Well it depends. Depends largely on following factors

What is your qualification

Which department you are joining

And in what position you are joining

MRF is typical Indian company where they believe in developing their own people to higher positions. So you can be sure that you will have enough opportunities to grow personally as well as financially. But the financial growth is rather study than exponential. And they have rotational policies of position between R&D and manufacturing units.

But MRF is in the process of expansion the R&D so it will be a good time to join.

Rest everything depends upon how you frame yourself after joining

I am writing this answer in “Anonymous” since i feel comfortable to write in that mode. But don’t worry guys. My answers are authentic.

I found that no answers has been provided in Quora for the life of an engineer in MRF and so i thought of writing a one.

Hope i can answer this question well since I have worked in MRF as an engineer.

Department classification in MRF:

1. Production Department.
2. Quality Department.
3. Technical Department.
4. Engineering Department.

• i. Mechanical Engineering Department.
• ii. Electrical Engineering Department.

However in MRF, production is the one and only ultimate goal. So any concerns in production department with respect to engineering issues will be addressed immediately by the engineering department.

For freshers:

Probation period : 12 months . A formal interview will be held with Plant Head. After that confirmation letter will be given by the HR Department.

No of working days : 6 out of 7 days.

i.e You will get a day off in a week. ( Most probably you will not be allowed to take on Saturdays and Sundays ).

With this you will be able to take care of your personal works only. (Taking rest (you will tend to) , washing clothes and at the highest rate you will go and watch a movie and that's it).

Working conditions:

It is plausible that most of the freshers will be asked to come in shift basis.

Morning shift : 6.30 am to 3.30 pm ( 4.45 PM / 6.30 PM unsaid rule)

Noon shift : 2.30 pm to 11.30 pm

Night shift : 10.30 pm to 7 am

In all 3 shifts , reliever will be coming by 30 or 60 min ahead.

Note: Since MRF is a malayali company, mostly malayalis are found everywhere in the plant in all posts. But no offense they are so helpful ,encouraging and so loyal to the company. You will be able to learn a lot from them and they also understand the difficulties.

But sometimes they will be suddenly start talking in malayalam if any malayali comes near by but that is normal because everyone used to do it.

MRF factory zone wise classification:

i. Zone 1 —Banbury.

ii. Zone 2 —Tyre building.

iii. Zone 3 —Tyre curing.

Considering the health issues, zone 2 is a good area to work since in zone 1 you will be inhaling the rubber compounds smell and in zone 3 the temperature will be around 40 degrees near the machineries.

Type of work for mechanical/electrical engineer:

Ideally if any one of the machines gets breakdown then the worker will come and complain it to the production engineer.

Production engineer informs to the engineering department. Once the information is received from production then it is the duty of the engineer to resolve the issue and handover to production as soon as possible.

Prod supervisor → Shift Engineer ( Mechanical /Electrical based on the issue via CUG mobile phone) → Resolves the issue with help of mechanics / electricians → Informs back to production supervisor.

Delay time will be calculated and will be entered in SAP for machine breakdown reduction.

Salary :

For freshers:

Engineer : 26–28 k per month

Diploma : 19 - 21 k per month

However both engineer and diploma will be doing the same type of work.

Grade system in MRF:

Diploma Holders:

MA1 → Junior supervisor

MA2 → Senior level supervisor.

MA3 → Officer Level supervisor.

Engineering Graduates:

MB1 → Junior Engineer.

MB2 → Senior Engineer.

MB3 → Officer level Senior Engineer.

Manager level : MC1, MC2,MC3 etc.

Note: For experienced candidates :

Please make sure your grade is higher than the previous grade. Since it will take at least minimum 3 years for getting promoted to next level.

Additional note :

If you are coming to MRF as a fresher, then make sure you walk more and don’t prefer to sit more because you will be sitting and eating only at lunch / dinner. Almost in other times you will be working here and there due to plethora of issues.

Hope this helps !!

If any additional information needed please comment it and i will try to update as soon as possible.

