An optimist will tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and the engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be. That's precisely Satish Tandon, Managing Director, Alfa Laval India have been trying to fix, as it could be done only by an engineer, whose observation is sharp and penetrating, like Tandon's. And it's also very rare to find an individual whose loyalty to his company is as steadfast as Tandon's whose entire working life has been with Alfa Laval. Satish Tandon joined Vulcan Laval (as Alfa Laval India was then known) in the year 1967 after obtaining a first class degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.

He did his postgraduate diploma in marketing and sales management from Delhi University in 1974 before starting off in Vulcan Laval as sales engineer. And over the years, he progressively moved to senior positions. Tandon's hard work, devotion and marketing skills have propelled Vulcan to one of the leading companies in India. And Tandon makes no bones of it when he says that the Swedish company, whose operations he heads in India, is going to make India its global sourcing hub. A Swedish multinational company, Vulcan Laval has a turnover of about $2.5 billion and has about 10,000 employees with manufacturing facilities in Sweden, Denmark, USA, China, Japan and India. Alfa Laval, which employs more than 1000 people and has a turnover of about Rs 250 crore, is among the top 200 companies in India.

It also has been rated among the top 30 engineering companies, according to the Business India selection criteria. When Tandon took over as the Managing Director in 1998, the company was going through a tough phase as it had made a loss of Rs 300 million during the year ending March 1997. In two years after his taking over, the company made a turnaround and in the year ending December 2000, Alfa Laval made a record profit of Rs 390 million, which is the highest in the history of Alfa in India. The profit came despite slow economical growth in the engineering segment in the country, and that was made possible by Tandon's planned restructuring process, strategic increase of the company's market presence and choice of right customers and product mix.

"Whatever we do, we do it efficiently so that our costs are lower than that of our competitors," Tandon was quoted saying. No doubt, Tandon's success invited more responsibilities on him, but this is, probably the hallmark of all successful men. Besides being Managing Director of Alfa Laval India, Tandon is also the chairman of Alfa Laval Financial Service, Skansen Engineering & Consultancy, and Chairman and Managing Director of Lavrids Knudsen Maskinfabrik India. Indeed, Tandon has been Alfa Laval's face in India in more ways than one.