(From L to R) Amol Arun Mane, General Manager – Technical & Marketing (India & South East Asia), Sandeep Srivastava, Director- India & South East Asia
Last two years have been instrumental for Hexagon Production Software India. From bringing all brands in India under a single umbrella of Vero India to change of brand name from Vero Software to Hexagon Production Software, the company has been in midst of several interesting changes. Despite all these changes, one thing has remained constant—its relentless focus on meeting evolving customer expectations with a wide range of product offerings. The company today has earned the reputation of one the leading CAM centric – Manufacturing Software Solutions company. Its impressive client list and huge market share are a testimony to its growth.
Shweta Nanda of Machine Tools World recently got an opportunity for an exclusive interview with Sandeep Srivastava, Director- India & South East Asia and Amol Arun Mane, General Manager – Technical & Marketing (India & South East Asia). In an extensive chat, they tell us about the company’s success mantra, how they ensure customer satisfaction across large and small organizations and the company’s future growth vision. Edited excerpts:
Amol: Hexagon is a digital solutions company that is committed to shaping smart change within organizations. To get a clear perspective, let’s consider some facts. By 2054, the global population is expected to reach 9 billion, which essentially equals to a new city every 5 days. Also, middle class purchasing power is projected to triple. All these developments are spurring innovation and manufacturing demand. We, at Hexagon, are at the centre of powering this smart change. We strive to proactively and positively shape businesses and industry landscapes in support of a sustainable future while helping organizations increase their bottom line, profitability and gain a competitive edge.
When we talk about Hexagon Production Software, it is an integral part of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division. We help customers embed quality throughout their production lifecycle. Earlier quality was assessed only of the finished product. For instance, take the example of car assembly line. If one comes to know of any defects/changes once the car has been fully assembled, then it requires complete rework from the manufacturer. This not only significantly affects the profit margins but also impacts the throughput. This is where Hexagon Production Software completely fits the bill with its motto of Quality drives productivity. We help manufacturers ensure quality right from the concept stage—they have full visibility into product outcome. This helps them effectively achieve the three-fold requirement of time, cost and quality.
Sandeep: We have direct offices in the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, USA, India, Spain, Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and Thailand. Also, we have development teams in the UK, USA, Italy, Netherlands, France, Germany, India and Russia.
As per the findings of CIMdata 2017 Market Analysis Report, we are number one in industrial seats installed with 306,400 seats—more than double of the seats installed by number two ranked CAM supplier in the list. With market share of 22%, we are world’ no 1. CAM centric software company. Also, as we have acquired Spring Technologies, we have further solidified our market share.
Amol: With our wide range of product portfolio, we cater to unique needs of major industry segments, including automotive, aerospace, die and mould, medical, electronics and machinery. Our global client list includes leading names, such as Volkswagen, GM, Hyundai, Ford, Siemens, Samsung, Schneider Electric, to name a few. One interesting case study that I can share with you is that of the automotive giant, Audi. The company has achieved significant benefits by using our product, WORKNC. Audi has been able to reduce processing times in various pre-finishing pressing tools by up to 30% while tool service life has tripled at the same time. The solution allows Audi to do programming for even highly complex parts in a quick and intuitive manner.
We have a wide range of customers—right from big conglomerates to small manufacturing shops. We at Hexagon strive to meet the unique needs and requirements of all customer segments.Sandeep Srivastava
Sandeep: When we talk about India, till two and a half years back, all our products were available as a separate offerings through resellers. Customers identified our individual products but were unaware of the brand behind these products. Over the past two and a half years, we have made conscious efforts to consolidate all the fragmented products and bring them under the single umbrella of Vero India.
With our acquisition by Hexagon and brand change to Hexagon Production Software (in January this year), we have further solidified our position as a complete solutions partner for customers. Backed by the experience & innovative solutions of our parent company, Hexagon, we are well-equipped to help companies add value at each stage of their manufacturing process.
We have also focused on expanding our geographic reach through our direct presence in Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, as well as reseller network present across India. We have doubled our team strength. Essentially, capacity, coverage and competence have been our focus areas. Since bringing about these strategic changes, we have clocked a CAGR of 50% in India. We also conduct customer meet every month in major cities, which is attended by 60-100 customers. This is a novel initiative that helps us to not only make customers aware of our complete product line, but also gives us an opportunity to listen to our customers and understand their requirements.
Sandeep: India is a diverse country, we have a wide range of customers—right from big conglomerates to small manufacturing shops. We at Hexagon strive to meet the unique needs and requirements of all customer segments. For instance, one key customer requirement is instant technical support. To meet this, we have a portal wherein customers can log their complaints and can get speedy resolution to any issue. However, at times we noticed that some customers from the MSME segment were facing issues in operating the portal or were not able to use it due to internet downtime. To aid such customers, we now additionally offer a toll free number which they can call and get immediate technical support.
We listen to our customers and understand their pain areas. We then map this with our capabilities and in case there are any gaps, we acquire technologies to address these particular pain points. For instance, we realized that managing and using the right tool for the right job is a problem faced by many companies. To address this, we acquired a German technology called Fasys. The technology is currently quite popular in Germany, with several large companies using it to manage their tools. We plan to bring it to India too next year.
Last year, we also acquired a French company Spring Technologies. The company’s NCSIMUL machine simulation and optimisation software helps manufacturers create ‘digital twin’ process models that gives them complete visibility into how manufacturing will happen before going to production. Today, multi-axis machines are very commonly used and the complexity has increased manifold, this technology gives a complete idea into how manufacturing will happen and how the end product will look like.
Customers are constantly looking at ways to improve their productivity, reduce cycle time, and ensure product quality at optimum cost. We have technologies to optimize the complete manufacturing cycle and help customers on their journey to smart manufacturingAmol Arun Mane
Amol: Customers are constantly looking at ways to improve their productivity, reduce cycle time, and ensure product quality at optimum cost. We have technologies to optimize the complete manufacturing cycle to meet this customer requirement. Our products enable simulation on the screen that gives clients full visibility into if things are happing as planned. This helps them ensure they are manufacturing the right thing first time, every time.
Amol: We, at Hexagon, are a customer-centric company that believes in solution selling rather than product selling. We differ from our competitors as unlike them we not only sell software, but we bring in value throughout the manufacturing value chain. We provide total solution from concept to reality using different offerings from Hexagon portfolio. Over the course of years, Hexagon has acquired companies which are required in the Hexagon Digital Thread concept connecting the Digital & Physical Worlds so we have the capabilities to help customers on their journey to smart manufacturing.
Sandeep: Capabilities to serve the unique requirements of both small and large companies is typical to India. We, at Hexagon are committed to serving both these segments with our customized product offerings and initiatives like customer portal and toll-free number. Skills gap is also a major challenge in India as universities are still following the old curriculum and have not updated their courses as per market requirements. We, at Hexagon, are doing our bit to bridge the gap. We have training centers in Pune and Kolhapur and collaborate with universities to provide required training that make students industry-ready and increase their chances of employment. Also, we had organized skill development workshops in Maharashtra and had trained 300 + faculty members from various universities in Maharashtra.
Sandeep: We have aggressive growth plans for the region and in the next three years we plan to double our capacity by adding more people and resellers in our network. If we look at India, it is a booming economy and we see immense opportunities here. Although, we have strong presence in the western region of the country, certain parts of North India and South India are still untapped for us. We also plan to launch several new products and technologies in the country. In terms of industry, apart from automotive & aerospace, we are also focusing extensively on the wood industry segment.
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