1

The combination of steep inflation and fast changing consumer tastes can bevery unsettling for the businesses in the context of economic slowdown to protectprofitability. Cost cutting measures are fine, but to improve margins and forcreating strong differentiators, something more is called for. Better design is onesuch initiative which can help us a great deal for both winning the share ofminds of the customer and their wallets as well.

The theme Design to Delight has been chosen to put a spotlight on the issuesrelated to design and at the same time enhance ‘design consciousness’ amongstour readers. The role of design spans beyond aesthetics of products, and brightercolours - it extends to making life easier, better, brighter building on deep insights.Design is something we do to initiate change in anything that is manmade –products, spaces, systems, education, laws, healthcare, public policies et al.Design is a pre cursor to change. And change we must if we want to emerge ina better shape whilst facing the tougher market conditions ahead. Design is apowerful lever and one must work hard to leverage it fully.

We have an interesting feature on the general aspects of design by Jasish Kambli.Burzin Wadia tells us about the role of design in the Appliances business.BK Rajkumar and his team spoke to us about the design process at Locks division.And for our homemakers, interior designer Sonal Mamoowala tells us how aninput of design effort can drastically alter home life at a small extra cost. Toillustrate the power of design, we have featured five works of IDEO of USA, theworld-renowned design services firm.

Our archivist Vrunda Pathare recounts the story of the Corporate Design Center- a pioneering initiative which contributed to business growth in a very significantway.

Besides these is our Homebase section, which brings to you the highlights of thehappenings in the organisation. Lots of things to learn and know from here.

The poem, Picking More Daisies inspires us with the thought that it is possible tore-design our lives for greater meaning and joy. As usual an appeal forcontributions and good quality photographs. Feedback is welcome as always.

Enjoy reading and best wishes to everyone for the new financial year ahead.

Indrapal Singh

Re-orienting the Design Way

Editorial BoardAnil G VermaG SunderramanHarpreet KaurNalini KalaMegha Moorthy

Co-ordinatorsRatul Mazumdar (East)FK Khapoliwalla (West)Sushil Thariani (North)Vinod Kumar (South)

DistributorsNariman BachaSR Marolia

Consulting EditorIndrapal Singh

DesignYogesh JahagirdarYogakshar Design Studio

Printed byGenius Printers Pvt. Ltd.

Edited and Published byIndrapal Singh on behalf ofGodrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.Mumbai - 400 079For private circulation only.

Between Us

Fifteen years ago, as a student inAhmedabad, I spent a reasonably largepart of my academic life waiting in lineat the little yellow booth outside themain gate of NID, hoping to get thoseprecious few minutes on that amazingcommunication device... the STDbooth. Yesterday, a teenager sitting nextto me was checking her face bookmessages on her phone, and wasundoubtedly in regular, sometimeshourly, contact with her friendsscattered across the world.

Go back another ten years, and if youtravelled by air you were super cool.Now my carpenter flies to Delhi everyweek to supervise his jobs. So, airportshave to deal with more traffic, whichmeans the seating (some of which I’msure is made here in Godrej), needs tobe that much more robust. And ofcourse, it has to look and feel greatwith all the international travellersflying domestic routes today.

What this confirms is that the worldaround us is changing and that as we

evolve, the objects we use need toadapt to fit our lifestyles. Note the keyword here - “change”!!! Our livestoday are subject to change like neverbefore and undoubtedly, there is ademand on objects that form part ofour daily interactions to keep pace.Comfort in an office chair for example,takes a whole new meaning when youconsider today’s BPOs (where ten hourshifts in front of a console are thenorm). Housewives swear by theirmicrowave ovens and mobile phonesdouble up as personal secretaries.What’s more - until a few years ago,design was designer... clothes, cars andthe likes. But today design is slowlybecoming associated with everydaylife. From bathrooms to brooms, wesuddenly feel the need for everythingto function better, look smarter and costright.

Interestingly, if you reflect on history,it’s quite clear to see that designresponds to change. Take for example,the industrial revolution in the early20th century which saw a spurt of new

Jashish Kambli

Of yellow STD boothsand

coloured stapler pins…

Cover Story

2

products; or the introduction of plasticsthat reshaped our world in the 50s. Andthe place of ergonomics in our lifewhich first found mention duringWorld War II; when despite the

development of advanced machines,it was observed that the best aircraftflown by the best-trained pilots - stillcrashed. And in 1943, when a U.S.Army lieutenant, showed that this so-called “pilot error” could be greatlyreduced by replacing confusingdesigns by logical anddifferentiable controls– this where thescience ofergonomics layroot.

But design canalso lead tochange. Case inpoint, the Sonywalkman: a result of designinnovation that has lead a revolutionand with it - a complete new way tolook at exercise.

So, where there’s change, there’sdesign and today when change is thenorm, design is a necessity. If you canspot change, you will find opportunityfor design. A new machine or process,different materials, different users/customers, a new region of sale - allthrow up exciting designopportunities that unfortunately,rarely get addressed.

But sometimes, design doesfail. One reason that canbe attributed to thisfailure is that design isyet seen as theDesigner’s business.Frankly, this couldn’t be

further from the truth. Design iseverybody’s business. Not thatI’m saying you needto quickly pick upa pencil and startsketching. But thereis a designer in allof us and everytime you changethe font size onyour PPT, shift your furniture aroundat home or work, or choose your shirtto match your trousers, it’s this latentdesign sense that’s kicking in. The moresensitive you are to your surroundings,the more opportunities you will find tochallenge yourself and improve things.Whether it’s on the shop floortightening nuts and bolts and workingmachinery, or getting up close with

customers and convincing themabout your product, there are

hundreds of little things thatcan prop up yourcompany image andcontribute to thesatisfaction and delight tothe thousands of Godrejusers.

Just last week, my friendand I were browsing through

Crossword. Suddenly he picked upsomething and said, “Look at this,aren’t they cool...” Coloured staplerpins if you must. I was amazed, sosimple and yet no one had done it tillnow. What a great idea! We boughttwo packs and left feeling very satisfied.

Now, that maynot have beene v e r y o n e ’ sreaction but I’msure there are

plenty more likeus who smiled

when they first sawthem. To me this is what

design is... beingdelightful by being

thoughtful.…the revolution has begun.

But if we as Indians need to stand

up and becounted as acountry thatproduces worldclass products,there is anotherand more

significant role thatneeds to be addressed - that

of the critical consumer. As longas users and customers do notrecognize and relate to good designand quality, we will continue to churnout substandard products and services.But when we reject design that doesn’tconform to our quality standards,objects we feel are not thoughtfullydesigned, we raise the bar and createan atmosphere that demands betterand better output. And when thisbecomes routine, good design will stopbeing sporadic, and become the normrather than the exception.

After all who needs coloured staplerpins!

There is a designer inall of us and everytime you change thefont size on your PPT,shift your furniturearound at home orwork, or choose yourshirt to match yourtrousers, it’s this latentdesign sense that’skicking in.

“

“

(Jashish Kambli is a practicingindustrial designer and is one of thefounding partners of Futuring DesignPvt. Ltd.)

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Do you think design is gettingadequate importance in the Indianscheme of things? Are the Indianconsumers ready to accept well-designed products at this point?

To a very large extent, yes. Earlier,many people did not understand whatdesign was. Even people in the industrythought that design means styling.Styling is just one part of design. Youstart with work shape etc, but after thatthe substantive part of design follows,which is the engineering part of design.Deciding how you are going to makeit, how it will function, whether the

internal parts are well fitted or not,assembly, disassembly, material - allthat is a part of design.

How important a part of design isstyling?

It's subjective really. If you aredesigning a locomotive, you need notpay too much attention to style. Whatwould be important is design forperformance, design for economy, andthe like. This is the case with almostall engineering design. In the case ofappliances, earlier they were designed

for performance and there was noimportance given to styling.But now it’s no longer that way. Wemust keep in mind that styling can bethe starting point for design but it can'tbe the end. Too stylish a product doesnot necessarily mean that the designis good. An overly stylish product couldhave serious limitations in terms ofperformance. Design, in an industrylike ours i.e. the Appliances industry,is a harmonious mix of both. One isthe starting point, the other is theending point and both have to mergeto get some sense out of it.

As a person who has been in designfor such a long time what do you thinkis the starting point of design? Howdo you begin?

It is a very important question.Everybody has been saying that onemust look at what the market andascertain the wants and utility of

products. But for years together, whenwe said we were looking at the market,we were actually looking towardsmarketing. Marketing is only a subsetof the market. So, there was a big gapbetween what our marketing used tothink and what the actual marketwanted. This gap can be huge.Recently, we have stated the practiceof trying to understand the market byinteracting with consumers. So that Ithink should be the starting point.

Does better design necessarily implybetter or more technology?

Not necessarily. All that better designmeans it that it has most appropriatelysuited for use and it most optimallysatisfy the consumer's needs. If bettertechnology is imperative to do that,then certainly. But it is not necessarilyso.

In terms of design how can do youthink can we stack up against hugeinternational players, as in the case ofour appliance business?

One thing is for sure as far stacking upis concerned, if we compare ourselvesin sheer size, then we practically won'tstack up anywhere because they largedepartments, large capabilities and a lotof manpower. That is in no wayindicative of the nature of their capacity.Again, from the effectiveness point ofview - to see that the need is satisfied, toensure that the looks and the selling isright and the product is in general right,size is not a critical thing.

What are your dilemmas as a designperson?

One important dilemma, which adesigner always faces, is up front ondecision-making. Design is verysubjective. What you like, he may notlike and what the two of you like, I maynot like. So each time, we need to takea call and say “We should do this,because it has a higher chance ofsucceeding”. And more often than not,there is no scientific basis to it. It is agut feeling. But finally, what you chosecould bomb. It may just not work! And

4

Burzin Wadia shares his perceptions, his concerns and what he thinks could be animpediment in the design movement.

