Achieving Excellence

K SUBRAHMANIAN speaks about forging ahead with the right plan and the aim to excel. The last few years have been challenging for the infrastructure industry across various fronts. Much has been said and printed about the same. Barring metro and urban infrastructure, opportunities dried up across segments, leading to increased competitive intensity in the available projects. Even in these projects, delays due to clearances and land acquisition were common. Thus, competitive intensity increased and companies were impacted financially leading to many of them going for Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR). A new wave The new government has put infrastructure at the forefront of driving the economic growth. Ambitious plans across segments including marine, highways and urban infrastructure, have been prepared. External funding (Japan and China) is being looked at to ensure inflow of capital. The existing bottlenecks are being removed by streamlining investments and facilitating clearances for infrastructure projects across the country. We believe that these steps are in the right direction, but implementation would still remain the key for achieving the desired level of success. Although we have not been immune to the challenges facing the sector, Afcons has been able to achieve profitable growth in the last two to three years. This has been possible due to prudent opportunity selection practices based on stringent risk management and focus on operational excellence. As we move forward, our focus would be to develop an international EPC organisation respected for operational excellence and sustainable and profitable growth. Sustainable growth Afcons has targeted sustainable growth, which is implemented through prudent project selection based on multiple factors including our ability to deliver and profitability. Even in the last few years, when the order book growth was lower than desired, the company kept away from bidding aggressively, while at the same time increasing its presence in overseas markets. In the near future, with the government´s push on infrastructure, opportunities are expected across sectors such as roads, metro, railways and ports in India. For Afcons to be a truly international EPC, it is imperative to continue to increase its presence beyond India. Over the last decade, we have successfully delivered projects in the Middle East and Africa and are confident of realising 50 per cent revenue from overseas by 2016. Being an international player brings its own sets of challenges towards ensuring profitable project delivery. Even in new countries, we have been able to deliver project on or ahead of schedule, thus achieving almost 100 per cent on-time project delivery for all international projects, and we aim to maintain this benchmark. Operational excellence Afcons has also moved from pure construction projects to EPC projects, with almost 70 per cent of our projects in the EPC space. EPC offers a difference of magnitude in terms of risks, complexity and stakeholder management. Thus, to ensure continued success in international EPC environment, our philosophy of operational excellence is a necessity. The operational excellence model encompasses efficiency, productivity, innovation and commitment to deliver to all stakeholders. This has helped the company not only bag the right jobs but also deliver them. As a part of our execution strategy, our mantra is simplification. Through an in-depth study of the design and methodology, we work towards developing solutions that lead to simpler construction methods. HR act The internal processes of the organisation are attuned to achieving operational excellence through empowering project teams, creating a wholesome environment for employees, bringing in flexibility, enhancing linkages between the head office and sites and encouraging ground level innovation. We are the pioneers of ´Employee Wellness´ in the infrastructure industry in India. Through our HR initiatives, we have developed an environment wherein employees are engaged across sites and provided opportunities for continuous development. We have achieved more than four and a half hour of training per person, which is beyond the industry benchmark. In addition, we have implemented SAP across all our sites. This is enabling our project teams to continuously analyse and improve productivity and thus achieve profitable project delivery. We follow the maxim - ´success lies in the details´. It is our aim to ensure that no matter where they work, Afconians provide the same levels of commitment and passion to all, in what they do. About the Author: K Subrahmanian, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Afcons, has 30 years of experience in the infrastructure space. Prior to Afcons, he worked with Hindustan Construction Company Ltd for over two decades. At present, he is the Indian representative in Dispute Review Board Foundation, USA.