Mr. A.K. Kaderkutty, the founder of the Company passed away on the 14 th February, 2001. He was the Managing Director of the Company from its inception upto January 1993 and afterwards he continued as Director and Technical Advisor to the Company upto the time of his demise in February, 2001. Mr. A.K. Kaderkutty was considered to be the doyen of the wood working industry in the country. Not only he built up a wood based panel product empire in the remote part of Kerala, which became a model for the industry within this country, and also outside, he was also instrumental in transferring the latest technology in wood working industry into reality. He was a member of the International Academy of Wood Science. He was very closely associated with the Federation of Indian Plywood and Panel Industry (FIPPI), The Indian Plywood Industries Research and Training Institute (IPIRTI) and South Indian Plywood Manufacturers Association (SIPMA).

He was closely associated with the Bureau of Indian Standards and was the Chairman of the sub committee (BDC: 20) dealing with wood based panel products. The Government of India recognized him and nominated him to the National Credit Council and other Committees of the Central Government on different occasions. In the State of Kerala, he had served on the State Planning Board, State Advisory Committee on Technical Education, Kerala State Industrial Development Corpn., and Kerala State Electronic Development Corporation. He also served on the Board of Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi and the Kerala Govt. sponsored Institute of Management. He was the first Dean of the Faculty of Wood Technology of Calicut University. He pioneered a lot of research programmes in wood working industry and one area to be highlighted is the application of Radio Isotopes for upgrading the quality of ordinary timber, for which he set up a pilot plant at Baliapatam. He was recognised by N A A R I in 1984 for the pioneering efforts in this connection. Among the various awards he received include Kerala Management Association Award for outstanding excellence, Management Science Award and Vyvasaya Sree Award in 1993. He was basically instrumental in placing the wood working industry in India on the international map with his pioneering efforts. He served on the board of various industries within and outside the state, besides being on the governing body of of IIT – Chennai, Regional Engineering College – Calicut and Regional Engineering College – Suratkal.