Ville Vuori, CEO, Kemppi Oy
Kemppi is a pioneer within the welding industry. The company, with a legacy of 70 years, states that its role is to develop solutions so that its customer wins in his business. Headquartered in Lahti, Finland, Kemppi employs over 600 welding experts in 13 countries and has a revenue of over 110 MEUR. Its offerings include welding solutions – intelligent equipment, welding management software and expert services – for both demanding industrial applications and ready-to-weld needs. The company has its Indian arm operating from Chennai, and has a global partner network covering over 60 countries. Kemppi recently set up a Robotic Welding Application Center in Pune with a view to working closely with Indian customers in developing and perfecting welding applications in their production shops. Mr. P.K. Balasubbramaniian spoke to Mr. Ville Vuori, CEO, Kemppi Oy on the sidelines of the inaugural function to ascertain the focus of Kemppi and the significance it attaches to India as a growth market. Excerpts:
Q. The general perception in the industry is that Kemppi is a weld wizard. What precisely is your niche?
Yes, we are known for our knowledge base emanating from our in-depth knowledge of software, extreme R & D focus, and vast experience. When I say vast experience, you must know that we are a technology driven company with a heritage of 70 years and a reputation for reliability, quality and technical excellence. And our niche is in optimizing the arc properties.
Q. What’s your standing today in the welding world?
If what you mean is our market share, we have a market share of 20% in Europe, and 5% globally. Our focus is on quality and not quantity.
Q. You are primarily in welding equipment. What is exciting in your offerings?
I would say our X8 MIG Welder is currently the most exciting offer. This equipment unleashing the enormous potential of IoT, redefines performance, usability and welding management in demanding industrial MIG/MAG applications. It has the best arc characteristics for high speed and aluminum, narrow-gap, root pass, thin sheet and low spatter welding in globular transfer mode. It has precisely controlled, upgradable welding current up to 600A, and can be used for advanced MIG brazing, cladding and heavy-duty gouging as well. Coming to usability, it features fast and easy to change system and welding settings, can adjust and control welding values, and view WPS content. It uses welding guns with ergonomic handle design, and a wire feeder with ultimate user-friendliness. To speak of welding management, the equipment, the equipment has digital WPS feature which obviates printed WPSs. It enables automatic setting of welding parameters based on the WPS. It has connectivity to WeldEye welding management software modules, welding procedure and qualification management, welding quality management and welding production analysis. All in all it is a amazing product from the stable of Kemppi.
Q. How do you make welding a joy?
Our whole stress is on the usability of our equipment. The welder is happy when the equipment is user-friendly. The welding guns are ergonomically designed. It is easy to change the welding settings to adjust and control the welding values. All controls are at his finger tips. The whole process is digitally controlled so as to avoid human error, reduce reworking and enhance productivity. We ensure the health and safety of the welder. All this contributes to make welding a pleasure and a joy!
Q. How rewarding is your spend on R & D?
We are a technology driven company. R & D is an integral part of our continuing development process. We develop new machines, add new features to the existing ones, improve the existing products and processes… We see that we get everything right. Sometimes it takes months, sometimes it takes 5-6 years as well. We have to have patience. We invest almost 8% of our annual sales turnover in R & D. A machine involves not just one discipline. It involves electrical, electronics, mechatronics, power electronics, digital control, actual welding development and many other aspects. We have to get the technical content right. So to answer your question – R & D is inevitable and it is rewarding.
Q. What’s the value addition you give to the Indian customer with the launch of the Robotic Welding Application Center in Pune?
The Indian welding industry is maturing. Welding as such is attaining sophistication. Automation in welding is gaining momentum. In this scenario, Kemppi, as a technology leader, has a lot to offer in terms of cutting edge solutions for robotic and automated arc welding applications. Our Robotic Welding Application Center in Pune has been set up with a view to working closely with our customers in developing and perfecting welding applications in their production shops. Kemppi arc welding process packages are easy to install. We work in tandem with all well-known robot brands. Our solutions can utilize all modern fieldbus protocols for communication between the robot controller and the power source.
Q. How do you look at the Indian market and its growth potential for your business?
India is certainly a growth market and has a great potential for welding and our business. So our focus is on offering the benefit of technology, quality features and proven solutions – just as we do to 70 other countries worldwide
The home grown ELGi Equipments Limited is today the 7th largest manufacturer of air compressors in the world. The company with a broad line of innovative and technologically superior compressed air systems has earned the worldwide distinction of having designed sustainable solutions that help companies achieve their productivity goals and keep the cost of ownership low. The Indian MNC’s ambition to seize the No.2 position in the world by 2027 is not without substance. It has the technology, products and the people to achieve this, according to Anvar Jay Varadaraj, Head – Marketing & Corporate Communications at ELGi. The foundation of the company’s aspiration is also based on the fact that it is one of the three global players with the full range of compressed air systems, discovers P.K. Balasubbramaniian in an interview. Excerpts:
Q. ELGi is an Indian MNC in Air Compressors. What’s your standing today and how do you plan to push your global ranking to a notch above?
