Jaswinder Ahuja gets attached. Whether it is Cadence Design Systems or his family, he has a very strong bond going. ?For me, it is always work or family. There are not too many things that can worry me outside of these,? he says while locating a corner table at Leela Palace, Bangalore, for a 2-hour chat. He has been at Cadence since 1989. ?Cadence is my life?s work,? Jaswinder says, a little indulgently.
His grand parents are from Pakistan. ?They were from west Punjab to be precise, and after partition they moved to Delhi. I was born and raised in Delhi. But then at the age of 13, I had to move to Chennai as my father got transferred to the southern city. It was a culture shock,? he says. ?But we are a closely knit family, and we could absorb the change.?
Jaswinder is one of the rare people who got admission into an IIT but did not join. That’s because he did not get the subject of choice?electronics?at IIT. He joined BHU and enrolled for his pet subject. ?BHU was an enriching experience. I also met my wife there,? he says.
?In life, it is not always about qualifications. As managing director, I always prefer a person with high integrity. BHU helped to shape my thoughts in that regard.? He then proceeded to the US, as you would have guessed, to pursue his masters. ?But I did not stay on there. Being very attached to the family I was very clear that I wanted to come back and take care of the parents.?
He joined Gateway Automation, not exactly a household name, and sank his teeth into Robotics and VLSI design. Luckily for him, Cadence acquired Gateway. Overnight he became a Cadence employee and he was a little anxious. ?We were not sure how we would be treated. But Cadence introduced us to a great culture which drove innovation.?
Jaswinder learnt early in his career that attitude was probably more important than talent or qualifications. ?Whatever the organisation wanted me to do, I did. I always said ?yes? to an opportunity.?
This approach endeared him to the top brass. Soon he found that he had switched on the elevator while others climbed up the stairs.
By the time he was 32, he became the head of India operations at Cadence. ?Some people told me that I will not be a success as I was too young to handle that responsibility. That only helped to strengthen my resolve.?
His challenge was to define a globalisation strategy and create an impact. Cadence, which is in the electronic design automation (EDA) industry, needed to drive home a few points and Jaswinder placed his bets on a new concept called EDA 360. The concept was introduced to address the profitability gap existing in the EDA industry.
The profitability gap in the electronics industry is the gap between business goals and design costs, along with semiconductor unit costs and the time to market. EDA 360 is built on the belief that to close the profitability gap, companies must control hardware and software development costs and reduce cost of packaging, manufacturing and testing. This can be done by reducing the time-to-market window and also zeroing in on the right time to market.
The EDA industry, which is a $4.5 billion industry globally, is today at a crucial juncture. EDA companies can no longer provide the tools only for IP integration and silicon realisation like they have been used to all these years. EDA now has to cover for system on chip (SOC) realisation and then move towards system realisation including mechanical and board design.
?The EDA market is not growing as fast as we would like it to be. But today India is a great place for the industry. The country is on its way to becoming a big power in electronics.
We have great design capabilities and enjoy close proximity to the market place,? says Jaswinder with conviction.
The Cadence Design Systems MD predicts that power efficient designs would become increasingly critical to semiconductor companies and EDA firms will have to renew their focus to deliver exciting green technologies.
In between Cadence was ravaged when economic recession intervened to have its say. ?We had to let go 20% of our work force globally. That was very tough. It was a moment of great pain for all those who had to be severed. It was even tougher for some of us who had to do it. It was a question of protecting them and let the company suffer or let them go and help the company tide over a tough situation.?
?It was an age of turbulence, but now sanity has returned,? says Jaswinder. ?Before recession, people had indulged in excessive financial creativity.
The world paid for financial excesses, and now hopefully companies have learned their lessons.?
?Today, Cadence is closely involved with charity work in the country,? he says. ?We work in association with Child Relief and You (CRY) and also help out orphanages. This has given me great satisfaction.?
