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Godrej Staff Association Celebrates Golden Jubilee

he year 2004 is the Golden Jubilee of the Godrej Staff Association, Kolkata. The Association plans to celebrate completion of 50 years by conducting a sports meet, a cultural show, a blood donation camp, a tree plantation drive, and other activities throughout the year.

On 4 January, 2004 the Association organised the Annual Sports at the well-decorated Rabindra Sarobar Stadium. The national flag was hoisted. The torch, resembling the spirit of the game, was lit. A white dove was released, heralding peace, goodwill and freedom. The messages and good wishes received from our Chairman and Managing Director, Jamshyd N. Godrej, Executive Director and President, P.D. Lam, Executive Director (Finance), K.A. Palia and Executive Vice President and Head, Personnel and Administration, Anil Verma, were read out. Former National Athlete and Chief Judge of the Meet, P. Banerjee, declared the Annual Sports open.

Among the various events, 100 and 200 metres flat race witnessed a photo finish. In the tug-of-war event, the Service and Warehouse team emerged the strongest. Shot put and long jump had narrow finishes. There were also musical chair and balance race events. Kids had a chance to prove their athletic might in the spoon race, flat race and shuttle race. “The Priest? “The Spaceman? “The Disable? “The Kongfoo Dancer?in the Go As You Like event were simply fantastic.


Soikat Sanyal is awarded the Champion’s Trophy by A.I. Bhuvaneshwar.

Soikat Sanyal took away the Champion’s Trophy under heavy competition.

There were gastronomic delights in store as well. Breakfast, round-the-clock refreshing tea and a sumptuous lunch made the event most delightful for all the staff members and their families.

During the prize distribution ceremony, General Manager (East Zone), A.I. Bhuvaneshwar praised the efforts of the Godrej Staff Association in conducting the Annual Sports function regularly, which in turn helps bring staff members closer - an ideal way to promote team spirit.

After the National Anthem, Bhuvaneshwar declared the Meet closed.

Soikat Sanyal
Kolkata Branch

 

Honour For Godrej & Boyce

he AOTS Alumni Association of Western India (AAAWI) has a long record of association with Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. (G&B) since theeighties, while we were still a fledgling group of enthusiasts. Godrej showed active interest at the various training programmes held by AOTS, Japan. Large numbers of employees were sponsored for programmes through us. Most of them were selected and completed their training programmes successfully in Japan. Over the years, on several occasions, our Association has invited some Japanese management specialists. These have been well-attended by select Godrej nominees, apart from frequent sponsorship of programmes by Godrej. A few programmes were conducted at the Godrej premises.

As part of our ongoing activities, our Association has been encouraging participation from African countries and South Asian countries for technical training in India. Over the last decade, over 15 training programmes have been arranged for nearly hundred participants at G&B, which has resulted in great improvements in the participating companies and the participants? individual performances after they returned to their respective organisations. We particularly appreciate G&B for coming forward to provide free accommodation to the participants, and the response far exceeded our earlier fund limits. In view of such outstanding support, our Executive Committee decided to honour G&B at our 10th anniversary celebrations by the hands of Mokoto Saito, Vice Chairman, AOTS, Japan.

M. Ramamurthy
President - AAAWI


Mumbai International Marathon

A view of the Mumbai International Marathon participants. Pheroza J. Godrej, Trustee, Impact  India Foundation, is seen (in red collar) in the centre.

Members of the Impact India Foundation walk in T-shirts sponsored by Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.

odrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. (G&B) sponsored 500 T-shirts on the request of Pheroza J. Godrej, who, apart from holding many responsible positions in social organisations, is a Trustee of the Impact India Foundation, for the Mumbai International Marathon held on 15 February, 2004. Seven G&B employees took part in the Dream Run. They are Girish Parekh and Pankaj Kumar of Prima Division, Sunil Dube of Corporate Human Resources Department, Fabian Rose, Dilipchandra Patel, Girish Chopdekar of Precision Engineering Systems Division and A.B. Chhichhia of the Housing Deparment.

 

Thanks To All

ational Cancer Rose Day (celebrated last year on 22 September) is marked to bring cheer to all cancer patients, by gifting roses with personalised messages at hospitals, clinics and treatment centres in Mumbai and other major Indian cities. The employees of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. had made a small contribution to this noble social cause, which was well appreciated by the Cancer Patients Aid Association. Let’s keep up the good work.

Harpreet Kaur
Corporate HRD

 

 

 

Congratulations!

earty congratulations to Soumeshwar Vishwanath Linge, Maintenance Department, Security Equipment Division, for clearing the examination of “Umpireship?for cricket conducted by the Bombay Cricket Association. Linge also shows keen interest in commentary and maintains a count of records made in cricket history.

Jay Acharaya
Security Equipment Divsion

 

 

Industrial Products Division


India’s Space Programme

Cryo Arms in mated condition.

LOX Arm, a part of the Cryo Arm System, under testing at the PES Division.

       
 

he Precision Engineering Systems (PES) Division has contributed to the ambitious Second Launch Pad (SLP) Project of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Sriharikota, by supplying two Cryo Arm Systems in December 2003. This new Launch Pad, besides accommodating PSLV, GSLV, can also accommodate next generations of Launch Vehicles.

