You started your career with Triveni and as everyone knows it's a popular sugar industry, please tell us about your experience and how it helps you in your current profile.

 Currently, I am VP technical at Satish Sugars Group in Belgaum Sugars Unit with an experience of 27 years in sugar industries like design, drawing, manufacturing, erection, commissioning and operating the sugar industry. I had begun my career with Triveni group of industries Devband Unit. 

Initially I was inspired by Mr. Sardar Bua Singh ji from Ghaziabad to join the sugar industry. Then I worked with multiple companies including Triveni  further when I was in Ajree engg. Kolhapur when I got a break through I.E. design, drawing, manufacturing, erection and commissioning work (one man show). And most importantly, I would like to thank Mr. Satish Jharkiwali Ji for giving me the opportunity to grow further in this sector.

You have done designing, erection and many processes single handedly and still you are technical here at your current company, tell us about what was the most defining or critical point on your journey.

Most defining point is the Satish Sugars. I got free hand exposure on each and every equipment, designing, erection, commissioning and operation to go deep into this process, the practical knowledge that I got for sugar plant operations all I got from Satish sugar. Before this I did manufacturing, erection, commissioning etc for sugar mills  but didn’t have experience for operating a sugar plant. In 2003-04, we started with a 600 tcd sugar plant, today Satish sugars group's first unit is 12000TCD and second unit is 5000 TCD unit within 15 years along with 90 KLPD distillery and 34MW + 14MW co-generation unit.

So, you took 600TCD to 12000TCD+5000TCD with distillery and cogeneration. What drove you for such big expansion?

Sugar industry works for 6 months and then 6 months is non functional. Within these 6 months management has the goal that we have to dismantle, re-assembled and capacity utilisation of all equipment. Doing expansion within 6 months is a difficult job, from civil to final commissioning; we managed manufacturing of maximum equipment on the site and assembled on the site after getting all bought out from all over India. The experience I got from Triveni and Ajree Engineering was utilised here.

So, you utilised mill manufacturing and erection experience in sugar mill expansion.

Yes, of all equipment. Whatever is possible to manufacture on site I manufactured it at site. The bought out for this was supplied from all over India. We found the best supplier and purchased from them.

According to my knowledge, it is not a normal practise in sugar.

Yes, normally it is manufactured in factories and supplies came to site. Because of this more time was spent on transportation.  Then providing them manpower for erection, following up with suppliers for delivery etc was time consuming. We removed the mediator. The material was purchased directly and man power was arranged at site with the help of sources in Bihar and UP which lead to fast manufacturing and profit margin of the mediator was also saved. Transport cost of raw material was only 40%, cost of finished goods material is more, less weight and more area volume. We arranged for overhead cranes for fast erection.

Along with new installation your current mill set up was also to be done.

Yes, it should be mixed along with that, it's not we have left doing that. We have to commission old equipments and incorporate new as well. We have utilised capacity of both simultaneously.

This is not a norm in industry. How did you convince or motivate your whole team that they can do this work?

We have to be a little hard working along with our team and they have to be trained. Training schedule systems were built, a stress free environment was created and hence the productivity on the job increased. Food, lodging, boarding, best facilities were provided, doctor was available at site; which made them work wholeheartedly. Therefore, our team was ready and it made our work fast.

Didn't the regular team have this in mind that this is not our work and why are they telling us to do it?

This is something which everyone talks about but they all know that the man working above us who is instructing us has come from the same field. So, there was experience and they were told that this is possible, keep doing as instructed. Eventually they were instructed and they completed the task and somehow salary made them motivated to complete the task. Once they did it, they were ready to take more challenges head on.  Safety measure was the first priority.

According to me this is a strong leadership role, you are motivating the entire team along with the existing one; you are setting up regular operation and the new plant machinery also. So, in this particular role the team wants the supervisor should always work along with us, how do u transfer such leadership qualities in them? How do u guide them, that they too handle things like you do?

Firstly, they have to trust their team, we should trust our team and we should treat them equally. If we are partial amongst team members, wrong feelings develop in the team, so we should maintain equality amongst them. We should listen to everyone and take their periodic feedback on their problems.  Most importantly, we should celebrate all success and progress and reward them accordingly.

Please explain how you utilise machinery more than its capacity.

We concentrated on the productivity of every machine. How much power we have, what can be load capacity. Our plant is 3500 TCD and we run this plant at 5000 TCD. We run this unit upto 140 % and the unit running average was 125%. This is very high compared to other sugar mills in this region. They are operating between 70-90%. They are happy with 90% capacity utilisation.

