A few days back, on 21st September, Mr. B.K.Singh (BK to many) who headed Tata Motors Service, Dharwad Plant and Telcon at one point of time, breathed his last at Jamshedpur. There was a multitude of people from all levels of various Tata and other organizations who came to pay their last respect to this great man.
As a young GET, who joined Tata Motors(Telco at that time) in 1988, the leadership at Jamshedpur had many creative and hard working people. Each one of them stood perfected to treat the newcomers with an open mind. That provided a platform to experiment and learn. My best professional learning definitely happened at Tata's and it is a gratitude I know that can't be repaid back in any form, whatever I try. I considered BK as the most apt mentor, guide and guru amongst these great stalwarts. BK was an avid reader - he would get up early in the morning to have his 90 minutes of reading and be punctually there at the plant gates just before 7:00 am. He carried expertise in multiple fields but would be keen to learn things which came to him new. He provided wide-ranging opportunities to people and believed in taking risks to become an ultimate winner.
While he didn't know how to operate a computer himself during his Telco days (later, post retirement, he became an internet buff and would query me on stuff which I found difficult to respond), he mentored one of the first CAD implementations happen in India, the first Product Data Management implementation, the first ISO:9001 across the Tata group and one of the earliest(maybe the first) across the entire Indian manufacturing industry. The first castings and forgings export to Japan from an Indian company(Niigata, etc.) happened during his days at Forge and Foundry. The High Pressure Moulding Line really became successful due to his patience and perseverance. When the Tata Cummins project looked doubtful, he spearheaded successfully the project for Tata Motors trucks to carry Tata Cummins engine. The Dharwad plant was setup in motion by BK. Tata Motors Service got a rejuvenated look after BK took over. While I was associated on most of these programs, including the first indigenous product of Tata Motors (it wasn't a truck or a car, it was the Tata Wheel Loader - you can see the picture above), there must definitely be a million more things which can be mentioned by others who came across BK.
But the most important aspect of BK was his people management skills. Everyone looked at him as a solution provider to the toughest of the problems. Anyone in a situation would land up in front of him - and knew BK would help. BK on his part believed in enabling people to be successful. He would let people explore beyond the normal realms and provide constant encouragement during every phase. I believe BK created enterprises out of people. As I look around the world and see many successful ex-colleagues from Tata Motors and talk to them about their personal success, each one of them contributes it to a large extent due to their association with BK. For me, BK was a mentor, guide and guru par excellence. I knew if I faced a situation, whether a professional one or related to family, BK would always be there to provide a sound advice. I am surely going to miss him.
