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his January, the Godrej Retailing Division launched its first product exclusively through Company Showrooms — luxurious and comfortable Bean Bags — across seven major cities in India.

The Bean Bag is a popular piece of furniture the world over due to the extraordinary comfort and flexibility of usage it offers. For example, the Bean Bag can be used as a chair, a recliner, a computer chair, amongst a variety of other positions. Considering this, the Bean Bag is a great "value for money" product.

As an inaugural offer, the employees of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. were given an exciting offer where the Bean Bag was made available for only Rs. 1,999/-, a huge discount of up to 30 per cent in some cities. Employees responded to this offer with great enthusiasm.

The product has become a great hit with customers, who are pleasantly surprised that our Showrooms also have Bean Bags to offer!

The Bean Bag is just the harbinger of exciting products the Retailing Division is launching through the Company Showrooms.

he beautiful town of Visakhapatnam came to life on 18 February, 2005 when Vice Admiral A.K. Kalra, AVSM, VSM, Project Director, Ship Building Centre, Vizag, inaugurated our renovated Vizag Showroom.

Vice Admiral Kalra (second from right) addresses the gathering
after inaugurating the Vizag Showroom. Seen (from left) are
Deepa Rao, Executive (Commercial), C. Parthasarathy, Showroom
In-charge, Vizag Showroom, B.P. Chinoy and Suresh Babu,
Associate Manager, Furniture and Interiors Group.

Our Vizag Branch team organised a fine get-together of customers, dealers and the Branch team, under the able guidance of B.P. Chinoy, Branch Head, to celebrate the new look of our Showroom. Chinoy had addressed a press conference the previous day and had announced the aggressive growth plans of the Retailing Division, reiterating the important role played by our Showrooms towards bringing the organisation closer to customers. The Branch team gave a brief presentation on our various businesses. This was followed by snacks and gifts to lucky customers. It was indeed a memorable event.

etailing Division adds one more feather to its cap. With commencement of operations of its Bhubaneshwar Showroom, the sixth Company-owned showroom in the East, the total number of showrooms in the country has gone up to 35. Dileep Tirkey, India's Hockey Captain, inaugurated the Showroom on 14 March, 2005. A.I. Buvaneshwar, General Manager (Sales) — East, presided over the function. The ceremony was well attended and everybody was all praise for the Showroom's décor and display.

The Showroom has become the talk of the town as is evident from the steady rise in the number of visitors. The function was also well covered by the press, who were keen to know about the expansion plans of the Retailing Division, which Buvaneshwar shared with them.

Chairman and Managing Director Jamshyd N. Godrej also visited the Showroom and complimented the team for the good work. The efforts put in by our colleagues at the Branch, the Showroom team and, of course, the magic wand of our Visual Merchandiser Manu Mansheet, has made our dream come true.

he Godrej Formula "S" stall won the Popular Award at the Inside Outside Mega Show organised by Business India Exhibitions (BIE), one of India's leading exhibitions for interior design, furniture and furnishings, buildings and construction industries, which was held at the Ahmedabad Education Society Grounds, Ahmedabad, from 20th to 23rd January, 2005. The exhibition was inaugurated by the well-known Indian classical dancer Mallika Sarabhai. Apart from this Popular Award, Godrej Formula "S" stall also received "special applause" for aesthetic products and creative design from the architect community invited there by BIE. We owe this success to Manoj Rathi, Senior Manager, Furniture and Interiors Group (FIG) and our FIG (Institution) team at Ahmedabad.

nnovate to either bring in the numbers or to promote your products. Look at it any way you want, but this surely drove our FIG (Home) team at Head Office to launch the "Swarna Mudra" offer (read as "Buy Godrej Win Gold" offer) in February 2005 at dealer outlets where gold was offered for the first time in one of the sales promotion schemes by FIG (Home). The offer included an assured discount on purchase of any product from the basket of products that included Home Storage and Home Furniture products, and, if lucky, one could also strike gold! What was amazing was that the logistics were so well planned that wherever there was a lucky winner, the winner received a 1 gram gold coin at the time and point of purchase.

s part of our "Learning & Knowledge Series" at FIG, we had invited Narayan Kamath, Country Manager, Real Estate, IBM Global Services India Pvt. Ltd., to have an interactive session on "Customercentricism". Kamath addressed a cross-functional team at FIG, which included personnel from Marketing, Manufacturing, Materials, Sales and Design. At the session, which was held on 25 February, 2005 from 2.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. in Plant 12, 2nd floor Conference Room, Kamath spoke on the following:

Experiences shared by Kamath were certainly new and enlightening. In order to continue to lead in the market today, it is imperative that we understand and appreciate the ever-changing needs of customers, the importance of "doing things right the first time" as well as to know the criticalities for the customer, what delights the customer and, eventually, how we can "retain" the customer. This interactive session with Kamath provided the participants insights into understanding customer requirements and work accordingly, get insights into customer expectations and how to present Godrej products in superior light without downplaying the competitors' products. As Kamath had based his presentation on his personal experiences, covering all areas of Project Management, right from understanding customer requirement to after-sales service to Key Accounts Management, it was a classroom-cum-field learning for our FIG personnel present at this session.

What made this session different was that it came directly from a highly experienced project-based customer.

Inputs: Swapneel K. Nagarkar, Ravi Menon, Bharat
Gothoskar and Subodh Mehta, FIG (Marketing).
Doreen Rosario

he Lucknow FIG team, through local wholesale dealer M/s. Initiative Data System, participated in the "Build Your Dream Home" Architects Fair organised by the Lucknow Chapter of the UP Architects Association from 22nd to 25th January, 2005 at Balrampur Gardens. Apart from Home furniture products, Apt and Lite modular systems, along with chairs, were also displayed. Around 5,000 people visited our stall. Apart from a lot of enquiry generation, we also made a good sale of our products from the cash counter.

Excellent efforts were put in by Nirbhay Varshney, Prayavrat Sanyal and Vivekanand Khatri alias Vicky of M/s. Initiative Data Systems to make the show a success.

ur Jhansi wholesale dealer M/s. Shanti Prasad & Sons took the initiative of organising an Exhibition-cum-Sale of Home Furniture products in their Perfect Home Showroom. This event took place between 22 and 24 January, 2005.

Exhibition-cum-Sale at the Jhansi Perfect Home Showroom
of wholesale dealer M/s. Shanti Prasad & Sons.

The dealer was able to sell goods worth Rs. 1.85 lakhs through this Sale. Kids furniture viz. Genius and Bunk beds were liked the most by walk-in customers. A lot of Kitchen enquiries were also generated.

A good initiative by the dealer!

ecurity Equipment Division participated in a big way in "Safe Expo — 2005" held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, from 9th to 12th March, 2005. In this exhibition, a lot of reputed companies from the security equipment industry participated and displayed a wide range of their products. We, too, displayed our Physical Security products and the CHESS (Currency Handling and Electronic Security Solutions) range, besides our new range of Godrej-Tescon Premises Security products such as Tyre Killers, Bollards, etc. We also used this as a platform to display our Masonite range of doors, which gave an idea to the customer about the range of security products which Godrej can offer as a total security solution to their needs.

Dr. Peter Reimers, Managing Director, Tescon, explains
the Godrej-Tescon product features to senior officials
from the Kenyan Narcotics Department at
"Safe Expo — 2005".

The major attraction of our stall was Premises Security products such as Tyre Killers and Bollards, which were demonstrated live. Dr. Peter Reimers, Managing Director of M/s. Tescon, Germany, was present throughout this exhibition. He interacted with a lot of customers, particularly Defence, along with Dara E. Byramjee, Vice President and Business Head, Security Equipment Division, Neville S. Bachana, General Manager (Marketing), Security Equipment Division, and Dhruv Sharma, General Manager (East).

Besides the general public, a lot of high-ranking officials from Defence, Central and State Government organisations visited our stall. A Kenyan delegation from the Narcotics Department also visited.

A good number of enquiries have been generated from Defence and Civil Aviation Departments, which will help us promote our Premises Security products in a big way.

n Architect-cum-Customer Meet was organised at Chandigarh on 14 and 15 January, 2005, respectively.

In the Architects Meet, approximately 93 leading architects in and around Chandigarh had participated. A technical presentation was made by Ujjal Ray, Deputy Manager (Sales and Marketing).

In the Customer Meet, FIG — Institution and Home range of products were displayed. To explore customer awareness, we opened the display for the general public. There were also presentations, followed by cocktails and dinner for key customers, who appreciated the vast range of our products. The overall outcome has been highly satisfactory.