It is designed to receive fully assembled Vehicles, which will enable as many as 12 launches per year, as against approximately two launches per year in the current set-up. This will enable ISRO to take up commercial launches for other countries in a major way.

The Cryo Arm Systems made by Godrej will be used to supply Liquid Oxygen (LOX) and Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) to the Launch Vehicle. The fuel lines will remain connected to the Vehicle till firing, in order to continuously circulate low temperature fuels. During Vehicle Lift-off, the Arms (approximately 16 meters long) need to be disconnected from the Vehicle, and need to be swiftly swung back in just three seconds?time.

The System - involving large size swing mechanisms, precision pipe structure fabrications and flexible linkage interface with Launch Vehicle - is first of its kind, worldwide, considering the flexibility and size. It was a real challenge to develop the same, which the PES team had taken up. The total equipment was built and functionally tested to the total satisfaction of ISRO, within a very short time after receipt of customer-supplied material.

The success of the Project has opened up the possibility for a repeat order for the equipment. This will go a long way in the new business being built by the Division.

PES Team

 

JET Interact

.V. Sampat, Vice President (Finance and Commercial - Industrial Product Division), who handles Corporate Travel, arranged a Show, entitled “JET Interact? at the Plant 11 Conference Room on 18 February, 2004, when a team from JET Airways displayed their various services, along with a live presentation through CD.

The JET Interact Show was inaugurated by our Executive Director and President, P.D. Lam. All Divisional and Business Heads, including Heads of Marketing, were present. 

A special session was arranged for the Secretaries, who look after travel arrangements for their respective Divisions/Businesses - and they were informed/apprised of the various schemes and services provided by JET Airways, enabling them to have an up-to-date knowledge of the facilities available with JET.


The group of secretaries who attended “JET Interact?stand in front of gifts meant for the lucky draw.

 The Show was quite colourful and well organised, and the JET Team gave valuable inputs on the facilities available with JET Airways.

 Industrial Products Division Team

 

PRIMA DIVISION

 

Safety ?A Milestone Achieved

e at Prima Division always give top priority to Safety.

We celebrate National Safety Day (4 March) and The National Safety Week (from 4th to 11th March) every year. This year needs special mention as we achieved a milestone of 2,200 Safe Working Days. During these days, the manufacturing facility was shifted twice from Plant 6 to Plant 18B and then from Plant 18B to Shirwal, without a single untoward incident.


Prize Winners: Seated (l-r): Pankaj Rane, Jitendra Mandhare, Santosh Ghorpade, Jagannath Pambare and Suryakant Pawar.Standing (l-r): Ambaji Birajdar, Swati Talekar, Rohini Gole, Sunita Zanjale and Dipak Kambale.

Employees jointly took the Safety Oath on the first day of the Safety Week, and pledged to create a safe working environment, both at work and at home.

The Management had declared two contests: “Spot the Hazard?and “Safety Poster? The response was overwhelming with as many as 65 entries from Prima Division. There were also other contests namely “Safety Poster? “Safety Slogan?and “Safety Essay?held at the District level, organised by the Mutual Aid Response Group (MARG), Satara, in which our workmen participated. More than 250 entries from various member industries were received.


S.V. Prabhudesai receives the third prize in the Annual Safety Essay Competiton from V.S. Phadke, President, National Safety Organisation, Pune.

The Godrej Prima Division bagged the lion’s share of 10 prizes out of the 19, which were up for grabs. In the Women’s category, all the prizes were bagged by our employees. This was possible due to the efforts put in during the various Safety Training programmes and the Safety culture inculcated over a short period of two years at our Shirwal Plant. The prize distribution ceremony was held on 11 March, 2004 at Maharashtra Scooters Ltd., Satara, in the presence of A.B. Kamble, Deputy Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health.

Prize Winners

Safety Slogan:

1st Prize: J.B. Mandhare, 2nd Prize: D.M. Kamble, Consolation Prizes: A.I. Birajdar and S.B. Ghorpade.

Safety Essay:

2nd Prize: J.S. Pambre, Consolation Prize: Sushama Raut

Safety Poster:

1st Prize: S.L. Pawar

Women’s Category:

1st Prize: Sunita Zanjale for Safety Essay, 2nd Prize: Rohini Gole, and 3rd Prize: Swati Talekar, both for Safety Posters.

There was also the Annual Safety Essay Competition conducted by The Institution of Engineers, Pune Local Centre, on the occasion of National Safety Day on 4 March, 2004. S.V. Prabhudesai, Executive, Prima Division, CCSG (Carriage and Components Supply Group) and Vending Machine Assembly Department, won the third prize in this competition.

Congratulations to all the winners as also to the Prima Team at Shirwal. Keep up the good work!

Pankaj Rane
Safety and Maintenance

 

FURNITURE AND INTERIORS GROUP


Expressions Guaranteed

FIG employees? children express themselves during the Painting and Essay Writing competition.  

L-R: Judges Binaifer Chhoga, Sangeeta Mathur and Anil Mathur judge paintings at the “FIG Festival 2004?

Painting and Essay Writing competition was held under the aegis of “FIG Festival
2004?on 14 March at Pragati Kendra, Pirojshanagar. 65 children of employees of the Furniture and Interiors Group (FIG), between the ages of four and 12 participated in the competition, and a total of 16 were declared winners in different age-group categories - 12 for Painting and four for Essay Writing.