I joined MRF R&D as an engineer in Compounding and Processing Department in 2010. My background is in Chemical engineering. So, instead of designing reactors and distillation columns or doing process calculations, I was making rubber compound formulations and doing physical testing of rubber samples. I have very fond memories of my time there. There is a lot to learn and if you respect everyone, you will have a lot of professional and moral support. You will be seen as a family member and will be helped by others when in need. MRF has lot of employees from the state of Kerala compared to other states. But don’t feel hesitant to interact if you are from another state and don’t speak Malayalam. Many of the Keralites are only Malayalis by birth and may not even speak their mother tongue properly :). In Chennai R&D, there is a healthy mix of people from different states, so I guess you will not feel any cultural shock.

(Christmas Carol, Dec 2011)

First and foremost thing that you need to keep in mind from day one is that sometimes it’s not all about having better knowledge or a degree from an Ivy league institute. You should be open to learning from your superiors in R&D as well as from a common worker in the plant. Especially be compassionate towards the workmen and listen carefully to what they say. Keep in mind that there is no alternative for experience in any industry. Even if you have been trained in the latest engineering tools in your college, it still cannot match the knowledge gained through years of hands on experience.

Ask questions, even if they sound stupid. Since none of us learn about tyre technology in our colleges, it’s one of the best places to learn not just about tyre but about vehicles in general. After spending a few months in R&D I was amazed by the level of complexity involved in designing and manufacturing a tyre. Imagine, MRF makes tyres all the way starting from two wheelers to aircrafts. Any vehicle that has wheels, MRF makes its tyres. Add to this the knowledge on raw materials, material testing, material processing, tyre component design and manufacturing, final tyre manufacturing, indoor and outdoor testing, interaction with the technical teams of OEMs like Tata, Honda, Toyota, etc. (even DRDO) and receiving specialized training both in India and abroad, etc. There is a lot to gain over the years.

However, there are a few things that apply to new recruits which me and others used to feel. They are as follows:

1. Feeling that the work is not challenging enough: It may not be as mentally demanding as it was in college since there you learn multiple topics, whereas here you may be limited to working on one topic for a long time.
2. Over-whelmed by urgent demand by bosses: Unlike in college, many times you may receive certain jobs which were unplanned and might appear to come out of nowhere. In such situations, relax, take a deep breath and approach the problem with a calm mind. Remember that urgent situations in the plant are even worse.
3. Lack of access to high end software: I don’t know about the situation now, but when I was working there, they had limited licenses for softwares like AutoCAD, Pro E,etc., hence design engineers used to feel some limitation. I am sure situation has improved a lot now. You can’t use cracked versions of high end softwares like in college and hence, this might seem like an irritant.
4. Frequent visits to the manufacturing units: This could be an irritant since the work in plant is more grueling and physically exhausting. However, it is the best place to learn team work, developing interpersonal skills, crisis management and real world limitations of your product design. As they say, “war makes men out of boys”, same way plant work offers the quickest way to gain knowledge. The more you visit the plant, the more refined your product design, bigger professional circle (more influence) and faster project implementation.
5. Politics: No company in the world is free of office politics. To put it simply, it is a rat race. You may feel left out or under appreciated during annual promotions and appraisals. However, keep in mind that it is important to be seen as a reliable person when it comes to job execution and as a social person to build trust among your colleagues. Even then it is practically impossible to give one employee the highest appraisal every year.

Remember, grass is always greener on the other side. You may feel that your friends from college are doing better than you which may or may not be true. However, MRF is a good company which has less work stress and better job security. Many of my friends still work there and many left for higher studies or for better job offers. Everyone has their own reasons to continue or quit. Don’t think negative about your career prospects and believe that life is full of surprises….Cheers!!

I totally upvote the detailed description in the anonymous answer. All the details are spark! But the thing not addressed there is how it feels like to be fresh engineering graduate. I have been there, done that! I graduated with an electrical engineering degree and joint the electrical engineering team at MRF Pondicherry. I have a huge respect for the company as it withstood the test of time and always managed to stay in top of its game in market.

