetus for market leadership is essentially derived from the strong belief that innovation and value creations are the keys to successful play in the marketplace.

Today, the design and marketing function are expected to come up with new product ideas that emerge from the unexplained and unarticulated incoherent needs of the users viewed in the context of future trends.

The New Product Development (NPD) at Interio has evolved and refined over the years to become a splendid amalgamation of Customer centricity and Collaboration.

In consonance with Brighter Living- the essence of the repositioned Godrej brand, the design mission of Godrej Interio is to: “Create enjoyable user experience for many by designing sustainable furniture solutions”.

This mission is well aligned with the Godrej brand essence and stipulates that beside customers, all stakeholders and partners must experience the delight while delivering solutions. In this context, it is the design department that becomes the very centre of NPD and has a huge responsibility of imbibing Customer Centricity whilst working with a Collaborative approach.

At Interio Design, the task of every NPD has been simplified by means of a defined process outline, which

is based on a “Phase-Gate Model”. The phases here not only define the stages but also give a timeline for efficient working without missing a critical activity. The gates ensure rectification of any flaws at a nascent stage as there is an involvement and review with all critical stakeholders (like, validation of the concept with the User, Marketing and the Supply Chain). This model is split into “Fast track” and the “Full track” varying only in the time lines based on the complexity of the product to be developed.

Each Track is further split into four phases:

1. Zero - Product Idea & Concept Selection

2. One - Design

3. Two - Verification and Validation

4. Three - Implementation & Product Launch

A brief description of each of the phases is given below for our readers to appreciate the nuances of Interio’s Design Process.

Phase 0 Product Idea & Concept SelectionThe Phase Zero is the foundation to the entire design project and hence, is extremely critical to the succeeding phases. It is in this phase where the idea of the perceived value of the product from the viewpoint of the customer is estimated and quantified through using various methods of research and study and then given a form.

There are several steps in this phase which are as below:

1. Design brief- it states salient features of the products to be designed along with the price points at which it is to be marketed. Also, projections are made for the volume and value of business over next 3 years from the launch of the product.

Create enjoyable user experience for many by designing sustainable furniture solutions.

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2. Concept Development- In this step, Research and Study are jointly carried out by the design and marketing teams. This leads to much more comprehensive and balanced findings of market opportunities and the latent needs of the potential consumers. At this stage the decision of product strategy is made aligned to the Business Initiative of Design Leadership, which are:

a. Image builders: Creating new brand perception

b. Image changers: Improving the brand perception

c. Development based on existing platforms

Led by the Industrial designer, the ideas are sculpted and given material and form in this step. Further, the Design engineer does a first hand search for the right materials and processes for the NPD, also work on the core idea to enhance its perceived value by deploying the creativity, domain knowledge and experience. An attempt is made to

come up with ingenious solutions that raise the purchase aspiration and build strong desire to acquire in the customers mind. Designers develop multiple concepts and strive to bring out a “Wow idea”, which can excite the decision makers, bring them on board to take on the risks involved and face the challenges likely to arise in subsequent stages.

In this step, specific domain expertise if required, at Interio we do not hesitate to engage the services of external designers or design agencies.

The main focus in this stage is to have the wow idea which represents strongly the hope of a successful product.

3. Concept-Selection and enrichment- There are several ways by which we improve and enrich the concept selected. Brainstorming sessions within the design team, customer feedback, feedback from sales people at branches and dealers, etc. For projects involving institutional products where architects play a pivotal role in the purchase of the product, feedback from renowned

Wish

Freestile

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architects is taken and incorporated in the concept. And finally, the cross-functional reviews are held and inputs are taken from people representing Marketing, Purchase, Manufacturing, Quality Assurance, Service and Design functions. This step is intended to resolve conflicts if any and validate the concept at a macro level.

To obtain useful feedback, quick, low and medium fidelity resolution mock up are developed so that it is easy for the feedback givers to comprehend the essence of the concept.

The key issue here is to take the uninhibited feedback on the function. More refined prototypes having high fidelity are developed in subsequent phases.

The final concept is photo-realistically rendered with maximum details using the latest software tools available today, which helps us greatly in communicating the idea, giving clarity to the team, generating an excitement worthy of the “Wow” idea. This step also emphasizes on defining the target green quotient of the product, as the product/ concept in this phase is the most malleable to be modified. With highly defined certification and standards of Green and Sustainability for furniture, like BIFMA LEVEL, it is imperative to be sensitive to every aspect of the product as it can greatly affect the Life Cycle Assessment and can also contribute to the extended product responsibility.

Phase 1 DesignThis is the phase where the roughly sculpted product by the Industrial designer is given details; details, which makes the product refined and resilient to the intended use in its context. Supported by the Industrial designer, the Design engineer takes lead in this phase to conclude the design in its complete sense, with the manufacturing details in place, costing, optimization and finally the Prototype for validation and verification. To make this, a smoother journey for the engineer, various tools have been created, like the Team Leader Reviews, Chain Reaction Sessions (Brainstorming Sessions), which help in gathering combined knowledge gained by years of experience from the senior team members. The prototype made as the end product of this phase is the final offering and remains aesthetically unchanged unless there are any minor structural changes due to a failure in the tests required to validate its performance.

Phase 2 Verification & ValidationOnce the Product offering is finalised and approved by the Cross Functional Team (CFT), the final refinements are done and the product prototype is tested over and above the BIFMA (Business and Institutional Furniture

Manufacturer’s Association) standards, for the possible product misuse. While the tests go on, the details and drawings are shared with the CFT and clear plan is laid out, for the development of the toolings and parts. For every new and critical process required in the manufacturing of the design, we collaborate with vendors and suppliers to diligently work out the details so as to not lose any essence of the idea.

A final prototype is made and if any corrections post-testing are required, they are thoroughly checked for fit and finish.

The concluding step in this phase is release of the implementation document.

Phase 3 Implementation & Product LaunchThe work in this phase involves actual development of all tools, jigs, fixtures, gauges and special purpose machines and its verification to ensure smooth production of the product. It also includes the Pilot lot production for the final approval prior to launch.

In closing, I would like to say that the design process is an ever-evolving process that can never be fully perfected but can be developed and refined greatly to ensure successful creation of products that deliver delight to customers.

The key to collaboration is to take uninhibited feedback.

Ace

Sizzle

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Nature- the ultimate Design Guide

“Study Nature, Love Nature, Stay Close to Nature. It will never fail you” – Frank Lloyd Wright. (1867 – 1959) Famous American Architect

The constantly evolving nature has been a reliable source of learning for artists, musicians, engineers

et al. In recent years, an entirely new branch of science named ‘Biomimicry’ has evolved that involves getting inspired from nature and using different forms, functions, mechanisms to build new products, mechanisms, systems, and processes. This development is not in a way completely new or sudden as knowingly or unknowingly humans have been picking up cues from nature to solve their daily problems.

An entire array of products can be identified from all walks of life that have been designed by drawing inspiration from nature knowingly or unknowingly.

The Natural World: In the constantly evolving world of nature, there are many factors that trigger evolutions. As the underlying reason for evolution is survival and posterity, adapting to Un-favourable conditions is one of the most important trigger.

The process of evolution yield forms that are energy-efficient, systems that are re-generative and functions that are optimised!

Almost always in nature, the forms and mechanisms that exist either simple or complex typically have a higher degree of functionality as opposed to aesthetics. In nature where aesthetics is the major requirement, forms and mechanisms score a resounding high on aesthetics.

By Adittya Dharap and Mahindra Patil, Godrej Efacec Automation & Robotics Limited

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Biomimicry by definition is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems. The term biomimicry and biomimetics come from the Greek words bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate.(Source: Wikipedia)

But as now, ‘Biomimicry’ is designated as a formal stream of science. It will enable us to mimick nature on a larger scale more efficiently and also deliberately to reap greater benefits.

Nature- A great designer:Nature has all the quality that an extraordinary designer may possess:

1. Nature is extremely frugal designer. It has very few core designs in its portfolio from which it designs variety of plants, animals, and other organisms living or non-living existing in the world.

2. Nature is extremely energy efficient. It doesn’t store energy beyond what is required and the transformative

processes are extremely energy efficient.

3. Nature is a great conserver. Each and every thing present is recyclable. Waste from one sub-system becomes nutrition or food for something else.

4. Nature is extremely innovative and is deeply centered on being highly functional.

5. Nature is regenerative.

6. Nature is always evolving, testing, enhancing.

Mechanism: Ball and Socket Joint

Mechanism: Human Limb and Humanoid Welding Arm

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Function: Kangaroo Pouch and Baby Carrier

Process: Leaf Blade & Solar Panels

Form: Bionic Car by Daimler Chrysler inspired from Box Fish. Streamlined form in cars offers less resistance to air, thereby making them more energy efficient.

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The above are a few examples from everyday life. If we cultivate a curious childlike mind and keep our minds wide open, we can ourselves observe many things in nature to draw inspiration from and design products, forms and mechanisms to solve our daily problems or to create daily experiences which are highly satisfactory.

Advantages of learning from nature:

1. Availability of time-tested readymade solutions - As these solutions are tested by nature, the risk of failure is significantly lower.

2. Creations of nature are prototyped, time-tested, proven and enhanced. Sure to work.

3. Systems and sub-systems as exist in nature are highly optimised. Hence, highly efficient in every possible dimension.

4. Nature code is akin to open source code. No infringement of IPRs.

Imitating is permissible:It is okay to imitate nature as it doesn’t hold any intellectual property rights. Though, it has the largest repository of time tested superbly working solutions. Modern designers have to ensure that imitating is cost-efficient and fast as we simply do not have time to solve the multitude of problems facing humanity which is 7 billion strong.

What as a designer you should do:

1. Engage with nature regularly. Take walks. Spend some time in natural surroundings. Always ask a question- How can I link whatever I am seeing with the design problem I have at hand?

2. Build a virtual library of images, photographs of natural forms, shapes, mechanisms, and functions. Perusing through this library may inspire and help in overcoming ‘Designer’s Block’!

3. Consult a Biologist, a zoologist or a botanist. Initiate self study.

4. Watch films by Sir David Attenborough. Films like The Private Life of Plants, The Life of Birds, Life in the Undergrowth et al gives a great insight of the natural world.

5. Have an open mind to ponder on the weirdest & seemingly ‘wild’ ideas.

In closing, we would recommend designers to cross-pollinate their teams with members from biological sciences to facilitate Cross-pollination of the natural world into the engineering world. Bringing a biologist to

Further Reading:1. Biomimicry : Innovation Inspired by Nature – Janine M. Benyus2. Design for the Real World : Human Ecology and Social Change – Victor Papanek

Cultivate a curious childlike mind and keep your mind wide open.

the table in design process will prove to be a brighter step that you could take.

Even after all those discoveries about the natural world, a huge mass of nature still lies unexplored and unknown. There, perhaps, lie solutions to the problems which we have to yet solve for our future generations.

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Chrysalis- the bed that cares and helps healBy Sumon Malik, Vazir Abasaheb Nadaph and Sushil Kumar Sawant, Godrej Interio

In study after study it has been found that as far as getting well is concerned, the role of the doctors’

account for only 20% and the balance 80% is accounted by the nursing care and the ambience. A well designed hospital bed is a key enabler of quality nursing care.

In India, Health-care segment is growing with a rapid rate of more than 16% CAGR. With the standards of care-giving industry going up; India is expected to become a hub for Medical tourism offering better services at affordable costs.

