SSA Group of Companies recognizes a great opportunity for companies in Bangladesh to improve their financial performance through implementation of transformation strategies. In an interview with Textile Today, NC Narayanan, Founder Chairman delves into the rationale for adopting SSA’s intense 18 years of experience in Business Transformation. SSA is known for its ROI focused improvements in almost 22 countries as of now that include Africa, Oman, UAE, and Indonesia in addition to India.
Textile Today: Can you give us a brief background of SSA and its operations?
NC Narayanan: SSA is a global management consultancy founded in 1999 by me, following a long stint of nearly three decades of senior management positions in various industries like automobile, auto-ancillary and lighting technology. SSA was founded with a missionary zeal to help industries become world-class, and the company has grown its footprint, partnering for profitability improvements through organizational transformation. Our team of talented consultants possesses vast global experience, the know-how of cultural complexities and has delivered value across many business models both in manufacturing & service. We are proud of the fact that in the last 18 years, we have made a difference to more than 1000 companies in wide spectrum of industries in their ambitious endeavors. As a part of its expansion strategy in emerging economies, SSA entered Bangladesh this year.
Textile Today: SSA plans to set up an office in Bangladesh in the near future, does this reflect your confidence in Bangladesh’s economy and your commitment to this market?
NC Narayanan: SSA made a significant contribution to Indian enterprises in the last 18 years through transformation management, which helped them negotiate the onslaught of globalization. Bangladesh is in the process of enhancing local manufacturing capabilities and aspires for global presence. Any developing economy always faced stiff competition from developed economies and needed world-class practices for quality and delivery in order to grow. SSA has the right blend of competencies to assist this process of taking Bangladeshi industries to match international competition. The need of the hour is our type of consultancy resources for improving profitability through effective implementation of Lean Management for cost and quality competitiveness. Our work in Bangladesh is gradually expanding as many of potential clients are looking for sustained benefits through our consulting.
In addition to it, the hospitality and warmth that this country extends is next to none and we always felt at home here! Also the current economic challenges facing the country and the region make it a business imperative to pursue measures that will enhance competitiveness. All these factors make Bangladesh a very important market for SSA and hence we have decided to foray into the country by setting up a local office here. We are very excited by the reception we have received so far and are eager to make a difference to the country and its economy in the coming years.
Textile Today: Number of companies such as those in garment sector is looking for enhanced capacity utilization, safety, compliance, cost saving to increase profitability and market share. In what ways can SSA help them achieve these objectives?
NC Narayanan: There is an opportunity to dramatically enhance export in view of USD 50 billion target and this poses a challenge to the Bangladesh’s garment industry. Indeed, given the current economic climate, enhancing capacity utilization, rationalizing costs and improving efficiencies are no longer optional measures. They are at the heart of safeguarding business competitiveness, sustainability and rapid growth. SSA is a domain agnostic consulting company with a generic Lean approach that will eliminate all waste and defects thereby reaching world-class quality and timely service. In any growing market meeting and exceeding customer expectation is the key for progress and SSA is exactly has this capability to challenge the old paradigms.
SSA has specialized in Lean in the manufacturing as well as service industries to improve their profitability. Many of the service sector companies are suffering from high cost as well as poor customer service. The beauty of Lean is that it is equally effective for both manufacturing and service industries. Simply put, Lean looks at every single aspect of the value stream i.e. the set of activities from customer enquiry to order fulfillment, and questions the non-value added waste that we add in terms of time and cost. The more the amount of non-value adds, the greater will be the cost of operations contributed by excessive complexity, inventory, defects and delays. Lean is a scientific approach that helps tackle complexities in a systematic and time-bound manner freeing up capacity and cost thus contributing to competitiveness of the industry. SSA is determined to make a difference to Bangladesh economy.
Textile Today: SSA has already interacted and worked with companies here; how was your experience in the Bangladeshi market?
NC Narayanan: We had excellent response from Asian Paints Bangladesh and Godrej Bangladesh for operational excellence projects. At Beximco Pharmaceutical, we are proud to be associated with them for being the first Bangladeshi company to export drugs to USA from Aug 2016 onwards. We trained their R&D scientists to use QbD/DoE tools effectively, an important requirement of USFDA.
Textile Today: Is an adverse macro-economic environment a good opportunity for corporate to implement best practices and improves productivity and profitability?
NC Narayanan: There cannot be a better time to set the house in order than when the going gets tough. In fact, it is a golden opportunity now for industries to galvanize themselves for efficiency improvement. Also today’s global economies are so interconnected that the only way to survive in difficult times is to have a natural hedge by way of a global presence. One of the enabling factors to succeed internationally is to offer best-in-class products and services at a competitive price. Bangladeshi industries have a golden opportunity to look beyond the region; for instance, Bangladesh is growing rapidly and is heading to being a great destination to export products and services. The secret to success in such new markets lies in their willingness to adopt best practices pertaining to quality, productivity and cost management. This is the only way to stand out and prosper amidst intense global completion!
