Energy savings benefit is driving demands for variable frequency drives: Wolfgang Weissler

As India catches up with China and the other Asian markets, improving productivity will be one of the key drivers for the next years to come. Hence, Indian companies will have to adopt energy efficient technologies to become competitive on a global scale. Drives often plays a critical role in manufacturing industries in improving machine productivity, production quality and machine efficiency. 

 

In this interview with Rakesh Rao, Wolfgang Weissler, VP - Drives Technology, Siemens Ltd, explains the importance of variable frequency drives and advantages of integrated drive system.

 

How is the market for drives in India? Which end-user industries are driving the demand for drives in India?

Despite the low overall market growth in the recent past the drives market has grown slightly above the industry average mainly due to the potential of energy savings achieved by using variable frequency drives (VFD) and the improvement of the performance and productivity of the process/plant due to the usage of drives. Growing preference for mechatronic solution from reliable source is also one of the reasons for growth in drive market. New investments in automotive, power, metals, cement, oil & gas, petrochemicals, food & beverages and other allied industries are driving the demand for drives in India. Apart from this, all the applications viz, fans & pumps across various industries which have the potential for energy savings by using VFDs is also a major factor driving the demand for drives in India.

 

What are the emerging trends in drive technology?

Today the industry has changed its perspective. They are not just looking for a drive any more but for a complete drive-train which means the customers are looking for the total system performance and it is efficiency over the end-to-end drive train, ie right from the VFD to the motor down to the gearbox and the coupling. To catch-up with this technological shift we launched Integrated Drive Systems (IDS). The core element of IDS is the 3-way integration of the drive train - horizontally from clutch and gearbox to the motor and converter along the flow of energy as an intelligent mechatronic unit; vertically within the automation pyramid into the control architecture of industrial manufacturing process, based on proven concept of ‘Totally Integrated Automation’ (TIA); and its third dimension within the product life-cycle for all industries with the end-to-end integration of the drive train into design, engineering, operation and after sales services. 

 

IDS not only helps to improve machine productivity, production quality and machine efficiency but also plant productivity, production flexibility and transparency. 

 

India has witnessed sub-5% GDP growth in last 2 years, with contribution from manufacturing going down steadily. Has this affected the drives market? Do you see things to change for a better in 2014?

Unfortunately, the current economic situation in India does not show GDP growth rates all of us would like to see. While, the new government’s budget emphasises on boosting manufacturing sector, we will not see results immediately as the decisions of our new government will take some time to cascade down and show effect on machine builders and production plants. To bridge the time, India’s industry is focusing on productivity improvements in order to be ready when business picks up again. We are happy to offer solutions to our customers which would help them improve their productivity. We also expect a growth beyond the general GDP for the foreseeable future. Reason being, as India catches up with China and the other Asian markets, improving ‘productivity’ will be one of the key drivers for the next years to come. 

 

Since the launch of integrated drive systems in April 2013, how has been the response to IDS in India?

We made the official launch of IDS in the Hannover Fair in April 2013. It is a new approach to drive technology and is the world’s first true one-stop solution for entire drive trains. The concept is being well received and appreciated by our customers especially from sectors where power ratings are high.  This is because savings through Integrated Drive Systems will be substantial therein. 

 

We also foresee demand coming from material handling, cement, sugar mill to name a few and from OEMs who see the benefits in engineering time when shifting to Siemens IDS. Equally we see more and more small machines coming into the market, which would be built based on IDS because of the ‘one-stop-shop’ and the single point of contact. I would say the range of potential applications is virtually endless.

 

SMEs account majorly to the manufacturing sector in India. Are these SMEs open to innovative drive system? Are integrated drive systems cost-effective for SMEs?

Yes, of course. SMEs do look for solutions which can not only improve the efficiency of their machines but also reduce their time-to-market thereby realising shorter time-to-profit. The SMEs see a clear benefit with our Integrated Drive Systems approach and we have been quite successful with many of them in the recent past. The single point contact for their IDS  requirement helps the SME customers not only to reduce their time on procurement, engineering and project management but also in getting an optimised drive train which is cost effective over the entire life-cycle of the system as compared to buying individual components. With these clear advantages they are able to reap higher RoIs and make themselves competitive on a global scale.

 

What are your growth plans in India?

As far as Indian market is concerned, we have a two pronged approach wherein we will address not only the manufacturing & process industry like cement & mining, petrochemicals, food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, cranes, etc but also the SME’s (small & medium enterprises) which forms the backbone of Indian industry. The newly announced budget has several morale boosters for the manufacturing sector. While results of various policies will take time to percolate, the actual growth would come only when the Indian manufacturing micro small & medium enterprise (MSME) units adopt technologies and become competitive on a global scale, utilising the position of the Rupee compared to other currencies. Drive technology applications and energy efficient motors to increase energy efficiency and productivity will help MSMEs save huge costs. 

 

There is huge potential and hence in the coming years, we will be improving our focus on the MSME segment.