From a school notebook start to a 10,000+ person campus.-- The Ford Journey of 30 years 22/4/96 to 22/4/2026

 It has been a long, interesting, and incredibly rewarding 30-year journey. I completed 30 years of service with Ford

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Joining as one of the first three to join, everything that we did was the first!

1. Starting with first finding the company we joined, yes, that was the first task. We found the company that was incorporated --- was  EMEF Holdings, and we dropped the E (M) and E (F)  to make it Mahindra Ford India Private Limited.
2. The first book closure for  was for a period of fifteen days from 15th March 1996 to 31st March 1996, I drew the accounts in a school Accounts book that was around 120 pages. That was good enough for a 15-day start-up, no fancy systems.
3. The first dealer cheques to be banked (what a tough job it was to do this, because we could not locate our banker so easily).
4. First payroll run for 8 days of April 1996.
5. The first shipment of PP cars, they were moved from Nashik ( Plant )  to Mumbai for the AGM of Mahindra and Mahindra, and dealing with octroi and driving it without a scratch or dent was a miracle (Shekar Ramamoorthy, thank you for sharing this first ride in Escort).
6. The first import clearance--  do you have an IEC code blah blah etc ? Run, man, run… get the IEC done. All these things were not easy, manual forms to be signed. And more …. Sales Tax registrations, and so on.

Oops, the amount of things to do was humongous, and people in different functions were just starting to join, but the early starters were doing heavy lifting guided by International Service Employees. The hours that we spent were insane. There was a lot of travel, we worked and lived out of hotel rooms in Mumbai, Nashik, and Pune.

We were all hired for Chennai, dislocated to Mumbai, and on travel to Nashik and Pune.

Why Nashik? The Escort was being manufactured out of the Mahindra plant at Nashik , and the Job One date was fixed on  August 26, 1996 (this couldn’t be changed, for Sir Alex Trotman, then CEO, would be at Nashik to roll the car out of the plant).

Why Pune? That was because we were setting up our Parts Warehouse there, and this was outside the city limits for octroi reasons.

Our schedules were crazy, first three days at Mumbai, then two days at Nashik, a day at Pune, and back to Nashik on Sunday (yes, the plant worked Sunday, and our governance meeting was on Sunday from 12 noon to 1 PM). We had to be physically present to update and seek help on challenges. ( Technologically Challenged )

It was tough days, but we got several things done, and that helped us stay highly motivated. The key was that we were growing and expanding as things were being set up. But, being away from our families did cause lows.

Finally, Job 1 got done, and the Pune Parts Center  also went live. We packed our bags for Chennai, back to base, and work became heavier with the ongoing operations and the setup of the Integrated Manufacturing Facility (IMF) at Maraimalainagar.

There was talk of Ford starting a GCC in Q2 of 1998 for its Finance and Accounting operations. It soon became real, and in October 1998, the Ford Business Service Centre was born with just 20 of us, the rest of the automotive team moving to the plant. Some chose the GCC to avoid the long travel on a daily basis to the plant.

Now it was back to the start, but this time I thought I  knew most of the things that needed to be done to get things going.

But ,initial years were very tough, setting up things from scratch  and this was a different kettle of fish: Service Level Agreements (SLAs), network, hiring the right talent, business development (yes, GCC, but you have to not only sell, but prove that you do a good job), travel for transitions, workflows, BCP, and so on.

It was slow but steady growth. Over time, the talent that was available was recognised as key to the success of the GCC, and things progressed really well. But was it easy? Not at all.

We started in an 18,000 sq. ft. space and closed down 12,000 of it and used the 6000 Sq ft for the 20 people, but we really ran out of space quickly and frequently.

From that 18,000, we added probably 50,000, but that was not enough. We went to 2 lakh sq. ft. of space and kept leasing space at multiple places. As we grew, there was a need to improve the employee experience (not doable with multiple landlords and their dissimilar practices). That was when a campus for the GCC was floated, and it was a huge boost when that investment got approved.

We found our campus, it was built, and then, as we started to settle in, COVID struck, and it was a long lull before we really came back to working from the campus.

So that 20 that we started with in 1998 has now crossed 10K, and so one can understand what has transpired over the years.

So there has never been a dull moment, and that is how it ought to be, to keep the energy flowing and the focus on problem-solving all the time.

What would work be if there was no challenge?

Gratitude and Thankfulness

1. My thanks go out to the Almighty for all the blessings that I have got in various forms, 30 years is a very long period of time.
2. My family, three lovely ladies at home: My wife, soulmate, for putting up with all that I do 😊; my daughter, for Gen Z ideas , for lot of right challenges and for pushing on all adventures  that my wife and me would have never attempted and to both for ensuring I stay grounded; my mother (I live with her), for all the patience, for being so caring, for teaching life lessons all the time, for all the attention to detail, and to all three for the unconditional love that you shower on me.
3. Neel Sathasivam, the man who hired me, leveraged all my strengths and taught me to be a good human being, being inclusive and being objective in all that we do. A people leader to follow for all ages. This was one of the biggest blessings that I got.
4. The extended family at Ford that I have found, we have all blossomed together, enjoying the company, the good times, and sharing and caring support during tough times. Such an important element in this three-decade journey.
5. So many other leaders at Ford who have helped shape my career, always willing to give time to listen to me, sharing feedback, treating me so well, and for the opportunities they have given me to showcase my talent.
6. To my other colleagues, whom I have enjoyed working with at all times, a big thank you.