We aim to create disruption through collaboration: Ben Story

He says electrification of India presents a big opportunity for us to build hybrid solutions for consumers

What are the mega trends Rolls Royce is seeing in the aerospace and energy business?

There are three big trends that Rolls Royce is facing. First, customers want cleaner, safer and competitive power. That’s a good trend for us. Because the entry-level cost in the power industry is very high, we enjoy a competitive advantage. A new player’s entry into the market is that much harder. Second, countries and industries are moving towards complete electrification opening up new opportunities for the company. Third, digitisation is a priority for us as well as our consumers. We are embracing both electrification and digitisation and believe that through collaboration with industry players and customers, we can create disruption. Collaboration is part of our DNA.

You just said, digitisation is a priority for your company? What sort of opportunity does it throw up?

By embracing digital, we hope to become a more nimble and agile organisation. What is interesting is the way we are looking at the whole digitisation process. Our objective is to identify a particular issue, remove constraints from our processes and systems. At the same time, digitisation is also about identifying new opportunities.  We look around to spot an issue and then go on to organise and form a cell (a small team of experts) and then adopt a 90-day strategy to fix the issue. It is akin to running a sprint. We believe in proving things fast, failing things fast. We do not work in silos rather we believe in moving ahead as a team..

Could you give us an example?

Let’s take diesel engines that we make. We have thousand-odd engines out in the market. Our engines are made to last decades. However, all these years we did not think much about the after-market services for our engines. Now we are much more active on managing the after-market for diesel engines. But the question is how do you actually find out where all the engines are? Thanks to digitisation, we have been able to get the serial number of our diesel engines, we know the exact location and the working condition of our engines. Similarly, to provide better customer support services, we have moved from a paper-based system to a digital system. We have connected all our customers on a single digital platform. Leveraging the digital platform, we have been able to include more functionality and applications for customers.

You have said that you have a huge play in the diesel engine market. Markets globally are moving to cleaner energy forms. Are these developments a threat or an opportunity for Rolls Royce?

As countries and markets move to a low-carbon economy, we are tapping into new opportunities. As regards to our products, be it aircraft or diesel engines, we are continuously driving efficiencies into them. At the same time, the company is looking at fresh applications as well. We are big on micro grids and solar. Ensuring continuity of power supply to our consumers is a priority. So we are building powerful and cleaner diesel engines that kick in when the sun is not shining or power in the grid falls. The focus is also on building gas-based engines that are much more efficient and are cleaner also.

What are your plans for India and the key areas of investment?

Electrification of India presents a big opportunity for us to build hybrid solutions for consumers. We are looking at rural markets where electrification is gaining a lot of ground. Powering railway stations and data centres is another focus area. Another big focus area for us in India is the country’s growing aviation market. We, along with GE, are the leaders in wide-body aircraft. Currently, the market for wide-body aircraft engines is small in India but we see it moving fast. For example, with economic growth and infrastructure development, China quickly moved from narrow-body aircraft to wide-body aircraft driving demand for aircraft engines. China has moved from being a small market 20 years ago to being our second biggest market. We see India moving in the same direction in a couple of years. As the economy grows and the infrastructure improves, more and more people will travel by air. This will drive huge demand for wide-body aircraft. We are very strong in the wide-body aircraft engine market. But we are handicapped in India today. That is potentially our biggest market. We are getting ready for the future opportunity.

Can you elaborate on the opportunities and challenges in Indian aerospace?

If you look at civil aerospace, it is a highly regulated marketplace. There are set products standards etc. Aircraft engine certification is a huge and lengthy process in a lot of markets. So in the aerospace segment, products are more or less standardised. Armed forces across geographies have different equipment and technology needs. While catering to the demands of defence forces, different markets and countries have varying product needs and the level of localisation is higher here.  So, there are some products that work globally and others that work well for local markets. 

What works in our favour is that we have local people on the ground, our products and solutions are powered by local insights. We have put in local resources in the right areas.

In what ways is Indian market peculiar from other global markets?

Every customer is different. Governments across the world want to have involvement of local people and resources in businesses. In that sense, India is no different. However, micro grids is an interesting yet challenging space to be in. Given India’s diversity, one has to work with different communities, utilities, technologies, and different sets of regulation and infrastructure. Working on micro grids, as a company you have to be completely bespoke with products and solutions. That said, just the scale of opportunity that micro grids offer to Rolls Royce amazes me.