LIFE AND CAREER

THEKKA CHERUVATH CHANDRAN was born on 2nd January 1937 at Thrissur as the third son of Thekke Adiyatt Damodara Menon and Thekke Cheruvath Daya.

He had his early education at CMS High School in Thrissur and completed his graduation in Mathematics and Statistics (54-56) from Kerala Verma College. He completed his degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1960.

In 1961, he went to Germany for Post-Graduate training at a shipyard in Germany. He pursued his Mechanical Engineering studies on AC/Refrigeration at ASTRASTAHL. This company specializes on refrigeration for dairy farms.

In 1964 he left Germany and came to India to join the Kaira District Co op Milk Producer's Union Ltd, Anand, Gujarat, India as Deputy Engineer, and worked there for 15 years. In 1978, he left for Singapore after resigning from AMUL as assistant General Manager.

At Anand, he was responsible for the setting up of the second dairy. He was also involved in the production and equipment maintenance and training of engineering and production staff. He was involved in energy conservation, research on conventional and renewable energy sources like Solar Energy and Biogas.

He also designed, installed, and commissioned the first community Biogas Plant in Kaira District, Gujarat, India, supplying cooking gas to over 50 families. He set up a water treatment plant for factory effluent and this facility supplied potable water to the factory. He was closely associated with National Dairy Development Board, India for developing dairies in India and was responsible for setting up factories for manufacturing cattle feed, weaning food for babies, and chocolate. By effectively using a Grant from National Committee on Science and Technology, Govt. of India, he set up the first solar assisted Spray Drier in India.

He then joined Standard Brand Singapore in 1978 as its Technical Director. He was responsible for setting up the operation of this company in Singapore and subsequently for the transfer of technology from the USA to Asia of PLANTERS Stackable Potato Chip, PLANTERS variety of snacks including roasted nuts, extruded cheese balls and cheese curls.

In 1989, he left this company to join Danone in Malaysia. He joined there as its General Manager. He helped the bakery expand by increasing its production capacity. By sourcing the equipment from local manufacturers, he was able to reduce imports and lower the project costs. The expansion of the factory was completed successfully resulting in record production.

In 1995, he joined the Nebisco group and was posted in China as the Vice-President (Manufacturing). He helped in the expansion of the existing factory in Beijing and a new factory in Suzhou and Shanghai. The new factory is one of the most modern bakeries in China. Later he was appointed as the Vice President (Logistics) to support the supply chain in China.

In 1998, he returned to Malaysia from China and started his own company, DATA ENERGY to advice entrepreneurs to start new projects and help existing companies to expand their business. The company is involved in the following services.

• Turnkey Engineering Projects.
  
• Design layout, construction, and commissioning of new factories.
  
• Modification of the layout to improve Productivity.
  
• Import Substitution and development of indigenous technology and local products.
  
• Specialization in Food and Snack industries.
  
• Research and Development in the Engineering field.
  
• Desalination of seawater (including brackish water) to provide potable water.
  
• Reengineering of companies to improve productivity and profitability.

He is married to Rajeshwari, and has two children, Pushpa, and Praveen Chandran.