Jewels In The Godrej Crown

Late September 2003
Buoyed by the success of the India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) 2003, the GJEPC, organisers of the Show, contemplated a bold and aggressive strategy encompassing a new venue, world-class design and a global marketing thrust.

Late December 2003
The GJEPC decided to shift to a new venue at the Godrej & Boyce complex at Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli, an ideal venue, conveniently located, beautifully laid out and well secured. With access from the Eastern Express Highway, the complex is just a 40-minute drive from South Mumbai and 25 minutes from Navi Mumbai. Set in tranquil, pollution-free surroundings, the self-contained Godrej township has over the years been the location of choice for huge international expos such as IMTEX and Tool Tech. The size and stature of IIJS 2004 warranted giant halls, world-class facilities and infrastructure, which were available at the Godrej venue.

Initially, the area required by GJEPC was approximately 2,00,000 square feet. Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. offered the organisers Plant-12 as the venue. Very soon, they required an additional 35,000 square feet for holding the jewellery machinery exhibition. Since the response was overwhelming, and more and more exhibitors wanted to take part in this grand business opportunity, the Council again requested extra space in Plant-6, only to end up taking the entire vacant space — approximately 1,00,000 square feet. Thus, the mammoth exhibition was held in an area of over 3,50,000 square feet, excluding the 25,000-square-foot temporary structure used as a registration area and approximately 1,000 car-parking slots provided for the exhibition.

Gearing Up For The Exhibition
Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. provided an array of services to the IIJS 2004 exhibition, including civil works, electrical and telecommunication services, horticulture services, general housekeeping services, water supply and sanitation requirements, additional catering services within the Godrej Canteen, compressed air, etc. IIJS 2004 had a total power requirement of close to 9,760 KW (kilowatt) of connected load, out of which merely 1,600 KW was met with the existing facilities at Godrej. Godrej, therefore, augmented the power requirement at Plant-12 to 6,960 KW and Plant-6 to 2,131 KW with additional infrastructure provided by Tata Power Co. Ltd. Tata Power provided three transformers of 1,250 KVA (Kilo Volt-Ampere), and one of 2,000 KVA in Plant-12 and of 2,000 KVA in Plant-6.

The power consumption for IIJS surpassed all exhibitions held so far in the Godrej complex with a record consumption of 5,30,000 units in five days with power demand of 8 MVA (Mega Volt-Ampere). The IIJS had entrusted the Electrical and Electronic (E&E) Services of Godrej & Boyce with the entire power distribution management from the Tata point onwards, which was successfully carried out by E&E Services. Due to the sheer size of this IIJS, Godrej also had to plan a huge car-parking area. Though space was not a consideration, the ground had to be prepared and solidified on account of the heavy monsoon that was expected during the exhibition. The Godrej Construction Department undertook the task of providing adequate parking facilities. Godrej also permitted the GJEPC to use internal roads for parking additional cars.

Maneck H. Engineer, Vice President and Business Head, Construction Department, and S. Ramaswamy finalised the arrangements. Navin Jashnani and Haresh Zaveri, along with Sabyasachi Ray, Director, GJEPC Exhibitions, and his able team members then took the lead in setting up the stalls and the exhibition. The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council had employed "Seventy", an event management firm, to ensure the smooth progress of the gear-up to the exhibition. Though the GJEPC moved on to the site in June 2004, the actual planning began as early as February 2004. Regular meetings with various agencies were held to discuss plans down to the last detail with each of the concerned agencies. The presence of P.D. Lam, Executive Director and President, at some critical meetings provided great support to all of us at Godrej and helped us in taking crucial decisions.

The key persons at Godrej & Boyce who contributed their efforts included Maneck H. Engineer for Estate Management Services, H.N. Daruwalla, Vice President and Business Head, E&E Services for Power Supply and Telecommunication Services, D.E. Byramjee, Vice President and Business Head, Security Equipment Division for provision of safes, and Col. K.S. Prabhu, In-Charge, Security Department, for general security and traffic control. Other sections such as IT support, catering services, etc., were also involved.

It is pertinent here to note that the Godrej Security Equipment Division was the official provider of safes for the India International Jewellery Show and supplied 424 safes for the exhibition. Our E&E Services bagged the contract for distribution of power supply at required locations and provision of telecommunications.

