B.T. Bangera has emerged as the dark horse of industry captains in Madurai. The executive from Mangalore turned into an entrepreneur to reverse the fortunes of a private company in the red. Two decades ago, when things looked uncertain for Hi-Tech Arai Pvt. Ltd, he took over as the Managing Director and became the face of the company, steering it through growth-triggering changes. The automobile components manufacturer has transformed into a Rs.350 crore business today.
Bangera has a simple strategy for survival. “The most important element in any company’s success is how much it can empower its workers.” He has created a strong platform with the lower level of employees and runs five plants without supervisors or managerial heads. “They are manned only by the hands-on operators, and never has there been a complaint or attrition,” he says.
He sees each of his products in a larger context. The oil seals the company manufactures are usually considered C-class products in material management. “But in our field,” says Bangera, “it is a critical segment as the component goes into car engines. If even one seal is damaged, our financial loss may be only Rs.10. But effectively, we will lose a Maruti, Toyota, Tata or Honda car where our product goes.”
“To be world class is a different kind of race,” he says.
It is often said the person at the top sets the tone for everything in the company. Bangera constantly works to convert an organization of 2,200 employees into an “intelligent enterprise”. The company now exports to Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Italy, France and Japan. “Every vehicle in India, almost all vehicles in Japan and now some vehicles in the US have automobile parts manufactured by us.” His ambition is to see that, in the next 15 years, every vehicle running on this planet has at least one Hi-Tech product, which also now include reed valve assemblies, O rings, pressure aluminium dye castings and technically specified moulded rubber parts.
With few domestic manufacturers, Hi-Tech competes with the world’s best, producing 10 lakh automobile parts a day at the 22 dedicated manufacturing units that meet global standards. Bangera’s foresight on international collaborations has also helped the company to become market leaders.
The turnaround
Bangera accidentally entered what was then known as Hi Tech Ancillary Units, started by polymer scientist R. Lakshmi Narayanan in 1985 and largely run as a family concern. He was then working with the industrial house Fenner.
He recalls the day Mr. Narayanan approached him, citing the annual loss of Rs.40 lakh his company was incurring. “I told him, your company is a goldmine. Don’t shut it down. He said, then why don’t you join? I agreed at one-third of the salary I was drawing because he assured me of all the freedom at work and said, decide your salary once the company registers profit.”
The year was 1990. There were 75 employees, one production unit. The sales turnover was Rs.80 lakh. There was no human resources department in place, only the ‘ayya’ system.
Bangera first eased out the coterie around the chairman and built the trust and confidence of the workers. “I introduced work ethics and built a culture. Every organization’s work culture is something that is invisible to the competitors. You can copy technology, but not culture. It takes about 10 to 15 years to build sustainable culture in any organization,” he says.
Bangera recruits only raw and fresh hands. Local youths and villagers make up more than 90 per cent of his staff. “It is easy to mould them. They do not come with a know-all mind set but do and learn what is required of them for the company’s growth. Each recruit undergoes compulsory and intensive six months’ training in learning English, communication and computer skills. Every employee gets connected to the company’s goals and objectives,” he says. He credits the company’s success to his employees, “They are my greatest assets.”
Destiny ruled
Bangera’s childhood had its struggles. He lost his father when he was three. “My grandmother sold milk in 50-odd houses and we lived on it. She would remember small accounts from each house and at the month-end ask me to add them all up. I got her mathematical instincts and memory power,” he smiles.
He completed a bachelor’s degree in engineering and worked briefly with an insurance company before studying at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, where he still gives guest lectures. His joined ABB at Baroda and worked there for 16 years before the then Fenner MD, Alex Evans, surprised him with an appointment letter. Bangera hadn’t even applied but by quirk of fate arrived in Madurai. He quit Fenner within a year when the company went up for sales.
‘‘Having worked for MNCs in executive positions, I faced the difficulties of a struggling entrepreneur at Hi-Tech. But what attracted me was the freedom to implement my ideas.”
Bangera’s schedule starts at dawn with an hour’s jog, followed by meetings and conference calls at office, travels within and outside the country and regular visits to factory sites. “I make myself available for customers and my employees alike. There are no doors and hierarchy in my office,” he says. The obsession with “return on time, energy and money invested” keeps Bangera at work beyond usual hours. Unfailingly, he spends every night reading books on management.
Not known to publicise his achievements, Bangera says, “Recognition should only have internal impact for aiming and doing even better.” The company has often won the best small sector industrial unit awards at the district, state and national levels and several Quality Circles but keeps a low profile.
“With world-class customers, we need continuous improvisations. Manufacturing zero-defect, high-quality and cutting-edge precision products has to be a culture among the people behind the machine,” he says. He asks his team to always give a detailed account of how they spend their hours at work. He wants them to work with an entrepreneurial spirit, which he himself has in abundance. “Hi-Tech is like my adopted child. I spend every moment watching it grow.”