Engineeringbetter design

Burzin Wadia

Making Life Easier

the reason for that may or may not beperformance issues, there could befairly frivolous reasons.

What should Godrej do to becomestronger in design?

We have a fair amount of knowledgebase and capability on engineeringdesigns and products. We are ratherweak is the aesthetics and stylingdesign part. So it is best to outsourcethat part. The young workforce of todaywould be right for the job as they aremore enthusiastic, they are moreexperimentative…I am not saying thatit can't be developed in-house over a

5

Making Life Easier

period of time. But that's really theappropriate way to start.

Another vital thing is that I think at least50-60 percentof the peoplein designneed to haveb e e ngrounded onthe shopfloor.That way theywould havehandled theproduct andw o u l dt h e r e f o r e

understand the processes and products.So you can be certain their designwon't be outrageous to manufacture.

Is there any one thing HumanResources can do to attract morepeople in the design function?

I think we need to get in people andclearly tell them that finally they willbe in design, but that we want to charta proper career path for them. The pathof entry should be in manufacturing or

quality, then they should be moved tovarious functions (even the markets)and finally after a period of four, fiveor maybe even seven years, we shouldbring them into design.

If we directly hire them from collegeand bring them into the design function- yes, they bring with them theirknowledge of CAD-CAM and all ofthat, but the output will need a lot ofre-work and attention due to lack ofexperience.

What do you think could be the otherroadblocks in carrying the designmovement forward?

Today, our designs are largely reactive,not proactive as in we have nothingin inventories, so we have noammunition ready as we go forwardto battle it out. That is really somethingwe need to develop.

Indrapal SinghMegha Moorthy

Do you have an object of desire interms of design?

There are two things of daily use thebent access or flexible accesstoothbrush. I don't know how effectiveit is but it is convenient. Another thingis the Gillette shaving razor. I like it forthe same reason of convenience indesign.

6

Ever wondered how your colleague got that dreamhouse! Here are some guidelines to help you sailthrough. Sonal Mamoowala, a practicing interiordecorator shares the options available today and afew invaluable tips.

As a professional, the designer's job isto put a client's idea into reality. Buyinga new house is a dream come true for

most people. How does this housebecome a home? Today,apartments in new buildingshave limited area as comparedto spacious bungalows andhavelis. This limited area hasto accommodate a lot offurniture. Besides almostevery member in the familyhas specific needs/requirements and ideas togo about it. People withan eye for aestheticsand some knowledgecan manage todecorate their homesw i t h o u tprofessional help.But today, people

have realised the need of designfor optimum use of limited space.

Basically, budget(or costing) andtime are the mostimportant factorsin the design andd e c o r a t i o nprocess. These aredeciding factors forthe quantity andquality of work.

Besides a detailed list of requirementsby (all) family members, ensures anideal design.

Initially, an architect/interior designerprepares preliminary lay out plans byallocating areas as per requirements.Once accepted, conceptual designschemes are prepared and thereafter

detailed drawings are worked out.Though each room has its ownindividual design, the whole apartmenthas to be treated as one unit with somecontinuity and integration of space.

At this stage, with layout plansfinalised, a client may opt to go in forreadymade furniture if time is a criteria.But else the budget needs to be workedout before all else.

Once a broad basis, a ball park figureper square feet is applicable toresidences and offices. This leads toallocation of funds per room basis,which decides detailing like materials,finishes, fabric, paint, polish etc.

Starting from the entrance lobby wework out details of kitchens, bedroomsand bathrooms, living- dinning spaces,family rooms etc. Each area design isuser specific. Clients today, are awareof the new products in this industry-thanks to the exhibitions, magazines,internet and media - all bombard youwith info! Fully equipped, the clientspecifies exactly what is in mind andon paper (through brochures) and thedesign process starts. A couple of fieldtrips to showrooms, public spaces, helpdecision making.

At the very beginning we decide onstyle as in period, contemporary,modern, fusion, ethnic whatever! Thisis followed by colours, texture,ambience etc.

Kitchens are looking better and betterwith each passing day. Storage areashave become easily accessible bydrawers in place of unreachable

The ABC of

interior design

Designing Spaces

6

7

shelves, trolleys have replacedinaccessible corners - appliances likeHOBS have replaced Gas burners,chimneys reduce smoke, granitesurfaces are virtually maintenance freefor life.

Bathrooms, today, have almost begunto resemble Cleopatra's privatechambers, with the sheer variety of tilesand fittings available. But very oftenbathrooms prove to be the biggestproblem area, as clients tend to getconfused with all the options available.The price of each element (tiles,shower panel, fittings, basin) could bethe deciding factor in bath design.

Careful co-ordination isessential. A littleprofessional helpcan go a long wayin defining theambience of yourbathroom.

Bedrooms are personal spaces and soit's important to pay special attentionto their requirement. Understandingthe client's lifestyle can help anddesign for specific usage. Fold awayIroning boards, hidden closets, drawersbelow bed add to storage space! Usageof mirrors helps increase space, at leastvirtually. We also have a variety of bedsto choose from - single bed, doublebed, pullout bed, sofa cum bed onecan choose depending on the spaceavailable.

Living Dining Spaces are the publicareas in one home and therefore givenmore importance as a visitor'simpression is based on the living space.Size of family and room determines thesizes of sofa and dining table - butdesign depends on costing. Lightfittings add to a great extent. Moodlightning by use of dinners, generalconcealed lighting, spot lights for

highlighting, picture lights (as namesuggests) up lighters for ambience - thechoices are endless!

In case of the entrance lobby (if spacepermits), it is very important to keepaway the view of main living room cutdoor. A seating arrangement helps takecare of people like office staff and otherservice oriented people like dhobi,watchmen, courier boys etc.

Lastly, accessories can make or mar awell designed house. Items like photoframes, plants, paintings, objects-d-art(curios), ornamental mirrors,strategically placed can enhance theambience of a place. Well coordinatedself furnishings like drapes/curtains,upholstery bedspreads, rugs/carpets,cushions when used creatively can dowonders for your house.

Overall the important thing is to havea home that reflects your sensibilities,caters to your requirements and makesyou feel relaxed after all it's the onlyspace we can really call our own.

A note of advice: Before decoratingyour house or re-designing your house,a basic consultation from aprofessional can save time and effortand get better results than self help.

(Sonal Hussein is a practicing interiordecorator)

Designing Spaces

7

8

Bringing design

to the center

Archivist Vrunda Patharedelves deeper to findsome interesting detailson the erstwhile DesignCentre at Godrej

Dr. P A Joshi discussingthe design of AB typewriter with his team

Reflect, Restore, Reimagine

In a website for industrial design, anarticle discussing the definition ofIndustrial design has two ratherinteresting anecdotes: An executive ata large retail channel, after sittingthrough a 30-minute presentation,summed it up bluntly: "Well, this is allvery impressive, and the productsyou've shown here are great. But whyis it that all the design projects I've donein the last 10 years have failed?"

The second being a charismatic youngentrepreneur on design awards:"Awards are the kiss of death. If youwin a design award, the product is nogood, its dead, it's never taking off."

The author of the piece went on towrite, “The quickest way to end adesign debate with a good designer iswith the question: "...but would youbuy it?" Deceptively simple, but straightthrough the heart, it's amazing how

quickly designers who fought hard fora far-reaching concept will reevaluatetheir position when faced with theirown pocketbook. Is it too far to pushthis to a rule that "if you won't buy it todo the work it's meant to do for theprice it's meant to carry, it is not'Industrial' enough?”

Form, function, desirability,manufacturability, affordability - allthese are the ingredients of successfuldesign. And design engineers, whoconceptualize ideas, create andexecute the design solutions towardsproblems of engineering, marketing,brand development and sales areamong main pillars of anymanufacturing unit.

A manufacturing organisation likeGodrej had the vision and foresight tounderstand this criticality of design andMr. Naoroji (Naval) Godrej conceived

9

Design team at work

Reflect, Restore, Reimagine

the idea of starting a centraliseddesigning activity catering to allmanufacturing plants and theirproducts at the start of 1970s. A fewdesign engineers were broughttogether for spearheading this designactivity at Godrej. As a result, a designcentre was created in mid-1970s.

Godrej Archives brings you the storyof this Design Centre through thereminiscences of those who were partof this centralised design activity.

In the year 1971, the design centre wasformed after transferring productdesign engineers, technicians anddraftsmen from various plants likelocks, typewriter, furniture, securityequipments, and refrigerator. However,machine tools, forklift and tool roomwere not made a part of this centraliseddesign activity. “The reason being, thefocus of the design centre was massapplication items,” informs Dr. PAJoshi, under whom the Design teamwas put together.

SA Kolhatkar, SS Kulkarni and Mr.Kshirsagar from the Typewriter Plantjoined the team. Ashank Desai, nowthe CMD of Mastech, was also a partof this design team and looked afterrefrigerator design. Uday Nanivadekarwas in-charge of Locks. SarangSulakhe, Dilip Kelkar also joined theDesign Centre.

An advertisement calling for designengineers was carried out innewspapers. GR Kulkarni who had

completed his MTech in MachineDesign from IIT Mumbai, applied inresponse to this ad. Subsequently healso became part of the design teamin the year 1972.

There were about 12-13 designengineers and about 10-12 draftsmen.Among draftsmen who joined were:Mr. Tandel, Mr. Gavankar, Mr.Paranjpe, Mr. Ramesh Satam, Mr.Bapat, Mr. Maruti Desai, Mr. Tikam andMr. Patil. Mr. Tilani was working asstenographer for the design centre.

The design centre was located at Plant11 which at that time was only a'ground + one' structure. The first floorwas the office and workshop facilitywas established at the ground floor formaking prototypes designed at thecentre. Mr. Gawade was looking afterthe workshop. Raghunath Patil,Mafatlal Panchal, Mr. Shinde andChimanlal Panchal were working at theworkshop. The library containingtechnical books and periodicals wasalso maintained at the Design centre.George Eipe used to look after thelibrary.

