An unassuming maintenance technician from Hyderabad redrew the rules of how to set up a start-up company with his flair for building machines. Manoj John relates the journey of Koil Raj and his son who own a blooming equipment manufacturing facility.
Koil Raj did not dream of owning a thriving bakery equipment manufacturing facility during the many decades he worked as a maintenance technician at Veeramani Biscuit Industries. Towards the fag end of his career, he quit his job on personal reasons and thought of undertaking freelance maintenance jobs.
As he started servicing the equipment at biscuit companies and bakeries in Hyderabad, Raj still did not have the premonition that he will end up owning a fast-growing factory that sells rotary rack ovens, cookies wire-cut machine, planetary mixers and other equipment worth crores of rupees.
One thing Raj was sure of was that if he inspects a bakery machine, he can build a fresh one for himself. He assembled his first machine at his home in 2005 and sold it for a small margin. The entrepreneur was yet to come to terms with the fact that he could sell it at the market rate.Gradually, he started manufacturing bakery equipment from four different places after hiring qualified technicians. Then he scouted for a name for his brand and coined the word KAR with letters culled from his and his son’s name.
Today Alex, his only son, runs KAR Engineering Works Pvt Ltd as managing director with support from his father and brother-in-laws Antony and Sudhan. Curiously, the family members are addressed by mononyms like Tamil film stars are. There is no family name. May be, distaste for names is ingrained in the philosophy of life of the industrious family.
“Name is not important. It’s not that our equipment came into being because of (the name) KAR. Instead, the name KAR came into existence because of the equipment we make and sell,” says Alex. But that indifference does not show up in the way he works. Alex visited international exhibitions, met with world-class manufacturers and studied the industry painstakingly before he and his father scaled up operations from the four pared-down lathes in different parts of the city to the present factory located in Hayathnagar, which churns out 12 machines in a month. He is persistent that the quality of equipment produced at his facility matches that of any other make installed at top bakeries in the country.
“We have KAR machines along with other equipment in our kitchen,” says Harish Ramnani, the scion of the iconic Karachi Bakery in Hyderabad. Karachi Bakery had replaced a world renowned brand with KAR due to its fuel efficiency, performance and after-sale service. “The moment we get a call from a customer, we send our service team to them irrespective of the cost involved,” Alex explains his policy. Antony is the key person in the R&D wing of KAR Engineering Works, which constantly struggles for raising the quality bar of its products.
“If Antony sees a machine, he can replicate it,” says Alex about the cardinal trait of his brother-in-law which his father also shares. Each machine is put to a quality check before it is shipped out to the customer. “We run the machine for two days and observe its performance,” says Alex. “We ensure flawlessness and perfection in every product we make. We process genuine raw materials such as stainelss steel, mild steel, aluminum and galvanised iron procured from authentic agents. Every single prospective customer who visited our factory has placed an order,” he adds.
KAR has produced 1000 pieces of machinery in its short history and all of them are up and running in various parts of the country. Among its customers is Veeramani Group, Koil Raj’s former employer. The clientele also includes leading players like Duke’s, Ravi Foods, Spencer’s, Raj Agro, Kanak Bakers and Baker’s inn. The company has sales and service offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Gujarat. It is planning to start offices in Chennai and Bhubaneswar. “For the past one year, work load has increased so much so that we don’t get to be glued only to R&D as we wish to do!,” jests Alex.
KAR has in fact put its R&D activities on a fast track. Its engineers are working on designing machines that consume less fuel. The R&D team is also experimenting with induction heating which is the “next thing to watch out,” according to Alex. Its current focus is on oven and encrusting machines.
In two years, the company plans to export its products. With a view to this, KAR is improving the finishing of the products. It is quite a gratifying journey for a company that that was born as a one-man army.
“The first four years were full of challenges. It was our struggling time. We had only experience and no funds,” Alex narrates his father’s initial days when he was still a student. “After graduating in engineering, I was planning to take up a job. But I quit that idea and joined my father as we knew that the business has tremendous potential,” says Alex. Today the company has 100 staff, with half of them living in the factory premises. The company has implemented a human resource programme, called Focus 5, for its staff. This novel programme starts from educating the employees about removal of wastage and takes them to the intricacies of safety at workplace.
Being true to its humble birth, KAR makes a point of giving back to the society. With every sale, KAR plants one tree and sends a sapling along with the machine to the buyer. “Most of the times, we get the plant back! And we plant it in the forest,” says Alex. It means a rise in sales for KAR is a dip in deforestation for the country.
