BFW Becomes A 100% Kothari Group Company NN Upadhyay, BFW, Bangalore JULY 2013 WAS A RAIN-DRENCHED month for the garden city of Bangalore. The sky largely remained overcast. The showers blessed more than once al- most everyday. Greenery abounded, temperature dropped. Dams, barren just a few days ago, got filled almost to the brim. It was on such a typical day in July 2013, when the BFW directors met to consider an extraordinary agenda. After holding the majority of shares for sev- eral years, the Kothari Group was contemplating to buy all remaining shares to become the sole owner of Bharat Fritz Werner. For the uninitiated, BFW was incorporated in 1961 as a joint venture with Germany’s Fritz Werner Werkzeugmaschinen. For more than 40 years part of BFW ownership remained in the hands of the Ger- mans. Later, financial institutions such as IL&FS and Ko- tak Private Equity acquired some shares. BFW grew many folds in recent years. Though a large client base exists in India, BFW customers are spread across Italy, Germany, France, Netherlands, Oman, Russia, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Thailand. The Kothari Group is keen on ensuring that BFW materialises its vision of being among the world’s top twenty machine tool manufac- turers by 2020. The directors saw merit in Kothari Group’s aspiration, and finally the resolution was passed. BFW is now not only a 100% Indian company, it is a 100% Kothari Group company. The `2,000 crore Kothari Group owns more than twenty companies dealing in phar- maceuticals, healthcare, tea plantation, yarn weaving and engineering. The reconstituted BFW Board consists of Shri AK Ko- thari as the chairman and Smt PD Kothari, Mr Shailesh Sheth, Mr Ajit Khandelwal and Mr Haigreve Khaitan as directors. I continue to serve the Board as a whole time director. The development augurs well for cus- tomers and associates, as the entire might of the Ko- thari Group is now available with no distractions to support BFW’s efforts towards all-round success. (Clockwise from top left) BFW logos over the years, a cutout of the current logo, Mr NN Upadhyay, Mr Haigreve Khaitan, Mr Ajit Khandelwal, Mr Shailesh Sheth, Smt PD Kothari and Shri Arun Kothari
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BFW Becomes A 100% Kothari Group CompanyNN Upadhyay, BFW, Bangalore
JUly 2013 WAs A rAiN-dreNChed month for the garden city of Bangalore. The sky largely remained overcast. The showers blessed more than once al-most everyday. Greenery abounded, temperature dropped. Dams, barren just a few days ago, got filled almost to the brim.
it was on such a typical day in July 2013, when the BFW directors met to consider an extraordinary agenda. After holding the majority of shares for sev-eral years, the Kothari Group was contemplating to buy all remaining shares to become the sole owner of Bharat Fritz Werner.
For the uninitiated, BFW was incorporated in 1961 as a joint venture with Germany’s Fritz Werner Werkzeugmaschinen. For more than 40 years part of BFW ownership remained in the hands of the Ger-mans. Later, financial institutions such as IL&FS and Ko-tak Private equity acquired some shares.
BFW grew many folds in recent years. Though a large client base exists in india,
BFW customers are spread across italy, Germany, France, Netherlands, Oman, russia, sri lanka, saudi Arabia, UAe and Thailand. The Kothari Group is keen on ensuring that BFW materialises its vision of being among the world’s top twenty machine tool manufac-turers by 2020.
The directors saw merit in Kothari Group’s aspiration, and finally the resolution was passed. BFW is now not only a 100% indian company, it is a 100% Kothari Group company. The `2,000 crore Kothari Group owns more than twenty companies dealing in phar-maceuticals, healthcare, tea plantation, yarn weaving and engineering.
The reconstituted BFW Board consists of shri AK Ko-thari as the chairman and smt Pd Kothari, Mr shailesh sheth, Mr Ajit Khandelwal and Mr haigreve Khaitan as directors. i continue to serve the Board as a whole time director. The development augurs well for cus-tomers and associates, as the entire might of the Ko-thari Group is now available with no distractions to support BFW’s efforts towards all-round success.