“The main function”, as Dr. PA Joshiputs it, “was to undertake the work ofnew product design, improve existingproducts, study customer productcomplaints and take remedialmeasures.”

The scope of the activity was howeverlimited to making of prototypes, saidMr. Kolhatkar. The decision of whetherto go ahead and manufacture theproduct lay with the top management,who would base it on feasibility.

Among the various products developedat this Design Centre importantproducts were: The carbon film ribbonfor the typewriter, Tubular latches, FireResisting Filing Cabinets (FRFC),industrial heavy duty racking andseveral others.

GK Kulkarni particularly rememberstwo products that they developed: Fireresisting filing cabinets, the productwhich was commercialised later andis still in production even today. Oneof the other designs they developedwas for Locks. A problem was beingfaced with the bending of the lockshackle (the U bend rod) – it was

10

Design Group, From L to R:Mr. Gawankar, Mr. Satam, Mr. Gawade,Dr. P A Joshi, Mr. Kolhatkar, Mr. Tolaniand Mr. Samudra

NPG took very

special interest in

the design centre -

almost everyday or

every alternate day

he used to visit and

give suggestions

“

“

Reflect, Restore, Reimagine

specifically an alignment problem. Theproblems to be addressed by theDesign Centre were: non-uniformity inbend angle and skewness in slotrelative to the bend. The solutionproposed by the design center to bendthe lock shackles is put in use eventoday. “Of course now with the propercontrols but the basic principle, thebasic way in which the lock shackle isformed is still the same as wasdeveloped at that time by the designcentre.”

He also recollects that NPG took veryspecial interest in the design centre -almost everyday or every alternate dayhe used to visit and give suggestionson improvements to be made. Oneincident which Mr. Kulkarni vividlyremembers was when Mr. NP Godrejcame to see the telescopic slides forfire resisting cabinets that the DesignCentre had developed. These slideswere to carry 30 kg load when theyare fully extended meaning when theentire drawer is opened. One day Mr.N P Godrej came to the shop areawhen the endurance test for theseslides was being carried out. To checkthe strength of the slides, he extendedthe drawer fully and suddenly clungon to the drawer front when the drawerwas fully loaded. With that much of aload the front portion of the drawer got

a bent. So he said that nothing wrongshould happen even if the user puts hishand inside the drawer and presses itdown. He asked us to improve on this.So immediately the next day wemodified the design by adding astiffening bracket to the front portionof the drawer. Then he again came andchecked the strength by clinging to thefully loaded, extended drawer. Thistime nothing happened. The drawerwas working perfectly fine. So he washappy and gave his go ahead.

The design centre also made 20prototypes of the lateral filing cabinets.Interesting feature of this cabinet wasthe Scissor's type arrangementprovided at the back of the drawer toensure fully parallel movement of awide drawer. This product was nevercommercialised. But these prototypesfound their way to the offices of few inGodrej, recollects Mr. Kulkarni.

Dr. Joshi recalls the development oftube bending machines for Malaysia.“We made two such machines whichwere sent to Malaysia. They wantedtube bending machines which couldbe hand operated. Automatic machinesare available for bending tubes andthey were being used in furniture plant.However NPG said that we need somemachines which can be manually

operated. Malaysia was a very poorcountry in those days (and could notafford the automatic machines). So wemade some machines (which then)were shifted there.”

The other significant contribution madeby the Design Centre, as pointed outby Dr. Joshi, was that for the first timethe polyurethane foams were used forthe heat insulation. The man behindthis was Mr. Ashank Desai. He and Mr.Shahpurkar had started an initial workon foaming fixtures at the DesignCentre, recalled Mr. Kolhatkar.

Dr. Joshi takes pride in the fact that theinitial work on fractionating trays forthe IPCL also began at the Design

11

When the request came from the Change magazine to trace the history ofDesign Centre, we were a bit baffled as we had no paper records tellingthe story of this centralised design activity. On the suggestion of Mr. I PSingh, we decided to meet those who were associated with the activity in1970s like Dr. P A Joshi, Mr. S A Kolhatkar, Mr. G R Kulkarni. Interactionswith them proved very fruitful based on which we could write a piece onthe Design Centre. We are indebted to them for their time and information.Our special thanks to Mr. GR Kulkarni who also allowed us to take copiesof the records carefully treasured by him, documenting the contributionof the design team.

If you have any information or records pertaining to history of Godrejplease contact us at: archives@godrej.com. You can also call us at: 67964124/2014

Save our history before it’s gone !!!

Reflect, Restore, Reimagine

Centre …the work that in fact laid thefoundation of the Precision EquipmentDivision. The design centre developedand made prototypes of chemicalequipments like fractionating trays,bubble caps…as per the designspecifications from Engineers IndiaLimited, New Delhi, who were theengineering consultants to IPCL. Thesamples were shown to Mr. NP Godrej.He liked them very much andimmediately decided to accept theorder and start manufacturing them.Special plant for manufacturingchemical equipments was set up.

The appreciation of all these efforts ofthe Design Centre came from theGovernment of India thatacknowledged “Our design Centre asa recognised research anddevelopment centre. Our companywas represented in various committeesof ISI Indian Standard Institution ofGovernment of India and standards forvarious products were discussed,formulated and updated,” recalled Dr.Joshi.

In spite of the success that DesignCentre achieved in a short span of itslife, a decision was taken to close downthe Design centre around 1975-76. Inretrospect while citing reasons for itsclosure, Dr. Joshi thinks the lack ofcoordination between manufacturingplants and the design centre was mostprobably the reason for the winding ofthe centralised design activity. “Designactivity has to go with the production.It should be housed physically (at theplant) because lot of interactions (arerequired),” observed Dr. Joshi.

Mr. GR Kulkarni says, “If there hadbeen much more involvement frommanufacturing plants and if few peoplefrom the manufacturing plants itselfcould have been drawn to do theseactivities it would have benefited.”Consequently, the Design Centre hadto be soon dissolved…

Though a short lived activity, the

Design Centre groomed many freshdesign engineers by allowing them touse their skills to the fullest andallowing them the freedom toexperiment and to design. For them,the design centre provided thenecessary training ground where theylearned, molded and improved their

skills. The capabilities generated herebenefited the company in the long termas these design engineers continuedmaking significant contributions to themanufacturing plants they were sentto. Few like Mr. G R Kulkarni are stillcontributing their expertise.

designmodern

The Lamp is one-piece product that expressesthe unique properties of Ultrason allow the bulbto be screwed directly into the plastic so thereis no need for a separate socket.

It appears suspended, entirely visible, in itscrystalline Ultrason shell.

The Lamp thus reduced to its most minimal form:a cord; a bulb; a socket.

This new approach is direct result of theUltrason. The Lamp can stand on a table, or behung from the ceiling as a pendant. It is asvisually compelling when it is on as when it isoff.

The Kettle provides a magical experience thatwill awaken senses that are not usually part ofmaking a cup of tea:� You can clearly see water boiling in a plastic vessel.� You can safely touch the container while the water boils.The Kettle excites the senses and challenges usto react differently to heat. Because the Kettle isinspired by the traditional carafe, it can be placeddirectly on the table once the water has beenheated.Unlike the traditional kettle, however, massiveand opaque, Ultrason allows it to have a lightand transparent look. A metal plate integratedinto the bottom of the carafe heats the water byinduction so that the product is sealed and easyto clean.The insulating properties of Ultrason, combinedwith a double wall and an ergonomic shape,allow for a firm grip or a gentle caress.The Kettle has no handle because it doesn’t needone!

moderndesign

icons oficons of

The traditional hair dryer is one of thoseutilitarian objects that long ago lost our interest.But in neglect lies opportunity!The Travel Hair Dryer makes use of theproperties of Ultrason to rethink the appliancefrom the ground up. The insulating character ofthe material allows us to do away with thehandle, which makes it smaller, lighter, andmore compact than other travailing hair dryers.

The emphasis on portability is likewise reflectedin the way the cable can be wrapped aroundthe body and >> plugged<< into the exhaustgrid at the top. The Travel hair Dryer benefitsfrom the properties of Ultrason in other respectsas well. The entire product can be produced ina one-step moulding process so that no part linesare visible, and the hot air vents are mouldeddirectly into the housing. Inspired by Ultrson, itis a study in simplicity.

What could be more commonplace than thewise coat hanger? What could be more familiarthan the T-shirt? Only a radical new technologycould inspire us to rethink such ordinary things.The new Hanger concept brings together thesetwo iconic forms to hang, dry, and warm shirts.It dries by heat and irons by tension, eliminatingtwo entire stages of the laundry tedium. And itdoes so with a wink and smile.

The Hanger is witty, but rests upon new andinnovative technology. The induction bar acts toheat up a thin filament which runs along itsexterior edge, and we can exploit the heatresistence, structural properties,and metal-bonding capabilities of Ultason to takethe T-shirt and the coat hanger to places they’venever been before.

The scream of an alarm clock. The shock of a bare foot oncold floor. We can’t do away with mornings, but can we atleast soften the painful transition from the serenity of sleepto the stress of getting ready for work?The Toaster seeks to do just that. Soft-edged and lightweight,you can see it down wherever you are. Thanks to its openand transparent shell, you can see and smell your toast,and thus let your senses do the work of a mechanical timer.Speed it up; slow down; interrupt it to answer the phone.The chef controls the appliance, not the way around.To complete the morning ritual, the Toaster opens like yourmorning newspaper to offer you its modest gifts: warm,golden, and slightly crunchy: a piece of toast.

