Sunday
After the Easter break in Kerala, Focus India was ready to explore a new city and new companies. Pune, also known as the “Oxford of the East”, welcomed the Swiss delegation with decent 40 Celsius degrees. In Pune it was all about industrial companies.
Monday
The first stop was Burckhardt Compression the largest compressors producer in the world situated in the outer skirt of Pune. The Managing Director, Mr Milind Wagle welcomed us. Burckhardt Compression’s headquarter is based in Winterthur. They introduced us to their different compressors which are produced in India. As this business is very tough, Burckhard is investing a lot in its people with is internal training institutes (ITIs). Moreover, ITIs are supporting people with a poor educational background. “At the moment they are jogging, soon they will be running. We are proud doing this contribution to the society”, states Mr Wagle. After the safety briefing the delegation was provided with safety shoes and goggles in order to proceed to a guided factory tour. It was quite fascinating to see how those compressors were produced and how dedicated the workers are, even though the buildings were filled with hot and dry air.
Burckhardt invited the delegation to a classic Indian canteen lunch (Cucumbers, Rice, Naan and Daal). Afterwards, we headed to Sulzer, only a 5 minute drive from Burckhardt. First, we also were introduced to their business. Sulzer operates in the oil and gas industry, power, water and general industry. As declared by Mr Pramod Khade, the reason why Sulzer Chemtech is doing business in India, is because of the fast growing economy, the GDP growth 6-8% and also because the economy is becoming more open. Sulzer also showed us their shops, where filters for oil and gas refineries are produced. It was very impressive to see how much work still was done manually and not mechanically. Some delegates felt lucky not to work in such a warm environment as we were all sweating in our suits just standing and watching. Our two engineering students were especially happy about the first two company visits in Pune.
Tuesday
The second day we were heading to Schindler. Like the day before, the sun was burning from the sky. Apparently it was the hottest day of 2017 in Pune so far. The bus ride was quite an Indian challenge, as at some point the bus driver which route to take, but at the same time he was too proud to confess that he did not know the way. Thanks to digitalisation, very good internet connection and some patient accompanying professors, Google Maps helped to reach the destination. After a loop way through nowhere, we arrived with a slight delay of 45 minutes.
Safety is a very big topic, because also here we were first instructed about how to behave safely within the facilities. Schindler is the “leader in urban mobility solutions”. Was formed in 1874 in Ebikon, Switzerland and has now over 60’000 employees in over 100 countries. One very important value of them is “leadership through customer service”. Therefore, the company invests a lot in their people to ensure that they are providing the best leaders for their employees and the best service to their customers. They have four training centres all over India and the fifth, “Schindler University” is yet to come. To understand the business of elevators and escalators even better, we could have a glance at the different elevator models, their security systems and newest technologies.
After such an insightful day, we headed back to the hotel. Fortunately, the bus driver knew this time the way but however, we were stuck in traffic. Even after an intense day and heavy weather conditions, the jam could not rain on the delegation’s parade. We were listening to some Oldies and you just could not help yourself than just sing along. Arriving in the hotel, the next excitement was waiting: The rising Pune Supergiants, Pune’s International Cricket Stars were lodging in the same hotel as we did. Unfortunately, nobody is really into cricket and we therefore just did not know how these superstars would look like.
Wednesday
On the fourth day we were leaving Pune, as we were driving to Mumbai straight after our visit at LEONI Studer AG. They were situated close to Schindler and therefore, the driver knew the way this time. Arrived at LEONI we were welcomed by Ms Valerie Herzog, Project Manager at LEONI Switzerland. As the plant in Pune is rather knew, she is regularly visiting the subsidy in India, exactly like this week. Mr Pushpendra Singh, CEO, and Ms Ajithaa Nair, head of HR, discussed the topic diversity at LEONI and in India in general with us. It was very fascinating as we heard already a lot about social issues in India, and now how they are dealing with them in a business context. After a Q&A session we could have a look at the cable production process. The guiding employees were really passionate about their work and it was really captivating for the whole delegation, even though some delegation members could not really relate to cables at the beginning. Also LEONI offered us lunch in order to taste the Indian canteen experience – and it was delicious! LEONI was our last stop in Pune. Next stop and Focus India 2017’s final destination: MUMBAI!