The Pumps & Systems Editorial Advisory Board is our trusted resource for advice on industry trends and technical guidance. Who are the board members? Meet one of our newest members and Sulzer’s Head of Retrofits Americas, Manish Talwar.
Can you tell us a little bit about your career and what your current position entails?
I started at Sulzer on the graduate program in the Leeds facility, working through a number of departments ranging from engineering to business improvement. I currently work as the head of retrofit Americas, working with the retrofit specialists on developing solutions to pump reliability and efficiency improvements for our end users.
What excites you most about the current direction of the industry? What are your concerns?
Energy efficiency is becoming a topic of interest around the world, and especially with the Paris Agreement and companies starting to set out their climate goals, pump efficiency—given the number of install base and power consumed—can play a vital part in helping meet these targets. I also feel we have a duty as a manufacturer to provide insights and help end users run equipment as efficiently as possible to ensure sustainability. I am concerned in some ways that the operation of the equipment usually gets overlooked, but in others I see it as an opportunity to really help our end users make an impact on savings.
Can you tell us about a time in your career where you made a mistake and what you learned from it?
There have been numerous times, but this is where I feel we as people grow the most. On a project for an end user, we had developed a project that didn’t go to plan and Sulzer needed to ensure we delivered as promised. A large learning point for me was that it doesn’t matter how big or small the mistake is but taking ownership of those mistakes, showing how you will ensure it won’t happen again, working together as a partnership and having clear two-way communication helps to ensure that projects move in the right direction.
What is a project or accomplishment you’re most proud of in your career?
Scaling the retrofit teams globally has been one of my largest accomplishments. Seeing the development of people through the business and ensuring that we are able to support our end users with technical solutions globally couldn’t have been achieved without the teams around the world—from the factories to the service centers or our companies leaderships faith in myself and the team.
What do you enjoy most about working in this industry?
When you think about what we do working on pumps, turbines and electromechanical equipment, it seems small or lesser known to people. Also when you explain to people outside the industry who you work for, a lot may not have heard of us. But if you do a kind of “pinch to zoom out,” the bigger picture is we keep the electricity powering the lights and switches in your house/office, the water coming out of the taps and the fuel that goes into your vehicles. This fills me with a sense of pride to work for Sulzer and in this industry.
For more interviews with EAB members, click here.
