Strategising for the Future

SAMIK MUKHERJEE speaks about how Technip is gearing up to become a strategic partner in the India growth story. India is aiming for over 7 per cent GDP growth rate and there is an upbeat sentiment across sectors and investors. We are at the inflection point to see the transformation of the energy sector, driven by a favourable policy framework by the new government, focus on deep water development, operational excellence in manufacturing to reduce energy consumption and enhanced skill-sets to achieve scalability and pace for execution of mega projects. In the context of ´achhe din anewale hain´, for the energy sector, it is a transformation phase for industry players to realign their strategy and perspective towards the Indian market. Technip, being a world leader in project management, engineering and construction for the energy industry with a presence in 48 countries, has been closely watching the movement in the domestic onshore and deep water segment. Under one umbrella Over the last few years, Technip, a Ç9.3 billion company has been on an acquisition binge - having taken over the US-based Global Industries, Stone & Webster, Subocean Group, Ingenium AS and Cybernetix, to name a few. In the beginning of 2012, Technip Group decided to take the initiative of creating ´One Technip in India´ to enhance the synergy of operations from our various entities in the country to provide: a. A stronger and consistent value proposition to our customers. b. Increase our net worth and capability to qualify for bigger projects with our entire suite of process technologies and EPC expertise in: Onshore - refining, petrochemicals, LNG, fertilisers, oil and gas. Offshore - large process platforms. Subsea - shallow water and deep water pipelines engineering and installation. The merger of different Technip entities in India into Technip India Ltd has been a complex and two-year-long process. It covered three broad areas of integration, namely:  Legal integration to merge three separate entities as one entity, with one P&L with a growth strategy focused on the Indian market. Functional integration in terms of organisation structure aligned with the One Technip strategy to leverage the operational synergies. People integration to develop a culture of One Technip across the three centres and support the integrated functional organisation. We have already achieved the milestone for legal integration and are quite advanced in the functional integration process. The people integration process is the most challenging and an ongoing task. Effective from April 2014, Technip India Ltd is a 100 per cent wholly-owned entity of Technip France (listed on Euronext Paris; EURONEXT: FR0000131708) with a talent base of 3,000 plus people in three operating centers in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. It is set to become a strategic partner in the India growth story driven by growing demand in the domestic energy space and a key partner in the delivery of international projects for the Technip Group. A client-focused approach Considering the present economic scenario in India, we plan to move ahead with caution and engage in projects with a low risk profile. To start with, we have incorporated changes in the business division by creating four channels to cater exclusively to the local EPCM or EPC market, our internal Technip group services and value-added services, product portfolio and new venture areas of renewable and defense offsets. This structural alignment will help us deliver tailor-made services to our respective clients. Currently, we are concentrating on high-end service jobs by entering the area of Project Management Consultancy (PMC). The group has been successful in winning some major jobs in South East Asia, the Middle East and the US. With these projects requiring highly skilled personnel to engage in PMC activities, we would channelise our resources to this new area of opportunity and participate in most of the front-end work of a project pertaining to Conceptual Design, Feasibility Studies and Front End Engineering (FEED). Our focus is on risk identification and mitigation through a global procurement network to bring price competitiveness and value for money to the client. Eyeing mega projects in India In India, we are aspiring to become a partner of choice especially in refining, petrochemicals, LNG, offshore and subsea. We would be selective in bidding for lump sum EPC projects, which could give us a technological advantage and offer a level playing field as far as competition is concerned. Our competency in onshore segment is outlined by our strong presence in the domestic market as a Tier-1 EPC player supported by proprietary technologies like hydrogen, ethylene, syngas, and execution capability from concept to commissioning as well as enhanced HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) practices. We are keenly following up the growth of deep water oil and gas developments taken up by ONGC and Reliance. With a decline in traditional sources of oil and gases in many countries, we have no option but to prepare ourselves to challenge the environment to extract oil and gas. Currently, in India we have an experienced subsea engineering team who are getting trained in various countries while working on various international projects. The strategic location of our flexibles manufacturing plant AsiaFlex in Malaysia, which is the first-of-its-kind in Asia and our state-of-the-art Installation Vessels G 1201 and Deep Orient stationed in Singapore proves that we have invested much ahead, anticipating these forthcoming deep water developments in India. Make in India We are building up a new waterfront fabrication yard of 150,000 sq m facility at Dahej in Gujarat. This yard is expected to be operational in early 2015 and provide employment opportunity to the local people. We will also provide training to enhance skills or competencies of local resources. This yard will manufacture fired heaters, convection section modules of furnaces, waste heat recovery units, modular plant units, low nox burners and the like. It will support: Projects-to increase domestic production in refining and petrochemicals. The group´s international projects. Process technology driven proprietary products. Functional alignment Another part of our business that would see a major transformation is in the area of shared support services, especially HR and finance, to standardise the processes and tools across all the Technip entities worldwide. Implementation of new ERP tools will ensure harmonisation of centralised processes without compromising local specific needs. Change is the only constant This philosophy is absolutely captured by our brand line - ´Take it further´. It is the message that we convey through our actions by going through timely transformations and acting locally to adapt to the evolving market. It is imperative that growing economies like India are recognised as key drivers for the oil and gas business in the world. Committed support from the government thus gains greater importance. With a positive order backlog, we are all set to welcome ´achhe din´ under the ´One Technip´ umbrella. About the Author: Samik Mukherjee, Managing Director & Country Head, Technip India, is responsible for P&L management and to drive Technip India with over 2,800 people and three operating centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. His role is instrumental in the integration of Technip entities in India under ´OneTechnip´ umbrella and building Technip as a one stop consultancy and EPC project organisation committed to exciting projects in subsea, onshore and offshore segments in India.