How has been the journey in India?
Our journey in India has been very exciting and encouraging. We completed 10 years of our presence in India in 2018. From the time we started in 2008 till date, there has been a big and positive change in the industry. The customers are demanding and accepting the fans with low ownership cost rather than focusing on the low capital cost only, as they appreciate the fact that the operating and maintenance cost is much more than the capital cost of a fan.
The journey has been a great learning experience for us that helped us to understand and offer the right products at the right value-for-money proposition to our customers in India. We invested in a manufacturing facility at Chakan in Pune in 2013 and have been adding new product range and expanding the facility as we move forward. We are happy about the fact that all our customers agreed to our vision of ‘Saving the Precious Energy for India’ and by using our fans are really helping our country to achieve that objective.
What kind of product range does the company catering to HVACR sector?
We offer high efficiency and low noise fans for the HVACR industry that includes Axial fans with both AC and EC motors in external rotor motor design; Tube Axial fans with IE2/IE3 motors; Direct Driven Backward Curved Centrifugal fans with AC and EC motors in external rotor motor design; Direct Driven Backward Curved Centrifugal fans (Plug Fans) with IE2/IE3 motors; Sensors and Controllers to vary the speed of the fans, and customised Axial fans for applications like ammonia refrigeration
All the products offered by us are German engineered and manufactured according to the German standards that ensure that our customers get what they pay for in terms of air performance, noise, efficiency, dimensional details, etc. We offer our fans to the original equipment manufacturers of air handling units, air cooled chillers, condensers, evaporators, dry coolers, etc.
The methodology we adopt while working with OEM customer is that we focus on first understanding the application of our customers and all the limitations of the same, and based on that we select, optimise and customise, as and when required the fans to be offered so that we meet all the criteria asked for by our OEM customers. This way we ensure that our customer focuses on and grows his core business.
Do you have R&D hub in India?
ZIEHL-ABEGG started its journey in Germany in 1910 with an innovation- External Rotor Motor. Even after 108 years, we continue to stay focused on innovations by investing about 6 per cent of our global turnover in R&D every year. We work on technology with a core objective of making our fans more energy efficient and low in noise. This way we are able to offer a fan to our customers that helps save both the environment and energy. We have our global R&D centre in Germany, which is the world’s largest ventilation and noise test chamber for fans.
What is your take on clean room technology?
India has been one of the major pharmaceutical hubs wherein clean room is a necessity. Clean room applications are 24x7x365 and need products that are reliable and low in energy consumption. Clean room is also required for manufacturing of electronics and R&D labs. We see this industry growing as more manufacturing facilities to cater to these applications are being set up in the country.
What is your outlook for HVACR industry for 2019-20?
HVACR industry in India will continue to grow and we see that more and more end users are demanding products with lower life cycle costs wherein they want the products to have the highest efficiency and minimal maintenance costs with the convenience of operation. With the government investing in infrastructure projects like airports, etc. the requirement for HVAC products will continue to grow.
The cold chain industry is also on the upswing as more organised players are getting into this field. There is still a long way to go wherein India can reach a stage where food products, fruits and vegetables are not wasted but are treated properly, stored in the right climate and transported to the consumers.
