The familiar part belonged to a different revision

The spare part looked right in the catalogue. It belonged to the same product family and used a description the service team recognised. What it did not show clearly enough was the revision it fitted. In a review of 170 requests, twenty-nine selections referred to an incompatible revision. The problem was not solved by asking colleagues to be more careful. We needed a clearer connection between the product in use, the replacement being selected and the authority behind that compatibility decision.

I was born in 1973 and completed a BE in Mechanical Engineering at Ovrelia Engineering College in May 1995. In July I joined Belnavi Fabrication Works in Rourkela as a production engineer. I worked in a thirteen-person engineering team under the production manager, without an independent budget or hiring authority. The firm made fabricated assemblies for regional industrial customers. I learned to respect the difference between something that looked complete and something that had been checked against the specification the customer was entitled to expect.

In July 2001 I moved to Ruzhevi Assistive Products in Cuttack as a production engineer. I became production manager in 2005, with sixty-two staff and ₹4.8 crore annual operating expense. The company had 140 employees and ₹22 crore revenue in FY 2001 when I joined. I completed a part-time postgraduate diploma in Operations Management at Tershavi Operations Institute in November 2004. Assistive products gave production decisions a more visible life after dispatch. The work had to connect manufacture with servicing and the needs identified by appropriate professionals, rather than assume that the workshop's completion point was also the customer's.

I became Ruzhevi's plant head in January 2009. The company employed 260 people and recorded ₹61 crore revenue in FY 2009. My remit included 138 plant colleagues, ₹18 crore annual operating expense and ₹1.4 crore approved capital expenditure. I learned to lead through supervisors and to bring quality concerns into the operating plan early. A delayed order could create commercial pressure, but that did not give operations the authority to replace a technical assessment with a more convenient conclusion. The plant needed a funded response to the finding, not a reason to avoid hearing it.

In May 2016 I joined Kelthavi Mobility Devices as operations director. Kelthavi employed 280 people across two workshops and had recorded ₹83 crore revenue in FY 2016. I led 175 operations colleagues through three managers, with ₹31 crore annual operating expense and ₹2.1 crore approved capital expenditure. The ownership group wanted manufacturing and service considered together. I spent more time following a product after dispatch: which part the service team could identify, how a repair was arranged and what a customer had been told while the work remained unfinished.

I became chief operating officer in October 2021. Today Kelthavi operates three workshops in Rourkela, Cuttack and Ranchi, with 380 employees. FY 2026 revenue was ₹126 crore and operating profit ₹13.6 crore. The employee ownership trust holds 38%, the founding family 22% and a patient-capital investor 40%. I lead 230 operations colleagues through five managers, with ₹46 crore annual operating expense and ₹3.6 crore approved annual capital expenditure. Pranav Deshveli is our chief executive. Salome Nerzani leads engineering and quality, retaining technical assessment and product-release authority through qualified teams.

The recent cases describe the choices that now occupy me. We revised the way spare parts are selected after identifying twenty-nine incompatible revision selections. We funded a temporary loan pool for repair situations, with suitability considered before use, and kept four unresolved repairs visible at the checkpoint. We organised a response to a hold on ninety-four undispatched units without overruling engineering's disposition. We also revised service instructions after twelve of forty-two technicians made unit-conversion errors in a defined task, then retained the five who still needed further training after the repeat.

I am not a clinician and do not prescribe a mobility aid for an individual. My experience concerns manufacturing and service operations, with professional decisions retained by the appropriate people. I have no current directorship. I registered with India's independent directors databank in January 2026 and have not yet passed its proficiency assessment; I do not claim an exemption. I am considering one external board contribution after preparation and the necessary reviews. I would bring experience of asking what an operating milestone leaves unresolved, and of funding the work behind a quality or service commitment without pretending that a production measure proves every outcome that matters.

Open to Board appointments

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