CEO Monthly Sept

8 CEO MONTHLY / AUGUST 2017 , Kaizen Switchgear Products is involved in the manufacturing of EpoxyMoulded components, and provides one of the most extensive product portfolios for managing the Electrical Power systemused in Power generation, Power Distribution and Transmission. We spoke with V. Arvind to find out more about the company and his own success, being named as one of the top 100 Global CEO’s. Exporting Excellence Kaizen Switchgear Products’ overall goal is to provide products of uncompromising quality and uncommon capabilities by working with customers seeking to create new products and applications for the Electrical Sector. Mr. Arvind talks us through his previous roles and how he became to achieve his position as CEO of Kaizen Switchgear Products (India), which helps to explain his goal. “Beginning my career, I started out as a Customer Support Engineer with Twin Engineers Pvt/Ltd (Pune, India), manufacturers of Automatic Epoxy Dispensing machines, with a role of developing Management Information systems on market segments & product segments for operations. Thereon, I moved to Synthesis Winding Technologies Pvt. Ltd (Bangalore, India), as Head of Business development, responsible for evolving strategies and deriving methodologies for enhancing customer satisfaction Indices. “During the formative stages of my professional career, I have only built around the belief, before trying to understand business, to understand customers. We tend to overlook our customers because we don’t have a clear definition on this aspect. Most founders are on the look-out for such people and this is where one needs to keep an eye out, and possibly the ability to almost match-up to the Founder in passion is the key – leading me to the role of a CEO with my current Organisation – Kaizen Switchgear Products since year 2008.” Mr. Arvind explains his and the company’s approach when undertaking a new project. It is important to ensure right from the start of the project that the outcome meets the needs of everyone involved, and he believes that the secret to success is doing common things uncommonly well. “The starting point of any corporate value of any concern is the products’ quality - a quality that the customers take for granted. The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well. Innovation is at the heart of everything we do. If we are not innovative, then we are not relevant and if we are not relevant, then we are not successful. “Secondly, for any project to be successful, I think time management is very important. Every now and again a crisis will pop-up, but you have to spend time with what is important and delegate everything else-which means you also need to make sure those around you have the power to take those decisions from you.” Mr. Arvind tells us how it feels to be selected in the 2017 Global CEO Top 100, before going on to discuss his leadership style and how he ensures everyone in his organisation understands his vision and works towards it. “Having recently being conferred in April 2017 as CEO of the month by UK based magazine – Corporate Vision, and now being selected in the 2017 Global CEO Top 100 is an incredible honour. However, very few things in life are entirely the work of one person and this is no exception. I would like to take this opportunity to also thank my colleagues (past and present) to the enormous contribution, without which my recognition would not have been possible and this award is as much for them as it is for me.” “This award in particular, also tells us a lot about our industry too and as long as there are awards instituted as this one around, we have little need to worry about the future of our Industry. “Surrounding yourself with personnel who have varying strengths, attributes and work- styles is what makes a company prepare for the long run. Focus is building a team which is more holistic that will also think out of the box and stay ahead of the innovation curve.” There are many challenges and opportunities which any CEO would face, and we asked Mr. Arvind what challenges he has faced and how they may have affected his role and the decisions he makes. 1709CE03 “First and foremost, the company must be an achiever. It must constantly endeavour for excellence in all parameters that distinguish itself from the rest. It must use manufacturing excellence as a means of beating the competition and must have achieved distinctly higher levels of performance, than the Industry average. “Being world class is all about being as good as any competitor in the world, and just a little bit better, quicker or more responsive than the rest.” Regarding his future aspirations for the business, Mr. Arvind talks about investing in new sustainable enterprises and anticipate how the Kaizen’s investments may directly impact people over a period of five to seven years. “Ultimately, we want to invest in sustainable enterprises that have social impact-so for us social impact is more important than the financial returns. We would like to see how our investments over a period of five to seven years can directly impact people.”