1st1st Aerospace HR Round Aerospace HR Round TableTable

Theme: Challenges & Opportunities for Talent Management in Aerospace Industry

February 22, 2014, Leela Palace Hotel, Bengaluru

“While extraordinary products and unique services still afford a competitive advantage, the one

advantage that stands the test of time.. is people.”

ExecutiveExecutive SummarySummary

- Mark Salsbury The inaugural edition of the Aerospace HR Round Table conference took place on Saturday, the February 22, 2014 at the prestigious Leela Palace Hotel at Bengaluru on the theme “Challenges & Opportunities for Talent Management in Aerospace Industry”.

The roundtable focused on the human resource, training & education challenges in the Indian aerospace industry and the way forward. The roundtable was spread over five distinct sessions, including a thought provoking CEO panel discussion. Session-wise details were as follows:

Inaugural Session

Welcome Address – Dr. Parag Diwan, Vice Chancellor, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies

Opening Address – The year that was – Dr. Vivek Lall, President & CEO, New Venture, Reliance Industries Ltd.

Keynote Address – R.K. Tyagi, Chairman, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

CEO Panel Discussion

INDIA ON THE AEROSPACE CURVE: EMERGING OPPORTUNITY FOR AEROSPACE IN INDIAModerator: Dr. Vivek Lall, President & CEO, New Venture, Reliance Industries Ltd.

Lokesh Ranjan Srivastava, CEO, Tata HAL Technologies Ltd. Ashok Saxena, Director ADS Group Ltd. Naresh Palta, CEO, Aerospace & Defence, Maini Group Chris Rao, Vice President, UTC Aerospace Systems

Session 1

HUMAN CAPITAL IMPERATIVES FOR A NEW BUSINESS ERA IN INDIAN AEROSPACE INDUSTRYSession Chairman: Anantha Agasthya, Executive Director, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

Human Capital Strategy for Competitive AdvantageDayanand L. Guddin, Chief HR Officer, Mahindra Aero structures Pvt. Ltd.

Session 2

STRATEGY & OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES: EDUCATION, TRAINING & DEVELOPMENTSession Chairman: Ramanand Puttige, Vice President (Talent Management), Infotech Enterprises Ltd.

Creative Alignment between Industry & Academia to Build Entry Level Talent PipelineDr. Parag Diwan, Vice Chancellor, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies

Specialized Industry-Academia Linkages for Research & EducationA. Victor Sundararaj, Principal, Education & Research, Engineering Academy, Infosys Ltd.

Session 3

EMPLOYMENT IN AEROSPACE INDUSTRY: ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT MANPOWER AVAILABILITY IN INDIAN AEROSPACE INDUSTRYSession Chairman: D. Rajiv Krishnan, Partner & India Leader – People & Organization, Ernst & Young LLP

Sourcing of Industry Ready ManpowerT. Sudhakar Rao, former Executive Director (HR), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

Skills & Competencies Required for Onboarding to AerospaceSujit Pant, Sr. Advisor, Mahindra Aerostructures Pvt. Ltd.

Session 4

LEADERSHIP FOR A NEW MARKETPLACE IN THE INDIAN AEROSPACE BUSINESSSession Chairman: N. Shekar, Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Managing Director, India, Continental DataGraphics

Entrepreneurial Avenues in Present Aerospace Scenario in IndiaWg. Cdr. R. Prahalad (Retd.), Aerospace & Defense Division, Maini Group

45 Companies, 6 CEOs, 100+ Delegates, the 1st Aerospace HR Round Table was welcomed with open arms by the industry, which is one of the fastest-growing aerospace markets in the world, and is striving to meet its human resource challenges to create a unique place for itself.

Here is an attempt to summarize the key discussions and action points for each session in the subsequent pages.

Welcome AddressWelcome Address

Dr. Parag Diwan, Vice Chancellor, UPES welcomed Mr. R.K. Tyagi, Chairman, HAL the keynote speaker and the program director Dr. Vivek Lall, President & CEO, Reliance Industries Ltd. to the conference.

Dr. Diwan kicked off the conference presenting to the audience a brief picture of the current status of the aerospace sector in India, and the way forward. Dr. Diwan also spoke about the contributions UPES, as an institute is making with specific reference to the aerospace industry in India. He further emphasized on the synergy required between policy, industry and academia to cater to the huge employment potential in aerospace industry in the country.