Courtesy: Ideo(Ideo is a world renowned design firm)

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Unlocking

opportunities

Competition in the market for locks is intense. Over the years imports from China andproducts from un-organised sector have captured the bulk of the market at the lowerend. In other segments, established local players are becoming stronger day by day,also every player in the market is importing locks and accessories for meeting therequirements of boom in the construction industry. It's in the context of this competitivescenario, CHANGE spoke to the Divisional Head, BK Rajkumar, Design Head TS Muraliand Marketing Head, KN Modi of the Locks division to get a better understanding ofhow the design process works.

Ch: Can you tell us how design helpsyou compete more effectively in thecompetitive scenario?

BKR: I think in the segment ofinstitution sales, design plays animportant role. In this segment there isa substantial demand for so-called asper order (APO) items. As we have astrong design team we are able to offerinnovative solutions for theserequirements and overcomecompetition. It is here that we get abetter mileage from the good designsthat we have.

KNM: I believe design does help uscompete better against competition.Let me give you an example: we cameout with a tribolt version of locks inour range of ultra locking systems. Noone has introduced such a lock inIndia; it was indeed an innovativesolution where we have combined ourultra lock with kadi. Also the aestheticswere made attractive with satin nickelfinish – first of its kind in India.

Thus, an innovative product combined

with superior aesthetics as well asdifferent finishes and a large numberof variants helped us create a newproduct category, which posed aserious challenge to the competition,besides meeting the needs of a segmentof the market.

TSM: As locks are highly commodisedcategory, no sooner we come out withnew designs, they get quickly copiedand get introduced in the market placeat lower prices nullifying ouradvantage. In order to retain an edgewe now adopted the mode of takingprotection under the prevailinglaws.Also we have learnt to avoid the“me too” trap and we offer something

new overand abovew h a tmeets the requirements of thecustomers. We now use design to bringabout a degree of freshness to ourproduct portfolio. We design features,which excite the customers as to theirnewness…

This is what we do to sustain ourselvesin the market in the short run.However, for the long-term advantagewe increasingly use newertechnologies for a competitive edge.The application of this new technologyis not visible to the customers but isexperienced by them in terms of

TS Murali, Design Head, BK Rajkumar, Business Head and KN Modi, Marketing HeadLocks Division

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enhanced security and other benefits.This is how we deploy design to keepcompetition away.

BKR: Let me make two brief comments.First, design does help us in movingaway from products manufactured inbulk to specialised products meant forthe specific segments of the market. Itis here that better designs give us anedge. Secondly adoption of Design ForManufacture approach helps uscontain costs and improve productivity.Thus I would say that design orientationdoes help us in becoming competitivein mass as well as specialised marketsegments.

Ch: How would you define gooddesign?

BKR: Good design is something, whichmeets the unique needs of thecustomer. If design is good than youcan expect high quality to be builtin at the design stage itself. Theproduct as such should be free

from defects. If the design is not goodwe land up with problems withmanufacturing and in the field that isat the customers end. I personallybelieve that good design is veryimportant for our business.

KNM: According to me good design iswhich meets the requirements of thecustomer and is aestheticallyappealing. A well designed productshould stand out amongst competition.Of course it should be without defectsand should be cost competitive.

TSM: As I mentioned earlier gooddesign should have good features and

good looks. It should not be easy tocopy and should give us advantage inshort as well as long run.

Ch: Do you have a dominantphilosophy of design, say, like designfor cost (DFC) or design for assembly(DFA)?

TSM: The philosophy that we adoptvaries from product line to productline, say for low priced padlocks wetry and follow the DFC philosophy andfor complex and high –end productlines we may adopt a differentphilosophy. No matter whicheverapproach we use the product mustmeet the functional requirements. Allproducts should look contemporaryand attractive.

But sometime when I design aparticular product I don't keep in viewthe reality; I try and think out of the

box. That is very essentialfor breakthroughproducts.

Ch: Can you give an example of aproduct, which is a result of out of thebox thinking?

TSM: According to our design team webelieve that our magnum lock is a goodexample of out of the box thinking. Inthose case we could not think of whate wanted in the first go: but as we keptat it and continued refining the designswe could come much closer to whatwe have imagined in the first place.Sometimes we land up having a gapbetween what we are imaging andwhat design we could come up withand sometimes our enthusiasm leads

us to add features which may not berequired by the customers. Hence, Iwould say that for coming out with thetruly new product we have to strike abalance between the outcome of ourout of the box thinking and what ispossible to produce at a costexpectable to our marketing team andthe market place.

Ch: Over the years do you see a shiftin our dominant design approach sayof DFM or DFC to Design to delightor similar higher-level approach?

TSM: I think we are evolving towardshigher level of approaches from thebasic ones. Magnum range and theMilocks is the example. In Milocksrange we have a product for each ofthe selected applications. This range oflocks is very modern looking and looksrather cool. When we wereconceptualising these range of locks, Idon't think we have kept in mind howexactly we are going to make them orproduce them at lower cost.

I understand that we must design todelight but the question is what is itthat delights the customers? In thepast customers like rugged locks, buttoday customers are looking forattractive shape, colour: the vibrancyof colours used and similarattributes. Customers are saying thatthey need locks, which will last themupto 5 years, there after they aresimply not bothered. As you canappreciate the requirements arechanged a lot over the years. Looksare very important today. So I thinkthe focus are shifted to finding outwhat will excite the customer.

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Ch: How do you capture consumerinsights? What is your process of givinginputs to the design team? (Addressedto Karthik Modi)

KNM: As such there are nostructured processes for marketing togive inputs to the design team. Mycolleagues in marketing meet a largeof number customers at variousforays and it is from there they pickup the specific ideas forconsideration. For institutionalcustomers we have a format usingwhich we try and structure therequirements to be given to thedesign team. Thereafter periodically,we have discussions with the designteam for developing a solution. Theinitial solution is mulled over by us -shown to the customer, feedbackobtained which is given to the designteam. After many iterations anexpectable, solution may emerge.After the customers accept thesolution it is given to the creativehead for improving the aestheticsand giving the product a final shape.

BKR: Apart from what Modi said, whenour teams meet to develop annualbusiness plan, then also we havediscussion on new products that arerequired to meet our business needs.Approved requirements are given tothe design team for development. Thisis a continuous process where bywhenever ideas are received they arepassed on to the design and Marketingteam for evaluation. However the

scope of work for design for theplanned ranged of introduction is moreor less frozen in the ABP, changes ifany are made if they becomeabsolutely essential.

Ch: Is there any departmental missionfor the design? If yes what is it?

TSM: Yes, our mission is to create arobust bank of designs - robust here isakin to a good bank account fromwhich you can withdraw as much asyou want whenever you need.Likewise, we are developing multi-generation designs, for meeting ourfuture needs. Only some of these areincorporated into our current ABP,while others are kept for future use.Also, work pertaining to Intellectualproperty rights (IPR) is carried outbefore the designs are realised forcommercialisation.

Ch: What is the size of the design banktoday?

TSM: We may at least have 40 –50designs as of now, but as I said earlierbuilding this design bank is an ongoingeffort.

Ch: What difficulties do you face onceit is decided to operationalise thedesign?

BKR: We have a new productintroduction process at our end. Imust say that we have a long way indeploying this process. Earlier it usedto be dominate by design but todayit is highly cross functional and notdominated by any particular team.The team under goes many iterationsbefore every one agrees what is tobe done, the of course a questionarises how do we scaled up thevolumes? To the shop floor I havemandated that new products shouldbe given a priority. But in practice itdoes not happen because of strongdemand for regular items. We do sortout this priority issue by consultingeach other.

Ch: Have you used design as a toolfor creating something new andbeneficial to the business?

BKR: Yes we have use design as aconcept to improve our manufacturingprocess, marketing communications,offices etc. We have also used theconcept of design to create uniquepromotional materials, as well as toimprove our packaging. We also usedesign for creating point of salematerial and customer help literaturewhich can be called 'loctionary',inspired by the dictionary.

KNM: We also use design conceptsfor having normal formats for our salesforce and dealer conference, in fact wehave design our supply chain in aunique way. A study of our supplychain based on replenishment modelwas highly appreciated at IIMAhemebad.

Ch: What would you like to do topromote design consciousness in yourbusiness?

BKR: Generally I insist on discussionand documentation on what hashappened before, during and afterimplementation. Examining these threestages gives us many insights to dobetter.

KNM: I encourage people to comeforward and share. Also I encouragepeople to undergo a lot of training.

BKR: Since you have raised the issueof enhancing the design cocinousnessat our division, we will certainlydiscuss it among our selves and willdevelop an approach for it. We willcertainly do something about it.

Indrapal SinghMegha Moorthy

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What was your early career like? Howdid it really shape up?My career started with Godrej andtoday after almost 25 years; here I amsitting in front of you.

From 1983 to 2007 - How has thejourney in Godrej been?

I joined in 1983 as a GET. At that time,BS Rao used to be the branch managerand there was a vacancy for anindustrial products engineer in sales.So they came to our campus and I wasthe only one to get selected from mybatch. I was thrilled to the bits and restis history. Next year I will complete 25years with the organisation and many

of my friends ask me, “DK what iswrong with you?” I say, “Nothing iswrong. The joy of having worked inthe same organisation for 25 years andbeing a part of building it and seeingit grow is tremendous. You probablydon’t know the joy of sticking to oneorganisation and being a part ofbuilding it.”

When you were appointed DivisionalHead what was your first reaction?

I thought, am I really capable of leadingthe division? Honestly, I was notprepared to believe. To give you a littlebackground and I had five transfers infour years and I moved all over the

country with my kids and my wife. Bythe time they would settle in one place,the next transfer would come. My wifesacrificed her career to support thefamily during these transfers. My kids,though small at that time took up thechallenges sportingly. They have beengreat in supporting me wherever I went.Before I became the Divisional Head,my posting was in Calcutta and I got acall from Mr. Kalwachia and he askedme to come to Mumbai the next day.

