Short Story on Mr. N Ramachandhran

I would ensure that MELSS continues to run as an institution and plays a responsible role in Society. He is a successful entrepreneur with qualities that distinguish him from the rest. As a leader he has earned the trust and respect of his team by his positive work ethic and confidence which has fostered an environment permeated by these values. Meet N Ramchandhran Managing Director MEL Systems & Services Ltd. (MELSS) who has a long career in Electronics Industry not only as technology expert and a successful entrepreneur but also as a Catalyst for change in the Electronics Industry. Under his leadership MELSS has been at the cutting edge of technology ever since 1982. Ramachandhran talks to Nitasha Chawla of Electronics Bazaar, about his transformation into an entrepreneur disclosing his passion for electronics and his respect for high values. Born in 1950 in Chennai I grew up in a joint family, which taught me to be loving and caring. I had a wonderful childhood with a lot of outdoor activities. The first 10 years of my life I spent with my grandparents at Madras and then went toCoimbatore to live with my parents. 

Although my grandparents were very strict they taught me high values with love and affection and shaped my behaviour. Once while playing cricket I broke a light bulb. I was petrified thinking about the punishment face. But to my utter surprise my grandfather showed me the inner parts of the bulb and explained how a bulb was manufactured. I can never forget this incident. 

Being the first child in the family of my generation, I got a lot of attention and love from the extended family. It was a great learning experience as well, imbibing ideals and values from a host of uncles aunts cousins and other relatives many of whom were our neighbours. This love affection and camaraderie has made me what I am today- a friendly and helpful person with a lot of empathy. 

My parents were very supportive of whatever I did and gave me a lot of freedom. . They expected me to follow certain norms in terms of behaviour, however they never imposed their beliefs on me and that is why I respected their values even more. I am their only surviving son, - I had a younger sister and brother who both passed away at a very young age. My mother is my role model for qualities like positive thinking patience and and empathy. 

I BALANCED STUDIES WITH SPORTS
Till the 5th standard I studied in Chennai and then moved to Municipal School in Coimbatore in 1960 which unlike the municipal schools of today, was a great place to learn. I was crazy about cricket and represented the school and the district in cricket tournaments. Besides cricket I played basketball as well. I was also quite active in Natonal Cadet Core. Yet I did reasonably well in my studies, though I was not a topper in my class. Unlike today’s generation we spent a lot of time on our extra-curricular activities as we did not have a television or computer at home then. In school Physics and Geography interested me a lot. I loved doing experiments in the Physics laboratory and took a lot of interest in reading National Geographic Magazines in the School Library. I dreamt about travelling different countries and experiencing different cultures. Today I have visited a number of countries yet I still wish to visit some places like Machu Pichu in Peru and the Amazons.

UNIQUE EXPERIENCE AT MIT
My continued love for Physics landed me up at Madras University where I completed BSc (Physics). Hence joining the Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) was an obvious decision from where I did Electronics Engineering. In those days MIT was very well respected and had an excellent environment. About 50% of the students were from other states and for the first time in my life I was exposed to different cultures and languages of our country – it was a wonderful learning experience.

I had a wonderful time at MIT which then had about 220 students; Some of my teachers were exceedingly good. In fact the atmosphere at MIT was like that of a family. The passion for electronics was the common thread that bound us together. At MIT I continued to play cricket and basketball. I also edited the student magazine. Overall it was an enriching experience and I got a holistic learning experience in electronics sports and in building some lifelong relationships. 

I am still in touch with my MIT class mates and catch up with them when ever I visit their cities.

HONONG MY MANAGEMENT SKILLS
Immediately after graduating from MIT in 1972 I got a job offer from M/S Seshasayee Bros, an electro medical equipments from where I was sent to Germany for three months for training. Thereafter I joined their Delhi Office as sales and service Engineer for CAT scans and other electro medical machines. While doing this job, IU decided to pursue a part time one year programme at the Faculty of Management studies, in Delhi University. I quit my job in 1975 and joined IIFT Delhi for a one year programme in Foreign Trade. While in Delhi I also learnt German for two years because I had a tough time communicating with people during my trip to Germany and I also felt that learning this language could prove useful in the future. 