(Clockwise from top left) BFW logos over the years, a cutout of the current logo, Mr NN Upadhyay, Mr haigreve Khaitan, Mr Ajit Khandelwal, Mr shailesh sheth, smt Pd Kothari and shri Arun Kothari
BFW Update, October – december 2013
From the
deskChairman’s
Mail
BFW is on Facebook! Visit us at www.facebook.com/bharatfritz.werner.
AK KothariChairman
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CAN yOU iNClUde lATesT TreNds and their incorporation on latest BFW machines?S Muralidharan, L&T, Bangalore
BFW KNee TyPe MilliNG MAChiNes continue to perform well in quality and accuracy for the past one year.
Mukesh Parekh, lubi industries llP, Ahmedabad
BFW KNee TyPe MilliNG MAChiNes continue to perform well in a consistent manner for the past two-and-a-half years.
Manish K doshi, international equipments, Mumbai
i exPress My deePesT GrATiTUde to Bharat Fritz Werner for the scholarship. This award goes a long way in helping me both economically and in terms of the confidence it instilled in me to achieve more.
siddharth swaminathan, iiT Madras
i ThANK BhArAT FriTz WerNer for giving me the prestigious scholarship and the certificate. This schol-arship will inspire me to work harder and better at UC Berkeley where i am headed to do a Phd.
sujay desai, iiT Bombay
BFW hAs BeeN seleCTed FOr an award for out-standing export performance in the year 2011-12. The award comes from eePC india, a body supported by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of the Gov-ernment of india. BFW gets the ‘silver shield for star Performer – large enterprise’. i thank all customers and congratulate all associates on the achievement.
BFW is trying innovative ways to build quality prod-ucts with less resources. The company has succeeded in optimising inventory and improving upon the inven-tory turns. BFW has also succeeded in curbing ex-penditure and costs to a great extent. Participation at events has been drastically reduced. The custom-ary conferences are being held in a modest manner. We are rationalising the outgo on imports as well, but
due to unfavourable changes in exchange rates, the success on that front is not spectacu-lar. We have sought greater support frominternational suppliers.
The efforts remind me of a shair (Urdu couplet) the founding Chairman of Kothari Group shriyut Giridhar dasji Kothari told one of the BFW of-ficials decades ago - is Tarah Tai Ki hain hamne Manzilein; Gir Pare, Gir Kar Uthe, Uth Kar Chale – meaning, my way of reaching the destinations has been a stumble, gathering up myself, and walking again towards the goal!
I am confident the times ahead would be promis-ing. My best wishes on the festive season!
BFW Update, October – december 2013
Jagruti, A Cluster Programme For Vendors P Venkataraman, BFW, Bangalore
(Clockwise from left) Mr Pardoshkumar (l) of seT receives from Mr NN Upadhyay Plaque for Best housekeeping; Best Pro-ductivity Project Award is collected by Mr Vel Murugan (r) of Magnum Machine Tools from Mr hK Birla; Mr Mohan (l) of shivashakthi systems receives the Gem of BFW Trophy from Mr NN Upadhyay.
in the same value chain. each cluster member of Jagruti is groomed in a personalised and focussed manner to stand up to the challenges of the Next-Gen standards of excellence and the BFW re-quirements under global standards of excellence.
producing similar or related set of goods or ser-vices. it is a combined home of innovation wor-king synergistically to achieve an economic goal.
ranges based on criticality. These vendors were
The synopses of the projects are under screening at the indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association for the iMTMA-siemens Productivity Championship Award under the sMe stream. BFW will sponsor the selected projects at the finals of IMTMA-Siemens National Productivity summit Championship sched-uled in Pune later this year.
Jagruti has begun its second phase – the awaken-ing is spreading.
