Automotive Manufacturing Solutions India 2010

Manojit Acharya (39), graduate mechanical engineer completed his education from Pune University. After starting with Alfa Laval in 1993 he moved to Praj Industries Ltd. In these companies he was involved in product management and sales of heat transfer equipment to the Indian process industry.
Acharya joined Demag Cranes & Components in 1998. He has worked in various functions like sales, product management, marketing & projects. He has been involved in the sales of material handling products & solutions in the automotive industry.

In his role, Mr S N Ambardekar is responsible for optimizing and synergizing the operations in four manufacturing complexes of Tata Motors that produce commercial vehicles at Pune, Jamshedpur, Lucknow and Uttarakhand.

Mr Ambardekar is a home-grown business leader of Tata Motors Ltd., who began his career in 1972. In over 37 years he has undertaken many responsibilities and challenging assignments.

Piyush Arora is responsible for technical planning, production, procurement and logistics. He is a member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz India and is actively involved in the company's strategy and implementation for all business.
Arora was involved in setting up the processes and systems of the company in India, including supply chain processes, outsourcing strategies and developing a vendor base for Daimler in India, both on a local and global level.

Mandeep Bhalla has spent his entire career in the automotive industry, with roles in auto component and systems suppliers.
He has worked, trained and gained experience in leading companies such as Sona Koyo Steering Systems, Tata Auto Component Systems Interiors and Plastics Division, and Tata Toyo Radiator Limited, among others.
Bhalla is trained in the Tata Production System techniques and has a passion for operational excellence and cost optimisation.

Mr. Bhaskar is a Mechanical Engineer having Energy Management experience in all the industrial segments and commercial buildings.

He has over 20 years of experience in the field of Thermal Engineering having handled functions like production, equipment and waste heat recovery systems design, Energy Auditing. He has conducted over 200 comprehensive studies in all the industrial segments and Commercial Building segments in the last 8 years. He has hands on experience in auditing machining centers, assembly lines, paint shops, Engine Test Beds, Foundry, Forging and utilities in Automobile segment.

Bhaskar is the Chief Consultant - Energy Management Group and heads the Energy Management Group looking after Consulting and Training Verticals for Schneider Electric Conzerv India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore

Dr. Norbert Brändli joined Microsoft Corporation in February 2008 as WW Managing Director Automotive and Industrial Equipment. Prior to this he worked for Urban Science, a leading global consulting company, as Managing Director of its office in Frankfurt, Germany. Before joining Urban Science, Norbert served as Director of IT Marketing, Sales and eBusiness at DaimlerChrysler AG in Stuttgart, Germany. Norbert holds a Ph. D. in Computer Science from Technical University Karlsruhe in Germany.

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. He joined Ford India in 1996. Chackalackal is a qualified industrial engineer and holds a diploma in Business Administration (distinction).

In SIAM, Dilip Chenoy leads a team of engineers, economists and professionals to evolve a holistic approach to challenges and opportunities for the automobile Industry in India.
Prior to this, Chenoy was the Deputy Director General responsible for Industry Sectors and Associations Council - (ASCON) covering, agriculture, life sciences and ICT in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Jacques Foulquier has worked for Renault group since 2004, and he has been Senior Vice President for Renault's Engineering Division in India since March 2007. Prior to this he worked as Vice President of Renault's product and process engineering for worldwide chassis activities. He has obtained several patents at Renault.
Between 1993 and 2004, he worked with Michelin Company as Vice President - Chassis Department and Deputy Vice President - Tire / Vehicle Interaction Department.
He has also worked with Nacam / Lemforder Company from 1989 to 1993 as Technical Director (product and process manufacturing) for worldwide steering column Business Unit

Dirk Gorges graduated from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany in Mechanical Engineering and Management. His career started two decades ago at Freudenberg where he worked in different management positions in the R&D department and at various business centres.
He joined Dürr in 2003, and is responsible for the sales and marketing of the final assembly business unit. In addition, in 2008 he took over the sales and marketing for the paint business worldwide, for the Dürr group.

G M Prabhu is a graduate in Electrical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Warangal. He is currently working for Kirloskar Electric Company in Bangalore. He has considerable experience in designing special and large electrical rotating machines, international marketing and re-engineering.

Degree: International Technology Management - B.Sc. (Hons) & Dipl.-Ing. (BA) '03
University: Univ. of Glamorgan (UK) & University of Cooperative Education in Mosbach, Germany.