Till I got married in 1981 I continued to study while I worked. In order to progress in my career I made sure that that I keep enhancing my management skills in different domains, marketing trade and finance along with being continuously involved in technology. Therefore I continued to learn from different management programmes even after I shifted to Mumbai in 1976.GHere I joined course in Financial Management at the Jamuna Lal Bajaj Institute but I could not complete the course due to some personal reasons. Though for a short stint the course was really beneficial to me. My confidence in understanding the financial aspects of a business came from that course. While I was in Mumbai I also underwent a three month management development programme at the International Trade Centre, Geneva. This programme gavce me a great exposure to international business studies. As a part of the programme we did a research to many countries including Italy, Germany Sweden and the UK. This experience was fantastic and an eye opener. The return journey was even more rewarding sine I spent a day Cairo to look the treasures of King Tut one of my childhood dreams. 

MY STINT WITH MAHINDRA & MELTRON
While I was in Mumbai in 1976 I joined Mahindra & Mahindra as head of marketing fior the Company’s electronic component division which doesn’t exist now. That was my first practical experience during which I could put my marketing as well as technical knowledge to use. I worked with Bharath Eloectronics Ltd (BEL) Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) and other key customers to get the products approved. I travelled all over India to meet clients. This role also gave me an opportunity to learn about component standards and their approval procedures. While I was working there I had an opportunity to do a management development programme at ITC in Geneva. My visit to different countries added immensely to my experiences. L learnt the electronics distribution set-upsin these countries and thought a lot about how India could tap those distribution companies. I met a lot of electronics distribution companies in these countries and understood how Indian manufacturers could build a relationship with them. These trips also helped me in building contacts with some major global distributors. In 1979 I joined Maharashtra Electronics Corporation (MELCO) as the Head of Marketing for semi-conductor and component group. It was an all India marketing responsibility which further built up the company to export its products to overseas markets through the distribution companies I had built contacts with in Switzerland.
MURUGAPPA GROUPS OPENED DOORS OF OPPORTUNITIES

In 1981 the Murugappa Group which is well known for its plantation and other businesses decided to diversify into electronics and approached me to help them in this venture. I took up the opportunity because I wanted to shift to Chennai since it was time for me to get married and settle down. 

At that time a trip to the Far East which was arranged by ELCINA proved to be fruitful. I had gone to look for business opportunities with various companies. In Japan I met some companies that were that had the technology to manufacture magnetic tapes. They agreed to collaborate with us and we opened our first factory for manufacturing magnetic tapes in Mysore. This trip also helped me to spend time with many wonderful people who were members of ELCINA who became my friends for life. By 1996 the group had expanded to include manufacturing of soft ferrites, audio magnetic tapes, agency activities, automation and control and power electronics. However it was a challenging task to set up to set up everything from scratch. The Murugappa Group had acquired a small ferrite company in Chennai making ferrites for the consumer industries on a very small scale and the business model was not viable for us. Therefore we decided to convert it into a telecom ferrite company which was a difficult step requiring a big jump in technology so we sought assistance from technology associates like Siemens. With our enthusiasm and passion for hard work we worked 24 x 7 to get the technical aspects right and finally managed to establish our own telecom ferrite factory with just 3-4 people who developed the technology for it without any collaboration. 

The group gradually became a well-known name in telecom products sector and accounted for 80% of the market share. This is something I will always be proud of – the turn-around we had engineered and the excellent team that we had, are things that do not happen very often. 

However 1996 based on the recommendations of a consulting firm the Group decided to divest itself of its electronics business. So my colleague T Srinivasan and I decided to take over the company as a management buy-out and formed MEL Systems and Services. The Group helped structure our company and initially also invested in 50% of the equity, which has been bought up by us now. M M Murugappan is still our chairman – we had an excellent association and it still continues. 

BIRTH OF MELSS AND OF AN ENTREPRENEUR
When we formed MELSS we started with distributing electronics components and manufacturing factory automation products. The first product we manufactured was an in-circuit tester and gradually we started making automated test equipments.(ATE) in India for the Defence giants like HAL and BEL. That is how we entered the strategic electronics domain. 

Our major expertise lies in revamping old and obsolete simulators used in Defence Industries.We have bagged several such valuable projects from the Defence forces over the years.
We did a project for the Indian Navy through BEL which required the ruggedisatin of of commercial communication equipments. We converted commercial equipment into Navy-grade equipment by making it more rugged. This requires a lot of design and testing work. T was a very successful projectand for a company of our size it was a large order. It took a lot of effort from our side to finish this project.
Another project we are proud of was revamping the submarine simulators for the Indian Navy. We entirely transformed the 20 year old simulators into state of the art products by changing its electronics completely. He project took us almost two years to complete and was a challenging task. He revamp has saved our Armed Forces a lot of money and we are really proud of working on such Projects 

