Just do it!

Could you give us a quick introduction to the South Asia region’s team? 

We have a fantastic team of almost 1,000 people working for Bühler in the region, whom I’m very proud of. To serve the region, we count on seven sales offices, 13 service stations and one manufacturing site. In addition, we have a channel partner network with more than 20 partners across India, who sell our single machines. Our head office is based in Bangalore, where our factory and application center are also located. With those strong feet on the ground, we attend to more than 4,500 customers in the region.  

Considering that context, we keep asking ourselves how we can better attend and inspire the customers and policy makers, being a thought leader. We hold the right skills and competences, and on top of that, we are competitive. We have a huge SAS (Services and Sales) network across India and ability to support our customers well. With that in mind, we have a great opportunity to out-grow, generating a profitable and sustainable business, and play our role in supporting the group in maximizing profits.  

We continue our activities in Group Services, for example, with IT, Project Execution (PE), Market to Market process (M2M), etc. Now, we shall also take a leading role in the execution part in Africa together with Middle East Africa (MEA). 

Bühler is based in Bangalore, which is considered the IT capital of India, or the Silicon Valley of India. How do you attract and keep talent in a non-IT company operating in this area? 

Talent acquisition can be challenging, particularly in this area, where young talents give preference to opportunities in IT profession. In many cases, we are not their first option. Then, another aspect is to keep the talents in our organization. Differently from older generations, the young ones don’t want to stay long in the company. So, after two, three or five years, they feel the need to change. So, it is our job to change that game.  

For that, we run the Bühler Academy in-house and we are proud that we get our talents in Customer Service, Manufacturing and Logistics (ML) and PE from this pool. At the same time, we encourage constant learning and development programs, like the Executive MBA. We also work together with the local university to make bachelors’ degree in engineering more accessible to our employees. 

What about the market opportunities in the region? 

We are a market of more than 1.3 billion people. In every 100 kilometers, the dialect, the culture, and the eating habits change. The big question is: how do we bring the innovation and technology leadership from Switzerland into that specific context of India?  

Rice, wheat, and pulses form the staple food in India. And we have been successful in transforming the rice industry, color sorting, pulses, flour milling in India over the last decade. We continue to grow further. Now, another story, which still has potential to grow, is the Pesa, the technology for whole wheat flour (Atta). And thanks to our capacity to innovate, collaborate across teams and geographies, and by putting the customer first, we are progressing well.  

Now, our focus is on Aqua Feed, which has a great potential to grow in coming years. Growth in middle class and demand for convenient food throw ample opportunities in our Human Nutrition (HN) and Consumer Foods (CF) business. With the growth in demand for cars and two-wheelers, we also see sustainable growth opportunity in our Die Casting business. Electromobility offers opportunities in Battery business in the future. We also see a good prospect for our Glass Coater business in India. 

Considering the huge installed base, customer service has a tremendous growing opportunity in coming years with physical support as well with digital means. BenLink shall play an important role in supporting customers in future.  

Alternate Proteins has started traction with start-ups in India. Overall, this requires a better understanding of how we connect our innovation to the local requirements and culture, and then together develop solutions. That is the reason we have an application center, corporate technology, and Research & Development (R&D) groups here. For us, this is a challenge, but also a source of motivation and inspiration for future growth opportunities. 

What is particularly important to you as South Asia’ leader figure? 

People are the most important factor in this. Most of the things are driven by individuals. So, we need to keep the spark of motivation, positive energy, entrepreneurship, and passion. People aren’t always motivated or inspired. That is another reason for us to always be the example.  

It is important to connect with the employees and present them different perspectives. In addition, we need to keep our values in mind: trust, ownership, and passion. Respect the people. Keep the feet on the group. We must pass these lessons to the next generations at the same time learn from them, keeping their aspirations alive, and indicating the growth opportunities. If they don’t grow, we don’t grow. We must develop future leaders. 

We also have to build the customer centric organization. Everybody must understand that anything and everything we do impacts our customers. 

How is your team in South Asia overcoming the challenges imposed by the pandemic?  

None of us has enough experience to face such a challenge. Nobody was really trained for that. So, we had to join forces and set up a task force. Then we try to collect as much as information as possible, talk to the experts outside to define the right actions and take decisions at the right time for our employees, customers and partners. Sense of urgency plays an important role here. Communication is also essential, keeping the people informed and aligned. I don’t claim that we are taking all the right steps, but I believe that we are taking decisions at the right time. 

In fact, the current wave is different from the first one. The virus is more aggressive and is spreading much faster. There were many cases of coronavirus infection among Bühler employees, but no fatalities directly on Bühler’s employees here up to now (May 4). Unfortunately, there were some losses in the family of employees. And we are making sure to support them in such a sad time.  

Regarding the manufacturing, we keep the factory running − always remembering the safety of our employees is top priority. We alternate the teams every week. And when things get better, the teams will then compensate the time lost. Today (May 4, 2021), only 25 people of about 500 went to the office. The rest worked from home. 

Constant communication in engaging employees, motivating, and inspiring them, spreading positivity, showing them that organization stands with them in such difficult times play an important role. 

“Back to growth” is one of the key messages for 2021. How are your teams addressing that? 

In fact, our strategy is fully in sync with that goal. We started the journey already on the fourth quarter of 2020. For 2021, we plan to double the orders, since we had a hard 2020. Then our 2021 results will be set as the baseline for the next years, with the goal to grow the business 15% annually. 

What gives you energy in your daily life? 

I’m a very positive person, always. Sports had played an imported role in my life, and it taught me the fighting spirit with tremendous positivity and energy to handle any situation. 

In order to keep me grounded, I practice yoga, not a high level of yoga, but the basics, at least 30 minutes in the morning. I also practice a breathing exercise called Pranayama 15 minutes, three to four times a week.