People expect higher level of services and stringent industry norms (JCI – Joint Commission International) get implemented in India through accreditation by National Accreditation Board (NABH) and other similar regulatory agencies.

Hospitals are adopting interiors and other facilities which are akin to those prevailing in hospitality industry. Hospitals are opting for exciting interiors and furniture using joyful colors and materials in the interior environment and not limiting themselves to only the care of patients but are also giving due attention to the comfort of caregivers and relatives.

In India we will require more than 1,00,000 beds by the year 2018 as the percentage of ICU and special purpose bed are increasing from 12% to 30%, which create a decent size opportunity for this product category.

Interio aims essentially to fill the gap that exists between costly imports and weak domestic supplies.

Chrysalis, Chair position

Team Chrysalis (L-R): Vazir, Sumon and Sushil

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Inspiration: The rejuvenation Story of “Chrysalis”

“Chrysalis is a phase where pupa grows fully and turns into butterfly to get a new life.”

The design of the bed is also inspired from the same phenomena, where patient rejuvenates and gets back to a new life. The soft hues in Chrysalis offer harmony and play a great role in patient healing creating a colour therapeutic environment. The spectrum of joyful colours brings peace of mind as well as challenges their curiosity. Keeping all these expressions in mind we thought of taking butterfly as inspiration for the product.

“While designing chrysalis, the only thing we kept in mind that it should not look like another hospital bed. It has been simplified and optimized to make it more user-friendly and offer required patient safety as well as good care for care giver.” - Says the Industrial Designer, Vazir Nadaph

“Chrysalis”: The Design Story Capturing the user needs Co-creation with customers and user validation:

While designing chrysalis we went through lot of user interaction with the end users, care giver nurses, doctors, bio-medical engineers and purchase heads, hospital specialist planners and project execution teams and decision makers of various hospitals to capture all their needs and concerns.

The initial user study is done in hospitals like Asian Heart, TATA Memorial and Godrej Memorial Hospital where lot of insights were found about the usage pattern of beds and the workable heights and the space limitations in lifts and corridors. Very useful and practical insights were collected from Mr. Upadhyay, Chief Procurement Officer of Breech Candy Hospital and Dr. Joglekar, CEO of Godrej Memorial Hospital, like provision of two accessory rails for collection of upper and lower body drainage, provision of Patient restrainers, etc.

Based on the inputs collated, we created the design boundaries and handed over to the engineering

consultant to work on the mechanism ensuring the performance criteria was met.

The development has undergone 3 stages of prototyping and the latest version of the prototype has been kept at several hospitals for getting user feedback. The prototype is demonstrated to teams of nurses and doctors.

Concurrent Development and Team Work:While the mechanism was validated on meeting the set parameters, we

started refining the Industrial Design. All suppliers and tool makers’ inputs were regularly discussed with our internal Cross Functional Team (CFT) and the vision was shared with the Teams. Trainings were arranged and given to all team members (internal and Vendors team) to understand and sensitize them towards the statutory requirements. In-turn, all of them got well versed with the International Standard and Norms (EN) and European Certification (CE) marking.

Multiple user feedback sessions bringing out latent needs.

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Engineering Challenges and Materials for Sustainability:The rules of Clarity, Simplicity and Safety, which are qualitative rules applicable to all engineering disciplines, were considered throughout the design phase.

“The principles of force transmission and division of task of components and sub-assemblies were deployed to achieve a superior performance of the bed. FEA (Finite Element Analysis) to verify performance of critical components ensured FTR (First time right) development and top down assembly modeling ensured faster iterations and accurate data management.” - Says the Engineering Designer, Sushil Kumar Sawant

New materials and finishes with antibacterial and anti-static properties were developed and validated to ensure compliance with the statutory regulations. Further, the requirements of “Sustainability” were also kept in view while selecting materials, processes, methods of assembly and disposal.

“Chrysalis”: The Product StoryThe design of Chrysalis is sought to meet the specific demands of intensive care units in hospitals. Chrysalis with its unique design is integrated with technology, ergonomically designed for Indian anthropometry to achieve maximum patient comfort.

While working on the mechanism we took care that the understructure looks very clean and optimized to accommodate the number of peripheral equipments. Chrysalis follows all the safety norms claimed by Federal Drug Administration (FDA, USA) regarding patient entrapment and complies with all the EN Standards and Norms.

“Chrysalis” Platform Design: An Approach to Enhance Value Creation Chrysalis is designed as a platform to create multiple variants catering to different care giving levels, such as an ICU Bed to Recovery Beds to Special Purpose Beds to Orthopedic Beds.

All Variants of Chrysalis are achieved with minor addition and alteration of a few elements without having to change the original design language and key elements. This enables us to offer different price point options to the customer.•ChrysalisBasic•ChrysalisLite•ChrysalisPremium

Choice of features like Radiolucent (X-Ray Permeable) Backrest, and Anti static Castor in all the varieties gives the team more options to offer to the customer.

“Further extending the range to make more sophisticated beds with higher, intelligent features and doing cosmetic changes to adapt to a home care bed with optimum features and getting explored. The platform design approach will unleash further potential to extended the range and create new possibilities.” - says the Team and Project Leader, Sumon Malik

In closing, Godrej Interio plans to win 15% of the market share by selling around 4,000 beds annually. The team Chrysalis also aims to make Chrysalis range of bed the most preferred name in the marketplace.

Chrysalis USP addressing user concerns.

Chrysalis has won CII Design Excellence Award 2012 in Medical Equipment Category.

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Rejuvenate through quality care with Chrysalis.

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Vibrant product portfolio through Multi-generation Product Planning- Appliances’ experience

By Jaishankar and Chandan Chandra, Godrej Appliances

Product is 80% of the game in consumer durables market. To win the game in India’s hyper competitive market, Godrej Appliances has adopted a state-of-the-art, best in class process - Multi-generation Product Planning.

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The Indian consumer is fast evolving across all socio-economic strata, town classes and regions. Rising

incomes, multiple income households, exposure to international lifestyles & media, easy credit coupled with an upbeat economy for a decade or more are increasing consumption and raising aspirations incessantly. Government has been promoting the cause of Energy Conversation and Sustainability. All these rapid changes collectively create pressure on Appliance industry to re-orient itself to meet the needs of new Indian consumers. The imperative of Energy Conservation and Sustainability add a new dimension of complexity. Government is also active in this area and the realities on the energy front demand that energy efficiencies of appliances are enhanced year after year.

This multi-headed challenge is responded to by the global players in the industry by frequent launches of new product to offer consumers wider choice and a larger set of price points. As a result, the market for durables has expanded significantly during the last decade and the market penetration of durable category is up by more than 50%. Further, the new dynamics of the market place and the intense competitive activity has shrunk the product lifecycle to a year or two from eight to ten years earlier.

These high intensity developments in the marketplace have created new imperatives for Godrej Appliances (GA). One of the key imperatives amongst these is to maintain a high degree of product vitality and vibrancy in the marketplace. This imperative means that we have to launch a slew of new products every year which are meaningfully differentiated and offer better value to consumers. Performing exceptionally well on this imperative is an absolute must for sustaining and strengthening our product leadership.

To execute the above imperative GA has adopted a state-of-the-art process called Multi -generational Product Planning (MGPP).

Multi-generational Product Planning:

MGPP takes into account evolving consumer preferences, emerging marketing opportunities, deploying of technological advances, measures of complying with regulatory standards and of course ideas that are innovative to make the experiences of the consumers brighter.

Some key features of the process are shared with our readers to enable them to think about it and decide if could be applied in their business to gain market share or product leadership in years ahead.

I. Multi-generational Product Planning (MGPP)

The MGPP process involves reviews of product portfolio offering over a 3-year horizon to ensure that the portfolio stays vibrant, relevant and competitive. The outcome of this process is a document which delineates product portfolio in terms of extensions of existing platforms through the introduction of variants, plans to comply with regulatory changes and the gaps in the portfolio to fill which new platforms are required to be developed.

The MGPP process is carried out bi-annually once during the Annual Business Planning phase and second time mid-year for incorporating course correction if any.

II. Inputs to MGPPA variety of inputs are considered while preparing the MGPP documents. These are illustrated below in Fig. -1

Fig. -1 Inputs to MGPP process

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III. MGPP processThe key steps are:1) Tracking and understanding of shifts in the lifestyle of the consumer and their preferences-

Some of the key sources of information are Demographic profiling (source – IRS, marketing white book etc), exploratory research on new segments, Consumer Research on Product Concepts & Mocks, Brand Health studies & feedback from the Trade and Canvasser.

A typical translation of consumer understanding into a product concept development is illustrated aside:

2) Mapping of the external environment-

An in-depth analysis of the market landscape is done to understand trends. Competitor product & price offerings at Category, Segment & Sub segment level are studied. Scenarios are built on competitive moves to uncover potential portfolio gaps vis a vis current offerings.

3) Scanning for potential Technologies-

Key technological advances across product categories are scanned and

evaluated for its impact. Adoption and introduction plan is put in place for potential technologies through the Technology road map document.

The final output of the process is captured in the MGPP document at various levels such as categories and segments (Fig.-2).

4) Ensuring Compliance with changes in regulatory standards-

Implications of regulatory schedule changes on design, technology infusion, Infrastructure needs & costs are mapped with change over time frames.

IV. The Eon Journey- A case in pointThe illustration on the next page captures the Eon platform journey through various changes necessitated due to shifts in Market/ Consumer preferences and changes in regulatory requirements.

Game Plan - Master MGPP For All Categories*

Consumer Need Observation - Cooking takes a considerable time for a housewife. Every day routine a monotonous affair.Inference - A source of entertainment in kitchen would ease the daily chore and make the space lively.Action Plan - Introduce a Refrigerator with in-built FM & MP3 facility.

Stage 1Discovery process to

consumer insight

A typical Consumer space

Generation of Product idea which can be taken up as a Platform, from which new models can be launched which will be relevant yet differentiated in

their offering to the consumer.

Diff

eren

tiate

d

Extendable

Product Idea

Cre

dibl

e

Relevant

Stage 2Consumer insight to Product idea

to Concept generation

Refrigerator with Muziplay

Working module

TI Chip

Stage 3Concept generation to execution

to in-market Launch

Fig. -2

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V. Execution PhaseOnce the planning is complete, a business case is prepared for each of the projects identifying the MGPP. Targeted volumes & segment for new products are estimated and ROI on investments are worked out and are included in the business case. Once the projects are approved then they are rolled out for execution through the New Product Development (NPD) process. A gist of key steps of NPD and the activities within this process are illustrated below (Fig. -3):

VI. Toll gates for effective control of NPDThe entire process passes through 7 key toll gates during its execution.

(See figure 3). Toll gate stages are critical milestone reviews where project progress is checked and evaluated against stated objectives and deliverables. Corrective action plans are evolved and executed in case deviations are observed.

Toll gates at key decision points:

Project Go ahead: Portfolio logic, Foot print, Make Vs Buy, Economics, Functional targets.

Planning: Outsource vs In-house design, New Tech, ideas, Target Costs, Varianting Plan.

Concept approval: Design concept selection, Mocks, Research outcome, Mfg feasibility Performance report out’s.

Tooling: Cost clearance for tooling, Adherence to project economics.

Pre Pilot: Status update, Ramp up plans, Product testing, Field Trials.

Pilot: Pilot issues, resolution, Field trial reports, Debugging - Overall Project status.

Communication / Go to market / Launch: ATL/BTL plans, Channel approach, GTM plans, Service plan sync.