FIG undertook this initiative to not only bring together the children and families of our employees, but also to foster creativity. With background music of kid songs and with delicious refreshments served, the participants were so delighted, they splurged on canvas and paper alike to bring out their creative best! The Chief Guests and judges of the competition were Chief Operating Officer, FIG, Anil Mathur, wife Sangeeta Mathur and Principal of the Udayachal Primary and Pre-Primary Schools, Binaifer Chhoga.

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Ergonomics, A Necessity

he Environment, Health and Safety Committee of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) organised a one-day seminar on “Ergonomics?on 26 February, 2004 at Hotel Grand, Mumbai. Godrej FIG sponsored this event, which was well-attended by delegates from companies such as BPCL, Voltas Ltd., Reliance Energy (BSES Ltd.), Nicholas Piramal (I) Pvt. Ltd., Philips Lighting, CIPLA Ltd., among others.


L-R: S.M. Shanbhag, Co-Chairman, Environment, Health and Safety Committee, BCCI, honours Raviprakash R. Gupta, General Manager - Marketing (Seating), for speaking at the seminar.

Raviprakash R. Gupta, General Manager - Marketing (Seating), was one of the speakers at the seminar. Others on the faculty comprised Amitaba De, NITIE, M. Vijaykumar, Reliance Energy (BSES Ltd.) and G.K. Kulkarni, Siemens Ltd. Gupta shed light on the meaning of ergonomics, its importance, elements of an ergonomically-designed environment, ergonomics of workstations, storages and seating systems. He presented a case study, entitled “Success With Ergonomics? He also spoke on the Godrej approach to ergonomics and Godrej FIG’s (Institutional) ergonomic range. Deputy Managers (Seating) Mehul Shah and Ujjal K. Ray were also present at the seminar.

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he Godrej Furniture and Interiors Group (FIG) had the privilege of furbishing the newly built Regional Passport Office at Chandigarh (Sector 34-A), with its seating and desking range. Vinod Khanna, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, inaugurated the Passport Office on 10 February, 2004. J.C. Sharma, Secretary (Policy, Counsellor and Diaspora) and Ashok Kumar Amrohi, Central Passport Officer had accompanied Khanna. The FIG team welcomed Khanna and his team on their visit to Chandigarh.

Doreen Rosario

 


Vinod Khanna, Union Minister of State for External
Affairs, delivers the inaugural speech.

Congratulations!


rmila Deshmukh, daughter of Mahadeo Deshmukh, Furniture and Interiors Group, has been awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for her “extraordinary work?in the “Clean Mumbai?Project.

Urmila is a student of Asmita College (S.Y.B.Com.) and is a National Social Scheme volunteer. She has met many slum dwellers and has made them understand the significance of cleanliness by way of street plays.

The Furniture and Interiors Group heartily congratulates her and wishes her all the best in her future endeavours.

 

 

RETAILING DIVISION


Showroom at Mount Road

he first person I met in Godrej was Dhruv Sharma, General Manager (North Zone) and was very impressed by his simplicity and what he had to say about the Godrej parivar.

A long gap and I got to meet Anil Mathur, who was then heading Storwel Division and is now Chief Operating Officer, Furniture and Interiors Group. He had a lot of questions regarding my profession and how the Company could benefit by my presence. I think my reactions and suggestions on seeing the layout of the Showroom already under renovaton, made my entry easier to this mammoth task of triggering off the renovation of Showrooms across the country.

With a lot of support from B.N. Doongaji, Vice President and Business Head, Retailing Division, for “Operation Facelift? I have been able to complete more than 12 showrooms in a span of just 10 months.

Mount Road Showroom, which is located in a 150-year-old building in Chennai, was my 10th project. I always had a fascination for old buildings and restoration, brightening and beautifying all kinds of spaces. Hence the Mount Road Showroom as also the Chandni Chowk Showroom in Delhi, have a lot of historical significance for me.

Renovating the Showrooms has been a unique experience, but Mount Road was special for several reasons. Ironical as it may seem, this Showroom was the one project I didn’t feel confident about at the start, as it was totally new territory. On an initial visit to Mount Road, I just saw a lot of broken spaces, a maze of rubble and potholes, a large white space and lots of passages. My initial reaction was of surprise - God! What shall I do to this space? Though used to working on larger areas and canvasses, this Showroom did take my breath away for a second. The challenge was to create the right ambience and look, with the right amount of colour and lights. The project was complicated and the possibility to go wrong was great.

A lot of colour has been added with many new ideas. A circular motif throughout the white spaces adds a design element as well as a certain positive zing to the environment. Clear area demarcation and the play of colours and props to subtly guide visitors throughout the Showroom, are unique to this place. Special props come from Auroville in Pondicherry, as does the special calming music. A lot of artwork is done on handmade paper from Aurobindo Ashram. It was important to make the Showroom stand out from the rest of the street and attract passersby. Large windows have clear representation to all the product categories and ensure long visibility to the products inside and make for a colourful positive store.

I was stationed in Chennai for nearly 10 days to do up the store. It was a most satisfying experience.

