P 9 innings at SPIC-High &Low Contd.

P  9

Innings at SPIC High & Low Contd.

 Here, Sh SVR(S V Rajagopal), typical of his creative approach, came out with an announcement one day. While carrying out the above exercise, if any of the technician trainee come out with spare washers/o-rings or screws, they have to contribute for ice cream kitty of the department. He declared that SPIC is not poor but we do not want our trainees to create more spares by not following disciplined approach.This ice cream kitty contribution are not for pleasure alone but to demonstrate
 the concentrated application on the job. This had a high impact and they were doubly careful during these practical exercise. So SVR used to foot the ice cream kitty cost fully.

My innings as ATO continued until end of '75. I got married in Feb.'75 and life went on peacefully.
As first step of transfer, the management shifted me to bagging and loading of Urea in trucks and train wagons. My responsibility was to maintain the load cells and  smooth conveyor functioning.
While continuing there, Mr KA Rajagopal (that time ED) assured me that he will ensure to transfer me to Instrument department on his return from UK in Oct.'76. Unfortunately he never returned at all! ( He was one of the victim of Oct. 10th ,1976, Caravelle  plane crash at Bombay while taking off to Madras.)
That shattered my dream ! I started on the look out for job change from SPIC. In 1977 beginning  I took my LTC and came to Madras with my wife and first kid( My son Raja-Srinivas born on 12th Nov.'76). By mere coincidence, M/S IPCL, Baroda called me for interview- Instrumentation engineer
Polymer plants position. So I travelled to Baroda from Madras itself, leaving family at my parents home.
After finishing that interview, while returning to Madras, I don't know what made me to call on my ex-employer M/S Alkan engg. at Bombay! When I met Mr Ameer, MD. he asked me direct pointed question - Professor, what made you to go to IPCL Baroda for interview? if Alkan offer the same benefits with addition of having spatial accommodation and car with driver, do you wish to take the offer. The position was to head  the construction- instrumentation at GOP (Gujarat Olefin Project)
that time biggest naphtha cracker in the making. I was pleasantly surprised with shock and readily
accepted the offer with glee.

That changed my life forever. I became manager and my second innings at Baroda started.

                                                                                              Continue.........

Key Aspects :-  Motivation, Recognition,Surprise&shock,Transfer, Ups&down

P 8 Innings at SPIC High&Low

P  8
Innings at SPIC High&Low

After Pongal Holidays and Cricket Test match at Madras I landed in Tuticorin and stayed in a lodge for several months until the SPIC township at Muthiahpuram was built. As I was one of the early birds to join SPIC, my life grew up with development of SPIC. I was there right from earth cutting to operational phase of ammonia, urea and phosphate plants.
As I have been identified to function as Asst.Training officer(ATO) Instrumentation,I had the responsibility to train and coach the freshers from Engg. colleges, Science degree holders, Polytechnics and ITI on the subject of chemical plant instrumentation. I am proud to state that the SPIC training centre was an university by itself and it had all the virtue and infrastructure as well as laboratory and work shop.My job responsibility was to device the course material for all trainees-
GETs of all discipline, GET-Instrumentation,Technician trainees of all discipline-General and Instrumentation trade specific,Instrument artisan trainees. Utilising  my +3 years practical field experience &exposure, I adopted more of practical approach than theoritical calculations and equations. the GET group consisted of Chemical/Mechanical/ Electrical/ Civil and Instrumentation discipline both M.Tech&B Tech/BE and DMIT(Instrumentation).
In my span of 5 1/2 years with SPIC, I had the previlage of training three batches of GETs(SPIC Trainees) and GETs deputed by NFL-Bhatinda and Panipat. With pride I am satisfied that many of SPIC trainees have risen to CEO positions in several industries across the nation. To name a few:
S/Sh  V Ramesh- Vice Chairman, Sanmar Group
 S Stalin-ED, Essar
G Ramachandran- MD TN PP
D Arunachalam- Director , later MD  Tamilnadu Petro Products
E James-  My present colleague In Reliance holding Chief Operations Manager position of upcoming J3 Petro-chemical complex, world's biggest complex
Shankar Menon- MD of Technip(I) Chennai.

