AMS India Conference 2011

MM Singh pioneered the Maruti Production System, and spearheaded the Challenge 50 programme which has resulted in productivity and quality improvements of 50 per cent, and a cost reduction of 30 per cent. Singh has developed a Production Management System (PMS) for the carmaker, which focuses on the involvement, and empowerment of human capital. His other projects include new plant locations, logistics optimisation, port development and the service/distribution network.

Rajiv Gandhi has been with Maruti since 1984 and has 26 years experience in supply chain management, purchasng, production planning & control, vehicle manufacturing and plant maintenance. He has introduced lean manufacturing concepts like Kaizen and the Maruti Production System. For spreading TQM culture, his laid special emphasis on 100 percent Pokayoke on all dynamic parts. He became Divisional Head in 2005 with the responsibilities of Production Control and the Maintenance Division. Currently as a Chief General Manager, he is managing the three vehicle manufacturing plants in Gurgaon facility

Rajeev Wasan has worked in the automotive industry for virtually his whole professional career, in such areas as manufacturing, planning and quality improvement. He joined Honda Siel in 1996 as Assistant General Manager, later becoming senior general manager of the company's purchasing division at the Greator Noida Plant. Between 1999 to 2001, he was part of the purchasing office at Honda Japan. Rajeev Wasan was appointed Vice-President of Honda Siel Cars India in April 2008.

S K Garg is an engineering graduate from H.B.T.I. Kanpur, he has 21 years experience in automotive operations. He has worked as Paint Shop Area Manager in General Motors India for 14 years and is currently Director of Production Operations. Garg was involved in setting up the GMI Talegaon Green Field Paint Shop Facility. He has worked in several areas of paint shop, including Process Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Projects and Operations.

Selvam Ganesan graduated from Anna University, Chennai in ME-CAD/CAM and B. Tech-Automobile engineering and joined the M&M global SUV project in 2008. He previously worked with Hyundai & Tata Motors and has 11 years of experience in BIW production, quality and manufacturing engineering. He specialises in planning and execution of BIW process and capital equipment in body shop, quality, problem solving, and production.

Markus Venitz has been GM of BMW Plant Chennai since January 2011. He studied industrial engineering, and joined BMW in 2001 after a couple of years in the consulting business where he focused on logistics, production and quality. Prior to this he worked at BMW in a strategic function, moving to the BMW engine plant at Hams Hall in the UK and the BMW plant in Munich.

Trained as an automobile engineer, Rajkumar Balusamy has been working in Hyundai Motor India for the past eight years. He played a key role in setting up the companys state of the art manufacturing vehicle assembly plant (HMI - Phase 2). Balusamys areas of expertise include strategic planning & project management for new plant construction, and new vehicle launches.

Senthilkumar Rathinam holds a Postgraduate degree in both engineering and business administration and has over 28 years of experience in various automobile and allied industries in India. He handled greenfield projects, capacity expansion projects, factory operations including quality function. Currently Rathinam is one of the leaders of powertrain projects at Renault Nissan, based in the RNTBCI, Chennai.

Tom Chackalackal manages Ford India's integrated manufacturing facility at Maraimalai Nagar. In his previous role he was the Asia-Pacific Group Plant Material Planning Manager, responsible for effectively managing the material flow for all the Ford plants in the region, and helped to improve the material flow strategy. Tom joined Ford India in 1996 and is a qualified industrial engineer, he holds a diploma in Business Administration (distinction).

Vijay Dhongde joined the Mahindra & Mahindra Tractor Division as a Graduate Trainee Engineer in 1976 and has worked as a Production Engineer, Head of Manufacturing Unit and Senior Vice President (Operations) at Kandivali, Nashik, Igatpuri, Zaheerabad, Haridwar and Chakan plants. From 1994 to 1998 he led the BPR Project at Kandivali and brought a total change to Manufacturing Systems at the plant. In 2010 Dhongde transferred to MVML Chakan as Chief Operating Officer and in April 2011 he became Chief Executive Officer.

Gurpratap Boparai started his career with TATA Motors and moved to TATA Cummins in 1995 and joined IVECO’s engine plant in Turin, Italy in 2000 as head of logistics, head of engine assembly, engine test, paint & CKD operations. He has been at Fiat India since 2001, starting as head of manufacturing for the powertrain division and helped set up the state of the art green field facility, producing 350,000 engines and 300,000 transmissions per year.