I was rather surprised at the suddenshort notice call and was wonderingwhat had gone wrong suddenly. I triedto quickly assess everything that hadhappened at the Kolkata (then Calcutta)branch for the last couple of days. ButI could not think of anything that hadgone really wrong. Once I reached, hetold me that they wanted to appointme as Divisional Head for the ToolingDivision. I was surprised to say the leastbecause it was a new field altogether.I have been all along been in sales andmarketing functions. But then I guessit was destiny…

So if you were to look back andanalyse how it I has been so far, howwould you really rate yourself?

I will not be content with myperformance to be honest. When I tookcharge, there was a big challenge ofturning the division around which wedid as a team. The key rule business isto value growth and be consistent inyour performance. We were a bitinconsistent with our performance.World over in the tooling business, youwill see spikes. So the biggestchallenge is to see how to make it even.

And what are the challenges of movingfrom being a captive tool room tocommercial one?

The biggest challenge was the mindsetof the people. They were not attunedto working for external customers. Andwhat spoiled us was the fact that wewere praised for whatever performance

D K Sharma on the shopfloor

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““

we put up – irrespective of whether itwas good or bad. In any function, thereare 3 criteria - quality, cost anddelivery. On the quality front, we gotaccolades from all our cousins - thedivisions. Again the feedback we hadgot in terms of cost was that we werethe best. The third was the costing part-since we were only catering to ourdivisions, it was just a transfer of moneyfrom one pocket to the other. So eventhat was thought to be unproblematic.Once we decided to become acommercial tool room, weintrospected and realised that we werewanting on all the three. And that wasonly because we were not exposed tothe external customer. Once we movedtowards being a commercial tool room,most of us realised that we needed tochange a lot. When I joined, I didn’tknow the ‘T’ of tooling. But mychallenge was even greater – it was tochange the mindset of people toperform better in customer orientation.And I think my team responded verypositively. We turned around and wetook a little time, but one thing wasvery sure, we sent a very clear signalto one and all. Even if there is a slightestdisagreement we thrash it out amongstourselves. Some of us even partedways. But I am happy for the division,for my team.

Even now we have internal customers.The internal part fluctuates from 5-15%. And my customer’s teamacknowledges that there is a seachange in our performance on all thethree parameters which I talked about.We are not only competitive, we haveimproved our performance on thedelivery front as well as quality.

You also shifted from componenttooling to panel tooling. Can you tellus something about that?

It is an opportunity. The auto industryis a prime driver for tooling and withall the auto majors setting up shop inthe country, we realised that there isan opportunity of working with these

giants. We started working with Hondato begin with. Having seen thecapability of our people as well as theinfrastructure available with us, theyasked us to go ahead and agreed togive us a chance. We were quiteencouraged and that’s when we madethe flow of the Honda City car.

Then there was no looking back. Wesaw a big market coming our way andit worked well for us.

What are the manufacturingevolutions that the division hasundergone in the past couple of years?

The evolution is in the technology, theuse of latest software and the latestmachinery. If we were to go down toour shopfloor, you will see a mix ofold and new machines. We were usingold technology machines. When wegot exposed to the outside world, wehad thrown open the challenge of howto complete the tool in the limited timeand maintain the required qualitystandards. There has been a paradigmshift in terms of the technologies beingused. We have moved with time, so togive you an example, the technologyused in America, Germany and Japan,we used to same technology whichwas not the case in the past. We havebought new technology machines,high speed machines, the sizes that wehandle are totally different. Thesoftwares which are available for CADand CAM operations, have beenrevamped. So the end result is that if Igo and transact business in anydeveloped country, there is a toolavailable for me to communicate wellwith them and satisfy them all the time.

Delivery seemed to be a problem areain your business. Is it still a problemarea and how will you be workingtowards resolving that issue?

That’s a very good question.Incidentally, world over, in the Toolingbusiness, you will not find a tool roompursuing more than one technology.

Having seenthe capability ofour people as well asthe infrastructureavailable with us,Honda asked usto go ahead andagreed to give us achance...thenthere wasno looking back.

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This means a particular tool room willonly specialise in injection mouldingor die casting or making plasticmoulds. But by virtue of our past, weused to do all and that’s why thecomplexity used to creep in. So thatexpands the sheer range that weoperated in – we make from small toolsto a very, very large tools. So deliveryhas been a big challenge.

Now, over the years the delivery hasnot only improved, I can proudly saythat in the last six months, we havedelivered all tools on time. If weconsistently deliver on time, thecustomer will save so much money. Sowe have an opportunity of earningmore. I see no reason why thecustomers should not give us premium.So at the end of the day, it’s all aboutlearning to keep your promises. Weknow tooling, we know how to maketools, we know how to produce goodquality, we are now learning to keepour promises.

You mentioned 3 kinds of tooling, canyou show us the business, compositionof business revenue in terms of eachof these.

After assessing profitability, we havedecided that we need to reduceinjection moulding and grow more inthe die casting business. We want it tobe around 50 percent. This will befollowed by around 40 percent withsheet metal. And the remaining 10percent will be special purposemachines. We have a small group withus who are experts in making specialpurpose machines. And that groupserves our internal customers largely.

Your division has won several awardsin the last couple of years. Can youtell us a little bit about them?

Well, Honda repeatedly gave us theaward for the best tooling supplier inthe country and Bentler of Germanydeclared us as the best tool maker inIndia. Valeo of France, even thoughthey have not rated us havecomplimented us that we are the the

best tool maker in the country. This isnot enough. I think this is just thebeginning. We need to have more andmore awards for more value tocustomers.

I was in Canada sometime back and Iwas meeting another tool maker overthere. During my interaction, I cameto know that they recently got an orderfrom Honda for making onecomponent. The way they talked aboutit and publicized it, I left thinking tomyself that we already have Hondawho has been given us awards for thelast 3 years. I think we should celebrate– being able to work for the world’sbest engine maker is a huge thing forthe morale of the entire team. And ffHonda says we are the best toolmakerin the country, we need to just quietlyacknowledge it and say ok we are onthe right track.

Where do you see the division in thenext three to five years?

Today we are the largest tool room inthe country, five years hence also Iwould like to be. I can tell you thatpeople around us are also growing, butwe need to take a faster pace to beahead of them. So not only in terms ofsize, I want to be the best for keepingup promises. Our business will flowautomatically and we will make ourmark when we achieve this and I amcertain we are going to. We will notonly make a mark in the domesticarena, but will be recognised on theworld map for keeping our promises.

You attended the University Michiganprogramme sometime back, whatwere your key learnings from thatprogramme?

The key learnings from this programmehad been that we need not bask in ourpast glory. The biggest learning for mewas to re-look at the strategy in the waywe manage our business. We generallytend to believe past successes as ourbenchmarks. I realised that we needto introspect and see and create newbenchmarks for us which will take us

““We need to growat a faster pace,not onlyin terms of size,but I wouldlike to be knownas a toolerthat keeps uptheir promises.

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D K Sharma with his family

to the global arena - that’s really beenthe biggest learning.

Another thing I learnt was thatcommunication of the strategies isextremely important- even to each andevery workman.

Another part of my learning was theconcept of co-creation. How do youincorporate the feedback of the customerand involve the customer in developingyour products? That is particularlyapplicable for us since we are in a productcentric business. It is high time we becomecustomer centric. In other words I am askedto make a tool as per the requirements ofthe customer. I can very well make thatand take my money and be happy. Thiswill not make me global. This will not makeme expand at the rate we wish to. The onlyway to do that is to involve the customerin all the transactions, take his feedbackseriously so that he comes to youautomatically It may sound difficult to ushere but co-creation means working alongwith the customer not only regarding thedevelopment of the products but theexisting products also. And I think it couldwork wonders for us.

How important do you thinkknowledge management is?

Talking about the same programme, Ilearned the success stories of leaderslike Apple, who make use oftechnology to enhance their businessand deliver value to the customer. Ithink I see a great merit in use of IT forknowledge management. I think weneed to make use of all the tools toretain our knowledge base and deskillthe job. My agenda number 1 is toimplement use of IT tools forknowledge management. Currently,my IT budget is around 1 percent.Companies that have been successfulin doing this keep aside at least 2percent.

What kind of a leader do yourcolleagues sort of perceive you to be?I really push my team very hard. So,

though they see me as a hard taskmaster, at the end of the day we enjoyour association.

What kind of a person is Mr. D. K.Sharma?

Very sensitive, emotional and alwaysvery conscious of my reputation andhow to maintain it. I am also a veryimpatient person. However, I valueethics and integrity the most.

Personally, what are your aspirations?

To inspire others along with myself tospread happiness in life - not only foryourself, but for families and peoplearound. Not business, not money, nottools – but spreading unadulteratedhappiness.

What are the personal milestones youwant to achieve?

Way back in March 1995, I had a nearfatal accident. This is my bonus life andwant to live it to the fullest. Well giventhe opportunity I would certainly liketo be in Switzerland with a glass of beeron the top of the mountain. (Laughs)When you have spent a good 30-40years of your life working hard, onemust ensure that the remaining fewyears are spent in peace.

Indrapal SinghMegha Moorthy

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We, at Godrej Appliances, started this New Year with abang!! After all, this is no ordinary year for us- it is our 50th

Anniversary, our Golden Jubilee Year! This called for acelebration- and not just the regular celebration but a grandaffair that would lend a sparkle to the year ahead. So webrought out the drum rolls and lit up the fireworks!! Wecalled this celebration- Jubilee of Smiles.For 50 years, we have been giving our partners reasons tosmile. And through Jubilee of Smiles, we just want to say-‘We Plan to Continue!’ For the coming 50 years too, we areconfident that we will be able to make all our stakeholderssmile. As a step towards this, we gave our partners the firstsmile for the year- by launching an entire range of 5 Starrated Refrigerators and innovative Air Conditioners!

