Delta Electronics: Driving Innovation in INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION
With its extensive range of industrial automation products, focus on R&D and state-of-the art manufacturing facilities, Delta Electronics is Powering Green Automation and has strongly positioned itself in the Indian market. In an interview, Manish Walia, Business Head-Industrial Automation Business Group, Delta Electronics India Pvt. Ltd, talks about potential and challenges of India market, the company’s research and development activities and future vision and growth plans.
Q. Take us through the journey of Delta Electronics in India and the company’s current operations.
Delta in India started operations in 2003. Initially, the company catered primarily to telecom and power clients. By 2006, we started venturing and expanding into newer businesses, such as industrial automation, display solutions and UPS. Today, we have established ourselves as a dependable and reliable brand with our worldclass products and services across major business lines. We are market leaders in Telecom Power Solutions, Renewable Energy Solutions (Rooftop Solar Inverters), Display Solutions(Video Walls) & a leading provider of Industrial Automation Solutions, UPS & Datacenter Solutions, EV Charging Solutions, Rail Transportation Solutions, Energy Storage Solutions, DC Fans & Blowers, and Components.
Since our establishment, we have clocked strong and stable financial performance in the Indian market. We have been growing 25% year-onyear since we started our automation operations in India. We have a strong presence across the country with 16 regional offices and more than 200 channel partners. We have three manufacturing facilities two in North India (Gurgaon and Rudrapur) and one in South India (Hosur) to cater to requirements of customers pan-India. We are coming up with a new state of the-art manufacturing facility in South India to cater to export, as well as domestic requirements. With this new factory, we are looking at making India a large export hub.
Q. Tell us about your focus on innovation and R&D activities?
Innovation is at the core of our operations.We have two state-of-the-art R&D centers in Gurgaon and Bangalore to support our continual innovation goals, empowering us to work towards constantly enhancing our products in line with the latest technologies and customer requirements.
Q. In your view, what are the market requirements that are driving the usage of automation? What opportunities is Delta Electronics sensing in the industrial automation segment?
Companies are constantly looking at ways to improve and enhance processes. This key requirement is the primary driver for industrial automation. Energy efficiency is another big area propelling automation demand and we at Delta are expecting huge momentum in this space.
Apart from this, increased usage of IoT and sensors is playing a big role in terms of opportunities being created in the market—right at the machine, factory & process level. Lots of companies today are looking at capturing the data at the machine or process level and localizing it or routing through the cloud to gain critical insights in terms of preventive maintenance. We at Delta help the companies integrate the whole solution at the machine, factory and process level to meet their business requirements.
Q. Please update us on Delta’s industrial automation solutions and key industry segments it caters to.
We offer a wide array of products and services in machine automation, factory and process automation. Our product range includes AC motor drives, servo and motion control systems programmable logic controllers, human machine interfaces, machine vision systems, meters and sensors, industrial control and monitoring software, and industrial robots.
Our industrial automation solutions extend to a broad range of industry applications, including electronics,textiles, food, pharmacy, rubber and plastics, packaging, printing, woodworking, and machine tools. Delta is all about Smart Manufacturing. We integrate our automation products, equipment networking, system software, IoT technology and big data analysis to build innovative and reliable green automation solutions.
Q. Please comment of the challenges in your segment with respect to India market.
The challenge in our industry for the current year has been due to ongoing slowdown in manufacturing. We are heavily dependent on the manufacturing sector and as the sector is currently facing strong headwinds, our business is also facing the impact. That said, we will still be ending the year with positive growth numbers. As the manufacturing sector stabilizes, we see immense growth opportunities in India.
Q. Tell us about Delta Electronics solutions with respect to IoT and Industry 4.0. Are Indian companies showing readiness to adopt these advanced technologies and solutions?
At Delta, we already offer products that are IoT and Industry 4.0 compliant. Our industrial automation portfolio includes a range of connectivity solutions. However, the adoption of these technologies is currently at nascent stages in the country and majority of customers are contemplating the benefits of these technologies and how they can actually go ahead with the implementation. At Delta, we are doing our bit in terms of educating customers on the potential of these technologies. Using various platforms, our teams are showcasing what Delta can offer to machine vendors, process industry and in the factory automation space. While it will take some time to bridge the gap with regards to adoption, the prospects definitely look positive.
Q. In your view, are government initiatives like Digital India and Make in India triggering growth in the industrial automation segment?
We at Delta are committed towards Make in India initiative. In line with this, we are making certain investments to expand our manufacturing base in southern India. Given the conducive government policies, we are seeing a lot of investments in the mobile and electronics space in the country. This will surely help automation players like us and manufacturing as an industry also stands to gain. That said, there is also a requirement for some steps at the ground level for improving liquidity in the market to provide further boost and support to the manufacturing segment.
Q. What are the future growth prospects of industrial automation products market in India?
IoT, connectivity and sensors are key areas where we see strong growth in the coming years. Water segment is also going to be a big focus for us at Delta. With state board investing in water treatment plants, we see massive potential in this space.
Q. Comment on industrial automation division’s growth strategy and vision in the coming years.
We intend to grow 20% year on year for the next five years and we are quite optimistic on this target. Delta has historically been into machine automation.We started investing in factory and process automation solutions in the last two-three years. We see huge potential in this space and will continue to invest here in the coming years.
