VOL. 52 ISSUE 13 MARCH 31, 2015 P105
personally regard Hero's role in India as a
social one—tasked with bringing affordable
transportation to people who are very poor,
have a low income, and who are trapped by a
lack of personal mobility? Do you regard this
as one of your main agendas at Hero?
Most definitely, especially with the more
economical smaller sized products that we are
able to get to a section of people who don't own
any vehicle, and who can't get around. Public
transportation in the countryside is not the best.
It leaves a lot to be desired. So we are helping
them in their daily lives. I do indeed have a very
strong sense of social responsibility on that front—
but on others, too.
The newest factory that we have just built in
Rajasthan is very interesting. It's very different
from a run-of-the-mill engineering industry plant.
I call it the Garden Factory, and it is actually
a garden, because on the roof we have solar
panels, under which we cultivate vegetables that
we then use to feed the workers in the canteen,
and we have solar panels on top of the roof that
provide electricity for the plant, and power the air
conditioning. This is a unique ductless concept
that's distributed via displacement ventilation, and
because of positive pressurization there's a nearly
dust free environment.
The air conditioning generates water that we
then recycle. Twice the amount of water that we
consume is given back to the soil, which is a key
issue there because of the arid local climate.
Normal factories have windows high up at a level
where the worker can't see outside, because you
want them to focus on working. But we brought
them down so that you are at one with nature,
with sunlight. We changed the whole concept of
how we are thinking about what a worker should
be doing other than just building motorbikes. And
I understand that we are only the second factory
in the world after a Volkswagen plant in the U.S.,
in Tennessee, to get a platinum IGBC rating. Nor-
mally these go to offices, retail outlets and such.
We've tried to be socially responsible as well as
environmentally aware at Hero.
The final question I have is a political one.
Has the new government in India we've heard
so much about via news and media outlets af-
fected Hero's future plans in a positive way or
a negative way?
On May 16th the election results were an-
nounced. I was already very bullish, but I didn't
know that the new government would get such
a large majority. That evening I called the whole
Hero management team together, and changed
my numbers upwards for future production. That
shows the positive sentiment I have for this new
government. I'm personally very bullish about it. I
think these guys are doing stuff in the background
in terms of future thinking which still has to come to
the floor, but will bring great benefits. I believe Mr.
Modi and his colleagues will do a great job. CN
One of Hero's
more ambitious
prototypes—
the iON—is a
futuristic hybrid
electric-hydrogen
fuel cell-powered
machine.
