A brief about the organization: TI Automotive

Incorporated in England, TI Automotive is the only global supplier of fully integrated

fuel storage and delivery systems for cars and trucks and the leading supplier of fluid carrying
systems for braking and powertrain applications to automakers worldwide. TI automotive
employs over 18,000 people, has more than 100 facilities, operating in 27 countries spread over 6
continents.
Bundy India Ltd. is a fully owned subsidiary of TI Automotive. Earlier known as Bundy Tubing
of India the company in India is popularly known as Bundy. It is well known for its precision
tube manufacturing and was the market leader for Fluid Carrying Systems for Automotive and
Refrigerator / Air Conditioner. Bundy India Ltd produces high pressure double wall tubes for
brake application in automotive industry as well as it produces low pressure single wall tube for
fuel application in automotive and gas flow application in refrigeration and air-conditioning. The
company set up its first plant at Baroda in collaboration with Murgapa Group of companies in
the year 1972. Initially, Bundy started the production of double wall tube for all application and
had monopoly in the market. It enjoyed this for many years till 1992. With the industrial market
getting more & more competitive, the OEMs (Refrigeration/ Air conditioner) started buying
single wall tube from other vendors at lower rates. The company soon started losing money year
on year and went into red. Bundy’s dark days had started.
Employees however weren't too concerned and they would often misuse the resources. Every
level of worker used to travel by air irrespective of the need to travel at all. Loyalty towards the
company was touching a bottom. Product lines weren't competitive enough and quality was
taking a back seat. Delegation of authority was missing. Market analysis and research was not a
part of regular activities. As a result awareness about changing customer segments and
competition was quite less. Manufacturing as a sector was showing signs of growth back then
with Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Automobiles having set up shop in India. Most of the
automotive and Refrigeration OEMs were importing components from their own subsidiaries
located off shore. This definitely added to the cost of manufacturing of products in India.
Overtime requirements for local made ancilliaries started showing a rise and this had spurted a
growth in small scale organisations which were entering component manufacturing. Government
was showing an interest in all sectors with their liberalisation and globalisation policies being
implemented across the board. The changing industrial policies and opening up of sectors for
private participation was heralding a boom in the Indian economy as a whole. With an economy
beaconing nothing less than a rate of growth expected to go way beyond the traditional Hindu
rate of 3%, Bundy was surprisingly not cashing in on the opportunity. The officials based out of
UK were getting concerned about the downslide of its Indian subsidiary. They were almost
groping in the dark for some kind of support. The sales numbers were scary, showing a drop
every fiscal year.
1997 was a threshold year for Bundy when the organization started implementing change
management. Strategic change usually involves a series of transition steps. Bundy had taken a
strategic decision in 1997 to get out of the existing traditional system of functioning, and
dramatically changed its mission, vision, goals, culture, structure and of course the most
important part of any organization, its leadership. Without doubt, changing the organization was
a difficult decision for Bundy India.
In this case study we found that the organization, Bundy India, faced substantial intrinsic &
extrinsic pressures to change. Change was inevitable, but managing the change from top to
bottom was a difficult decision. Bundy needed to transform itself radically to survive and to
prosper. In an era of swift technological advancements Bundy was confronted with multifarious
challenges, some of them being the need to learn new ways for cost reduction and, to offer better
goods and services to customers. The company faced rapidly changing markets and was infact
not making any profits in the time period of 1992 to 1996. The board of directors thereon
recommended not just an organizational overhaul but also a changed leadership. It was decided
to implement changes in a strategic manner whilst restructuring the whole organization to meet
the formidable business pressures. Bundy moved from an old state to a new state within a
controlled period of time.
Would change management bring about an improvement in the revenues of the company? The
new management didn't know whether the risky initiative they were taking would work out or
not. They were going to tread on unchartered territory which was replete with cost cutting
initiatives, new product developments, new people, and an existing workforce which was
showing an initial resistance to any form of change.
When we studied the history of the company we realised that change per se was an enormous
task and had to be brought about by bringing in modifications and transformations at various
levels and across the board. Change had to be not just in manufacturing on the shop floor but in
the minds and attitudes of the workforce. We have tried to understand the manifold changes
using the “Levers of Change” which encompasses 8 aspects. These 8 aspects helped the company
implement change management rather successfully and improved not only their revenues but
also their working conditions.
The changes need to be driven primarily by ‘value-based leadership’, which is the first link to
Change Management. This is followed by changes in an organisation’s 4 primary areas:

• Technology

• Marketing

• Quality

• Costs
These areas have to be accompanied by changes in:
• Structure
• Strategy
• Human resource management
These are the 8 levers of change which we have identified as the way Bundy India brought about
reforms in their organizational set up and give a boost to their revenues. They looked at an
organic growth focusing on both top-line and bottom-line growth.
#1. To begin with, Bundy India went ahead and changed their Leadership structure. It is very
important for managers and administrators to understand the nature of leadership that is required
to bring about change management within the organization. While the top management may
undergo a sea change, it was the middle and lower order management that had to feel
comfortable with the changes incorporated. In Bundy a compelling story rose about the lack of
dynamism in the top echelons which was found lacking in innovative thought process, creativity
and risk management.
In a gargantuan decision, the top management was replaced with qualified professionals to
streamline the various functionalities. A team was brought in which had the experience of
running a behemoth department, dealing with international competitors while battling adverse
market conditions.
The new leadership modified the existing vision statement and created a new model to guide the
organisation in the future. The vision statement was modified as the earlier one was not in
tandem with the existing policies and employees were not able to connect with it.

Below is the vision statement which was applicable till the year 1996:
Below is the new vision statement put in effect in the year 1997:

V ISIO
T o b e th e leading au tom o tive
creatin g valu e thro ug h fo cu s o

#2
C ustom er
Technology
The main focus of the modernization scheme was to upgrade the technology with state-of-art
CNC (Computerised Numerical Controlled) machines and PLC (Programmable Logic
Controlled) machines. The implementation of the scheme was estimated to begin in 1997, and
was scheduled to be completed in 1999.The decision to implement scheme of modernization to
upgrade the technology was taken by the new managing director in consultation with global
senior technical and administrative staff of the organization. The management thinking had been
that the workers should be trained on-the-job only by their supervisors, and company should be
prepared for low productivity for initial 4-5 months as people would take time in adapting to the

V AL U ES
new technology. Bundy India thereon gradually introduced latest techniques for manufacturing
like Visual display, Lean manufacturing and Six sigma.

• In teg rity & h o n esty

 Visual Display: This technology helps to visualise the sequence of operations of various
machines within the working standards. It facilitates better understanding of machines by
workmen. The operation of machines is displayed on screen with the terminologies and
• T eam w o rk & m u tu al resp ect
directions to operate written in local languages so that workers are able to operate the
machines effectively, for eg. in their Manesar, Haryana plant the language used is Hindi;
• Acco u n tab ility & o w n ersh ip
while in their Bangalore plant language used is Kannada.

 Lean manufacturing:The new management identified the need of lean implementation

•strategies
P assio n ate
and tools. Bundyexecu tio
adopted the 4P n
model: process, people, philosophy and
problem solving. It reduced the time between a customer order and delivery by
• C o n tinuo u s im p rov em en t
• Q u ality in all w e d o
 eliminating non-value-added waste. The result was lean process that delivered high
quality to customers at low cost, on time, while allowing Bundy to receive payments
without holding enormous amounts of inventory. Similar lean process can be found in
product department where Bundy has the fastest development time, getting updated
styling and features to customers faster, with high quality, and at reasonable cost than
competitors. Lean internal processes even extended throughout the Bundy's support
functions to sale, production engineering and planning.
For Bundy lean system was not just about tools and technology, but also about philosophy.
Bundy had given focus on the necessity of creating some waste in the short term in order to
eliminate waste in long term. Following were the philosophy of Bundy as a part of lean process:

 To treat the value added worker as a surgeon and get him all the equipments and tools
needed to do the job without any distraction.

 To reduce batch size and improve the flows of parts through system which may
require changing of equipments more frequently, which leads to a slight increase in
setup costs.

 To improve the quality and reduce the lead time of the product development process
which may require investing in dedicated engineers who run the programmes but do not
manage people working on the program.

