00:00hello and welcome to meet the game changers the show where we spotlight the leaders innovators
00:05and disruptors shaping the new india today we are joined by kaushal mehta managing director of
00:12wallplast one of the country's most trusted names in building and construction materials
00:18with a strong footprint across india and global markets mr mehta welcome to one india
00:23thank you so much pankerji for having me here pleasure mr mehta to begin with how has wallplus
00:31journey evolved from its early days to becoming one of the india's leading building materials companies
00:41so uh to start with the journey i would want to take you back 21 years from now
00:48uh the journey of wallplus started in the year 2004 in the month of july this was started by our
00:56honorable chairman mr ashok mehta uh he earlier uh for almost five decades now he has been a part of
01:05the building metal and the construction uh material business as a trader it was 2004 where he could see
01:14uh the future of the building metal industry with one single product which now is called as the
01:20wall party he would sense the larger scope in that he could sense the growth and the change in the
01:28phase of the construction industry so when he looked at the the overall business as a product
01:34that's where he thought of getting into manufacturing and the journey of wallplus then started in 2004
01:41initially it was on a very low scale that he wanted to start off with uh serving only to the larger
01:51developers in and around navi mumbai then when he actually entered into the market that's where you
01:57know he saw the scope of of the product itself he was very strong in the belief that this product will
02:06take us long that's where he started building up the team and uh yeah my my uh association with wallplus
02:13started then okay that's where with his belief taking his belief uh further we started expanding our
02:20wings uh in the last 21 years when we say we started expanding our wings uh by way of manufacturing units
02:28we have expanded our footprints to six different states of the country today with 21 manufacturing
02:34units that that's huge that's one of the largest manufacturers of dry mix mortars today in which
02:41wall party becomes one of the product so that's where we have been present in most of the states in
02:48the country today with six different states serving these customers spread across the country yeah serving
02:55600 distributors almost 10 000 retailers and around 65 000 of influencers around the country is
03:03something which uh you know gives us that sense of pride of taking our honorable chairman's
03:08vision to this level right i'm sure the legacy that you are carrying forward and uh you know to run such
03:15a huge uh mechanism and keep the teams intact i would say uh the core pillars and uh the vision is also
03:23paramount please share with us uh what is it that makes wallplast what it is the pillars and the vision
03:30and the way ahead yeah so uh if i recollect one single statement that chairman saab as his vision as his
03:38thought as his culture which now is a part of this organization has been consistently telling us
03:46is till the time we do not add value to our people to our team to our organization to this industry
03:55it is not going to give us the sense of being a part of this if you really want to have that
04:02transformation in the industry in the organization in our own self as individuals first is you know you
04:09got to have that with a very clear mindset of adding value to the overall system for example let
04:17us take take volpatti with which we started in 2004 is this product going to add value to the
04:24construction industry is this product going to add value to my customers to my influencers to the
04:29developers it's not just a transaction of sale and a purchase you'll have to think beyond just a
04:37transaction and the moment we start thinking beyond a transaction that's where the complete game
04:43changes okay that's uh you know as they say yeah to run a business is uh 80 it could be mine but
04:5420 the heart and that you at the right place has to be there and that's when the core values and
05:00vision work also so any plans for the uh upcoming expansion or innovations that can that we can
05:07expect from volplast in the next few years uh see if we if we talk about innovation uh i would i would
05:15say that we as an organization have always focused on adding value but through our products and services
05:22to our customers and the industry any product that we have entered we would first look at what is the
05:29uh benefit to the uh benefit to the industry on a long-term basis yeah we are not in this industry
05:36in the business for a short term it's not just a profit making uh thing that we would want to focus
05:41on till the time it does not serve our purpose of adding value uh we will not get into the product line
05:48itself uh when we talk about innovation we have enable uh accredited lab with us in at the head office
05:58where the complete transformation of the products the life of the product is looked at
06:04post wall party we could sense that this product at a time will become a part and parcel of the
06:11construction industry that's where it will be the time for us to look at something much larger
06:16so now uh what we are absolutely focusing on is the next product line which is tile adhesive we are
06:23focusing on the next product line which is gypsum plasters and gypsum plaster boards okay these are
06:29the two major products with this we are now focusing on the overall segment of waterproofing
06:35yeah okay so these are the three different product lines that through through the r and d where we could
06:42sense that the next uh phenomenal leap the next change of the industry is going to happen in these three
06:50product segments we will be adding a lot of value uh to the industry to our customers to our consumers
06:58through these three different product lines tile adhesives gypsum plasters and gypsum plaster boards
07:04and the waterproofing segment uh just to add pankaji on this the most recent product that we have come
07:13up with we have innovated is uh the product in the jpex category which is a gypsum plaster category
07:21which we call it as nova 125 it is a product which gives 25 percent additional coverage in the same
07:30packaging of 25 kilo as compared to the best of the product available in the industry now why is that
07:36i am so excited about this product and why is that i would want to talk about this is i have been talking
07:43about being a sustainable organization for the tomorrow how do we add value to the industry
07:51becoming more greener now as i say the same truckload is going to reach the developer's site that same
08:00truckload that same 16 tenner truckload is going to uh you know give you more coverage 25 percent
08:09additional coverage as compared to the best in the uh products available in the market today so that's
08:15where we we are trying to focus on reducing the overall transportation through logistics through
