 Geoffrey
Foster is the Chairman and Managing
Director of Premier Fosters Pty. Ltd. He
is the inventor of the Gas Fuse Safety
Gauges, which his company manufactures.
He was in town recently, to open a factory
that would be manufacturing the Product in
the country. We caught up with him and asked
him his views on a variety of topics:
Q. Could you tell us something
about your background and what lead you to
manufacture such a niche product?
A. My association with the gas industry
dates back to the early 80s in my capacity
as a gas dealer. Being in the business I had
the misfortune to see and hear of a number
of accidents that occurred all over the world
on account of the LPG blasts. I then decided
that I had to do something to prevent the
large number of LPG related accidents
Q. When did you decide to launch your
product?
A. Initially, I took a trip to Europe
and the US to see if any of the countries
there were manufacturing the kind of product
I had in mind. When I got a negative feedback,
I decided to manufacture the product myself.
In 1985, the rough prototype was ready and
soon after, I started looking for investors.
Q. How long did it take you to find
investors and start commercial production?
A. It took me a good two and a half
years to narrow down on the right investor
and another two years before I began production.
My first product rolled out in 1990.
Q. Have you exported your product to
any country?
A. We have been exporting the product
to countries in the Asia Pacific region for
the past ten years and have achieved a turnover
of approximately ten Million Australian Dollars.
Q. What has been your investment in
India till now?
A. In India we have invested a total
of 2,50,000 Australian dollars from development
of the first prototype to the final product.
Q. What prompted you to opt for India
as your next manufacturing base?
A. My Senior Engineer Hanu Nandurkar
is an Indian and he was keen that we opened
our operations in this country. Another important
factor was that the government of New South
Wales, the state I belong to, was very supportive
of my venture to start operations in India.
In fact they have been looking for joint venture
partners who would be interested in tie-ups
in this country. The Government too is looking
at Indians who would form joint ventures and
invest in Australia especially in the Software
Field.
Q. How come you chose Pune as your base,
considering many companies would have opted
for Bangalore or Chennai?
A. The answer to this question is
very simple. My partner in this venture, Mr
Mudaliar, advised us to invest in Pune.
Q. What has been the response of the
local business community?
A. In the last six months, I have
visited India at least a dozen times and have
interacted with the local business community
a lot. I must admit that the local people
have been friendly and encouraging. I have
made a number of good friends here.
Q. You have said that you would be providing
the technical know how to the local partner.
Does that mean that you are going to station
some of your people at the factory site?
A. We have been training the local
technical staff for the last six months and
my staff has already briefed them on important
issues that need to be addressed. You could
say that 90% of the technical training is
already done. However, we do not intend to
keep any technical staff here at the factory.
Q. If, in the future, the factory
here has a technical hitch and needs assistance,
how would your team help out?
A. Simple, we have installed
an ISDN line at our factory here in Pune.
It will be a live link between the two facilities.
We are also providing a video conferencing
facility, so any problems, if any, can be
tackled headlong.
Q. To digress, what are your interests?
A. I enjoy cricket, I also like meditation,
swimming, surfing, and golf. Basically, I
enjoy life.
Interview by: Rahul Surkund |
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