Manu Mansheet
Visual Merchandising Consultant
For Retailing Division



Partial views of Mount Road Showroom, Chennai.


he Mount Road Showroom at Chennai has come out really well - at present it is probably our best Showroom in the country. I congratulate Manu Mansheet on his excellent creative inputs. At the same time, I greatly appreciate the tremendous efforts put in by our Construction Department team led by Maneck Engineer and Anup Mathew, and our Consulting Architect, Hanoze Mistry, in repairing and restoring the Showroom so well from a condition of almost total ruin! They were well-supported by our team
 



 at Chennai, R.K. Agarwal and Murali Krishna, led by the dynamic Vinod Kumar, General Manager (South Zone).

The process of renovating our Showrooms continues, and the challenge before Manu Mansheet is to make the remaining Showrooms even more attractive than the Mount Road one!

B.N. Doongaji

 

“Happy Huddle??The Energy Drink

day in our Brabourne Road Showroom begins with an energy drink. Guess what? It’s called the ‘Happy Huddle??says Payel Choudhury, the Sales Executive who recently joined the Showroom.

The “Huddle?is not a new concept for Indian cricket fans. Since the last World Cup, we have seen our Indian team get into a huddle, align themselves and come out charged up as one team, firing on all cylinders.

During one of our training programmes, our trainer Nitul Ojha suggested that coming together in the morning could be a good experience for the Retail team. Our Showroom teams, always open to try out new tools for enhancing business, took up this suggestion seriously. The Fort Showroom at Mumbai, Brabourne Road Showroom at Kolkata, Mount Road Showroom at Chennai and Bangalore Showroom have been the early adopters of this concept.


Abid’s (Hyderabad) team knit up in the “Happy Huddle?

The basic concept of “Happy Huddle?is that the team comes together, stands in a circle and interacts to chalk out a plan for the day. The Showroom In-charge or the Regional Head acts as the coach of the team and the following matters are discussed:

  • They start by reminding themselves that the customer is the most important person in our Showroom. It is the customer who ultimately pays our salaries and we are dependent on him.

  • A Happy Welcome: We should receive every customer with a smile and a cordial greeting.

  • Overview of the business performance till date.

  • “Asking Rate? The Showrooms now focus on a daily “Asking Rate?for order booking on the basis of the monthly target. The “Asking Rate?helps Showrooms keep in tune with the business needs on a day-to-day basis. The coach of the “Happy Huddle?reinforces the daily “Asking Rate?

  • Salesperson-wise target for the day.

  • Action plan for the day for each salesperson.

  • Sharing of success stories of the team and of other teams received as “e-applause?by e-mail from Head Office.
     

The team of our Fort Showroom, Mumbai, who “Huddle?under the leadership of Ken D’Cruz, say: “It is a nice experience in the centre, when we all huddle and our captain/In-charge leads us. Once a customer entered the Showroom when we were huddling and was very happy to see us huddle, saying he had not experienced anything like this in any of the Showrooms he had visited. Huddling gives that extra energy, extra power and freedom to work without any sort of fear. Huddling is a nice way to come together and discuss as to how to go about the day’s work. It is a nice way of sharing our experiences in the Showroom. Huddling is a good way of correcting ourselves as it brings out the power of many minds?

Brabourne Road (Kolkata) team shares its ideas in a “Happy Huddle?

 Brabourne Road (Kolkata) team shares its ideas in  a “Happy Huddle?

Says Payel Choudhury of Braboune Road Showroom, Kolkata:

“The ‘Happy Huddle?is a wonderful tool, which helps to pool our resources and gear up for the day. It also infuses a sense of togetherness and helps rejuvenate team spirit. At mid-day we again get together to map how close we are to the target set in the ‘Huddle? It helps us in monitoring our progress throughout the day and also helps set a higher target for the next day by using Kaizen or continuous growth? Biswajeet Mukherjee is the coach of this “Huddle?

P.H. Patell, In-charge of our Hyderabad Showroom, says, “During the ‘Huddle?we discuss our daily footfalls, follow-ups for the next day and, also, learning from yesterday’s events?

R. Giridhar, our Showroom In-charge at Bangalore, feels that the coordination with Branch has improved as a fall-out of the “Happy Huddle?

Generally, we see that the practice of “Happy Huddle?helps the team align to its goal of customer delight by planning on a daily basis, and focusing on the expectations from the team. Above all, the team comes out charged up and ready to take on the challenges ahead.

No doubt, the “Happy Huddle?is becoming the morning energy drink of our Showroom teams.

Atul Anand Natu

 

LOCKS DIVISION


Dealer Relationship Programmes

n our continuous bid to strengthen relationship between the Company and its valued channel partners, Locks Division organised various Dealer Relationship Programmes (DRPs) in 2003-2004.

“Prosperity Through Partnership?was the theme of these programmes designed to build a long-term bond with our dealers for mutual prosperity. Details of DRPs held this year are:

 The dealers were given a visual and informative experience of Locks Division with an emphasis on complete product range, marketing initiatives and manufacturing expertise.

 Branch

DRP on Dealers
Covered

Distributor/s
 Associated

       
Mumbai 22 March, 2004 18

Prime Distributors

Mumbai 15 March, 2004 18

Sakaria Enterprises

Bangalore 19th - 21st February, 2004 27

Karnataka Distributors

Kolkata 23rd - 26th January, 2004 27

Kolkata Distributors

Mumbai 17 January, 2004 13

Active Distributors

Chandigarh 25th-27th September, 2003 10

Dee Pee Agencies

       

The programme at the Godrej industrial township, Pirojshanagar, began with a welcome note by Kartik Modi, General Manager (Sales and Marketing). The Divisional film was shown, followed by a visit to the factory. This was the most memorable part for our dealers, who were amazed to see for the first time the huge manufacturing set-up, various manufacturing processes, test centres, quality tests done on our products, our Research and Development set-up, Product Showroom, etc.