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As Jagruti gained momentum, each member made presentation before the Apex review Committee. The Committee visited the vendor in-stallation and offered guidance. By the end of May 2013, Jagruti had successfully completed its first phase, carving a jewel out of each member.
OFF lATe, The WOrd ‘ClUsTer’ is being exte-
The key strength of clusters lies in deriving syner-gies and providing a platform for collaborative
research initiative, and association. Personalised attention was given to and delivery was also stressed upon.
nsively used in economic and business parlance. Cluster is a group of companies sha-ring local resources, using simi-lar technologies, and forming lin- ough classroom sessions and on-kages and alliances. These linkages site demonstrations. The significancecan take the shape of buyer-supplier of achieving excellence in quality, cost relationship, joint marketing, training or
in the manufacturing sector, cluster refers toeach Jagruti member, whenever needed.
a group of interconnected companies or firms
problem-solving and best-practice-sharingamongst the stake holders.
share their productivity projects in the con-
BFW is one of the early birds to rec-ognise the importance and power of the cluster. Jagruti (the awakening), the
cluding programme on June 22 this year, walking away with recognition and awards. The Gem of BFW award for allround excellence was bestowed
imparted education and train-ing on housekeeping, quality tools and techniques, and pro-
blem solving methodologies thr-
Jagruti members were proud and happy to
upon shivashakthi systems. through a cluster programme for supply partners BFW initiative, is aimed at realising Vision 2020
Mobilising necessary resources in terms of experi-ence, expertise and committed people, Jagruti was launched in September 2012. The first batch consi-sted of twelve vendors, cutting across product
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AdvertisementsBFW Update, October – december 20134
BFW Update, October – december 2013
Glimpses
(Clockwise from top) The Mysore horticultural society bestows the special Outstanding Prizes Award upon BFW for its gardens at the horticultural show in August 2013.
hands-on training at international Tractors, hoshiarpur, in July 2013.
Mr sujay desai (inset), an M Tech in Microelec-tronics at iiT Bombay, wins the BFW scholar-ship in July 2013. Mr desai is headed for a Phd at the University of California, Berkeley.
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GACl - The Wide Basket of OfferingsDK Sharda, Gillanders Arbuthnot & Co Ltd, Kolkata
BFW Update, October – december 20136
The POWer seAT OF WesT Bengal lies housed in the sprawling brick-red Writers’ Building on BBd Bagh, the business hub of Kolkata. Not far from the Writers’ Building stands Gillander house – a heritage struc-ture of arches, wrought-iron gates, imposing pillars, and high roofs. The iconic Gillander house spreads into six blocks, accommodating over a hundred busi-ness establishments.
Gillander house is the property of a Kothari Group company, Gillanders Arbuthnot and Company lim-ited (GACl). The more than 75-year old GACl has a wide basket of offerings ranging from engineering, textile, chemicals to tea.
MiCCO, the engineering division of GACl, is the recipi-ent of the star Performer Award from the engineering export Promotion Council of india. MiCCO conducts turnkey execution of projects in structurals, tankages, pipings, blast furnaces, re-heating furnaces, industri-al furnaces, cold rolling mills, continuous casting ma-chines, gas holders, coke oven battery projects, etc.
GACl yarn plants in West Bengal and Punjab, with a combined capacity of 1,30,000 spin-ning spindles, produce a wide range of grey and dyed yarns in cotton, polyester, acrylic, viscose, bamboo and associated blends. GACl’s captive
6.5 MW rice husk based power plant at Akbarpur in Punjab is registered under Clean development Mechanism, an initiative of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The chemical division of GACl, under the brand ‘Waldies’, manufactures lead oxide and stabi-lisers for the PVC industry. The Waldies product range includes red lead ordinary, red lead non-setting, litharge, white lead, tribasic lead sulphate, lead stearate, dibasic lead stearate, dibasic lead phthalate, one pack additives and barium/cad-mium stearate.
