It was in 1987 that Iakoka Syntrans was started by four friends as partners – Mr. P. Thangavelu, Mr. N. Subramaniam, Mr. V. Ammasaikutty and Mr. R. Ranganathan. In 1996, the joint venture, Habasit Iakoka came into existence, with Mr. Subramaniam as Managing Director, and Mr. Thangavelu and Mr. Ammasaikutty as Directors. The latter passed away in 2011.
Habasit Iakoka celebrated its 25th Silver Jubilee and the Family Day function in Coimbatore on April 4 and 5 respectively. Mr. Andrea Volpi, CEO of Habasit AG, and other dignitaries attended both the functions in large numbers.
A total of 23 distributors along with their sales team participated in the Distributors Meet. In his opening remarks, Mr. Subramaniam introduced the distributors and spoke of their achievements. Some of them are with the company for the past 25 years.
Mr. Andrea Volpi, after formally presenting a traditional silver lamp as a gift to distributors, lauded their contributions for the enormous growth of the company, particularly with products like transmission belts, spindle tapes and conveyor belts. He also gave the assurance that Habasit would be bringing out new innovative products to increase its market share in India.
He also presented wrist watches as a token of recognition of their work to the marketing team of distributors.
A few of the distributors narrated their success stories with the co-operation extended by the manaement, and also requested Mr. Andrea Volpi to provide for some production facilities in India for transmission belts in order to face the emerging marketing competition.
Mr. S. Dinakaran, Chairman of the Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), and Joint Managing Director of Sambandam Group of Mills, in his address, appreciated the rich contributions made by distributors and also the service capabilities of Habasit Iakoka.
The Silver Jubilee Family Day Celebration held on April 5 was formally inaugurated by Mr. S. Shanmugasundaram, Vice President – Production, by lighting the traditional lamp.
Mr. Dinakaran, who was the chief guest on the function, praised the efforts of Habasit Iakoka and recalled his long association with the company, particularly the inaugural function organised for the joint venture in 1996. He complimented the Managing Director for his writing skills in Tamil, particularly on travelogue and poems, and also quoted some of the paragraphs from the four books authored by him.
Mr. Andrea Volpi too addressed the gathering and touched on the contributions made by several leaders, especially his father, Mr. Giovanni Volpi, in forming the joint venture and also the co-operation extended by Mrs. Alice and Mr. Thomas Habegger.
On the occasion, he expressed his hope and confidence that Habasit Iakoka would continue its successful journey to celebrate Golden, Platinum and Diamond Jubilee in the years to come.
Mr. A.S. Subbian, Managing Director, Sri Karunambikai Mills Private Ltd., in his address, recalled the day when he handed over a cheque for Rs. 16,000 for the first order placed on Iakoka Syntrans in 1987. Till now the first invoice in every financial year is raised in the name of Sri Karunambikai Mills.
Mr. N.M. Ethiraj, DGM – Stores, Sri Ramakrishna Mills, and Mr. S. Arunachalam, Director, Mec Growths Texmach Pvt. Ltd., extended their felicitations and confirmed their strong relationship with the company.
Proposing a vote of thanks, Mr. Subramaniam turned a little emotional when he referred to the rich contributions made by his fellow Directors, the company management team, distributors, suppliers, staff members and workers for the company success over the years. But for their combined effort, the company won’t have achieved the current accelerated growth rate despite several odds.