B P Singhal: Employing Global Best Practices For Procurement & Building A Successful Team
B P Singhal
Head - Purchase & Projects
With over 25 years of expertise in project and purchase management, B P Singhal is an accomplished result-oriented Purchasing & Project Professional and he is in charge of Purchase of Raw Material (Chemicals), Packing Material, Capital items for Projects and MROs for maintenance and engineering procurement, giving technical contributions for new technology adaptation and cost-effective, dependable solutions to save CAPEX and OPEX costs. CEO Insights interviewed B P Singhal (Head of Purchase & Projects) of India Glycols, where he informedus about his professional career at India Glycols and how he has contributed to the company's success.
What different roles have you been undertaking at India Glycols?
All of the procurement requires a lot of effort and the total amount spent varies year to year. My team procure almost 750 to 800 crores in raw material chemicals, packing, fuel, engineering spares, and capex items previously, a large number of raw materials was purchased taking quotations from various suppliers but we took the initiative and converted majority of chemicals & packing to formula based pricing in correlation with indices. We have created a significant index based price with understanding what are chemicals going in, manufacturing costs and the manpower they are employing. This method has resulted in significant cost savings for the organization. Also we are purchasing our required quantity of fuel like Indian Coal directly from Coal India subsidiaries thru e auctions & long term Fuel supply agreement resulting in huge multi crores saving in the first year of the transformation.
How does your rich experience of 20+ years help you to chalk out business operations for the company?
I started my career as engineering
consultant, also worked for a major contracting organization and now I work for a petrochemical manufacturing company, I have a combined experience in design, engineering, production plant and project management experience. I spend more time on process improvement, adapting new technology available which can bring improvement in our businesses. At India Glycols, all are production plants are on DCS from last 30 years and further adopted APC 15years back, which captures the best of a plant's parameters, allowing us to achieve the highest product quality with optimize energy, that time it was one of a kind in India. Furthermore, we are the first in India to use distillery waste as fuel in Boilers. Now other companies have embraced this technology, but India Glycols was the first to do so. Our Demineralizer plants are having efficiency of 97%, so very low rejecting which not only save on opex but also treatment cost of effluent generated.
How do you keep your team motivated to successfully complete an assignment?
Building a successful team is about more than finding a group of people with the right mix of skills. We need a set of values, behaviors and cultural guardrails so that everybody knows how to work together. I was impressed while going thru an article and now I follow 24/48 Rule which says that in an organization teams are compartmentalized, one working at corporate level & other team working at factory level. 24 & 48 refers to ambient temperature these team are working in. So any great idea can be successfully executed when both the Strategy team (working in 24 degree) & Execution team (working at factory in 48 degree) are in alignment and this is your Winning team.
I keep my team motivated by understand their professional & personal needs. Identifying training needs which can be technical, behavioral, team building. Also monotony of an individual need to be eliminated otherwise it impact on individual output. So Job rotation / additional responsibilities/ challenging task to team member’s bases their capability bring positive change. For example if someone is in-charge of purchase of instrument items, other MROs / capex items (mechanical, electrical) will be assigned and this ask them to read, meet vendors, visit and give a holistic perspective of purchase department. Job rotation system ensure that all members are aware of all of the duties taking place in our department. The same is followed for project managers on my team, anyone eager to lead any projectregardless of their job title, can do so, and because he/she is a project manager, I too must report to them. To keep the employees updated we undertake impact training for the team regularly, which involves both technical and motivational training.
I spend more time on improving and analyzing to bring out best
How do you keep your team motivated to successfully complete an assignment?
Building a successful team is about more than finding a group of people with the right mix of skills. We need a set of values, behaviors and cultural guardrails so that everybody knows how to work together. I was impressed while going thru an article and now I follow 24/48 Rule which says that in an organization teams are compartmentalized, one working at corporate level & other team working at factory level. 24 & 48 refers to ambient temperature these team are working in. So any great idea can be successfully executed when both the Strategy team (working in 24 degree) & Execution team (working at factory in 48 degree) are in alignment and this is your Winning team.
