In what marks the entry of the fifth generation of the family into business, Alok Kirloskar, 28, son of Sanjay Kirloskar and great grandson of SL Kirloskar, has taken over as MD of SPP Pumps, the UK subsidiary of Kirloskar Brothers. The move comes at a time when the business faces headwinds of an economic slowdown in Europe.

Alok has 124 years of legacy behind him to help him

navigate the tough business terrain. Unlike his father, Sanjay Kirloskar, who took over as MD of KBL at 28, having lost his

father very early, Alok is being carefully groomed for greater responsibilities at Kirloskar Brothers, the flagship company of the $2.5-billion Kirloskar Group.

Sanjay Kirloskar weathered many storms at KBL to make it the country?s largest manufacturer and exporter of pumps and valves. Alok could be looking at the next orbit.

The R2,663-crore KBL has 13 plants at home and seven outside India, making a wide range of pumps, for use in homes to nuclear plants, and large infrastructure projects like water supply, power and irrigation. In 2003, KBL acquired SPP Pumps, makers of onshore and offshore fire-fighting and water supply pumps, with BP, Conocophillips and Thames Water UK as customers.

Kirloskar Brothers International BV was set up in 2007, which will house all overseas companies. KBL acquired Braybar Pumps in South Africa in 2010. Alok is on the board of SPP Pumps and Braybar Pumps.

With SPP having plants in the UK, the US and South Africa, the stint will offer exposure to a variety of business cultures, says Alok, who joined KBL in 2007 as GM, marketing, and, later, led the industry sector pumping products business. He will look at better integration of SPP with Kirloskars. Alok, a graduate in industrial engineering and finance from the Carnegie Mellon University, says these are interesting times to be at SPP, which is not just focused on Continental Europe, but is also doing lot of work in the US and China. ?It was an area where we had a lag in the market,? he says. ?Traditionally, the division generated a lot of cash and was profitable. We lost leadership in the last five years. It was a good area to reclaim this and it was challenging,? he said.

Detecting a gap in knowledge management, which was critical for the especially engineered products, he put in place systems that made products more accessible for customers.

?Two to three years ago, it accounted for 30% of the turnover, but, last year, it was 55% and, this year, it will be 65%, ? says Alok. There is a new emphasis on patent creation and 17 patents have been registered, eight of them in the US.

But this is only a beginning. K Ramachandran, associate dean, Indian School of Business, and Thomas Schmidheiny Fellow of Family Business & Wealth Management, ISB, says succession planning is a big challenge across the world for business families. ?If they start early, the better. It is like a relay race. Preparation is important.? He adds: ?Grooming is critically important for Alok from both sides ? as a business person and as a family representative. He will be playing different roles as custodian of wealth and manager.?

The Kirloskar Group had gone through a split and a restructuring, which has seen each unit getting more freedom, and each family getting a stake in the business they are managing. Though there was a separation, there are still cross holdings within the group.

?They have to be careful as tendency to move away from the core is very high,? says Ramachandran. ?Freedom is okay, but there has to be enough mechanism to keep the group together. Alok should look at bring out the synergy between the companies and work with his cousins to develop a common strategy and vision for the whole group.?

?The Group got into difficulties in the 90s and has come out reasonably strong and their pumps business has done well?, says Arun Jethmalani,MD, ValueNotes, a company that is into competitive intelligence, industry analysis, company valuation and business research. ?They have not grown the way they could have, had sluggish reputation and were not aggressive. They are a conservative company. Young blood can change it.?

Alok acknowledges that the Kirloskar Group has gone through some tough times, but they bounced back after being written off with father Sanjay Kirloskar at the helm. The aspiration for them is to be among the top five in the world. A chip off the old Kirloskar block, he intends to stay true to the Kirloskar values and preserve the respect earned by past four generation of Kirloskars.

?They are a good company, paying dividend for the last 70 years. It?s up to Alok how this is leveraged in the face of increasing competition from MNCs,? says Jethmalani. ?If the government increases investment in infrastructure in the next 5-10 years, they will do well.?