 For practical orientation and training, I developed  a physical model comprising a drum with level controls/switch, flow measuring loop for water pumped out from a water pond,temperature elements of various types in the drum/ heat exchanger and control valve for a 3 element control loop. and ratio control loop.
Here I would like to highlight one important event!
In SPIC, since most of the plant field instruments were sourced from M/S Yokogawa,Japan, in training centre also we followed the same sourcing and retained the models.
To orient instrument technicians and artisans with hand-on approach for field investigation, &maintenance/ calibration checks, we devised an unique practice.
 Each trainee was given the task of studying the specification of manufacturer of each instrument and understand their working principle. Then with assembly drawing/ spare parts catalogue in possession, each person have to carry out the calibration of that instrument and note the recordings. Then he has to dismantle that instrument up to component level(including the O-rings,washers, clips and screws.
That dismantled display on table will be supervised by plant instrument engineers and the trainees have to answer their questioning  orally. After that the trainees have to reassemble that instrument
and re-perform the calibration of the same instrument. It was expected that the noted readings have to match with what was noted before dismantling by them.

Key Aspects:-  Initiative, Innovative, Leadership, Proactive approach, Responsible, Team Building, Training

                                                                                                                           ontd......

P 7 Baroda 1st innings Contd....

P 7

Baroda Experience-Contd.....

On Sundays without fail BS used to pick me up for Tamil Movie morning show at Utsav cinema and then lunch at his home. After lunch I used to enjoy Sunday afternoon knap at his home itself.
Then at 4PM,after having a cup of tea go out and meet the group of bachelor engineers of IPCL construction  personnel  and spend Sunday evening. On Monday morning usual routine start. This was going on until the Sept.17th,Viswakarma day in 1972.

That day both Alkan and Simon carves, the two leading contractors at site had pooja in their respective pandals. All of sudden one Mr Prabhakar, a welder of Simon Carves raised a protest(typical of labour union leader) and the situation went out of control at site. A lock out  was declared and the strike went on for 40 days. Mr Tripathi and Ms Kalyani, local union leaders of that area joined the menace and worsened the situation.
The beauty in Alkan was that all the workmen had a high respect for me and BS; rather they used to
serve tea to us when we were sitting in the compound wall entry gate on sentry duty.They used to talk generally and not about the issues at all. Once the strike was called off, the work at site peaked and went full throttle.
The calibration team started the field loop checking activity. That time we increased our team strength by inducting S/Sh Ganesh and Bhaktavatsalam, technicians qualified from ITI.  The challenge of the loop checking in pneumatic age was thrilling and everyone used to feel the satisfaction&joy. But personally I got physically exhausted and aspired for change. As luck would have it, both my initial bosses of M/S Taylor- Mr Sampath and Mr CP Srinivasan have joined M/S SPIC and they have spoken about me to their boss Mr SV Rajagopal. SVR contacted me  and said that 'you join Spic training center as Asst.Training Officer-Instrument  to start with &then later transfer to instrument department'.This I shared with BS  and he forwarded my resignation to HQ at Bombay. With regret the HQ accepted my resignation but asked me to continue &complete the entire DMT plant loop checking before leaving.
As I was a crazy cricket follower,I put a condition that I should not miss the Test match at Chepauk
which used to be during Pongal holidays and I should be positively released by 8th Jan.1973 from site. The beauty is that Alkan not only relieved me by that date, but also given me a II class railway ticket  all the way to Madras, even for a resigning employee!

Here I have to highlight an important incident. 8th Jan.1973 is an important date in my diary for following reasons.As I was getting relieved from site on that day I handed over all my hand tools to stores and got clearance by 4.30PM. while sitting with BS, Mr K Sethuraman,Operations Manager of IPCL(who later became Production Director) came to Alkan office &questioned BS, how Alkan can relieve AR. BS explained to him why&what made Alkan to relieve me. Then KS changed his tone and requested me&BS whether AR can help him(IPCL) for commissioning one level control loop in a horizontal drum having control valve at an elevation.I looked at BS face and he looked at me! When I opened my mouth saying that I have already handed over the tools, BS intended the tools in his name itself and asked me to go to field and perform. I requested BS to help me in packing my clothes in hotel and check out from hotel/bring the luggage to station directly.He responded that it is not an issue at all and he has asked my colleague Mr Saldhana to carry out.
I went to site with KS&Rajesh and commissioned that level control loop by 7.15PM or so.To honour my timely help&service,KS  himself drove me to Baroda station and got me dinner before boarding my train to Bombay. KS,BS with family &Saldhana saw me off in Dehra Dun express.That is how my Baroda 1st innings ended.
In next,my SPIC innings start  ........

Key Aspects :-   Communication, Faith, Human relations, Recognition, Reputation.

