Rishabh journey : From analog to digital

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Q. Could you provide a history of the Rishabh Instruments  Company and its journey so far?

Journey of Rishabh Instruments started in 1987 with technology from the BBC Metrawatt of Germany, for Analog Meters with a capacity of 400 instruments. The initial challenges were to make accurate components demanded by German technology and to develop moulds and tools. Since that development we have either developed many other products in-house or imported technology for Multi Meters, Transducers, Multi Function Instruments, Solar Inverters, Cam Switches, Controllers for DG sets, Power Supplies and CT’s and the journey continues. We have established an independent R&D centre in a separate premises and a separate testing set up with EMI EMC Lab, Environmental Testing, and Reliability Testing to approve products to Indian and International standards. Many of our erstwhile collaborators are our large customers today.

It has been a long journey for us which led us to build the expertise in various arenas of the Analog and Digital instrument world. The canvas covered by our products begins with the very simple requirement like measurement of basic electrical parameters to fulfill the requirement of high-end communication in metering. Our product portfolio provides the solution for both the requirements either of a portable hand held instrument or panel mounting devices.

Some statistics have also revealed that, today we are the one of the world’s largest manufacturer of panel meters by volume. We make close to about 1, 25,000 analog products and about 30,000 digital products in a month. Added to that, we can also manufacture about 50,000 current transformers in a month. So considering this kind of production capacity quality and service that we have across various product segments, Rishabh has a strong market presence in both Domestic and International markets. Our products have an exceptional response in the world market. Our patented designs in the TMI domain have been appreciated across the globe. Owing to the fact that 60% of revenues of Rishabh comes from international market. We have a healthy ratio of International to Domestic Sales based on products and services.

The philosophy adapted by Rishabh is that we have no double standards regarding the production and sales in Domestic or International market. The quality sold internationally is the quality sold in the Domestic market. We make one product for the world, and this has been well received and appreciated by our partners all across and hence dominant position has been established across the Globe by our business principles and the core values.

Q. How about Rishabh Instrument’s initiatives in testing & measurement technology space? Which are your focus areas?

At Rishabh Group, we focus and strive for continuous and sustainable growth in the field of energy measurement, automation products and die casting with innovation being the cornerstone. We offer our customers the most diverse product range in measurement and monitoring of electrical and allied parameters with over 32,000 SKUs. Each product we add, goes through a very stringent and robust development and product launch process, targeted at ensuring that the device meets ‘Rishabh’ standard which over decades our customers have come to expect and benchmark others against. Our prime focus is always to serve customer requirements more efficiently. Rishabh’s state-of-the art R&D facility is perpetually driving advancements and adoption of new technologies to deliver solutions aligned to market expectations. These products we create at Rishabh, are developed for the global market, since our products serve customers across 70 countries through our international subsidiaries and channel network. Several new range of innovations are in queue but in the immediate future, we are focusing on features such as touch screen, mobile applications and bluetooth, communication over cloud, being embedded in our existing products.

In recent months, Rishabh has launched a new series of CAM switches with current rating upto 200A, which boasts of improved performance than the other industry front-runners in the same product category.
Another innovative product successfully launched is the 3 phase nano CT (Current Transformer) where instead of using 3 CT’s for 3 phases, only one SKU is required. And the output of this CT is 100mA, compatible with control circuits. Also, available with RJ12 connectivity. We are pioneers of such a solution in India.

Similarly, focused developments efforts enabled us to expand our Multifunction Meters range further, with the recent launches of Load Manger series LM1360/50 which also work with RJ12 connected CTs. With regards to test and measuring instruments, we have introduced the new Agam Earth Leakage Clamp Meter ALCT 66A & ALCT 606A and also added Digital Multimeter with Bluetooth connectivity, Rish 60K bluetooth series to our portfolio.

Another addition is a fully programmable Earth Leakage Relay, very efficient Power Quality Analyzer. As a philosophy we have migrated from the conventional LED type meters to high end touch screen Multifunction Meters. Market will witness series of product launches on these lines from Rishabh over next few months.

Our robust and structured development process complimented by complete end to end in-house R&D infrastructure from mould design and manufacture to PCB design and manufacture to testing labs and a highly energized and capable R&D team has year on year ensured successful product launches for Rishabh.

Q. Can you brief us more about’s top line product range?

New products envisaged are Multi Function and Power Quality Instruments with many communication protocols TCPIP, Modbus, BackNet, ProfiNet and similar protocols. An industry 4.0 is moving towards collecting data from various installations at a fix time interval, analyzing this data to feed it and control volumes.

Solar inverters were available upto 20 KW, which we have developed upto 50KW and are in the process to manufacture 100 KW inverters. Even this inverters have GSM communication to be able to relate data to check and improve efficiency as well as to aid the users in detecting any kind of faults in the system. High voltage insulation testers are influenced by high voltage lines which are passing in sub stations. We are in the process of developing a 5 KV – 10KV insulation tester which can sustain high interference present in switch yards.

