Excellence is a way of life at L&T
AVIATION & AIRPORTS

Excellence is a way of life at L&T

SN Subramanian, Whole-Time Director, Larsen & Toubro

Walk through Delhi International Airport's spanking new Terminal 3, a marvel of construction. Every square foot resonates of excellence; every step reinforces the master-class of the company who breathed life into it: Larsen & Toubro (L&T). Indeed, T3 is just one of many iconic projects - from airports, ports, highways and bridges to buildings, factories, material handling plants, water supply and power projects - that bears the inimitable stamp of L&T's Construction Division, which executes projects through four independent companies: Buildings & Factories, Infrastructure, Metallurgical & Material Handling, and Power Transmission & Distribution. The accolades have come in fast and furious over the decades but the company is not one to rest on its laurels - it continues to work at a furious clip to realise its five-year strategic plan, Lakshya - 2015. SN Subramanian, Whole Time Director, Larsen & Toubro, the man at the helm of affairs, spoke about the company's future agenda and his views on the Indian infrastructure sector in an interview with CW. Excerpts....

The company has recently embarked upon major expansion plans to double turnover in four years. What are the major steps being taken to realise this vision?
Given the growth projection of India, infrastructure is at the frontend of investments, public or private. This offers huge opportunities for all construction companies. At L&T, we have meticulously carved out our five-year strategic plan, Lakshya - 2015. Enhancing business development capabilities, constantly revisiting our cost structure, continued focus on innovation and value engineering, and improving delivery capabilities are some of the initiatives in that direction.

As the newly appointed whole-time director of the construction division, what will be your role towards achieving this target?
Excellence is a way of life at L&T and people are our assets. My role is to channel their energy, give them directions and set higher standards of aspirations for them to achieve.

Additionally, the ECC division was restructured into four different companies. How will this help the company?
The erstwhile ECC Division by itself was a conglomerate within the L&T conglomerate. You name any type of construction, we are doing it. Though we have been operating in a kind of verticalised format for the past few years, it has now been made known to the public. ECC has been made into four independent companies (IC): Buildings & Factories, Infrastructure, Metallurgical and Material Handling, and Power Transmission & Distribution. Each IC will focus on a specific area of construction and build capabilities specific to that area. This will result in enhanced quality, safety and timely delivery of projects at an optimal cost for customers. The revised structure will result in improved engagement with the customer.

Given the fact that the past six months have seen a policy paralysis at the central level, infrastructure projects have slowed down. How do you see the next six months?
India is very much on the growth path and any hiccups are purely temporary. Sometimes urgent items get priority over strategic ones. But we don't see any problems in our long-term growth prospects.

With schemes like NREGA causing a severe manpower crunch, how you plan to deal with the issue?
If at all anything can come in the way of our country's infrastructure growth trajectory, it could be only shortage of skills at the frontline. I believe there is no panacea for this; however, sustained efforts towards skills training will help the industry as a whole. We have seven full-fledged centres across the country to impart construction skills. We also train workmen on the job. But retention is a major problem. I sincerely believe skills training must happen at a much larger scale and at the industry level, involving the participation of all construction companies. Mechanisation and automation can reduce labour content to some extent but the cost will come in your way if your competitors are resorting to less expensive manual means of construction.

The company currently has five projects under construction in the Middle East. How would you compare project execution in this region to that in India?
Project execution in the Middle East is quite different. First, in terms of mobilisation, we are very well established in India with a huge resource base, whereas in the Middle East, we are in the process of setting up our establishment. Thus, mobilisation of resources takes a bit longer. In certain countries, mobilisation of resources, in particular manpower, becomes quite tricky as getting Indian visas sometimes becomes very difficult. We have now overcome this constraint by augmenting manpower from number of countries other than India and going in for more advanced mechanisation in our operations. In terms of contract administration, the Middle East is quite elaborate as it is a mature market, with many international project management companies in operation, whereas India is just starting to develop in this field. Hence to sustain ourselves in the international market, we really need to gear up - we have been able to manage this very well to a large extent. And as for project management, in the Middle East there is a lot of emphasis on first developing the project on paper by producing a number of coordination shop drawings and method statements. Based on the approval of the same, works at site commence. In India, the system is not as elaborate. We have taken on board a number of locally experienced personnel to handle this aspect of the work.

Tell us about specific projects where you have used state-of-the-art capabilities and mechanised construction methods to set new benchmarks.
The Delhi and Mumbai international airports are two examples of this.

What according to you is the greatest infrastructure challenge we face as a nation? How can it be addressed?
As a developing economy, we face shortage in all forms of infrastructure at present. While this is seen as a challenge on one hand, on the other hand it offers huge opportunity for the nation's growth, employment and other connected industries. Collectively we must ensure that infrastructure is built on time and the deficit is minimal. A pro-development policy framework, faster 'right-of-way' and availability of funds at reasonable cost will help the nation surf through the challenges.

