Ajay Nanavati has a very ?Been there, done that? look on his face. There is something like a well-travelled being, and Ajay encapsulates that. The managing director of 3M India walks in nattily dressed for our conversation at the UB City, and stroking his French beard orders for a fresh lime soda. ?It has been a very long journey for me at 3M,? he says. ?It?s one of the most innovative companies in the world and I have always been proud to be associated with it.?
3M is a $23 billion US based firm with a wide array of innovative products in its kitty, ranging from healthcare and highways safety, right down to office products and abrasives and adhesives. Even the poor little ?Post-it? note is 3M?s invention. DeCode has only dealt with IT firms so far, but 3M is a wonderfully innovative, technology company, worth featuring here. 3M has been in India for 20 years, and is today a 1,600 plus employee company with net sales of Rs 1,107 crore.
?At 3M one does not have to necessarily indulge in management to rise. Our technology ladder helps our researchers to be where they are, and still get all the perks. The idea is to allow employees to do what they like the most. 3M is not a big paymaster, and people work here because of the sheer joy of innovation. So many of us can get paid three times the amount elsewhere but we love it here.?
His dad was a chemical engineer, and Ajay too followed the same course. ?I imbibed from my dad a strong work ethic. He was a people?s person. Since he was a corporate leader, I got used to seeing bigwigs in my house at an early age. So my attraction to the corporate world was quite natural.? Ajay did his chemical engineering in the United States. Since then has been all over the world, including Israel. ?I have learned a lot from working across the globe, whether it is India, US, Israel or Singapore. I have a very delegative style of management, and I am proud to say that a lot many of my team members have been working with me for years.?
?3M is a great company to work,? he elaborates, munching on a few French fries. ?It?s a very ethical outfit. We are accommodative, tolerant and considerate towards different viewpoints. We do not have a hard driving policy and there is not hire and fire business either. It?s a very Mid-west US company that way. In fact, a lot of people consider 3M a great management school.?
The fascinating aspect about 3M, employees say, is the freedom to fail. Innovation prospers in an environment like that and the company is aware of that. ?Nobody is afraid of failure here. I have had my share of failures. It?s a kind of a badge of honour.?
Ajay moved into 3M?s Indian operations during the fourth quarter of 2008. And that meant the very start of the downturn. ?It was a tough period. But at the same time, I knew India offered us a great opportunity. Either we could have gone into a shell or we could have attempted a clean up. I opted for the latter. It was clear that we had to establish more discipline during the troubled times. And that?s what we did.?
?Now we want to grow five times in the next five years. In fact, we will be setting up a new R&D centre in Bangalore by March/April next year. There will also be a conscious effort to strengthen the brand.?
Being close to the customers and localisation is the philosophy of 3M for all markets, and indigenisation has been a major focus for it in India. It has five manufacturing facilities in India and 5 labs (2 in Pune, 1 in Ahmedabad, 1 in Bangalore and the new R&D facility in Bangalore). 3M has also filed a total of 11 patents out of India.
Approximately 35% of 3M India sales have come from new products in 2009 of which 60% are from locally developed products. Of 3M India?s existing product line, 51% are locally developed products. Some unique ?In India for India? products of 3M includes road safety products?median markers and raised pavement markers, floor cleaning cloth, dry sander, 3M bone contact dressing etc. All these products are the result of intensive study and research to understand the needs of the Indian markets.
3M products are based on the 45 technology platforms that cater to various sectors and businesses. These technologies extend into multiple markets and are often combined together to cater to one particular segment. Mixing and matching of technology is an underlying factor to develop products at 3M.
?At 3M we believe in rewarding innovation, and researchers and scientists. We have something called the New Product Vitality Index. That?s a strong indicator of how we are performing. We also depend a lot on customer inspired innovation.?
Globally, 3M prides itself in capturing unarticulated needs. ?That’s in our DNA,? says Ajay.