C R Ravi has been with Ashok Leyland for 31 years, rising from Planning Engineer to General Manager. He headed teams for the setting up of assembly and testing facilities for AL, IVECO, H, N and P15 Engines for emission compliant AL trucks, buses and industrial and marine applications. Ravi was previously with Simpsons of Chennai for five years.

Mohan Savarkar has extensive experience in tool room, manufacturing, process and equipment planning and supply chain management. Savarkar has worked with Hindustan Aeronautics and Tata Motors in various capacities.
Recent assignments include planning and implementation of increased capacity at the Indica car plant from 500 to 750 units a day; he is also involved with inbound logistics at Tata Motors.

Santharam Raghavan has a post graduate diploma in metallurgical engineering with a PG diploma in quality management. He has worked at Caterpillar India for 16 years, in quality management for seven years, followed by six years in a full-time Six Sigma role. He has worked as a Black Belt, Master Black Belt and as a Deployment Champion for India and Indonesia operations. He currently manages manufacturing engineering & quality assurance.

Umesh Krishnappa is Senior Executive Vice-President and Head, Car Programme at Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles and also heads up other functions including quality and reliability, validation and process management. He is a graduate in mechanical engineering with an MBA in Operations and has 23 years industry experience at Hero Honda, Philips, Harita TVS Technologies and Tata Sasken Automotive Electronics.

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Sanjeev Puri has more than 13 years experience in the tractor and automobile industry. At International Cars and Motors (a Sonalika Group Company) he has played a key role in setting up the manufacturing facilities for sheet metal components and plastic Injection moulding components. He specialises in strategic planning, project management, production operations, quality control/assurance/systems, techno-commercial operations, team development and people management.

Anil George holds a Degree in Production Engineering from Fr. Agnel Engineering College, Mumbai and a management degree from Welingkar Institute of Management. He started work 1989 with Videocon Group, moving to Godrej & Boyce to work in new product development for eight years, joining the Interiors & Plastics Division of TATA AutoComp Systems in 1998. George became the Business Unit Head of The Technical Centre of TATA AutoComp Systems Ltd. in 2006.

Digambar Parkhi has more than 21 years of experience, specialising in manufacturing engineering. He leads Advanced Manufacturing Engineering at Tenneco Automotive and is responsible for the introduction of new technologies and implementation of new projects including facility planning. DIgambars core expertise is in machine tools and he has executed new plants in India and worked on planning for plant standardization globally for Tenneco.

Sivaraman Margabandu has more than 38 years of experience in the automobile industry, specialising in precision parts manufacturing. He heads the process development of Common Rail Diesel Fuel Injector ME + Production activities in the Delphi TVS Plant III in Chennai and is responsible for purchasing production machinery globally. Margabandu has many years of experience in high precision fuel injection nozzle manufacturing to micron tolerances and has established three such manufacturing projects in India.

Vidyadhar Humnabadkar has more than 23 years experience in the sales and marketing of industrial electronic motor control systems. He has spent the last 14 years working with Curtis Instruments India, a wholly owned subsidiary of Curtis Instruments USA, a worldwide leader in the field of electronic motor controls for electric vehicles. He has been involved with almost every active EV program in India and neighbouring countries including off road EV applications such as industrial vehicles, golf carts etc.

Markus Hachmoeller graduated in mechanical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Among other roles, he has been involved in energy benchmark projects, working for GM in Turin and Ruesselsheim. Since 2009 he has been working on several process technology projects and is now the expert responsible for large scale solar thermal plants in the Eisenmann - Ritter XL Solar cooperation.

Saurabh Mohan Saxena is an engineer and MBA with more than 15 years experience in diverse business portfolios such as R&D, engineering, operations, purchasing, supply chain, and business development at various automotive companies such as TATA Motors, Delphi Automotive Systems, and Ashok Leyland. Before moving to Hero Motors he was responsible for SEA purchasing operations at Chrysler LLC. Mr Saxena holds a Record of Invention for Airlift Suspension at Delphi. At Hero Motors, he is responsible for business plan formulation covering the companys vision, goals and objectives. He also visualizes and develops strategy for future business growth and heads the Hero Chassis Systems Division.

