B&R India has established seven offices in major cities of India and has expanded its Pune office space to match the growth. Jhankar Dutta, Managing Director, B&R Industrial Automation, shares more on the company's views on the market and growth plans.

How do you look at the current scenario in the Indian construction equipment market?
Rapidly growing urban population demands better infrastructure. One of the significant developments in the Indian urban areas is the metro rail construction. In over 25 cities, about 600 km of sanctioned metro lines are under construction at different stages of completion with over 1,000 km metro line proposals under planning. Need for better connectivity and enhanced transport facilities are anticipated to drive construction industry in the coming years. Initially our government was slow in remodelling its structures and policies for construction market. However, our government has successfully rolled out various initiatives for infrastructure development that strongly promote use of technology in construction equipment. Many OEMs are upgrading their manufacturing facilities with smart, advanced and innovative technologies such as automation and robotics to manufacture high tech equipment that meet global quality standards. Indian construction equipment market is on fast track with smart manufacturing wave supported by Industrial IoT (IIoT) and digitalisation.

How is the market evolving in India in terms of using mobile automation solutions in construction and mining equipment?
Despite various challenges, Indian government has given priorities to infrastructure developments. In the view of "Make in India" and "IIoT" initiatives, OEMs are manufacturing intelligent new generation infrastructure equipment to meet global quality standards. It is not only Indian equipment sector, which is witnessing change, but also there is also an optimistic approach from buyers who are responding positively to innovative mobile equipment and solutions, which are offered by manufacturers. India has come a long way from traditional construction equipment; the construction equipment market has adopted technically advanced equipment that gives value for money in terms of higher productivity, reliability, energy and fuel efficiency, maximum uptime, low maintenance, safety, quick after-sales service and support to their buyers. No doubt, this market is cost sensitive, and will remain so, but seeing the kind of technical interventions and upgrades opted by OEMs, it is clear that India's construction equipment market has opened up new business vistas.

What are the key products and solutions offered by B&R in construction equipment?
The demands placed on construction equipment have evolved dramatically over the years. With new functions being added all the time and requirements for operational efficiency and quality higher than ever, these equipment need an automation system that is both powerful and scalable. Our portfolio includes complete automation solutions for the industry. Every aspect of B&R automation system is designed for modular and concurrent engineering. With X90 mobile CPU system, we offer automation solutions designed specifically for critical environmental conditions often present in commercial vehicle and outdoor applications. Our Power Panel T50 mobile is highly reliable for construction and municipal vehicle operations. The Power Panel T50 mobile's die-cast aluminium housing provides the necessary mechanical rigidity. With IP67 protection, it easily handles heat, cold, dirt, moisture, shock and vibration. The projected capacitive touch screen can even be operated in the rain. With no fans or batteries, it is also maintenance-free. Today, we have introduced a PC-based solution for X90, enabling higher processing power for mobile machinery. This PC can also be used as an edge controller, collecting large volumes of data from one or more mobile machines, preprocessing it and then sending it to higher-level systems or the cloud. For machine-to-machine and machine-to-cloud communication, B&R offers the widely used OPC UA and MQTT protocols.

What are the opportunities you foresee for your products and solutions in Indian market?
Technology trends such as advanced automation, IIoT and robotics are transforming the Indian market in many ways. With our most innovative automation technology solutions, we are a preferred automation partner for market leaders in Indian manufacturing sectors such as automobile, printing and packaging, pharma, F&B etc. Considering opportunities and demands of Indian market, our mobile automation portfolio ensures higher productivity, quality, efficiency, safety and low maintenance in construction and municipal vehicles. We are successfully working with OEMs in this industry for various smart city solutions covering all major requirements of any municipal corporation in India.

What are the major challenges you face in Indian market?
Cost sensitivity and awareness have always been a challenge for any automation vendor. Any industry is rigid when it comes to adopting change, and construction is no different. However, government initiatives in urban infrastructure and construction development has come timely with IIoT and Industry 4.0, and is already witnessing a tremendous impact in India, enabling a trajectory for high and sustainable growth.

What are your plans in India for market and product expansions?
The use of industrial automation is increasing with strong expansion of India's manufacturing sector. In order to meet this huge demand, B&R India has established seven offices in major cities spread across India. In addition, we have expanded our Pune office space to match the growth. We have fully equipped training centres where customers can gain excellent hands-on technology experience. Every year, B&R invests heavily in R&D activities. Globally, ABB has invested Ç100 million in Austria to build a state-of-the-art innovation and training campus at the B&R headquarters in Eggelsberg, laying the foundation for new high-tech jobs. I am sure this collaboration will further accelerate our speed of growth in India as well.