P 6 Baroda Experience

P  6

Baroda experience!

My first visit reach to Baroda itself is a story. As per the ticket organised by the company I boarded Dehra Dun express at Bombay central & I was told that it will reach Baroda by 2.30AM or so.
When it reached that station, the coach attendant woke me up and asked me to alight from the train.
I argued with him that I have to go to Baroda but this station is Vadodara and I shall not get down.
He literally lifted my luggage and placed them in platform and told me something in Hindi which I could not make at all.
Afterwards I asked somebody in the station and they explained to me that Vadodara (meaning Banyan tree) is the original name &colloquially people started calling it as Baroda.
Then with all the luggage I walked across &checked in Kalyan hotel for the night. Next day morning
Mr Rajendran, administration manager of Alkan picked me up and shifted my stay at Baroda at Hotel Staywell, Sampath rao Colony, Race Course Road, Alkapuri.

Even though it was a lodge only, the people (mostly construction supervisory personnel) stayed long term  and every one felt like home.The hotel owner Mr Modi , who was working as chemist in M/S Alembic Chemicals , himself was staying with family on top floor.

Coming to my job front &responsibility, I had  a terrific  work scope and tight schedule of calibration of all field instruments - approx. 900 loops in DMT plant, a raw material for polyester yarn ( 280 closed loops and 620 open loops). They consist of starting from pressure gauge/temperature gauge,Pressure and DP transmitters for Flow and Level transmitters,Level trol(working on Archemedes principle), control valves of various types(including tight shut-off), thermocouple and RTDs. etc.
As I was the person responsible for entire calibration, Mr B Sankarnarayan, my manager and construction Chief-Instrumentation of Alkan gave me full freedom to establish  the entire infrastructure for calibration in the shop as well as in the field. Since ,in those days entire instrumentation were of pneumatic based and mostly M/S Taylor supply, I had the advantage  of handling them comfortably. I had my technician Sh Rajesh Trivedi &from EIL side Mr R Sadagopan,
happen to be my number junior(1988) from MIT and we formed a joint team to operate. We had several U Tube manometer-mercury and water for both input and output measurements, Dead wt. tester, heater bath,multimeters,  and all type of hand tools.

The main challenge used to be the hysterisis(when we check the rising parameter 0-25-50-75&100% inputs with output measured @3-15 psig (0.2-1kg/cm2g) and then dropping reading for the corresponding steps, invariably we land into difference beyond the acceptable limits.As it was pneumatic/mechanical adjustments for only zero and span provisions by manufacturer, we used to struggle in distributing the error across the span and manage.
But the team used to relish these challenges and struggle throughout the day. We used to take break for breakfast in Bhaskar canteen max. 15 mts &lunch 1/2 hour. Day used to wind up for me at 10.30/11 PM daily.
My driver Sardarji used to wake me up at 7.15AM with a chai cup and saucer making it as alarm. Just I used to brush my teeth, drink the tea &get into jeep. At night either the driver Sardarji or Mr Shyamsundar (my director) used to drive me back.We used to go to Hotel Cactus at Sayajibagh & have dinner at 12 night. Then they used to drop me at Staywell by 12.15 or so daily. This was the routine from Monday to Saturday every week. I used to change my jeans only once in a week &change shirts only daily.                                                                                Contd.......

Key Aspects:-  Opportunity, Critical challenge, Planning& scheduling

P 5 Shift to Baroda

P  5

Shift to Baroda- 1st Innings!

While working in M/S Taylor, on one fine morning in Feb.'72, while in office, I got a surprise phone call from Mr V Varadarajan-14th batch DMIT,.He was working in ECC(L&T) Madras. He indicated that my name has been identified by his company for a foreign assignment ( Construction contract) in Qatar.
M/S L&T bagged a contract for executing a refinery complex in Qatar in association with M/S Mannai Trading co.(a local outfit) and M/S Mortensen & Shroff were the Lead personnel located there.

Mr Varadarajan requested me to come down to their office next day for discussions. In those days since the telephone communication was premature, with great difficulty they organised for International trunk call for one to one conversation, which I relished and was selected. Then the HR department of L&T issued an appointment order ( with the condition that the assignment will come into force, the day I travel to Qatar). They also organised my first Indian passport with Emigration authorities. Everything was set for me to travel  and have been asked to resign my job from M/S Taylor, which I did.