At GA, we believe that this elaborate MGPP - NPD process has enabled GA to offer highly differentiated consumer satisfying new products at the right time and at optimal costs. GA over the last 5 years has launched on an average 100-120 new SKU’s year on year on different categories ensuring vitality and vibrancy of its product portfolio. As a result, the business has achieved YOY growth in sales volume of greater than 25%.

GA continuously seeks out new approaches and refines existing approaches to strengthen its performance on product portfolio front. Recently GA has embarked upon a “Collaborate and Develop” approach which is based on an “Open Innovation” model to develop products relevant to the new emerging Indian consumers.

GA is committed to enthrall the Indian consumers with its portfolio of new, relevant and innovative products to successfully deliver on the brand promise of Brighter Living.

New Product Development Process

Start of Mandatory phase

Start of Voluntary phase for Energy Efficiency regime

New Models with 1 step energy star change follows..2012

Energy label for Table 2.1

Energy label for Table 2.2

Apex range

Apex range

ifresh range

DigifreshGiga range

Spartan range

Launch of fresh colour series in Giga range

2007 2008 2009 2010 20122006

With newhandle

Fig. -3

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High performance Bravo forklifts address new marketsBy Neville Mevawalla, Godrej Material Handling

Team Bravo (L to R): Suresh Pawar, P. R. Rathore, Sachin Gawde, Altaf Ansari, Ravi Ghosalkar, Neville Mevawala and Amol Mane.

Users who were happy with their expensive, imported forklifts came to appreciate the benefits of indigenous brands when they learnt how expensive and time-consuming it was to rectify a breakdown and procure parts from foreign manufacturers.

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During the economic boom of the last decade, the rapidly growing Indian lift truck market absorbed

a good number of imported forklifts. While low end, cheaper Chinese brands were a major chunk of imports, premium European and Japanese brands also enjoyed good growth. This was mainly due to the emergence of a new class of customers - those who wanted goods to be moved round the clock; those who demanded high levels of performance and productivity from their lift trucks and operators. Customers for whom material handling was a critical value creator and were willing to pay for this value creation.

Indian customers who opted for high end imports loved the zippy driving of these high-performance forklifts, their appealing aesthetics, operator comfort and high reliability. But where the indigenous brands scored was on the relatively low initial investment, quicker deliveries, easy availability of parts and equally important, their lower cost of servicing and maintenance. Many users who were happy with their expensive, imported forklifts came to appreciate the benefits of indigenous brands when they learnt how expensive it was to rectify a breakdown and how long it took to get parts from foreign manufacturers.

This revealed a clear gap in the market. There was a growing set of customers demanding more value from their forklift and willing to pay for it but the life cycle economics of premium imported brands was a deterrent. This created a strategic opportunity for Godrej Material Handling. What if we designed and built a range of high performance forklifts with superior aesthetics and ergonomics that could meet the high expectations of these demanding customers and yet be very Indian when it came to delivery times and total cost of ownership of the forklift?

To fill in this gap, in 2008, Godrej Material Handling began the development of a new range of 1.5 to 3 tonne diesel forklifts and named it the BRAVO series.

Feedback from customers and critical evaluation of competing brands provided the inputs to develop a range of forklifts that were clearly different from Godrej’s existing models and those of the competition. In 2010, the first Bravo 3 tonne diesel forklift was prototyped and tested. It was powered by an Indian engine and an advanced transmission that offered powerful

acceleration, a wet disc, maintenance free braking system that greatly enhanced safety, a suspended cab and seat that improved operator comfort, cushioned hydraulics for smoother handling and never-before levels of access for service.

BRAVO series forklifts have set new performance standards for indigenous lift trucks which were hitherto met only by high end imported brands. And the total cost of ownership met the expectations of customers.

As the BRAVO range of forklifts was designed for a different segment of consumers, it had to be built, marketed and serviced accordingly. A comprehensive value chain was designed and developed to build, assemble, sell and service BRAVO forklifts.

It didn’t take long for customers to appreciate the benefits of the new BRAVO range and its well integrated value chain and Godrej saw significant numbers of orders flowing in after the launch.

Godrej repeated the process with 2 and 3 tonne capacity battery powered electric forklifts launching BRAVO series models in 2011. These forklifts have begun securing acceptance amongst Indian and international customers against heavy competition from leading foreign players.

BRAVO series forklifts have set new performance standards for indigenous lift trucks.

Bravo Diesel Forklift

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Designing energy efficient motors- The Lawkim JourneyBy Xercsis Marker, Business Head and Supported by Kishor Joshi, Head - Design & Development – Lawkim Motors Group

Lawkim has been designing and manufacturing energy efficient motors for Appliances and Other Commercial/Industrial Applications for more than 25 years. Over the years, these millions of motors collectively would have conserved humongous amount of electrical energy.

Like water, Energy is becoming a scarce resource with the per capita power consumption round the globe

increasing and in India especially as we know the severity rate is very high. At home or at place of work, any appliance or any machine or a system that you may use inevitably has one element - the Electric Motor. Electric Motor is virtually everywhere. Millions of motors run for long hours every day consuming massive amount of energy.

A recent report published by International Energy Agency (IEA) states that Electric motors are the single largest consumers of electrical energy. Electric Motors at the first rank account for about 45% of the Global Power Consumption (GPC). At second place, Lighting accounts for around 19% of GPC. Thus, Motors and Lighting together account for around 65% of GPC.

It is common knowledge that not all motors in use are highly efficient or right-sized or run only when they should be. As a result, waste of precious electrical energy is widespread and can be found almost

in every prevailing application. This collective waste according to experts amounts to about 20-30% of the total power consumed by motors which is equivalent to 10-15% of GPC.

This study done by (IEA) clearly highlights the need to improve the efficiency of motors on a war footing to conserve huge amount of electric energy which can be used for industry and create prosperity for millions. The country needs a clear strategy to deal with energy conservation just as much we do for water & Global Climate Change.

The Lawkim JourneyFor a few decades now, Lawkim has been at the forefront in the field of manufacturing specialized electric motors. The design team at Lawkim was setup many years ago to improve the energy efficiency of motors which are primarily manufactured for Appliances industry. Now this is being extended to a whole range of general purpose motors as well using controllers & variable frequency drives (VFD’s). Over the years, the Design Team has successfully enhanced the energy efficiency levels of motors at Lawkim. As can be seen from the graph aside, in 1985, the EE for the Hermetic Motor for refrigerator compressors was about 60% which

The country needs a clear strategy to deal with energy conservation just as much we do for Water & Global Climate Change.

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today stands enhanced to 84%, an amazing improvement of 40%+ & this was initiated much before 5 BEE Star ratings for the Appliances Industry were introduced. This endeavour of Lawkim makes us significant contributors towards reduced energy consumption.

The above mentioned 40% plus enhancement in EE is an outcome of several approaches deployed over last many years. Some of the key measures adopted that have yielded significant successes are as follows:

1. Deployment of Advanced Computational Techniques - At Lawkim, we started deploying extensively, Computers many years back, which allowed us to use advanced computational techniques such as Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to make the best use of the knowledge and abilities of our designers. Today, the methodology of Design of experiments is used as a matter of routine to refine and make optimum use of the Active Materials for higher performance of motors.

2. Developed new capabilities for using advanced materials- Material Sciences are advancing rapidly. As a result, today’s electrical steels have far better magnetic

Year Efficiency (%)

1985 60

1990 65

1995 70

2000 73

2005 75

2010 83

2011 84

In today’s competitive world Lawkim has successfully exploited the opportunity to offer vastly improved performance of motors at a marginally higher cost.

Flux finite element accurate approch.

properties and so is the case with copper which has far better conductivity. Similarly, properties of insulation materials have improved over the years and consequently, the electrical system as a whole can be designed to be more robust to withstand adverse conditions. Improved design capabilities at Lawkim have enabled us to use lower amount of active materials allowing us to offset the increased cost of new, better materials. In today’s competitive world. Lawkim has successfully exploited this opportunity to offer our customer vastly improved performance of motors at a marginally higher cost.

3. Large investment in manufacturing and allied processes- Today’s advanced manufacturing technology allows us to carry out Lamination Punching and Stacking with Die accuracies of 0.03mm as against 0.10mm earlier- this indeed is highly precise. Further, automated winding machines have facilitated higher slot filling of winding wire. These are obviously the outcome of large investments in advanced technology, Plant and Machinery and Application Engineering made by Lawkim over the years. Our customers have welcomed these new developments and this has given us an edge in the market place. Today, we work closely with our customers from designing, formulating, testing specs to delivery of total value addition for the driven equipment.

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A Designer’s NotebookBy Adittya Dharap, Godrej Efacec Automation & Robotics Limited

Design documentation specific to process of development of new ideas is often a neglected

subject in spite of being an important link in building any product / process.

This small account aims at underlining the importance of designer’s notebook in the entire process of designing a product.

A ‘designer’s notebook’ is a reflection of all phases of design process right from ideation to prototyping and manufacturing finished product.

The need: Why maintain a design notebook?It is a common experience that innovative ideas are triggered in most unfavourable circumstances. These are the circumstances where the person is in no position of recording the trigger. Bathing time, driving to office are

most common instances of having innovative triggers. These ideas evaporate if not crystallized in record form. This is where a personal design diary finds its place. The ideas would just fly off if you do not have one. Most of the ‘AHA!’ ideas are lost in this fashion and no matter how hard you try and recall the concept / idea, it won’t return. It is lost permanently to void.

Artists, musicians, writers are known to carry notebooks to record random thoughts that seem to have seeds of future artwork, musical compositions, literary work. But most of the engineers shy away from such a practice.

There are often questions asked, a set of doubts raised at the end of a design project as to why a particular concept was accepted? Why a particular decision finalised? What were the considerations in designing

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the project / product? What were the alternatives that were explored, accepted and discarded? If you do not have a tangible comprehensive record to answer these questions, it would be a faux pas.

What you require is a Designer’s Notebook!

1. What are Designer’s Notebooks?A designer is a witness to the entire design process right from conception to commissioning of a product / project. The designer goes through all the pains and joys, crests and troughs, he has his own share of everything. As a key link, he is supposed to know each and every aspect of the product, about the decisions made, concepts evaluated, etc. A product development cycle can be as short as a month and can be extraordinarily long. In long to very long design projects details are lost, if not documented. This is where an informal Designer Notebook holds the key and a meticulously kept notebook can answer any query / doubt raised.

An ideal Design notebook is a reflection of the entire design process. It is also a reflection of his/her hard work, knowledge, intuitions and approach.

Design process blends several activities wherein the designer researches from several disciplines of science.

A Design notebook depicts each and every thing from the spectrum of ‘ideation to delivery’ (!)

2. What to record?i. Ideationii. Sketchesiii. Concept doodlesiv. Decisions made and reasoning behind the decisionv. Calculationsvi. Experiments and Testingvii. Favourable and unfavourable outcomesviii. Things that have worked and that have not workedix. Problems and solutionsx. Unresolved issues xi. Costing xii. Assembly proceduresxiii. Feedbacksxiv. References and citationsxv. Everything and anything that is relevant!!

Images, pictures, external data should be glued / taped permanently to form an integral part of the notebook.

3. Dos and Don’ts i. Treat the notebook with respect. Treat it as a valuable record for future reference.ii. Record the data in permanent ink.iii. Be neat, legible and extremely comprehensive.

iv. Have lot of sketches, doodles that elaborate the concepts clearly.v. Number and Index the notebook. Every entry should be dated.vi. Record all data in primary form. More polished data can go into technical reports.vii. A designer notebook is not a place for administrative notes. It is more specific to the project / product.viii. Do not tear any page. Just cross the entry.ix. Review regularly.

