Southern Electronics started its journey under the leadership of Bhaskar M R in 1989, 7 years after his family bought the firm. What was handed to him as a skeleton, is now a full-fleshed and full-fledged successful venture. The company was initially into electronic components, but with the direction and management of Bhaskar, now has developed versatility in manufacturing various kinds of products.
Embodying the notion of Growth, for the Enterprise
Southern Electronics (Bangalore) Private Limited came about in the year 1971 and came into Bhaskar M R’s family fold in 1981. The year marked their voyage into entrepreneurship. A full four decades on, Southern Electronics is amongst the premier organizations in India that cater to sectors as far apart as aerospace, defense, mining, and environmental protection. Once a producer of electronic components, the company today provides designs, development, manufacturing, product support, and MRO activities in varied fields and by their admission has a record of delivering value to customers through expertise, efficient operations, and quality systems.
Ownership passed to his family, and one of the first things they did was to appoint a group of professionals to manage the concern’s working and affairs. At the time it became clear that the same wasn’t working with the output being way below expectations. Realization dawned that they had to have someone from the family managing the production. With the shareholders’ consent, Bhaskar was nominated to run the company given his experience and other credentials. What he inherited then was a skeleton of an organization with very little flesh. Toiling away with his team, he has over the years fleshed the organization to its present size and heft.
Before his being at the helm, the company was predominantly into manufacturing electronic components which were delivered to select organizations that manufactured transistors and resistors. Bhaskar explored various avenues for growth resulting in their first vertical: providing systems to Indian aerospace and defense needs including helicopters, and aircraft made by HAL in Bengaluru. With growth and expansion, the company has closed deals with RV Air Forces and is in regular business with them. Their business thus moved from making electronic components to producing systems for aerospace.
Solutions and Products that Dominate the Market
The company today is a known manufacturer of avionics, ground support equipment, fire protection systems, UAVs, airborne and industrial switches, aircraft harnesses, CNC Machined Components, current and potential transformers, acoustic products, and ozonators. Initially, when the company was catering to the Aerospace industry, the greatest challenge they faced was producing in lesser volume and not getting the support despite having the needed infrastructure. To overcome this challenge, Southern Electronics constructed its infrastructure and turned around the issue of turnover.
A successful organization with its measure of growth, their employee head-count today exceeds 300 of which close to 100 are local hires for after-sales customer support given their firm belief that client satisfaction is a crucial factor to remain successful. The customer-end making a difference, Bhaskar believes that this strategy has paid off because with them being happy, it’s far easier to retain them. This alone has proven to be the decisive edge over the competition.
With a strong and steady infrastructure in place, Southern Electronics plans to expand its export volumes to 15 percent of its total yearly production. To this end, they look forward to upgrading their products along with bringing newer ones while proactively increasing their expertise in them. Engineering newer products, upgrading existing ones, adding more features, and reducing costs, is their immediate concerns and goals.
Like always, their success has brought competition to their doorstep who too make similar products and have carved their share of the market. Where Southern Electronics leaves them biting the dust is in quality and the ability to adapt and learn fast and bring out products faster. That said, Bhaskar and his team do have to keep up with the latest that’s coming into the industry by being on their toes all the time. This includes being very sensitive to customer needs and knowing what the latest research has to offer in terms of better quality at lower prices. Towards this exercise, they remain perennially on the lookout for those with the right skill-sets, including resourceful consultants. The latest in technology including AI, Machine Learning, and the likes are helping them understand customer needs while also preparing newer and better products. In the space of a decade, these technologies would help them manufacture products that will solve their customers' needs.
Versatility Ingrained in the Venture and its Leader
Bhaskar heads a company that’s in the thick of technology and niche products that find applications in hi-tech industries. And he belongs to a family of Chartered Accountants! Yes, practically every member of his family is a practicing CA with abundant domain knowledge in all the fields they cater to!
That said, Bhaskar has carved his path which came across rather bluntly in an exclusive interview with Machine Maker when he shared that “I learned a lot in this journey despite not having the technical background. Had I been a technical person, the learning wouldn’t have been this much. My colleagues and company employees have helped me a lot in a long way.”
Bhaskar was given charge of the company when it was relatively small with limited resources that practically erased any opportunities for risk-taking. From the year 1989 to 2000 though they took a stand and focused on the aerospace industry only to realize that growth potential didn’t exist. Looking around, they decided on a few more areas and verticals.
There being one-of-a-kind with their products and services, they thankfully didn’t come across much competition that gave them the breathing space to focus and grow at their speed, comfortably. In this advantageous situation, Southern Electronics adapted the methods of giving deliverables on time and in various products.
Triumph: Overcoming Rises and Falls
Questioned about his most significant accomplishments, his response was obvious. He said, “At the current moment our company is doing great. We measure our success and progress when we have demanded some project in a short duration. We now focus on getting projects and solutions delivered in a short time which consequently earns us good revenue due to the strong infrastructure that we have built over the years. Our organization leans and bends more toward the values, ethics, and our culture. This is what we own up to and also are proud of.”
Bhaskar’s son, Arvind Bhaskar, also a director in the company proudly says that “Our company is now full of versatile human power, and the multi-purpose facility that we have built. When the pandemic hit us, we were able to build medical devices. In the year 2020, we manufactured ventilators for Bharat Electronics. Then in 2021, in collaboration with Scan Ray Technologies from Mysore, we produced oxygen concentrators. Our versatile facility with the people has helped us pivot and establish strong ground in other fields as well.” 
To this, Bhaskar adds that they didn’t shut down even once during the pandemic having acquired the requisite permissions from the government at the right time. That said, they had to work overtime during the pandemic due to the workload that came their way. It wasn’t the case that they did not care about the virus affecting them, but to be able to stand by the principles of the company they had to work for the public.
Bhaskar was criticized for micromanaging things, but as he mentioned, he was compelled to do that because it was at its rawest form when he had taken over. He added, “Having this talent of being able to micro-manage independently, is very important. Especially so in today’s context, to be able to bring in a systematic and organized way of doing anything in life.”
Bhaskar Dreams in his late 60s
In his 60s today, Bhaskar plans to get back to farming once he retires. His take is that “the roots of our life is in pursuing organic farming”. He would like to grow various kinds of trees and engage in horticulture on his farm in Mayiladuthurai near Thanjavur that’s close to his hometown, Kumbakonam, a town known as much for its service apartments as its hundreds of temples that bring pilgrims all year round.
He believes this is one of the ways for him to find life outside his profession post-retirement.
To inspire and support a million youngsters of the country who would later in their lives engage themselves in the manufacturing industry he says “Young people should always take decisions and steps that would work long term; that is the real mantra to success and to see one’s progress. One needs to make strategies and take steps gradually. One should not be jumping ships and must have clarity. While they are doing this, keeping ethics closer to the heart is equally important.”
