New Delhi: Manufacturing as a specialized stream of management education is evolving in India. Hero MotoCorp Ltd, India’s largest two-wheeler company, is setting up the Munjal Global Manufacturing Institute (MGMI) at the new campus of the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Mohali. Operations will begin in the coming academic session. The Munjals and ISB have tied up with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management to develop the school. Charles Fine, an MIT professor and expert in supply-chain strategy, is designing the course work for MGMI. The institute will help the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector by developing case studies, giving field exposure and providing human resources to the sector, he said in an email interview. Edited excerpts:

How did this collaboration with MIT come about?

Manpower training: Fine says India needs more people who know how to identify market opportunities and pursue them by building the right products.

What kind of curriculum are you devising for MGMI?

The curriculum design builds on both the existing curriculum in operations management at ISB-Hyderabad and the MIT Leaders for Global Operations programme. In particular, we are planning to develop and offer courses in operations management, global supply-chain networks, product innovation and development, manufacturing and operations innovation, lean production and six sigma, sustainable manufacturing and operations, operations strategy, pricing strategy and operations, operations for entrepreneurs, and performance management. In addition to the courses, we intend to have each student participate in a team-based, for-credit experiential learning project to work on challenges set in a participating manufacturing company.

What is the scope of the relationship?

Formally, the agreement proposes that MIT Sloan faculty (primarily, at first, myself and my colleague, Prof. Vivek Farias), will support and advise ISB on curriculum and course development, faculty hiring and development, and research collaboration and development. As the relationship evolves, we will hopefully bring more MIT faculty to be involved with various aspects of the manufacturing research and education programmes. In parallel to the MGMI relationship, MIT has also agreed to collaborate with ISB on a second institute at the Mohali campus—the Punj Lloyd Institute of Physical Infrastructure Management. The MIT professor coordinating this relationship is Richard de Neufville, professor of engineering systems and civil and environmental engineering.

With India focusing on manufacturing, what role can MGMI play?

The manufacturing sector in India will grow as the nation grows a talent base infused with vision, leadership, and manufacturing knowhow. India needs more people who know how to identify market opportunities and pursue them by building the right products and manufacturing capabilities. The challenge is to comprehend manufacturing both at a micro level (design and management of factory and people systems) and at a macro level (design and management of end-to-end value chains). MGMI research and curriculum will work to build a knowledge base and curriculum to deliver this broad range of knowledge and skills to managers and entrepreneurs in India.

Is there any specific element that Hero MotoCorp wants incorporated in the curriculum?

Sunil Munjal (joint managing director Hero MotoCorp) sits on the advisory council for MGMI and, so far, in our meetings, he has expressed only desires consistent with building a world-class institution to support all of India’s manufacturing needs. To date, I have seen no evidence that there is an agenda to support any specific needs of the Hero group. In fact, after touring one of Hero’s motorbike factories, I believe that Hero has achieved a level of manufacturing excellence that is literally world class and that Hero is more likely to be a source of knowledge that we can bring to the MGMI constituencies. In fact, last week (29 December), MGMI offered its first executive workshop, a one-day programme called Operations for Entrepreneurs, which drew attendees (small business owners) from across India, including Kolkata, Hyderabad, and the greater area around New Delhi. We asked the Hero group to host the meeting and to offer a factory tour. Many of the attendees had never seen such a sophisticated manufacturing plant and their eyes were opened significantly by the experience. Its purpose was to begin to engage the SME manufacturing sector in India so that we might write cases about their challenges— for use in the classroom—and so that we might recruit them to host student internship projects as a part of the curriculum we intend to offer.

What is your sense of the demand for executive education in India?

To date, we have been focusing our efforts on getting the curriculum for the Mohali PGP (MBA) programme up and running. I expect that there is a significant market for manufacturing executive education in India and that MGMI will be able to offer attractive programmes in this space, but we have not yet begun planning a curriculum for that set of opportunities.

Your research focuses on supply-chain strategy and value chain road mapping. Is this going to feature in the MGMI curriculum? Can this be applied in the Indian context?

At MIT, we have typically distinguished what we call “SMALL M” manufacturing, which occurs within the four walls of a factory, and “BIG M” manufacturing, which addresses all of the activities along the end-to-end value chain. The MIT LGO (Leaders for Global Operations) programme has always struck a balance between the two, with a belief that a firm or a nation cannot be successful in one without the other. My research has focused much more on the “BIG M” issues and I do believe that it is an appropriate domain for ISB and MGMI research and curricula.

prashant.n@livemint.com