Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Monish Shete: Elscint is a family organisation and I am the second generation who is running the same. It was started by my father, who had around 20 years of experience when he founded Elscint at the age of 43. He was a highly accomplished technocrat who could visualise the future trends and hence decided to get into the field of automation when labour costs were very low in India.
Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Elscint India Pvt Ltd?
Monish Shete: Elscint has thus, been serving the world's industry by providing small part handling solutions using vibratory bowl feeders, linear feeders, small parts conveyor feeders, rotary or centrifugal feeders etc. We also manufacture F.H.P. worm reduction gear boxes / motors for low speed, high torque, continuous duty applications. Elscint has a trained work force of highly skilled engineers and bowl toolers backed by a competent design team.
Great Companies: What makes Elscint India Pvt Ltd different from hundreds of other similar service providers?
Monish Shete: Elscint takes pride in the quality of its products and the rigorous testing standards it follows, ensuring that customers get a plug and play solution. Another big point is that tooling of vibratory bowl feeders is a business where experience counts more than anything. In fact, it takes more than two years for a person to start understanding the tooling of a bowl feeder. Being in business for 40+ years, Elscint is very well placed in this respect. Presently Elscint’s workforce has a combined tooling experience of almost 200 years behind it, ensuring that almost all types of components have been handled by its team one time or the other. This is highly useful as far as Elscint as well as its customers are concerned. It reduces the try out times, thus reducing the delivery times. The cost so saved is passed onto customers. This ensures Elscint products, though superior to other makes, are priced in such a manner than everyone can afford them.
Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
Monish Shete: Everyone faces challenges and struggle is a way of life for an entrepreneur. My journey has been no different. From times where we faced labour issues to the times where due to lockdown, the factory was shut down, I have seen it all. However, patience and perseverance has seen that these times too passed. Struggles are a way of life, however, if one stays the course, there is always a silver lining at the end.
Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Elscint India Pvt Ltd?
Monish Shete: I feel that growth is the only evidence of life! One has to keep growing to stay in business. Growth is the only constant, one has to continuously plan for growth. For an entrepreneur, working is like riding a tiger, as long as the tiger is moving, its fine. The moment it stops, you fall down and get eaten.
5 years down the line, Elscint is looking towards increasing its verticals and spreading its geographical reach. Right now, we have exported to more than 50 countries and exports constitute 30% of our turnover. The aim is to increase this percentage to 50% with special emphasis on exports to Europe.
Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Monish Shete: Starting an entrepreneur journey is a decision which people take without much thought. You have to understand that being an entrepreneur is a full time 24 hour job and once cannot stop midway. Most new entrepreneurs don’t understand the amount of effort and time required for starting out. Being an entrepreneur is an mindset which an average employee cannot be expected to have. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Secondly, the new trend of getting outside funding and burning cash is being glorified.
However, one should have a very down to earth approach and ensure that the business is sustainable on its own. Another advice one should concentrate on the quality of the product and customer satisfaction. These are the two main aspects of business which are the most important. If they are taken care off, other things can fall in place.
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