G S Auto International’s 4th gen scion has futuristic plans
You cannot tie him down to a desk to work from 9 to 5. He is ‘at home’ when he is elbow-deep in grease and oil while tuning the kinks out of a piece of machinery. Call him a technology junkie or an ideas man, Harkirat Singh Ryait brims full of not only ideas to explore, things to experiment with but also loves to pick brains of the experts in the field. As the 4th generation heir to the family business, Harkirat is all but ready to strike out in new automotive verticals. Sarada Vishnubhatla has the details.
A leader does not hesitate to get his hands dirty. He dives into issues himself. Unlike a boss. And Harkirat Singh Ryait is definitely the former. Inspired since childhood by his father, and their family legacy, combined with his affinity towards physics as a subject has led Harkirat to work with his hands – whether it is building things out of scrap, or tweaking machinery on the work floor. And, he thrives on challenges – especially those that get issued periodically by his father.
Imbibing Family Legacy
At 32, Harkirat – as the 4th generation upholder of the 82-year-old family business – feels the weight of the responsibility. G S Auto International was founded in 1938 in Ludhiana by Sardar Gurmukh Singh, then handled by Sardar Jagat Singh and later, the baton was passed on to Sardar Jasbir Singh.
“I may not have had the opportunity to learn the values directly from my great grandfather or grandfather but I remember fondly how in my younger years my father and I used to have endless discussions about the auto component industry, new possibilities, brainstorming ideas on how to take our business forward. He also would talk about our responsibility towards the educational institutions that are run under our management. My mother, I remember, was emphatic about not bringing business to the dinner table, so my father and I would take our discussions to our own space,” Harkirat shares.
Those endless discussions with his father were combined with building mechanical kits after studying manuals.
He remembers: “Over the years, I have built many miniature vehicles. The most memorable and the most recent model that he is proud of is the 1:1 scale proper electric car. We took only a week to make it and we managed to showcase the prototype at the Auto Expo 2020 held in February.”
Harkirat believes in consistent learning while remaining humble and honest in business.
Hands-on ‘Maker’
In 2010, Harkirat finished his Bachelor’s degree in Technology (Production Engineering) from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana and was clear from ‘day one’ that he would be joining the family business, which he did so right after his graduation.
“I began with design, understanding our products, and knowing our customers’ needs. After about 10 months, I shifted to the production and planning divisions and learnt dealing with customer orders and delivering within the required time. In 2014, I went into marketing, exploring new products and technologies. I became the Executive Director in 2017 and began looking at overall operations which included manufacturing, marketing, finance, and purchase divisions. I always make it a point to learn about new practices in the industry,” he says.
Yet, his first love remains building things from the scratch – designing a product, testing, packaging, validating suppliers, quality control and meeting different suppliers and learning from interacting with them. In college, he was hooked on building miniature cars and regularly entered them in the events organized by Indian commercial vehicle OEMs. He is also passionate about building and flying radio-controlled scaled aero models. Their group company, Futurista Home Solutions founded in 2015, allows him to trade robotic consumer home essentials and home automation devices from abroad to sell them online here in the urban markets.
Revitalizing The System
Being the scion of a famous business house is not easy, especially at the time of joining the business. But he wised up early.
Harkirat explains: “In general, human psychology dictates that people strive to be in the good books of the authoritative figure. When I joined here, it was up to me to steer clear of biased opinions if any, and to dig the truth out by looking beneath any issue or information being offered to me. Personally, I believe that data speaks for itself. Since, I have a fair amount of knowledge about manufacturing processes, it was relatively easy for me to mesh with the team and build synergy.”
He has gradually brought in subtle changes in the office work culture. An ideas man through and through, Harkirat has found different ways to bring forth a sense of common goal in their team and steers them towards company well-being – including rewarding them to strive for higher productivity, communicating with every team member, and focusing on team building exercises.
He adds: “My father has taught me that there is hidden potential in every one and to give them space and motivation to help them unleash it. That way they can find greater satisfaction in their job and it helps the company prosper too which in turn impacts everyone positively.”
Dedicating personnel for close customer interactions, receiving regular feedback from them about products and ensuring deliveries on time every time are a few other things which Harkirat trains extra focus on.
Achieving Perfect Balance
If human emotions are managed well, productivity of the system increases automatically, believes Harkirat. And he himself embodies the perfect balance between practicality and creativity. The fruit of this ‘balance’ is an EV under works. Christened Peccan – a Turkish word meaning an arrow, under G S Electric business vertical, his brainchild EV will have a maximum speed of 100 kmph and is meant for city roads. Peccan is loosely pegged for a 2022 launch.
He shares: “My idea of future mobility in the next decade or so comprises miniature pods, which are independent, light weight, easy to operate and manoeuvre, and will be joystick driven. We are currently building a model which is a merger between a motorcycle and a car which will be safer than a 2-wheeler yet cheaper than a car.”
He envisions building their EV vertical in a full-fledged manner, and making electromagnetic suspensions.
A Thorough Leader
Interacting with industry leaders and experts is a favourite pursuit of Harkirat, for according to him, ‘even a word from them can help one learn’. And his father encourages him to learn through experimenting and exploring new ideas on the shop floor.
He shares: “I agree with my father that there is always scope for improvement for each one of us. Personally, I believe in more consistency in performance and deliverables, more commitment and being more professional is crucial to success. He supports me when I attend events organized by ACMA which regularly offers opportunities to learn new trends in productivity, and quality control among others. Not only does attending them improves my own learning and experience but also adds value to our organization through my output.”
Harkirat believes in being a compassionate leader. He also pushes himself constantly to see what other difference can he bring to their product portfolio to make G S Auto International stand head and shoulders above the competition.
Harkirat can safely be called a cool cucumber for he rarely loses his temper. He tries to find multiple solutions to a problem. He wishes to improve himself by ‘gaining more knowledge about system planning’. Another area of improvement for him is to learn how to be less workaholic and make more time for his family, he shares laughing quietly!