In that case your ROI will be very good.

We maintain our machinery in good condition. The benefit from this will be power saving. Manpower working for the 3500TCD plant is giving 5000TCD output which means lower manpower cost. As we increase plant capacity utilisation efficiency of all machinery will increase. If we put above 90%  power loading factor then it will go to power saving, if we optimise capacity of power savings then our steam consumption will reduce. Oil consumption for 5000TCD will be the same as for  3500TCD. Profit margin will increase for all of the plant, it should firstly utilise capacity of the plant. We saved power, energy, boiling steam, man power, oil and grease, maintenance cost. Maintenance costs are less even after over utilising the capacity.

When you were extracting 5000TCD from 3500TCD plant were you or your team not worried about failure of equipment or its breakdown during the running season?

Definitely this thought occured in people, but if someone has taken charge of leadership then it didn’t matter. Firstly we motivate them. We didnt take this to 5000TCD  in one day. In this if we have to take it to 4000TCD the plan was made a week before with our supervision staff and explained them that our plant capacity is this much but we can take it further with any problems and then we crossed 4500TCD after that to take it before this  we took 15 days and increased 100-150TCD everyday. Eventually when it went beyond 4500 there were problems but there are some settings in automation which was utilised to its maximum. We did the setting in such a manner that all equipments have uniform loading right from cane feeding. We increased the speed with small increments of 10TCD and this year we achieved a maximum 5200TCD capacity in a day and on an average of 20 days , 5000TCD capacity. We worked together as a team and motivated everyone and asked where the problem arises and stopped production there and then. In starting everybody refused and didn't believe it is possible, the maximum is 4500TCD  we can go and beyond this it will put load on the mill, fibrizer etc and all equipment will overflow. I explained that only 100TCD will be increased everyday, per hour only 5 ton increase and if a problem occurs we'll stop. Everyday I used to do tea time meetings - Chai pe Charcha.  I took feedback from the team and all employees were motivated. Next day again, set target for an increase. Like this everyday they were motivated. Now these people only tell me let's increase to 5000TCD from the start.

This means that the fearless environment you have created gave them confidence and showed them the technique how to do it?

Yes, this was about workers. We had to also deal with the management and management always support us . They were asking us not to do so much crushing. They were worried that about possibility of  equipment breakdown. No management asks to reduce crushing.  We had confidence in our machines and ourselves because we didn’t come in sugar industry through operation, we knew the capacity of plants theoretically and practically and by using it we got the result.

So we can conclude that in the engineering field we can go take equipment to its limit  because we know our machines well, provided we increase it step by step.

Yes, we should increase step by step and it should have support of management also. We took all pressure from management on us to make this happen and today they appreciate us that we utilised its capacity with any additional amount. A nearby sugar mill invested 25 crore to increase capacity to 5000TCD but we didn't spend a single penny. We got it in existing unit while maintaining recovery and our results bloomed.

It is a very great example where going in details of engineering and utilised capacity was 40% extra, which is not seen normally.

Yes, if we normally use any engineering factor, we consider the factor of safety in everything. In the sugar industry also it keeps a 150% safety margin and design it accordingly. In today’s world the machinery suppliers make according to our demand in which they don’t keep even a 10% margin. In this unit we defined the original standard  of 3500TCD capacity, like what quality material we need and used. So, we maintained according to original standards and never let the supplier compromise.

Siemens motor gives 95% as capacity utilisation and we achieved 93%. Pump suppliers used to give 75% as efficiency but we took it to 85% efficiency. Even they appreciated our working. As a result last year only we received Best AllOver Field Technical Efficiency award from Karnataka Sugar Institute.

You motivate everyone so much, what drives you to do all this. You could have done as the management ordered but you convinced management also to deliver more.

I keep optimisation of plant as my main focus. If you are an employee, you come to do your duties and leave by your time. I don’t work as a duty, it is my factory, my work, I have to do it. We are with the plant 24 hours. In the factory we have installed 37 cameras. It is not done for any manpower. It is focussed on result indicator displays and on equipment. We monitor whether cane feeding is proper or not,  cane carrier is  proper,  feeder table is working or not. If the result is proper there is no need to instruct or monitor manpower. Our management can see the cameras from anywhere, even at home.

