Milind Gurjar
Nearly four decades building glass manufacturing businesses from bare ground to steady operation, and the teams that run them.
“Culture drives profit, and authentic leadership drives culture.”The belief I work by
A calm engineer who dislikes standing still
I often introduce myself as a “27-year-young” professional: curious, energetic and still driven, even after nearly four decades in the flat, container and solar glass industry. I grew across the whole glass value chain, from engineer on the shop floor to Managing Director, and worked across both B2B and B2C segments.
I am an engineer by training and temperament. I value discipline and structure, yet I get restless with routine, so I keep changing my approach in search of something better. I know the Indian glass market closely: its regulations, its changing customer expectations, and how much rides on product quality.
I have learned that results come from people. The plants I am proudest of are the ones where teams felt trusted, took ownership and stayed. Honesty, integrity, dedication, ownership and trust are the values I try to live by at work and at home.
Today I advise promoters on glass and solar glass projects through ARCVS Technology, which I co-founded, serve as an advisor to Ultra Group, and am training as a coach so I can help other leaders find their own strengths and blind spots, as a coach once helped me find mine.
From the furnace floor to the boardroom
-
2022 – present
Co-founder
ARCVS TechnologyAn advisory platform for glass and solar glass projects. We guide promoters and organisations on feasibility, technology selection, engineering integration and execution strategy, drawing on a global network of technology partners.
-
Present
Advisor
Ultra GroupAdvising Ultra Group, a facility management, cleaning and waste management company, on its journey from a proprietary firm to a professionally managed company: building system-driven processes and leading the next phase of growth.
-
2020 – 2022
Business Head
Vishakha GlassLed the conceptualisation, design and execution of a 600 tonnes-per-day greenfield solar glass furnace, India's largest, a landmark for solar energy manufacturing in the country. Pioneered solar glass backward integration through a joint venture with Adani.
-
Dec 2019 – Jun 2020
Country Head, India
Elemental Holding SALed the effort to establish Elemental Holding's footprint in India.
-
Sep 2018 – Sep 2019
Chief Executive Officer
Gujarat Borosil Ltd (now Borosil Renewables)Moved a legacy, person-dependent organisation to a system-based one, where teams make decisions independently from data rather than perception.
- Launched Parivartan, an umbrella programme for operational excellence and accountability: daily work management, 3S, 7 QC tools, structured problem solving and behavioural training
- Introduced industrial IoT to strengthen shop-floor decision-making
- Optimised manpower by 109 people through time-and-motion study, with furnace productivity held high
- Shifted marketing from push to pull ahead of a capacity expansion
-
Oct 2012 – Aug 2018
Managing Director
Canpack India Pvt. Ltd.Built a greenfield container glass plant from scratch and made the company a cost and quality benchmark in a market with surplus capacity.
- Commissioned a 900 TPD plant (two 450 TPD furnaces) in 14 months, an investment of over $110 million
- Reached full capacity in the second year of operation, two years ahead of schedule
- Delivered $49 million turnover and target EBITDA in the first year, with full legal compliance
- Cut bottle weight by over 60% with new technology, then applied it to non-round bottles, a first
- Produced India's first blue bottles coloured in the furnace rather than the forehearth
- Eliminated 90% of job-change time through SMED
- Built the culture alongside the plant: a Gallup employee engagement survey, family days, sports facilities, a runners' club and hobby sessions for employees' children
-
Mar 1994 – Oct 2012
Vice President, Operations
Asahi India Glass (AIS)Eighteen years running float glass at scale: two float lines (500 TPD and 700 TPD) and four architectural glass units across India.