4. Samples

5. Archiving For a small design project, one notebook may suffice. But a long project may run in volumes of notebooks. Design notebooks should be archived carefully in design office for future reference.

“It is said that a good design notebook is one from which, several years after the project is completed, the project can be reconstructed.” -Engineering Design by George Dieter

6. ExtensionThough this article is more to do with a design notebook, the concept in generic can be extended to almost any field that involves creativity and innovation. That involves generation of new ideas!

Pages from Adittya’s notebook.

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In automotive vehicles - passenger cars & motorcycles most of the sheet metal parts are not seen from outside and essentially are of structural category.

These are typically painted white & hence the name Body in White, which forms the overall welded structure of the vehicle. In these parts, precision is of critical importance because these parts are welded together and they form a shell structure which has to meet stringent design criteria of strength, ability to withstand impact, force, etc. As opposed to the above relatively, a fewer number of parts are seen from outside where aesthetic requirement of form, shape and finish are more important than structural characteristics.

Until a few years back when Godrej Tooling Division became an independent business, it was engaged in

designing press tools for products of G&B such as Locks, Furniture, Typewriter, Refrigerator, Storage Systems, etc. The Press Dies were designed to be fabricated from Steel Plates. GTD used to manufacture different types of Dies like Compound / Combination, Flexi-Punching, Bending, Multi-stage Transfer and Progressive dies depending on the complexity of the job and the production requirements. The last 15 years there has been major shift in the types of tools and dies that we design and build. Today, more than 90% of the dies made are for automotive BIW parts and instead of plates, castings are used.

Designing press tools at Godrej Tooling

Designing of Press Tooling which help enhance the competitiveness of the users typically require deployment of both art and science of working on sheet metal.

By Vinay Gandhi, Design, Godrej Tooling

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Press Tool Part Category

Fuel

Tan

ksB

-Pan

elA

-Pan

el

Fender

B-P

anel

Dash Floor FrontRear Floor Rear Floor

Today, Godrej Tooling manufactures dies which are primarily for A and B categories of automotive stamping and dies for fuel tanks of motorcycles and passenger cars.

To get across the challenges in building today’s press dies, allow me to take an example of dies for fuel tanks of motorcycle.

Fuel Tank in motorcycle is somewhat a peculiar assembly. Though primarily, it is meant for storing fuel, it has to be aesthetically attractive because it kind of dominates the looks of a motorcycle to an extent. Its shape and finish are crucial for projecting the well designed look of a motorcycle.

In 2005, Honda Motorcycles India Limited approached us to design & build dies for their motorcycle fuel tank. Body in white.

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Fuel tank is made up of 2 major parts-Fuel Tank Outer and Fuel Tank Inner. Fuel Tank Outer LH is welded with RH by butt welding process, the matching edge which is known as zero B line, the tolerances are critical & required within +0.2mm throughout the length of welding. Also the form accuracies for matching surfaces of outer & inner are critical, since welding is done using robot.

The readers need to know that any sheet metal needs to be processed thru multiple tools before it takes its final shape. The same is represented as method plan or process layout.

Given above is the schematic representation of process layout and the same is represented on method plan in engineer’s language i.e. drawing.

Today, the styling requirements lead to complex shapes of fuel tanks, creating demanding challenges for manufacturing engineers.

Besides, customers set steep targets for material yield and thinning of sheet-metal. As a result, simulations or virtual try outs become essential for determining the manufacturing feasibility.

Simulation helps us identify and resolve product feasibility related issues upfront at design stage, prior to actual manufacturing- a cost-saving step in the process. Simulation is an important step for tool design validation. It also helps us reduce trial & proving time during tool assembly & tryout stage.

We have been using Hyper Form software for many years now to carry out forming simulations.

The next step...

The next step is to build 3D tool design & create manufacturing drawings.

We use Multi CAD platform in our design office and have been using Pro Engineer for designing dies for Fuel Tank dies. With the experience of making fuel tank dies over the years, we have refined our design based on learning of each project and designed templates which helps us to build 3D design & 2D drawings in shorter time. It has also helped us to shorten the learning curve for young designers, who can be easily trained to design these dies using the design by edit approach.

Following example shows the complete set of dies required for a set of fuel tank.

As of today, fuel tank dies for 6 out of 8 models of Honda Motorcycles are built by Godrej Tooling. This clearly shows that Honda Motorcycle trusts our capabilities fully.

In 2005, Honda Motorcycles India Limited approached us to design & build dies for their motorcycle fuel tank.

Process flow

Fuel tank assembly section views Fuel tank assembly view

Fea Analysis

Fuel tank outer R/L

Draw Cam Trim + Trim + Pierce

Welding R/L Burring

Fea Analysis Draw Cam Trim + Trim + Pierce Burring

Fuel tank bottom

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Before I conclude, let me state the challenges encountered in building press dies for automotive stampings succinctly.

• Managingqualitywithrelativelyyoung&inexperienced team of Engineers & Die makers

• Customizingdesignstomeeteverchanging customers needs

• QualityMaturationofpartsatassemblystage

• Managingdeliveryleadtimewhichisshrinking day by day

• Managingquality&deliveryofsuppliers

I would like to say that at Godrej Tooling we have built an outstanding cross-functional team which has delivered highly satisfying experiences in building of dies for fuel tanks to our ever demanding customers by delivering Japanese Quality dies at non-Japanese prices.

Let me give a big shabash to the team.

Top (L-R): Soudagar Kodag, Kiran Gujalwar, Anil Kumar, Amit Nerkar, Prashanth Puttabakula, Sachin BhosleBottom (L-R): Samudra Rao, Chandrakant Panchal, Manoj Jamsutkar, Anil Shinde.

Cam Trim + Trim + Pierce Tool

Cam Trim + Trim + Pierce Tool

Draw Tool

Draw Tool

Checking Fixture

CheckingFixture

Welding Jig Burring Tool

Burring Tool

Fuel tank bottom

Fuel tank outer R/L

Complete set of tools and checking fixtures

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Designing and fabricating custom-built critical equipment conforming to a multitude of codes

and standards is a daunting task- superbly mastered over the years by the design team of our Process Equipment business.

Established in 1976, Godrej Process Equipment (GPE) manufactures custom-built critical process equipment for end-users in the refining, petrochemical, fertilizer, oil and gas, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and power industries.

Starting with the manufacturing of trays for disti l lation and fractionating columns, GPE rapidly evolved over the years in terms of its product portfolio. GPE began to design and manufacture a wide range of equipment such as columns, reactors, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, tower internals, skid-mounted assemblies and various types of custom built equipment. These equipment are supplied to customers around the world, and today more than 80% turn over comes from the sales abroad.

By V. P. Shenoy, Product Engineering, Godrej Process Equipment

GPE manufactures a wide range of equipment such as columns, reactors, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, tower internals and skid-mounted assemblies and more than 80% turn over comes from the sales abroad.

Challenges of Designing to International Codes

73

Currently, GPE designs equipment to various National and International Design Codes and Standards:• AmericanSocietyofMechanicalEngineers(ASME)Code

•AD2000(GermandesignCode)

•PD5500(BritishDesignCode)

•AS1210(AustralianStandardforpressurevessels)

•SELO(ChineseCode)

•EN13445(EuropeanDesignCode)

•RulesofDetNorskeVeritas(DNV)forPressureVessels

•DNVStandard2.7-1forOffshoreContainers

•TubularExchangersManufacturesAssociation(TEMA) Standards (USA)

•EuropeanPressureEquipmentDirective(CEmarking)

• IndianBoilerRegulations

• Indian and International Standards for Wind and Seismic designs

As the equipment portfolio grew, so did the challenges in designing these equipment. To speed up the design process, manual design calculations were replaced by in-house developed spreadsheet calculations. As the complexities of equipment grew and the design Codes evolved, it became necessary to replace the spreadsheets by several international pressure vessel design software. Similarly, manual drafting was replaced by AutoCAD 2-D and 3-D versions for drawings.

Challenges:The challenges involved in designing the complex pressure equipment are varied.

Design CodesThe Design Codes keep getting revised and evolved to incorporate new materials, enhanced properties of existing materials, changes in design formulae and design methods, improvements in non-destructive examinations, etc. There has been a complete rewrite of ASME Section

State-of-the-art Structural Lab to conduct Rack tests.

VIII, Division 2 Code to keep itself in line with European design Codes. The designer not only needs to have a thorough knowledge of the various international Codes, he/she also needs to keep himself/herself up-to-date with the frequent changes and incorporate these in the designs.

Local RegulationsThe challenges also include awareness of local regulations so that our designs can be registered in the customer countries. We have registered our design/equipment in USA (National Board), Canada (Canadian Registration Number), Australia (WorkSafe, Western Australia), Singapore (Ministry of Manpower), Chinese local regulations, etc.

Design SoftwareSimilarly, there is a necessity for the designer to have a good understanding of various international design software. The following is a list of software that GPE uses to solve design problems:

• PVElite(Intergraph,USA):DesignaccordingtoASME Section VIII, Division 1 and Division 2, PD 5500 and EN 13445

• Microprotol (Europe): Design according to German design Code AD 2000

• HTRI(USA):Thermaldesignofheatexchangers

• Ansys(USA):Finite-elementanalysis

• AutoDeskInventor&Pro-E(USA):3Dmodelling

Newer Designs from Technology PartnersAs and when GPE has tied up with technology partners, it has necessitated that the design engineers enhance design capabilities by learning and incorporating the requirements of these partners. Some of the competencies acquired are from Yuba, USA for the design of feedwater heaters for use in power plants; Breach-lock heat exchanger design and Helixchanger design from CB&I, Lummus and unique design requirements of Stamicarbon, The Netherlands.

State-of-the-art Structural Lab to conduct Rack tests.

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Finite-Element AnalysisFor the high-pressure/high-temperature pressure equipment with complex shapes, design formulas are not readily available in the design Codes and special analyses need to be performed. This has added to the challenge that the design engineer learns newer design techniques such as finite-element analysis (FEA). This requires 3D models of parts of the equipment or complete equipment to be made. Meshing of such 3D models are then carried out and used in the FEA calculations.

GPE uses Ansys software for the FEA. Such specialised designs are now part of GPE design capabilities, and are regularly used in solving complex design problems such as expansion bellows and tubesheet analysis for heat exchangers, nozzle local loads, hot box and Y-ring skirt support junction of high pressure reactors. The FEA method helps

GPE reduce the overall material cost and helps the customer in reducing the cost of equipment.

The designer also needs to study diverse and wide-ranging customer specifications and have a good familiarity with GPE’s shop practices. Finally, in this fluid scenario, a sound engineering judgment becomes the need of the hour.

OpportunitiesThese challenges, although they are demanding, also offer opportunities for GPE to be recognised as a world-class fabricator of pressure vessels.

GPE designed and fabricated 8 pressure vessels for a client from USA that were probably the first ever in the world to be used in the field of solid separation from oil and gas well effluent.

State-of-the-art Structural Lab to conduct Rack tests.

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Using such an opportunity GPE designed and fabricated 8 pressure vessels for a client from USA. The design was made according to ASME Section VIII, Division 3 for the first time ever in India by any pressure vessel fabricator. The very high design pressure of 1055 kg/cm² required us to carry out FEA including fracture mechanics. The equipment required ASME U3 quality stamp – the highest quality stamp under ASME Section VIII. The equipment that were fabricated were probably the first ever in the world to be used in the field of solid separation from oil and gas well effluent. Utilising such unique opportunities helps GPE stay a step ahead of the competition.

