How Family Businesses Survive Generations: The Fabrimech Way
Building a Family Business That Lasts for Generations
My father never discussed business at the dinner table.
Not once. Even during tight cash flows, delayed orders, or unfair customer pushback, he maintained that boundary. Years later, I recognized what a gift that was.
When I completed my studies and joined Fabrimech, it felt like an opportunity rather than a burden. Our family photo reflects a 60-year journey: two brothers as second-generation directors, three sons as third-generation entrepreneurs, all united in one company built across generations.
However, the photo doesn’t reveal the two principles that enabled this continuity:
1. Protect the dream at home.
Children absorb everything; the frustrated sighs, the “customers are impossible” remarks, the “I’m tired of this business” comments. By the time they can choose, they may have already made their decision unconsciously. Keep struggles in the boardroom and let them see the purpose, not just the pressure.
2. Build a workplace worth choosing.
When the next generation joins, they compare you to every other opportunity available. Provide what any top company would: professional growth, mentorship, respect for their ideas, and room to fail and learn. Loyalty isn’t guaranteed by legacy alone; it must be earned.
This photo symbolizes more than family; it embodies a promise to our customers: we are not building for the next quarter but for the next generation. That’s why we earn the trust of railways, MNCs, domestic and export customers. Partnerships that last decades require companies that think in decades.
To every family business owner reading this: your most effective succession plan isn’t paperwork; it’s the story your children tell themselves about your work. Make it a story worth continuing.
– Thomas K Varghese
From Hospital Bed to Industrial Legacy: The Story of Fabrimech Engineers
How a Mere Rs. 2,000 Sparked a Legacy of Resilience
A 23-year-old man lies in a government hospital bed in Chennai.
Three months. Alone. No family by his side.
He had fallen from a tower at work. A serious accident that could have ended everything.
His parents back in Kerala didn’t know their son was injured. He chose not to tell them. He would heal on his own.
This man was my father, K.V. Thomas.
But let me take you back to where it all began. A teenager with nothing but ambition boarded a train from Kerala to Neyveli in 1960. His qualification – X Std. His first job: store keeper. Whereas others saw a dead-end role, he saw a classroom.
Morning shift: Issue tools. The rest of the day: Learn everything.
He taught himself gas cutting by watching senior craftsmen. He stayed back after hours and learned welding. He mastered drawing interpretation by asking questions others were too proud to ask.
By 1962, Chennai called. As a fitter and fabricator, he honed his skills one project at a time. Then came the fall. The hospital. The long recovery.
And then came a choice.
He received Rs. 2,000 as compensation in 1966. Enough to go back home. Enough to start over somewhere safe. Instead, he rented a small room in Reddy Street, Padi. This was his Entrepreneurship journey.
Later he moved it to a bigger place in Ambattur Industrial estate and called it Fabrimech Engineers. From that one room has since become a company trusted by Indian Railways, Atomic Energy, many MNC’s and exports . We didn’t inherit wealth. We inherited something far more valuable – a culture of learning, resilience, and uncompromising quality.
My father turned his darkest chapter into our foundation story. And that foundation still holds strong, 59 years later.
Some companies are built on capital. Ours was built on character.
– Thomas K Varghese