Another Customer Meet was organised at Jalandhar on 18 March, 2005 through our Jalandhar wholesale dealer, M/s. Rajindra Furniture House. The Meet was a good combination of business talks and fun. A large number of our FIG and Security Equipment products were on display. Customers had attended the Meet with families. Dhruv Sharma graced the occasion and addressed the audience. He honoured the two prominent guests of the evening, Tejinder Singh Bittu, Chairman of Jalandhar Improvement Trust, and Surinder Mahey, Mayor of Jalandhar. A few gifts were distributed to the winning customer/families for the games that were arranged.

o enhance sales and increase awareness of our range of products in the market, North Zone branches are in a continuous process to get the new showrooms opened by wholesale dealers at prime locations in their respective territories. A few such recently opened showrooms are:

Our existing wholesale dealer at Ludhiana, M/s. Barnala Marketing Agencies, has upgraded his Showroom to convert it into a Perfect Home Showroom, which was inaugurated on 5 February, 2005. Almost all the models of Home products, besides office and security products, are on display with good interiors.

Prominent customers and architects were invited. The event was covered by almost all the local dailies and cable networks.

From left: Subodh Mehta, Vipin Tyagi, Deputy Manager, Lucknow Branch, Manoj K. Sadavarte, FIG Head, Lucknow Branch, with Chief Guest Swapna Roy at the new Showroom of M/s. Raj Vilas.

M/s. Raj Vilas, the Godrej dealer in Lucknow, has formally inaugurated their mega Showroom at Lucknow at the hands of Swapna Roy, Deputy Managing Worker of Sahara India Parivar on 13 February, 2005. Subodh Mehta, General Manager (Marketing), FIG (Home), along with the entire FIG team of Lucknow Branch, were present on this occasion. There is a very attractive display of the entire range of FIG (Home) products in the Showroom.

The Chief Guest was quite impressed with our products/designs and the attractive prices.
The event was well covered by the press.

Congrats to the FIG (Home) team for making the event a great success!

nother mega Showroom of Godrej dealer M/s. Initiative Data System, Lucknow, was inaugurated by O.P. Srivastava, Deputy Managing Director, Sahara India Parivar, on 19 March, 2005. The entire Lucknow Branch team was present at the Showroom to give the Chief Guest a warm welcome. We showed Srivastava the Godrej range of products viz. Home products and high end Desking and Seating, which were displayed in the Showroom comprising compartments such as drawing room, bed room, children's room, a new generation office, etc. Srivastava was not only impressed by our product range, but also by our competitive prices. During his interview with Sahara TV, he praised Godrej for being a leader and trendsetter in the Furniture industry. He remarked, "Godrej is the only organisation which offers a one stop solution to the furniture needs of customers … Value for money".

This event will go a long way for FIG in getting business from the Sahara India Parivar.

A drawing room scenario with Godrej products in the mega
Showroom of M/s. Initiative Data System, Lucknow.

O.P. Srivastava feels the comfort of the Godrej sofa set, while Vipin Tyagi explains the features to him.

ecently, Chandigarh was inundated with visitors from Pakistan to witness a cricket match that was to be played at PCA Stadium, Mohali, between Pakistan and India.

The Godrej Showroom at Chandigarh had the privilege of an unexpected visit by the Pakistani guest team on their way to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. Being in a hurry, they stayed in the Showroom for only 10 to15 minutes, and were enamoured by the display of the entire range of home products, and gleefully experienced the touch and softness of sofas, beds and chairs. We apprised them of the wide range of Godrej products. They were delighted and were very appreciative of the quality Godrej is famous for. They shared their experiences in Pakistan — how difficult it is to get good produce that is generally outsourced due to good manufacturing facilities. It was as much a wonderful experience for the dignitaries as it was a pleasant surprise for the Showroom team.

SOUTH ZONE

“CGA Calicut,” the second Perfect Home Showroom in North Kerala, promoted by Godrej dealers C.P. Mohammed Ashraf and C.P. Mohammed Basheer, at Calicut.

recision Components & Systems (PCS) Division's annual get-together, "Abhiman 2005", was held on 19 February, 2005 at the Pragati Kendra Ground. The programme started with lamp-lighting and garlanding, followed by eloquent speeches from Anil G. Verma, Executive Vice President and Head, Personnel & Administration, K.G. Shukla, Chief Operations Officer, Industrial Products Group, N.R. Singh, General Secretary, Godrej & Boyce Shramik Sangh, S.T. Naik, Managing Committee Member, Godrej & Boyce Shramik Sangh, and S.M. Vaidya, Vice President and Business Head, PCS Division. Executive Director and President P.D. Lam's message to the Division was also read out. There was a small award function where the awards for "Employee of the Month" for December 2004 and January 2005 were given. Also, first prize winners of the Attendance Awards for 2004 were openly appreciated. Safety Awards were given to three departments, namely Stores, Testing and Surface Treatment for zero non-reportable accidents in the year 2004.