Since that was the time the middle east boom was starting, naturally I was keen and interested. I submitted my resignation to Taylor. My manager Mr RD Sharma was reluctant to relieve me; but considering that being a foreign job, he did not stand in my way. He had difficulty in convincing the HO at Faridabad; personally he talked to Mr P Jayachandran, another DMIT of 3rd batch,  GM
( that time topmost position in the company) and impressed upon him to relieve me from the job, but there was a shock  awaiting me! On the advice of RDS,  M/S Taylor did relieve me by March end, but visa clearance was not coming through from Qatar.

In between as a pious man, I did go to Mookambika temple with my mother,via Shimoga route. That was my first trip to Kollur and that trip is still green in my memory.

Though M/S ECC(L&T) appointed me as Instrument engineer for the construction job, Qatar authorities rejected the visa application stating that they look for only technicians  and not engineers. So I was literally on the roads without a job. As Mr Varadarajan is known to me as well as my father
(Vardarajan's mother & my mother were friends while we were at Ayanavaram), we urged him strongly to get any fixation for me even if it was not instrument engineering function.

As luck would have it, M/S Alkan Engg. Co Ltd. Bombay was looking for an instrument engineer for their contract job in IPCL- DMT&PX plants at Baroda. Mr Suri Shyamsundar, another DMIT of 8th batch,ex L&T manager was the director in Alkan, who was looking after these. As he was based at Madras, Mr Vardarajan phoned him to narrate my case and tried whether I can be fixed in that position. Mr Shyamsundar asked me to come down to their office at Montieth Road, Egmore directly.
I was not only given the appointment order but also  given a II class rail ticket to Bombay. So my salary earning jumped from Rs 575 to Rs 700/PM. I was asked to report at their HO at Kakad Chambers, Dr Annie Besant Road, Worli and meet their MD Mr Ameer and Mr JK Shivdasani, another director & pick up the ticket to travel to Baroda on the same day. Mr CSS  Narayan, the administrative manager showed his character then itself but has to follow management orders
( there is a reason for me to make this mention here, since there was a tussle between us in '80 when I returned from East Germany)
That is how my second change has taken place by accident. After reporting at Bombay office, on the same day evening I travelled by Dehra Dun express to Baroda. Innings at Baroda will continue......


Key Aspects :-  Opportunity, Transfer ..

P 4 Taylor Experience

 P 4
 On my joining M/S Taylor in Aug.'70, I was deputed To Madras Fertilisers construction site for
orientation and training on installation/calibration  and testing of field instruments in NPK plant
being executed by M/S Dorr Oliver  under CHEMICO,USA. It was for 40 days and the objective was to familiarise the incoming Sales&Service  engineer on Taylor products in an industry. Here I worked under Mr S Sampath, who is senior to me by 6 years from the same institution.. As a fresher hardly 10 months in profession, I enjoyed this training and took full benefit.

Then came the surprise and shock!
The day I returned back to my office to resume my regular assignments, there was a SOS message from our FACT Ambalamedu site reporting that all supervisory staff have met with a jeep accident
 and somebody from branch sales office have to rush to site to take possession  and control. Also there was instruction/request from HQ clearly stating that Ramanathan to be rushed there. So without second thoughts I was asked to travel to Ernakulam (now Kochi) for 4-5 days stay as intermediate relief.
On reaching Ernakulam, Mr CP Srinivasan,another senior by 5 years, received me at the station  and arranged my lodging at Meera mahal, Thirupanithura. No one estimated/ expected that the injured supervisors will take several months to recoup themselves and resume duty.

My 4-5 days travel trip continued for 8-Eight months !

The plant site was building up an ammonia  and urea  plant under FACT,Ambalamedu.There I became virtual center point and all client personnel and Taylor workmen started respecting  me as their hero.
CPS went out of way by arranging fresh dress material for my use and take me out for entertainment in week ends. At one stage, even the client instrumentation managers got so much impressed with my involvement and performance, offered employment for me.
As my nature and cut is towards project execution challenges only, I excused myself and got away.

 After 8 months, when I returned to office, I was asked to take care of BHEL projects & servicing the instrumentation of all sugar factories in Southern Region ( about 115 factories covering Tamil Nadu, Kerala,Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh ). So I was out of office literally touring all the while. As bachelor I was a free bird and enjoyed varied cuisine.

In Feb.'72, the second break got initiated  again by mere coincidence.That is a big story by itself
which I will continue to narrate....


Key Aspects :-   Training, Critical challenge, Proactive approach