Headquartered in Austria and having presence all around the world, B&R, which combines state-of-the-art technology with advanced engineering, became a business unit of the ABB Group in 2017. Jhankar Dutta, Managing Director, B&R Industrial Automation shares his thoughts about the company’s growth and opportunities in this sector.
Please provide some details of your product offerings for the Indian and international markets. What are the kind of projects in which they have found application?
We are technology leaders and are proud that market leaders from different industries place their trust in our automation solutions. We provide solutions to machine builders and factory operators in various industries namely packaging, plastics, printing and paper, textiles, automobiles, food and beverages, semiconductors, wood, metal and mining, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Worldwide, over 4,000 machine builders and 30,000 plants and factories trust in B&R. In India too, our machine builders have been associated with us for many years, which is strongly resonated in the number of customers visiting our flagship and interactive event called Innovation Day.
We bring our expertise from industrial automation to mobile, off-highway, agricultural and construction equipment. Our versatile solutions allow automation concepts for construction equipment and municipal vehicles as well as for agriculture and forestry applications to be implemented easier than ever. Customers are benefiting from an easy-to-use development environment, high-performance real-time operating system and ready-made software components. For manufacturers of mobile equipment, the X90 mobile control system is a future-proof investment ensuring reliability and profitability of their equipment. In mobile equipment, condition monitoring plays an important role in continuously monitoring the health of the equipment. It reduces equipment downtime and helps to prevent unplanned outages. Our X90 control solution provides mobile equipment OEMs with highest degree of performance, scalability, cost competitiveness for heavy-duty applications, and is equipped with condition monitoring functions. Wear and tear of components in mobile machineries can be detected in their early stages and can be corrected before they result in unplanned downtime. Condition-based predictive maintenance can maximize machine availability and save considerable cost of outages and unplanned service calls.
How is the market for construction equipment in India?
Construction industry is booming and to cater to the rising consumer demands, construction equipment too needs to adopt new technologies and trends. In the context of Industry 4.0 and Industrial IoT; digital twin, predictive maintenance, remote maintenance and access are offering great opportunities to construction sector in terms of achieving higher productivity, profitability and efficiency, reducing maintenance cost and labour dependability, higher output and improved quality work. However, Indian construction sector is not very much familiar with automation. On the other hand, industry is getting educated about the benefits and advantages of technologies. Automated equipment is being used for building highways, tunnels, bridges etc. The development of automation in this industry will take place systematically but OEMs of mobile equipment must be part of this adoption process. Thanks to various reforms and initiatives from the Indian Government, we expect this market to grow rapidly.
Is B&R Industrial Automation planning for any expansion?
Globally, ABB has planned to invest €100 million in Austria to build a state-of-the-art innovation and training campus at the home of B&R in Eggelsberg, which lays the foundation for new high-tech jobs. We are sure; this collaboration will further accelerate our speed of growth and innovation in India as well. Being an innovative company and a technology leader, we also invest heavily in R&D. This keeps us and our customers ahead of competition. In India, we have expanded our corporate headquarters in Pune to 16,000 square feet to keep pace with our projected doubling of business volume over the next three years.
Quality and pricing – how will you balance this equation to cater to a price-sensitive market?
Off highway, construction, mobile machinery segment is highly price sensitive yet technology craving. Globally, OEMs are evaluating new technologies for implementing in their systems for becoming ready with IoT. However, OEMs are aware that innovations help them differentiate their equipment from competition. Today, no one wants to be a ‘me too’ product. With this mindset changing, B&R with our technology leadership and consistent innovative spirit is in a prime position to provide perfect solutions to our OEMs and become an ideal automation partner in their success.
The Government has announced ambitious plans for the infrastructure sector, so how do you foresee the future?
In recent years, due to rapid urbanization and industrialization in India, we are witnessing an excessive growth in the construction and infrastructure sector. This exerts a lot of pressure on mobile equipment suppliers for providing best in class, high performing systems. Foreseeing the increasing demand for airport infrastructure, railways, roads, sanitation facilities, and urban as well as rural housing projects, Indian government is encouraging the growth in these sectors by launching numerous schemes and programs. Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns, Smart Cities, Housing for All, expressway network, high-speed railways, river linkages and waterways are some of the known ambitious government programs that will further accelerate the demand for off highway equipment in the coming years in India.
B&R Industrial automation is renowned as an innovator and a technology leader in industrial automation and we are bringing in all these innovations and expertise to cater to the mobile market. With the high performance and technologically advanced products at very attractive cost-effective price, we look forward to huge success in this market segment too. We are already seeing a lot of traction and attention our products are attracting. This product line will give a huge boost to our business globally.
What are the strengths of your company you believe in to be successful in the Indian market place?
B&R is not just an automation vendor for OEMs but acts as a solutions partner for all their automation needs whether simple or complex. Being a technology leader, we continuously introduce innovations to the market thus, shaping the industry. Globally, OEMs are working hard to incorporate next generation technologies in their systems, thanks to the ever-rising consumer and market demands. B&R is a proud automation partner for many such OEMs globally helping them provide cutting edge and technologically advanced solutions in their mobile machinery. In India, unfortunately the traction for such advancements is not as fast paced as compared to global market. At times, it is termed as good to have and not must have features being provided by the OEMs. Further, cost sensitivity in India provides a further challenge for OEMs. Awareness is the only solutions for overcoming such conditions. B&R takes the task of spreading awareness seriously and in its capacity over the past many years has a technology specialist department promoting technologies for various industries. These specialists promote various open source, vendor independent technologies to automation vendors, OEMs and even help them implement them in their systems. In addition, B&R conducts conference and seminar across India for helping promote various benefits of adopting next generation technologies for OEMs and users.