GACl produces about ten million kilogrammes of tea every year. Tea Board, the apex body for the tea industry in india, has on several occasions appreciated the superiority of GACl tea. GACl’s black tea segment comprises both CTC and or-thodox tea. The packet tea is available under the brand names of KPi, Mayur and Gillarco. eco-friendly fertiliser is used on the six thousand hec-tare tea estates of GACl.
GACl markets many products under the ‘Gillar-co’ brand. The company trades paints, construc-tion chemicals, painting equipment, paint brushes, abrasive sheets, adhesives, chemicals, etc.
(Clockwise from top left) A MiCCO project; textile carding machines; the chemical plant; the GACl tea estate, and the rice husk based power plant at GACl, Akbarpur.
BFW Update, October – december 2013 7
Gray
CornerMatter
“KANGArOO CANNOT hOP WiTh iTs tail tied up! it swings its tail to balance its body while hop-ping” – wrote Mr suryanarayana Murty while sending the correct answer to the puzzle published in the last edition. Mr S Muralidharan from L&T Bangalore also submitted the correct answer. A response was also received from Mr y Murali, Francis Klein, Bangalore.
We at BFW believe in protecting nature. Once, when on a picturesque beach, I saw a tiny bird flit-ting on a tree. Not far away, a snake watched it with interest. Perhaps more snakes lay there hidden from my eyes. The tree trunk had many holes. God knows what came to its mind, and the playful bird
entered an almost vertical hole. The snake made a slow movement towards the tree. i threw some sand over it, and the snake started waiting for me to clear the scene. i checked the hole with a torch. it must have been less than three inches in diameter and about three feet in depth. due to the depth of the hole, i could not reach the bird by hand. There was no stick or any other material of that length available nearby, and leaving the place would have meant offering the bird in dinner to the snake. had you been in my position, how would you have rescued the bird from the hole? Please send your response to [email protected].
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Bharat Fritz Werner limited. While effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information published in this edition, neither Bharat Fritz Werner nor any of its employees accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions.
Printed by T Babu Mahadev Prasad at legal Times, No. 191, yeshwanthpur Circle Cross, Bangalore 560022 and published by Amitabh Varma on behalf of Bharat Fritz Werner limited. editor: Amitabh Varma, head Marketing services.
Website: www.bfwindia.com; Toll-free: 18004253332
Registered with the Office of the Registrar of Newspapers of India under number KARENG/2000/05683 dated 19 September, 2006
bfw
kana
ka09
2013
JUly 29 This yeAr WAs A remarkable day for BFW’s special Machines division. it was on this day when Kirloskar Ferrous industries limited (KFil) for-mally appreciated BFW’s special Machines division; and the KFil Managing director Mr rV Gumaste handed over an award to Mr Praful shende of BFW.
KFil, based at hospet in Karnataka and solapur in Maharashtra, is a leading producer of pig iron, grey iron castings, special grade iron castings, and steel investment castings. KFil products are primarily used on light and medium commercial vehicles, tractors, and diesel engines. Many well-reputed OeMs are KFil customers.
hino, the largest heavy-and-medium-duty truck man-ufacturer of Japan is a key KFil customer for cylinder blocks and cylinder head castings. As hino signed a contract with KFIL for semi-finished products, KFIL selected BFW for the supply of the production lines for these two items.
The entire project, consisting of the production lines and the interconnecting component conveyor system, was commissioned within 8-9 months on schedule this year.
The cylinder block line consists of four special machines, while the cylinder head line has five SPMs. Averaging and sizing of cast components is performed on these lines, after which the components are fed directly into the finishing machines at the Hino plant. The arrangement eliminates inspection of cast-ings and outsourcing of manufacturing by hino. hino, KFil and BFW set this milestone through exemplary co-ordination and understanding. The fixture concept for averaging is one of the shining examples of the innovative results reached through the co-operation. Contributions from KFil’s Mr sM Joshi, General Manager – Ma-chine shop, and Mr sanjay Gaikwad, senior Gen-eral Manager – Materials & Marketing, deserve special mention.