Professional Career:
2000 – 2006: EDAG & FFT EDAG: Project management & technology development
2006 – 2008: EDAG Japan Co. Ltd: Department Manager "Production Engineering"
2009 – now: SICK AG: Strategic Industry Manager "Automotive Industry Asia"

Mr. Harbour co-authored and developed "The Harbour Report™" in 1989, a publication that has grown to be the pre-eminent annual assessment of automotive manufacturing performance around the globe. The Harbour Report™ is a valuable benchmarking tool that automakers can use to improve and sustain their quality and productivity. Mr. Harbour is in high demand as a speaker on automotive manufacturing performance to industry and investor organizations and is regularly quoted and interviewed in media publications, TV, radio and internet.

Thomas Hillskog, B. Sc. is Product Manager for Cold Work Applications. He graduated in Materials Science from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. After joining Uddeholm Tooling in 1987, Thomas has held several positions within the company in Sweden as well as in the United States.

Paul is responsible for global Product Engineering and the Indian operations for Stadco Group. Paul has 25 years experience in BIW design, manufacturing and international program management. He lived in India with his family during the 1990's and his ambition is to develop the Indian operation to become the first Full Service BIW supplier in India.

Ranjan Kar has been heading the Automobile Business since May 2007. He is responsible for manufacturing, sales and marketing of bearings, bearing units and other automotive products and services to OEM customers in Cars, Trucks and Tractor segments, all India Automotive After Market business (VSM) and Exports to Europe, Latin America, USA and Asia-Pacific.
Prior to SKF India Ranjan has contributed his expertise to Exxon Mobil Company India, Reliance Industries and TATA Engineering & Locomotive Co.
A graduate from IIT, Kharagpur, and IIM, Ahmedabad, Ranjan has hobbies varying from sports, music, and reading to traveling.

Dipl.-Ing. (FH), MBA

Since 2009 Thorsten Kimpel is working as a Global Key Account Manager Automotive at the Business Field Laser Technology. Since 2004 Thorsten Kimpel is working for the TRUMPF group. Since 2004 Mr. Kimpel is in charge for different companies of the automotive industry like VOLKSWAGEN or PORSCHE.
Between 2000 and 2004 Thorsten Kimpel was employed at the Elektronik Laser System GmbH. Between 2000 and 2002 he worked as a project engineer in the Photonics group and was in charge for North America. After that he was the responsible sales engineer in the laser group for northern Europe. Prior he held several positions at the European Customer center of GSI Lumonics in the field of application, pre and post sales. Before 1997 Thorsten Kimpel was employed as an application engineer in the micro technology department of the Fraunhofer Institut of Laser Technology in Aachen. All together he has 15 years of experience in the field of laser technology.
Mr. Kimpel did his studies at the University of applied science in Aachen in the field of airplane engineering and his diploma work was at the diode laser group of the ILT on micro channel coolers for high power laser diodes. He also has a master degree in sales management of the university of applied sience Ostfalia.

Swamy Kotagiri was appointed Executive Vice President of Global Engineering and R&D for Cosma International (a Magna International division) in June 2008. Mr. Kotagiri has more than 15 years of industry experience, most recently serving as Vice President of R&D for Cosma. In that capacity, he was responsible for the innovation strategy development for the company, and launch and execution of new technology in the manufacturing divisions. Before joining Cosma International, he was structural engineer at General Motors. He served in various positions at Cosma prior to his appointment to his current role.

Mr. Kotagiri has a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University, with specialization in Materials and Structural Engineering. He has over 12 patents to his credit in automotive product and process design.

Luigi Lazzari is a Doctorate in Nuclear Engineering with over 20 years of experience in the field of automotive paint-shops internationally.
He has worked in all the divisions of Geico from Process to Detailed Engineering, Research & Development as well as Value Engineering to reach today's leadership position of Proposal Engineering Executive. He is also the Chairman of the Industrial Marketing Committee in Geico.

William Mainieri is 44 years old and married with two children. He graduated in the United States with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He has over 15 years experience in the automotive and commercial vehicle paintshop sector. Currently he is responsible for product management of corrosion protection equipment. Previous assignments included research and development, proposals, and sales.

