Innovation at

Mahindra & Mahindra

• Group 4 :
• Vardhelly Umesh Chandra
• Monis Ahmad
• Sanu Kaithal
• Suraj Kumar Jha
• Sharath B
• Bharti Yadav
• Akash Sarkar
Content
• Introduction and Background
• Agricultural industry
• Innovations at Mahindra & Mahindra
• Leadership and Management
• Marketing department at M&M
• Sactor Project
• SWOT Analysis
 • K.J Davasia, President of
Introduction FES, M&M
& Background • "Sactor" Project
• Radical Innovation
• Mid 1940's – Franchise of an
American Company Willys
Jeeps, by K.C and J.C Mahindra
• Restructuring post 1991
Economic Transformation
• By 2003, 6 sectors –
Automotive, Farm
Equipment, Financial Services,
Infrastructure, IT and Software,
and automotive components
• FES, originated from a joint
venture with International
Harvester Ltd. In 1963
• The Bhoomiputra, The
Sarpanch, The Arjuna, and a
special class of Tractors.
• In 2001,AnandMahindra – 4 mantras
• 1/5th of revenues must come from products or
services introduced in the past 4 years
• In 2003, M&M became the only Company in the world
to win the Demining Prize, awarded by the Union of
Japanese Scientists and Engineers for Excellence in
implementing Quality Control
 AGRICULTURAL
INDUSTRY
• Personal and commercial use
• Farming loosing popularity among the
young generation
• Marginal size of agricultural plots

➢ Need of tailored products

 Graduated in filmmaking and MBA both from
Harvard University

Initially joined Mahindra Steel Ugine Steel company,

later became head of R&D of the entire group

Learnt about the importance and role of Chassis

Anand project

Mahindra Supported engineers to develop new manufacturing

process for tubular chassis

Created a supportive environment for the co-

existence of "Da-Vinci" and "Lab technician" models

Aspired to make M&M as one of the most customer

centric organizations in the world
 • Mechanical Engineer, joined M&M 's Jeep factory in 1962
• Slowly moved to manufacturing support and capital
purchasing
• Had knowledge about several important trends in Indian
Agricultural industry
K.J. Davasia • He felt that Tractor market would shift away from
traditional tractors
• Came up with the concept of hybrid –" Trans Tractor"
• He assessed the tooling and costing aspect of the ongoing
"Sactor" project
 • Davasia's Innovation system had following objectives :
✓ Customer suitable products/ meeting customer needs
✓ Enable FES to create a knowledge database
✓ Utilization of scientific tools & methodical approach with
formal gates & management checkpoints
INNOVATIONS • YEAR 1999 : Mahindra New Product Development Process
➢6 stage development system involving several FES depts. & 7
AT design review gates
MAHINDRA & ❑ Product concept – DR0
❑ Conceptual Design – DR1
MAINDRA ❑ Detailed Design – DR2
❑ Prototype Make- DR3 DR4
❑ Pilot Production – DR5
❑ Initial Production – DR6
ELEMENTS FOR FOSTERING INNOVATION

CUSTOMER GREAT DESIGN ENCOURAGEMENT VALUE ADDITION TO DESIGN PROPER

INSIGHTS / NEED SHOULD FOLLOW OF COMPANY'S SALES PLAN
IDENTIFICATION GREAT PRODUCTS EXPERIMENTATION BOTTOM LINE
 Electrical engineer

Joined TELCO in 1969 fresher

THE MAVERICK
- NAYAK Joined M&M in 1974

Frugal Engineering in R&D

Worked in remote FES for 2years : Testing of new

tractors
Marketing Department
• Traditionally, the lower income farmers were not the target segment
• Retooling M&M's strategy
• Market research
- Few opinion surveys
- Showing photographs of concept prototype to customers
- No systematic feedback
- Trade-off between low farming performance and good transportation ability
- Doubt on existence of customers for a hybrid product like "Sactor"
Pricing of "Sactor"
• Initial target price for lower income farmers: 1 lakh rupees

• Marketing trial
- Sent sactor prototypes to 14 locations (1 per dealer)
- Tested by Farmers
- Conducted feedback sessions
- Primarily used for non- agricultural operations
- Possible price point: 1.75 lakh rupees
 - After re-designing exterior
Final estimated price: 1.9 according to Goyle
lakh rupees - To address multiple objectives

Comparable to price of well-established tractors

Issue with Downturn in overall market

Price point
Inconclusive results of market research

Risks involved with "innovative product"

 SWOT
• Strengths
• Brand Equity in Farm Utility
Vehicles
• Leadership & Employees
• Organic Customer – Centric
outlook(MNDP)
• Frugal Engineering
 SWOT
Weakness
1. Pro – Innovation bias( Mavericks &
Radicals )
2. Department working in SILOS (
Marketing )
3. No analysis of the Market
4. NAYAK's Departure
Thank You