In
Atul Vij,
Vice President (Systems, IT & Improvement cell),
Uno Minda Group
For Atul Vij, IT is not just a profession. It is passion. He believes that if IT were harnessed properly in the country, India could become a much better place for its citizens. He dreams of being able to work with the Government to be able to influence policy and making the fruits of IT spread far and wide across the country. Undoubtedly, this is a practical kind of dream, that a practical man would have.
He is of the belief that IT person has to think and act like any quintessential entrepreneur. He must be able to understand the entire range of complexities that are part and parcel of any business. An IT professional also has to be like a scientist, who is of open mind and is ready to experiment with new ideas. He has to be like a thinker wearing different hats of devils advocate. It is only by being capable of thinking boldly, clearly and systematically that an IT professional can come up with solutions that are standardized, simplified and foolproof.
Atul started his career in Management Consulting, specialising in Strategy and implementation. It is here that he developed his passion for IT, which he used to the hilt for getting high levels of improvements in short durations of time. After joining the industry 10 years back, his strategy has been to focus on shop floor improvements for gaining the strategic edge. First the Group Systems came to him and this was followed by IT.
At work I am inspired by the idea of dreaming and planning for transformations. I love to experiment with new innovations, so that I can be instrumental in bringing about the change in a sustained manner, says Atul.
For Atul, it is a matter of pride that his organisation (Uno Minda Group) has grown very fast during the last few years. Uno Minda Group is known for its systems and shop floor practices. The group has been aspiring to be a pioneer in new technology. It aims to set a new benchmark in QPCDSM parameters (Quality, productivity, cost, delivery, safety morale) in Auto Component Industry.
In 2003, when he became part of the Group, its turnover stood at Rs 350 crore. Today it stands at Rs 2200 crore. IT has a due share in facilitating growth at such high speed.
However, Atul does not believe in implementing new technology blindly. He says, I prefer to ensure that the next step is not taken unless the technology has been fully imbibed by the entire business ecosystem. Being the first one to test the technology can, at times, become a cause for more pains than gains, as the new technology might not have been sorted out by the suppliers and other stakeholders.
As the head of the Group Systems, Atul leads the team that deploys SAP across all Minda / JV Plants. By now the team has done close to 54 SAP Go Lives. All their IT initiatives are aligned with the strategic initiatives and operational needs of the businesses. The team audits all the plants thrice a year for assessing both gaps in deployment and the needs. There is minute analysis of the operations to discover new avenues for cost reduction and productivity improvement.
The innovations developed and implemented by our team have been focused on aligning people with technology, for leveraging the benefits, says Atul Vij.
In life there is bound to be challenges in every good thing that you want to do. To an extent, Atul has a stoic attitude towards life. He thinks that big or small, ultimately you have to overcome each and every challenge that life throws at you. One challenge that he likes to talk about is the one that he faced in 2008. In his own words, We were in midst of blue print finalisation with IBM, when due to hard cost cutting measures we faced a directive to close down all activities for an indefinite period, with team going back to original Units. We had a team of functional non SAP trained persons. We got the go ahead to do local pilot on SAP Go Live with Consultant. The challenge was to stabilise SAP, resolve all post Go Live issues in 4 months, without any Consultant support/ AMC. The subsequent Go Lives had to be done with in house team.
With pride apparent on his face, he adds, I feel proud that we have done fresh SAP Go Lives across new Businesses/ managed amalgamations with own Team. The credit for getting the SAP ACE award for Manufacturing Excellence goes to our core team working in close collusion with end users across locations.
IT is not the only thing that keeps him engaged in the professional sphere. He also likes to get involved with shop floor persons engaging in their manufacturing activities. A people's man of sorts, he likes to associate with his colleagues working in different departments. He loves to pick up techniques that will enable him to understand people better, and at the same time make himself understood better. He is also delving into things like handwriting analysis, Neuro Linguistic Programming and the like to develop his people skills.
My success Mantra: Impossible is not a fact, its just an opinion. Challenge the status quo
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