This was followed by presentations by Marketing team members, who briefed the dealers on the new range of products, service set-up, marketing initiatives, call centres, key duplicating centres, promotions done by the Company, safety standards, recycling plants, etc. What the Company expects from the dealers was discussed in terms of product and market feedback, range selling, customised solutions service to customer, etc. Lunch was arranged for the dealers at the Manager’s Canteen. Following this was the Godrej complex tour, which included visit to the Corporate Showroom, Pragati Kendra, Udayachal Schools, Housing Colony and Mangroves. The dealers were glad to know the social consciousness of the Company towards its environment, its value systems and its welfare activities.


Kartik Modi, General Manager and B.K. Rajkumar, Vice President and Business Head (first row, centre) with Kolkata dealers at the Dealer Relationship Programme at Pirojshanagar.

An important part of the day’s session was “Focus Group Discussions ?Recorded Live? which took into account dealers? feedback on various topics such as buyers?profile, market trends, new product ideas, competitor activities, etc. These discussions were helpful as the participants shared a variety of opinions and were able to express characteristics of their own markets. Also, recording the session has helped us in reviewing the contents and discussing it amongst ourselves.

The day concluded with an open, interactive session with B.K. Rajkumar, Vice President and Business Head. Dealers shared their valuable inputs on products, service issues, Company policies, and gave positive feedback about the programme. Finally, Rajkumar presented a memento to all the retailers.

Dealers who had come from other Branch locations, were taken for a one-day sight seeing tour of Mumbai city. Another unforgettable experience for the dealers was a film at Imax Dome theatre. Shopping was done at Bandra, Crossroads and Colaba. Speciality restaurants like Indian Summer, Viva Paschim, etc. were selected for lunches.

The success of the programmes was largely due to the efforts of the Marketing/ Manufacturing/Quality/Design teams and respective Branch team members. Dealers, in their long years of association with Locks Division, were very happy to be invited for the first time for such a programme, and looked forward to coming again in the future.

Dean Noronha
Marketing

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Transformation

uring the last four years, the Service function at Godrej Locks Division has undergone a complete transformation. It has changed from playing the role of a provider to an enabler. Customer service was being addressed to in major Indian cities by our own employed technicians. But the Division realised the need to cover more cities with a service set-up that would be dedicated to its products and customers.

We chose to involve our distributors in providing service as they are close to the customer and would be able to provide the necessary service, efficiently. A marketing policy that made it mandatory for a sales distributor to provide after-sales service was implemented. A separate service policy that outlined procedures, investment norms, service guidelines, was formulated and subsequently implemented by our sales force.

On an all-India basis, over 6,000 carpenters (affiliated with the hardware retailers) and 300 technicians (on the rolls of our distributors) have been trained during the last four years. Reference manuals have been developed for the benefit of carpenters and technicians.


On-the-job training for dealers and technicians.

Today all distributors, who contribute to 80 per cent of our business, provide after-sales service. 143 distributors provide service in 110 cities. Over the last four years the average service completion time has been reduced from 96 hours to 48 hours. Round-the-clock (emergency) service is now available in 14 cities.

An important innovation made during this year is the development of new tools for installation of Mortise Locks. Installation of Mortise Locks is difficult, time-consuming and requires much patience and skill. Due to this, the carpenter, who relies on daily jobs for a living, discourages customers from purchasing these Locks even though they are preferred by customers. To reduce the time and effort required for installation of Mortise Locks, we have developed a cost-effective solution known as “Mortise Solution? This consists of five specially designed cutters, a drill bit and a specially designed shank. We have made this tool available at Rs. 400/- as compared to Rs. 9,000/- for imported tools, which are available to perform the same operation. We expect that, having made life easier for the carpenter, our Mortise products would be recommended more frequently.


 Mortise Lock installation kit.

Focus Group Discussions with our trade partners have revealed that carpenters are major influencers during the purchase decision-making process for locks. Keeping this in mind, we have designed and launched a special programme, named “Vishwakarma Nidhi Scheme? for carpenters. Experienced and influential carpenters are issued a cheque book, whose every leaf can be redeemed for a fixed amount depending on the type of lock that the carpenter installs at a customer’s place. This programme has been launched in 15 major cities during 2003-2004. 350 carpenters have participated so far.

Launch of the “Vishwakarma Nidhi Scheme?at Bangalore.L-R: Suresh, K. Mohan Kumar, V.A. Ramachandran, and G. Ajoy Kumar receive the cheque book from Maganlal Jain, R. Jayant, R.H. Ansari, Mahendra Kumar and A. Venkat Narasimhan.

Launch of the Ultra Key Duplication Centre at Bangalore. R.H. Ansari (second from left) demonstrates the operation of a machine to dealers and technicians.