This vast new range of refrigerators was launched under the

brand name - Godrej Edge. Godrej Edge boasts of featuresnever seen before in the Direct Cool Refrigerator space.Convection Control Technology and a unique Step DesignedFreezer- Freeze Express ensure Fastest Ice Making andFastest Recoup, and also provide for a special chilling zoneChill Express. These features and technology make it thecoolest refrigerator in its class. But this distinction is not gotat the cost of electricity consumption. The entire range has

got the distinctive 5 Star Energy Rating connoting its energyefficiency. The Edge range also addresses the space needsof a refrigerator customer by giving the largest vegetabletray – 20 Litres big and an extra dry store to stock dryvegetables like onions and potatoes. In short, Godrej Edgeattends to all the needs of a consumer: cooling, efficiencyand space.

Edge also meets the aesthetic needs of the consumers byoffering him a host of colors to choose from. Along with theextensive Edge range, we also added new members to theEon family of Frost Free refrigerators in 230 Litres, 435 Litresand 485 Litres.

To add a double punch to the Golden Jubilee year, we alsounveiled our innovative array of Air conditioners- NavigatorACs with i-Flow Technology. The i-FLOW Technologyeliminates the chance of cool air getting sucked back intothe grill by clever positioning of air suction openings, thusmaneuvering air smartly. This makes the air conditioner workat a higher efficiency and provides accelerated cooling.The curvy design prevents dust accumulation on the grill,thus obviating frequent cleaning and maintenance. Alsohinges have been provided to the grill for easy removal ofthe filter. This unique design is aesthetically superior andthe only one of its kind today.

This fully-loaded basket of products was launched for thetrade partners across the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad

The Launch of the

‘Smiles’

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Unveiling the new Godrej Edge range of refrigerators and

Navigator air conditioners

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and Kolkata through Jan and Feb. Stardust was added tothese launches and celebrations, by the presence ofdignitaries like Mr. PD. Lam and Mr. Navroze Godrej. Thissplendid event was kick started by our CMD, Mr. JN Godrejwho, through a video recording, reminisced about theeventful journey of the Appliance Division through these50 years. He went on to appreciate the role played by thetrade partners and the consumers in helping us achieve thissuccess.

Mr. P.D. Lam, Executive Director and President, Godrej &Boyce showed us the softer side of the Godrej Group - theenvironmental initiatives undertaken, philanthropic causessupported, in other words- the human face of the company.To build the bridge from the past into the future, Mr. NavrozeGodrej threw some light on the future direction theAppliance division planned to take. He appreciated theresearch and designing that goes behind each of ourproducts.

This journey from the past to the present, the journey through50 years of partnering India was brought to life by anenthralling dance performance by Toby and his troupe. The‘tech’ and ‘fast paced’ future of the Appliance division wasbeautifully portrayed by the Laserman and his outstanding

Laser show- cutting edge and totally futuristic – a specialact brought here all the way from Paris to enthrall our dealerfriends.

While we paid homage to the past and gave a glimpse ofthe future, we also saluted the present- i.e. the 50th Year ofAppliances, by unveiling the ‘Smiles’ that we have plannedfor the year. We have a host of initiatives stacked up for allour partners which will be unveiled as the year unfolds.Some of these initiatives were unveiled at the launch, likethe Club Smiles for all our loyal and dedicated consumers.It will be a privilege club for consumers who believe in usand have confidence in our products. Club Smiles will

bestow loads of benefits, gifts and smiles on these esteemedmembers.

When we say we want to make ‘our partners’ smile, weconsider our trade partners and dealers to be near the topof that list. To encourage and appreciate their support, welaunched the exclusive Godrej Star 50 Club. Themembership to this elite club is exclusive- only the bestdealers with exceptional performance will be eligible forit. We also launched ‘Star Circle’- a quarterly journalthrough which we can communicate directly and regularlywith our trade partners.

To explain these ‘Smiles’ initiatives and to detail them out,we launched the website- www.jubileeofsmiles.com.

All these launches left our dealers and trade partners thrilledand excited- what with the huge and innovative range ofRefrigerators and Air Conditioners; beautiful performancesby Toby’s troupe; the amazing Laser show; Jubilee of Smiles;Godrej Club Smiles and last but not the least, Godrej Star50! In other words, these evenings brought the first smilesof the Golden Jubilee Year for our dealer friends!!

Team Appliances

PD Lam and Navroze Godrej address Team Appliances

Toby and his troupe entertain the audience

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We conducted a very successful Annual sports event onJanuary 26, 2008 for our Authorised Service Provider (ASP)teams. A cricket match event was held at the Godrej Hillsidegrounds.

All our ASP teams including the ASPowners, ASP supervisors, ASP backoffice staff, and our techniciansparticipated in a big way and the totalturnout was 218.

Elaborate arrangements were madewith the help of our constructiondepartment, housing department andgarden department to get the Hillside ground ready wellbefore the event.

The initial eight matches were played on the basis ofelimination rounds of three overs each. These eight teamsthen further went through the quarter final rounds. Fourteams further qualified for the semifinals. The ST Servicesteam (Last year’s winner) and the United Services Team fromA/c Service met in the finals, which was keenly contested.At the end we had a new winner in United Services team.

Our Branch Service Manager SM Shelke also made it apoint to be with the group right form the start and provide

full support to the teams. The occasion was also graced byour CEO, George Menezes and our All India Service Head,Ravi Bhat. Other senior members form the service team in

the Head office and the Regional officeKP Acharya, SS Batni and VikramSingh also made it to the event.

The winners of the Service BusinessAwards for the scheme “Sabse BadaKhiladi” were given away at the handsof GeorgeMenezes, who also proposedthat in the coming year he would like tosee many more winners on the ServiceDelivery and Customer satisfaction front

which would be the true victory in every sense.

The prize distribution ceremony for the Cricket tournamentwas held in the evening after the finals. The winners werefelicitated by Ravi Bhat, SS Batni, Vikram Singh and SMShelke.

The teams expressed their happiness and sincere thanks toGodrej Appliance division for having given them thiswonderful opportunity to come together.

Kamal S BhagwananiTraining and Development

‘Our after service providers are a

sporting lot’

Celebrating National Energy

Conservation weekConservation and efficient use of energy has, for a longtime, been a priority in Locks Division, hence the divisiontook the opportunity to observe National EnergyConservation week from December 14 to 20 December,2007. The purpose behind this was to make all ouremployees aware in order to do their best to conserve andpreserve energy and in turn to spread this message to theirfamilies and friends.

The respective department engineers gave an EnergyConservation pledge to all the operators during the GreenCorner Meetings on December, 14. BK Rajkumarinaugurated the Energy Conservation Poster Exhibition. Also,the Energy Management Policy was released during this

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The Winning Team

DD Narwekar explaining the projects carried out by LocksDivision to Mr. JN Godrej, Navroze Godrej and PD Lam.

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week. The main attraction of this week was the visit of Mr.JN Godrej, Navroze Godrej and PD Lam to this exhibition.

Through this initiative, we explained the need and ways ofenergy conservation to all the Operators by means ofbanners, posters and video clips brought from MaharashtraEnergy Development Agency (MEDA). Also, during the weekwe introduced an Energy Conservation Suggestion Scheme,Poster competition & “Spot the Energy Loss” contest. Thetop three suggestions are in their implementation phase.

Sanjay R GawaneLocks Division

Mr. B K Rajkumar releases the ENERGY MANAGEMENTPOLICY. Also seen in photograph are DD Narwekar, KN

Modi and TS Murali

Meeting global suppliersCoinciding with its 111 year of Existence in India, Godrej& Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., Locks Division held a Global SupplierMeet on February 16, 2008 at ITC Grand Central, Mumbai.

17 Overseas suppliers from countries such as China, Korea,Taiwan, Thailand, Bangladesh and 72 Domestic suppliersparticipated in the meet.

Godrej Locks Division shared its plan of reaching sale valueof US$ 100 million by 2010-11 and how the suppliercommunity and the company can work together to achievethis. The result of the recent supplier relationship surveyconducted annually was also shared with the gathering.

Thai Trade Consul Ms. Jiraporn Tulyanondwith Mr P. D. Lam & Mr. B. K. Rajkumar Some of the foreign delegates with the hosts

A section of the participants Godrej Locks Sourcing Team thatmade the event possible

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Cricket carnival at Locks division

Locks Division organised an Intra-divisional CricketTournament from 18th February to 22nd February 2008. Tobolster the “Team Spirit”, eight teams were formed mixingManagement and workmen across all functions. Furtherblending the teams by the individuals’ Cricketing Skills

December 1, World AIDS day is dedicated to raising awarenessof the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection.Today this disease has become a big worry for the world.Around 33.2 Million people are living with AIDS.

Locks Division took the initiative to create awareness onAIDS among their employees through a poster exhibition.This enabled the employees to become aware of the causes,myths, preventive measures & effect of AIDS & in turn spreadthis message to their families, relatives, & friends.

We obtained the Posters/Red Ribbons/Calendars/TrainingKit etc. from our Dispensary & “Mumbai Districts AIDSControl Society” (MDACS). Posters like what is HIV/AIDS,it’s causes, how to prevent the disease, associated myths

and helping agencies were displayed in our plant canteenfor the information of all our employees.

The Red Ribbon depicting the global symbol for HIV weredistributed to every employee & it is heartening to note thateach one wore it throughout the day.

The department engineers had taken all their Operators tothis exhibition during the green corner timing, breaks &after working hours explaining them the causes, myths,preventing measures & effects of AIDS. Around 400employees visited this exhibition.

Sachin R JaybhayeLocks Division

Celebrating AIDS Day

Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.

enabled the matches to run down the wire and made thetournament all the more exciting.

Winning Captain receiving trophy from Division Head andSecretary, GBSS

The Winning Team - ‘Tribolt’

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Anil S Mathur presenting the award to the winner of theBio-industrial segment

The excitement of20:20 Cricket WorldCup prompted us atInterio to add morethrill to the InterioC r i c k e tChampionships thisyear and hence weorganised an 8 overa-side crickettournament.

