Molding a business

Twenty years ago they were at the get, set, ready to grow stage in the world of business in Baroda. Today, with equal partner Shivinder Singh Chawla, they own three companies — Baroda Polyform Private Limited, Reinhardt Roto Machines, India and Modular Tanks Private Limited. "My dad Dhunrumi (Dhanu) Patell and Chawla started Baroda Polyform from the ground up in 1990, as a small company making plastic water tanks in a molding process called rotational molding with home-made machines. Then they kept adding equipment and it slowly started growing,” says Dhunrumi’s son Rustom who has joined as second generation entrepreneur. "I handle all operations for Baroda Polyform and Modular Tanks and am also involved in the production stage of Reinhardt,” he says. "It is absolutely great that Rustom has joined us. It is like a shot of the best multivitamin in the world! Of course, it’s a pleasure to be corrected from time to time and improve with the younger generation. It would have been great having a big family with many sons!” laughingly adds Dhunrumi.

!st row (from left): Kiosk for Pepsi, wheeled container for export, materials in use, welding rods; (2nd row): Coke kiosk, Reinhardt roto machine

Baroda Polyform today makes a lot more than just plastic water tanks. "Fifty percent of our turnover comes from exporting custom built plastic articles like road barriers and kayaks to Australia or portable plastic kiosks to Africa, manufactured by state of the art computer controlled rotational molding equipment,” Rustom explains. Reinhardt Roto Machines was started in India in the year 2000 by Dhunrumi and Chawla as a joint venture (JV) with a family-owned German company called Ernst-Reinhardt GmbH. "We began by fabricating automated and semi-automated roto-molding machinery with designs from our German JV partners and now over the years are close family friends,” explains Rustom. "Today we have machines in over 30 countries and our machines are rated among the top five brands in the world.”

Working together (from left): Rustom Patell, Shivender Singh Chawla and Dhunrumi Patell

"The first challenge in business was to sell the technology and not the machine itself. We had to prove to the customer that we had en­ough knowledge about the machine and would be able to teach him how to use the machine, such that it would be able to make profits for him,” asserts Dhunrumi. With German technology renowned for its high fidelity and few fault lines, Reinhardt is known for very little downtime for machines, even with heavy production loads and three continuous work shifts 365 days a year, states the company’s website www. reinhardtindia. com "Reinhardt Roto Machines fabricated and assembled in India have their critical parts imported from Germany. Manufactured under strict tolerances on CNC (computer numerical control) equipment and guidance from Ernst Reinhardt GmbH, every machine is tagged with the brand name Reinhardt and is well-known for its trouble free operation lasting from generation to generation,” their website adds.

A unique feature is the 24x7 online running support (through protected-system access software) provided for machinery installed anywhere in the world through their India support division. "On­-l­ine support is done from the Baroda operations or wherever our engineers are located, be it at site, airports or their homes. We just need a net connection and the world becomes a very small place,” Dhunrumi observes. "We are now branching out into new machines for different process other than plastic,” adds Rustom.

"Modular Tanks is also a JV, with an Australian company called Steel Fab Water Solutions, again founded by dad and Chawla in 2009. We import ready to assemble large modular water tanks, with capacities ranging from one lakh liter to 50 lakh liter. The tanks are then assembled by our team at site. Since this is a fairly new company, we have only started manufacturing a small part of the tank in our factory in Baroda, the rest is being imported from Australia. We have installed a large number of tanks across India and our customers are companies like Coca Cola, Pepsi, ITC, John Deere, etc,” Rustom relates.

Baroda Polyform, an ISO 9001:2008 company, remains a front­runner in the roto molding industry. Under the brand name Super, they manufacture polyethylene (PE) water and chemical storage tanks, vats and containers, silos, pickling tanks and accessories. Other products include traffic cones and road barriers, mobile cabins, etc. "We send around 15 containers a year of road barriers to Australia,” Rustom says. The Australian brand Spirit Paddle Sports has joined hands with Baroda Polyform to become a major manufacturer and distributor of high quality PE surf skis, sit on top kayaks, paddles, paddle gear and accessories. "The Glutt (100 percent reusable, recyclable support solutions which stabilize and secure cargo during transportation) is a product used for very heavy lifting up to 700 tons. This product is made in our factory under license from Australia and exported…” Rustom informs us.

