Dear Colleagues,
The recent launch of L&T’s newest business, L&T EduTech, is not only a significant milestone in our journey, but also a classic example of our determination to succeed despite overwhelming odds. The developmental work started about 18 months ago which exactly mirrors our combat to stay ahead of the virus. While a fair bit could have been achieved by teams working remotely, a lot was possible only through physical interactions. To conceive, develop and produce learning modules, we had to be physically present at offices, studios, and laboratories where they are produced. It required Subject Matter Experts, both external and from within our fold, the leaders, the writers & the artists, the engineers, the technicians, and the rest of the team to come together to lend their collective knowledge and expertise to produce meaningful content. That they succeeded safely, is a great triumph for all of us.
DEVELOPING A NEW, POST-PANDEMIC MINDSET
Work across projects has been progressing with the leadership, site personnel and workmen learning to take the several disruptions in their stride to find new and unique methods and means to push forward. In both our professional and personal lives, we have found new, innovative ways to overcome the challenges and perform, in some cases, even more efficiently than before that reflect a new post-pandemic mindset.
Undoubtedly, the primary focus for project sites across businesses and geographies has been to catch up on lost ground and time. While in several instances, we have seen revival there are others still struggling which is a cause for concern because these can be a drag in our collective ‘push’ to return to the performance and delivery levels of pre-COVID times. This issue of ECC NEWS celebrates our people’s contribution from across businesses who have risen above the disruptions, gone beyond the call of duty to perform. This tribe must grow for the organization to grow. Together, we must be ready to shoulder greater responsibility and be bold to lead our own big or small domains. It is nice to see that when thrown into the deep end, several of our people have learnt how to swim but, what the organization needs, is for all of us to be able to swim in such tough and testing situations.
The immediate future will bring many new challenges as we tackle our enormous backlog, address new wins, and prepare ourselves to venture into new businesses and adjacencies. What has brought us here may not be sufficient to take us where we want to go. The questions require fresh answers that call for stronger leadership, deeper commitment, fresh mindsets, a more assertive approach, and of course, passion. It will be a test of our mettle, and we cannot afford to come second best.
While the emerging situation opens opportunity for home-grown talent to flourish, through our lateral inductions, we must bring on board new leadership talent with business and culture fit, possessing both the foresight and bandwidth to take on new, challenging portfolios.
TECHNOLOGY MUST REMAIN THE POSITIVE DISRUPTOR
Our issues relating to labour, supply chain, material, people, logistics and a host of others are not going away in a hurry, but if there is something the pandemic has taught us, it is that the future is all about technology. The sooner we accept and adopt it, the better it is for the organization.
There are several instances of project teams thinking out of the box to automate systems or resorting to mechanization to address on-ground issues. It is a good sign too that our digital team has been kept busy to meet the ever-increasing demand from across the organization for new digital solutions and tools to enhance efficiency. While this shows that digitalization is increasingly becoming a part of business as usual, we need to penetrate far deeper, adopt many more solutions to stay ahead of the curve.
DIG DEEPER TO FLY HIGHER
Our successful fabrication of the full span launching equipment was a huge achievement, developed almost entirely in-house, indigenously, and ingeniously but we need many more such to keep up with the asking rate. The High Speed Rail project is testing our combined capabilities across business verticals while other projects like the Dhubri-Phulwari road bridge, the RVNL project where we are tunnelling in the Himalayas, the various WDFC projects, the on-going MCRP & MTHL projects, the many airport, road & metro jobs we are executing, the huge solar job we have won in Saudi Arabia and other important overseas projects have all to be delivered to quality and in time.
Performance therefore remains the key, though in the present scenario, as an organization, across levels and functions, we must punch and keep punching far above our weight with stronger will, sharper focus, greater drive. We have demonstrated these qualities time and again in the past, so it is nothing new to us.
Our new Lakshaya 2026 targets are challenging, but it is indeed fortunate that we are being severely tested in these times that will certainly temper and prepare us for the sterner battles ahead.
All the best!
A HISTORIC SIGNING FOR INDIA’S LARGEST EPC MANDATE TILL DATE
November 26th 2020 was a red letter day both for the Indian infrastructure sector and for us as the contract for the largest EPC order awarded in the country till date was signed between L&T and the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited. As our CEO & Managing Director, Mr S N Subrahmanyan described, “this order reflects an inflection point in the revival of India’s infrastructure sector and the first sure shot indication that our economy is up and running.” For L&T, it represents a great opportunity to make up for lost ground due to the pandemic and reaffirm our status as India’s foremost construction organization.
The mandate is for the design and construction of 237 km of viaduct between Vapi and Vadodara in Gujarat, four stations, a depot at Surat, 14 river, 6 railway & 42 road crossings and a 350 M long mountain tunnel.
“This project will give a huge thrust to economic and social development,” declared Whole Time Director & Senior Executive Vice
President (Civil Infrastructure), S V Desai, for whom and his team, the mandate is not only a huge win but an even bigger responsibility. “The project will generate employment for professionals like engineers, technicians, designers, architects and create livelihoods for skilled and semi-skilled workforce and construction workers. It will boost demand for construction material and machinery and even ancillary industries like hospitality, entertainment, health, tourism, real estate & housing and education will flourish during the construction phase,” he elaborated.