 

Another customer-friendly initiative of our Service Department has been the launch of 25 Ultra Key Duplicating facilities in 17 cities. Earlier, the customer had to wait for six to eight days for getting an extra Ultra key, as these keys were made only at Mumbai. Now, an Ultra key can be made in 10 minutes over the counter at any of the Duplicating Centres. Imported key cutting machines have been supplied, and technicians and distributors have been trained for operation, safety and maintenance of the machines. Currently, key duplication centres are located at Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Pune, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Delhi.

It has been our endeavour to continuously improve existing processes and to come forth with innovations in order to achieve customer satisfaction. We welcome your comments and suggestions for improvement.

R.H. Ansari
Service

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Operation Showcase

ocks Division (Bangalore Branch) successfully conducted the Annual Dealer Meet and a special event called “Operation Showcase?on Sunday, 14 March, 2004 at Doddi’s Resort on the outskirts of Bangalore.

The Meet, which was attended by 240 dealers, started with a cricket match. Six teams were identified and named, Ultra Lock team, Padlock team, Mortise team, Cylindrical Lock team, Rim Lock team and Furniture Lock team. Different coloured T-shirts were provided to team members. Suresh Naik, Material Handling Equipment Division and B.U. Dayanand, Furniture and Interiors Group (Open Plan Office System), were the special invitees as well as the Umpires for the match. Prizes were awarded to the Best Bowler, the Best Batsman, the Best Fielder and also to the Youngest Player. While songs of the film Lagaan motivated the members, our Senior Sales Officers, A. Venkat Narasimhan and R. Jayant took charge of the commentary and the scores.

 After lunch, we commenced “Operation Showcase? G. Ajoy Kumar, Assistant General Manager (Marketing) and Dipankar Guha, Deputy Manager (Marketing), made a presentation, explaining the features and benefits of the range of various Locks Division products. An introductory film of Showcase was a visual treat for each product group.


Dipankar Guha, Deputy Manager (Marketing) makes a presentation during “Operation Showcase?

Dipankar Guha took a special initiative when he urged the audience to sing along the anthem made for the Showcase film, Hum Hai Godrej song, which glued the audience as a single entity binding them to the Godrej parivar. This was one of the finest moments of the programme.

lers who have been in the hardware business for the past 50 years and more, by giving mementos. The feedback received for this surprise event was excellent since it is unheard of in the hardware industry. This was followed by results of the much-awaited lucky draw, “Dhamaka - 2004? Some of the dealers who came to the Mumbai Head Office under the Dealer Relationship Programme in February 2004 shared their experience of the programme and their visit to the Godrej complex.

 We distributed the “Club HP - Smart 1 Card?as complimentary gifts to dealers who participated in the Meet. Our Branch team would like to thank our distributors, Shantilal & Bros. and Heera Agencies, who were actively involved in the overall successful functioning of the show, which was a good get-together-cum-informative experience for all the dealers assembled.

K. Mohan Kumar
Bangalore Branch

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Retailer Meet in Colombo

odrej Locks, in association with Farook Trading Enterprises, one of our distributors in Sri Lanka, organised a Retailer Meet in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday, 29 February, 2004.

The Meet was attended by 40 retailers from Colombo and other upcountry towns, apart from Farook Mohd., the head of the family, his sons Fazil, Fazlin and Fazeem, B.K. Rajkumar, Vice President and Business Head, Locks Division, Kartik Modi, General Manager (Sales and Marketing), Minoo S. Panthaki, Senior Manager (Exports) and G. Rajaratnam, Market Manager, Sri Lanka operations.


B.K. Rajkumar, Vice President and Business Head, Locks Division (ahead, third from right), with members of Farook Trading and a couple of Godrej employees.

The function started off with an introductory speech by Fazeem informing the gathering of the family history of Farook Trading Enterprises. Rajkumar spoke about the value systems, culture and the different businesses of the Godrej group, which was followed by the Godrej corporate film. He also spoke about the Locks Division followed by viewing of the Locks Division film.

Modi then made a presentation on the different locks and their unique selling points. More emphasis was given on the Ultra technology and the master key systems. There was also an open session wherein participants?queries were answered. Panthaki had an interactive session with the retailers where they had an opportunity to handle our products. In this session a lot of queries were answered.

The Vote of Thanks was given by Fazil, after which refreshments were served. A memento, in the form of a white umbrella, having logos of Godrej and Farook Trading, were given to each participating retailer.

Minoo S. Panthaki
Exports

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Channel Meets / Training Programmes

odrej Locks organised various Meets and training programmes across Branch locations.

a. Channel Partners Meet: Retailer Meets were held in:

  • Indore: 13 March, 2004: 52 dealers: Vasu Sales Corporation

  • Rajkot: 12 March, 2004: 70 dealers: Excellent Customer Services

  • Kalyan: 10 March, 2004: 130 dealers: Lassi Trading Co.

  • Madurai: 26 February, 2004: 30 dealers: SRS Brothers

  • Surat: 16 February 2004: 220 dealers: Deepak Khanna & Co.

  • Mangalore: 14 February 2004: 75 dealers: Ranjini Enterprise

b. Channel Partners Salesmen Training Programmes

A training programme was organised at Trichur on 15 February, 2004. A total of 115 persons attended.