Opening AddressOpening Address

Dr. Vivek Lall, while delivering his opening address spoke about the challenges and the opportunities that lie ahead for the talent management in aerospace industry.

Dr. Lall, very interestingly presented the global scenario of the sector and focused on how the changes are happening at world level, and in turn are affecting the Indian aerospace market. Dr. Lall mentioned about the various challenges faced by the industry, but high on the list, according to Dr. Lall is the work force related issue. The industry, Dr. Lall added, is facing acute shortage of trained workforce such as aerospace engineers, etc..

Today the sector is at cross roads, said Dr. Lall. On one hand it is facing lot of challenges while on the other hand there are ample opportunities in the sector. Dr. Lall stated that the sector is a multidisciplinary area, and needs to be approached in a holistic manner, and a special emphasis needs to be given to the upgradation and restructuring of the education system in India. According to Dr. Lall the quality of technical education in India is a major concern. He highlighted that programs should be designed to meet the specific requirements of the aerospace industry. Dr. Lall, felt that aging workforce across the globe in the aerospace sector especially in India is cause for concern as the replacement would not be adequate unless the challenges are taken head-on.

Keynote Address

Mr. R.K. Tyagi, Chairman, HAL, in his keynote address underlined the importance of investment in people, and emphasized that investment in people is far more superior to investment in any other resource, which can bring thousand times dividends as compared to investment in technology, etc.

Mr. Tyagi Talked about the various business challenges such as increased competition, increased demand as well as the HR challenges faced by the Indian aerospace industry today. Some of the macro challenges, according to Mr. Tyagi are, very low percentage of population, only 2%, is vocationally trained, lack of proper training infrastructure in the country, low investment in research and development, skill upgradation and sourcing the right talent. According to Mr. Tyagi, the only solution to the

problem is the need of a coordinated effort by the policy makers, industry stalwarts and academia. He also threw some light on the initiatives taken by HAL in this direction.

Dr. Tyagi, added, “We need to ensure quality-oriented specialized training of international standards and requirements, backed by university affiliation and aviation industry, not just mushrooming of training institutions. India is yet to get its first aviation university whereas some countries have more than six aviation universities”.

Indian Aerospace Industry, as per Mr. Tyagi is in the process of ballooning into a massive revenue and employment generator in the coming decade and to tap this, India needs better training and education infrastructure supported by a pragmatic policy-industry-academia ecosystem.

CEO Panel

Next in the sequence was the CEO Panel Discussion, comprising of some industry stalwarts, and they all unanimously focused on the CEO mind set regarding the human capital building at all the levels of the management.

All the CEOs highlighted the need of public private partnership in creating human capital, challenges related to material management, infrastructure issues, modeling and simulation issues, need for identification of skill set for aerospace industry and finally stressed on the need for academia, industry linkages.

They also focused on the need for dedicated education and training facilities for aerospace industry in India. They also felt the need for talent management at the micro level.

Mr. Ashok Saxena, Director ADS Group Ltd. emphasized on the needs of civil aviation, and added that traditionally India has been spending hugely on military aviation sector but the country will have to look at the aerospace sector in totality. Mr. Saxena also brought out the

MRO issues and the efforts of National Skill Development Corporation in finalizing the various skill sets required by the sector.

Mr. Lokesh Ranjan Srivastava, CEO, Tata HAL Technologies Ltd. stated that the industry has to grow six times of the present level, and in the process would require around one lakh people by 2020. Mr. Srivastava focused on the issues of human capital building, material manufacturing and development issues.

Mr. Naresh Palta, CEO, Aerospace & Defence, Maini Group felt the need for talent management covering the entire spectrum of business, and lastly, Mr. Chris Rao, Vice President, UTC Aerospace Systems shared his thoughts on the various efforts the industry is making in creating human capital.

While concluding CEO Panel Discussion, all the CEO reiterated the need for an integrate effort from all stakeholders, i.e. the academia, industry and the policy makers. The session ended with a lively Q&A session.

