Being India's one of oldest and well respected manufacturers of precision forged and machined components is a good reputation to start with. Of course, changing times require organisational changes and that is exactly what Kalyani Forge Ltd is on to. And it helps to have a really young mind driving this transformation. Of course, Viraj Kalyani is equally banking on the legacy of his grandfather (Neelkanth Kalyani, the founder of the organisation) while bringing to the table his new age thought process.
Viraj has his fundamentals well in place. When he joined Kalyani Forge in 2012, he worked on the shopfloor to get a first-hand experience of what was happening on the ground. This involved continuous interactions with customers as well as employees. A sound and relevant educational background also helped. Viraj has graduated from the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology at the University of Pennsylvania and also has done a four-year dual-degree program with a Bachelor of Science in Economic (Wharton School) and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (School of Engineering and Applied Science).
Having understood the system thoroughly, Viraj then started the process of change in 2013 by introducing the Kalyani Operating System (KOS). KOS borrows complementing best practices from various manufacturing methodologies and adopts them to suit Kalyani's conditions. Viraj has also been taking help from Japanese consultants to ensure a smooth re-design of the processes. "I call KOS the Kalyani way of doing things. We have a long history wherein thousands of individuals have worked here and with that comes a lot of learning and experience.
For an organisation that has lived so long, it is important to build a system that continuously improves and adapts to the changing customer needs," he says. Viraj also has been relying on the guidance of Rohini Kalyani, the organisation's CMD and his mother. The lady, having single-handedly built the organisation for the last 13 years (a rare feat for a woman in Indian manufacturing), has only been supporting Viraj's forward thinking approach.
Through KOS, Viraj has started standardising and streamlining the manufacturing process. "The idea is to improve the process in its entirety and keep enhancing it continually. For example, earlier we followed the traditional batch system whereas today we have shifted to the Lean system with a strong emphasis on waste reduction. Importantly, we are now orienting the organisation more towards the customers." It is noteworthy that from the 30-day inventory of earlier days, Kalyani forge now keeps an inventory of ten days only.