Ulrich Schrickel started working at Siemens Stuttgart in 1974 on several projects within the automotive industry, starting with bodyshop projects at Daimler Sindelfingen and paintshop projects with Behr at Ford Genk. In 1978 he became sales engineer for Eisenmann. Schrickel is now Global Key Account Manager for Dürr and Eisenmann and consultant for automotive customers and Siemens Sales staff on e-coat DC power supply and paintshop automation, on numerous projects worldwide.

Nader Asnafi has worked in the automotive and related industries for more than 20 years. He was Senior Manager - Research & Advanced Engineering at Volvo Cars from 2001 to 2009. Prior to this Asnafi was Manager - Mechanical Properties at Sapa Group and before this was Researcher and Research Group Leader at the Swedish Institute for Metals Research, from 1991 to 1998. He has also been Associate Professor at Lulea University of Technology in Sweden since 2002; he gained a PhD in engineering in 1997.

Alexander Scheidt works as a management consultant for the automotive industry with a focus on core processes. He has used his world-wide automotive expertise to help suppliers and OEMs such as Daimler, BMW, VW, Ford and Volvo with transformation projects in core areas like engineering, supply chain management and sales. Alexander has lead and participated in several IBM industry automotive industry studies: Automotive 2020, Truck 2020 and Automotive Sales Champions.

Akash Anand is a BE (Chemical) and Master in Chemical Engineering (Lubrication & Tribology). He has been with Castrol since March 1997, working in the research & development of metal working fluids particularly neats, solubles and synthetics. Anand has 14 years of experience including 10 years in formulation and product development along with technical support and trouble shooting. Since 2007, he has been part of Castrols Product Management Team managing Cutting & Grinding Oils.

Nigel Platt joined ABB robotics in 1990 as automotive account manager in the UK. He has held various sales and management positions within ABB Robotics over the past 21 years. Platt is currently Global Application Manager, Welding and Cutting. Prior to joining ABB he completed an apprenticeship program with ICI, prior to starting his career as a mechanical design engineer within the packaging industry.

Pavel Svejda graduated in mechanical engineering with a doctorate in production technology at the University of Stuttgart., where he spent 10 years working in R&D at the Institute for Industrial Production, in the paint technology division. Since 1996, Svejda has been working at Dürr Systems as Key Account Manager, responsible for carmaker customers including Indian OEMs.

Bodo Mayer started his career at Eisenmann in 1997 after completing a degree in mechanical engineering. He has been involved in many paint shop projects in the automotive industry worldwide and is now responsible for the Sales Key Account division for Eisenmann.

Klaus Konsek is head of the Sales and Advanced Engineering Department of KUKA Systems in Germany. He has more than 15 years multi-disciplinary experience in sales, project management and engineering in the automotive body-in-white sector. He has wide international experience of working on local and global projects, working with international business partners. He has attended executive education programs at management institutes.

Gilbert Lotito is in charge of the company’s automotive division which combines the strengths of Kremlin Rexson and Sames, the experts in extrusion and finishing solutions. This division, driven from both the HQ in Stains close to Paris and Grenoble in the French Alps, is deployed worldwide through 16 subsidiaries.

Amit Bhingurde has more than 18 years of multi-disciplinary experience in engineering and project management.
Before joining KUKA in 2008, he was a Project Leader at Tata Motors and was one of the team members who received the award from the President of India for developing and manufacturing the first indigenous car, the Indica. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering & Production.

Raj Singh Rathee has been developing the Indian market for KUKA Roboter since 2005 and founded the India division in 2006. He is also responsible for KUKA Roboter business in SAARC countries and the Middle East/Gulf region. With an overall industry experience of more than 20 years, Rathee was previously at Uniweld Malaysia and Larsen & Toubro Limited, India.

Sharad Kulkarni has been working with Sandvik Coromant for more than 12 years and has wide experience of direct and distributor sales, new product introduction, product management and business development. He is currently responsible for Coromant sales operations in North India and manages a team of 20, serving customers in the region.