But for an young graduate, I sincerely do not feel it provides the right atmosphere to growth, both personally and professionally. Initially I was all pumped up to apply my engineering skills and to learn more about real world applications. Sadly, I was kindly asked by my manager not to apply myself much but to just be a manager and watch the technicians who are much more experienced than the 21 yo me back then. Also, what really helps you one to get increments is not their true potential but the ability to shout around experienced technicians and do whatever it takes to get production running. If you are someone who is very sensitive to their surroundings be more careful as one can face a bit of friction when they start out as a new recruit, because most workers and technicians are locals and do not appreciate a new comer from outside open heartedly unless you are genuinely nice and understanding.

Moreover, if you are someone who is planning to do higher studies in engineering then I highly recommend to waste time at MRF as it mainly offers managerial experience. If you are planning for a career in management I think it will definetly be a useful experience in your CV.

Good luck

If you are inducted into any of the plants ,MRF holds in AP,TN,Goa or Kerala your work should revolve around with data collection,spec inspection and clearing,NCM clearing,defect classification etc.All these seems to be mere daily office works, but believe me they do offer tremendous opportunity to learn the processes and specifications and about the tyre defects very extensively .It is also very imperative to mention here that if you are inducted into a bias plant, then there is nothing promising to work and shine as a technical engineer as the major tyre companies have already abandoned the bias and switched over to the radials-touted to be the future of tyre technology.MRF lags overwhelmingly in radial tachnolgy;so is the growth potential -very high as a technical engineer, provided if you are able to convince the managers about your works- they are always production oriented, numbers matters,not the quality .The life at -Trichy radials is good relative to -Trichy bias.Ankanpally sucks anyday.Have got reviews from friends.To be crisp, newer the plant,higher the chance of getting promoted.

If you are inducted into the RnD centre in thiruvattiyoor, seriously has no concrete idea on this.Exposure is way good compared to what you get inside the Plant .Plants are best suited to do experiments and real time learning,if you are allowed to do.They have ramped up investments in -Trichy zone with new bladder and RnD plants .So consult with the senior staffs there and enquire about the avenues to extend your scope of work and learning.

Thanks deepak

*Note: I was working with MRF long time back (2010 - 2013) and hence may not be able to provide a full picture of the current job profiles. Furthermore, I am not at liberty to discuss the details of the R&D department for obvious reasons. However, following were the broad categories under which various departments functioned.

1. Design (Mechanical/Design engineers, Diploma holders, Science grads):
1. Tyre design/construction of different vehicle categories (passenger cars, commercial vehicles, off the road vehicles, two wheeler)
2. Mould designing for the above mentioned tyre categories
3. Building project tyres in manufacturing units and follow up till evaluation phase
4. Understanding the functioning of Tyre Building Machines and proposing tyre design modifications
5. Interaction with vehicle company (OEM) representatives
2. Compounding and Processing (Chemical/Polymer engineers, Diploma holders, Science grads):
1. Designing of rubber compound formulations, in - lab sample preparation and testing, scale up studies in the manufacturing units
2. Studying rubber compound processing such as mixing, extrusion, calendering, curing/vulcanization, proposing modifications, troubleshooting
3. Evaluation of new processing technology, interaction with equipment suppliers
3. Testing and evaluation (engineers, diploma holders, science grads):
1. Raw material testing (polymers, chemicals, fabric, steel, etc.)
2. Compound testing (physical and chemical tests of rubber compounds)
3. Testing of finished tyres (in - house and field testing) before large scale production
4. Field test engineers providing feedback from customers and market
4. Electronics and instrumentation (engineers, science grads):
1. Responsible for electronic/electrical and instrumentation needs at R&D and manufacturing units

Will add more points if/when I remember them. If you look carefully at the roles mentioned above, you can see that this should be common across most of the polymer related industries and not specifically related to MRF alone.

The life of a mechanical engineer at MRF is not really good,nor really bad.

If you are put in the production facility, it has a very bad working condition, I had spoken to a few workers and they had complained of the black compound from the rubber being deposited on their skin and face. Working shift will be 9+ hours. And these factories are located in hot climatic places. The heat from the machines make working vulnarable.

Of course there are AC plants too, but that is once you get a promotion or you serve for minimum years. The food and transportation is taken care by the company.

Its good to work here when you are a fresher for 2 years and then join elsewhere. Working in a production plant for a long time can give you serious health issues.

