Delta Electronics, celebrating its Golden Jubilee this year, is a global player and offers the power and thermal management solutions that are clean and energy-efficient. Headquartered in Taiwan, the company spends 6-7% of its annual sales revenues on R & D and product upgradation on an ongoing basis. Delta Electronics India is most sought after for its drives, motion control products, and monitoring & management systems offering smart manufacturing solutions to a plethora of industries in which automotive, machine tools, plastics, printing and packaging are prominent. The company is upbeat about the opportunities available for automation in the industry which wants to maintain the plant uptime despite all odds. In a one-to-one with Machine Tools World, Manish Walia, Business Head, Industrial Automation Solutions, Delta Electronics India recounts the strengths, capabilities, and offerings of this technology-driven company which invests heavily in R & D and innovations and is poised to take on the challenges posed by a burgeoning market with a vision of #DeltaPoweringGreenAutomation. Excerpts:
Could you give an overview of Delta Electronics India and its standing?
Established in 1971, Delta Electronics India has emerged as a conglomerate with multiple businesses and business interests – starting from electronics components to power electronics. We are into three main areas viz. Infrastructure, Automation, and Power Electronics. In India, we have a workforce of 1,500 people. This includes 200 people from the Industrial Automation Division. They support areas like manufacturing modules, sales, application, automation, assembly, system integration, and so on.
What’s your niche in the industrial automation arena?
Delta offers industrial automation products and solutions with high performance and reliability. These include drives, motion control systems, industrial control and communication, power quality improvement, human machine interfaces (HMI), sensors, meters, and robot solutions. We also provide information monitoring and management systems such as SCADA and Industrial EMS for complete, smart manufacturing solutions.
Our niche is our wide variety of products – from small components to large integrated systems of high power ratings. On the drive side, we have inverters – AC motor drives, high power motor drives, servo drives, etc. On the motion control side, we provide AC servo motors and drives, CNC solutions, PC-based motion control solutions, and PLC-based motion controllers. Added to this we have planetary gearboxes, CODESYS motion solutions, embedded motion controllers, etc. And on the control side, we have PLCs, HMIs, and industrial Fieldbus and Ethernet solutions. We also have a wide array of field devices such as temperature controllers, programmable logic controllers, machine vision systems, vision sensors, industrial power supplies, power meters, smart sensors, pressure sensors, timers, counters, tachometers, etc. And in robotic solutions, we have SCARA robots, articulated robots, robot controllers with servo drive integrated, etc. Our products are used in several applications such as printing, packaging, machine tools, automotive, plastics, food & beverages, electronics, textiles, elevator, process, etc.
From among your offerings, which is your cash cow?
As you know we have a wide range and variety of products. It is difficult to single out one product or system as our cash cow. We started our operations on a global level in 1995. We started with our drive systems, and then forayed into motion control. For 5-6 years we were concentrating on integrated solutions. So on a global level, what brings us more revenue is our motion solutions business. In India I would say it is our drive systems and controls.
Who are your major customers?
We have a large customer base in the automotive industry. We work with several Pune, Aurangabad, and Tamil Nadubased four-wheeler and two-wheeler manufacturers. We are working closely with the Paint industry for providing automation solutions. The same is the case with textile machinery makers. We have done some exemplary work for the plastics industry – both for the injection moulding and blow moulding sides – by providing our servo-based systems which helped the customers save energy to the extent of 50-60%. We build motors and drives inhouse and source servo gear pumps from outside and provide an integrated solution for them. Similarly, we have a prominent presence in the packaging & machine tools industry too.
What are your competitive advantages?
We have a wide, robust, and unmatched range of product offerings for the customers from every segment, a strong team of eminent field application engineers, and a network of 100 plus channel partners covering the length and breadth of the country to stay close to the customers and meet their growing needs. And our CNC and robotic solutions complete the spectrum.
What are the USP’s of the CNC controllers you launched some four years ago? How are they received in the market?
Our CNC controllers introduced in India some six years ago have been very well received by the machine tool industry. We have happy customers from all over, especially the South, West, Haryana, and Punjab regions. We envisage a double-digit growth for these high-tech products in the next 5-10 years.
What are the other automation solutions you offer to the machine tool industry?
Pick & place is one area where we contribute substantially. CNC automation is indeed among our prime forte. At the end of the day, we are an automation company, and we can always find ways and means to support the customer looking for a suitable industrial automation solutions to enhance their operational efficiency and productivity.
Do you also undertake turnkey projects?
We do not undertake turnkey projects in the real sense of the term which involves civil work. However, we do supply large-scale drive systems and integrated systems & solutions for diverse industries like machine tools, automotive, pharmaceutical, etc. We provide complete automation solutions for Machine, Factory, and Process automation.
Could you tell us something about your manufacturing, R&D facilities infrastructure, and resources?
