When compared to the Korean and American products in these categories, initially the Godrej Appliances products lacked the fit, feel and finish earlier. And Shariyarr admits that it was a big weakness.

"To address this issue, we made some technological changes in the lines in terms of introducing a state-of-the-art powder coating booth and advanced metal lines. These give us a high level of fit, feel and finish. Today, our products can compete even on the looks front," he says with pride.

"Not only has the Shirwal plant upgraded the two ‘original lines' brought from Vikhroli but it also added third new line (which is relatively more advanced than the first two lines) and a fourth completed automated line which is the most advanced line.

So how is he managing costs at the shopfloor level to ensure good quality at competitive prices? "Well, we have also had our difficult times but we re-looked at our strategies and we revamped. One thing that we did on the manufacturing front was the integration of ‘lean' and ‘green'," Shariyarr says.

This was a big shift from the traditional manufacturing philosophy. "The usual approach in the manufacturing industry is to focus on production. That - we realised - is very limited and short-term. Today, manufacturing includes many aspects like supply chain, the suppliers, design, after sales, adherence to the regulatory changes and so on," he explains.

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