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“Demand for innovative products is up”
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Monday, 11 August, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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fiogf49gjkf0d  Headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, Omron Corporation is a global player in the field of automation. Established in 1933, and headed by president Yoshihito Yamada, Omron is today having operations in over 35 countries in areas as diverse as industrial automation, electronic components, social systems, healthcare, and the environment.
In India, Omron Automation India offers integrated automation solutions for the packaging industry. The solutions comprise Pick & Place sensors, Vision sensors and Safety and Bottling solutions.
Sameer Gandhi, MD, Omron Automation India, in an interaction with Ashwani Maindola threw light on aspects of automation required and demand in the packaging industry and his company’s plans for India. Excerpts:
What is your company offering in terms of solutions for the packaging industry?
Omron provides complete end-to-end automation solutions for the packaging industry. For example, we have integrated solutions including advanced controllers, safety sensors and robotic solutions catering to all basic and advanced needs of a packaging machine.
Tell us about your ATC centre in Mumbai. What is your vision for the 5th ATC Centre launched in the Indian market?
The basic vision of Omron ATC is “You create the concept, we will help you to make it work.” The centre aims to showcase Omron’s expertise in the ‘sensing & control’ technology so that the customers are able to test their new ideas, experience and understand how they can bring improvement to their current manufacturing setup and can become more competitive in their respective fields in the industrial automation domain. The field of expertise of ATC includes networking, software, safety, advanced motion control and robotics.
In real life, as per the traditional methodology, if an OEM has to build a machine and buy the equipment – it is largely a trial and error process as one has to assess the functioning of the equipment continuously. With ATC, Omron is providing an opportunity to come and see what has been implemented and refine ideas through live demos. If a customer has a concept from an automation perspective and he is in a dilemma if it would be successful or not, Omron can help you simulate this concept through this ATC. For example, vision. We have a vision lab where we can simulate ambient conditions using a variety of lighting and lenses and tell you with a 90-plus percentage that the concept would work in the field.
Another highlight of the ATC is Tsunagi (means connectivity in Japanese) Lab which provides the complete integration experience to the customers to reduce the uncertainty.
The ATC launch witnessed turnout of 100-plus unique customers. This was very encouraging and we were able to identify that there is immense need for the usage and need for something like this in the industry. After seeing demo offerings the customers are keen to have a detailed discussion and now come back to us with specific issues / challenges, which we help to resolve accordingly.
Define the concept - we will help you to make it work.
The definition is very clear, like giving Lego blocks to a kid to build. Our attempt is to provide basic automation building blocks to the customers and be there to guide them. We are reducing the uncertainty for a designer and the time and cost to build.
Tell us about the R&D of ATC and where are your plants placed.
We are not doing specific R&D here and it’s been built as a resource centre for our customers instead of a plant. It’s a lab where customers can take hands-on experience and we can even provide training to them.
What solutions do you provide in automation - elaborate on which packaging machines you are dealing with and their applications?
We have a wide range of solutions and products for packaging machines and applications. I can talk about some of the technologies that we want to promote and we are good at and would be beneficial to our customers.
We have an integrated solution, which has one controller, performs multiple tasks; one network (Ether CAT) - connects all devices; and one software - helps not only to operate but also allows us to do the engineering and simulation. This is called as Sysmac and it is unique to Omron. The advantages of this to the customers are improved reliability, flexibility in manufacturing and high speed. Speed is one of the most important traits of a packaging machine and so holds a lot of importance. Just to share more insight, our clock synchronisation on the network is at an accuracy of 1 micro second, which very few solutions in the industry can match. This means the customer can actually synchronise all their drives, servers and cameras to a very high level of precision. They can increase their machine speed and be flexible in their manufacturing as well. We also have vision and robotics connected on the same network, thus providing the advantage of easy configurability.
How has your company enhanced relationship with customers in India?
As already explained, establishing ATC is one of the ways for us to build strong relations with our customers - both OEMs as well as the end-users. Apart from this, Omron’s strong application engineering support, pan-India sales presence, engineering capability, widely spread network and proactive after-sales support are few of the other notable factors which play an important role and help in strengthening our relationship with our customers. Another important part of customer relationship management is training. Omron also provides training courses at our training centres, on-site training or even customised training in line with specific needs.
What do you think about the industrial automation scenario in India including the food industry?
Industrial automation is a vast field. We should first of all look at different segments in industrial automation.
Process automation is primarily driven by large industries, so due to a slowdown there is a lag in the market right now.
On the other hand is the factory automation market in India (which Omron is into). This market is growing and is expected to grow at much more rapid pace fuelled by many factors such as population growth, rising consumption amongst middle class, growth in rural demand, increased financial inclusion, etc.
If you look closely, our actual end-customers are the people who buy the end products – biscuits, soft drinks, candies, etc. We are seeing an increase in the demand for innovative products in the market due to a key differentiator of packaging especially amongst the urban upper and lower middle class.
For instance, India is one of the first and perhaps the only country where you can buy a shampoo sachet for Re 1. There are many people who can’t afford to buy a 200 ml bottle and stock up shampoo for a month but they can easily afford to buy a sachet on a regular need basis for Re 1. This shows how the lower disposable incomes are also driving the consumption patterns. I believe these patterns will continue to increase because disposable incomes are rising along with the population growth. I see it as an opportunity for our customers to grow especially in the FMCG and F&B sectors.
Do you see competition in packaging sector in India?
Every global player is present in India, hence a lot of competition exists.
How do you want to confront these segments / competition?
I think we can provide superior value to customers because of our integrated approach, ATC, and global experience.
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