Introduction
In September 1943, with just two employees and two thousand rupees, Mr. Advani started Blue Star Engineering Company. At the time, he was thirty years old, and world war II was well underway. It could only be his confidence and ambition that carried him through. Seeing opportunity where others saw difficulty, he built a company that was progressive and flexible.
Blue Star Engineering Company, under the hand of Mr. Advani, pioneered the manufacture of water coolers in India. With his flair for marketing and his innate understanding of the Indian customer, the Blue Star Engineering Company evolved into a manufacturing company. But this wasn’t enough for the innovative, ambitious founder.
In 1946, he emptied the company’s bank account to visit the USA in order to negotiate negotiated for Blue Star brought the company invaluable know-how and helped in burgeon.
COMPANY PROFILE
1943 – Blue Star was founded in 1943 by Mohan T Advani, and entrepreneur of exemplary vision and drive. The company began as a modest 3 members team engaged in reconditioning of air conditioners and refrigerators.
1943 to 1946 – Within three years after inauguration, the company obtained the soul agency of US based Melchoir Armstrong Dessau Company and several other companies manufacturing, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment. Shortly after, the company was selected by Worthington, the US leader in air conditioning, as its India based partner- these were the first of numerous foreign associations to follow. And expanding Blue Star then ventured into the manufacturing of ice candy machines and bottle coolers, and also began the design and execution of central air conditioning projects. This was followed by the manufacture of water coolers.
2011 to 2015 – Blue Star was witnessing a significant demand from the residential segment given the higher disposable income and the growing middle class who are upwardly mobile and seek comfort. The company significantly alternate marketing mix, launching a contemporary to appeal to home consumers, as well as distribution through home appliance retail outlets and enhanced advertising budgets. This foray met with resounding success and Blue Star’s room air conditioners sales grew considerably, despite almost flat sales growth in the overall room air conditioners industry.
2015 – Blue Star crossed the Rs. 3,000 Crores revenue milestones in 2015. The company identified a new value preposition of ‘Nobody Cools Better’ which highlights the unmatched expertise, experience and deep understanding of the science of cooling that Blue Star offers to its customers. In 2015, the PE & IS business of the company was transferred to a separate subsidiary called Blue Star Engineering & Electronics in April 2015.
Today, Blue Star’s room air conditioners are available in 3,500 outlets in over 500 locations spread across the length and breadth of India, via exclusive and multi-brand sales and services air conditioning dealers, retail showrooms and modern trade. The company has also built up a strong installation and service franchise network to support the retailers. It is also working on identifying and developing new opportunities in markets such as the Middle East, North Africa, SAARC and ASEAN regions. This focus will significantly enhance the Blue Star brand beyond India while providing growth opportunities for its business, and will go a long way in establishing Blue Star as a true global player.
VISION
To dream, To strive, To care and Above all, To be the best in Everything we do.
VALUE AND BELIEFS
- Be a company that is a pleasure to do business with.
- Continuously improve shareholder value.
- Win our people’s hearts and minds.
- Encourage learning, experimentation and innovation in what we do.
- Place the company’s interest above one’s own.
- Conduct business with personal integrity and ethics.
- Work in a boundary-less manner between various functions to provide the best solution to customers.
- Treat business partners as respected members of our organizations.
- Ensure high standards of corporate governance.
- Be a good cooperate citizen.
Corporate Social Responsibility
- Blue Star Endeavour to support less privileged, rural and urban communities in the country at large, with a focus on sections of the vulnerable and marginalized local communities in close proximity to its manufacturing facilities in semi-rural locations. The Company is committed to contribute actively towards enhancing their living standards through interventions in water sanitation, health education and skill development.
- From close to a decade, Blue Star has a dedicated department for Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is healed by a professionally qualified senior manager with the requisite domain knowledge for planning, implementation and monitoring of the scheduled activities with due diligence.
- Blue Star’s CSR programmes focus on vocational training of school dropouts in air conditioning as well as mechanical, electrical and plumbing services, building water purification systems and sanitation facilities in Government schools; and holistic development initiatives around its manufacturing facilities.
Composition of the CSR committee
Mr. Suneel M Advani – Chairman
Mr. B. Thiagarajan – Member
Ms. Shobana Kamineni – Member
Role of the CSR Committee
- The role of the CSR Committee is to review, monitor and provide strategic direction to Blue Star’s CSR practices, which is well aligned to its compentancies and core people skills. This Committee formulates and monitors the CSR Policy, and recommends the annual CSR Plan of the Company of the Board, in line with companies Act,2013. Periodic impact assessments help monitor the benefits received by the community, and lead to augmenting the project outcomes.