A recent FEA analysis for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited included a set of 4 sets of equipment, each set consisting of a reactor, upper hopper, lower hopper and interconnecting catalysts piping arrangement.

Complex analyses, such as the above, put GPE in a league of fabricators which are among the few in the world. This facilitates GPE to be a truly global player in the field of pressure vessel design and fabrication.

GPE has always been open to new initiatives and approaches in design techniques and has incorporated them in the designs. As the technology for pressure equipment design continues to advance, GPE will be ready to use such opportunities to meet and exceed customer requirements and satisfaction.

At GPE, Design is indeed a strategic capability which needs to be upgraded and refined continuously.

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Building on the essence of ‘Brighter Living’ and maintaining a close relationship with the Godrej

masterbrand, our brief was to create a single distinctive brand for Godrej Locks that would be capable of flexing across the entire Locks product portfolio.

Our journey began last year. The briefing was in-depth and informative, and provided us with an excellent platform on which to build the brand proposition and identity.

Research Findings:The research revealed that Godrej Locks was seen by customers as a provider of heavy, sturdy and safe locks – premium, but somewhat old-fashioned. Whereas key competitors were believed to be cutting-edge and high-tech, occupying a space straddling security systems and locks.

The research also showed that technology was hugely motivating for customers. But in spite of Godrej’s

When The Clearing was commissioned to review and develop the Godrej Locks brand last year, the opportunity to make a real difference in the category was clear.

strong heritage and trust within the locks category, it was not yet strongly associated with technology.

New opportunity identified:Against this backdrop, we identified a significant opportunity. The locks category was predominantly positioned around the functional end of the technology spectrum, focusing on the strength of the product and not on the customer end benefit (Ref. Image 1.1). If Godrej Locks could effectively communicate the breadth and

Changing locks for the better

In spite of Godrej’s strong heritage and trust within the locks category, it wasn’t yet strongly associated with technology.

TECHNOLOGY

QUALITY

STRENGTH (FUNCTIONAL)

PRACTICALITY

HERITAGE

FREEDOM

SELF-EXPRESSION

CONFIDENCE

REASSURANCE

SAFETY

TRUST

BRAND PROPOSITION

Andy Howell (left), Andrew Nye (middle) and Pete Dewar (right).

Table 1.1

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innovation within its product portfolio, and leverage its existing emotional heritage, it could appeal to customers on both a rational and emotional level, thereby occupying a clear space within the market.

A promise, delivered:At The Clearing we believe a brand is a promise, delivered. A promise that first needs to galvanise employees internally to give them conviction in their business, so that they can then connect effectively with customers externally by delivering the promise consistently.

Our strategy focused on developing a brand proposition which would fulfill this role for Godrej Locks. We articulated the proposition as ‘Technology that gives you strength’, using ‘strength’ to represent both function and emotion (Ref Image 1.2). In this way it neatly balanced the rational and

emotional drivers at play within the locks category, in a way that no competitors had so far achieved. For retail customers this proposition meant innovative home security solutions from India’s most trusted locks brand. And for commercial customers it represented total security solutions for their unique business challenges.

Consumers need states:We mapped the proposition against the core customer need states within the locks category, from control and reassurance through to confidence, freedom, and ultimately status (Ref. Image 1.3). These were then overlaid with the five levels of security identified by Godrej Locks. Anchoring the proposition in this way enabled us to communicate that Godrej Locks could meet the technological, security and emotional needs of every single customer, whether individual or institutional.

In addition, the five levels of security allowed us to show that contemporary design and engineering was a core quality of Godrej Locks – especially at the higher end of the spectrum - tapping into consumer trends as well as the vision of architects within the industry.

We articulated the proposition as ‘Technology that gives you strength’, using ‘strength’ to represent both function and emotion.

USING OUR PROPOSITION

Table 1.3

TECHNOLOGY THAT

GIVES YOU STRENGTH

B2BTOTAL SECURITY SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR

UNIQUE BUSINESS CHALLENGES

B2C VAINNO TIVE HOME SECURITY SOLUTIONS

FROM INDIA’S MOST TRUSTED

BRAND PROPOSITION

Table 1.2

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An innovative brand identity for an innovative business:

We designed the world of Godrej Locks to represent a bright, progressive, customer-centric organisation which builds on the trust and excellence already achieved in the market. From managing the complex security systems within an airport to protecting an individual’s most precious belongings, the brand identity had to stretch credibly to appeal to all.

Both visually and in messaging we were conscious of the heritage and trust Godrej Locks already had established in the market. We felt it was important to maintain and build on that while refocusing the emphasis on the brand’s technical expertise and also the benefit to consumers.

We therefore created a ‘quality seal’ to use across communications - ‘All 5 levels of security, est. 1897’ - that reinforced the heritage and ownership of the locks category and related this to new technology (Ref. Image 1.4). With

clear and consistent messaging designed to promote the dual aspects of Godrej Locks’ capability, we developed a plan for building credibility in technology.

New Visual language:The visual language we developed uses strong geometric forms in varying degrees of fluidity, designed to flex communications to the different needs of customers. For instance, regular structured forms are used to communicate control and reassurance for the lower levels of security, while the free flowing and dynamic forms communicate freedom and confidence associated with the higher levels of security (Ref. Image 1.5).

Given technology was so motivating for customers, we also introduced a graphic language which draws visual codes from technical drawings to add emphasis to the business’s technical prowess.

We also defined compelling language as a core pillar of the brand. Reflecting the duality of the brand proposition - blending the rational with the emotional - the language of Godrej Locks is both strong and precise, but also accessible and straightforward. This distinctive linguistic approach complemented the distinctive, modern and technical feel of the visual expression of the brand.

Our creative solution targeted customers at all points of contact, including point of sale, through retailers and carpenters, about the breadth of our range. Focusing on the five levels of security we aimed to show customers that we could meet their needs. And over time shift perceptions of our brand.

Image 1.4: Our quality seal

Image 1.5

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CHANGE asked Mr. Shyam Motwani, Executive Vice President & Business Head – Godrej Locks to give his views on the uniqueness of the new identity for Godrej Locks and how it would help position the business appropriately. Here are his views:

Our business is built on three core elements, 1. Superior technology comprising of 5 levels of security that enable us to meet the technical and security needs of every single customer. 2. Contemporary design and Engineering which comes with over 100 years of engineering experience coupled with an unparalleled understanding of the Indian market.3. Proactive customer service support at every point of the customer’s experience, from sales to installation.

Our brand proposition, “technology that gives you strength”, captures the fine balance between functional and emotional benefits inherent in Godrej Locks. Our brand proposition is created to flex across the entire product portfolio so that it could be adapted to deliver specific messages to specific customers defining what strength means to customer to each level of security. It is also supported by the tone of voice,

logo presence, product name, illuminating thought in the copy and illustration with right photography.

To be distinctly different and position our business separately this newly created

Shyam Motwani

Promising results:The changes to the Godrej Locks brand have been embraced and are already proving very popular (Ref. Image 1.6). Feedback from business partners and

associates has been that the new brand has made a distinct mark in the category - and one with which the team at Godrej Locks can grow in future.

brand identity is continually backed by earlier adoption of advanced engineering equipment, new & innovative technology and internationally accredited management systems and processes.

Image 1.6

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DY Works shares with the readers of CHANGE how they went about creating a new brand identity.

B2B products and services are often generic, with little differentiation. The customer only evaluates

price, terms and technical specs – and brands can do little to differentiate themselves. Right?

Wrong!

Godrej Material Handling (GMH) is the pioneer in the category, setting new standards in sales and service. Godrej Material Handling leads the category by offering maintenance contract and preventive health audits and ensures there is maximum uptime. The key benefits offered by the GMH were:

•Customisedforkliftstomeettheexactexpectationsof the buyer to ensure working solutions every time

•A certified training service for fork lift drivers toensure that they adhere to required standards and handle them properly

•Strongservicebackupwithwarrantyandpromptresponse time

•Sufficient spare parts availability in an industrywhere importers do not bother about service after selling the forklift

Today the category of Forklift is seeing intense competition in the market with many price warriors and cheap imports flooding the market. The task posed to DY works was to create a visual design language for the GMH that captured customer insights and the inherent strengths of the business to create a compelling position in the market.

In decoding the category, and identifying customer insights – the team discovered that this was a category that got submerged in the supply chain. Thoroughly researched on price and technical specifications at the outset, it was another cog in the wheel in the supply chain subsequently.

It was only when a breakdown occurred that the importance of the fork lift was felt. Any down time

From L to R- Ashish Kapoor- Sr. Marketing Manager, Snehasis Bose- Sr .Vice President-Strategy, Alpana Parida- President & Prashant Shingade- Associate Creative Director.

Godrej material handling - perpetually in motion

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The possibilities were multifarious for the conceptual direction

Power steeringSafe

Auto Transmission

Versatile

Workhorses

Tough

Dependability

Flexibility

Spare Parts

Indigenous

Buy Back16 Branches

Lifeline

Service backup

Uptime

Warranty

Preventive Checks

AMCSpeed

Consultants

Customisation Increase throughput

Control costs

Maximise productivity

Productivity

Specialist

BenchmarkLow Energy

Efficiency

Insurance

EducationTrusted

Expansion

Operator Comfort

Thus, the conceptual direction for GMH chosen was that the business delivers beyond the functional and economic ‘rational’ benefits through emotional benefits aimed at creating brand loyalty and strong competitive advantage whilst commanding price premiums.

The proposition that was carved out was in sync with the promise of Brighter Living of the Masterbrand and took into account the emotional connection that was built with GMH customers due to unfailing and high levels of dedication to ensuring uptime for their customers through preventive and curative actions.

The proposition was as follows:

meant enormous backlogs and losses. The need of the customer was to get uptime ‘continually’. Forklifts are the lifelines of many companies and there is a need in the industry to have them backed up 24 x 7.

When customers of GMH were contacted by the DY Works team, they said ‘It is my lifeline. I cannot

move without it’ and ‘It directly affects logistics and the commitments made to our customer’.

While the business could make many strong rational claims about features and specifications, in a rapidly evolving industry; today’s claims would become passé’ tomorrow. There are new players entering the market who are ahead on the technology curve.

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Perpetual motion is best expressed by the infinity ribbon which illustrates the endless and unbounded nature. The never ending aspect of the expression also signifies core promise of our brand- A promise of uptime. All the time.

The fluid, soft, free-flowing visual metaphor forms an infinity symbol that is not in loop, but is open

to new possibilities, new opportunities and new expression of the brand.

Visual expression of Godrej Material Handling beautifully interacts with people/product and becomes part of the environment. It acts as a narrator, to help understand the context. It glorifies the subject giving strong platform to it.

The concept of perpetual motion was key in conveying the brand promise. To make the brand’s promise memorable, the visual design language had to play the task of communicating this thought through graphics and by creating visual assets, which make the brand recognisable. DY Works developed the visual vocabulary of the brand making it stand out in the crowded category and communicating the message of “perpetual motion.”

The visual element then combined to create an ‘infinity loop’ to signify the brand promise. The loop came directly from the world of forklifts.

The basic unit of expression borrowed from the Godrej Masterbrand language and crafted a unit signifying the uplifting motion of the forklift.

The visual expression carries the elements of forklift and stock units, which are akin to the industry and are easily identifiable.