R.V. Deshmukh, General Manager (Marketing), PCS, regales
the audience with the song, Mera Juta Hai Japani.

The spirited atmosphere acted as a cauldron to gather all the Division employees and prepare a special PCS mix. There was bonding among employees and camaraderie was visible.

The theme of the function, "Abhiman 2005", was suggested by Sanjay Pawar, Assembly of Precision Components Department. The programme was totally indigenous, and all arrangements were made in-house by our team members. The stage backdrop was designed and made by R.M. Shinde, Methods Department and Kapil Mungekar, Marketing Department. The floral bouquets were tastefully arranged by Lilavati Panchal, mother of Dipak Panchal, Methods Department, and Manisha Kulkarni, wife of Anand Kulkarni, Planning Department. In fact, for the first time, barring a few outside musicians, the entire 3-hour entertainment programme was performed by our members. The variety entertainment programme was well co-ordinated by Shashikant Vadulekar, Jig Boring Department, and Sanjay Gawade, Turning Department, and had a total of 27 items consisting of songs, sher-shayari and a lazim dance. The programme was compered by Abhijit Jadhav, Quality Department.

We at PCS Division have pledged that we will turn around our business and truly become the Abhiman of not only Godrej, but also of the entire country.

The audience in peals of laughter. L-R (front row): G.R. Dastoor, S.M. Vaidya, M.T. Sawant, Rambali Yadav, T. Surve, Harpreet Kaur, K.G. Shukla, Anil Verma, I.P. Singh and N.P. Mani.

he Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry had organised a 2-day Senior Citizens Meet on 29 and 30 January, 2005 at Lokmanya Seva Sangh, Mumbai. The Meet was held as part of Corporate Social Responsibility, showing appreciation and concern for senior citizens. Mumbai Branch had put up a stall displaying the Godrej Secure Home products (Alarm Systems, Treasure Chests, Coffers, Rhino and Safire) so as to educate senior citizens on ways and means to protect themselves.

Satish Menon, Hon. Secretary, Bombay Chamber of Commerce
& Industry, and Javed Ahmed, Addl. Commissioner of Police,
visit the Godrej stall at the Senior Citizens Meet.

The function was attended by over 600 senior citizens. It truly encouraged us when Javed Ahmed, Addl. Commissioner of Police, who visited our stall, was so impressed with our economically-ranged Home Safes and Alarm Systems, that in his presentation, he recommended the same.

In all, we generated 69 enquiries, and were requested by two dignitaries to conduct a mela in their housing societies. The Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry appreciated our efforts and concern for senior citizens.

odrej Locks Division organised four retail Dealer Relationship Programmes (DRPs) covering about a hundred dealers in 2004-2005. Retail Dealers from different branch locations were invited to Mumbai for the programme.

R. Jayant, Channel Manager, Locks Division, explains
our product at the DRP in Pune.

The programme included presentations by Marketing team members, who briefed the dealers on the new range of products, service set-up, marketing initiatives, safety standards, etc. Visit to the factory was most memorable for our dealers. The dealers were also taken on a tour to our housing colony, corporate showroom and the mangroves to give a view of the overall activites and facilities of the Company. To get the pulse of the market, inputs on competition, buying patterns, customer profile, new product ideas, etc. were taken. "Focus Group Discussion" was conducted for each group. The event was recorded live for effective utilisation of feedback.

The day concluded with a memento presentation and an open, interactive session with B.K. Rajkumar, Vice President and Business Head, Locks Division. The dealers shared valuable inputs on products, service issues, company policies, and gave feedback about the programme. Dealers who came from other branch locations were taken for a one-day recreational trip to Essel World and Water Kingdom.

The dealers appreciated the Test centre facilities and the huge infrastructure/set-up which was beyond their imagination. They also liked the Ultra lock and key making — Single Piece Flow Line process.

"Impressed with the commitment of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. to society" — a comment by a Retail Dealer says it all.