L-R: Chandrakantbhai of Chandrakant General Store, winner of the first prize, a Bajaj Boxer, and Mukeshbhai of Adarsh Hardware, winner of the second prize, a Bajaj Sprite. Both the prizes were given away as lucky draw at the Channel Partners Meet in Surat on 16 February, 2004.

c. Carpenter Meets

Carpenter Meets were conducted at the following Branch locations with the support of local distributors to impart product training and correct installation procedures:

  • Mumbai : 8 March, 2004 : 60 Carpenters : Yatra Arcade

  • Bangalore : 7 March, 2004 : 40 Carpenters : Shantilal & Bros. / Heera Agencies

  • Bangalore : 25 February, 2004 : 45 Carpenters : Kamadenu Agencies

  • Mumbai : 21 February, 2004 : 35 Carpenters : Prime Distributors

d. Roadshows

The Division organised Roadshows across the country to create awareness of our product range. Some of the shows held in January and February 2004 were at Kannur, Chennai and Trichur.

Sales Team

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Mega Theatre Show

odrej Locks, in association with distributor Kalpesh Roy of Active Distributors, by way of innovative schemes, generated sales volume worth Rs. 16 lacs during the period 1st February to 15th March, 2004.

In the “Mega Theatre Show?scheme, different purchase slabs were offered to dealers, based on which they were eligible for movie tickets to one of Asia’s best newly constructed theatre, Thakur Cinema at Kandivali, Mumbai, for an entertaining Hindi film.

Prior to the movie on 18 March, 2004, 200 dealers along with spouses and children gathered for a function on the terrace of the cinema hall. B.K. Rajkumar, Vice President and Business Head, Kartik Modi, General Manager (Sales and Marketing) and T. Sashi Kumar, Regional Manager (West Zone), were present for the function. The programme included the prize distribution ceremony for the various activities carried on by the distributors in the market during the scheme period.

Details Of Other Schemes:

  • A Display contest.

  • A ?i>Hungama Week?was declared for a week prior to the Show wherein mystery consumers were sent and three esteemed dealers won the prizes for not only exhibiting Godrej Locks, but also convincing the end users to purchase only Godrej.

  • “Godrej Is The Best?contest, wherein dealers received calls from Company personnel anytime between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., and, if the dealers answered the call with “Godrej Is The Best? (instead of “Hello!?, they won a prize.
     

During the programme, the oldest retail shop owners in the area were felicitated and the dealer who had accumulated the highest number of cinema tickets was given a special prize. The movie, Ab Tak Chhappan, was thoroughly enjoyed. Generally, the “Mega Theatre Show? as also the various schemes, created excitement in the market and received positive response from one and all.

Aspi Wadia / Rajeev Thukral
Mumbai Branch

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Showroom Sales Training

ocks Division (Delhi Branch) organised a Product Training session on 27 January, 2004 for the Showroom In-charge of the four Godrej & Boyce showrooms of Delhi. Also present was K.R. Dordi, Regional Head (North) of Retailing Division.

Product training was given wherein participants were explained the difference between Mortise and Rim, Inside and Outside, Left and Right, etc., apart from the product features, benefits, applications, etc. Also discussed were issues related to billing procedures, service aspects, etc.

All present had appreciated the programme, were visibly confident for sales of locks, and happy about the proactive approach of Locks Division.

Atul Dixit
Delhi Branch

 

NORTH ZONE UPDATE

 

Customers and Architects Meet

Dhruv Sharma (left) and Anil Sain Mathur (right) interact with Nitin Chopra of Handa & Chopra, Chandigarh.

Display of Godrej Furniture at the exhibition hall.

n 16 and 17 January, 2004 Chandigarh Branch had organised a Customers andArchitects Meet, followed by cocktail and dinner at Hotel Aroma. A large number of leading architects and important customers who attended, were impressed by our new products displayed. Anil Sain Mathur, Chief Operating Officer, Furniture and Interiors Group (FIG), welcomed the invitees. The Branch team made a presentation and Dhruv Sharma, General Manager (North) gave the Vote of Thanks. A Press Meet was also organised, which was addressed by Mathur.
 

Bankers?Meet

S.K. Aggarwal, Assistant Manager, Dara E. Byramjee, and Sushil Kadam, Deputy Manager (Marketing) at the dais.

Dara E. Byramjee shares a light moment  withdealers at the Bankers?Meet in
Chandigarh.

ankers are one of the biggest customers for Security Equipment. They need to be focused separately. Keeping this in mind, Chandigarh Branch had organised a Bankers?Meet at Hotel Mount View, Chandigarh, on 20 February, 2004. Quite a few senior people from the banking industry had attended this Meet. Dara E. Byramjee, Vice President and Business Head, Security Equip-ment Division, was present on the occasion and had a good interaction with the invitees. He spoke in detail about our range of products and also of the new concept of strengthening of doors and safes. A Press Meet was also organised, which was addressed by Byramjee.


Healthy Seating


R-L: Jyothika Bijlani, Chairperson, Scientific Programme Committee, EMCON, presents a Performance Certificate and memento to Maninder Singh Ahuja and Sushil Thariani. Seen in the background are (l-r) a sales canvasser, Jasdeep Singh and Pankaj Malhotra, Senior Sales Executives.

elhi Branch participated in EMCON 2004 held in Delhi. This is an annual national activity carried out by the All India Occupational Therapists?Association. For the fourth consecutive year, Godrej has been awarded a Performance Certificate for designing its chairs ergonomically. We were provided space for display of our range of chairs. Sushil Thariani, Assistant General Manager, Delhi Branch, made the introductory remarks and Maninder Singh Ahuja, Deputy Manager, FIG, made a presentation on health seating covering various aspects of chairs, job profile of users and tests carried out on the chairs, which help the user to select the right chair. Godrej was given a memento in the presence of, approximately, 750 orthopaedics, who had participated in EMCON 2004.