MELSS started with 50 people and now it has grown to a family of 250 people. At the beginning we were a Rs40 million company, today we are a Rs500 million company. Our USP is that we are a highly technical – probably not very smart businessmen but very good at developing technology. We are one of the few companies with a good reputation of completing projects on time. A lot of Defence Projects do not get completed on time, but we make sure that we complete them in time even if it means financial loss to the company. A lot of young engineers love working with us because we give them exposure in wide ranging technologies, which they cannot experience in large organisations. We have an excellent team of Engineers and Managers. I believe in delegation of responsibility to the highest possible level. I have tremendous faith my team and they have never disappointed me. The Murugappa Group had enormous respect in the market for its principles of honesty and integrity. Therefore at MELSS we have ensured that we also earn the same respect from the customers and carry the traditional values of the group forward. I wouldn’t have been where I am today had the Murugappa Group had not trained me to handle challenges. I am thankful to the firm for making MELSS happen and helping the entrepreneur in me to blossom. 

A CATALYST FOR CHANGE IN THE ELECTRONIC INDUSTRY
I have been active in ELCINA since 1979. ELCINA has been doing pioneering work to build a positive opinion within the Government to support Electronic manufacturing sector. While periodic but luke warm support came from the Government in terms of schemes like Electronic Hardware Technology Park (EHTP), hardware parks, etc due to the signing of the ITA under GATT , The manufacturing industry was open to competition from imports at nil or low duties. 

When I was President of ELCINA in 1996 and afterwards as a part of the Executive Committee we continued to press for support in terms of removing the fiscal disadvantage suffered by the industry in terms of taxes and duties on the inputs providing protection to the industry like the auto components industry etc. We also made many suggestions to increasethe manufacture in India of high volume products like consumer electronics and telecom products. Many of these suggestions were implemented though belatedly., but I am happy to see that the manufacturing is now increasing, thanks to these representations and suggestions.
The mood in the Government now is to support manufacturing since they have realised the advantages and have now come out with a slew of policy initiatives which will sustain the manufacturing edge of the Indian Industry. During my Presidency we also started working closely with other Associations like MAIT, CETMA and TEAMA to coordinate our activities and to ensure convergence of views to ensure that the views presented by the Industry were cohesive. We also started a system of each of the presidents being part of the EC of other Associations. This system worked out so well and we could present coordinated and cohesive representations to the Government. 

As a part of my active role in ELCINA I am actively involved in organising two flagship annual events of the Association in the South namely Source India in Chennai, and Strategic Electronic Summit in Bangalore. I am also active in CII and as a part of some of their committees., I play an active role in the area of SME development and electronics and IT Industry. 

MY VISION FOR MELSS
Srinivasan & I want to ensure that MELSS continues to run as a company engaged in cutting edge technology encompassing both hardware and software. Apart from our existing areas of expertise we are also planning to get into green energy initiatives. We would like the company to grow and become a market leader in India in these areas before embarking on the quest for making a mark on the international markets. Business for us is to develop MELSS as a well respected institution which will play a responsible role in the Society in which we are embedded. We are looking beyond our times and hence we have built a professional management team which we are very proud of. We have also sponsored our key managers to undergo an MBA Programme at the Chennai Business School to give them wider perspective and an insight into business processes. We are also looking for a professional CEO who will succeed me soon. We want MELSS to be known for its integrity customer focus corporate social responsibility and employees who will be proud to be associated with us. 

I LOVE SPENDING TIME WITH MY FAMILY
I got married in 1981 to Kala, who is from Delhi. Howeever it was an arranged marriage and we have bonded together very well and she has been a great support in every aspect of my life. She is a committed home maker. Our twins – a boy and a girl – were born in 1990. Since then Kala’s life has been dedicated to our children and I am really happy to see the way she has raised them with the same values as my parents had given me. Our son Rahul is studying in the Michigan State University, and our daughter Deepika is a computer graduate from MIT Chennai. She works for TCS, Chennai.We are a very close knit family. I ensure that every year we travel to some place for which we all take a week or two off. On Sundays too I spend time with the family. Otherwise my time goes in attending Rotary meetings and in activities associated with the alumni associations of MIT and IIFT. I am pleased that some of these organisations have recognised my contributions towards their activities by conferring “Outstanding Rotary President” of the year award, “Outstanding Alumnus” of the year award from IIFT.Iam also happy to serve as one of the members of the Board of Governors” of MIT Madras. I am satisfied with the way my personal & professional life, have shaped up. I am very happy to be N Ramachandhran. Now I want to disengage myself from work gradually and ensure that MELSS continues to run as an institution not just as A business enterprise. I would then want to travel extensively and explore new places. I would also like to spend more time in social work, especially education and training.