The agencies and contractors of the GJEPC did an incredible job of transforming the place into a sparkling arena for the display of gems in no time at all. Contractor R.M. Bhuther & Co., who undertook the works at Plant-12, had perhaps done the single largest installation of temporary central air-conditioning of 2,25,000-square-foot area with an installed capacity of around 4,000 TR (Tonnes of Refrigeration) and 11,600 running feet of ducting, all within a short span of 14 days. Other contractors like Amanullah Khan also lived up to expectations by competing and completing with M/s. Bhuther within the scheduled time frame.

Design
The GJEPC left no detail unattended. A team of highly experienced professional designers created a new look and layout for the show.

The layout was planned in such a way so as to provide maximum frontage and suitable location to every stall. Zoning, special lighting, colour coding, directional pathway and special points of interest were created to ensure that people could view the exhibits. There was a special section for international participants from countries such as Italy, Belgium, etc. The Jaipur pavilion was another highlight of this year’s design.

Vital Statistics
There were many firsts associated with this exhibition. An unprecedented 1,134 stalls were taken up as against 612 stalls in IIJS 2003. For the first time, more than 500 participants enrolled for this exhibition, with a good response from unexpected quarters like Jaipur and Delhi. There were also exhibitors from educational institutes, software portals and publications. The number of visitors this year exceeded a record 25,000 (including more than 1,300 overseas visitors) with an 80 per cent increase compared to last year’s exhibition.

The influence of growing professionalism towards design was evident both in the general ambience and within booths. Epitomising this changing attitude in industry were two special stalls set up by the National Institute of Design (NID) and the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). The NID presented some exquisite collections, stunning as much for their originality as for their simplicity in style, whereas the NIFT-GJEPC put up a trends-forecasting stall, offering analysis of contemporary and future international trends.

EVENTS
15 July 2004
The grand exhibition was opened to visitors, who came in throngs. The pre-registered visitors alone were more than 12,000 — a number close to the total number of visitors last year.

16 July 2004
Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce, Government of India, visited the exhibition and delivered an address to the formal gathering. The first two days also saw a multitude of businessmen, trade visitors and other stakeholders visiting the exhibition. There was on-the-spot registration, with approximately 8,000 visitors registering themselves in the first two days itself.

Apart from the chance to view an exciting range of jewellery, there was a special machinery section that showcased some of the latest technologies in the field. Special add-ons for trade visitors were the informative seminars on a range of themes, both technical and market-related, and the hands-on, short duration workshops in fields such as design and gemmology.

A new approach was also evident in the management of the seminar and workshop programme, an indispensable adjunct to every major international jewellery show. At IIJS 2004, this section was totally redesigned, with the emphasis laid on moving beyond theoretical inputs by introducing, for the first time, hands-on training in workplace-like conditions through workshops. There were more than 20 seminars and 10 workshops conducted in a specially created auditorium, covering carefully selected themes that enabled participants to get better acquainted with new developments in the field during the sessions, and be exposed to new ideas, technologies and other current industry happenings. The workshops were of special interest to diamantaires, manufacturers, technicians, designers and marketing personnel.

After business, there was a place and time for leisure, viz. fashion shows, cultural evenings and special sightseeing tour packages.

19 July, 2004 … The Final Day of IIJS
The mood in the camp was very different compared to that of the previous year. A similar sense of achievement was obvious, but the raw excitement and exhaustion of previous years gave way to a quiet air of confidence. Navin Jashnani, who played an important role in scripting the success of IIJS 2004, said: "The bigger show and varied participation have provided foreign buyers an opportunity to view the entire range that India has to offer." The astounding success of this exhibition can be summed up in the words of Sanjay Kothari: "Exhibitors have already been inquiring about booking space for next year, while many who remained out now want to participate!"

It was really our pleasure to interact with the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council and its team members and be a part of the grand success that was IIJS 2004. We at Godrej wish the Council and the India International Jewellery Show greater heights of success in the forthcoming years.

Anup Mathew | V. Subramaniam
Construction Department

Be ye fishers of men. You catch them — He’ll clean them.
 

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