It depends. It depends on how and where you're starting. As a fresh engineer, straight out of college if you're expecting something out of the world you're in for a surprise. As far as technical growth is considered, you've got to put in the hours initially. Once you've done that at the end of the day, it comes down to your people skills. Humility always helps. Sincerity pays, despite what others around you tell you. You might crib through the initial phase, but when you do stop that's when you've understood what work is. This is one place where the consequence for a mistake is considered far less serious.

And to answer your question Is MRF worth it…relative to ? Do you have higher studies in mind? Or another option?

If it's none of the above and you're only option. Welcome it with open arms.

MRF is trading above multi years high and recently made a all time high of 98600. It is one the most potential stocks in stock market. Every body can not afford it as it is a expensive stock, but it has justified it’s price by giving good returns year on year. Hoping to see it in 6 digits soon.

Disclaimer: This is my personal view, please take expert advice before taking any position.

It is really hard to explain if this is not yet known to someone. Let me give an attempt.

R&D department is the key function that creates/ converts/ defines the business goal into product or services. They understand business goals and strives to align the same with the customer expectations and work to design, develop and validate a product or services to best fit the requirements. At R&D, all the Customers expectations are decoded as technical definitions by means of Quality, Performance and Cost targets and thereby the development goals are derived interms of form, fit, finish and functional parameters.

In simple terms, R&D department is the one who are not only intended to design and develop a product/ service, also responsible for its continuous improvements that ensures the desired results are constantly delivered to keep the customer satisfied and ensure the business continuity of a Company!

There are two major ways of getting placed in MRF Tyres.

1. Via walk in interview
2. Via Campus drives

Walk in Interview:

The kind of roles offered through are

• Production supervisor
• Technical supervisor
• Maintainance engineer
• Sales representative
• Testing supervisor
• Lab assistant

Arts and diploma graduates are recruited for these roles except engineer role.

Campus Drives:

The kind of roles offered here are

• Product design and development engineer
• Maintainance engineer
• Plant technical engineer
• Process Engineer
• Production engineer
• Product Testing engineer
• Simulation engineer

$Entrylevelpackage:$4.8 lakhs per annum.

Recruitment for R& D department and head office are done only through campus drives mainly from Tier 1 collegea like IIT,NIT,ANNA UNIVERSITY .

Typical span of control metrics top-out at around 10 direct reports per lead/supervisor/manager/executive. This would imply that no more than 10 “sub-ordinates” be engaged to manage the group. This is an average.

Practically, unless all 100 people are working on exactly the same thing, it would make sense to create/recognize sub-groups, probably of unequal numbers, to manage deliverables. Depending on the nature of the research this could be set-up as competing (homogeneous teams) or cross-pollinating (heterogeneous teams).

The key to managing large numbers is to be very clear on the metrics required to understand how progress is being made against well-defined deliverables.

OTT (over the top) platform is revolutionising the media industry. People prefer to watch over their smart devices rather than streaming. The smartphone revolution has further propelled this phenomenon.

So these are all the trends and if your skill sets match these trends, then you can form part of R&D team in OTT platform.

1. R&D On Artificial Intelligence and increasingly use of it and Machine Learning techniques in this field will be absolutely required for content protection. Content protection is moving real-time. Increased amounts are spent on this.
2. Analytics: TV VIewrship data monetisation is the next critical area. Data Analytics for prediction of consumer behaviour, customising the content, streamlining customer distribution chain, monetising the data and so on.
3. Alternate solutions to Linux based STBs. (Set top Box).
4. Voice control and voice-based solutions to control entertainment services.

This is a tough one… Here my two cents… Let me put myself in your shoes (and there is not a lot of detail in this question, so those are really wide sneakers):

So here is the game plan: what do you need/want, then find what your market, understand the market needs, get the tech in gear, and then find ways to check your proposals.

A) What do you need?

I would start with understanding what you want from R&D in business terms.

How big is your appetite for risk? What are the timeframes for results? These boundary parameters will help you lop off options. Too many options will fray your thinking and make you waiver between targets. Lock those down into something like this: we can spend (x)M USD/EUR etc in the next (x) years to understand our strategic options. By 20(xx), we want to have a portfolio of (xx) product options that have yielded (xx)M USD/EUR and are on track to yield (xx)M USD/EUR (x) years later.