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The illustration style for GMH reflects the confidence and promise of our business brand positioning. It is flexible enough to help us communicate our message in different ways. A comprehensive visual vocabulary was developed.

We at DY Works are confident that this new comprehensive visual identity program would help GMH create and occupy a unique and strong position in the overcrowded market.

The Applications:

CHANGE asked Hoshung Khumbatta, V. P. & Business Head, GMH to give his views on the uniqueness of the new identity for GMH and how it would help position the business appropriately. Here are his views:

Over the last decade, GMH has completely transformed its business model driving toward making it a total material handling solutions provider rather than offering just a large

basket of products. Competencies were enhanced and a new organisation structure was evolved to meet the emerging needs of a dynamic market.

Today, customers see us as a strong and serious player, one they can count on to deliver on their expectations.The core strengths of GMH brand are: 1. Continuous evolution of indigenous technologies, products and services that offer appropriate and advanced solutions to customers2. Growing the sales and service network across India ensuring that our support is always close at hand3. Delivering proactive aftermarket customer support in a variety of ways that ensures maximum uptime of our customers’ equipment4. Strong emphasis on training our customers and channel partners to improve safety and maintenance standards

I believe GMH’s core strengths and customer insights are very well captured in the brand thought of “Godrej Material Handling stays in perpetual motion to ensure maximum uptime for customers”.

We are confident that this new business brand positioning will help us garner greater market share and profits in the years ahead.

Hoshung Khumbatta

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Enduring designs create a long-lasting value generating revenue streams. To protect these value streams and benefit from it, the mechanism of IPR must be diligently exploited. By T. S. Murali, Godrej Locks

National Design Policy was approved by the Union Cabinet on 8th of February 2007, recognising the

Strategic Importance of Design for national and industrial competitiveness and value additions through innovation in design. The vision behind this policy is to have a Design enabled Indian industry, which could impact economy and quality of life in a positive way.

However, the question arises that how does a company protects its intellectual property created through innovative designs?

We collectively, possess a huge, diverse design portfolio and create a substantial amount of Intellectual Property; protecting it well within the legal framework has always been an important consideration that we have been paying attention to.

Generally, experience has shown that Intellectual Property is relatively easy to create but a challenging task to protect from infringement.

Today, organisations operate as Technology developers, Leading Technology users or Technology followers. Whilst technology developers profit considerably from obtaining patent inventions, leading technology users identify leading technologies and negotiate licensing agreement with patent holders. The group of technology followers have a lot to gain from IPR such as Industrial Designs & Trade Marks, Copyrights as a means to

differentiate their products and market their goods and services at a profit. In all cases good knowledge of IP enables one to decide which elements of the IP system to use to derive benefits.

Why should we take in to account intellectual property and in what ways may we benefit from using the IP system?Innovative features, form and function of the product, packaging & branding of the design are often contributed by our own insights (employees, consultants, business partners and others). IPR allows the company to perfect its creation and prevent others using the design without consent. In Godrej, since the first patent was granted in 1909 for the spring less lock, it was followed with a series of product patents and registered Designs & Trade Marks across different product categories of locks, storwels, safes, fitting, soaps, etc.

To highlight this important dimension I would like to share our experience at Godrej Locks.

Over the years as we experienced loss of share when the market players resorted to piracy and counterfeiting; the alarm bells rang, for sure. Since 1990 we have revitalised and instituted a process to ensure that all our

IPR allows the company to perfect its creation and prevent others using the design without consent.

Design and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

85

(Interestingly our designers in the progression of the design had inadvertently left some design features, which were redundant, but remained in the final design.) Additionally this was proved by virtue of our series of development prototypes.

Another company during the same period used our Trade Mark for its similar product. They however withdrew the same and changed their branding as soon as notice was served to them.

The above example more than explains the merits in using IPR effectively. In fact every small innovative creation can protect one for the future, at times beyond one’s imagination.

IP as a key business asset:The most important reason for devoting time and money to IP is that it will convert ideas and creations and such intangible assets in to valuable business assets that may contribute significantly to enhancing company’s overall position in the market.

A basic IP management strategy would entail a policy on IP acquisition, exploitation, monitoring and enforcement.

Whilst it is crucial to fight IP matters to mitigate losses owing to existence of counterfeited goods in the market, there could be severe limitations in terms of high litigation costs and management time.

In closing, I would say that one should follow a well-conceived process to protect its Intellectual Property Rights. One should remain vigilant in the marketplace and if infringements come to light, then adequate resources should be committed to defend and reclaim the lawful Intellectual Property Rights.

Every small innovative creation can protect one for the future, at times beyond one’s imagination.

innovative products and designs are patent protected and Design registered to enable us have a stronger position at the market place.

Even all our branding of the new products are protected by Trade Marks and some of the visual communication creations too are protected by Copyright. As of date Locks division, (since 1990) has applied for 53 patents of which 32 have been granted, applied for 184 Design registrations of which 164 have been granted. We also have valid registration of 177 items under Trade Marks Protection.

IP in practice: To illustrate the above point let us look at a practical example. We developed a new door lock in 1997, which was in many ways superior to competing products existing in the market. It went through a number of iterations over a period of 3-4 years during which several designs emanated and we made several improved working prototypes progressively. This product was characterised by a variety of new functional features, had its own distinctive design and sub brand. To market the same we created several creative identities.

We protected the functional features through patents, the new designs with Design registrations and a bunch of Trade Marks. Since all industrial drawings by virtue of the copyright law gain automatic rights, all our drawings were vested with copyright automatically on the day of its creation. The product was introduced in the year 2,000 in the market with a modest volume of 500pcs per month. Gradually volumes picked up and even more variants were developed to serve different customer needs & volumes touched around 7,000pcs per month. Our IPR efforts continued to protect the variants as well.

In the year 2005, we were horrified to see an identical product, being sold in the market with deceptively similar name and packaging.

We swung into action and took hold of the product, tore it down and compared it with our product. The analysis showed very clear infringement of our designs, patents, Copyrights and Trade Marks. Painstakingly with the guidance of our legal team and Attorneys we gathered all the facts, evidences and filed a suit against the offending company.

The court ruled an ex-parte injunction and has stopped the company from manufacturing the product or marketing it. What was observed by the court is slavish imitation; that is the offending company blindly copied all our features, some of which were redundant.

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Remembering Dashrath Patel (1927-2010) - A pioneer of teaching design in India

Dashrath Patel, India’s first multi-disciplinary artist who reinterpreted design as a blueprint of resistance and sustainable development.

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Born in Nadiad, Gujrat; Dashrath Patel (DP) even at a young age of ten was a rebel- he preferred to

draw than to be formally schooled. Thus began a quest to express himself through means as diverse as tones, tactile shapes, kinetic lines, the velocity of air and nature’s secrets of transformation and what not.

Then what followed was a never ending process of “learning without pause”. In his 20s, he went to Paris to learn all about Arts including painting and then later he learnt to play with ceramics under Czech master ceramist Prof. Eckert. Likewise he worked closely with great souls such as Buckminster Fuller, Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, Frei Otto, John Cage and Chandralekha to fuel his hunger of capturing many dimensions of time, space, sound and energy. DP had a great desire to try out new things before returning to first principles with new insights.

As a founder member of India’s premier design school, National Institute of Design (NID), he almost single handedly laid the foundation of Indian design practice and education. Training an entire generation of designers and teachers to imbibe a design ethic grounded in self-reliance, so essential for a heavily challenged and growing country. He designed India’s first training programme at NID in visual communications and then followed it up with courses in product, ceramic and exhibition designs. His remarkable contributions to design is now very much a part of the history of design in India.

In 1981, almost 2 decades later, Dashrath quit NID to take a new look at India’s socio-economic realities. Dashrath then started a rural design school in Sewapuri, near Varanasi, adding a vital dimension design to rural development projects which were based on Gandhian beliefs. For nearly a decade, he trained children of artisans to develop products for rural markets based on needs and principles of sustainability. He also helped develop a process for low-cost screen printing for printing posters to help promote the causes of various women’s groups.

He undertook a very challenging task of photo documentation of India’s diverse crafts traditions. He handled the task of constructing an image of India through ‘Festivals of India’ held abroad including those held at Paris, Moscow and New York.

His trajectory of engagement was huge and he is rightly acknowledged as India’s first multi-disciplinary artist and a teacher with a rare urge to explore the unending visual possibilities inherent in an Indian milieu, cultural rootedness and a deep sense of enquiry.

He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2011 and Padma Shri in 1980 by the Government of India for his contribution in design and design education.

As a great teacher and as a gifted artist he will always be missed by his students and the art fraternity.

Dashrath Patel’s design ethic is grounded in self-reliance, so essential for a heavily challenged and growing country.

He is rightly acknowledged as India’s first multi-disciplinary artist and a teacher with the rare urge to explore the unending visual possibilities inherent in an Indian milieu.

Dashrath Patel’s painting at his museum in Alibaug.

Dashrath Patel museum at Alibaug.

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Designing the way forward for business history: Contribution of Dr. Dwijendra TripathiBy Vrunda Pathare, Godrej Archives

of business history. In midst of these adversities, business history made its beginning in India in 1960s. The man who designed the way forward for business history was Dr. Dwijendra Tripathi, who joined IIM, Ahmedabad as an assistant professor of business history in mid-1960s.

In early 1960s, business education laid its foundation in India. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad that was established in 1961 had initial collaboration with Harvard Business School. This collaboration greatly influenced the institute’s approach to education and the institute followed Harvard tradition of the case study approach that necessitated management students to probe into past business dealings to understand the evolution of business operations and strategies. A new course in the subject of Business History was introduced in the post-graduate curriculum under the able guidance of Dr. Dwijendra Tripathi.

The inclusion of business history in the postgraduate course at IIM-A in a way provided the necessary impetus to the growth of the discipline as the need was felt to study the character of Indian business historically. There are very few scholars who can legitimately say that they founded a discipline and Dr. Dwijendra Tripathi is certainly one of them. He played a pioneering role in establishing Business history as a distinct area of research in India.

Educated at Allahabad, Dr. Tripathi did his doctoral research on ‘The United States and India: Economic

Dr. Dwijendra Tripathi

The man who designed the way forward for business history was Dr. Dwijendra Tripathi

The task (of writing business history) be better left to the businessmen themselves,’ remarked one historian at

the Indian History Congress in 1965. Till 1960s, exploring the business past was ‘somewhat beyond the historian’s legitimate function’. Business history wasn’t developed as a separate area of research then and historians seldom chose to delve into the business past. Non-availability of business records in absence of carefully preserved business archives was also another factor that restricted scholars to explore the field

‘

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Links 1860-1900’ at the University of Wisconsin in 1963. After completing a diploma in International Teachers’ Programme specialising in Business Administration history from Harvard University in 1965, he returned to India to take up a position of Assistant Professor at newly established IIM-A where he later became the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Professor of Business history. Before his arrival on the scene, business history was still under the shadow of economic history. The literature available on the subject focused mostly on pre-British economic history with only peripheral references to business. The other literature mostly consists of biographies, memoirs of prominent businessmen and souvenir volumes of companies. These works written in most cases by either businessmen themselves or authors commissioned by the company or a firm were highly celebratory and hagiographic in nature.

