Dipen Makwana, Managing Director, Texspin Bearings
A man of few words but big actions, he is one who does not back off from a challenge. Sarada Vishnubhatla gets Dipen Makwana, Managing Director, Texspin Bearings Ltd., to reveal his simple yet hard-working self and his strategy to succeed.
This 44-year-young heir to the company has grown up on a steady diet of business atmosphere, discussions on engineering and technical concepts since childhood. As a result, his natural choice of academics was to pursue mechanical engineering and an MBA from the University of Melbourne.
He shares: “My family – especially my grandfather – has always believed in continuous innovation. My earliest memories are made up of endless discussions on it. I do not even remember at what age I made a decision to join the family business. My inspiration, undoubtedly, came from the living room of our home.”
He continues: “One thing that has always stood out for me was whenever a customer came in to talk to my father or my grandfather, they more often than not left feeling confident that they can rely on us and our organization to deliver them the solution they are looking for.”
Texspin has spent the last 6 decades carefully nurturing the reputation of being a company that creates product lines which are ‘not possible to make in India’. And Dipen swears by it even today.
He reveals: “We have made bearings which no other manufacturer was able to make. Many such bearings have been developed in our company and they are today known for being extremely challenging in terms of accuracy and functionality.” Unsurprisingly, Texspin has filed patents for many such unique solutions.
The Texspin heritage of excellence, quality and innovation required Dipen to gain global experience to begin with.
He says: “Working during my engineering degree gave me valuable experience. I was fortunate to find work in a machine manufacturing organization in Germany from 2000 to 2003. There, I worked on designs and released them for manufacturing, worked on machines, and dealt with customers.”
For Texspin, the customer is the literal king.
He elaborates: “This is part of my legacy that I have imbibed from my grandfather and father. Fulfilling the customer requirement is what sets us apart. Customer desire is something which in practical terms is not always easy to achieve. We work day in and day out to deliver as per the customer desire. Over the years, there have been many examples where we have gone the extra mile to create a unique solution for a customer. This is the value system that I try and follow.”
Next in the list of values imbibed are innovation and flexibility. Dipen adds: “We are not a typical built-to-print company. Providing new solutions is something that comes to us naturally. We also believe that we need to be flexible and be able to adapt our mindset according to our customer needs.”
Dipen strives hard to provide cutting edge solutions. And this is exactly what proved to be the antidote to a general perception in the industry about Texspin is a typical small company with limitations. He shares: “When I joined the business, my biggest hurdle was the label of being an ‘Indian organization’ that could be saddled with limitations. The stereotypical idea needed to be broken down and I took it up as a challenge and today we are in a dominant position in the industry and command the highest level of respect.”
He has helped shape Texspin to become a modern organization today. Yet, Dipen would like to work harder than before because success chases those who consistently work on improving one’s abilities.