But this is very interesting to know that the focus of the camera is not on manpower it is on the result because if the result is fine then the work is done properly by the man power. Generally, we keep an eye on the person so that he is not wasting time but you didn’t focus on that and believed the result should be fine. and there is so much trust in the team.

Yes, the optimisation which I talk about is that I trust my team and this is how motivation is developed. This way they are having their progress. My team always shines out in the crowd. In my experience in the sugar industry any employee of the mill section will not go to the boiling house, and any boiling house person will not go to cogen. I utilise every man in all fields, this way instead of 1 supervisor I get 3 supervisors. They supervise each other’s department. This is how every section stays alert. There is a supervision on supervisor and on top of it there is my supervision.  

But everyone knows the focus is on the result, so each person focuses on the result.

Yes.

Now let's talk about something apart from work. In India we give importance to family values. Any value that you have inculcated from your parents and would like to teach to your children, would you like to share something similar with us?

My father taught me instead of doing work ourselves it is important to learn how to get work done from others. That’s a learning I teach my kids as this value has come very handy to me and this quality is gradually developing in them.

Is there any role model or any leader in your life whom you follow?

Actually, I don't have any role models. I only follow how to make my future better than my present and how I can perform better than others.

With so much work load how do u manage time for home and work.

Time management is a very good question. To Coordinate between all departments, I take meetings with them everyday. These meetings are in tea breaks for 15 min with each and every department. I hear their problems and give solutions so that they can work further. I have fixed two times- 11am and 4pm. In 15min, I give 2min to each department- mechanical, boiling house, process, cogen, electrical instrument, civil. If you are watching your work daily such problems don’t occur much and little problems get resolved in that duration. I take a weekly work progress report separately. Coordination between departments, focus on problems and result orientation, these are the three important things.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I enjoy a holiday, vacation with my family. It can be local or international or even pilgrims. Traveling is one of my hobbies. I like to travel a lot. Most likely, I have travelled all over India. Now maximum travel is abroad- Europe, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore , Mauritius, Nepal, etc.

As you like to travel so much, what excites you the most about it?

I am excited to explore what is new and famous about those countries? One should go and visit such countries and see. in my experience there is nothing more beautiful than our country India. There is only one problem here which is cleanliness. We don’t clean properly. Now we have a great PM who has started big movement of Swach Bharat and it is effective.

What other aspects of developed countries do you like?

Our reservation system is dumping the whole country. We should have equality in jobs and education, there should be no reservation So, the government should change with time. Deserving candidates do not get opportunities in India and move abroad. It  is said that in the US President’s doctors’ team of 18 doctors, 12 are Indians.

What do you think the government should have policies to improve the engineering sector of India, so that we can compete in the international market?

In foreign they teach you theory along with practical and in India they only teach theory. The duration of our engineering 4-5years we should wholly have a practical hand on. Along with that it is important to check in which field the child has expertise and should pursue the same. Now a days our children don’t even know in which career they want to go, mechanical engineering doesn’t know in which field they want to go. One doesn’t give 100%  as his focus is on other job opportunities. 

What  are the major challenges which the sugar industry is going through?

Government should take a long horizon of time like 10 years and not change their policies frequently. This is important to ensure the investment is profitable. Investment in co-generation, and other machinery should be stable for 10 year period. Ethanol policy should be more robust  for increasing investments in this area and save foreign exchange. Sugar production is higher than demand.  The price of sugar cane is more than sugar price which makes survival of sugar industry difficult. Government is should keep a 10% margin and further do minimum costing on the same. It is very important to ensure viability of project. 

What are your thoughts about the environment and pollution?

Definitely, the environment system should be improved. You should take care of yours as well as your workers' health. For avoiding air pollution due to fly ash ESP is installed which reduces upto air pollution up to 95%. This is how we can control air pollution. 

Secondly material released from the sugar industry should not be left out, install  ETP(effluent treatment plant and treat it then you can use the same water at home for gardening. 

Third, there is a sound problem in boilers because of higher pressure boilers. So where our boilers are fixed, from where the sound will come; silencer should be utilised. This is how you can control, sound, water and air pollution, all three.  We should also see that rules are strictly followed and are not violated.

Every year in our campus we keep van mahotsav and we have to plant 2000 trees within 2 month. 

At last, what tips will you give to our young generation? what should our fresh engineers do in their initial stage of life.

The tip is, fix the goal and stay focused, means what you have fixed your goal, stay focused to that only and don’t change it..