ELGi is currently the seventh largest air compressor manufacturer in the world. Our ambition is to be number two by 2027. Amongst the global players, we are one of three companies with the full range of products, which is the foundation for our aspirations. We believe that reliable products with industry leading energy efficiency will be critical to our growth. We have had a strong start in quality conscious markets such as Europe and the USA and we believe that we will grow steadily as more customers and distributors experience our products.
Q. What are your strategies to accelerate your growth?
As we grow to number two, we believe 30% of our growth will be fueled by organic growth in markets, while 70% will come from inorganic avenues such as acquisitions. We will focus on “access to market” acquisitions such as distributors.
Q. How do you propose to step up your infrastructure and resources to achieve the goal you have set for yourselves?
Our current infrastructure will hold us well for sales increases over the next five years. However, as we grow sales in key markets such as the USA, we will consider on-site manufacturing to improve our service to our customers and distributors. To this end, we have projects underway to envision the ideal ELGi factory in the USA taking into account factors such as higher labour costs.
Q. What’s your present range of manufacture? Any new additions in the anvil as a result of your rigorous R & D?
ELGi currently offers the full range of compressed air solutions and services. For products, we have both lubricated and oil free reciprocating compressors. Starting from 1 HP and supporting applications such as small scale manufacturing and auto workshops, our lubricated reciprocating compressors offer decades of reliable operations. Our oil free reciprocating compressors support clean air sensitive applications such as pharmaceutical manufacture and textiles. Our oil lubricated screw compressors support a vast array of industries starting from 7 KW with the aim of providing the lowest ownership cost experience, which includes upfront price, energy consumption, and maintenance. Our screw compressor range also includes oil-free machines which are built around our proprietary oil free Airend design and produce class zero air for large scale pharmaceutical manufacture and textiles. Our screw compressor range extends to portable and skid compressors. Portable compressors are either powered by an electric or diesel motor and are critical for applications such as mining and road construction. Our skid compressors, mated to diesel engines, are used for water well applications. Finally, we have our centrifugal compressor range that supports large capacity air requirements for industries such as power, textiles, and cement.
Q. As a trendsetter, what are the technological innovations you have showcased recently?
As our IOT initiative, we have launched Air Alert, a communication device embedded in our screw compressor range to transmit critical compressor to ELGi. We will use algorithms to continuously monitor these machines to provide failure prevention, proactive maintenance, and quality improvement. With Air Alert, customers can rest assured that their ELGi machines are under constant surveillance. By the end of the calendar year 2017, we will have 500 machines fitted with Air Alert and by the middle of 2018, all of our machines will have Air Alert as standard and at no additional cost.
Q. What’s your level of success in producing energy efficient compressors of superlative quality and performance?
Our technology roadmap considers energy efficiency as a key driver. We initially aimed to match the best in terms of quality and energy consumption. We are proud to note that we are amongst the most efficient and most reliable machines in the industry. Our success in the USA, for example, is testament to our products’ quality and reliability. Our current goal is to be unequivocally the best in terms of quality and energy consumption, both critical parameters for an Indian brand competing with European brands.
Q. How would you summarize your major strengths, capabilities and resourcefulness?
We live by the mantra that the customer is always right. This mantra is our strength as it has instilled values amongst our team where no one tolerates compromises to the customer. If customer- centricity was not central, then our products and technology won’t count for much.
Q. What are the calculative efforts you make to improve your brand value?
We aim to be thought leaders in compressed air. To this end, we’ve invested in platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and our blog (The Compressed Air Journal) that will allow us to create and share meaningful stories about ELGi.
Q. What’s your customer base? And how do you delight your customer offering tangible benefits and lasting values?
Any operation that uses compressed air is our potential customer. We delight our customer by offering the lowest ownership cost experience in the world, bar none.
Q. What’s exciting at ELGI today?
Our aspiration to be number two in the world energizes the whole company. We believe we have the technology, the products, and the people to achieve this.
Q. Is ELGI a classic example of eminent Indian engineering that makes India proud?
While this is a work in progress, ELGi is a good example of home grown technology leading the charge towards dominance in an industry. Today, we have “know why” on compressed air technology, which will allow us to develop the compressed air products of the future. We’ve built this “know why” over decades of investment into our team and our R&D function. We are proud today to have engineers with us who have grown from campus developing their own world class designs and producing industry leading designs.
Q. You are quite visible on the CSR front. Could you throw some light on your recent initiatives and the results?
We would like to highlight two initiatives. First, we have a vocational training program at ELGi that has been designed around German vocational training principles. We identify high performing students of limited means from neighboring towns and villages who have completed the tenth standard and enroll them into a three year program with the goal of placing them in different areas of air compressor manufacture. By doing so, we guarantee that our labour talent is aligned to our expectations of quality and character, while offering these students an opportunity to cement their careers. So far, we have placed more than one hundred and ninety students.
Second, we run the ELGi school which aspires to provide a best in class science and math education for children from destitute backgrounds. The school enrolls 1400 students and we aspire to build residential facilities with the aim of inducting more students from orphanages