- Reduced float line downtime to under 1% a year, recognised at the Asahi Glass Technical Meet in Indonesia
- Achieved one of the longest float furnace lives in the industry, over 19 years
- Led the first waste heat recovery system in the glass industry
- Cut energy use by 7% through alternate energy sources as a member of the corporate energy committee
- Reduced Float Plant 1 manpower by 40%, from 1,140 to 627 in four years, through automation
- Designed and commissioned an in-house jumbo (6′ × 12′) glass unloading machine at half the import cost
- Restored the entire plant within 92 days after the July 2005 floods
- Completed a feasibility study for a 700 TPD float plant in Saudi Arabia within three months
- Spoke on energy efficiency in glass manufacturing at the 3rd Annual Energy Efficiency India conference
-
Feb 1991 – Mar 1994
Plant Engineer
Hoechst India Ltd -
May 1987 – Feb 1991
Shift Engineer
Saurashtra ChemicalsWhere it started: fresh from engineering college, on shift at a chemical plant.
How I lead
I lead by example and try to show my principles in daily routine. I delegate by matching work to each person's strengths, give people room to work independently, and stand by them when things get hard. I believe respect for each person's identity and point of view is the start of real collaboration.
Integrity
Seen across every respondent as honest, straightforward and value-driven, with no appetite for office politics.
Empowerment
Trusting, fair and unbiased; delegates well and engages every level, from department heads to the shop floor.
Execution
Plans thoroughly and follows up on every assigned task, a system colleagues asked to learn.
Composure
Calm under pressure, listens closely, and prefers to settle disagreements amicably.
Includer
Notices who is left out and brings them in.
Arranger
Organises people and resources into the most productive setup, and adapts it when things change.
Responsibility
Takes ownership of every commitment and sees it through.
Belief
Holds steady core values that give work a clear purpose.
Relator
Builds close, genuine relationships and works hard alongside them.
Responsibility, Relator and Arranger were also in my top five in 2015, alongside Positivity and Developer: the things that stay constant are ownership, relationships and organising people well.
Education, governance and coaching
Formal education
- 2009 – 2010Postgraduate Certificate in Business ManagementXLRI Jamshedpur
- 2004Project ManagementIIT Delhi
- 1987B.E., Mechanical EngineeringNational Institute of Technology, Raipur
Coaching, with Coacharya
Pursuing International Coaching Federation (ICF) certification with Coacharya, chosen for its roots in Eastern philosophy and its inward focus on self-awareness over technique.
To me, coaching is a journey of self-discovery: helping people see their strengths and blind spots, break free of limiting beliefs, and lead with more purpose.
Board governance
Registered with the Independent Director's Databank maintained by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and qualified its Online Proficiency Self-Assessment Test in February 2024. I bring operating experience from the furnace floor to the boardroom, together with formal grounding in Indian corporate governance.
- Duties of Directors
- Due Diligence Before Joining a Board
- Institution of Directors
- Building Resilient Company Boards
- Exemplary Board
- Evaluation of Independent Directors
- Key Managerial Personnel
- Related Party Transactions
- General Meetings
- Safeguarding Directors
- Professional Ethics
- Oppression and Mismanagement
- Penalties and Compounding of Offences
- Accounts of Companies
- How to Read a Balance Sheet
- Managing Through Financial Ratios
- Acceptance of Deposits
- Debentures and Bonds
- Mergers and Amalgamations
- Three core modules of the IICA programme
Beyond work
Running, rackets and yoga
Running began as a decision to change my health and became a personal transformation. Within two years I completed four half-marathons across India. It taught me that once I commit to a goal, persistence and structure carry me forward.
I also founded a runners' club for employees and trained 65 members to complete a half-marathon in just six months. At work I set up sports facilities on the shop floor and organise regular sporting events for team health and bonding.
Off the road I play badminton, table tennis and pool, and I practise yoga regularly.
Social service
At every plant I have led, I have tried to make work a place for families too, starting family days, sports facilities and hobby sessions for employees' children.
I am associated with Savitribai Phule Mahila Ekatma Samaj Mandal in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), a non-profit working for community health, education, livelihoods and the environment, with special care for women, children and tribal communities.
Books I return to
Colleagues tell me I live by the lines in the books I read and share. These are the ones I keep recommending, across spirituality, psychology, leadership and a little fiction.
Get in touch
For glass and solar glass project advisory, independent director roles, leadership coaching, or a conversation about a good book.