Thermax’s Global Charge

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: Pune-based, Rs 770 crore, Thermax group is giving a massive thrust to its international business. The company is aggressively looking at setting up manufacturing facilities in South Asia. “We are studying the South Asian markets on a war footing and may soon have some subsidiaries in some of these markets,” says Meher Pudumjee, vice chairperson, Thermax. The company has already made a beginning by setting up a wholly owned subsidiary in Hong Kong. Thermax Hong Kong will take care of business opportunities in the Asia Pacific region with special emphasis on absorption chiller business in China. The company also has a couple of subsidiaries each in the US and European countries besides one in Brazil.

“We would be focussing on our USP products as far as international subsidiaries are concerned,” says Ms Pudumjee. Cooling business, especially chilling products, is one area where Thermax enjoys a competitive edge, especially in the US and European markets. Chemical resins is another product that the company feels will be successful in the international markets with the US and Japan being major markets. Currently the company is building a concrete strategy for its overseas business. “We want to do that in such a way that Thermax becomes a truly multinational company in coming few years,” says Ms Pudumjee. As of now Thermax has presence in 40 countries, with are assisted by 11 overseas offices.

Restructuring
Back home, Thermax is constantly looking at restructuring in order to make the company healthier. After achieving a financial turnaround in the last one year and a half, through cost cutting, energy saving, reducing employee strength and shutting down non core business lines the company has been striving to move on a steady growth path. And this is likely to continue even after Ms Pudumjee takes over as the chairman of the group this September. “I will carry forward the initiative taken by the current chairman, Anu Aga and restructuring would be done as and when the need arises. We would also continue to review Thermax’s portfolio in future”

The company has also been taking new initiatives in order to have better HR practices. Anu Aga has introduced a more conducive work culture at Thermax by reducing heirarchy and making the environment more informal.