We had, in all, 18 teams participating in the tournamentheld from January 14 to 28, 2008 on the Godrej HillsideColony grounds during the evening hours. A large turnout,fun, excitement and team building were the hallmarks ofthe championship. Members of the senior managementmade it a point to be present every evening and it alsogave them an opportunity for informal interactions with team

Cricket with a twist at Interiomembers. The tournament witnessed a lot of team bondingbetween management staff and our colleagues in theshopfloor.

Plant 4 ‘A’ & Plant1 were thefinalists this yeartoo but Plant 4 ‘A’team became theproud owners ofthe muchcoveted InterioChampionshipcup! Anil Mathur,our COO and B

Joshi, President, GBSS, presided over the closing.

Doreen Rosario & Ravish Saily

Biotechnology is rightly termed as ‘Sunrise Industry’ in India.This is emphasised time and again by the large focus on R&Din this sector, investments by the Indian as well as the foreignplayers, increase in the number of educational institutes givingvarious courses in this sector and also large number of playersboth Indian and foreign making their mark.

In order to recognise theprofound work carried on in thissector, Biospectrum organisedthe Biospectrum Awards for theindustry stalwarts. It wasintended to bring togetherindustry experts, who wouldshare their knowledge andexperience in this sector and toacknowledge their work. Theevent was held on December21, 2007 at the Leela Palace,Bangalore. Godrej LaboratoryFurniture solutions was one ofthe sponsors of the event. This helped us register ourselveswith the industry bigwigs and in turn get insights from thempertaining to the current happenings in the sectors and thechanging requirements of laboratory business. The Lab teamunder the able guidance of Rajnish Thanekar managed theentire show. The co-ordination for the show was ably done

by Shoaib Khan. Help was extended by the A&SP team. TheBangalore branch team enthusiastically supported the event.

Our COO, Mr. Anil S. Mathur presented the award for BestCompany of the year in the Bio-industrial segment to G.Ramakrishna of Novozyne. During the course of the eventGodrej distributed marketing collaterals which included our

product catalogue,presentation CD and acomplimentary pen-drive.The event drew an excellentresponse, with attendancefrom Cyrus Poonawala, Chief,Serum Institute; KiranMajumdar Shaw, C&MD,Biocon. The panel discussionsaw a healthy discussionabout “The Newly LaunchedBiotechnology policy “ withinthe experts from the industry.

This event has been an important one in spearheading theGodrej Laboratory Brand amongst the people within theindustry. We received a good response from the event.

Poojaa GokarnaLab Marketing

Anil S Mathur tries his hand at cricket

The Interio team

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The Eastern Naval Command at Vishakhapatnam headedby Vice Admiral Raman P Suthan, AVSM, VSM, Flag Officer,Commanding-in-Chief celebrated the Navy Day in themonth of December 2007 with a series of events includingthe grand finale – the Navy Ball.

Having a ball of a time

BP Chinoy, Branch Manager Godrej - Vizag - one ofthe judges for the Navy Queen Contest

The Top Ten Finalists of The Navy Queen Contest

Reciprocating the long standing association it has sharedwith the Navy, the ball this year was sponsored by Godrej.

BP ChinoyInterio HeadVizag Branch

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PES team won the second prize in the ‘Best Kaizen’competition conducted by CII at Nashik on 14th February2008. This is a matter of pride that PES won the competitionfor the second consecutive year. Last year PES team wonthe 1st prize.

It was very keenly contested competition, where 81 Kaizenswere presented from reputed companies like HindustanAeronautics, Bajaj Auto, Jindal, Johnson & Johnson, Bosch,Pfizer, Ashok Leyland, Kirloskar etc.

A team of 12 members on behalf of PES Division presented4 Kaizens in the areas of manufacturing and QA. Operatorswho had brought about the improvements presented eachof the Kaizens to the Jury members and other participants.

The evaluation was based on use of different statistical toolsto analyse problem and to identify the root cause. It alsoincluded horizontal deployment of Kaizen idea to solvesimilar problems and steps taken for holding gains obtained.

While judges and other participants appreciated all the 4kaizens, 1 team was selected for the final round where 9 of

the 81 teams contested for the top awards. This selectedPES team after making presentation in the final round wasplaced second in the competition

PES started Kaizen activity in 2003 – 2004 to developimprovement culture in the Division by involving employeesacross all the functions, at all levels. Starting with just 25kaizens in the 1st year, participation has grown steadily to147 kaizens in the 2nd year, 215 kaizens in the 3rd year and425 in the 4th year.

We have trained all our employees on developing kaizenideas. After identifying the problem in their own work area,a team is formed for developing and implementing ideasand monitoring the results. After achieving the results, theseideas are put on the Kaizen idea sheets which are thenevaluated in three levels on pre-decided criterion of results,efforts taken, originality of idea, root cause identificationetc. All Kaizen ideas are appreciated, depending on thelevel of kaizen by way of certificate to every Kaizen teammember and a token gift coupon from consumer society.Departmental Head and senior members of managementaward certificates to workmen on the shop-floor. We have

PES wins 2nd prize at

Best Kaizen competition

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We all have started feeling the effects of global warming.Studies predict that there would be rise in temperature by1.4 - 5.4 degree Celsius. This rise in temperature may causefloods leading to building damages and several other healthhazards. We, at Godrej Infotech thought it worthwhile tocreate awareness amongst our employees. As the rest of thecity tuned in to Batti Bandh- Mumbai Unplugged we toojoined in celebrating GITL Green Day on December 21. Everyone was welcomed with a smile and a green ribbonwas tied on their wrist at the reception. The dress code for the day was obviously green. Posters and banners were displayed to educating employeesabout the cause. We made a small beginning and hope tocontribute a lot more in the time to come.

Godrej Infotech going green

also digitized this entire process for assessing and respondingto the Kaizen entries speedily as well as to archive thehundreds of kaizens we keep on receiving.

This kaizen activity has provided a platform to nurturecreativity amongst the employees and to instill in themconfidence of being able to solve challenges facing them atthe work place.

These prizes on two consecutive years have shown that weare on right track. While this recognition motivates us toconstantly improve by challenging everything we do,participating in competition also give our teams a glimpseof large scale engagement in improvement activities acrossthe industry.

The PES Team, which participated in CII Best KaizenCompetition

Kaizens presented by each of the teams with names of theteam members.

Kaizen: To Achieve Axis Straightness of 100 microns / 5 Mlength of Hollow Shell of KBL Shaft (Award WinningKaizen).Team Members:1. Mr. Sharad Amber 4.Mr. Vijay Salunkhe2. Mr. Mahendra Indulkar 5.Mr. Dashrath Warng3. Mr. Sanjay Joshi 6.Mr. Vishal Jadhav

Kaizen: Development of self-centering fixture forstraightness measurement of hollow shell using laserequipment.

Team Members:1. Mr. Sanjay Tapase 3. Mr. Manish Panchal2. Mr. Praveen More 4. Mr. Vijay Chaudhary

Kaizen: Development of conventional method forinspection of end cap to replace CMM Inspection.Team Members:1. Mr. Pundalik Malvankar 3. Mr. Mandar Sakhardande2. Mr. Vipul Panchal

Kaizen: Elimination of set up time loss for inspection ofFuel Tube.Team Members:1. Mr. Vijay Sawant 3. Mr. Nitin Waghmare2. Mr. R.P. Hardikar 4. Mr. Pradeep Gaikwad

D.D. Chogle

The PES Team, which participated inCII Best Kaizen Competition

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Udayachal School was delighted to welcome Amol Gupte– Creative Director of Taare Zameen Par on January 22,2008. He interacted with students of Std III in two differentgroups.

With the first group he narrated a story and later childrenwere asked to paint scenes from that story. The childrenlistened spellbound and then because of the vivid imageshe had left them with, they could recall and paint even tinydetails from the story.

With the other batch, through an informal interaction withthe children he literally plucked words out of the air andstrung them with the help of the children into lines withrhyme and rhythm to make a song. Again, with the children’sinputs, he set a tune to this song. The entire group then sangit with gusto. His use of some nonsense sound and gibberishin both the story as well as the song enthralled his youngaudience.

A man of diverse interests and very versatile in painting,singing and playing the keyboard as well, he would be everyPrincipal’s “dream come true” to have in his/her team ofteachers.

Special Moments with Amol Gupte

It was heartening to see the wonderful rapport he built withchildren in the time that he spent with them. They couldnot have enough of “Amol Frog” and every minute he wasgiving and receiving love from each one of them.

This wonderful opportunity was given to us by Mrs. AshaMatale and we are grateful for this memorable day!

Binaifer ChhogaPrincipal

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Vaastu pooja in it’straditional waywas solemnised atthe new FinishedGoods Warehouseat Shirwal onFebruary8, 2008.The newwarehouse has anarea of approximately 55,000 sq. ft and would be utilisedfor additional storage of Refrigerators and Washing Machinesthat are manufactured at our Shirwal Plant.

The long felt need for additional space was accomplishedin a record time of four months due to the personalinvolvement and continuous supervision of our SiteEngineer, Amar Patil.

The excavation work started in November 2007 for sitedevelopment whereas the actual construction started inDecember 2007. The infrastructure has been developed by

An auspicious beginning for the new

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laying new roads and racking system will be provided toaccommodate about 12 to 15 thousand Appliances.

We thank Pankaj Abhyankar and Dhiren Vora for making itconvenient to come all the way from Mumbai andencouraging all of us.

We also thank KKSaraf for hisc o n t i n u e dsupport, guidanceand moraleboosting withoutwhich the projectwould not haveseen the light of

the day in such a short span of time.

Madhusudan B Nair and Rajesh More L&D, Shirwal

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The club has just completed its fourth year of operations.

We have had a number of camps for swimming, table tennis,tennis, yoga, football, badminton, salsa and also personalitydevelopment camps for children. The camps helpedbeginners learn the basics, as also existing players learn thefiner points.

