TRAINING

COMPANY PROFILE L &T was founded in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1938 by two Danish engineers, Henning Holck-Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro. Both of them were strongly committed to developing India's engineering capabilities to meet the demands of industry Beginning with the import of machinery from Europe, L&T rapidly took on engineering and construction assignments of increasing sophistication. Today, the company sets global engineering benchmarks in terms of scale and complexity. Henning Holck-Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro, school-mates in Denmark, would not have dreamt, as they were learning about India in history classes that they would, one day, create history in that land. In 1938, the two friends decided to forgo the comforts of working in Europe, and started their own operation in India. All they had was a dream. And the courage to dare. Their first office in Mumbai (Bombay) was so small that only one of the partners could use the office at a time!

In 1944, ECC was incorporated. Around then, L&T decided to build a portfolio of foreign collaborations. By 1945, the Company represented British manufacturers of equipment used to manufacture products such as hydrogenated oils, biscuits, soaps and glass. In 1945, L&T signed an agreement with Caterpillar Tractor Company, USA, for marketing earthmoving equipment. At the end of the war, large numbers of war-surplus Caterpillar equipment were available at attractive prices, but the finances required were beyond the capacity of the partners. This prompted them to raise additional equity capital, and on 7th February 1946, Larsen & Toubro Private Limited was born. Independence and the subsequent demand for technology and expertise offered L&T the opportunity to consolidate and expand. Offices were set up in Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras) and New Delhi. In 1948, fifty-five acres of undeveloped marsh and jungle was acquired in Powai. Today, Powai stands as a tribute to the vision of the men who transformed this uninhabitable swamp into a manufacturing landmark.

EXPANDING HORIZONS By 1964, L&T had widened its capabilities to include some of the best technologies in the world. In the decade that followed, the company grew rapidly, and by 1973 had become one of the Top-25 Indian companies. In 1976, Holck-Larsen was awarded the Magsaysay Award for International Understanding in recognition of his contribution to India's industrial development. He retired as Chairman in In the decades that followed, the company grew into an engineering major under the guidance of leaders like N. M. Desai, U. V. Rao, S. D. Kulkarni and A. M. Naik.

TRAINING PROCEDURE Companies succeed in today's free market economy, only because their employees perform to their fullest potential. Alive to this home truth,ECC draws up an annual training calendar, highlighting the training activities for the year. Inputs to formulate this training plan are taken from the performance review form, by interacting with Regional Offices and the higher echelons of the management on the present and future requirements of the construction industry. It also includes detailed discussions of the faculty training plan includes civil, mechanical, electrical, finance related and behavioural programmes, covering a wide cross-section of employees, as follows: A week long Supervisory Development Programme and a 10 day Executive Development Programme are designed to provide an exposure to functional management and behavioural skills to the site based engineers

Development of managerial staff is through intensive two-week long programmes providing exposure to holistic understanding of the business, Strategic Planning, Customer Relationship, Enhancing Shareholder Value, Financial Management.  For middle management, there is an exclusive nine-day programme, designed in collaboration with Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad. For top level management, there is an arrangement with Management Development Institute, Gurgaon to conduct development programmes at Company's Management Development Center, Lonavla

Employees increasingly feel, "Let me learn at my own choice of time, topic and pace!" To make this happen, ECC promoted the concept of self-learning. Training Desks ( Multi-media computers) are available in the Head Office, Regional Offices and factories of ECC. Various CD ROMs and CBTs of varied operational, behavioral, finance, quality related topics are made available to enable the employees learn at their own pace. ECC strongly believes that to be in business, upgradation of employees' knowledge and skills is essential. Hence investment in Human Resources is one of the top priorities of the Management.