We at Delta, invest around 6% to 7% of our annual sales revenues in R&D. We have worldwide R&D facilities in India, China, Europe, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and the U.S.
At Delta, our focus is to constantly develop and enhance technology and processes to support the evolving demands of the market. Innovation is central to our operations. We constantly analyze market requirements and accordingly innovate applications to strengthen the Industrial Automation Infrastructure. To support our continual innovation goals, we have three stateof- the-art manufacturing facilities in India: two in North India (Gurgaon and Rudrapur) and one in South India (Hosur) to cater to the requirements of customers pan-India. We are coming up with two large upcoming factories in Krishnagiri, close to Hosur, one of which is for exports and the other for Indian consumption. With this new factory, we are looking at making India a large export hub. Another noteworthy development is that Delta is investing heavily in its new R&D facility in Bengaluru where we will be consistently innovating to provide best in terms of technology and solutions.
Do you implement Industry 4.0 in your manufacturing?
Delta is basically a manufacturing company. We make best use of IT, sensors and software for connectivity among machines and people, culminating in smart manufacturing. We have implemented Industry 4.0 representing the ways in which smart, connected technology would become embedded within the organisation, people and assets, and is marked by the emergence of capabilities like artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and analytics, etc.
Do you also provide IoT based smart green solutions?
Yes of course. Delta specializes in energy efficiency management and enhancement, enabling IoT-based applications in intelligent buildings, smart manufacturing as well as green ICT and energy infrastructure, which are the foundations of sustainable cities.
What are the dynamics of the automation business in India? Has the industry taken it as a necessity or luxury?
COVID-19 was a big and sudden blow to the industry, economy and the very humankind. The world is still to recover from the impact of the pandemic. Productivity in the industry was severely affected. So the only option left to medium to large-scale industries was going in for automation.
Automation is indeed a boon to the industry. With automation, the rate of production would be faster, the product quality would be much better, and it would increase your competitiveness. Considering all these benefits, automation is an absolute must for the industry small or big, and switching to automation is imminent for survival and growth.
What’s the lesson you learnt from the pandemic?
The pandemic was a rude shock to one and all. We lost almost one year in combating the menace. Though there was a lull in production, it gave us an opportunity to look inwards and use the time productively. Our concern was to ensure that all our brand partners, employees and other stakeholders were hale and hearty. At Delta, we embarked on an extensive training program – giving training on product updates as well as training in soft skills selectively to our employees and channel partners.
So how would you sum up your major strengths?
We are a progressive, forward looking, technology driven company with a strong value system. The whole organisation is well-knit and has a clear goal of India as the market. A manufacturing company to the core, we chisel out futuristic products. At the root of our innovations is our R&D which makes relentless efforts to come out with cutting-edge products which are also user-friendly. Our greatest strength is of course our people – a dedicated and committed lot – coupled with our resources.
What are the challenges ahead for you?
COVID-19, which impacted the industry and the entire ecosystem, has posed the biggest challenge. But slowly it is restoring back to normalcy. There is optimism of getting along with the activities in the market. At Delta, we are giving impetus to manufacturing and are hopeful of making the most of the opportunities available, using our strengths and resources.
What are your growth strategies and future thrusts specially for machine tools segment?
Digitalization in vogue in the industry should give a new fillip to our industrial automation business. Over the last 4-5 years, we have been working closely with the machine tool industry with a view to providing automation solutions. This has borne fruit. Our CNC controllers have been well accepted by the machine tool industry. Automation is the key to operational efficiency and productivity. Our future thrust would be on medium and large size companies to help them embrace automation for their growth. I already mentioned about our target markets. We would foray into new frontiers as well. Cement is one industry which has a lot of potential. Infrastructure development, steel, etc. would be our thrust
areas too. India is a key market for Delta. Our upcoming factories in Krishnagiri are slated to manufacture products which are currently being manufactured in other Delta facilities. This is in line with our commitment to invest more in India to create the best in terms of technology, provide end-to-end solutions, and create more job opportunities.
We have been partnering with various Govt. initiatives like Digital India, Make in India, E-Mobility Mission, and Smart City Mission with a vision of #DeltaPoweringGreenIndia. Also, with the Government emphasizing on ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, we are further bullish on opportunities in the automation space.
How do you look at the future of automation vis-a-vis Delta Electronics?
We have a large and efficient product basket along with a strong team. The impact of COVID-19 has led the companies to explore new technologies in building a future proof strategy accelerating the adoption of automation, and we expect the momentum to continue in the coming years. At Delta, we are poised to serve this rapidly rising demand for automation in various sectors. Moving ahead, we would continue to focus on machine automation which is our global expertise. At the same time, we would be investing also in promoting process and factory automation.
———————————–Below information transfer from delta offecial website
Post time: Oct-12-2021