Trust me, it makes defending your resources a bit easier. Just a Bit.

B) Find Your Market:

How well do you understand your customers? Are they new ones, or are you leveraging the existing ones?

It really helps to understand whether you go adjacent markets. If you do, a good way of approaching the strategy is to list all the things you hear your customers want. Or those customers that you could reach in adjacent markets. Read Chris Zook’s Beyond the Core. Have your board read it.

If you want to go totally blue-ocean, brace for impact. It will be incredibly hard to come up with solid VOC data. You will need a happenstance technological breakthrough, something that you and only you have your hands on. Not something from a university or a hired gun: they will either have to publish aka tell-the-world or re-sell to maximize margins. Then find whoever is using what your new gadget can do better. And get to know them really well. Read Blue Ocean Strategy by Mauborgne et al. Have your board read it.

Oh, you better have your board be behind you, or you might as well fuggetit. Skunk-Works is board-approved. Whatever happens, you will need a board-member sponsor to make it happen. Not three, one. The One. The one with enough pull and stamina/staying power to take the inevitable beating when things get rough inside or outside. You Need A Champion. And make sure you feed him/her the best you can cook up. If you can explain your ideas to him/her, then you understand them. (because those folks typically do not have more than two minutes).

I liked this article: 8 types of innovation. Pick from those innovation types to understand more what your appetite is:

C) Understanding the Market Needs

So, first step, solid VoiceOfConsumer work. If you do not have a VOC process, that will be the first R&D investment. Run it by the book to create plausibility and credibility with your board. Any PDMA-licensed product developer should know this.

Sort the ideas in doable, feasible, possible, out-of-reach:

• doable: sure, give me a few engineers, we get that done in a year
• feasible: we know in principle how to get this done, but have no idea how long it would take
• possible: we don’t even sure if this is possible.
• out-of-reach: right now, we are not sure whether this is even physically, chemically, legally possible…

Say Goodbye to ideas in category 4. By the time you might get to them, the customers will have moved on…

List all ideas by potential (how much additional margin by volume) against required investments. Two dimensional matrix with no more than 20 bubbles, better less. The size of the bubbles come from organizational fit.

For each idea, assess on a scale from 1 to 10 how well the new product/service/experience will fit within the current way your company works. This starts with how you go to market as a company, when you expect to earn money (greedy or patient, don’t be surprised by the answer), how well you are present in the markets, whether your existing team would know how to market/sell/service the new kid-on-the-block. Does it fit into the culture of the company? Will strange folks with weird ideas be necessary to pull it off? Does it fit into the way you do accounting, the way you incentivice your employees? Will you be the envy or the pride of everybody else in the company? Trust me, it is those elements that will kill your idea.

Sift through the data and present the portfolio. Then have a very candit discussion to choose at most three. THREE. Not Four, or two, THREE ideas. Trust me. Two makes it a 50–50 chance, four is losing focus.

D) Do The Dirty: Tech Development

Determine how you are going to do the feasible and possible stuff in small steps, while executing and delivering the doables. You need evidence that your thinking is right, and nothing says that like a success. Even a small one, albeight tangible. Get A Win under your Belt sooooooon.

Hire the right mix of insiders and external experts for your team. Create a NEW TEAM. Do not develop a breakthrough product as a hobby with an existing team. Unless those folks are of the trailblazing variety.

Make the dev work incremental and fail fast and hard. Let the board know what the real odds are. Do Not Indulge In Babysitting, these are big boys. Tell them that you will fail hard and fast. Tell them right away when you did. Do not play games, it erodes your credibility. Dust yourself up and keep moving.

E) Feed The Beast

You HAVE to put whatever you are working on in front of potential customers ASAP. There is no time for honing, polishing, perfecting. You Do Not Know, and you need to find out quickly to prevent wandering off in the wrong direction. Mockups, fakes, it does not matter, just focus on what the customer will experience and let them have it.

