Interview with Mr. Vinod Rapheal, Country Business Head, Omron Electronic and Mechanical Components Division, India
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Electronic components meeting the high tech demands for modern industry needs constant focus on trends and technologies, what are Omron strengths and support as being global leader to meet the modern demands?
OMRON strives to create ‘value’ for customers and society with safety, security and environment friendly products and solutions. As a group, our R&D spending is about 7-8% which means we are constantly endeavouring to bring new and innovative concepts and electronic and mechanical components which enable the customers to create smooth interfaces between people and machines leading to remarkable improvements in innumerable aspects such as product features, quality & reliability thus ultimately benefitting the masses by making their lives more comfortable.
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Tell us about your technological developments, R&D center and your investment in this sector?
Our R&D centre is located in Keihana in Japan and we have a full fledged facility to cater the design needs of both products as well as production technologies. We have some of the most advanced production technologies such as MEMS, Optical Replication, Nano material technology, etc. which help us to bring out high quality , precise and reliable products with highest accuracy levels. As mentioned above we spend about 7-8% for R&D and have more than a thousand product patents across the globe.
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How many products you are introducing generally in one year?
It is difficult to tag a number to our product introduction/ year. However, I would like to touch upon the concept of ‘GEMBA’ (customer centric ) here. This practice aims towards value generation by focusing on the customers’ needs and heart of the matter; this helps us a lot to work together with our customer to solve his issues & create new products as per his needs. We have an engineering centre in Japan HQ as well as engineering departments in each factory which work hand in hand to prepare new products as well as value engineered products with modifications as per customer requirements.
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How do you look at the current market demands of electronics components in India? Which components are finding the largest demand and talk about the applications for them?
As far as electro-mechanical components are concerned, OMRON offers Relays, Switches, Connectors and sensors. Amongst these, Connectors have got the highest market potential as they are used across the board in varied applications such as Automotive, Industrial, Telecom, Consumer & Commercial, etc. to name just a few. Relays & Switches too are common products which are used in plenty of fields. A notable example is the Smart meter market. In near future, latching relays will be a key product in this category.
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You are mainly in passive and electromechanical components, will you think about to offer active components in future?
Presently, our main focus in on electro- mechanical components. However, going forward, as we keep practising GEMBA , we will consider to come out with ‘product solutions’, for our customers based on their needs, rather than just products.
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What are the basic considerations you are caring about offering the products?
As already mentioned, rather than offering products, we consider offering Value to our customers. The concept of what is the total benefit customers will look for will help us to define the value which we need to create for them. It varies from customer to customer based on QCDS preference of each customer.
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From the last few years have seen the rise of large well established counterfeiters throughout Asia. What you would like to suggest tackling this issue?
Frankly speaking it is very difficult to get into the root of counterfeiters as they operate globally & have wide network. Making awareness to the customers about the genuine route of getting our products is one of the ways to tackle this issue. We advertise about the contact for Omron India and our distribution network which we believe will be useful for our customers. Also, on the other hand, I would wish all the suppliers to work hand in hand in sharing information on counterfeit products whenever they come to know about it, even if it belongs to their competitors, so that preventive actions ( such as legal actions against the company or illegal distributors can be taken up in a concerted manner) . If it happens to your competitor today, it can happen to you tomorrow!
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What is Omron Corporate Philosophy and what are your achievements?
Our corporate Motto is “At work for a better life, a better world for all” and our corporate core value is “Working for the benefit of society”. We always challenge ourselves to do better; we have respect for humanity and we innovate based on pertinent social needs. These are some of Omron’s key driving principles. The very reason why our customers always put us on the list of high quality, innovative and reliable supplier is because we follow our principles in our daily job.
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Tell us about your distribution strategy and sales network in India?
Omron Electronic and Mechanical components division has 2 offices in India- Gurgaon and Bangalore and we have a nationwide network of distributors. We partner with both global as well as local distributors to spread our coverage throughout the country. Moving forward, we will further strengthen & enhance our distribution channel to be close to our customers and provide them quick and reliable support.
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Do you have any expansion plan for India?
During the phase from FY14-FY20 components division of OMRON will focus on creating new products and solutions with a “market –in” approach. To effectively implement and execute our strategy, we will enhance our operational efficiency both in terms of resources – direct & indirect, as well as processes.
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Can we have your comments on India’s manufacturing sector and its future?
I strongly believe that one of the key fundamentals of a robust economy, which is immune to global market fluctuation to an extent, is the strength of its manufacturing base. The proportion of manufacturing in India’s GDP, which is currently at 16% needs to be improved substantially. Government’s idea in the lines of “Make in India” slogan is a welcome step and this along with friendly business policies will surely make India a better place for manufacturing. But, the key point in terms of component manufacturing is the local availability of basic raw materials which is a point of concern as of now. Operational requirements such as availability of quality labour at competitive wages, engineering resources, etc. are available in plenty which makes India an attractive location.