 Improving the quality of product may require involving suppliers early in the process
and partnering with suppliers that have highly competent technology.

 Six Sigma: The vision for Bundy had always been a relentless pursuit of perfection while
maintaining an operational excellence. With this in mind Bundy charted out a philosophy
keeping six sigma in mind:

 survival is dependent upon growing the business

 business growth is largely determined by customer satisfaction

 customer satisfaction is governed by quality, price & delivery

 qulaity, price and delivery are controlled by quality of processes

 quality of processes are greatly limited by variation

 process variation leads to an increase in defects, cost and cycle time

 variation therefore needs to be eliminated with the right knowledge

The new standard for the organisation was no longer 99% accuracy but reaching the six sigma
capability of 99.99966% accuracy, which amounted to a 2941-fold improvement in quality.
#3 Marketing
In 1996 the company took a decision towards adopting Dynamic Strategising. They started
following a very fluid marketing plan which could be modified depending on the customer
sitting across the table. Whether the client was a Maruti or a Toyota, Bundy started customising
its marketing plans. Even within a client's requirements, say a Maruti, they had different
solutions for every platform. They started participating extensively in product designing along
with their customers. They would study the drawings prepared by their clients and suggest the
improvements that could be made. The net result was an improved product at lower costs. The
value proposition that eventually evolved was to win by creating innovative products and
enriching features of existing products. This is what is referred to as 'Product Perspective'. Bundy
went a step ahead and modified it into what is termed as 'Solution Perspective'. They wanted to
win by creating and delivering superior customer solutions and not just superior products. This
type of Solution Marketing helped Bundy to generate new avenues for growth and
differentiation. To sell their tubes walls better they started teaching their customers how to sell
automobiles better.
Bundy also started laying emphasis on after sales service activities like 'service recovery', which
encompasses the procedures, policies, and processes a firm uses to resolve a customer's
complaint.
Bundy thereafter started studying its competition very closely. Their two close competitors are
Sanoh from Japan and a UK-US collaboration company, Coopers. Then there are a few small
players that comprise the remaining market for this product in the automotive vendor industry.
For an understanding of the market split, refer to Figure 1 in the Annexure.
All of this is encapsulated into their three-pronged marketing strategy:

Marketing Strategy

Customer Analysis Competition Analysis

Market Analysis

Customer Analysis: this involves a strategy to study customers and to gauge their requirements
in advance. This calls for an indepth analysis of existing products in the market and the
technological advancements happenings elsewhere.
Market Analysis: this involves a strategy to study the variations in the market which are often a
result of macro variables like economic and political conditions. Often a study is done of the
global market along with domestic market to understand the past and current trends.
Competition Analysis: this involves a strategy to analyse competition which could be coming
out with better, advanced and cheaper products. Its about keeping pace and beating the
competitors with better solutions for clients having done the customer and market analysis
properly.
This type of meticulous planning pushed Bundy to go for product diversification. They
introduced condensers, single wall tube for low pressure applications for refrigeration and air
conditioning industry, and brake pipe and fuel pipe for all OEMs (Original Equipment
Manufacturers) like Maruti and Toyota. Overtime Bundy moved away from the air conditioning
& refrigeration industry towards focusing only on the automotive industry. Having done so, they
decided to follow their customers and set up plants in Manesar, Haryana; Baroda, Gujarat;
Chennai, Tamil Nadu; and Bangalore, Karnataka. As an ancilliary supplier, being close to clients
further brought about an improved relationship with the customer and even reduced prices for
them.
Their product line now includes:
Mono-layer and multi-layer wall tubes for vehicles,
Tubular components for vehicles, and
Plastic and metal fuel tanks.
Soon Bundy shifted its focus completely away from refrigeration & air conditioning business to
the automotive industry. This was a strategic move away from industry convergence towards
their area of core competency. Their marketing strategy of concentrating in a niche product has
overtime paid off well with growth rate of the automobile industry touching the endeared double
digit.

