S.M. Murali: “My whole life, I have been fascinated by machines and technology, and after graduating in mechanical engineering at the BMS College of Engineering in Bangalore, I found a job as a production manager for a major toothbrush manufacturer. That was quite some years before joining Boucherie”, Mr. Murali explains. “That job, and my love for these fast running machines brought me in touch with the Boucherie company from Belgium, who was already a leading player in the oral care and household brush market. Very quickly, there was a good connection regarding the machinery and also on the personal level. In 1997 my wife and I decided to work for Boucherie. This was quite special because we were the first Boucherie office abroad. At first, we were just myself and Veena in our office located in Bangalore South. A year later we hired our first co-worker, Mrs. Shubha Gunavant who helped us as the receptionist.”
Veena Murali: “I remember that when we started, it was just Murali and me. This was a big change for us, and we had to get organized to give our customers the best possible service. We built a small warehouse on the ground floor for a good supply of the most critical spare parts, so Murali could provide not only machine installation service and adequate technical support but also assistance when a customer was in urgent need of spare parts. This was certainly appreciated, and we quickly had our hands full.”
S.M. Murali continues: “In the early years after the opening of our Bangalore office, we traveled a lot to explore the Indian market more and more, trying to understand the needs of the different branches of the brush industry. Quite quickly, Indian brush makers saw the advantages of automatic machinery, and several machines were installed, not only for toothbrushes, but also for broom manufacturing.”
Veena Murali: “With all this traveling, Murali was often abroad, and the office work got busier. It was time to hire more staff to handle this. Although the team working for Boucherie India is today much bigger, we still like to think that we are a big family. Without our employees all this would not have been possible. “
“My wife and I would like to thank all the people working with us with a special thanks to Mrs. Veena Ravi dealing with spare parts and servicing, Mr. Ravi Shankar, our accounting officer and Mr. Aithal our office assistant.” Tells us Mr. Murali. “And all our technicians, especially Mr. Ranganath, Mr. Arunachala and Mr. Muthukumar, who travel all the time to install and service machines in India and neighboring countries, so that the customers get a fast and professional response when this is needed. They have meanwhile acquired a high level of experience with mechanical, electronic and programming matters and are in constant contact with the main facility in Belgium for further training.”