Over the past 70 years, WIKA has built a reputation as a renowned partner and competent specialist for any task in the field of measurement technology. On the basis of steadily growing efficiency, innovative technologies are applied when developing new products and system solutions. The reliability of the products and the readiness to face all market challenges have been the key factors for WIKA to achieve a leading position in the global market. Within the WIKA Group, currently, 10,000 employees are dedicated to maintaining and improving technology in pressure, temperature, force and level measurement, and also in the fields of flow measurement, calibration and SF6 gas solutions.
In conversation with Gaurav Bawa, Managing Director and Senior Vice President, WIKA India to know more about their comprehensive product range and strategic acquisitions.
Please tell us about WIKA’s product line and solutions
WIKA India (WIKA Instruments India Pvt. Ltd) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WIKA Global (WIKA Alexander Wiegand SE & Co. KG, Germany). It specialises in Pressure, Temperature, Level, Flow, & Force for critical industrial applications. WIKA Global has been in measurement technology for 75 years and in India, WIKA has been present for the last 25 years.
WIKA supports companies in machine building with instrumentation solutions and services for pressure, temperature, level, force and flow measurement. Through many years of close cooperation with machine-building companies across various industrial sectors, the industry-specific challenges are well known to us. Thus, we have dedicated manufacturing lines for each of the industries like ■Textile machinery ■ Presses ■ Filling and packaging machinery ■ Paper machinery ■ Printing machinery ■ Transmissions ■ Woodworking machinery, ■ Calibration benches. Across these industries, WIKA offers around 1000+ products, supplying more than 6000 customers.
Measuring instruments market for cold chain industry growth and change for the future
According to industry studies, the Indian cold chain logistics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 14% during the forecast period of 2020-2025, with demand from sectors like organized retail, processed food, pharmaceuticals and growing shift towards horticulture. As the product transported becomes complex and the distance covered by the goods increase, demand for high level and consistent equipment will increase. The cold chain systems in emerging markets are not integrated and compatible for multiple perishable commodities, which poses a major challenge to market growth and provides an opportunity for growth.
WIKA is aligned with the segment as it manufactures measurement instruments that help efficient and optimum functioning of integrated heating, ventilation and air handling (HVAC) systems and refrigeration technologies. Precision calibration suitable to different industries like agriculture and pharma can be achieved through WIKA’s research and development in each component, enabling smart applications like integrated heating systems, solar thermal systems, combined heat and power plants and others. In instrumentation, WIKA has pressure measuring instruments, level switches, resistance thermometers and thermocouples, and accessories for temperature controllers and thermometers with switch contacts.
What are the biggest company milestones expected this year for WIKA India?
In terms of growth plans, WIKA India wants to double its turnover in the next three years by 2025. It will need a lot of effort and delivery to realise this mission, and every year leading to 2025 will be a step towards the same.
Another goal for WIKA India this year is to reach the maximum possible level of localisation—not only adding to the employment but also taking advantage of a labour surplus economy and margin offered by local production. The value addition in terms of a stable supply chain and affordability of products offers a big difference to WIKA India.
Research & Development holds an important role in WIKA’s innovation strategy. So much so that you have a new WIKA Research & Development Centre at Klingenberg. Could you tell us what are the efforts done from your end to cater to Indian customers?
WIKA India offers a portfolio of high-performance measurement products which are tailored to suit each industry. We firmly believe that Quality of products, Customisation for each industry’s requirement and Service after sales are the three main advantages and differentiators for WIKA products. The research and development of WIKA can be categorised into two parts, given the industry trends:
- Customisation: As awareness about sustainable product manufacturing increases, the manufacturing paradigm of producing homogenous products at the highest qualities and lowest costs has transformed into a demand for the production of individualised goods. This manufacturing paradigm, mass customisation, leads to research on reconfigurable machine tools (RMT) within reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS).
- Manufacturing Smart tools: WIKA is a specialist in manufacturing measurement equipment in Pressure, Temperature, Level, Flow, & Force for critical industrial applications. As the Measurement Market becomes more mature led by 5G revolution and EV market, especially with technology interventions through smart tools, WIKA has also embraced automation and AI to transform from a conventional machine tool manufacturer to a smart machine tool manufacturer.