08:21the fuel consumption we are trying to save a lot of time which is invested at the sites right right
08:29so probably like these these are the products which which i would want to look at as innovations and add
08:35value to my customers absolutely the names that you just mentioned uh they come into you know from the
08:43lineage of uh wall putti or wall putti as many of us call it also in domestic parallels and it has
08:50become indeed a household name also uh definitely sir it's a legacy that you are carrying forward and
08:57yes uh as the show is also called meet the game changers your products are certainly going to be the game
09:04changers in the days and years to come but one pertinent question here mr method that pops up is
09:09how does wallplast ensure the quality and consistency across all its manufacturing units that's a big
09:16question i would say when initially you asked me uh what are the strong pillars of uh wallplast as an
09:24organization quality has one of being the the the most important pillar for us as an organization
09:31uh when i said this is the vision of our honorable chairman our chairman started this uh manufacturing
09:41setup in the year 2004 under under the brand name wall plus when he was at the age of 57
09:49now my only point is he came with a vision of just adding value to the system it was not at the age of 57 when
09:58people or think of retiring and and thinking of something very different that was the time he
10:04entered into the manufacturing industry the focus was very clear if i am in a position as an organization
10:11through my products through the quality of my products add value to the industry add value to
10:16my customers it is only then which which serves my purpose of being a part of the industry otherwise
10:24i'm an individualist at the age of 57 i would retire that was the very clear thought of our chairman and
10:30that's where the journey of having that benchmark of the quality was very clearly established as a
10:39culture of this organization all right the only reason uh we have the world-class facility of r&d at
10:47our head office is where i would directly have that monitoring and control over what is happening
10:53under the r&d centers through the innovations and also at the quality level we have a smaller
11:01quality laboratories at all the factories across the country okay on a periodic basis the samples are
11:09rechecked at the r&d center just to ensure that the quality committed to the plants to the customers
11:16is this being ensured right right right absolutely that's where the focus of of our organization
11:22through quality is absolutely it's very important also you know you can't uh leave things for chance
11:30and can't leave any stone unturned to maintain quality one more crucial aspect in building construction
11:36materials is the supply chains what are the wallplast plans for strengthening its distribution network
11:43and uh dealer relationship across india so uh see the kind of product lines today we are in the
11:53construction industry the building model segment as a whole is very uh volume driven and a low value
12:02products that we are in we could sense this as an organization way back and that was the exact reason
12:09we started spreading our wings to multiple states where we could help our customers through serving them
12:17faster and better with the minimum logistics cost involved in it we if i if i you know want to explain
12:25about the spread of our factories we are available in the north we have our factories in rajasthan we have
12:32our factories in gujarat maharashtra madhya pradesh chattisgarh and tamil nadu so through these factories yeah
12:39these manufacturing units all the parts of the country it may be the north west central east and the south
12:46all the parts are being covered it makes absolutely no sense adding cost to the product through logistics
12:54where you also uh add emissions carbon emissions to the environment and then add cost to the product
13:04which is going nowhere but is borne by the consumer we would want to extend that help through these
13:12spread of our manufacturing units and add value to them so that that's how we we could envisage well in
13:19advance and we had started spreading our wings in different states that was the only and the simplest
13:25logic for us absolutely and you have when you are catering at such large scale then cost factor and the
13:32logistics part needs to strike a balance which brings me now to the final question uh mr mehta is that
13:41how are you aligning these strategies to meet the rising demand from the urban sector and not even tier
13:49two tier two tier three markets now i was recently uh trying to understand when we talk about tier one
13:59tier two and tier three kind of cities for me every city every year is moving from tier three to tier two
14:08and from tier two to tier one becoming a major cities okay till yesterday we used to call
14:16mobile delhi calcutta and chennai as the major uh metropolitan cities yes the major sectors yeah
14:24it's no more now right in the same fashion then the the tier three cities which we had that kind
14:31of a vision of tier three cities moving to tier two which has absolutely started moving india in the in the global
14:39hub is one of the biggest market and the highest consuming for in in any product line that we we
14:47discuss and we talk about that's the exact reason because the demand is not just from the major cities
14:52not just from the metropolitan cities but it is from the tier one tier two and the tier three cities
14:59the education that has happened across the country the infrastructure that has happened across the country
15:06is helping all the brands all the industry to reach to the last mile which is the tier three of our
15:14country tier three cities of our country helping them get the best of the products getting them
15:20you know so they they have that money i would say there there is not a challenge of the investment or
15:26the money that they they would have the problem is yesterday the products had did not have that
15:32support of logistics or the infrastructure where we could serve them today fortunately the infrastructure
15:40is in place the products are in place the dealers are ready out there to support and reach out to the
15:47consumers where the consumers would want the best of their the the interiors in their house the best of
15:54the products in their house today making a home is is again the one of the biggest dream for anybody
16:02so they will want to put in every every bit of it with their personal attention and have the best of
16:09the products applied on their walls so fortunately for us with the spread of our uh manufacturing units
16:17and the uh helping hand from the infrastructure we are in a position to to reach out to the tier three
16:24cities and help our consumers get the best of the products thank you so much mr mehta for speaking to
16:31one india we were in conversation with kaushal mehta managing director of wallplast one of the
16:36country's most trusted names in building and construction materials thanks for watching
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