We had competitions in swimming and badminton, andalso conducted various tournaments like football and cricketwhich were keenly contested with great enthusiasm. TheNew Year’s Eve party was a major event conducted by theclub, which got a very positive response.

The club had formed the Inner club of ladies in the monthof January 2007. The idea behind forming the Inner club ofladies was to create a platform for the ladies where theycould exhibit their talent, skills and also share their ideas.In the span of last one year, the active group of Inner clubladies were involved in various activities like festivalcelebration, joint outings, get togethers etc. They were alsoinvolved in social activities. Recently, they visited Abhas

An update from the Hillside Club

Institute run by Mr. Mathure for tribals. A cash donationwas also made for the cause.

To increase the activities of Inner club of ladies and to createinterest among them, the club had organised it’s first cookerycompetition for ladies on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 3pm.. The judges for this competition were Susan Eipe andHemali Kothari. The concept was to make the tasty, healthyand nutritious food items out of chana dal. There was anenormous response from the Inner club of ladies. The markswere given on the basis of its taste, originality, nutritive value(health consciousness) and presentation.

The winners of this competition were:-1st Prize - Meenu Sharma for Chana Dal Cubes in Palak gravy2nd Prize - Suniti Vaidya for Chana Dal Appam3rd Prize - Hema Rao for Hayagreeva Maddi

Such activities and events definitely helps to keep the club activeand enthusiastic.

Sushmita D KadamGodrej Hillside Club

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Godrej lifespace store crosswordACROSS :1. A very popular brand of Godrej lock (6)4. Roman five and Roman four takes up anarticle for a trendy executive desk (4)8. Doorway or optic for the colourful rangeof bedsheets, pillow covers, handtowelss etc.(7) 9. Look for a sofa set in CenturionCupboard (3) 13. Loco rams into Greekletter five for a popular range of Refrigerator(9) 14. Roman fifty takes comfort in anelectrically charged particle for a fabuloussofa (4)15. Search for a dining table in Fleurdelis.(5) 16. Case Solves to form an attractivesingle bed (4) 17. Rose transforms intoGreek God of love could be a single ordouble metal bed (4)

DOWN :2. An astrological sign could also be apremium range of sofa set. (5)3. I’m take a state for a do it yourself studytable (5)5. A Dining chair found in Muni Vyas (3)6. Earth rotates around this imaginary straightline could be another name for the range ofdirect cool Refrigerators. (4)7. One disintegrates for the new eraRefrigerator awarded best design prize (3)10. Premier Automobiles Ltd. consumesnothing forms an elegant single bed (4)11. Hundred offer together a cash, jewellery,ornament box (5)12. Taxi drives into Medical Representativeto cast a heavy safe (6)

Designed by : Ulhas Tare, Store Chief, Godrej Lifespace Store, Dombivli

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Godrej has been awarded the National Energy Conservation Award from the Ministry of Power,New Delhi for its efforts in Energy Conservation in the General Category for the year 2007.

Godrej wins Energy Conservation Award

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World Wetland Day Celebrations: This year on February 2as a part of Wetland Day Celebration, a Mangrove Naturetrail followed by a filmshow on Wetlands in India wereorganised for a Nature club of School -formed by BNHS. In

the afternoon we participated in the conference onConservation and Management of Wetlands with specialfocus on Thane Creek, which was organised by Enviro-Vigil(an NGO), Thane Municipal Corporation and IndianAssociation of Aquatic Biologist and a presentation onGodrej Mangrove Centre and its activities was made by Dr.Mahajan.

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On Sunday, February 3, a Mangrove nature trail wasorganised for BNHS members, Godrej employees andcolony residents. A film on Wetlands in India was screenedafter the Nature trail.

Mangrove Section

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Dr. Maya Mahajan was awarded with Woman ofSubstance 2007-2008 award by the YoungEnvironmentalists Programme at the Environmental ArtsAwards function presented by the Hiranandani Group, forher contribution to Environment protection througheducation, public awareness, research and conservationof Mangroves.

The function was held on the 8th of March 2008 i.e. onInternational Women’s Day at the Gopal SharmaInternational school, Powai Vihar.

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Sharad Kale (Art Teacher) of Udayachal Primary School has won the second prize in aDrawing Competition for School Teachers organised by Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Mani BhavanGandhi Sangrahalaya ,Mumbai on October 2, 2007.

Congratulations!

Mr. Kaustubh Shukla has been nominated to the Board of Trustees of theIndian Nuclear Society for a term of two years.

Congratulations!

Mr. Jitendrakumar D Panchal of MHE division has been awarded the second positionin ‘Fitter’s” trade category in the 20th CII Workskills competition held at Bangaloreconducted in February 2008 at National level.

Before this, he had won the western region competition and secured First position. He has been awarded with a trophy/shield, certificates (of participation and as a winnerof the second position) and a cheque of Rs. 1500/- in his name.He has been very actively participating in such events and is very innovative by nature,he has fabricated many fixtures in his department to facilitate the day to day fabricationactivities.

He is an active and enlightened Plant safety committee member. His skills have broughtpride to MHE division.

Congratulations!

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Name: Stuti Neel RaizadaStudent of: St. Helena High School, PuneFather’s Name: Neel Kamal RaizadaAchievements: She had appeared for the “ Initial Electronic Keyboard “ examination heldby Trinity College, London. She passed the examination securing distinction and also toppedthe list of candidates appearing in this category.

Congratulations!

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Name: Anik Anil JoshiFather’s Name: Anil. R. Joshi, Commercial and Finance Division, AhmedabadAchievements: He has emerged successfully with an overall distinction of 89% and withspecific distinction of 95% in Science; Mathematics at Gujarat higher Secondary EducationBoard, held in March 2007.At present joined NIRMA – Institute of Technology, in the fieldof Electronics and Communication.

Congratulations!

Name: Chetan Eknath MhashilkarStudent of: Vikas High School, Standard VIAchievements: Secured a distinction in his Standard VI Scholarship Examination.

Congratulations!

Name: Taronish Khushru DandiwallaDaughter of: Khushru Dandiwalla, MHE DivisionAchievement: Was awarded the Best girl of Senior KG for the year 2007-08 by St. FrancisHigh School, Vasai (West).

Congratulations!

Name: Vaibhav S ParjaneFather’s Name: Sopan K Parjane, PEDAchievements: Cleared C.A (Final) Nov 2007 and qualified for ICWA in June 2007.

Congratulations!

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YMCA Brainwaves Inter School Competition 2008.Udayachal High School participated in different categories in the above competition.We are proud to announce that Udayachal High School won the 2008 Inter School Overall Rotating Team ChampionshipTrophy along with Individual Trophies in each category the students participated in. The winners have been awarded acash prize along with a certificate. 1st prize: Rs. 500 2nd prize: Rs. 300 & Third prize: Rs. 200

1. Workshop (Seniors) –Std IX Ruchi Dandekar 2nd PositionSnehal MahimkarPranita SadavarteJatin Panchal

2 Hindi Elocution (Senior) Tejal Kamble 1st PrizeShail Maru 2nd PrizeSrishti Jain 3rd Prize

3 Marathi Elocution (Senior) Vignesh Bhandarkar 2nd Prize4 Marathi Elocution (Junior) Anushka Iyer 3rd Prize5 Marathi Short Story Writing (Seniors) Shivangi Bagi 1st Prize

Pranita Sadavarte 2nd Prize6 Marathi Short Story Writing (Juniors) Charuta Kulkarni 1st Prize

Nikhil Naik 2nd Prize7 Hindi Short Story Writing (Seniors) Snehal Mahimkar 3rd Prize8 Hindi Short Story Writing (Juniors) Pooja Lad 1st Prize

Aishwarya Iyer 2nd Prize9 English Short Story Writing (Juniors) Adyasha Rath 1st Prize

Isha Keskar 2nd Prize10 Essay Writing

a)English (Senior) Ashwini Ranade 1st Prize(Junior) Tanvi Deokule 1st Prize

b)Hindi (Senior) Krishnakant Saboo 1st PrizeNikita Panchal 2nd PrizeSrishti Jain 3rd Prize

Hindi (Junior) Chirag Gupta 1st PrizePrajakta Pingale 2nd Prize

c)Marathi (Senior) Tejal Kamble 1st PrizeSiddhi Malgaonkar 2nd Prize

Marathi (Junior) Vrinda Ambike 2nd Prize

44444ththththth Inter School Singing Competition Inter School Singing Competition Inter School Singing Competition Inter School Singing Competition Inter School Singing CompetitionUdayachal School participated in the elimination rounds and successfully made it to the finals which were held on 2nd

Dec 2007 at Dhirubhai Ambani International School.14 schools and 168 soloists participated.

The prize winners were:Indian Solo Singing Trophy for the Outstanding Soloist - Aishwarya Nair(VIII C)Indian Classical (Under 12yrs) – Isha Keskar (V D) –3rd PrizeIndian Classical Solo Sining (Under 16yrs) - Aishwarya Nair (VIII C) – 1st Prize

Saloni Sharma (VIII A) – 2nd PrizeIndian Popular Solo Singing (Under 16yrs) – Aishwarya Nair (VIII C) – 1st Prize

Indian Group Singing Section - Indian Classical & Indian Popular Category.Most Outstanding School in the Indian Section : Udayachal High School

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Name: Karishma Prashant ChawanStudent: Udayachal Primary SchoolFather’s Name: Prashant ChawanSr. Officer, Pl-15, PED – Steel Supply CenterAchievements: Awarded State level Scholarship for the year 2005-06, underthe sports Talent Scholarship Scheme School Student by the Sports Authorityof India. (For Teakwando)

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Drawing by:Shubham Ashok TajveStandard VIISon of: AN Tajve, Security Department.

Nature in all its splendour outside Centre 15.

Pics by Arnold Martin.