When T Sarangarajan, Vice President, Production, Hyundai Motor India (HMI), started his career in the Indian passenger car industry, the sector was on the verge of transformation. Today, after 31 years, the industry is once again standing on the edge of a big change. Of course, Sarangarajan is going about his work with the same focus and dedication and of course, with much bigger experience.

He started his professional journey with Maruti when the company's plant was getting constructed. Sarangarajan played a role in not just getting the plant up and running but also in developing the auto ancillaries. Of course, he did it again on joining Hyundai when it entered India towards the latter half of the 90s.

Involved in building the company from inception right from construction of the factory, the production lines, to testing of the products and rollout, Sarangarajan once again proved why he is considered as an all rounder in the industry. A part of his significant contribution at HMI also includes bringing in a culture of using latest technologies - be it fuel injection in small cars (Santro was the first one to use it) or the popular CRDI diesel engines in Accent.

Today, this mechanical engineer from Malaviya National Institute of Technology (Jaipur) strives to offer best products to customers not only by deploying the latest equipments and technology, but also through a highly motivated and involved workforce. The last one year has been the toughest for the Indian auto industry. And HMI was able to stay afloat due to its robust planning, strong back end practices and sophisticated infrastructure, which allows the company ample flexibility in production of domestic and export models. "Our keen sense of understanding of the market helped us in near accurate demand forecasting which resulted in avoiding any production holidays," Sarangarajan says.

In fact, Sarangarajan's plant has been the only plant in the Indian automotive industry which did not declare a single production holiday or did not lay off any employees last year. "Moreover, we have also been able to interpret the customer requirements well and have been able to launch class leading products. Our Grand i10 launched in September last year, redefined the segment and became a best seller. All these factors contributed towards navigating our way successfully out of a tough year."