Dan McGillis has almost thirty years in the automotive assembly industry, with the last twenty years devoted to the discipline of powertrain assembly and automation.Dan is currently the global business development manager for Powertrain Automation, covering five major segments:

- Engine and cylinder head assembly
- Transmission assembly
- Driveline assembly
- Heavy diesel assembly
- Battery assembly

Abhijit Mukherjee is the Managing Director for Tenneco India. Tenneco employs 750 people in five manufacturing facilities that produce emission control and ride control components. These are located in Hosur, Pondicherry, Bawal, Pune and Halol. Construction of a sixth facility for exhaust manufacturing in Chennai is underway. Before assuming his current role, Mr. Mukherjee led a global SAP project, and before that he was the Finance Director for Tenneco's European emission control business unit with $1.8 billion revenues and 20 manufacturing facilities.

Juergen Nolde is responsible for automotive business at the Siemens Industrial Automation and Drives Technology headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany. This is part of the worldwide Siemens Automation and Drives business.
Together with his team, Mr Nolde provides technology and international project coordination support for the Siemens Automotive team in India.

Mr Panda graduated in Industrial Engineering from IIT Roorkee. He also has a post graduate degree in Production Engineering from IIT Delhi. He began his career working for the Steel Authority of India.

Mr Panda then moved to Maruti Suzuki, as Head of Industrial Relations and rose to the level of GM (HR). He has also worked for a short period at TVS Motors as Head of Personnel before taking over as Head of HR for Fiat India. In all, his experience in the industry spans 29 years.

Mahendra Patil has two decades of rich experience in Projects and Marketing. He started his carrier with Kalyani Group for the green field project of seamless Tube making. He played very important role in implementing the Body shop & assembly line for the first Utility Vehicle and implementation of the Body shop for the first passenger car manufacturing set up in Tata Motors. He is currently responsible for the Marketing for the Assembly and Painting Systems for TAL manufacturing Solutions Limited. Patil is involved in developing the processes, systems and strategy for the company.

Mr Ramesh Parmar was brought up in Mumbai and has qualified as a Chemical Engineer. He now heads Henkel's Aquence Coating Technology and is responsible for OEM Automotive Business. Mr Parmar's experience spans 16 years and he has been working for Henkel since 1996.

Louis Pereira's career spans 39 years in M&M across Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors handling Design, Planning, Manufacturing and Quality. As a Senior Vice President - Central Manufacturing Engineering, he is currently responsible for Projects, Manufacturing Engineering, Asset Management - Automotive Sector.

As CEO of Mahindra Vehicle Manufacturers Limited (MVML) he currently:
- Oversees the development of the Chakan Plant into a world-class manufacturing facility.
- Responsible for the smooth functioning of the Plant which will manufacture new products from Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd.

Nitin Rajurkar has more than 27 years of experience in the automobile industry, with specialisation in manufacturing engineering. He heads the new project facility planning (ME) activities for Tata Motors Passenger Cars Unit. Rajurkar is a pioneer in digital manufacturing initiatives in India and holds credit for several digital project achievements.

Mr Petersén, during 32 years of his experience has been working in many different areas within the metal cutting industry, both in Sweden, Germany and on the international arena.

Mr Petersén joined Sandvik group in 1985. He has been member of the management group for Sandvik Automation, both in Germany and Sweden responsible for Industrial PC, Computer Aided Manufacturing and Direct Numerical Control.

Since Nov 1 2009 Mr Petersén is working as technical manager for Sandvik Coromant in Pune.

Mr. Girish M Rakhe, President at Reva Electric Car Company is a Mechanical Engineer with an MBA in finance.

Over 25+ years, he has worked with many major organisations such as MPSIDC, Uniworth Group - (Indorama Group), LML, TATA, and Suzuki. Today he holds the position of President of Reva Electric Car Company, and is leading the revolution for pollution free mobility.

The automotive industry had recognized Mr Rakhe by honouring him with positions such as Vice Chairman, Vice President and Head of the Committees at a national and international level.

Qualification: Degree and Diploma in Mechanical Engineering.
Experience: Working in Automobile Industry for the last 23 years. Started with Maruti Suzuki, Gurgaon and worked for over 8. Working with General Motors for the last 14 years. Managed different functions such as Brownfield and Greenfield Projects, New product launches, Shop maintenance, Utility, Safety, Environmental Management and ISO 14001. Lead role for the construction of Greenfield project at Talegaon and completed the project surpassing many benchmark in GM.

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.

Rakesh Sabbarwal leads the Talegaon Plant of General Motors India.
He began his career with GM in March 2007 as an Assistant Plant Manager. He was a part of the team responsible for bringing up the Greenfield project at Talegaon.
He has 32 years of expertise in the field of manufacturing. In his previous assignments he has worked with esteemed organizations like Escort, Daewoo Motors, Piagio and Rico Auto Industries.
He holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Mysore University.