 

Exhibition

n February 2004, Chandigarh Branch participated in the Inside Outside Exhibition at Chandigarh. This Exhibition is about interiors and building materials, which is an attraction for architects and general customers, too. The Chief Guest Divender Singh, Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly, had spent a considerable amount of time at our stall. Customers not only from Chandigarh, but also from neighbouring places like Patiala, Ludhiana, etc. visited the Exhibition.

Display of some of our Furniture products at the Godrej stall.

New Showroom Opening

Royal Impression, the exclusive Godrej Perfect Home showroom, as viewed from outside.

A section of the display of Godrej Furniture at Royal Impression.

oyal Comforts, our Jammu Wholesale Dealer, has opened a new premier showroom, Royal Impression, exclusively for Godrej Perfect Home products in Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. Royal Impression has been given a premium look by using carpet flooring, good interiors as well as a good display of our FIG ?Home products. It was inaugurated on 15 February, 2004.


Walk-in Interviews Mela


Screening session in progress during the Walk-In Interviews Mela.

o take care of a large number of vacancies existing in Appliance Division and Mohali Factory in North Zone, for Sales, Service and Manufacturing, a Walk-in Interviews Mela was organised in Delhi on 2 March, 2004. Corporate Personnel Department had released advertisements in The Hindustan Times and The Times of India. Proper planning and arrangements were made for smooth screening movement and testing/interview process so that there is no hindrance to office functioning. Over a thousand candidates arrived for screening at the Reception. Different counters were set up such as Reception, Registration, Written Test, Interviews, etc. The whole episode was successful due to the help and coordination of the Organising Committee members from Delhi/Faridabad/Ghaziabad Branches Sales, Service and Administration Departments, Corporate Personnel Department and the Appliance Human Resources Department. In all, about 28 candidates were appointed on the basis of these Walk-ins.

ISO Audit Training Programme

n orientation/training programme on Quality Management System as per ISO 9001:2000 and as per the auditing standard ISO 19011:2002 was successfully completed at Delhi Branch for North Zone’s Furniture and Interiors Group (FIG) and Security Equipment Division (SED), between 11 and 13 February, 2004. The trainers were D.B. Chhapger, Office Consumer Products ?Marketing Services, N.D. Deshmukh, FIG and D. Sequeira, SED. All the North Zone Branch Managers, Deputy Managers and Service personnel pertaining to FIG and SED attended the programme, which concluded with a quiz. Sushil Thariani, Assistant General Manager, Delhi Branch, scored the highest marks and all the 24 personnel who took the test, cleared it.

 

South Zone Update

 

Perfect Home At Kannur

he town of Kannur, located in North Kerala, is known for its handlooms the world over.Our Wholesale Dealer of more than 25 years, Sangi & Co., has set up an exclusive Perfect Home Showroom, which is their seventh Showroom in Kannur District displaying only Godrej products.

C.M. Bharathan, Proprietor, Sangi & Co., was particular that the Showroom’s inauguration be done by our very own K.M. Vinod Kumar, General Manager (South), since he has been present for all the expansion programmes of Sangi & Co. in the last two decades. Kumar inaugurated the Showroom on 29 January, 2004. Invitees to the function included professionals, the business community and bankers of Kannur. On display at the Showroom are our range of sofas, cots, bunk beds, dining tables, kitchen cabinets and computer tables. This 1,000 sq. ft. Showroom stands apart from all other consumer durable showrooms because of its pleasant ambience and attractive product display.
While congratulating Bharathan for this initiative, we look forward to some roaring business in Perfect Home from North Kerala.

G. Venu Gopal

 

Dancing To The Tune Of Bharat Natyam

rikant Subramaniam is the son of Uma Subramaniam, Teacher and Coordinator of
Udayachal Primary School. Srikant is currently studying in his final year of Bachelors of Fine Arts, Dance in Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya.

He had his initial training in Bharat Natyam from Saroja Srinath and Siri Ramaswami at Kanaka Sabha Performing Arts Centre, Mumbai. Srikant has always been encouraged to pursue dance as his career. Not only his parents, even the teachers at Udayachal Schools have always supported him. He has performed in the Udayachal Pre-Primary, Primary and High Schools on several occasions. He has won many accolades in Inter-School and Inter-College competitions. He feels honoured to have played the lead role in Rukmini Svayamvar, a recent dance production, premiered on 3 February, 2003 at the Nehru Centre, Mumbai, conceptualised and directed by his mentor, Kanak Rele.

Srikant performed his arangetram in January 1994 and, since then, has been performing in various dance concerts in India and abroad. He has also received a scholarship for young artists from the Government of India, Department of Culture, for the period 2004-2006 in the field of Bharat Natyam, and a prestigious scholarship from the Nehru Centre, Mumbai, for the year 2003-2004.

CHANGE commends his sincerity and devotion to the field.