The recent 6th edition of annual Indian Kitchen Congress at the Leela Ambience, Gurgaon, brought together manufacturers, e-tailers, start-ups, retailers, franchisees, component suppliers, designers and investors. The two-day event for kitchen and cabinetry industry was an ideal mix of panel discussions, keynote addresses, presentations and networking breaks. Major focus areas were design, e-commerce, manufacturing, franchising, and skill development.
The conference cum exhibition opened with tributes to the recently deceased 'Wood Guru' Ramu Ramakrishnan. In his keynote address A K Goel, MD, Hettich India, speaking about kitchen and cabinetry industry prospects said the Rs.5,900 crore organized market is all set to grow. While the growth of the kitchen industry is closely linked to the realty sector, Samir Jasuja, MD, PropEquity detailed growth markets for the next three-four years, He cautioned stakeholders of sluggish growth post 2021.
The opening session on Ecommerce was led by Rahuel Stone, with industry overview and a global comparison of India, with respect to China and US. The panel comprised of Srikanth Iyer, co-founder, HomeLane; Gopal Dwivedi, Livspace; Navneet Malhotra, Co-founder, Renomania; Harshvardhan Singh Chauhan, Category head, Shopclues; and Jidesh Haridas, COO, CapriCoast. The panel members shared their company practices and their handling of logistics, training, new market strategies, etc. Parag Shah, Urban Ladder, deliberated on the use of technology to aid consultative selling in the modular furniture business.
The 'Make in India' session with panelists Swastik Ranka, Prabhjit Singh, George Paul, Govind Assudani and moderator Marc Pfetzing, opined creation of an eco-system for manufacturers to excel. Marc discussed possible pitfalls in manufacturing. S Ganesan, Quality Head- Biesse India, shared his expertise to target zero defects in manufacturing. Assudani, MD, Homag India dwelt on the best practices to learn and adopt. Nitin Vaze, MD, Sleek Boards India, eloquently told the MDF story.
IKC honoured industry achievers with The India Kitchen CongressTM Awards 2016 on the first evening. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Ramu Ramakrishnan while HomeLane received the Jury's Award. The other winners were BSH Household Appliances Manufacturing, Merino Industries, Decora Kitchen Interiors, Bajoria Appliances Pvt Ltd – Kutchina, Renu Apte (Pepperfry.com), Parag Shah, Urban Ladder, Metrika Enterprises, Home Town (Future Retail) and Hettich India.
The second day's focus was on design perspectives. Pratap Jadhav, President, IIID, rooted for taking design to the masses. Shantanu Garg, Principal, Shantanu Garg Design, shared his experiences for designing a showroom. Anuj Srivastava, Co-founder, Livspace, spoke about, how the company works in collaboration with designers, builders, architects and future new markets.
Franchising was the next talking point. Rajeev Manchanda, VP, FAI shared insights on franchising as a business opportunity, and moderated a session with panelists Sameer Kuckreja, CEO, Tasanay Hospitality Pvt Ltd; Sam Chopra, CEO, Cybiz; Deepak Bharadia, CEO & MD, Meine Kuche India; Anastasia Bochhi, Country Head, Aran Kitchenworld. Chopra spoke about a few mistakes to avoid to successfully channelise the franchising growth model. He suggested understanding the market and appointing franchises in sync with the company's growth strategy. Bharadia spoke of his successful model of business partners, rather than franchises. Bochhi focused on the application of global learnings in the Indian context.
Considering dependency of business success on the workforce, Gurpal Singh, CEO, FFSC shared in detail government initiatives for skill development to ensure supply of skilled manpower. Vikram Singh, Hettich announced the company's plan to inaugurate a state-of-the-art training centre in Faridabad by June this year. Atul Borkar, Ion Exchange spoke capability building pathways, emphasizing that training should not be a one-time initiative. Ar Rajendra Kumar, Associate Professor, Sushant School of Art & Architecture, cited real life examples of how construction workers are trained. Shefali Holani, EasyFix, shared insights on training people for jobs in plumbing, carpentry et al and increasing organization. Amit Kumar, Zimmber spoke about the behavioural aspects of training with his company training people to become 'Champs'. Rajat Khawas, Manipal City & Guilds presented a business case for training and skill development, given the focus of the government on skill development, there is a great business opportunity in providing soft skill or technical training.
Concluding remarks by Srikanth Iyer stressed on the importance of focusing on a few competencies and excelling in them as opposed to trying to be masters of all trades.
