A flowing business

Krohne Marshall Private Limited, a division of Forbes Marshall, inaugurated on February 7, ’06 in Poona its new flow meter calibration facility, reputed to be the largest in India. The modern factory spread over 18,000 sq ft houses the hydraulic calibration rig for calibrating magnetic inductive flow meters upto 2,000 mm and generating flow rates sufficient to fill an Olympic size swimming pool in less than three minutes!

Above: Farhad (left) and Naushad Forbes;

"We have grown from a very small beginning. This new facility in which we have invested four-and-a-half crore rupees will allow us to integrate manufacturing, testing and calibration activity into a single facility,” Farhad Forbes noted at a press conference, as per news reports posted on their website www.forbesmarshall-inc.com/pressroom. Forbes is the chairman of Krohne Marshall and director, Forbes Marshall which manufactures products that cover the spectrum of energy generation, energy efficiency, control and instrumentation for the process industry. Less than one third of India’s water supply is metered, Forbes noted, providing a huge market for the company. "‘We have an order book of Rs 45 crore from the waste water management and chemical sectors,’ said Kiran Vohra, who is on the board of directors, Krohne Marshall. The company has also bagged a Rs 50 crore project from ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation),” as per a report from Express News Service, datelined February 7 from Poona. Krohne Marshall is a privately held company, formed in 1984 as a joint venture with 50 percent equity each between Forbes Marshall and Krohne Messtechnik of Germany.

In January 2006, Forbes Marshall won the "Social Impact Award” for 2006 from the S. P. Jain Management Institute, a leading business school in Bombay, states their website. Competing with NGOs and corporates who participated from all over India, the company’s presentation spelt out the social welfare programs over the last two years in the field of women’s empowerment, education and skill development which lead to enhanced employability in youth. The programs were in partnership with the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and NGOs.

BusinessWorld (February ’06) rates Forbes Marshall at no 17 in its ranking of the "top 25 great places to work... Forbes Marshall believes in recruiting people who it is comfortable not just working with, but also dining with,” the magazine notes, commending the company’s "standout HR (human resources) policy.” Writes correspondent Rohit Vishwanath: "Naushad Forbes, one of the directors at Forbes Marshall, admits of course that companies from the knowledge industry offer better facilities to their employees. But he staunchly believes manufacturing outfits like his offer work that is more stimulating perhaps leading to better job satisfaction. But he adds that to stay a competitive recruiter there is a need to match the benefits with those offered by IT companies. Some Tier-IIT companies provide a stipend of Rs 16,000 to fresh engineers, we start them at Rs 20,000. Those are the kind of upgrades we keep making,’ says Forbes.”

Compiled by Hilla P. Guzder