Cam Switch is a basic requirement of the industry but very few companies worldwide publish the contact resistance of the switch or the standard deviation for the contact resistance. This is the necessary requirement if we are to improve the loss in cam switches. Rishabh is working in this area. UL & CSA approval current transformer are necessary to improve safety of electrical equipment and panel. Rishabh ensures that all CT’s manufactured by them meet the UL requirements and many of the models are UL listed.

Q.What are your views on budget impact on T&M industry?

The role of Test and Measurement instrument in the smart city context will be very vital. As we know the smart city concept promotes safe and healthy environment and T&M instruments play a major role in terms of safety, as Test & measurement instrument are used for testing critical DUTs (device under test) like Motors, cables, Transformers and Panels, etc. which almost form basic devices for any industry. So basically in smart city concept this awareness of testing every critical DUT timely will be very high. This will automatically lead to a very important role of Test and Measurement products in smart city context. Our all offerings of Test and Measurement product like Multimeters, Clamp meters, Insulation testers, Earth Testers will be applicable suitable relating to smart city.

Specially our newly launched Bluetooth communication enabled Multimeter will be very helpful. As in this Multimeter you can transfer all your data into your mobile with the help of Android app via Bluetooth communication which ensures high level of safety as meter can be kept at physically awkward locations and data can be seen remotely within a distance of 10m on mobile. Again in Smart city concept Green energy is promoted. In green energy solar panels will play a very important role for generation of energy. These solar panel are also tested, like insulation testing of solar cells which can be done with the help of Rishabh Insulation Testers. Also output power of solar panels which is DC power can be tested from our Power clamp meters which is a handy portable power testing tool. So to sum-up Test and Measurement products is going to play a major role in upcoming smart city concept helping this concept to shape as it is desired too.

The future of our products in India is blazing as the products we have, are next generation products. They are incorporated with features which are future ready like touch screen MFMs, Bluetooth communicable multimeters etc. Thus at Rishabh we constantly think on innovation and whatever product we come up we ensure it has some kind of innovation. We provide products which are a perfect blend of features and at same time are also affordable to all our customers, so they get value for money. With this we are sure in India we will always be one of the leading company for sale of Industrial control products and Test & Measurement products.

Q. What are the key technological trends that are driving measurement technology industry?

Miniaturisation and advanced capabilities in the same size meters is the need of the times. Since Rishabh have their own R&D, they are able to bank more features in the given volume, rapid advancements in power quality, harmonics analysis etc. Solution is to use powerful micro controllers and faster AD Converters to be able to measure high level of harmonics. Market is moving towards smart meters to be able to communicate not only basic parameters but advance Power Quality parameters. Technical improvements and design capability is the only way to stay in the game and full fill expectations of our customers.

Q. According to you what is the forecast for the measurement technology industry?

Rishabh has a variety of markets; they serve both geographically and in product segment. Rishabh exports a good percentage to the developed markets of UK, USA, Germany and Western Europe where quality features, reliability and approval play much bigger role than price. Far East Asia and Middle East Asia value reliability and features but are cost conscious. India has a very price related market. Safety is big consideration in Europe and USA markets and we have to manufacture UL approved, IEC 61010 complaint and CAT3/CAT4 instruments only. Market has also segmented in terms of Panel Builder Market, OEM Market, Machinery Manufacturers and utilities, railway markets, nuance requirements by each are different and expectations are varied.

Brand labelling in India as well as in Europe has its own nuances but more and more companies are taking this route and even manufacturers in these countries outsource some of the products and manufacture others themselves. With their branding and industrial design it is impossible to distinguish one from the other.

Q. What is your long-term vision and mission for the company?

Rishabh budgets grow between 20 – 25% year on year. This growth comes from existing products in new markets and new customers & new products. We have kept this growth in last one year, besides we will introduce range of new multi meters, high voltage insulation testers and solar inverter. Focus of the company is on innovation, new product developments & international acquisitions.

Rishabh will be happy to announce one such acquisition in the coming months. As said previously company’s future lies in innovation and product basket expansion. We have started Cam Switch, Solar Inverters and resin cast CT’s in the last few years.

Multi meters with higher bandwidth and with Bluetooth have been some of the recent innovations in our product basket. With the Grid becoming stable and lot of agriculture load being diverted to solar generation, Grid has to deliver good quality power to the consumers. Hence, measurement of power quality and improvement in power quality is a focus area for our company.

Compact CT’s which deliver lower VA are required because electrical measurement instruments require much lower VA burden than conventional products. Hence, focus will be on CT’s with transducer, Compact CT’s, CT’s with 100 million /10 volts, 3 phase CT’s to lead the market requirements.

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