Consider myself lucky to be a part of CE industry, where I have spent more than 38 years.
Anand Sundaresan, MD India, Executive Vice President, Ammann Group What motivates or drives you in your professional life, during ups and downs? I consider myself lucky to be a part of Construction Equipment Industry, where I have spent more than
Anand Sundaresan, MD India, Executive Vice President, Ammann Group
What motivates or drives you in your professional life, during ups and downs?
I consider myself lucky to be a part of Construction Equipment Industry, where I have spent more than 38 years. I was also very lucky that I always had superiors who encouraged me and gave me a very free hand to operate. With this support, I was instrumental in bringing in many new products and sign new agency agreements. Around 1993, I was involved in promoting RMC in India with the officials of ACC (Associated Cement Companies), when I was working with Greaves Cotton, the then representatives of Schwing, in India. I was instrumental in setting up Schwing Stetter Operations in India in the year 1999, which in my opinion was the biggest contributor towards bringing in modernization in concrete production, transportation and placement technology, in this country. Under my leadership Schwing Stetter grew from a mere INR 8 crore company in 1999 to INR 2100 crores in 2018 end when I handed over the baton to my long-term colleague. Now, I am with Ammann India in the same CE business but with a different line of products, where also I foresee huge opportunities in the coming years. Here again, I see a very co-operative management with a set of fantastic team, hungry enough to participate in the growth prospects. Hopefully I will be able to repeat the Schwing Stetter saga at Ammann also.
What hobbies or sports you love or enjoy most, how that has helped you in carving out a successful person?
I have never been an active sports person throughout my life. I enjoyed more of the activities which give some work to the brain, so I was more interested in puzzles, arithmetic-quiz, Sudoku etc. which give some work to the brain. I also enjoy reading books on mythology, motivation, management, leadership, success and failure stories of corporate leaders/ companies, books on motivational speeches of Bramhakumaris, Satguru etc.
Who is the role model for you in your life / or the core philosophy that helped you to be ‘rooted’ irrespective of situations?
There are many people I have come across whom I admire for different reasons. If I have to consider some one as my real role model, the first one is my mother. My father expired when I was 11 and my mother brought us up, we were two sisters and four brothers and my mother was not employed. So whatever money was left behind my father, was managed very well by her. My mother was very sharp, confident and intelligent. She got all of us educated very well and we are all settled very well today. The second person who is my role model is Mr. Ratan Tata. I was very lucky to have interacted with him twice. I have also heard about him from my friends at Tata Group, from media and now twitter. I really admire him very much.
What life has taught you and what is your message that you love to convey to others?
My first message, especially to those who are in leadership position is that success should never get into the head. Treat every person as a human being. If you are in a leadership position you have to execute your duties and responsibilities without any vested interest. You should create an atmosphere where your colleagues should feel confident that if they enter your cabin with a problem, they will come out with anacceptable solution for sure. Create trust among yourself and others, be it your employees, your suppliers or your customers, whomsoever it is.
Lastly, I would also like to say that most of us in the senior position, ignore our family, which in my opinion is a big mistake which we do. I think work life balance is extremely important.
Describe your experience as a leader from the industry?
As already mentioned, after my initial stint in the R&D department & service department for about 6 years between Larsen & Toubro and McNeill & Magor, I entered into CE industry in the year 1983. I started my career as a Sales Engineer with Greaves Cotton and became the overall In-charge of CE Division in the year 1996.
Then I got an opportunity to work with German Multinational, Schwing Stetter to set up their manufacturing facility in India. Ready mix was unknown in India when we started. I was always an active participant and office bearer in various industrial associations, like CII, MCCI, EFSI, ICEMA, IESC etc. ICEMA always used to be headed by a CEO from earthmoving Industry, as most concrete equipment companies were very small proprietary companies. I was the first President of ICEMA, and subsequently Chairman of IESC, from non-earthmoving Industry viz. concreting equipment industry.
In the Last 10 to 15 years, all the members of ICEMA, the Presidents and the office bearers have worked very closely to bring in cohesiveness in the industry. I am very happy to be a part of this industry and I will continue to play my part as long as my health permits.
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