#4 Quality
In 1999 Bundy decided to go for Quality Management System and all its plants got certified for
ISO 9002, and subsequently upgraded to QS 9000 and TS 16949.
The quality of product had certainly improved in Bundy. However, many times there used to be
fluctuation in quality and productivity. To bring standardization, detailed documentation of
working instructions, procedures and guidelines was done. Bundy had decided to change the
strategies and set new objectives regarding quality of product.
Below we enumerate how they achieved it:

• The company started to maintain a quality system based on international quality

standards such as ISO 9000:2000, automotive industry standard TS/ISO 16949:2002 and
 relevant regional or industry specific requirements in addition to any other customer
requirements.

• They created a standardized approach for quality procedures and implementation of

systems throughout Bundy India. All units had to give focus on continual improvement of
the quality management system adopting a methodology known as “Plan-Do-Check-Act’
(PDCA).

• They went ahead and managed the continual improvement process, using a structured
approach like TPM in order to improve quality, reduce cost and waste in supply chain and
increase customer satisfaction through timely delivery. Another decision Bundy had taken
was to reduce the customer complaints and retain the long term relationship.

For better functioning and coordination, Bundy had decided to funnel more interaction among
various department and plants located at different locations of Manesar, Chennai, Bangalore.
Plant managers were encouraged to take many of the task related decisions, such as changing the
technical setting on machines, extraction of wastage percentage at various levels.

#5 Costs
While companies look at Top line growth, a very critical source of increased revenues could be
bottom line growth. And this was precisely what Bundy was looking at during its restructuring
phase.
Earlier scheduling by Bundy to streamline their processes with that of their clients was done for a
time lag of 15 – 30 days. This was gradually reduced to scheduling on a daily basis. This was
increasingly feasible due to emergence of newer and better technologies. The much awaited high
speed internet connectivity in the late 1990s changed the game for Bundy with faster
communication helping it to remain in touch with their suppliers and customers 24/7. An
advantage of improved synergy between vendors and customers was the ability to shut 'stores' or
inventory godowns, resulting in further cost reduction.
With this Bundy streamlined its Supply Chain System as well. They entered into partnership with
their suppliers. They successfully removed the intermediate vendors and distributors and became
Tier 1 supplier to Toyota and Maruti. With the supply chain getting organised in the automotive
components industry, Bundy was able to reap the benefits of cost reduction.

#6 Strategy
Organizations that embark on change must have a clear idea what they want to accomplish. An
organization’s strategy spells out the direction of change.
Bundy had spelled out 3 major strategic moves:
 3 pronged strategy

VAVE
SQCT
(value added value
engineering) (Service Quality Cost
Technology)

Failure Mode
Analysis

Value Added Value Engineering: this strategy was all about looking up at their products not
merely as products but an integrated solution being provided to their clients. They decided to
actively participate in R&D activities to manufacture improved products with better
consistencies and materials to fit better into automobiles.
SQCT: was just that – laying emphasis on the services provided to clients, the quality of their
products and services, the lowering of costs overtime and ofcourse the incorporation of latest
technology.
Failure Mode Analysis: this strategy was all about feedbacks and product and service failures. A
thorough examination post failed assignment often led to lowering of future chances of failures.
In addition to the above mentioned strategies lot of emphasis was being laid on Relationship
Management not just with external customers but also internal customers; for instance the
production department within Bundy is a customer of the materials procurement department. The
aim was to reduce time taken to serve internal customers along with external customers.

#7 Structure
Bundy had decided to implement changes in a strategic way i.e. restructuring the whole
organization to meet the external and internal pressure. Such a change almost always requires
changes in functions, roles, responsibilities, decision-making procedures & coordination
mechanism.
The company went about restructuring firstly by reworking on its mission as shown above.
Thereby Bundy went about creating teams which were both cross-functional and departmental.
These teams worked very closely as an integrated unit to perform multiple tasks more
productively and efficiently. They were also responsible for setting up of a Management
Information System and a Materials Resource Planning system for inculcating better information
and materials management.
#8 Human Resource Management
Through change management, HR has an opportunity to make a significant impact on--and
contribution to--the organization. HR is best suited to identify and coach individuals in the
company to lead change efforts. Also, by identifying and recommending change tools and
techniques, as well as addressing barriers, HR's overall role is that of 'change architect'. As
change agent, HR fulfills four primary roles:

1. Change champion: HR publicly supports the change defined by the organization's top
management.
2. Change facilitator: HR enables change, such as providing insights regarding the company
culture, history and political dynamics to external facilitators or developing programs for internal
consultants.
3. Change designer: To help managers and employees better understand a change initiative and
have a sense of ownership, HR redesigns the corresponding HR systems (e.g., total rewards, staff
development, communication practices).

