Jaipuria Institute of Management, Jaipur recently organized industry visits for its students of PGDM Batch 2013-15, which turned out to be an enriching experience for them. The students had the opportunity to visit two reputed industries in Neemrana, Ginni International and Richlite Pvt. Ltd., on March 31st. This experience helped students get practical industry exposure and see how the concepts they learn at the institute are put into practice.

Ginni International Ltd. is a leading textile factory in Neemrana, Rajasthan and focuses on manufacturing denims. The highlight for the company is that 80% of its products are exported while only a 20% are sold locally in India. The company also employs 2000 workers, making a huge difference to the local economy. Richlite Pvt. Ltd., on the other hand, is a newly set up Biscuit manufacturing company, which today is doing its best to grow its market share.

Ginni International was the first stop on the day for students where they were briefed by HR and Training Manager Mr. S. K. Jena. He talked about the task of managing a large workforce and training them to work with the machines. The factory visit was an eye-opening experience for students as they got a chance to witness the process of making Denim and grill fabric. Students also realized the importance of seminars – the company organizes seminars on a regular basis to keep the morale of its workforce high.

One of the students, Ashish Kumar Mishra, pointed out, “We got an insight into the working environment of the company and how it functions. We also got information related to practical aspects of the concepts learned in our programme, which simply cannot be visualized in classroom lectures.” According to student Tuhina Rani, “The chance to interact with industry associates, sharing their views and concerns for workers and the understanding of the production process, made the experience truly worth it.”

The group then headed to Richlite Ltd. where they could witness the process of making biscuits firsthand. Right from converting raw flour through various stages of mixing, moulding, baking, cooling and packing, students observed all the processes involved and gained important insight into them. The General Manager, HR, then talked more about the training program the company offers its employees. Students also learned about motivational initiatives for workers and initial marketing techniques used by the company.

With Richlite Ltd. being a new organization, it was interesting for students to see how it planned to grow in the future. They were told about the long term plans the company has, which made a lot of sense to future management professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs in the group. One of them, Shweta Parihar, had an interesting take on the visit: “We discovered a whole new world today and it made one thing clear; it’s easy to eat biscuits but very difficult to make them.” Clearly, the students had come back with some food for thought.