The WIKA Training and Development Innovative Centre at Klingenberg is a state-of-the-art concept representing the values of WIKA, where the façade reflects the company’s dynamism and potential for innovation, glass and aluminium stand for precision, longevity, and transparency. Training and Development is a continuous process and WIKA focuses on always be tuned to market requirements and evolving accordingly.
Product-Centric vs Customer-Centric: What is WIKA’s approach in this aspect?
WIKA India boasts of Quality and Service as the two most important pillars of strength. While the quality product is our strength, WIKA takes full responsibility for servicing the products for the customers. While product centricity is the starting point, without customer centricity, it will be impossible to hold the market. Thus, we keep a balance between the two aspects of the business. Our customer services can be grouped under the following heads:
Calibration: WIKA calibrates the measuring instruments in accredited calibration laboratories or directly on-site at customers’ locations. WIKA has recently launched Mobile Calibration Van, bringing service to customer doorstep. The scope of the doorstep service includes pressure, temperature and electrical parameters through one master switch. This helps cut down the time lost in transporting the product to the labs from the installed site.
Repair: WIKAs service technicians make sure that the measuring instruments, in case of breakdowns and repairs, are fully functional again in the shortest space of time.
Installation: WIKA offers end-to-end service —right from helping the customers select the right product to the installation of the measuring units and providing support for the commissioning of the instrumentation.
Disposal: As a globally responsible manufacturing leader, WIKA helps the customer with environment-friendly ways to dispose of or retrofit the products once they have reached the end of their lifecycle.
What are the future plans & expansion of WIKA India?
The WIKA India manufacturing plant is in four states—Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana. Investment in new facilities and product upgradation is continuous, WIKA provides employment to around 1200+ people and has plans for long-term presence in the Indian economy.
In terms of expansion, WIKA acquired two companies in 2014—Micro Precision, located at Faridabad and Switzer Instruments India Pvt. Ltd., with brands ‘Switzer” and “Infos” with manufacturing locations in Chennai and Ghaziabad, respectively. Micro Precision now has a new plant with a huge augmentation in manufacturing capacity for Flow elements and Valves & Manifold, catering not only for the domestic market but also to exports. Pressure switches from Chennai and Ghaziabad plant have been suitably engineered and are now available as the brand “WIKA”.
WIKA India has four verticals of businesses– Projects or expansion business, Maintenance business, Distribution business and OEMs. In terms of manufacturing capacity, expansion has already happened for the next five years. We will expand and plan with further technology adaptions to Indian demands and global changes.
In terms of growth plans, WIKA India wants to double its turnover in the next three years. WIKA today has a firm foothold in India, the strategy is to maximize market share in the segments where we are present. The second strategy is for localisation. WIKA India has a list of products for localisation, and we are actively pursuing plans to localise them fully.
Digitalisation is the current buzzword. Role of AI/ML/Blockchain in your industry.
Innovations certainly have helped WIKA to bridge the expectation of Industry 4.0. WIKA, too, has embraced automation and upgraded its products. The pandemic has only boosted the speed of upgradation, leading us to growth. For the last two years, WIKA has internally sorted out a list of products that need to become smart and with a targeted sense of priority, we have transformed into manufacturing IOT-enabled products.
Industry 4.0 is considered to be technology-driven, whereas Industry 5.0 is value-driven. And for the first time, the two realms of industrial manufacturing transitions co-exist. With better technology and disruptions, one gets access to more data. Responsible usage of this data is what will allow mankind to reap the benefits of the technology interface, smart systems, AI, Blockchain and others. Hence, for Industry 4.0 to be optimised, we need Industry 5.0. It provides the weightage for the value addition offered by digital adoptions.
Many machine tools use AI in the form of meters and sensors to evaluate a machine’s energy usage and make decisions on how to reduce energy. Artificial intelligence can also benefit the manufacturing industry because it improves over time. As the machine learning models continue to analyse data specific to business and manufacturing processes, they will become more accurate and better predict failures and anomalies.
Machine tools capabilities are augmented by powerful software that can adapt to changing needs and customer specifications. The software has the ability to be updated as frequently as new innovations become available.