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SFL has got the‘Best of the Best Supplier Award ‘from General Motors for the third  year in a row. It is a tremendous achievement. What is the secret of this success?

General Motors has about 30,000 suppliers world wide and every year there are about 150 to 180suppliers in the fray for "The supplier of the year" Award. SFL has got this award for the third time. We supply to about 28 different plants of General Motors in North America. Basically we have to ensure zero-defect and not default in our despatches to any of the plants. We have a warehouse in North America and we despatch from this to various plants, every week. We supply around four million Radiator Caps to General Motors every year. Naturally they expect us to be world-competitive and we are world-competitive. We have been achieving, year after year, this zero-defect and on-time-deliveries. To attain this we have been upgrading our technology to maintain the high standards of quality and delivery. There is a selection committee that picks the best supplier from among the 180 short-listed suppliers.

When we had put up the plant, we worked out the basics and also planned how it should be in about five years. We also worked out the TQM technology and TPM technology to ensure this zero-defect. It is very difficult to compete with 30,000 suppliers around the world and we are the only suppliers for GM from India. General Motors do not source any other product from India other than from SFL. We also had a lot of problems while using TPM technology. What I conveyed to you took only two minutes but our effort was 5 million man-hours.

How did you start supplying Radiator Caps to General Motors?

We had been supplying Fasteners to them earlier. Six years back, a team from General Motors came here and said that they were dismantling a radiator caps plant and they wanted to know if we would be interested. We said ‘ yes’ and that is how the whole thing started.

Not a single man-day has been lost in SFL for the past 30 years. How could you achieve this? I can talk about this for many days. Our parent company, T V Sundram Iyengar & Sons, was started in 1921. Since 1921 till date, there has been a strike only once in 1948 for about three days. So what I have achieved is nothing . We have about 500 workers only whereas TVS & Sons have about 2000 workers. They have branches in Madurai, Salem, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Trivandrum, Erode, and there are work -sites in all these places. Our basic philosophy is to accept and recognise that labour is part of the company and we build a strong relationship between labour and the management. Only if labour grows, the company can grow and if the company doesn’t, labour doesn’t either.

Of course, I can give you a few examples: at least four or five times in a year I talk to all the workmen. I have been doing this for the past 35 years. In these meetings, I talk about the Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Account, the company’s strengths, weaknesses, goals, targets. You earn their respect as you share information with them. You keep talking to the labour about the company’s goals, strengths, where it is going, the future, aim for excellence and the achievements. This is a continuous process; this interaction makes for a winning team; obviously, everybody wants to be a member of the winning team. . We were the first to get TQM excellence award; first one to get ISO 9001 award; first one to get ‘Supplier of the Year’ award from General Motors. Our people realise they are in a winning team and naturally would like to be a part of the team. They do not want to be in a losing team. Take for example, Medical Care. There is no limitation as such with regard to expenditure for the employee, employee’s father, mother, son or daughter. The company reimburses the entire medical expenditure. Sometimes we have even spent Rs.10.lakhs. We treat their family members as our own. There are other things we do, like, we run computer-schools and special camps in Madurai, which help the education of workers and workers’ families. We have many more such facilities; the fact is ours is a people-oriented company and our entire TVS group pursues this policy. There is no animosity between management and labour. This is what is required for any Global Company. And we are a Global Company.

On SFL getting the Total Productive Management (TPM) excellence award…

TPM is a ten-year process and we were able to achieve it in five years. TPM is about reducing breakdowns, downtimes, and zero accidents. This enhances the efficiency to 90% and has a tremendous impact on the employees’ morale. As I said, it is a ten-year process and if you achieve TPM in the first four years, you get the TPM excellence award. If this is continued for two to three years, you get a special award and then a World-Class award. We have practised it for four years and we would like to continue with this.

Is SFL the No.1 fastener-manufacturer in India? What is your ranking in the world? There is no doubt that we are the No.1 fastener-manufacturers in India. Internationally, I would say we would be one among the top 30.

Where will you be in another five to ten years?

This is the best time for SFL to become global and get not only into exports but acquire companies outside the country. Once we do this, we will be truly global

TVS Group is considered conservative, not very aggressive compared to companies in the North. Why this image?

Except for a few companies, I do not want to mention names, we are performing exceedingly well. We have been consistently enhancing shareholders’ value. There is an article by Mr Arun Jethmalani in Economic Times dated. 13.06.99. `TVS Streets ahead’ which will provide the correct answer for this question.

SFL has always been only in manufacturing. Any particular reason for that?

Our strength is manufacturing and we enjoy doing it.

Do you have any plans to enter IT Industry or Internet Industry? Does the Group have any plans? No! No! We are in the automobile industry and we will continue to be in this Industry only. GM, which is one of the largest companies in the world, is in automobiles. We do not have plans to get into the IT industry. I wonder why no one asks why IBM is not into cement or steel! There are many companies who have gone into Petrochemicals, Cement, Textiles but we will be in Automobiles.

Core competence?

Yes! Yes!

Is the recession over in automobile industries or is it still continuing? What is the           scenario now? What is your opinion?

The car industry is doing well. All the two-wheeler companies are doing very well. Truck companies and HCVs are recovering and in two to three months things should be better.

Is SFL affected by this recession?

Compared to 97-98, when there was a dip, we have done better in 98-99. Our financial results reflect this.

Role of IT in SFL and other cos. in the Group.

We were one of the earliest companies to start using computers and IT, in 1969, when we were in Ambattur. We were using cards and these cards were brought to the IBM centre located near Connemara Hotel. We were in C9 Ambattur Indl.Estate where Autolec Industries is now. We moved out to PADI but we are back in the same place by acquiring AUTOLEC (Laughter).

What do you think about E-Commerce and what are SFL’s plans to be in E-Commerce?

It is too early to think of E-Commerce; in SFL we have not given a thought to it.

E-commerce will take off in India any time now. Don’t you think you should be ready? This is a long process in India because we do not have proper infrastructure ---Telephones, Bandwidth, Security, etc. are major issues in our country. Hence it is too early to talk about this.

Do you have a Web presence? You are a global supplier to General Motors; are you           using the Internet extensively? It is the most cost-effective communication medium.  We are very much on the Web and we have a Web site called www.sundram.com. We extensively use E-mail to correspond with General Motors and other suppliers and exporters.

Don’t you think as a Global Company you need to use the web extensively? All big           companies abroad, do so; be it for transactions or information. Employees use the web          even for applying/sanctioning of leave. Most organisations are fully web enabled.

I think it will take some more time to do so in India.

Coming back to the Automobile Industry, with so many companies, do you think there           will inevitably be a shakeout a few years from now?

There will be a shakeout and consolidation.

What are your views on liberalisation? Do you think what has been done is enough? Or          too much (no level playing field)?

I am always for liberalisation.

Do you think Venture Capital as a form of funding has taken off in India?

L. RAVICHANDRAN

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