Hilscher India: Committed to help Indian companies go global in automation

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In order to change India’s inertia, Hilscher is at the forefront in helping Indian customers use hi-tech industrial communication and Industry 4.0 solutions. In line with its vision, the company has rolled out various new products for Industry 4.0, specially customized to suit the requirements of the Indian market. In an interview, Umesh Sakle, CEO, Hilscher India sheds light on trends in industrial communication space, how the company meets evolving customer expectations and its future vision.

Q. As a prominent player in the space, what are the new technological trends and developments that you are observing in the industrial communication space?

From traditional discreet wired control systems to de-centralized control systems, industrial communication technology is moving towards distributed intelligence using industrial Ethernet. Field buses are still the dominating technology but all network development and news are focused on industrial Ethernet & Industry 4.0 which is more and more replacing common field buses and there are different standards in the world for Ethernet like Profinet, Ethernet/IP, Modbus TCP etc. We help the customers in terms of offering a single hardware that is compatible with all different Ethernet standards & IIOT Protocols available in the market. This is helpful for customers who have to supply to different market segments. Also, Industry 4.0 is becoming more & more visible in Indian Industry now & being world leader in sensor to cloud communication, we have already proved our solutions in Indian Market.

Q. In your view, are Indian companies showing readiness to adopt advanced industrial communication technology? Which technologies are seeing greater adoption in the country?

Indian Companies do experiment with our high-tech communication and IIoT technology. We have many projects going on with Indian companies, which have taken the initiative to use our chips and embedded solutions for their products by investing in R&D for making their systems compatible with the latest technology available worldwide, designing own communication modules to compete with global players.Industry 4.0 and real-time Ethernet systems are seeing greater adoption in India at the moment.

Q. How do you raise awareness in customers regarding hitech industrial communication technology and meet their training requirements?

Competence in Communication-Products, technologies and service at the leading edge of industrial communication technology is our requirement. We want to be measured by the success of our customers with their competitive products. Being a world leader in hi-tech industrial communication our staff of R&D engineers, sales & application engineers must have wide & deep product knowledge. They always must be prepared to support customers. For that we invest a lot in training and education of our engineers. Together with our customers we have to develop hi-tech industrial communication & Industry 4.0 solutions therefore a close partnership with our customers is very important globally as well as locally. We train our staff of engineers & sales team from India at our Headquarter in Germany so that they can train Indian customers for technical support and innovative use of our products. And this is not a just one time activity but it’s a regular endeavour from our end to support Indian customers in a best possible way as training and R&D is an important element in such hi-tech industrial communication field.

Q. Comment on how the demands of manufactures have evolved over time. How is Hilscher meeting these requirements/expectations to ensure customer satisfaction?

As our products cater to the niche markets in Factory and Process Automation, we observed that in these markets Indian companies are experimenting with the high-tech Industrial communication & Industry 4.0 solutions which is proven and tested globally like Hilscher technology. Indian Device manufactures understand that to serve a wide range of automation applications and vertical market segments and in order to grow their business multi-network and cloud connectivity is an entry ticket into the global automation and hence they are quiet open to experiment our hi-tech industrial communication and Industry 4.0 solutions and this trend is growing day by day. We have many projects going on with Leading Indian OEMs, who have taken the initiative to use our hi-tech industrial communication & IIoT solutions in their products to compete with global players by investing in R&D for making their systems compatible with the latest technology available worldwide like MQTT, OPC UA , Profibus, Profinet, Ethernet/IP, Sercos, Ether- CAT, Devicenet, CANopen, CC-Link, ASI, Ethernet Powerlink, Modbus etc.As an Indian subsidiary we are doing all that which is required to make an Indian company go global in automation.

Q. What is your USP? How do you stand out from the competition?

From multi-protocol chip to multi-cloud communication–The core competence of Hilscher is own powerful ASIC-technology for all main Fieldbus, Real-Time Ethernet & Cloud technology, Products of Hilscher ranges from PC cards, Gateways, OEM plug-in Modules, Network Analysis, Remote Monitoring to Industry 4.0 solutions. We have same application interface, configuration tool for all products regardless of form factor or protocol of communication, which makes it easy for our customers to migrate from one product to other product and from one protocol to other protocol. One hardware for all RTE Systems & Master/ Slave – Same Product can be used as Master /Slave for multiple RTE Systems -This 100% flexibility reduces logistic, administrative efforts and secures investment

Q. What is your future vision and growth plans for the company in India?

Our vision is to help Indian customers use hi-tech industrial communication & Industry 4.0 solutions. but as India being a very cost sensitive market, many times Indian customers have no option but to use low quality products just because of low price and end up in paying more in servicing, replacement etc. So, as a social responsibility and to change India’s inertia, we help Indian customers to use our technologically advanced solutions at a low price by applying certain lean management and cost cutting strategies throughout the Hilscher India organization. Considering this Indian Market worked out to be very good for us and we are on the right track so far and have many good potential projects in hand, we have rolled out various new products for Industry 4.0 specially customized to suit the requirements of the Indian market. Made in Germany Quality products (Designed, developed, manufactured & tested in Germany), Swift & Expert local support, Low Cost, Ease in procurement and ready availability of solution makes Hilscher India a leader in this segment. Considering overall situation we are sure that we would be able to achieve our goals and will be able to maintain our top position in the Industry.

 

 

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