Pradeep Kumar has a degree in electrical engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University and over sixteen years experience in the field of electrical machines, power distribution, industrial automation and energy management. He has been with Schneider Electric for the past eight years and in his current role is responsible for turnkey solutions for the automotive industry. Kumar is also the key account manager for global OEM customers including Volkswagen, Ford, General Motors, Daimler and Renault Nissan.

Samar Bijoy Paul graduated from Mysore University in Mechanical Engineering and started working at Machinery Manufacturers Corporation in 1980, in various departments of the textile machinery unit. He joined ABB in 1989 and worked for 13 years in various positions in the paint finishing division. Paul joined Durr in India in 2002, and is responsible for sales and marketing for paint and final assembly systems.

Junzo Sappa has more than 28 years of experience with Taikisha, in the automotive and HVAC industries. He graduated from Konan University in 1983. Sappa has worked with Taikishas foreign operations bases in the USA, UK, France and Russia for more than 20 years.

Ruediger Brockmann studied Laser Application Technology at University of Applied Sciences, Muenster, Germany and Engineering at the Technical University of Chemnitz, where he gained a PhD (laserwelding of thin foils with solid state lasers). From 2002 to 2006 Brockmann worked on process development at Volkswagen in the technology development of laser applications in BiW and qualification of new production equipment. From 2006 to 2009 he was responsible for the product management of all Solid-State-Lasers with an output power of ≥ 1 kW at TRUMPF Laser in Schramberg, Germany, and since 2009 he has been the Senior Manager of the Industry Management Automotive department at TRUMPF Laser- und Systemtechnik in Ditzingen, Germany.

Steve Gray has worked in the tooling industry for over 30 years. After completing a technical apprenticeship, he moved into tool design and development. Since 1990, Gray has specialised in fine machining, primarily in the automotive sector. In 2006 he joined Kennametal to oversee their development program of guided (padded) reamers and in 2007 was promoted to Global Technical Program Manager, Fine Machining.

Klaus Rothenhagen has worked in the metalforming Industry for more than 30 years. After completing an apprenticeship programme he worked in the engineering department and project department. Later, as Product and Sales Manager, he was responsible for press shop equipment at a German press manufacturer.
He was then promoted to Director of Sales for the company’s North American operation in Cincinnati, USA. Since 2008, he has been working as VP International Sales for AIDA Europe.

Andre Cote has 30 years of experience in the printing and converting industry with 15+ years in the field of radio frequency (RF) technology. He has previously been CTO, and managed R&D, and VP of Product Management for Omni-ID. Prior to joining Omni-ID Cote served as Senior Director of Engineering for Checkpoint’s global tag and label business, and Business Development for the RFID team. Prior to Checkpoint Systems acquisition he was Director of Manufacturing Operations.

Venkatesh Agaram is director of strategy for automotive and industrial verticals at PTC, responsible for the development and communication of strategy of the PLM product portfolio. He is an expert in innovation pipeline development, automotive crashworthiness, design for six sigma, and numerical simulation. Agaram is passionate about crowd sourcing, innovation challenges, and structured innovation for thinking outside the box.

Andre Hack has a B.S.c. (Hons) degree in International Technology Management from the University of Glamorgan (UK) and a Dipl.-Ing. (BA) '03 from the University of Cooperative Education in Mosbach, Germany. From 2000 - 2006 he worked in project management & technology development at EDAG & FFT EDAG and from 2006 - 2008 was Department Manager of Production Engineering at EDAG Japan Co. Ltd. His current role at SICK AG is Strategic Industry Manager of Automotive Industry Asia.

Per-Ake Bustad has been working for SSAB Swedish Steel for more than 30 years. He has extensive experience in steel materials, particularly high strength steels, and in material behavior during processing. Per-Ake has also been working as a forming specialist, and for the last seven years as Area Technical Manager for the automotive segment in Asia, Sweden and UK. He has also co-authored the SSAB Sheet Steel Forming Handbook.

Willi Nef has a mechanical engineering background with postgraduate degrees including an MBA at National University in Singapore, Master of Philosophy at MSM Maastricht a and Doctor of Business Administration at MSM Maastricht. He has worked in different managerial positions for three years in the US and for two years in India. Nef has been Vice-President and Head of Sales and Marketing for eight years at Tornos in Moutier, Switzerland.