I recently got an opportunity to interact with a middle management person from Gujarat Fluorochem. Below is a summary of the brief discussion. It was a casual conversation and not an interview. I am recalling the conversation in form of Q&As only for the sake of clarity.
Disclaimer: Invested. Please do your own due diligence before investing anywhere.This post should be treated only as informational and should not form the SOLE BASIS for investment.
In what capacity did you work with the company
I was General manager (technical sales) looking after South East Asia region and handling the polymer division of the company.
How has been your experience in the company
It was a good experience. Company has a “take it easy” culture. There is no sense of urgency within the company and very little pressures to meet sales targets. Management seems confident in their decisions and does not interferes with the day to day workings which helps maintaining a relaxed environment. Most people who join the company stay for a very long time. Firings are very less. Compensations are acceptable but not very high and the promotions are mostly like in government organizations.
What was your job
I was responsible for handling sales and collections from polymer division in south east asia. My job was to understand polymer market requirements, push the products to various buyers, provide technical sales support and expand sales avenues. During my short stay of 2 years with the company, I very rarely had to explore other new buyers. The company has a well established supply chain such for the polymer division. The products are easily absorbed by the market. So much so that my job was effectively reduced to rationing the products across buyers and look after after sales technical support.
why did you quit
personal reasons, have been living in Mumbai for 15 years and wanted to shift back. also wanted to move back to oil industry (chemical engineer with ~20 years experience (Chevron, UOP, BPCL etc) in oil industry in various roles). Life in Fluorochem was quite stagnant and decision making flexibility is less. Essentially, it is a family run business and they take most decisions together with a few people in senior management.
The company claims that most of its products (PTFE, PFA, PVDF etc) are specialty of grade and they have very little exposure to commodity products. How much of it is true
Within my limited experience, i can say that it is fairly accurate. The customers are mostly fixed and a big reason for this is the proprietary nature of polymers. Their competition is mostly with big players like 3M, Chemours etc. However, one often gets to hear that many of the same products are manufactured by China also but most of their capacity is absorbed within the country. These materials are very specialized in nature and any customer can not change vendors readily which creates a stickiness in the industry. Further, while china is super efficient in manufacturing, they provide very little after sales support which is a must for these specialized polymers.
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