In his early seminal article ‘Indian Entrepreneurship in Historical Perspective: A Re-interpretation’ published in the Economic and Political Weekly in 1971, Dr. Tripathi called for ‘a new line of enquiry’ to understand Indian entrepreneurship, writes Dr. Medha Kudaisya in her Anthology of Indian Business. He emphasised the need to look at varied forces that ‘may consist of an interaction of the ever-changing economic, political, and social environments on one hand and personal influences of caste, family affiliation, nature and level of education, contact with and impact of the activities of others on individual decision-makers on the other’ for better understanding of Indian entrepreneurship. He firmly believed that scholars should examine the Indian context rather than to simply apply Alfred Chandler’s approach to business history. This was to shape a future of research in business history.

His starting the IIM-A Seminar Series on Business History in 1980s proved as an important landmark in journey of business history in India. Four seminars held between 1982 and 1989 stimulated discussions on variety of themes exploring evolution of business communities, socio-cultural aspects of business behaviour, influences of macro situations on business practices at micro level, relationship between the state and the business etc. This seminar series opened up new areas of research for business historians and Indian scholars.

Apart from his scholarly pursuits that put the business history on firm footing in India, his major contribution

came in form of encouraging businessmen and business houses to preserve their records. His constant efforts in this direction led to a passage of a resolution in 58th Session of Indian Historical Records Commission (Resolution VI) stating all necessary steps should be taken to identify and list Business Houses that may be willing to make their records available for research and/or that require help in the matter of cataloguing and preserving their holdings so that these holdings are easily accessible by researchers. Though it took many years for businesses to realise his vision, today many corporate houses including Godrej are now committed to the preservation of business archives that will facilitate further probing into Indian business history.

[Image: Cover Page of Dr. Tripathi’s book ‘Oxford History of Indian Business with a caption about the book: Published in the year 2004, ‘The Oxford history of Indian Business’ authored by Dr. Dwijendra Tripathi is considered to be the first authoritative history of Indian business in the modern period that charts the course of the transition of business from mercantile capitalism to industrial capitalism.]

Published in the year 2004, ‘The Oxford history of Indian Business’ authored by Dr. Dwijendra Tripathi is considered to be the first authoritative history of Indian business in the modern period that charts the course of the transition of business from mercantile capitalism to industrial capitalism.

Starting the IIM-A Seminar Series on Business History in 1980s proved as an important landmark in journey of business history in India.

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2. Godrej Night latch: Fearless front of built-in securityFew years ago, Godrej Locks received from a customer a mail about the night latch that his father purchased some fifty years back. He wrote: “It is a matter of satisfaction for us that in the last fifty years this night latch has worked without any problem or technical maintenance whatsoever.” Yet another recognition to the superior quality products of Godrej! The brass night latch with its ‘dead-locking’* mechanism was a huge hit instantly. Further, the Night Latch incorporated another safety device-the Safety Catch - that secured the latch-bolt independently of the lock and prevented it from opening from the outside even with the original key.

Result of continuous research, this night latch presented a ‘fearless front of built-in security’. Installing a padlock is a temptation to burglars as it indicates that there is no one at home. Godrej, therefore, decided to provide a more secure protection and came up with a night latch that provided doors with a more deceptive front. Made from high-quality die-cast alloy, it was a surer safeguard than a padlock on the door.

* WHAT IS DEAD-LOCKING?As soon as the door is closed, a special mechanism blocks the latch-bolt-dead-locks it-so that it cannot be pushed in.

3. StorwelCertain brand names become synonymous for the product and Storwel is definitely one of them. When people in India refer to a steel cupboard they will just say Storwel. Godrej

By Vrunda Pathare, Godrej Archives

1. Nav-talEven amidst today’s high tech locking devices, only a sturdy lock on the door gives most Indians a sense of security. Godrej locks for centuries, have been guarding Indian homes and are synonymous with trust, protection and integrity. Since its introduction in 1954, Nav-tal became the most popular brand amongst them and even today it symbolises security for most Indian homes. So popular were these locks that they gave rise to a parallel spurious industry, which flooded the market with an inferior imitation. But the original could not be matched. The precision lever mechanism made Nav-tal unpickable and sturdy machine clinched brass body without rivets added to its constructional strength. Over these years, innovations continued and as the technology advanced newer improvised models of Nav-tal were introduced. Nav-tal family of locks continues to provide enduring security to millions of households.

Nav-tal

Iconic products of Godrej and Boyce

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introduced steel cupboards in the year 1923 when wood and teak was in vogue. Storwel brand of cupboards was introduced in the decade following the independence. It reflected the swift progress and change which industrial progress ushered into homes, offices and factories. Godrej became a household word and Storwel, a prized possession. Godrej Storwel is the first dual-purpose steel cupboard for home and office. Besides the elegant look, its splendid features such as mechanised multiple bends, interlocking & welding and its unique three way bolting device, originally patented by Godrej, made them safe and reliable. Storwel was built to last, which is one of Godrej’s guiding philosophies for all its products. Godrej Almirahs are now available in more splashier shades and niftier locks. But Storwel continues to be a timeless icon of a father’s love for his daughter and it made the perfect wedding present that says, ‘Keep my love safe.’

4. CH6 and CH7Comfortable. Durable. Economical. These three qualities defined CH6 and CH7.

These Godrej chairs were the result of continuous innovation that brought out a shift from aesthetics towards efficiency and comfort. Godrej Classic chairs as they were known altered the ambience of workplaces. They were widely used at waiting rooms, reception areas and meeting halls. These sturdy looking chairs were especially designed for demanding working conditions. Hence the seat and back were seamlessly moulded with wood and steel. Even the spring effect of the Cantilever further enhanced comfort. Behind all this was provided a robust tubular framework that made these chairs durable.

Apart from their sensible design the chairs were unique as they engaged women of the residential colonies in

the manufacturing process. Alooben Mowdawalla, the welfare officer at Pragati Kendra, particularly remembers Halima Ansari, wife of Mohammed Shami Ansari who was working at mechanical department (Forklift) in Plant 1. After Mohammed passed away, Alooben and others at Pragati Kendra were worried about Halima as to how she alone would manage to bring up a large family of her six kids. But Halima was a bold industrious lady and she supported her big family by doing various types of work given from Kendra and obtained from different plants which also included fitting plastic cane on Godrej chairs. Thus these chairs not only were the product of innovative genius but also of the labour of several such human hands that contributed to its success story.

5. “Yeh toh aapro ‘PUF’ man”Until PUF was introduced in 1987, refrigerators used glass wool insulation. The new PUF with its polyurethane foam insulation cooled better, saved money and space. This unique feature made the refrigerators super strong, extra hygienic and preserved food better. PUF was available in a range of colours unlike its predecessors. This proved to be an additional advantage besides its superior technical features. Because of its superior insulation properties it was a superman in icy realms and hence the silver clad, goggled superman like the figure of PUF/ mascot. PUF man, like any super hero, really did the magic trick for Godrej and market changed dramatically in favour of Godrej. It wasn’t just the technical genius but also the sales acumen of Godrej men that made PUF a huge success.

Features such as mechanized multiple bends, interlocking & welding and its unique three way bolting device made Storwels safe and reliable.

CH7 Chair

Godrej Storwel

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out of throw-away materials. I have carried on the legacy and have been using my originality in creating instruments and converting recyclable indigenous materials into practical teaching-learning aids.

At Udayachal Pre-Primary School I give instruments to the children so that they develop a sense of rhythm and enjoy music. Since the instruments are simple and hand made, even if they break while the children play them, there is no cause for worry. The instruments can

Design for Rhythm and RhymeBy Tanuja B. Kantak Udayachal Pre-Primary School

In the domain of creativity, in the realm of originality, innovation occupies an important place. It is a novel

idea that brings about a change in making a product. When any innovation is inspired by a design, it not only enhances the utility of an object but also makes it unique.

Udayachal School has always integrated design and innovation in its functioning. Mrs. Cooverbai Vakil, known as ‘aunty’ and our former Principal Ms. Choksey were pioneers in bringing about innovation in the use of seemingly wasteful material. They encouraged teachers to use their own creativity in giving new life to material which would otherwise be resigned to the bin. Mrs. Madhuri Nayak our former Pre-Primary music teacher used her immense creative talents in making instruments

“The World is but a canvas to the imagination.” - Henry David Thoreau

Giraffe Action

Fish Action

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easily be replaced thereby creating an opportunity for me to exercise my thinking for yet another innovation. Each instrument is associated with a particular song or tune. This helps the children to recognise the song immediately when the instrument is played. So even in the absence of the music teacher, the children and the class teachers can use the materials effectively.

Once a week at Udayachal Pre-Primary School, instruments are given to the children and they form a small band. Children love to be a part of the band, playing instruments and singing in rhythm which in unison is a joyful experience indeed. Another novel way to enhance the sense of rhythm in children is by giving them everyday kitchen utensils like steel plates, bowls, glasses, spoons, etc. to create ‘music’. This unique kitchen band is a favourite with the children. Just bowls filled with water can form a simple jal tarang and children recognise musical notes of different pitches.

Every instrument itself is created in such a way that it mimics the original design of the product. e.g., colourful bottle tops are strung together to form a rattle. A used bulb is wrapped with layers of paper and paste, after the outer cover hardens, the glass inside is broken. This converts it into a rattle. Coconut shells, wooden blocks, when hit together make a galloping sound. Bottle tops on a ring give the sound of a tambourine. Children from the secondary section of Udayachal School have used their carpentry skills in making handles for these instruments.

Creativity is an endless stream, a process with a constant inflow of ideas. It is the icing on the cake of design and innovation. Through continuous cycles of innumerable innovations I have kept my creative juices fresh and ready to flow.

Another novel way to enhance the sense of rhythm in children is by giving them everyday kitchen utensils like steel plates, bowls and spoons to create ‘music’.

“The design process at its best integrates the aspirations of art, science and culture.”

- Jeff Smith

Rattle

Rabbit

Jumping or rollingWooden Blocks for Duck Action

Rattle

Ant

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All green Ganesha.

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mandi. There were potatoes, tomatoes, chillies, onions, peas, lady’s fingers and many more vegetables strewn all around in the classroom. Children were skilfully carving the different vegetables and joining them with toothpicks. To see them sharing their vegetables with each other, without worrying whose idol would be the best was a treat to my eyes. And the outcome was truly amazing. Exquisite idols, each having a different expression adorned my classroom. Little pot-bellied elephant Gods, all in one room smiling and showering their blessings on the little Michelangelos of my class and even on our beautiful school.

Immersion was in the form of putting these idols in a pit made in our school garden, thereby getting them transformed into manure.

Our little wonders also made beautiful clay idols in the ceramic room and took them home to worship.

We hope our efforts go a long way to promote celebrating festivals in a more eco-friendly manner and realising that we only have one earth to live on.

By Namita S. Ambasht, Udayachal Primary School

Taking care of Mother Nature is the foremost responsibility of all humans. The teachers of

Udayachal Schools try their best to inculcate this value among their students through different activities and programmes. The students too participate zealously with vigour and determination.

As we all know, one of the most auspicious festivals, celebrated with great religious and social fervour in Maharashtra is Ganesh Chaturthi. During this festival, the streets bustle with devotees and Ganpati idols. With the concept of eco-friendly Ganeshas catching up in the city, even we thought of doing things differently. The idea of making Ganpati idols with vegetables suddenly cropped up in my mind. In the beginning, I was a bit apprehensive about it, as children would be using knives and peelers. But when I shared this idea with my class, my students were quite excited and they promised to be extra cautious. The next day before beginning, we just prayed to Lord Ganesha, the Lord of Beginnings, Wisdom, Prosperity and Good Fortune and children began their work. The classroom looked like a bhaji

Terracota, non-polluting Ganpatis.