SN Subramanian, Whole-Time Director, Larsen & ToubroWalk through Delhi International Airport's spanking new Terminal 3, a marvel of construction. Every square foot resonates of excellence; every step reinforces the master-class of the company who breathed life into it: Larsen & Toubro (L&T). Indeed, T3 is just one of many iconic projects - from airports, ports, highways and bridges to buildings, factories, material handling plants, water supply and power projects - that bears the inimitable stamp of L&T's Construction Division, which executes projects through four independent companies: Buildings & Factories, Infrastructure, Metallurgical & Material Handling, and Power Transmission & Distribution. The accolades have come in fast and furious over the decades but the company is not one to rest on its laurels - it continues to work at a furious clip to realise its five-year strategic plan, Lakshya - 2015. SN Subramanian, Whole Time Director, Larsen & Toubro, the man at the helm of affairs, spoke about the company's future agenda and his views on the Indian infrastructure sector in an interview with CW. Excerpts....The company has recently embarked upon major expansion plans to double turnover in four years. What are the major steps being taken to realise this vision?Given the growth projection of India, infrastructure is at the frontend of investments, public or private. This offers huge opportunities for all construction companies. At L&T, we have meticulously carved out our five-year strategic plan, Lakshya - 2015. Enhancing business development capabilities, constantly revisiting our cost structure, continued focus on innovation and value engineering, and improving delivery capabilities are some of the initiatives in that direction.As the newly appointed whole-time director of the construction division, what will be your role towards achieving this target?Excellence is a way of life at L&T and people are our assets. My role is to channel their energy, give them directions and set higher standards of aspirations for them to achieve.Additionally, the ECC division was restructured into four different companies. How will this help the company?The erstwhile ECC Division by itself was a conglomerate within the L&T conglomerate. You name any type of construction, we are doing it. Though we have been operating in a kind of verticalised format for the past few years, it has now been made known to the public. ECC has been made into four independent companies (IC): Buildings & Factories, Infrastructure, Metallurgical and Material Handling, and Power Transmission & Distribution. Each IC will focus on a specific area of construction and build capabilities specific to that area. This will result in enhanced quality, safety and timely delivery of projects at an optimal cost for customers. The revised structure will result in improved engagement with the customer.Given the fact that the past six months have seen a policy paralysis at the central level, infrastructure projects have slowed down. How do you see the next six months?India is very much on the growth path and any hiccups are purely temporary. Sometimes urgent items get priority over strategic ones. But we don't see any problems in our long-term growth prospects.With schemes like NREGA causing a severe manpower crunch, how you plan to deal with the issue?If at all anything can come in the way of our country's infrastructure growth trajectory, it could be only shortage of skills at the frontline. I believe there is no panacea for this; however, sustained efforts towards skills training will help the industry as a whole. We have seven full-fledged centres across the country to impart construction skills. We also train workmen on the job. But retention is a major problem. I sincerely believe skills training must happen at a much larger scale and at the industry level, involving the participation of all construction companies. Mechanisation and automation can reduce labour content to some extent but the cost will come in your way if your competitors are resorting to less expensive manual means of construction.The company currently has five projects under construction in the Middle East. How would you compare project execution in this region to that in India?Project execution in the Middle East is quite different. First, in terms of mobilisation, we are very well established in India with a huge resource base, whereas in the Middle East, we are in the process of setting up our establishment. Thus, mobilisation of resources takes a bit longer. In certain countries, mobilisation of resources, in particular manpower, becomes quite tricky as getting Indian visas sometimes becomes very difficult. We have now overcome this constraint by augmenting manpower from number of countries other than India and going in for more advanced mechanisation in our operations. In terms of contract administration, the Middle East is quite elaborate as it is a mature market, with many international project management companies in operation, whereas India is just starting to develop in this field. Hence to sustain ourselves in the international market, we really need to gear up - we have been able to manage this very well to a large extent. And as for project management, in the Middle East there is a lot of emphasis on first developing the project on paper by producing a number of coordination shop drawings and method statements. Based on the approval of the same, works at site commence. In India, the system is not as elaborate. We have taken on board a number of locally experienced personnel to handle this aspect of the work.Tell us about specific projects where you have used state-of-the-art capabilities and mechanised construction methods to set new benchmarks.The Delhi and Mumbai international airports are two examples of this.What according to you is the greatest infrastructure challenge we face as a nation? How can it be addressed?As a developing economy, we face shortage in all forms of infrastructure at present. While this is seen as a challenge on one hand, on the other hand it offers huge opportunity for the nation's growth, employment and other connected industries. Collectively we must ensure that infrastructure is built on time and the deficit is minimal. A pro-development policy framework, faster 'right-of-way' and availability of funds at reasonable cost will help the nation surf through the challenges.

Related Stories

Gold Stories

Hi There!

Now get regular updates from CW Magazine on WhatsApp!

Click on link below, message us with a simple hi, and SAVE our number

You will have subscribed to our Construction News on Whatsapp! Enjoy

+91 81086 03000

Join us Telegram