Banaye Life Haseen — the new hit from Godrej

The cash registers are ringing again. This time to the tune of the new communication initiative from Godrej — Banaye Life Haseen, starring Preity Zinta in the ever-popular role of Cinderella, who gets her prince thanks to the 4-way wash action of the Godrej DreamWash. A magical story with a fairy tale ending — the likes you never get to see for washing machine advertising. Targeting the contemporary modern Indian, the script positions Godrej DreamWash as the choice of people who love clothes and for whom looking good is important. In the press too, the same magic has been recreated with Godrej DreamWash promising to give consumers the cleanest wash because of 4 Ka Zor, the verbal currency created for the 4-way wash action.

The aim of the Banaye Life Haseen campaign was to place Godrej as a strong contender in the Appliances business. And for this to happen it was important for people to see Godrej as a company that offers much more than just Refrigerators. Needless to say, Re-launching Godrej Washing Machines was the first logical step in that direction. But it wasn’t enough just to make its presence felt. Godrej DreamWash had to be seen as equal to if not better than the international heavyweight brands in the market today.

Trainer’s Day

Since 1995 Godrej Appliances has been organising annual meetings of all trainers, which is held either at Head Office, Mumbai or in one of the Branch cities. Usually we devote three to five days to a wide range of meetings with operational teams (Manufacturing, Research & Development, Quality, Purchase/Materials), spare-parts manufacturers (M/s. Annapurna Electronics) and exhibits, including a live demonstration of the various working models developed through the creativity of trainers. The material required for these models is usually drawn from field rejects and select new components. Detailed information on various products/methods is shared during these meetings.

Trainer’s Day is a time for honouring trainers and recognising the lasting contributions they make to our organisation / customers. Trainer’s Day is always the 5th of September, the birthday of Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, the philosopher, teacher and former President of India. Incidentally, this day is also celebrated as Teacher’s Day in our country. Celebration on this day also means a time to strengthen support and respect for trainers and the teaching profession as a whole. It is a time to celebrate all the good things that are happening in our Head Office and Branch Service. We celebrate this day in Service because we believe "trainers are important in retaining and spreading knowledge, skills and attitude towards work, organisation and customers".

This year we held such a meeting from 3rd to 5th September at Head Office, Service, Mumbai the excerpts of which are given below.

• Plant Visit and Quality Meet: Observed some key areas of operation such as Foaming, Brazing, Lokring fitting zone, Hydrocarbon blend, Gas charging, Leak testing, etc. Discussed product quality issues with quality team. M/s. Bulsara, Hussein, David and other quality team members, apart from production team members, participated in the discussions. Issues such as Sweating, Capillary size identification, Modifications in compressor (design modifications done to reduce noise level, low voltage starting trouble, better energy efficiency, new oil cooling coil design, etc.), Magic Eye (modifications being done to eliminate shock complaint), etc. were discussed and corrective actions taken were noted.

• Professional Standards and TEWI: To produce and maintain quality of appliances, some of the main standards applicable for domestic refrigerators are issued by organisations such as IS, UL (USA), ARI (USA), ASHRAE, AHAM, BS, ISO, etc., which was explained to the trainers in brief by S. A. Juvekar. Total Equivalent Warming Impact (TEWI) concept and impact of servicing practices on energy efficiency were discussed with stress on improving servicing practices of all dealers/franchisees. A rule on energy label is likely to be introduced shortly in our country.

• Lokring: Since the manufacturing plants have started using Lokrings for joining tubes in place of brazing, a presentation on use of Lokring (live demo) was given by P. G. Bhat. Use of this method is yet to be finalised for Service.

• Godrej & Hidecor Project: Trainers were explained the goal, background and future of the HIDECOR project, run in India with the assistance of the Government of Switzerland and the Government of India for Human and Institutional Development in Ecological Refrigeration. Juvekar discussed certain past experiences of selected training programmes about organising and conducting them, including registration of Micro & Small Enterprises technicians.

• Inauguration of Trainer’s Day: Chairman and Managing Director, J. N. Godrej and Executive Director, E. J. Kalwachia, lighted the lamp of wisdom. On behalf of the trainers, M. S. Bhaskar and A. R. Thampi shared their views with guests and other attendees. Bhaskar stressed on the need of improving product quality and need to support service franchisees with timely supply of spares and role of trainers, while Thampi talked about the beginning of the Technical trainers team in 1994, the different kinds of activities done by trainers, apart from training, appreciation from outside bodies on GAL training setup, especially at the Head Office, with the assurance that they will spread the knowledge and skills to all techs.
  Greeting trainers on this special occasion, J. N. Godrej and E. J. Kalwachia stressed the importance of timely, meaningful feedback on product quality and also the need to improve attitudinal aspects of franchisee techs. J. N. Godrej added that we have adopted the franchisee route, hence the communication system for product feedback must improve, problem-solving techniques should be used and focus should also be of the franchisee techs. A special batch on Leading Change training could be organised for the trainers; they being important as change agents of the organisation and recognised as gurus of Godrej service.
  Later, they visited the laboratory/Model room where most of our products are displayed since their introduction (1958 till date) in the Indian market. Both of them praised the working models prepared by trainers in the past through their creativity and innovation. They were told that most components used for making such models are salvaged.

• Data Logger: Juvekar explained to trainers with gathered data and graphs, the new compact electronic cordless equipment used to collect accurate data on performance of a specific refrigerator.

Other proceedings such as keynote address, reports by regions, product updates on Washers and Refrigerators, importance of vacuum, maintenance of service equipment, presentations by trainers, visit to Call Centre and valedictory session were part of the Trainer’s Meet.