Change at all levels
Pillai is bringing change at all levels. "For example, materials are being decentralised now. This in turn is giving more power to the individual businesses." Walchandnagar has always been known to be a good engineering company delivering specialised products.
"Engineering has been a strength for us but over the years it has slightly dwindled. This has happened because people have started giving less importance to engineering and giving more importance to production. But we are changing it now."
Technically, WIL has three business pillars - EPC, manufacturing and engineering. "EPC is what we do for sugar, cement and power industry. I believe doing EPC business is relatively easy as you are just buying products, doing some engineering and delivering the project. Having said that, we will continue to do EPC.
"The second business pillar, manufacturing is core to our growth plans. That will be a big focus area for us. The third business pillar is engineering. And that will be another big focus area for us to make Walchandnagar once again a predominantly high-tech engineering hub," he says.
WIL is now indeed increasing its focus on manufacturing. "Our aim is to grow the share of manufacturing in our overall turnover with a clear shift in focus from revenue growth to profitability. Revenue growth is important but not at the cost of depleting the bottom-line," he says matter-of-factly.
Delivery to the customer is very important. But given the nature, scale and complexity of the work at WIL, on-time-delivery has taken a back-seat a few times. Pillai is honest enough to accept. "Our focus has been to supplying the product to the customer not withstanding that sometimes it is a bit late. That is something that we are endeavouring to change drastically. So besides delivery the right product, now there is equal importance given to on-time delivery. Empowering people and decentralisation are steps taken towards this goal," he says.
The big opportunity
Conventionally, the sugar industry has been a big focus for WIL over the decades; in fact, it started off with the sugar industry. Few years back, sugar was an important industry in terms of the machinery. But today, the machinery and equipment for this industry have become commodity products; these are not high-tech products. Moreover, the sugar business itself is not a very lucrative one.
"WIL's expertise has all along been on good heavy engineering. So we said, why not focus on segments which really and enhance this aspect and really utilise this capability." And which are these areas? The DNA as Pillai likes to call them - Defence, Nuclear and Aerospace. "Does the country need WIL for sugar industries or for the DNA industries? The answer is obvious. And that's the reason we are focusing on these segments. We are trying to refocus the entire manufacturing activities with this approach," he says.
WIL has been one of the few private players with capabilities and expertise in the aerospace and defence sector. But the ‘Make in India' campaign and the opening up of the defence sector have truly widened the opportunities for WIL. It recently hired PwC to chalk out a strategy for enhancing its defence portfolio.
"The canvas has grown and we wanted to understand the areas that we can go after besides the ones that we are already catering to. The recommendations are of course confidential but we have identified opportunities that are - a) In Line with our existing capabilities b) Step Out opportunities c) New Opportunities.
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