CEO Insights Magazine

The domestic cables and wires industry has registered a robust growth over the last five years, led by the government’s focus on providing power to all and gradual pickup from the housing market. Meeting quality standards is crucial for a company to succeed in this industry. Cables need to comply with a growing list of requirements to protect consumers and their property against a range of issues, from electric shock and burns to electric arcing and fire propagation. Surendra Chaukse, Quality Head at Polycab India, ensures that each product goes through rigorous quality checks and is safe to be used by the customer. Polycab is engaged in manufacturing and supplying wires and cables and fast-moving electrical goods ‘FMEG’ under the ‘POLYCAB’ brand and is the fastest growing organization in the sector.

Surendra Chaukse, an engineer by profession, is heading the quality assurance of manufacturing units located at Halol & Daman and ensuring quality is maintained in each and every product.

Surendra Chaukse engages in an exclusive interaction with the CEO Insights magazine.

Tell us about your professional back groundand experiences. What is the motivation that fuels your daily routines?
I started my journey with Polycab Wires in 1998 as a Testing Engineer in the low voltage cable testing division. When Polycab started manufacturing HT cables, Polycab allowed me to lead the HT cable testing lab. In 2004 I moved to GCC, where I worked at Dubai Cable Company, Dubai, for four years and Oman Cable Industry Muscat, Oman, for eleven years. Working with people from diverse backgrounds and nationalities enhanced my capabilities and technical and leadership skills. I returned to India in 2018 and worked with organizations like Finolex, J power -EHV Cable division up to 500 kV and LS cable - a South Korean company.

Working in the cable manufacturing industry for the past 24 years has given me rich quality and testing expertise. The motivation which fuels me daily is mainly the immense freedom of work and empowerment provided by our CMD and Director of Operations, the positive working atmosphere at Polycab, and an excellent team working with me.

How would you define Polycab India as an organization and its current position in the Cables industry? Tell us about your flagship offerings and what value additions customers can expect from your services and solutions.
Polycab is India’s top and versatile cables and wires manufacturing company and is also one of the fastest-growing brands in the consumer market in the FMEG sector, with over 9000 employees and a turnover of above 12000 Cr. Our organization is digitalizing and continuously adapting to the competitive uses of IoT in the cable industry. Our Power Cable Test Laboratory is accredited by NABL with the broadest scope in the cable segment, with more than 4000 tests.

Polycab is a one-stop solution for all home electrical requirements and provides the best home automation solutions for future homes. We believe in quality, value for money, and delightful experiences for customers. Hence, we always offer quality products at affordable cost with just-in-time delivery.

As the quality head, how are you devising quality control processes, and what are the latest testing tools you use in your organization to ensure product quality?
As a Quality head, I ensure strict compliance with Quality management systems, SOPs, and work instructions in the different manufacturing and testing stages. We use 7 QC tools in all spheres of manufacturing processes and monitor the process capability index for critical processes through SPC. We are equipped with the state of the art technology for testing and measuring equipment like SIKORA on MV insulation lines to ensure online thickness monitoring throughout the process. All our test laboratories are equipped with the latest equipment to meet the test

requirements of national and international standards.

Could you reflect on some of the toughest challenges you have encountered in your journey and how you overcame them?
While working in the middle east, we faced quality issues where the outer covering of cables cracked due to the summer heat creating inconvenience to the customer and damaging the company's brand image and resulting in financial losses. I took it upon myself to resolve this issue and formed a team comprising members from different departments like design, production, and so on, and brainstormed together. We did several trials with different materials and performed lots of simulation tests using DOE, finally arriving at the formulation with a new compound which gave the desired results. This resulted in an improved customer satisfaction index.

Going forward, what are the changes in market behaviour that you anticipate and what are the opportunities you foresee?
Today’s markets are very competitive, volatile, and dynamic. The only way to survive in the market is to work on the QCD principle, quality products at the most competitive price with just-in-time delivery. After the COVID pandemic, more export opportunities have opened up. With a boom in the Indian infrastructure market, demand for cables and wires will shoot up. The global wires and cables market is also expected to witness massive growth in the coming years.

Surendra Chaukse, Quality Head, Polycab India
An engineer by profession, Surendra Chaukse has over 24 years of experience in the cables and wires industry. He has worked at various organizations like Dubai Cable Company, Oman Cables Industry, Finolex J Power and LS Cables and Systems at various geographies, in quality assurance roles. He likes to read and travel, Switzerland and Kashmir being his favourite places.

Favorite Cuisine: Vada Pav
Favorite Book: Dr. Juran’s Quality Handbook
Awards and Recognition:
Gold Award at QCFI, Vadodara chapter for Cable Service Life Cycle Assessment. Silver Award at QCFI, Hyderabad chapter for Best KAIZEN. Lead Auditor for ISO/IEC 17025 & QMS ISO 9001. Six Sigma Green Belt certified