Mr. Subhash Saini holds a distinction in Mechanical Engineering with a post graduate degree in material management. He has over 20 years experience of working in the Tractor and Automobile industry. He is presently associated with M/s International Cars and Motors Limited, (Sonalika Group Company) as Head - Plant and Service, and is represented as a member of the governing body. Mr. Saini is a management professional with wide spectrum of experience, and with proven abilities in strategic planning, project management, production operations, quality control / assurance / systems, techno commercial operations, team development and people management.

William (Bill) Sarver is a BSEE-IA graduate from General Motors Institute. He started his working career at GM in 1981, where he held technical and supervisory positions in production, manufacturing and plant engineering, and maintenance.
Following that, he worked at McNaughton-McKay Electric Company, the largest automotive focused electrical and automation supply company in America, where he was promoted to general manager. He joined Rockwell Automation in 2003.

Mr. Manish Kumar Saxena is Sr Manager – Product Development at Eicher Trucks and Buses, a unit of VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd. He is B.E. in Mechanical Engineering and has 14 years experience in Product Development of commercial vehicles.

He is currently responsible for the Product Development in LD range of Eicher Trucks & Buses as well as design & development of various vehicle aggregates.

He was instrumental in expansion of HD range of ETB as Platform head 2yrs back & has been responsible for development of the E2 plus range of ETB LD vehicles currently running in market.

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 company's vision, goals and objectives. He also, visualizes and develops strategy for future business growth and heads the Hero Chassis Systems Division.

With more than 28 years experience in automotive painting plants & applications, Shivraj has been TEI Technical Director from 1995, involved in projects at Tata Motors, Bajaj, TVS Motors, Ashok Leyland, Piaggio and many more. Prior to Taikisha India, he worked at Jost Engineering with Haden Drysys in charge of metal finishing for 15 years, where he was responsible for total factory system development in collaboration with Temprite and Maxon. He was also responsible for local manufacturing of electrostatic spray guns etc in collaboration with Sames, France.

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.

Mr. Ajay Sinha is a graduate in mechanical engineering with post-graduate diploma in business management. He has exposure to engineering, automobile and two wheeler industries in a career spanning 30 years.

He is, currently, heading the projects department at Hero Honda Motors Ltd looking after Capacity Expansion; Engineering for introduction of new models and technical support to Ancillary etc for all the three plants located at Haryana and Uttarakhand. He has also worked as Head of Production Engineering and Production.

Sudhir Sole holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering) degree and has been with Bajaj Auto for 34 years. He has worked in various divisions including maintenance, manufacturing, and technical support, among others. His most recent achievement is the carmaker's Pantnagar plant in Uttarakhand, which went from site mobilisation to commissioning in just 11 months.

Mr. Srinivas is the Senior General Manager of Electrical & Electronics division at Research and Development Centre, Mahindra & Mahindra. Mr. Srinivas in his current capacity is responsible for strategizing and executing advanced technology road map in electrical, electronics and hybrid technology areas at Mahindra. He always has a strong passion towards contemporary innovative technologies.

Mr Swamy graduated with a Bsc. first class degree from Bangalore University. In 1968 he moved to Mysore to take charge as Financial Manager at Kirloskar groups. He was made Vice President, Finance looking after Business Development and Projects. He then got the post of CEO at Mysore Kirloskar and then moved to TKM. He was with Toyota Motors as Deputy Managing Director since 1996 before joining Volkswagen India as Managing Director & Vice President on July 21st 2008.

Appointed as Director, President and COO in 2000, Jim is responsible for overseeing all transactions within HIROTEC AMERICA, Inc., including Astrum Contract Services (Staffing Company) and KGHIROTEC Engineering Service Pvt. Ltd. (India). He is also in charge of research and development of new technologies and products for HIROTEC in North America and holds over 10 patents.

Jim joined HIROTEC AMERICA then known as TESCO ENGINEERING in 1989 as Operations Manager. He came from ABB Robotics, Inc., where he worked for 4 years in different functions in the Project Management department and included the duties of program management and group management. In 1996 he was elected as a Director and in 1998 accepted the title of Vice President and COO. Jim was the third American hired at HIROTEC AMERICA, and his leadership has been directly responsible for the company's growth.

Jim holds a BSWE degree from Ohio State University. In 1997 he was recognized as one of Cranes "Top 40 Executives under 40". Jim is married and lives with his wife and 3 children in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

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.