Industrial Visit to Medium & Scale Industries of Udupi District 2019

An Industrial Visit was organized for the students of III semester of Poornaprajna Institute of Management on 07^th December 2019 to the Medium and Small Scale Industries of the Udupi district.

First and foremost, the students visited the Dakshina Kannada Co-operative Milk Producers Union Ltd, located in Havanje where the students witnessed an elaborate process of milk processing. The hi-tech production was explained very patiently by Mr Sadananda, the supervisor of the plant, who took the students across the newly inaugurated production unit. He elaborately provided information about the collection, heating, pasteurizing, maintenance, packing and finally distribution of the milk and the milk products. The students were also shown the latest automated technology which required minimum human intervention for milk processing. Students were taken across the Quality Control lab where both, the unprocessed and processed milk are monitored for quality assurance. The students also viewed the Boiler section where the steam energy was produced to clean the machinery after the different production processes. Finally, all the students were provided with a complimentary Nandini beverage for visiting the facility.

Further, the students visited Rural Development and Self Employment Training Institute (RUDSETI) at Brahmavar, where Prof. Karunakar Jain, faculty explained in detail about the self-development and self-employment training that was provided at the institute. He explained about how skills are enhanced so that people can become entrepreneurs who can achieve their dreams and also be a role model for others. He shared success stories of various entrepreneurs who had nothing when they started but today are legends in the world of business.

The student’s next visit was stationed at Barkur to Mookambika cement molding factory popularly known as Shettigar industries owned by Mr.Srinivas Shettigar where a variety of concrete products were being manufactured both manually and with the help of machines. The students got to have a look at various products like a concrete kennel, park bench, paver blocks, garden images and idols, precast drain, RCC wall, concrete compound wall, manhole cover, concrete door and window frame, kilometer stones, fence posts and more than 1000 variety of products. The venture was proof of how a small scale industry can become a large scale enterprise thus proving to be a good motivation for the MBA students to start their own ventures.

Post lunch the students moved to Tissue culture plantation namely Annapoorna Nursery at Pethri, which gave a lot of information regarding how the process of tissue culture is being made. The owner of the facility Mr. K.S. Prasad explained his adventure journey right from his days of struggle to the current day where he employs more than 50 employees and how a small business has become a small scale enterprise is admired as one of the successful ventures in the districts. The students were taken around the nursery where different varieties of plants and saplings ranging from decorative plants to fruit-bearing plants were being grown. The visit to the horticulture site not only gave the students insights on the entrepreneurial vision but also how to serve the society with minimum resources. The students also had a nice time enjoying the lush green nature and the peaceful environment which is a very rare sight these days.

The final visit of the day was scheduled at Vinayak Cashew Industries, Karje which was again a success story of a young entrepreneur Mr. Gopal Naik who was running the business not only for profit but also to provide employment to the local women around the place. Mr. Gopal explained in detail the various process that was involved in boiling the cashew nuts followed by the cutting and the final segregation of the cashew. He exhibited the cashew nuts that were imported from Bangladesh and took the students near the boiler area which was used to heat and boil the cashew nuts. Mr. Gopal was generous enough by allowing the students to pick the cashews as a token of love for visiting the facility. In the end, tea and refreshments were served for the visitors.