- Blue Star’s CSR committee, determines the activities to be undertaken, and the company pursues such activities over a considerable period of time (minimum 2 or 3 years) in order to create and assess their impact. The projects are fully adopted or supported by the company as per the need and available budgets on a case-to-case basis.
- The CSR execution team regularly updates the CSR committee on the progress of the projects by sharing detailed reports as well as learning and feedback from the communities, and implements any course corrections as may be required. The practices of sharing industry-wide best practices, case studies and knowledge assimilation is well established in the company.
Vocational Training
- As an important stakeholder for holistic vocational training initiatives in AC &R and MEP fields for school drop-outs, Blue Star has pursued vocational training initiatives through meaningful partnerships in industry-specific programmes with NGO’s, industry bodies and other like-minded cooperate bodies across the country. Indo- German Institute of Advanced Technology, Vishakapatnam; Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust, chennai; Gyan Prakash Foundation, Pune; and Himalayan Group of Professional Institutions in Kala Amb, Himachal Pradesh and Karnel, Haryana are some of these projects.
- Blue Star’s training personal contribute to the set-up of customized classrooms and practical labs, curriculum development, training of trainers, monitoring the quality of sessions and imparting lectures on a regular basis at these centres. The company constantly encourages its employees to dedicate their time and energy on a pro bono basis to impart employable skills at these centres, drawing from their extensive work experience. This initiative contributes to build a fresh young talent pool for the building engineering industry.
- The Dadra, Wada and Ahmedabad factories as well as the R &D facility at Thane hired apprentices under National employability. Through Apprenticeship Program (NE TAP) – a Public Private Partnership of Team Lease Skills University; CIT; All India Council For Technical Education; and National Skills Development Cooperation under the HRD Ministry. This initiative lends the much needed thrust for on-the-job training and boosts job creation by aligning skills of the workforce to the Industry’s needs.
- Around 60 apprentices under NETAP were trained for showrooms/sales outlets. Many of them are women belonging to lesser privileged backgrounds who get an opportunity to become earning members of their families. The on-the-job training module provides them with an excellent exposure to the modern format trade and retail landscape and to imbibe related skill set.
Training & Development objectives
The principal objective of training & development division is to make sure the availability of a skilled and willing workforce to an organization.
In addition to that, there are four other objectives Individual, Organizational, Functional and Societal.
- Individual Objectives :- help employees in achieving their personal goals, which in turn, enhances the individual contribution to an organization.
- Organizational Objectives :- assist the organization with its primary objective by bringing individual effectiveness.
- Functional Objectives :- maintain the department, contribution at a level suitable to the organization’s needs.
- Societal Objectives :- ensure that an organization is ethically and socially responsible to the needs and challenges of the society.
Training and Human Resource Management
The HR functioning is changing with time and with this change, the relationship between the training function and other management activity is also changing. The training and development activities are now equally important with that of other HR functions.
Training actually provides the opportunity to raise the profile development activities in the organization. To increase the commitment level of employees and growth in quality movement (concepts of HRM), senior management team is now increasing the role of training. Such concepts of HRM require careful planning as well as greater emphasis an employee development and long term education.
Training is now the important tool of Human Resource Management to control the attribution rate because it helps in motivating employees, achieving their professional and personal goals, increasing the level of job satisfaction etc. As a result training is given on a variety of skill development and covers a multiple of courses.
Role of HRD Porfessional in Training
The role of HR professionals in training has been widened. HR role now is :-
1) Active involvement in employee education.
2) Rewards to be associated with self-esteem and self worth.
3) Providing pre-employment market oriented skill development education and post education support for advanced education and training.
4) Rewards to be improvement in performance.
5) Flexible access i.e anytime, anywhere training.
Need for Training
• To impart to the new entrants the basic knowledge and skills they need for definite tasks.
• To assist employees to function more effectively in their present positions by exposing them to new concepts.
• To build a line of competent people and prepare them to occupy more responsible positions.
• To reduce the supervision time, wastage and spoilage of new material.
• To ensure the economical output of the required quality.
• To proven obsolescence.
• To promote individual and collective morale, responsibility and cooperative attitudes etc.
