My First Outage Experience

In my capacity as a Maintenance Planning Engineer at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), I was primarily involved in tasks that required strategizing and organizing. Working for a multi-billion dollar enterprise, I saw the effects of operational efficiency on the Balance Sheet. This experience has driven me in my pursuit of delivering better performance with every attempt and has shaped my decision to pursue a career in Industrial Engineering (IE), a field that strives to increase productivity and efficiency by systematic study and application of non-traditional methods.

At HPCL's 7.6MMTPA refinery, I was a part of the team which ensured that all production units were maintained to operate at optimal capacity, round the clock.

I was chosen to procure the replacement, for which I had to fly 500 miles on a moment's notice. This seven hour return trip was satisfying, not only for bringing down HPCL's potential loss margins from 250,000 to 70,000, but also for ingraining in me the importance of meticulous planning in mitigating losses. Consequently, I led a four person team to catalogue and update equipment spare parts in a database. I further compiled a checklist that leveraged the data to streamline and double-check the material planning process, thereby reducing the probability of another last-minute

Both these entities were established to create a common platform for students with like interests to apply their theoretical knowledge to innovate. My efforts towards catering to students' interests earned me the position of Chief Coordinator (Second In-charge) for Technovanza 2008, VJTI's national level techno-management festival. The experience gave me a perspective that I could never have gained in a classroom. My leadership abilities, interpersonal skills and decision making prowess were honed when I supervised the functions of over 60 members in Finance, Logistics, Infrastructure and Event Design teams for the festival as well as the