It is not just a matter of great privilege but also an immense responsibility to be among the earliest people setting up manufacturing facilities and rolling out Electric Vehicles.
Aniruddha Srinath, our next pathbreaker, Lead Planner for Electric Vehicles at TVS Motors, works for the group responsible for Quality, Cost and Delivery of the iQube Series of Vehicles and upcoming Electric Vehicles.
Aniruddha talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about early years of his career working with the esteemed Toyota Motors and his stints with Ather Energy and Ola Electric, in planning and execution of greenfield plants for automotive manufacturing and then scaling up volumes.
For students, Digital Manufacturing is changing the game by ramping up production, reducing costs, introducing new models efficiently and delivering great quality vehicles to customers !
Aniruddha, Your background?
Hi, I was born in Mysore, but have spent all my formative years in Bengaluru. My family had a lot of prominent cricketers, and my father & uncle have played cricket at various age levels for Karnataka as well as have represented different PSU banks and industries as cricketers.
Growing up, cricket, reading and quizzing were my big passions. The only difference now is that I do not play cricket but only watch it! My love for reading has also not subsided and I still finish a book a week, thanks to Kindle and Audible.
What did you do for graduation / post graduation?
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Bangalore Institute of Technology, affiliated to VTU, Karnataka, a Master’s Degree in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and a Full Time, One Year MBA from the Indian Institute of Management. Ahmedabad.
What were some of the influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional and unique career?
I recollect that I chose mechanical engineering after 12th standard as I was quite keen on physics as a subject, and mechanical engineering had a lot of applied physics.
Sometime during the course of my Engineering studies, I remember having studied a book called “The Toyota Way”, which outlined how Toyota has made its mark as the world’s foremost automotive company. My uncle also used to conduct training programs for Toyota’s new recruits and always had positive words to say about the company. This sparked my interest in working with automobiles and I was doubly lucky that Toyota India came to recruit in my college !
I was given a choice of joining either marketing or production and without batting an eyelid, I chose Production as I knew I would be getting an exposure to the shopfloor, which is an invaluable experience.
How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted? Tell us about your career path
Within the confines of my professional career, I am what you may define as an adrenaline junkie. I prefer jobs with big challenges and steep learning curves.
My expertise over the last 14 years has been in planning and execution of greenfield plants for automotive manufacturing and starting production and then scaling up volumes. Over the past 5 years, I have worked extensively in the Electric 2 Wheeler Sector with three Companies; Ather Energy, Ola Electric and TVS Motor Company. I am proud to say that they are the Top 3 in Market Share in the Indian Market.
After around 4 intense years at Toyota where we built a new plant, I wanted to learn more and gain global exposure and hence decided to pursue a Master’s Degree in the US. It was a focused, fast track Program that people usually finish in 1.5~ 2 years. However, I finished in a year because I had the added motivation that I was paying the fees by myself !
UMich was the first and only College that I applied to as it is the top college for my chosen topic, Manufacturing. I had courses from both Engineering and Business Schools because the topics at the intersection of technology and business were what interested me more.
Right after my Master’s I returned to India and worked with Cyient, A Global Engineering services firm that was working at that time to forward integrate into manufacturing. We worked on setting up a Product Realization business and I was one of the SMEs in manufacturing. I am extremely proud that the Business that the Group I was working with at that time (Cyient DLM) started, listed as an IPO this year !
The learning bug bit me again after 3 years and I also wanted to graduate into roles which had greater scope for decision making but in the same sector. Hence, I chose to pursue the 1-year MBA at IIM Ahmedabad.
My post MBA career has been primarily in the EV space. In my stints with Ather and Ola, I have been among the earliest people setting up manufacturing facilities and making the vehicle ready for production.
I have taken breaks and studied courses on topics which I have already worked on or have helped me to take higher responsibilities. My stints have been in both large companies and startups, each one being rewarding and challenging in their own way.
How did you get your first break?
I got my first break in the automotive sector with Toyota, which recruited directly from my undergraduate College.
What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?
Some of the challenges I have faced are
Challenge 1: When working with Toyota, I was deputed to Japan on an Inter-Company transfer and had to work in a plant where very few people spoke English. I learnt very fluent Japanese for 3 months before entering Japan and for the first 3 months of my stay, spent a lot of time in the shopping market.
Challenge 2: I joined Ather Energy as its first head of Manufacturing. The biggest challenge was getting the Scooter ready for Manufacturing. I felt the Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) was very premature at that stage. When we started, we used to make one vehicle every 3 days. From that stage to making 60 vehicles in a day was a huge huge jump. One of the things that we did right was to have the designers of the vehicle permanently stationed in the plant until we reached process maturity
Challenge 3: The construction of Ola Electric’s Mega Factory was completed in a record time of 11 months. I was the first member of the Manufacturing team and am glad to be part of this amazing journey. Starting off with just a couple of people in the team, we finished the complete master planning of the plant in a matter of just 2.5 months and took huge, calculated risks while releasing layouts for construction and orders for equipment. We did this by engaging very early with line builders and working with the best of experts
Where do you work now? Tell us about your current role
I work in the Electric Vehicle Business of TVS Motor Company and lead Planning for the Order Fulfillment Group, which is, broadly speaking, responsible for the Supply side of the Business.
What problems do you solve?
This group is responsible for Quality, Cost and Delivery of our iQube Series of Vehicles and our upcoming Electric Vehicles. We typically take a new model after it’s pilot production has been stabilized and then ramp-up and sustain its volumes. This involves working extensively with our internal customers (Sales), our Engineering teams, our Internal manufacturing teams and the Supply Chain.
We are ramping up production, reducing cost, introducing new models and delivering great quality vehicles to our customers ! I act as a representative and a decision enabler for my Business head
What skills are required in your role? How did you acquire the skills?
The key skills required for my job are
- Customer centricity in everything we do
- Understanding of Supply Chain and Manufacturing
- Risk Anticipation and Mitigation
- Medium to long term planning skills
What’s a typical day like?
A typical day involves a mixture of
- reporting on Plan Vs. Actual for a variety of metrics, understanding the variance and mitigation for the same
- Coordination between various functions for seamless work planning and execution
- Planning for the week/ month/ year/ few years
- Preparing for reviews
What is it you love about this job?
The three things I love most about my job are
- Working with people who are talented, committed and fun to work with !
- The immense learning of the entire Order-to-Delivery Process
- The tangible nature of the results of my work, i.e seeing so many of our vehicles on the road.
How does your work benefit society?
We are working to deliver vehicles which help improve the quality of life of our customers in both their work and their lives and with electric vehicles, we are doing so in an eco-friendly and cost-effective manner with also a better ride !
Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!
The last day of August 2023, when our iQube production crossed 27000 vehicles. When I joined TVS in Mar 2023, we had made around 1500 vehicles that month. This is almost an 18 fold jump in production in 18 months and that is immense !
Your advice to students based on your experience?
I. Early in your career, it is good to explore different paths .
II. Hard work is underrated. It is even better than talent and genius, in my opinion.
III Aim to be financially independent (not needing a salary for livelihood) as soon as possible. This will provide you with a relaxed and expansive mindset that enables you to do your best work
IV. Do not regret anything that you do, take it all as a learning
Future Plans?
I Don’t make plans beyond 3-5 years as I believe they are redundant. In this time period, I want to develop expertise in the area of intersection of data and manufacturing.