The details of four DRPs are as under:

Branch	DRP Dates
Thane	22 February, 2005
Hyderabad	7 and 8 February, 2005
Ahmedabad	22 and 23 January, 2005
Pune	14 and 15 September, 2004

ocks Division organised a Supplier Meet on 11 February, 2005. Eighty suppliers from all over India attended the Meet and three suppliers from China and Sri Lanka witnessed the Meet through video conference. The objective of the Meet was communicating the Division's long term plans and annual alignment of goals.

The results of the Supplier Satisfaction Survey prior to this meeting and improvement plans in critical areas were presented to this gathering. The Meet ended with distribution of certificates for Quality Self Certification and Excellence in operations to various suppliers, by B.K. Rajkumar.

Centre: Anil Kulkarni of Kulco Locks Ltd., Mumbai, inaugurates the Supplier Meet. While the attention of Rohit Hegde of Adeep Locks, Bangalore, is diverted, Dhiren Gallaya of Shri Mahavir Ltd., Jamnagar, and Kartik Modi, General Manager (Sales and Marketing), Locks Division, look on.

"Home Décor"
Kolkata Branch participated in the "Home Décor" Exhibition from 25th to 28th February, 2005. More than 40,000 people visited the Exhibition. The entire range of Locks was displayed. People showed keen interest in the Ultra product range.

"Balasore Mohotsov"
Bhubaneswar Branch participated in the "Balasore Mohotsov" Exhibition held at Balasore from 7th to 10th February, 2005. Our local distributor M/s. Roy and Sons was the main architect in making the Exhibition a grand success. It was one of the best exhibitions arranged by the Ministry of Information and Technology. Most of the corporate houses participated in this Exhibition. More than 5 lakh people visited the Exhibition in four days.

Jyoti Banerjee (centre), Proprietor, M/s. Offineed, demonstrates
Godrej Locks to visitors. On the extreme left is S.R. Guha,
Assistant Sales Manager, Kolkata Branch.

"Shelters Nashik — 2005"
Maharashtra Branch participated in the “Shelters Nashik — 2005" Exhibition held at Golf Club Ground, Nashik in December 2004. This Exhibition was mainly aimed for architects, builders and interior designers. Godrej Locks Division displayed its entire range of products, including the Ultra range. Apart from architects, builders and interior designers, more than 10,000 visitors visited the Exhibition.

ocks Division, Bangalore Branch, organised some mega events in Bangalore — a Carpenter Meet on 6 February, 2005 and four Roadshows from 21st to 23rd January, 2005. The Carpenter Meet was attended by 180 carpenters, projects engineers, including site engineers. B.C. Suresh, DGM — Projects Brigade Group, was the Chief Guest for the programme. S.P. Sharma, Branch Manager, Bangalore Branch, was a special invitee.

Four Godrej Locks Maha Melas were held at different centres in Bangalore. Publicity was done through print advertisements and handbills. Customer feedback forms were designed and customer details are now used as database. About 3,000 people visited the Roadshows during the three days.

boarded the INS Tarangini on 20 February, 2005. The ship left the harbour the next day at 4 p.m. and I reached Goa 48 hours later.

Sailing on INS Tarangini was an enriching experience. It provided me insights into life of sailors on board. Since I was sailing on a huge ship, I learnt new things from different officers. On the first day, due to the roughness of the sea, I felt seasick, but, later, I was fit. Let me share with you my experiences.

Sailing
Sailing on INS Tarangini is the same as sailing on any normal ship. But due to the large number of sails and also the size of the ship, certain settings of the Tarangini were different. It had many ropes. So it was difficult to understand which rope is used for what purpose.

Chart Work
The use of chart work is to plot the position of a ship. I learnt doing chart work under the Global Positioning System (GPS) as well as Visual Fixing. I also learnt how to calculate "true wind" (the force of the wind).

Shooting
This was an interesting experience since I was shooting for the first time in my life. The rifle we used was INSAS-56.6.

Mast Drill
The mast drill was adventurous, too. I climbed up to the yard of the top sail. It wasn't easy, as it needed high fitness levels.

Next, I learnt about lights used on various ships. Different lights are used to indicate the type of ship. For example, the light "green over red" indicates a sailing ship. "ROR" (Rules of Roads) explained to us by Mid. Prakash made me understand the rules followed on water. Lt. Soudhi spoke to us on water safety. He told us the use of a "life raft" and its working.

It was the best experience I ever had during sailing. I thank Cmdre. Rabi Ahuja for granting me such a great opportunity. I am also thankful to the Indian Navy.