How and when did Delta Electronics enter the Indian market?
Delta came to India in the year 2003 when it acquired ASCOM, a Swiss company operating in the networking and telecom space globally as well as in India, so it is close to two decades now. So in India we started with the telecom industry which was growing rapidly and we have a strong present in this sector. Gradually, over the next few years, Delta also introduced products catering to other segments like power solutions, UPS systems, display solutions and industrial automation products, and has established itself as a reliable supplier of quality products across various segments.
Delta itself has grown globally during this period. How big is the global presence?
Globally, if you are tracking the operations of the Delta Group, we are over USD 11 bn annual turnover company. It is much diversified with industrial automation just one part of it and various other businesses that are growing very fast.
Smarter, Greener, Together, is how Delta has positioned itself as seen in the display here at Automaton Expo 2022 – how is the company helping the industry in this mission?
Yes, Smarter, Greener, Together is our motto and the buzzword, bringing in a lot of new and innovative products. Delta spends around 8-9% of its annual sales revenue on R&D, which helps us bring smarter products and processors or manufacturing lines, which is becoming important with energy getting very expensive. We have probably saved, with all our innovations, billions of kWh of energy in the last few years, helping reduce power consumption. Better processors and more energy efficient products in turn improve the efficiency of machines and processes across the various industry verticals that we are helping automate. On the greener side we have a lot of focus on the sustainability part, with renewable energy solutions like our solar pump controller solution for drinking water supply and irrigation, supporting the green revolution in agriculture or even solutions for the wind energy sector, for example. Apart from industrial automation, we also operate in other verticals like automotive, with our EV Charging solutions, and products for power trains which go as package solutions to OEMs; and infrastructure – transportation sector, energy storage solutions, smart city solutions, etc.
Talking about the EV charging ecosystem globally, what role is Delta playing in this?
I would just touch on this briefly because it is not my area, but yes we work with OEMs as well as with the utilities in this space, with DC fast charging solutions and regular AC chargers. So far Delta has deployed 6000 EV chargers in India in cooperation with the major stakeholders in the EV charging infrastructure sector including electricity distribution companies and oil companies like BPCL. Globally over 1 million EV chargers have been deployed since 2009.
There is a robot on display here in your booth. Is it a Delta product? What are the Delta products in robots?
This is an articulated robot from Delta. We are primarily a manufacturing company and almost 95% of the products on display are Delta products right from the smallest components costing just a few hundred rupees. As part of the smart manufacturing ecosystem Delta has been developing robots for the last few years. The Delta SCARA robots are available in a wide range and the latest has a 20 kg payload capacity. These are able to perform a wide range of tasks in manufacturing. Similar is the case with our six-axis articulated robots range. These robots have use in various applications and industry segments. Apart from this we build a lot of solutions for automotive and other industries, where in case we do not have the required payload, we use third party products, but the concept, engineering and execution is all done by us and necessary support provided for it.
Delta has launched the DIAStudio Smart Machine Suite. Has this been rolled out in India as well?
The DIAStudio Smart Machine Suite from Delta will help users gain more efficiency. We have started with a few customers but it is a new concept and we will have an aggressive launch very soon. Internally we have already started the process and all our application and sales personnel are working on it. DIAStudio is a platform that is a complete package, and it will help customers choose the various solutions Delta offers, very quickly and quite comprehensively, to create a complete system or plan, better and faster.
One can say Delta today is synonymous with automation. So how automated are all the Delta manufacturing facilities globally?
You will be fascinated if you visit any of our manufacturing facilities. They are huge factories, all highly automated and it is not something that has happened recently. In fact the top management has mandated that all Delta facilities globally have to become Smart Factories. There are various teams working on the processes to make all our facilities smarter, improve the energy efficiency, and make the carbon footprint smaller.
How soon will Delta Electronics as a company become carbon neutral?
2030 is our global mandate to become carbon neutral in all our operations including in India and we are working towards it. To give you an example, most of our offices are Diamond or Platinum rated for energy efficiency according to various international and national standards. Delta’s Gurgaon Factory is also Platinum rated green building certified by LEED, and also recognised by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). So are our factories at Rudrapur and Krishnagiri and the Bangalore R&D unit that is now undergoing expansion.
What about the building automation segment? What is the strongest segment Delta operates in India?
We are growing in the building automation segment, working with our partners and system integrators, and there is a huge potential. We have a strong product niche in this space having acquired Canada-based Delta Controls and Austria-based LOYTEC during the last 5 years, companies that are building automation system providers. Our presence in this segment would soon be as strong as it is in factory-, machine- and process automation. Speaking of our strongest presence in India, it is the factory and machine automation segments where we are very strong, be it in machine tools, packaging, plastics or textiles, and also increasingly in automotive where traditionally we did not have a big presence.
A die hard sports enthusiast, Manish Walia heads the Industrial Automation Business Group of Delta India. Besides holding the responsibility of growing Industrial Automation Business in India since 2008, he recently has been entrusted to promote the MVD product line also in India.
Manish is responsible for aggressively developing Delta as a brand of choice amongst customers and aligning the market & technological trends with the R&D team. Manish contributed tremendous growth in Industrial Automation business, by making it among the top tier brands across several product categories since its inception and building a strong channel network in India.
A 26 years’ veteran in the industry, Manish has worked for industry majors like Crompton Greaves, ABB and Flextronics before joining Delta in 2008. Experienced in various portfolios like Sales, Marketing and Program Management, Manish has a thorough knowledge of the industry.
The interview was published in Industrial Automation magazine