With a vast business portfolio to handle, what is their companies’ USP (unique selling proposition)? we query. "I would say we handle the competition in three ways – design, material and quality. Even if the product is used for a simple purpose we design it in such a way that it would be difficult to copy or expensive to make. We use raw material that is ideal for the product, even if it would be difficult to source and tough to process. The quality would then come automatically,” Rustom responds. Their partnership is their strength as well, they believe. "My partner (Chawla) is first my friend and then my business partner. We both have our strong points as well as weaknesses, which we compensate for with a common goal in mind,” asserts Dhunrumi. "Our collaborators for the last 12 years have had an exceptionally understanding arrangement, full of trust, confidence and an outstanding track record. Recently I asked them, as we are their only licensee in the world, if they had even a day’s regret in exclusively shaking hands with us. Without the slightest hesitation their answer was ‘no, never.’”

Industry wise, Gujarat is the place to be and Baroda is the city to be in, opines Rustom. "I don’t just say that because I live here, but considering all the cities I have seen in Gujarat, Baroda is the only one that has a mix of culture because of so many non-Gujaratis and others living here. We are not a very big city but we have all the amenities to make a person’s life entertaining and comfortable. And it doesn’t have the downside of a big city like traffic or major crimes.” With a diploma in mechanical engineering from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Rustom followed it up with a bachelor’s degree in production engineering from Poona, topped off with a bachelor’s in mechatronics from Holland. "I consider my work experience more important than the degrees. I interned in a French company called Alstom (making steam turbines) for six months… I worked in the design department of an engineering company in Germany for a year and then took on a job on the shop floor in a molding company in Turkey for a year too. After these adventures, I came home to the family business!”

Running an enterprise in India, of course, means dealing with problems in plenty! "The first thing that comes to mind is the bureaucracy and how at every step, whether it is importing or exporting goods or even buying a piece of land to put up a factory, one has to go through its hurdles, which is something we don’t see as much abroad,” declares the young man. "Unfortunately, our educational system, be it school or college, does not give individuals the opportunities to think for themselves and this pattern follows them to the work place as well. I think that this is why we have so many manufacturing industries but very few design or research facilities.” The upside is that India is home and "it is better in my opinion to run a successful business from familiar ground. As India has a large pool of business, we have a lot of potential customers within the country.” The commitment of staff and labor to work longer hours as well as on holidays, and do it with gratitude, is something that attracts foreign industry to come into India, he assesses.

The Patell family (from left): Dhunrumi, Dilshad and Rustom with daughter Tiyana, Rushad and Yasmin

Believing in giving back to the community, the family is involved in education and other CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities. "Rosary School is a Jesuit educational institution where all of us studied — myself, Rustom, Rushad (Dhunrumi’s younger son who has done his MD in medicine), as well as Rustom’s wife Dilshad so we basically put back a little from what we got! Mostly in time, effort and management of the School and its various extra projects like upgradation of auditoriums, laboratories, libraries and career guidance programs,” describes Dhunrumi. They are also involved with the Fusion Study Foundation, "which runs programs for higher education — teach them how to catch fish rather than give them the fish! My wife Yasmin and my partner’s wife Tinoo are actively involved in interviewing the really poor but talented children after their 12th grade and then supporting them through their graduate and postgraduate studies. The norms are fixed and handled very professionally,” he asserts.

"The Zoroastrian community of Baroda is enterprising and growing, united and a joyful lot! Everything can be resolved as long as their minds and hearts are open and there are plenty of Rubymai’s farchas and a glass in hand!” says Dhun­rumi in a lighter vein. "All religions preach the same thing but in a system one can follow only one.” Rus­tom is currently the president of BUZY (Ba­roda United Zoroastrian Youth). "The youth of Baroda are a great bunch of ‘kids’ who believe that when serious thoughts and actions are required, we should work towards them without making heavy weather of it. Time and money must be invested in activities and projects that are both appealing and fun for the youth as they serve to strengthen the bonds in the community,” he avers.