LENZE : Establishing the technology leadership

Mr. Debasis Nandi, Managing Director,
Lenze Mechatronics Pvt. Ltd.

Automation businesses sell just one core benefit – productivity. In today”s global markets, end-users recognize full well that whoever produces cheaper, faster and better wins. For analysing the recent developments in the automation industry, ENGINEERING REVIEW is taking the insights of key players in the automation sector, talking to Debasis Nandi, Managing Director, Lenze Mechatronics Pvt. Ltd. for encapsulating the industry dynamics of automation sector.

Q. Please brief us about Lenze’s global reach & latest initiatives in industrial automation space?
Lenze is a company established in the year of 1947 and till then continuing to develop new products . This company was predominantly a German Company grown to be an European company and last 10 years growing rapidly in US and Asian market . Either directly by it’s subsidiary or through partner Lenze is present in 46 countries across the globe . However manufacturing factory is located in few countries in Europe , US & Asia .

Q. What are the prospects for drives & automation technology products in India? How do you plan to position these products?
Drives & Automation are no more a single Industry . This term was used 10/15 years ago . Electronic Drive DC & AC was primarily called as drives . This definition changed . Now Mechanical + Electrical + Electronics drives being combined to call drives . Hence motor , gear boxes , Electronic drive all put together classified as drive technology . Family of Servo is also a part of it . The moment you add PLC , DCS , HMI etc it becomes a solution .

Where as automation is driven more towards processes , Plant solution etc . In automation and drive world both Software takes a good part as well invisible intelligence in the products. Mechanical drives are made in India and can prove in future a very useful place to do mass production with high quality . India will also prove a very top class design centre for the world at affordable price .Electronics drives hardly made in India as in India components are not produced and still today quantity is not attractive . However there are manufacturers doing in small quantity keeping growing market trend in mind .

Once again I strongly support R &D in electronic drives in India with software development. Software development for automation product is a done in large scale in India by those companies who they have domain knowledge .

Q.What is the current scenario of drives & automation industry?
This business is closely related to Machine builders and to some extent projects . After global financial crisis last year was very good with high growth but this growth will come down very soon . Europe crisis , US slow down , China slow down suggest that market certainly will not grow in 2012 .

However country like India & China who they have yet a lot to grow in automation shall definitely do well . Indian Machine builders are looking for Export Sales as well in domestic market they have to compete with global leaders in their field hence production speed and quality would have to be increased added to reliability and Safety. All these factors will keep Drive and Automation market in India growing at CAGR 10% for next 5 years .

Q. What are the future opportunities for automation technology sector?
High speed communication bus is the name of the game now. Ethernet IP , Ethercat , Profinet will be growing in their field. Some structural change in architecture is also seen . Remote communication , Wire less communication etc also catching up .

From opportunity point I shall divide it again to Machine and process level. Process depends on projects and machine in any sector . Looking at growth in Automotive sector , Metal Industry , Port and Power sector Automation in process is definitely good. Packaging , Printing , Textile , Food , Pharma etc will give growth to drive industry .

Q. As per your opinion, what are the technology transformations in industrial drives industry over the years?
As I explained Industrial drive means Mechanical , Electrical and Electronics combined . DC technology is no longer recommended and being replaced by AC Drives . Servo is definitely upgrading machine speed and accuracy and hence lot of AC drives getting upgraded to Servo Drives with Servo motor and low backlash gearbox . Motor mounted drives is another area of development. Due to software part taking most of the intelligence in the drive many tailor made drives being made suitable for typical Industry .

Q. Please comment on how can the Indian automation industry become globally competitive?
It is extremely difficult point . There can be two aspects or leader Price leader and Technology leader. We are far away to be technology leader from research point and hardware point . However we are competitive in Software development and Services , rather much better in price to skill ratio . We have to encash this opportunity which is necessary tool for this industry. we should also offer engineering and after sales service from India .

Q. Please elucidate in brief about the Lenze infrastructure & What are the measure that is being taken from the phase of manufacturing to distribution of the products?
Lenze as a policy creates solid base and infrastructure in all countries before they sale a product . To do that in India we have established repair centre for Electronics products and mechanical as well . We have assembly , production facility for Geared Motor and have plan to extend it further . We have logistic centre and sales office in metro cities of India . We have partner in next tier of cities . we have very wide range of products and hence we have different policy for each category of product .

Q. Brief us about the R&D and Quality policy for lenze business?
Lenze being a technology leader spends a lot in R&D and it is a high percentage of revenue . From India we contribute in the development of Software and implementation skill . We take the challenge to keep alive old products as customer needs product available after it’s life cycle and still we introduce new products with more power but more easy . Total life cycle cost , reliability , Price performance ratio etc being measured by customer and hence we create the best .

Q.Please address the issues that are affecting the drives & automation technology industry?
Raw material price Steel , Copper & rare earth for motors and gear boxes , High software , research cost for drives . Changing world of communication , challenging price level for simple vector drive . In India bigger challenge is to introduce latest technology . Challenge as well to get good and pollution free power supply. However by far the biggest challenge is to motivate young talented engineers to work and continue in drive and automation industry.