Locations
Cooperate headquarters
Mumbai :- Kasturi buildings,Mohan T Advani Chowk,
Jamshedji Tata Road, Mumbai – 400020
Phone – (91) (22) 6665 4000
Divisional Headquarters
Chennai
9 Bazullah Road, T Nagar, Chennai-600017
Phone- (91) (44) 4344 4000
Fax – (91) (44) 2815 8015
Mumbai
Bandbox House, 4th Floor, 254D, Dr Annie Basant Road, Worli,
Mumbai- 400030
Phone- (91) (22) 6654 4000
Fax- (91) (22) 6654 4001
Regional Headquarters
Chennai
KRM Plaza, No 2, Harrington Road, Chetpet, Chennai-600031
Phone- (91) (44) 4244 4000\
Fax- (91) (44) 2836 2101
Kolkata
7, Hare street, kolkata-700001
Phone- (91) (33) 2213 4000
Fax- (91) (44) 2213 4102
Mumbai
Blue Star House, 9A, Ghatkopar, Link Road,
Sakinaka, Mumbai-400072
Phone- (91) (22) 6668 4000
Fax- (91) (22) 6668 4004
New Delhi
6th Floor, Vatika Atrium, Golf Course Road,
Sector 53, Gurugram-122 002
Phone- (91) (22) 409 4000
Fax- (91) (124) 409 40004
Manufacturing Facilities
Ahmedabad
501/3,503/2, Tejpur Road, Sarkhej Baila Highway,
Changodar, Ahmedabad-382 213
Phone- (91) (2717) 294 490
Dadra
Survey No 265/2, Demni Road, Dadra-396 191,
U.T. of Dadra 7 Nagar Haveli
Phone – (91) (0260) 2668617
Fax- (91) (0260) 266 8503
Kala Amb
Nahan Road, Ranpur Jattan, Kala Amb,
District Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh-173 030
Phone- (91) (01702) 238 760
Fax- (91) (01702) 238 461
Wada
Village- vasuri khurd, khanivali road
PO- Khupari, Taluka- Wada
Dustrict Palaghar- 421 312
Phone- (91) 92772 32070
Sales and Services Offices
Ahmedabad
Abhishree Avenue, 3rd floor, Near Nehru, Nagar Cross Road,
Ambawadi Road, Ahmedabad-380 015
Phone- (91) (79) 4022 4000
Bengaluru
Anjuman Kay Arr Tower, No 28,
Ward No. 77, Mission Road, Bengaluru-560 027
Bhubaneshwar
3A, Satya Nagar, 2nd Floor, Bhubaneshwar-751 007
Phone- (91) (674) 2572403
Fax- (91) (674) 257 0544
Chandigarh
Adarsh Mall, 4th Floor, Plot No. 50, Industrial & Business Park,
Phase-II, Chandigarh-160 002
Phone- (91) (172) 503 4000
Fax- (91) (172) 500 4007
International
Blue Star International FZCO
PO box 293710, Office # 520, 5th Floor,
Building E-3, Dubai Airport Freezone,
Dubai, UAE
Email- exports@bluestarindia.com
Phone- (971) 42306 900
Blue Star Qatar WLL (joint venture)
Blue Star Qatar WLL Doha, State of Qatar-47242
Phone- (974) 4458 2271
Fax- (974) 4458 0078
Blue Star Oman Electro-Mechanical Company LLC (joint venture)
Bail Towell, Ground Floor Lobby 2,
Azaiba-1040, Ruwi-112, Sultanate of Oman
Phone- (968) 2452 6466
Fax – (968) 2452-6476
Blue Star M&E Engineering SDN BHD ( joint venture)
13th Floor, Menara Ammetlife 1, Jalan Lumut,
Kuala Lumpur Malaysia-50400
Phone- (603) 4041 8261
Fax- (603) 4041 9520
R & D ( Research and Development)
Blue Star is amongst the pioneers in introducing advanced technology and applications in the Indian Market. As a philosophy, the company focuses on Digital Technology and sustainability, with Continuous investments and focused efforts in R& D. today, with over 125 employees, backed by new-age infrastructure; the company prides itself on having one of the best R & D centres in the Indian HVAC industry, with its products competing with international players. Blue Star’s R& D function has a recognized status from the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR), Government of India for they last four years, with re-certification as per new standards.
The R & D team at Blue Star is encouraged to keep abreast with latest techniques and processes and in encouraged to participate in and network with technical workshops around the globe.
There is an impetus for upgraded products with higher energy and eco-friendly refrigerants. The company partners with consultants who have valuable expertise and vast experience in specialized fields such as electronics and industrial design on a globe level. Blue Star has long that believe in constant innovation, including technical institutions of repute such as IIT Mumbai.
Significant investment has been made in building performance and reliability labs as well as virtual modeling and virtual performance testing software, among others. The Company’s chiller test labs are AHRI certified, along with an accreditation from NABL for room air conditioners and dusted systems. A separate department has been created with a focus on electronics, algorithms and embedded firmware. Software used by the R & D team comprises Pro-Engineer, Pro- Mechanics, HTRI, Mechanical Desktop, Rhino, Alias, CATIA, IDEAS, Patran, Hypermesh, Femap, Fluent and Moldflow.
The Company has six registered designs and has applied for 30 patents, Blue Star’s technical capabilities and recognized by policy making departments of the Government of India, and the Company plays a vital role in developing standards for energy efficiency and safety, representing the industry across national and international forums.