Have pros do that. Do not engage in focus groups, they are a waste of money and time, in my experience. Have people play with your stuff, with your ideas. They get that this is new and fake, but they will have fun interacting with something cool. OBSERVE and TWEAK. Let the board know regularly. Videos are always very impressive in keeping execs happy.

You have to feed this beast. I was shut down within weeks of launch because I did not do that well. None of the hard work in the lab / cubicle / on the road matters. Keep your sponsors happy and well informed. Do not hide, do not embellish, do not buy makeup kits. Get into consumers hands as quickly as possible to learn, and adjust as needed. Nobody will be mad at you for changing the plan based on data. They will be mad at you for wasting their money/time.

Sorry, got more than two cents… :-D

I would recommend, when R&D KPI are concerned, consider the current tasks performed and the prospect for next one year equally important. The resources of R&D is always critical to retain for sustenance. Because the know-how and the hands on experience of every one who works for R&D defines the successful outcome and eliminate most risks involved in.

Therefore, I suggest:

1. Care your core activities like daily tasks for 20%

2. Consider the extended efforts during hard times 10%

3. Initiatives that reduces cost and time but increase the Quality outcome 10%

4. Personal involvement and accountability 10%

5. Team working and motivating others 10%

6. Urge to learn new things 10%

7. Focus on business continuation 10%

8. Learning and training part 10%

9. Internal and external customer coordination/ support 10%

This is just a generous idea to help you out. You may also consider similar components based on your business nature. Hope this works fine with you!

MRF Stand for Madras Rubber Factory Ltd.

Madras Rubber Factory was started by K.M. Mammen Mappillai as a toy balloon manufacturing unit in 1946 at Tiruvottiyur, Madras (now Chennai). In 1952, the company ventured into the manufacture of tread rubber. Madras Rubber Factory limited was incorporated as a private company in November 1960 and ventured into manufacture of tyres in partnership with Mansfield Tire & Rubber Company based in Ohio, United States.The company went public on 1 April 1961 and an office was established in Beirut. Lebanon to develop the export market in 1964 and its current logo of the muscleman was born.

MRF is the largest manufacturer of tyres in India and the fourteenth largest manufacturer in the world.

MRF Ltd = Madras Rubber Factory Limited
MRF Limited is the largest manufacturer of tyres in India.
Its headquarters is in Chennai.

Madras Rubber Factory, commonly known as MRF or MRF Tyres, is an Indian Multinational tyre manufacturing company and the largest manufacturer of tyres in India. It is headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

In my experience of riding and being involved with a lot of automotive enthusiasts I have learned that MRF tyres are good when you are looking for Long tyre life and the budgeted options. They get the job done of commuting from one place to another in the moderate speed of 40–60 kmph without having to break to hard in shorter distances.

MRF tyres are OEM (Original Equipment) from the factory for many car and bike manufacturers but the reason for this in my opinion is to cater to the very sad yet important element of cost cutting as much as possible to increase buying and spending from the price sensitive Indian.

If you are looking to red line every once in a while and enjoy the sporty side of your vehicle be it car/ bike or scooter, I would say an absolute no to MRF tyres. MRF tyres are produced with a hard compound to enhance the longevity of tyre life and they are still doing pretty well in the industry because not a lot of people buy cars and bikes to enjoy the vehicle itself but to exhibit the vehicles as an extension of their and status and ego.

Changing tyres from MRF to Michelin, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Yokohama, Apollo, Metzeler is the way to go if you want a sporty drive/ride experience.

But even when you are changing tyres please do a thorough search on the tyres’ capability and build composition and then opt for the ones which best suit your vehicle and usage to get the best out of the vehicle and tyres in all terms like fuel efficiency, long tyre life, grip, breaking, handling etc. Changing tyres based just on brands isn’t very wise.

Hope this helps… Feel free to share your views… :)

You’re the reason your R&D group is broken. You control the development milieu and engineering culture. Fix that. Write tests first.

Give the highest priority to writing test with good coverage and stress testing all the edge cases. And automate the testing process and test results comparison task. Make testing a no-brainer. Feedback is always the key to improvement.

That’s all really hard. Want an easier solution?

Summary executions. Take the worst programmer and have him shot in front of the others. That will make them do what ya want. And chain your programmers to their development systems and give them regular beatings.