‘Step out of mediocrity and aim for excellence’

Coimbatore: Not much has changed in the grinder industry since the last three decades, said the managing director of ELGI Equipment Jairam Varadaraj while launching a book on grinder industry titled 'Automatic Attangal' on Wednesday here. He urged the audience to step out of mediocrity and aim for excellence.

Jairam Varadaraj said, "In 1991, we came out with a better version of the grinder that my father had invented. However, I consider this as a failure since nothing much has changed in the last 26 years." He said, "While we all expect a change, we should realise that it is our duty to make changes too."

Speaking about change, he said there are three aspects that one should look at. "We are all happy with mediocrity. While we expect a certain standard while buying a product, we do not aim to provide the same standard while selling our product," he said. "We should work towards bridging this gap of mediocrity between the standards of buying and selling," he added.

The other aspect that Varadaraj spoke about was trying to cut down the inequity among people. Citing an example within his company, Varadaraj said, "The blue collar employees in our company get Rs 6 lakh per annum while our factory in Italy pays Rs 24 lakh. This inequity has to be eliminated if we have to become a developed nation."

The last point that the managing director of ELGI Equipment wanted the audience to change is the attitude of instant nirvana.

The chairman and the managing director of Sri Krishna Sweets, M Krishnan, received the first copy of the book. The book is authored by city-based chronicler C R Elangovan.

Reviewing the book, another chronicler Rajesh Govindarajulu said, "The book attempts to chronicle the entire history of grinders. It covers all the people behind the inventions of various grinders and the changes that the industry has seen."

He said that the book also throws some interesting facts about the industry. "Ink was used to measure dynamics of the batter while the grinders were tested. On the other hand, the motor used in AUE grinders were not from Coimbatore," Govindarajulu said.