REPORT

Industry & Academic Institutions can Work Together

The 43rd Annual General Meeting of the Process Plant Machinery Association of India was held recently at Mumbai. The glittering function was well represented by member companies of the PPMAI and witnessed by stalwarts in the Process Plant industry. Mr. Shishir Joshipura was elected Chairman and Mr. CM Venkateshwaran and Mr. R Y Kulkarni were elected Dy. Chairmen for the year 2007- 08.

PPMAI as usual felicitated member companies for their outstanding performance in the year 2006 - 07.

“M/s Thermax Limited – was awarded “Star Performer Excellence Award for 2004-05” by Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC). They received shield for “Star Performer” in the product group of machinery (Electrical) & Mechanical Appliances in recognition of their outstanding contribution to engineering exports. Mr. Shishir Joshipura the Chairman elect of PPMAI accepted the same on behalf of Thermax Ltd. at the hands of Mr. M V Kotwal, outgoing Chairman PPMAI.

“M/s. Aker Kvaerner Powergas India Pvt. Ltd. – had received a “Greentech Safety Award 2006 from “Greentech Foundation”. They have been declared winner of silver award in service sector for outstanding achievement in safety management. Mr C M Venkateshwaran Dy. Chairman PPMAI, accepted the award on behalf of Aker Kvaerner, received the award on behalf of their company from the Chief Guest Mr. Prasad Chandran, CMD, BASF India Ltd.

As a gesture of appreciation to the outstanding support and contribution rendered by member/s to the Association in the past year, PPMAI felicitated Mr. Kevin Shah Mg. Director of Kevin Enteprises a Star export house of repute, with the Chairman’s Special Award. “Mr. Kevin, a young entrepreneur, has been Director of PPMAI for the past few years had represented PPMAI at various forums including CII Committee of Capital Goods. His out of box thinking has always brought new ideas to the table which has been appreciated in the industry as well as in the Government” said Kiran Kakatkar CEO PPMAI.

Mr. Kevin Shah in his response, thanked the Chairman for conferring the Award on him. He recalled having joined PPMAI about seven years back and was elected to the Board within one year of his joining. Many small and medium industries when invited to join PPMAI asked whether that would get them more orders. He said that there was certainly better networking due to PPMAI membership. However, more importantly members got various other opportunities to expose themselves to industry at large and learn from the process. He made special mention of the opportunities he got as a member of PPMAI Board, including giving inaugural lecture to young students at the Institute of Foreign Trade. He recommended that SMEs join PPMAI in a big way to extend their horizon.

The outgoing Chairman, Mr. M V Kotwal in his address expressed gratitude to the board members for the excellent support rendered by them during his tenure as Chairman. He however felt that many things needed to be done, could be done, and there is huge potential as well. He said “If we had to only organize things and that’s why we attempted and may be the next person who comes in will definitely give a big thrust to it would bring formation of cluster were he can build groups of people, groups of companies led by the medium or bigger companies but really the strength will come out of the number of small supporting companies and those clusters can really work wonders and those are the ones which will make us really competitive even if the Chinese competition comes in”. He expressed confidence that his successor Mr. Shishir Joshipura who is always bubbling with energy and new ideas will give new dimension to the PPMAI activities. He added that PPMAI is strong with lots of potential would be stronger under the new leadership and assured his whole-hearted support to the new team.

The Chief Guest Mr. Prasad Chandran, Mg.Director, BASF in his very special presentation on “Values create Values” upheld the significance and tradition of values in the Indian culture and their indelible impact on the business scenario as well. He emphasized that “while it is truly essential to imbibe good values for success one should not hesitate to do the good and right things as his or her conscience permitted and not worry if things around were not so good.”

Yet another novel idea was that of involving academicians’ interaction with industry stalwarts and thus were the two Guests of Honour Dr. Gaitonde and Dr. Malik from the IIT, Mumbai who added glamour to the function. Former, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, IIT, Bombay, Dr. Gaitonde enlightened the audience on “Academia & Industry relationship with specific reference to SME's”. Dr. Gaitonde assured the industry that there were many areas where industry and educational institutions like IIT’s can be partners for mutual benefits. He elaborated on the training procedure at IIT. “I would also like to mention that we have recently started a scheme for incubation and entrepreneurship, because for some reason the entrepreneurship bug has bitten many of our students and faculty. We have a unit called Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE). A few of IIT - faculty members and students, and a few people from outside such as engineers, technocrats, from small and medium industries come together on a new idea in some sort of detached business environment; detached not from the real world but detached from the normal academic track of IIT, Mumbai. We provide them support so that they don’t have to worry about overheads. They can work on innovation and entrepreneurship and come out with new products.