Session One: Human Capital Imperatives for A New Business Era In Indian Aerospace Industry

Session Chairman, Mr. Anantha Agasthya, Executive Director, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., started the first plenary session with a focus on:

Quality issues with respect to hiring Ensuring talent pipeline Proactive role by HR managers HR needs to be an integral part of project

management. Smooth industrial relations and creating inspiring

work place

Sub-topic, Human Capital Strategy for Competitive Advantage, addressed by Mr. Dayanand L. Guddin, Chief HR Officer, Mahindra Aero structures Pvt. Ltd., discussed some pertinent issues, like:

Alignment of business strategy with the HR strategy Identification of talent Engagement strategy Cultural integration Performance management and Differentiating HR architecture

Session Two: Strategy & Operational Activities: Education, Training & Development

Session Chairman, Mr. Ramanand Puttige, Vice President (Talent Management), Infotech Enterprises Ltd. started the session by discussing the eastern markets, which according to him, is the future of aerospace sector. He spoke about the key strengths of Indian aerospace

industry, and some of the strengths he cited were cost effectiveness, mature processes, and growth in India’s capabilities, developments in structures, engines, designs and avionics. He also added that existing facilities for basic and specialized training therefore need to be periodically reviewed 

Dr. Parag Diwan, Vice Chancellor, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, while presenting on the creative alignment between industry & academia to build entry level talent pipeline, discussed the industry outlook, wherein he discussed the current status of the industry and highlighted the future growth opportunities in the sector. He

focused on the contribution of UPES in aerospace industry. Dr. Diwan also highlighted UPES’s contributions to the sector by providing industry ready manpower through customized courses.

Specialized industry-academia linkages for research & education, the next sub-topic, addressed by A. Victor Sundararaj, Principal, Education & Research, Engineering Academy, Infosys Ltd., spoke about the skill requirements of the aerospace sector. He also highlighted Infosys’s initiatives with specific reference to the industry, and stressed on how some of the programs such as campus connect, internship programs can help the companies to ensure proper supply of manpower.

Session Three: Employment in Aerospace Industry: Assessment of Current Manpower Availability in Indian Aerospace Industry

Mr. D. Rajiv Krishnan, Partner & India Leader – People & Organization, Ernst & Young LLP, and the session chairman started the session by talking about the growing demand for the Indian engineers globally. He felt that aerospace sector needs a people with right attitude as there is no margin for errors in the aerospace sector.

Mr. T. Sudhakar Rao, former Executive Director (HR), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., while speaking on the sourcing of industry ready manpower mentioned that industry needs to take proactive role in helping academia to create industry ready manpower. Industry needs to ensure that curriculum is being updated and it should be industry oriented. Mr. Rao

emphasized on the responsible behavior by the industry and felt a need for collaboration between industry and academia.

Skills & competencies required for onboarding to aerospace, next sub-topic of the session was addressed by a seasoned aerospace professional, Mr. Sujit Pant, Sr. Advisor, Mahindra Aerostructures Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Pant mentioned the various opportunities such as growth of aerospace parks, growing civil and military aerospace sectors, emerging Indian markets etc., while talking about the challenges faced by India.

Some of the challenges mentioned by Mr. Pant were inadequate training, insufficient research and development, dispersed production centers, inadequate FDI, lack of coordination among different industry players. Mr. Pant also highlighted the need of ability to think, ability to work with customers, ability to apply tools, ability to communicate etc. Some of the competencies that are required by the professionals in this field are airline management, fleet management, maintenance, parts procurement, said Mr. Pant. He also highlighted the need for domain specific course curriculum and holding conferences such as aerospace HR round table.

Session Four: Leadership for a New Marketplace in the Indian Aerospace Business

Session Chairman, Mr. N. Shekar, Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Managing Director, India, Continental DataGraphics mentioned that leadership is about nurturing leadership in

others, while opening the session on leadership for a new marketplace in the Indian aerospace business. Mr. Shekar felt that the true leadership must come from the government. He also added the need for the reverse brain drain in order to meet the workforce related challenges.

Wg. Cdr. R. Prahalad (Retd.), Aerospace & Defense Division, Maini Group, addressing the final topic of the conference, entrepreneurial avenues in present aerospace scenario in India, stated that the true leadership is about creating the culture professional discipline and safety consciousness in the organization. He felt that the people should be hired for attitude and trained for skills. Wg. Cdr. Prahalad further mentioned that HR in aerospace sector must work at grass root level and felt a need for HR entrepreneurship.

Mr. Vijay Pahwa, Sr. Director – Corporate Relations, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies delivered the vote of thanks.