I keep my team motivated by understand their professional & personal needs. Identifying training needs which can be technical, behavioral, team building. Also monotony of an individual need to be eliminated otherwise it impact on individual output. So Job rotation / additional responsibilities/ challenging task to team member’s bases their capability bring positive change. For example if someone is in-charge of purchase of instrument items, other MROs / capex items (mechanical, electrical) will be assigned and this ask them to read, meet vendors, visit and give a holistic perspective of purchase department. Job rotation system ensure that all members are aware of all of the duties taking place in our department. The same is followed for project managers on my team, anyone eager to lead any projectregardless of their job title, can do so, and because he/she is a project manager, I too must report to them. To keep the employees updated we undertake impact training for the team regularly, which involves both technical and motivational training.
In your professional journey so far, which are the milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction - both as an individual and as a Head of Purchase & Projects?
I'm grateful to India Glycols management for appointing me to lead their entire project and procurement portfolio. My journey started with India Glycols from year 2000 as Sr. Engineer- Projects and elevated to Head of Purchase & Projects. There have been many challenges along the way, but with the support of my team, I could overcome them all. One of the things I like most about this organization is that if you want to learn something, if you are knowledge hungry than you can go anywhere and talk to anyone, even my team to learn. I am grateful to my mentors during my career, our CEO and CMD who always guided me, supported me and have futuristic approach and are long term visionaries.
How do you continue to grow and develop as a Head of Purchase & Projects?
I used to communicate with a lot of people and read regularly; on LinkedIn I have over 15,500 followers, and when I travel to different places to attend conferences people recognize me. I convey my views through writing articles and meeting with many specialists/experts in the industry. People wonder how someone this age can be so active, but I enjoy going to different places and meeting youngsters to learn about their work styles. I believe when we leave the office and try to learn a variety of topics, we will realize that the real world is diverse and filled with people from other cultures. Whenever I am around people whether they are familiar to me or not, I try to learn something new from them which I can implement in my work and try to be good human.
B P Singhal, Head of Purchase & Projects, India Glycols Ltd.
B P Singhal has completed his BE Mechanical degree from Manipal Institute of Technology and he is accomplished result oriented Purchasing & Project Professional with extensive experience of 25+ years in Project and Purchase. Proven ability for startup and Green field projects. Experience in building and developing strong leadership, negotiation and communication skills. Delivery savings through category management, strategic sourcing, contract management and negotiation.
Executed projects related to Petrochemical plants, Refinery, Pharma, Float Glass, Air Separation plants, Distillery, MEG plant, Surfactants, Formulations plant from concept to commissioning which include selection of Technology supplier, Detail Engineering consultants, and Technical review of major Mechanical, Instrument, civil and electrical items required for a project.
He is also fellow member of Institute of Water & Environment (India).
I'm grateful to India Glycols management for appointing me to lead their entire project and procurement portfolio. My journey started with India Glycols from year 2000 as Sr. Engineer- Projects and elevated to Head of Purchase & Projects. There have been many challenges along the way, but with the support of my team, I could overcome them all. One of the things I like most about this organization is that if you want to learn something, if you are knowledge hungry than you can go anywhere and talk to anyone, even my team to learn. I am grateful to my mentors during my career, our CEO and CMD who always guided me, supported me and have futuristic approach and are long term visionaries.
How do you continue to grow and develop as a Head of Purchase & Projects?
I used to communicate with a lot of people and read regularly; on LinkedIn I have over 15,500 followers, and when I travel to different places to attend conferences people recognize me. I convey my views through writing articles and meeting with many specialists/experts in the industry. People wonder how someone this age can be so active, but I enjoy going to different places and meeting youngsters to learn about their work styles. I believe when we leave the office and try to learn a variety of topics, we will realize that the real world is diverse and filled with people from other cultures. Whenever I am around people whether they are familiar to me or not, I try to learn something new from them which I can implement in my work and try to be good human.
B P Singhal, Head of Purchase & Projects, India Glycols Ltd.
B P Singhal has completed his BE Mechanical degree from Manipal Institute of Technology and he is accomplished result oriented Purchasing & Project Professional with extensive experience of 25+ years in Project and Purchase. Proven ability for startup and Green field projects. Experience in building and developing strong leadership, negotiation and communication skills. Delivery savings through category management, strategic sourcing, contract management and negotiation.
Executed projects related to Petrochemical plants, Refinery, Pharma, Float Glass, Air Separation plants, Distillery, MEG plant, Surfactants, Formulations plant from concept to commissioning which include selection of Technology supplier, Detail Engineering consultants, and Technical review of major Mechanical, Instrument, civil and electrical items required for a project.
He is also fellow member of Institute of Water & Environment (India).