Dr. R. K. Malik, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Dean Planning, IIT ,Mumbai, shared his views on Emerging Technologies with reference to Separation, Simulation etc. Both presentations were applauded and followed by an effective interactive session with overwhelming participation. He stated the similarity between designing of Energy Efficient Distillation columns to that of Heat exchanger networks. He further explained the concept of Pinch Technology that has lately entered into the area of resource management, site integration, and total plant site integration. In conclusion, he left the audience to think on Energy, Emergy and Exergy. He also offered to assist the industry on related issues whenever approached.

The function concluded with a Hearty Vote of Thanks by Dy. Chairman C.M. Venkateshwaran and the guests were treated to a sumptuous and delicious dinner thereafter.

Soon after the AGM, the first meeting of the Board was conducted under the chairmanship of Mr. Shishir Joshipura.

The following members were unanimously elected to the PPMAI Board for the year 2007-08.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR 2007-08

Mr. Shishir Joshipura
Chairman
(Executive Vice President &
Member Executive Council
Thermax Ltd) / Mr. C.M. Venkateshwaran
Dy.Chairman
(General Manager - Inspection & Expediting,
Aker Kvaerner Powergas India Pvt.Ltd) / Mr. R.Y. Kulkarni
Dy.Chairman
(Associate Director – Finance & Accounts
Toyo Engineering India Ltd)
Mr. Anil Rairikar
Managing Director
TUV India Pvt. Ltd. / Mr. Shiv Shukla
Chief Executive Officer
MECS Enterprises Pvt Ltd / Mr. Suhas Nayan
Executive Director – Procurement
Jacobs Engineering (I)Pvt Ltd
Mr. K. M. Panthaki
Managing Director
Bakshi Chempharma Equipments Pvt Ltd / Mr. Ajay Dubey
Director – Marketing
D.D. Enterprises / Mr. Kishore Mehta
Chairman & Managing Director
Indus Engineering Company
Mr. K. Periasamy
DIRECTOR (TECHNICAL)
Precision Equipments (Chennai) Pvt.Ltd / Mr. Vijay Rajpurohit
PROJECT DIRECTOR
Chemical Process Eqpt. Pvt Ltd. / Mr. P J Bhounsule
Head International Business Coordination and M&A
Larsen & Toubro Ltd.
Mr. Y. Dharmadhikari
Vice President
Indian Register of Shipping / Mr. Sadanand Hegde
Chairman & Managing Director,
Filtron Engineers Limited, / Mr. M. P. Dhanuka
Executive Director -Mktg
GEE LIMITED
Mr. S.S. Mewawala
Managing Director
Expo Gas Containers Ltd / Mr. P.K. Saxena
Director & CEO
Blast Carboblocks Pvt Ltd / Mr. Kevin M. Shah
Managing Director
Kevin Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
Mr. N M Joshi
Chairman & Managing Director
Bakubhai Ambalal / Mr. Uday R Honavar

Executive Director

Honavar Electrodes Ltd

/ Mr. Kiran B. Kakatkar
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. V.P. Ramachandran, Secretary

Pictures

1.  (L-R). Messrs. C M Venkateshwaran, Vijay Rajpurohit, Dy. Chairmen, M V Kotwal, Chairman, Kiran Kakatkar, CEO and V P Ramachandran, Secretary.

2.  Mr. Shishir Joshipura, Chairman elect receiving a momento from M V Kotwal as Mr. R Y Kulkarni, Dy Chairman PPMAI looks on.

3.  Mr. Shishir Joshipura, Chairman, elect felicitating the Chief Guest, Mr. Prasad Chandran.

4.  Dr. Gaitonde, Guest of Honour from IIT, Mumbai addressing the audience.

5.  Dr Malik, Guest of Honour from IIT Mumbai addressing the audience

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