Date:19/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/19/stories/2005101909790500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Come up with new ideas, HAL Chairman tells young engineers

Staff Reporter

`The company will fund promising projects'

BANGALORE: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Chairman Ashok K. Baweja has urged young engineers and designers to start new aeronautical projects that could propel the company towards its mission to emerge as a key player in global aerospace technologies.

Mr. Baweja promised that the company will fund all projects which could help take on the challenges of future aviation programmes.

`Speak out'

Inaugurating the training programme for this year's management and design trainees at HAL's Ghatage Convention Centre on Monday, Mr. Baweja said: "We will fund every unique idea of yours. We will fund your dreams. Speak out, talk boldly, and we will listen."

Terming HAL an ocean of opportunities, Mr. Baweja said he hopes the company will join the elite $3 billion club in five years. "We want to take more work. We want to deliver products to our customers quicker. The lean concept is in and we must cut cost and time by half and double the output," Mr. Baweja, a 1972 batch management trainee of HAL, said.

He said HAL will offer a lifetime of challenges and learning opportunities for those who want to get onto the fast career-path. "My vision is to see our products in countries far and wide," he added.

One-year training

This is the first time in HAL history that over 250 management and design trainees have been recruited in one batch from various parts of the country. The trainees, selected from over 28,600 aspirants, will undergo a one-year training programme with the HAL Management Academy. On completion of the programme, the design and management trainees will be posted to various complexes and divisions of HAL.