R & D is an integral part of the products business for Blue Star, and the company will continue to systematically invent towards developing capital equipment and human resources in this important domain.
Details of Revenue Expenditure of directly related to R & D ( research and development)
Year Ended March 31 2017 (in lakhs)
Year Ended March 31 2016(in lakhs)
Employee benefits expense 1,545.97 / 1,319.06
Cost of raw material and components consumed 697.37 / 1,008.28
Legal & professional fees 256.52 / 208.39
Depreciation & amortization 919.33 / 719.30
Others 710.83 / 666.50
TOTAL 4,130.02 / 3,921.53
Details of Capital Expenditure directly related to R & D (Research and development)
Year Ended
March 31
2017 (in lakhs) Year Ended
March 31
2016 (in lakhs)
Tangible Assets :
1) Building sheds and road
35.39
–
2) Plant & machinery 287.37 446.30
3) Furtinure & Fixtures 1.64 –
4) Office equipments 17.77 3.82
5) Electrical Equipment 2.10 –
Intangible Assets (including under development) :
1) Technical Knowhow
878.07
585.24
2) Software 14.57 24.49
TOTAL 1.236.91 1,059.85
Research Methodology
Every project work is based on certain methodology, which is a way to systematically solve the problem or attain its objectives. It is a very important guideline and lead observations, data collections and data analysis.
Sample Collection
To determine the appropriate data for research there are two kinds of data as explained below:
PRIMARY DATA : Primary data are those, which were collected afresh & for the first time and thus happen to be original in character. The methods that have been used are :
Questionnaire
Informal Interview
Observation
SECONDARY DATA : Secondary data is collected from previous researched and literature to fill in the respective project. The data collected through :
Articles
Journals
Websites
Data Analysis
i) How many training programmes have you attended in last 5years ?
No. of Programmes No. of Respondents % of Responses
0-10 20 40%
10-20 15 30%
More Than 20 15 30%
TOTAL 50 100%
INTEPRETATION : 45% of the employees have attended 10-20 training programmes in the last 5 years, which is an indication of an effective training policy of the organization.
2) The training programmes was relevant to your developmental needs?
Options No. of Respondents % of Respondents
Moderately agree 20 40%
Strongly agree 15 30%
Can’t say 7 15%
Moderately disagree 5 10%
Strongly disagree 3 5%
TOTAL 50 100%
INTEPRETATION : 70% of the respondents feel that the training programmes were in accordance to their developments needs. 15% respondents could not comment on the question and 15% think that the programmes are irrelevant to their developments needs and the organization must ensure programmes needs of the employees.
3) the training methods used during the training were effective for understanding the subject.
Options No. of Respondents % of Respondents
Strongly agree 10 20%
Moderately agree 20 40%
Can’t say 8 15%
Moderately disagree 7 15%
Strongly disagree 5 10%
TOTAL 50 100%
INTEPRETATION : 40% of the respondents believe that the training methods used during the programmes were helpful in understanding the subject, yet 25% disagree to this notion. The organization should use better, hi-tech methods to enhance the effectiveness of the methods being used during the training programmes.
4) The training was effective in improving on-the-job efficiency.
Options No. of Respondents % of Responses
Strongly agree 8 15%
Moderately agree 15 30%
Can’t say 10 20%
Moderately disagree 10 20%
Strongly disagree 7 15%
TOTAL 50 100%
INTEPRETATION : 45% of the respondents believe that the training methods used during the programmes increase their job efficiency but 35% disagree to this. The view of the respondents were towards having more technological and current topics for the training programmes which could help them satisfy their creative urge and simultaneously increase their on-the-job efficiency.
Conclusions
The major findings of the project are as follows :
1) The objectives of the respondents prior to broadly known to the respondents prior to attending them.
2) Training is considered as a positive step towards augmentation of the knowledge base by the respondents.
3) The training programmes were adequately designed to cater to the developmental needs of the respondents.
4) Some of the respondents suggested that the time period of the training programmes were less and thus need to be increased.
5) Some respondents also recommended that the number of training programmes be increased.
Recommendations
Based on the data collected through the questionnaire and interactions with the employees of Blue Star Ltd the following recommendations are made for considerations :
The organization may utilize both subjective and objective approach for the training programme.
The organization can arrange the training programmes department wise in order to give focused attention towards the departmental.
The organization may consider deputing each employee to attend at least one training programmes each year.
The organization can also arrange part time training programmes in the office premises for short duration, spanning over a few days, in order to about any interruption in the routine work.
Bibliography
• Human Resource Management – C.B .Gupta
• Human Resource Management – T.N. Chabra
• Effective Planning in training &
Development – Leslie Rae
• Websites – www.google.com
– www.blustar.com