FLIR : Global leadership in thermal imaging technology
Mr. T. P. Singh – Director (Sales),
Handheld Commercial Systems,
FLIR Systems India Pvt. Ltd.
Q. FLIR has gained credible market share in thermal imagers & IR cameras industry, how did FLIR manage this significant growth?
Our clear focus on strategy which includes 6 points helped us to achieve the same 6 points are :-
- Market penetration: to gain market share in existing markets and create and enter new markets.
- Reduction of cost: so that the products can become more affordable for customers at large.
- Innovate: we are continuously investing in tomorrow in terms of R&D and as a result, our products are considered to be most advanced in terms of latest features.
- Build Awareness: for creating larger markets.
- Strategic M&A: helping FLIR and other new member companies to grow.
- Financial Disciple: by carefully spending the money we earn.
Q. Can you brief us about FLIR’s global network & activities?
FLIR is a USD 1.4 Billion company listed on NASDAQ and is Global leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of thermal imaging cameras for a wide variety of applications that offers affordable, fully integrated thermal imaging and measurement solutions for applications such as Predictive Maintenance, condition monitoring, R&D, security and surveillance etc.
FLIR offers handheld stand alone as well IP based online systems. Thermography as well as Security systems are extensively being used by our customers all around the Globe including India. FLIR conducts business in more than 100 countries around the globe.
Q. What type of different products you deal in ?
FLIR has 2 main divisions- Commercial Systems and Government Systems. Our Commercial Systems business designs and manufactures products for use in a variety of emerging industrial and commercial markets where the primary requirements are to either see at night and in adverse conditions or to detect and measure minute temperature differences. These products are useful in a wide variety of commercial vision applications, such as commercial and infrastructure security, transportation safety and night vision, recreational boating, firefighting, and personal night vision; and thermography applications, such as predictive and preventative machinery maintenance, research and development, industrial test and measurement, gas and fluid leak detection, and scientific analysis. Our Government Systems business is focused primarily on markets where very high performance situational awareness tools are required.
Q. When you say Commercial Systems, what are the type of customers or industries you cater to ?
Within Commercial Systems, we have 2 sub divisions- Thermal Measurement and Thermal Vision. Under both these divisions, we have different products for different requirements. For example, Thermal Measurement products gets classified as per market segment- Electrical & Mechanical, Building Diagnostics, Research & Development, Automation and Gas leakage detection. Same way, for Thermal Vision, we have different products for Law enforcement, Border Security applications, Maritime Night vision, Cores and Components, Personal Vision Systems and Automotive Night vision products. Altogether, for Commercial Systems, we have 100 plus different models as per requirement of our customers.
Just to give one example- for Electrical & Mechanical applications, almost all manufacturing Industries can get benefitted from our products by predicting the healthiness of their equipment/ machinery/ electrical connections. Electrical connections predictive maintenance alone can help them to reduce breakdown time and also help in preventing fire. For more details, we have many application stories available on our website- www.flir.com/IN.
Q. Can this technology help to prevent fire due to electrical connections- which is the major source of fire incidence as per latest TOI edition of 17th Feb?
This technology can do wonders for this application. You can ” SEE” tomorrow’s problem today with the help of thermal cameras. For example, if you see this digital image, you cannot tell if something is getting heated up. The moment you use Thermal Camera, this will identify the hot spots within few seconds as visible here in the second image, which shows middle connection has higher temperature than rest two. This can help to avoid any fire incidents due to loose electrical connections.
Q. How about FLIR India’s initiatives in thermal imagers & IR cameras space? Which are your focus areas?
We are having product range for Automation, Building, R&D, Electrical & mechanical, Gas Imaging for Oil & gas sectors and commercial Security market. In India, we are working for all segments mentioned.
Q. Does FLIR have manufacturing facility in India?
No, we do not have any manufacturing in India. Our manufacturing operations are in USA, Sweden, France and Estonia. We have sales and marketing head office in Delhi with regional presence all over India and surrounding countries.
Q. What are the issues you need to address that are related to thermal imagers & IR cameras industry?
The major issue is awareness. Many people do not know about this wonderful technology and few people who know, consider this as very expensive. We are trying our best to address these major challenges.
Q. Can you please elucidate the contribution of R&D in the success of FLIR India products?
R&D ofcourse has played a major role. FLIR has always been ahead in terms of new innovations and our new products are the right examples. Latest systems available in the market have
- wi-fi connectivity for data transfer through iphone/ipad or Android devices
- Bluetooth connectivity for Voice annotations and Current readings
- Touch screen display
- Excellent ergonomics with the well proven concept of a tiltable IR unit
- Sketch on IR/visial Image
- High Contrast Fusion
- Instant Report generation
- DDE
Q. Brief us about the quality policy for the business?
We are maintaining highest standard of quality and our products confirm the same. We are giving 10 years warranty on our uncooled detector of handheld range after product registration, that itself confirms the confidence we have in our product and quality standard we follow.
Q. Few words regarding you ?
I am a graduate Engineer with degree of B.E in Electronics and Communication. I did my management course from IIM, Calcutta and have more than 19 years of work experience. I am responsible for Sales of Handheld series of FLIR in India.
