Harshwardhan Gupta, Founder & Owner, Neubauplan Machine Design Studio

Yourstory caught up with the elusive Harshwardhan and asked him what Neubauplan was all about. He replied “We are a small machine design firm. Many of our designs have been runaway successes for our clients, and thus they have benefited thousands of users and brought up those companies too.”

As far as machine designers go they are as different as it gets…“We are one of the very few machine design firms who work from the First Principles of engineering on absolutely original problems, which often have no precedence anywhere in the world. This is unique and we have had some highly notable successes. We have always taken full responsibility right from developing the concept to proving the first machine”.

His unique bid at success has been fruitful but he is also not sitting on past laurels; Harshwardhan outlines his blueprint for the future saying “My business model is really very difficult to be scaled up. Machine design is a difficult and demanding art. We are open to training those young designers who wish to make Machine Design their calling.”

He chose this line of work as he believes that it offers him more, he says “A lot more professional challenges, satisfaction and money this way!” Being a company that has weathered many storms since 1981 he says his biggest challenges were to survive the various downturns. “We adapted and came out at the top again and again.”

He also remembers an incident when he was beginning his business which was a blunder of sorts for a mechanical engineer. He says “We accepted an assignment to design a pile-foundation drilling machine, which asked for a much greater output with the same power input. We did not realize we were trying to violate principles of physics. We failed miserably.”

Since a humble start in 1981, Neubauplan has grown steadily in terms of earnings, but has been limited by a vast shortage of committed and capable machine designers whom it could employ and grow with. Harshwardhan considers Neubauplan’s fame and reputation to be testament to its achievements over the years. For a list of accolades and recognitions too numerous to mention here, you can go to

http://www.livemint.com/2007/05/24010035/Harshwardhan-Gupta--A-designe.html

http://www.neubauplan.com/accolades.htm

http://www.neubauplan.com/IPF-November-06-Industry%20plus.pdf

http://www.neubauplan.com/BusinessIndia.PDF

The fairytale has also had a few glitches in the system and had a monkey wrench thrown into the works at times. Harshwardhan recalls “Yes, in 1999 a big client let us down very badly, and we almost closed shop, but resisted the pressures, survived, and never looked back.”

In fact by 2010 Neubauplan plans to create many more original designs, to train more machine designers, and to build bridges with other kinds of designers.

He says “We never ran after public awards, but accolades have come in many unexpected ways. Once, a team of very senior design engineers from Germany saw a very original, complex packaging machine designed by us, went under the machine to look at its innards, and remarked, ‘Mr. Gupta, this looks like a German machine!’” With his years of experience and vast expertise Harshwardhan has some useful advice to the budding entrepreneur saying “Whatever you do, do it well, a work well done is a reward in itself."

“Think for yourself; don't go by custom and tradition. Develop your knowledge matrix on your own - observe, read, learn, think, connect, store... Put Design above your Self - it's more than a career, it’s a calling. Innovativeness is neither a commodity nor an inventory item. Need-to-know policy is the domain of the secret services, not of innovators.”

And lastly, “It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings!”