India will be among our top five markets in 5-10 years: Daniel Sims

Q&A with Managing Director, Carl Zeiss India

Carl Zeiss, a global leader in the optical and opto electronic industry, is looking to be a part of the Make in India initiative by ensuring highest quality of the products made in India. In an interview with M Saraswathy, Daniel Sims, Managing Director, Carl Zeiss India (ZEISS) talks about their strategy and growth plans. Excerpts:

What are your investment plans for India?

We are ative in the fields of semi-conductor manufacturing technology, industrial metrology, microscopy, medical technology, vision care and consumer optics/optronics. We will continue to invest in India but it has to be driven by business need and market opportunities. 

We have already invested in manufacturing, in three different research and technology teams and two different manufacturing activities and all of those will grow incrementally. We will look for further opportunities to make investments as and when it is appropriate. 

You have already entered into tie-ups with five educational institutions. What will this include?

The primary focus is to enable them to teach metrology. The use of our measuring machines is a very specific element of engineering. It is not a particular well covered skillset in terms of practical experience at engineering colleges. So we thought that this is an opportunity to fill a gap in education. 

The aim is to try and skill metrology engineers who can use our equipment in the market. We are enabling them to teach metrology successfully through education materials, training of professors, through  simulation software as well as providing internship and employment opportunities.

How big is India a market for ZEISS?

From group point of view, we don’t break down revenue in terms of any country. But India is among top 10 markets for Zeiss worldwide. Based on current economic progress, it should be in top five in next five to ten years. In terms of business, medical equipment is the biggest in India. 

You have entered into a partnership with Whistling Woods International (WWI). Are more such initiatives on the anvil?

With WWI, we are helping them in their academic requirements and will use ZEISS products and will be provided with ZEISS’ training materials. 

We see as an opportunity in India and there is a need to develop interactions with academia. I personally benefitted from industrial collaboration in my university qualification with industrial sponsorship and placement with what is now Tata Steel. 

Skill gap in the engineer is a matter of concern.

Skilling? You need to have engineers which have hands-on skills that are relevant in the employment market in an employment he wants to go to. Has he used that particular tool. Is it just theory? 

What are the areas of expansion for ZEISS in India? Does Make in India fit into this?

From a ZEISS perspective, there is a lot of opportunity to grow. We are fortunate to serve a host of industries. Here, we serve the medical industry, research and academia and also manufacturing. We have a reasonable good coverage of products.

We wish to ensable Make in India. We want to be a part of it in translation of Make in India from government marketing to product quality and help making it a reality. The pendulum is swinging in terms of local and global perception of products made in India, but it is not just about perception, but in ZEISS world there is a very precise measurement of that. We would look into aspects of quality and whether a part made in India have the same quality as China, Germany or US . We are a long term investor and here to stay. That won’t happen without further growth in investment.