4. Change demonstrator: Within HR itself, HR manifests change and serves as an example of

effective transformation.
In 1997 when the new management took control of the organisation, employee morale was at its
lowest. There was no job satisfaction or security for workers even at the managerial level, no
social security system, and no environmental norms which were followed. The management then
galvanised an HR team which made ample efforts to strengthen the HR systems, primarily to
recruit and retain talented and qualified employees, and to help employees to upgrade their skills.
There were plans to give more emphasis on the development of multi skills by rotating people in
different departments and to employ the skills and abilities of the workforce efficiently. People
management and development professionals have significant role to play in any change
management process. HR’s involvement in certain areas was identified as sometimes being the
difference between successful and less successful projects.
This is how the HR team made a difference to the company:

• Involvement at the initial stage in the project team.

• Advising project leaders on skills available within the organization – identifying any
skills gaps, training needs, new posts, new working practices etc.

• Balancing out the narrow/short-term goals with broader strategic needs.

• Assessing the impact of change in one area/department/site on another part of the

organization.

• Being used to negotiating and engaging across various stakeholders, the department was
able to understand stakeholder concerns and helped anticipate problems.

• Understanding the appropriate medium of communication to reach various groups.

 • Helping people cope with change, performance management and motivation.

• Bundy went ahead and introduced incentive schemes. A Performance Matrix was
prepared against which monthly performance was measured; while incentives were given
to the High performance workers, salary was cut for poor performance.
The outcome of Change Management in Bundy:
Changed Culture – Culture binds together specific qualities and skills that management team
possess. Changing a culture is a challenge. Cultures are created over time. They arise out of
need, in response to the system that exists to support them. Bundy had created specific customer
and people oriented cultures. Although cultures are resistant to many forms of attempted change,
but they can also be amazingly dynamic. In the right circumstances, tradition can be adaptive and
self-modifying. Understanding culture and being able to change it are crucial both to market
success for Bundy and career success for individuals working in Bundy. Bundy developed a
system of shared beliefs and attitudes that guided the behavior of its members or we can say that
Bundy developed its own corporate culture. This clearly reflected upon the performance of the
organization and specially on the quality of work life experienced by the employees at all levels
of the organizational hierarchy.
Since culture is an important aspect of organizational success, the new managing director of
Bundy played a significant role in creating a societal culture by giving special focus on family
issues to keep employees happy, satisfied and under control. A daily meeting with workforce to
create a participative behavior and giving identity and self-esteem to each employee was one of
the most commendable jobs done by the new managing director. Bundy paid continuous
attention to maintaining the established standards and sent clear signals to all the members as to
what is expected of them at all times. This would ensure that any deviations from the defined
norms are caught early so that corrective measure can be taken before any damage is done. High
moral standards and ethical code of conduct evolved in Bundy. All employees were through
various means and modes made aware of the ethical behavior expected of them.
This benefitted Bundy tremendously and as Figure 2 shows there was a rise in revenues which
has propelled Bundy to the number one slot amongst its competitors. From an average monthly
sale which was barely touched 15lakh units average monthly sale in 1996, the Bundy story took
a positive turn and as shown in the figure moved up from an average monthly sale of 30 lakh
units in 1997 to 250 lakh units in 2009 (upto October).
 Annexure
Figure 1

Market Share
10%
9%

TI Bundy
Sanoh
Coopers
Others

52%

29%

Figure 2

Average Monthly
Sale INR'K

30000

25000

20000

15000 INR'K

10000

5000

0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Questions for Discussion:
Q1. According to you was this too risky an initiative to be shown the light of the day in a sector
which was extremely competitive and where margins were wafer-thin? This strategy could have
backfired especially vis-à-vis the interventions used by the new management. Comment.
Q2. If you were hired as a consultant to the organization, what change management strategy
would you suggest for bringing Bundy India back in the global business scenario?