About
I'm Manoj, founder of Kattamaipu.
Helping automotive plants make their quality systems work on the floor, not just on paper.
Kattamaipu works with Tier-1 and Tier-2 automotive suppliers on IATF 16949, the Core Tools and problem solving. Consulting closes the gap between what the system says and what happens on the shop floor. Training builds skills your team can use on their own parts and processes, the day they're back at work.
Founder, The Kattamaipu Company
Experience
Fifteen years inside the plant
More than 15 years in automotive manufacturing: first a Tier-2 machining and die-casting supplier, then Tier-1 wiring harness plants and an OEM engineering centre. The roles covered most of what a quality system touches: quality engineer, customer quality, process improvement, and management representative (MR) for IATF 16949, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 across two plants.
That's where you learn how a system really behaves when production is under pressure.
Day-to-day work included
- Supplier and customer audits
- Layered process audits and VDA product audits
- Customer escalations
- Problem solving with 8D and QRQC
- New product launches
Selected results
What the work has delivered
Two plants certified from the inside
Two Tier-1 harness plants taken through IATF 16949, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certification, without external consultants.
4+ star supplier rating
A Hyundai 4+ star supplier rating in the plant's first-time audit.
QRQC at an OEM engineering centre
An integrated QRQC system designed and deployed at an OEM engineering centre.
IATF 16949 implementation
As a consultant in 2025: an automotive component manufacturer taken from gap assessment to certification readiness.
Career
From Tier-2 to OEM
| Years | Company | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 – now | The Kattamaipu Company, Chennai | Founder: consulting and training |
| 2020 – 2025 | Aptiv Components India (Tier-1 wiring harness) | Assistant Manager, QMS / IMS: management representative for two plants |
| 2016 – 2020 | Renault Nissan Technology & Business Centre India (OEM engineering centre) | Senior Engineer, Quality and Process Improvement |
| 2013 – 2016 | Motherson Sumi Systems (Tier-1 wiring harness) | Engineer, Quality Assurance |
| 2011 – 2013 | KKR Metal Components (Tier-2 machining and die casting) | Engineer, Quality Assurance |
Industries and processes
Where this experience comes from
- Machining
- Pressure die casting (PDC)
- Injection moulding
- Sheet metal
- Wiring harness
- Wire manufacturing
- Steel and aluminium processing
Why Kattamaipu exists
Most plants don't need more procedures. They need the ones they have to match what actually happens on the line.
The most useful work is always the same: walk the floor with the documents in hand, find where paper and practice drift apart, and close that gap together with the people who run the process. Kattamaipu was set up in 2025 to do that work full time.
How we work
Four things that guide the work
- 01
The system lives on the floor, not in the manual.
If operators can't explain it, it isn't working yet.
- 02
Processes, not departments.
Most problems sit between departments, where nobody owns them.
- 03
Find what breaks the flow.
Not the missing signature.
- 04
Learn by doing.
Training uses simulators, real data and your own parts.
Credentials
Qualifications
- ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 Lead Auditor courses, exams passed: CQI-IRCA certified courses, Quality Austria (2024)
- IATF 16949 Lead Auditor course, with Core Tools and customer-specific requirements: Omnex, an Exemplar Global-certified training provider (2019)
- VDA 6.3 Process Auditor (internal): TÜV SÜD (2026)
- Lean Six Sigma Black Belt: Benchmark Six Sigma (2018)
- B.E. Mechanical Engineering
Where
Based in Chennai, working with plants across India, in English and Tamil.
The name
Kattamaipu means structure
Kattamaipu (கட்டமைப்பு) is Tamil for structure: the framework that holds something together.
In a plant, structure is what lets good work repeat. Not thicker manuals, but clear processes, clear ownership and simple checks that people actually use. A system is that structure put to work every day, on every shift, whoever is on duty.
When the structure is right, the line keeps running the right way on a bad day too, and people spend their time improving the work instead of firefighting. That's the idea behind the name.
Let's talk about what's happening on your floor.
A short message is enough. You'll get a reply within one working day.