Young Minds.Creative Minds.

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Dassera-Diwali Celebration at Godrej & BoyceBy Team Interio

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Dassera-Diwali celebration was held at Pirojshanagar on Monday, October 17, 2011 and it was organised

by the organising committee under the Chairmanship of Mr. Anil Lingayat, Executive Vice President, Product Supply, Godrej Interio. The function was themed around ‘Unity’.

The evening was graced by Mr. Jamshyd Godrej, Ms. Phiroza Godrej, Mr. Adi Godrej, Mr. Rishad Naoroji, Mr. Nadir Godrej, Mr. Vijay Crishna and Ms. Smita Godrej Crishna.

The programme started with a welcome song by the students of Udayachal Primary School. Mr. Anil Lingayat welcomed the Godrej Family & wished all a happy and safe Diwali. He spoke on India’s unity in diversity which has made it a powerful and respectable nation in the world. After the inaugural speech, an engrossing play was enacted by our employees with a message of ‘Power in Unity’. The Godrej Family presented awards to the business units & employees for outstanding work in their fields.

Mr. Pramod Natekar (Vice Chairman – Central works committee) addressed the function with the message “Our happiness lies in the happiness of our customers.”

This was followed by Mr. Shyam Sundar Gawde (President – GBSS) who spoke on living in the present

as well as on the importance of bringing change with present time and conditions.

Mr. Anil G. Verma, Executive Director, Personnel & Administration addressed the gathering and urged the audience to adopt a customer centric approach as it is the “Customer - The ultimate God”, who would bring success and happiness to every stakeholder.

Mr. Adi Godrej expressed his happiness that our company over the past few years has steadily spread its arms globally, and that Godrej will strategically continue working towards going global. He further stressed upon the need for management and workmen to work

together in unison which is the need of the hour, and which would boost progress.

Mr. Jamshyd Godrej gave the message of bringing in strong focus on quality and new product development, which will help us not only to retain our position in the ever changing market scenario, but also to grow. He further spoke on the importance to maintain focus on safety which is very critical for our company.

The evening concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr. Rajendra Bariya, followed by National Anthem.

Name Category Dept. Award

Shri Ramesh Umaji Pawar Technical Associate Washer Assembly, Appliance - ShirwalVishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar for the performance year 2009

Shri Ganesh Mahadev Bobade Hourly Rated Workman Washer Assembly, Appliance - ShirwalVishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar for the performance year 2009

Shri Somnath Waman Sutar Technical Associate Washer Assembly, Appliance - ShirwalVishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar for the performance year 2009

Mr. Keshao Ingle Workmen Godrej Precision SystemsPrime Minister’s Shram Vir Award 2009

Mr. Keshao Ingle, Kamlesh Naik & Ankit Parikh

Workmen Godrej Precision Systems1st Prize in Inter Divisional Kaizen competition 2010-11

Mr. R. Saravanan & Mr. V. Rajesh Management Godrej Storage Solution, Chennai1st Prize in Inter Divisional Kaizen competition 2010-11

Safety and Housekeeping Award was given to Godrej Appliances-Shirwal.

Jamshyd N. Godrej addressing Godrejites.

Udayachal students singing.

Achievements that were celebrated:

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with colours all around and minds ticking overtime and I can’t help but wonder-isn’t that what many of us were designed to do?

After talking to the faculty that teach design I have realised that parents who have children inclined towards design must be aware that it’s a totally different bent of mind and profession where creativity rules and so there are no right or wrong answers. If these children are forced into Engineering or Medical streams, they will be lost as those again call for a totally different aptitude where there is mostly one right answer.

Must add to this the remuneration paid to designers all over the world is at par with the best as demand for uniqueness in this line is ever increasing. It’s far beyond drawing skills- one must keep abreast with the latest news, the current economy of a place and the cultural aspects too. So this field stimulates various facets of young minds and dedication to it can take those interested in it to places.

Coming down to the basics- I would like to add that every country needs its fair share of designers to design their homes, automobiles, machines, apparels and accessories along with the army of doctors and engineers that most institutes prioritise first.

‘Design’ as a career. Do think about it!

By Tandra Chakraborty, Udayachal Primary School

I mean who wants to spend a lifetime designing? Though, we all do so all the time. Be it a little girl’s

frock, the project book, the curtains for our room or the look for an evening out. Most of us have designs running through our minds most of the time. Don’t we? Think about it!

Then why was I, as a parent, so apprehensive when my only child wanted to pursue a career in design. It was nothing other than ignorance that caused this reaction. Not that there was any objection that was verbal, but there definitely was a big ‘Question mark’ about it as a field to pursue…and then unfolded before me this absolutely creative line as a career with recognition in the form of a degree in ‘Design’. Teens who seek creativity in their job front along with the earning potential too, can look forward to this vocation. Yes, it calls for some pre-focus and gruelling preparations, long before they set foot to crack the entry level exams, competing for a seat at the coveted NID (Ahmedabad), MIT (Pune), IIT (Powai) and many such esteemed institutes. Then there is the off-shoot - the entrance to the B-Arch course, another by-product of the ‘Design’ field.

My daughter is currently training to get into any of these institutes right now. But each time I enter her class of young design aspirants, I find them sprawled over the floor, on the table or at an easel

Design… for a living?

Teens who seek creativity in their job front along with earning potential too, can look forward to a career in design.

Design requires a totally different bent of mind. It’s a profession where creativity rules and so there are no right or wrong answers.

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One such book is ‘The art of looking sideways’. Written by Alan Fletcher, who likes to be known as a visual jackdaw, this is a primer in visual intelligence. Every page in the book has a different layout, a different theme and a different idea. The book is an interplay between the verbal

and the visual, a charming journey through the limitless creative resources of the human mind.

How do you react when you are accosted by a book with a cover that screams, ‘Whatever you think, think the opposite’. You pick it up as a hungry raven would pick a crumb. And sure enough, it satiates the appetite of a curious mind. With one line pages, one visual chapters, wit and wisdom, Paul Arden, ex-creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi leaves you spell bound.

Popular wisdom suggests that you do not judge a book by its cover. But I stubbornly refuse to do

that. More so, when it comes to books on design. I like book covers that tease my fancy. I like to be invited to step into a book. This approach has never failed me. There’s no saying it’ll work for you the same way. But it will make for some very interesting excursions.

Design your mind.By Vinod Kunj, thought blurb

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Designers are often asked, ‘how did you get the idea’? As you leaf through this book, you will also wonder, ‘how did they get the smile into the idea’? ‘A smile in the mind’ documents the power of intellectual playfulness with examples of wit in graphic design. Beryl McAlhone & David Stuart have touched upon humour in categories ranging from art and leisure to manufacturing and law.

I have seen fanciful concept cars that go nowhere. At catwalks I see outlandish costumes no one dare wear. Whenever I am stumped by the futility of design I reach out for the antidote. Don Norman’s ‘The design of everyday things’. It opens your eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good design. A must read for anyone who designs anything to be used by humans.

From the first answering machine and vacuum cleaner to the Bell telephone, the creations of Henry S. Dreyfuss have shaped the cultural landscape of the 20th century. His book, ‘Designing for people’ is all about the common sense and scientific approach that he brought to industrial design. No bookshelf on design is complete without this delightfully illustrated book by the master. Buy these books from Flipkart and be delighted.

Children are imaginative thinkers. Until their wings are clipped for their flights of fancy. Their mind is put into a box. And when they grow up they are urged to think ‘out of the box’. Which brings me to, ‘The very hungry caterpillar’, a children’s book with graphic design that is riveting. Written, designed and illustrated by Eric Carle, this book stokes the child in you to break free.

Life is a stream of interaction with objects. Take them away and we have a barren life. ‘1000 extraordinary objects’ is a treasure trove of unusual objects. Lollipops with real insects from USA, earrings made of stray bullets from Cambodia, and so on. Co-created by Olivero Toscani and the design agency, Colours, the objects you see will fill your mind with wonder.

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Ten years old K. Kartik, son of K. Venkataramana, Godrej Commercial, Ahmedabad Branch, set

Guinness World Record performing Tabla for non-stop 1 hour and 18 minutes with a group of 315 musicians on 29th April, 2011 at Srirangam Open air Theatre, Shreyas Foundation, Ahmedabad.

The event was held on the occasion of closing ceremony of Swarnim Gujarat Celebration (Golden Jubilee) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It was organised by Tabla Talim Sansthan & Saptak School of Music.

He has also been awarded for his Tabla prowess by Limca Book of World Records, World Amazing Records, India Book of World Records and RHR World Records.

Master K. Kartik is also very good at academics, sports, mental mathematics, drawing and painting.

Kartik draws his inspiration from Tabla Maestro Zakir Hussian and Ustad Allaha Rakhaa Saheb and dreams to be like them.

K. Vasanta, Karthik’s mother is a Classical Dancer (Kuchipudi, form of dance from Andhra Pradesh). She has staged about 150 classical dance performances till date. For good many years she used to teach Classical Kuchipudi Dance.

K. Venkataramana himself has a keen interest in Music since childhood and is a Professional Vocalist, staging songs of Mohammed Rafi in Orchestras for over past 25 years. He has staged about 250-300 concerts till date.

His proud parents K. Vasanta and K. Venkataramana commented, “As Parents, we are extremely happy and proud that Kartik is so passionate about music and has academically started learning Tabla since two years. With intense level of dedication, discipline and regular practice he has managed to accomplish this World Record in this short span and we sincerely wish him more success in future to master the art of playing Tabla and prove himself at State & National level in next 5-7 years, thereby contributing to Hindustani Classical Music in the years to come.”

K. Kartik makes us all proud!By Team Commercial

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Being a design thinker means indulging random creative challenges. Try drawing as many things as you can using these Squares’s and Triangle’s. Get imaginative. Get wacky. Get going. You’re sure to be pleasantly surprised.

Reference worksheet

Are you a designer thinker?

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Compiled by thought blurb

EGG CARTONDimples on cheeks leave a lasting impression. Who’d have thought that dimples on Paper Maché could also do that? The egg carton’s design enables it to absorb shock and keep eggs break-free. An eggstremely useful invention courtesy Joseph Coyle.

PENCILDerived from the Latin word pencillus, meaning little tail, the pencil has helped write the biggest tales and sketch the most exquisite portraits. The graphite based lead stick encased in wood makes it possible to reuse a pencil several times by sharpening its tip. A handy invention courtesy N. J. Conte.

POST-ITIt took the concept of a ‘reminder’ out of your head and onto, well, any surface. What separates the Post-it from everything else is the strip of adhesive on the back. This canary yellow invention is credited to 3M’s Art Fry.

SAFETY MATCHESBefore safety matches fire was never safe or at your fingertips. They use friction and of course, red (never yellow) phosphorous to give you instant fire. A fiery invention by John Edvard Lundstrom.

VELCRO2 fabric strips; one with tiny hooks on its surface and the other with tiny, hairy loops. That’s Velcro for you. Rest assured any two surfaces will stick together like Siamese twins. A real ripping invention by George de Mestral.

BAND-AIDBehind every successful man is a woman and Earle Dickson’s story is no different. His wife, who often suffered kitchen mishaps, inspired this creation. Be it cuts, burns or scars, Band-aid is the first thing that comes to mind.

PAPER CLIPGreat things come in small packages. Or tiny ones like the paper clip. It uses pressure to hold sheets of paper together, securely. The genius of it is in the loopy double-oval shape. Invention courtesy William D. Middlebrook.

Small wonders of design