An informal centre for continuous learning and development, christened Catalyst was started at Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Limited, Berigai in April 1997. The centre focuses on enhancing the knowledge and skills of personnel in multi-disciplinary areas relevant to the business. Lectures/ training sessions on management and technical subjects are conducted in-house at least thrice a month.
The faculty is drawn from within and outside the organisation. In addition, experts in specific fields are also invited to share their expertise. Representatives of vendors with a technical background are also encouraged to deliver lectures here.
The lectures include technical topics such as profiles of new products introduced, water quality, occupational hazards, and management topics like benchmarking and employee motivation. Corporate policies are communicated to personnel through Catalyst.
About 120 lectures have been delivered so far. Catalyst enables employees to hone their communication skills through the lectures they deliver. It also provides an opportunity for individual development, which in turn contributes to the enhancement of the quality of human resources employed.
Prof. U R Rao, Principal, Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur, delivering a lecture on the principles of chemical engineering.
Audience in rapt attention at a lecture session.
K R P Shenoy, Astra IDL, Bangalore, explaining the current manufacturing practices in bulk drug industry.
A lecture on a new product launch in progress.