Mitsubishi Electric India, which is in its 10th year of operations, is betting big on the Indian market. Be it products for residential market or industrial solutions or commercial applications, the company wants to incorporate latest technology to improve productivity, tells Rajeev Sharma, Head, Corporate Services & Strategic Planning to The Sunday Standard’s Sunitha Natti. Excerpts:
What’s your business model?
We have presence across India with a large distribution channel which is expanding. The produce range includes ACs, factory automation and industrial systems, semiconductors and devices, transportation systems and visual & imaging. We also have three other group companies: Mitsubishi Elevator India, which manufactures and sells elevators and escalators, Mitsubishi Electric Automotive India, an OEM for electric and electronic automotive equipment for auto companies and Climaveneta Climate Technologies that manufactures and sells chillers & data centre cooling solutions. We are a high-quality electric and electronic equipment manufacturer supporting a wide range of sectors, including residential and commercial buildings.
What are you investments and expansion plans?
We plan to grow and increase our market in the coming future. We made subsequent investments in the recent past towards setting up two manufacturing units —Transportation System, Bidadi Bangalore and technical centre for CNC, Peenya Bangalore. Besides, our factory automation products like inverters up to 15KW are assembled in MEI-Pune Factory since 2015 along with some other products like energy meters which we started manufacturing in 2018. Also, Mitsubishi Elevators opened a factory in Bangalore. We are open to new ideas and investments for product development and manufacturing in India for which we keep doing market research and analysis and will commit more investments depending on business scenario.
What has been your experience so far?
The journey has been both challenging and overwhelming. As a company, we have been doing well and managing a double-digit growth since inception. Be it ACs, factory automation, transportation systems, semiconductors and devices, we have been the leader in the premium segment. The prices of our products may be a bit higher from our nearest competitor, but that’s because of our R&D cost, global sourcing of components, and compliance of stringent manufacturing quality.
What technological advancements can be the next game changer?
Japanese companies are pioneers in electric and electronic equipment. Our parent entity is ranked first in Japan in terms of the number of patent registrations in 2018 with 4,348 patents announced by the Japan Patent Office and second in the world in terms of Patent Cooperation Treaty application by businesses in 2018 with 2,812 applications announced by the World Intellectual Property Organisation. We are also actively pursuing activities toward acquiring design rights in Japan and overseas, to protect both the functional and design aspects of our technologies.
Can you throw some light on the innovative solutions from Mitsubishi Electric?
Innovation is the resemblance of growth and reliability. We at Mitsubishi Electric always try to innovate and deliver solutions to bring comfort, quality, efficiency and reliability. For instance, Mitsubishi Electric’s solar-powered irrigation system is a huge relief for Indian farmers. We developed solar power operated pump controller, which converts the DC power to drive the AC induction motor of a water pump and control its function.
We pioneered mass production of power semiconductor modules for hybrid vehicles in 1997. Mitsubishi Electric has already taken a step towards making the idea of mass scale shifting to electric vehicles a reality. The company’s new module will contribute further compactness, weight reduction and reduced power consumption in inverters for electric and hybrid vehicles. It has cutting-edge features like reduced inverter size and weight due to extra compact package with high integration.
How will market intelligence tools help in growth?
We engage in deep market research to understand market needs of our target audience and deliver products. For instance, we’ve applied primary and secondary market research to develop products like MSY GR(T) series, a tropical inverter technology AC from Mitsubishi Electric. It features fast cooling, long air flow, dual barrier coating, micro particle catching filter, and quiet operation. One of the significant features is high cooling performance with a guaranteed operating range up to 52 deg C. The inputs came from our dealer and business partners.