Mahesh Kodumudi
Chief Representative, Volkswagen Group India
President and MD, Volkswagen India Private Limited
Just before taking up his current responsibility, Mahesh Kodumudi used to head the company's strategic sourcing and supply chain management in India. In that role, not only did he build his company's vendor base from grounds up but he also laid the foundation of what he calls ‘German Engineering made by Volkswagen in India'.
In fact, this concept encompasses his leadership vision in transforming Volkswagen into an exports giant while at the same time consolidating its position in the domestic market. A perfect fit for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘Make in India' campaign!
While Kodumudi surely knows a thing or two about managing costs, he just refuses to sacrifice quality or features at the altar of cost - even if that means his cars come with a slightly higher price tag.
But he is absolutely fine with it and holds pride in the fact that a Volkswagen model built anywhere in the world comes with the same specs and excellence. "We build the same quality of cars in Pune as around the world with equally robust construction.
For example, the Polo built in India has achieved a 4-star Global NCAP rating which is a strength when it comes to exporting to global markets," he says. Not surprising then that Volkswagen India's Pune Plant is on its way to becoming an exports hub while selling cars to more than 30 countries, and the number is steadily rising.
Kodumudi and Volkswagen India are equally committed to the environmental cause and that's the reason the Pune Plant is one of the 27 Volkswagen production facilities worldwide which have adopted the ‘Think Blue. Factory.' programme.
"By 2018 we want to lower the environmental impact of our production processes by 25 percent," he says. After being part of this programme for two and half years now, the Volkswagen India Pune Plant has already achieved more than half the target in the key areas of Energy Consumption, CO2 Emissions and Waste Generation."
(Star List 2015 continues on the next page)
