The Future Looks Bright For Socomec

As the Indian market is growing, our wallet of growth is coming up. The management has foreseen few products to be localised in coming years.
Sushil Virmani, Managing Director, Socomec Innovative Power Solutions

Mr Olivier, how Socomec does contribute to the current smart energy management systems domain?
Oliver: Socomec is into power monitoring, power switching and power conversion business globally and the company is working on exploring different ways of offering the innovative equipment for the smart management of buildings, power grids and cities. We do see greater opportunities in storage solutions. In regards, we have formed a new organisation within Socomec, which is working on providing solutions in regards to storage solutions connected to grid, but also with applications in solar and wind to be able to transfer energy automatically to the grid. We also see positive opportunities in UPS domain connected with lithium batteries not for storage but in order to have solutions for peak shedding. We are completely aware of the recent transformation and bring out technology solutions adapted to our customer needs.

We are showcasing our innovative range of next-gen IoT-ready, Modular Uninterrupted Power Supply,Transfer switching and metering solutions at Elecrama 2018. Modular UPS solutions are usually having an extremely high level of availability and designed to increase the global system’s availability with minimum downtime due to their hot-swappable parts and cost-effective redundancy, the complete independence of each module and no fault propagation if one of the modules fails. However, the biggest concern for our customer is the internal reliability of UPS systems owing to the use of many modules. Socomec efforts are always on to increase the module’s MTBF, thus reflected in our recently launched Modulys UPS solution. We are working on futuristic UPS solution, one-of-its kind solutionto be launched next year. It will be launched globally. It will be targeted at customers from data centres, critical application process, microprocessor manufacturers.

Mr Luca, the smart solution revolution has become the new normal for industry. How do you see its acceptance within the Indian market?
Luca: We have two major drivers that are important for our business. One is the energy quality; it is one of the important aspects for Socomec. Second is data management, which represents 70 per cent of our business. So, these two drivers are drivers for sustaining in the business. Data centre is an important segment for India to sustain data management. We see that, the country is moving from small and medium size data centre to large size data centre. So, we are delivering to problems on the energy side. Socomec solutions enable to measure, record and intelligently analyse the consumed electrical power in real time. Such data, essential for taking decisions, will allow customers to justify and validate changes in the data center’s infrastructure before undertaking any installation of new applications.

By integrating smart technology within a data centre’s infrastructure, it is possible to develop an unparalleled understanding of sites, buildings and processes. This new connectivity – combined with a universal view of operating parameters – enables a reduction in energy consumption, costs and emissions and makes the deployment of resources more efficient.

Mr Sushil, what potential do you see for Socomec’s advanced products in Indian market?
Sushil: If we look at last year’s government data, power generation Y-o-Y growth is growing. The electrical production has come down by 19 per cent, which implies that more power is consumed whilst fewer components are used. This does indicate that the power is getting wasted due to corrective distribution. At Socomec, we understand the applications; we provide customers energy efficient and reliable solution that offers them desired power quality. Today, productivity is the key thing. If the customers are able to sustain uninterrupted 24×7 power supply, they are equipped with aspects required for enhancing productivity. So, our equipment provide round-the-clock applications for critical role. As Oliver mentioned, we will be launching new products globally which will be first-of-its kind, which will continue for Indian market as well.

India is a vast market. There is place for all kind of products to exist in harmony. So, to continue in this competitive market, we have the strategy of entry-level, intermediate and premium products. When we look at difficulties customers face today in power quality in equipment, we act as consultants to these customers providing them with solutions through various strategies.

How is Socomec performing in India? How important is the Indian market in regards to its global strategy?
Sushil: India is a part of APAC region and this region is one of the three regions of operations of Socomec. India plays a prominent role because the market is growing here despite of impact of demonetisation and implementations of Goods & Service Tax. All the positive outlook of government’s ‘Make In India’, improvement of manufacturing segment, economy reaching 5 trillion by 2025, improvement of GDP from 6.6 per cent to 7.4 per cent are the key points for positive sign of conducive business environment.

What is the kind of commitment Socomec is making to meet demands of its Indian operations?
Oliver: India is a key country for us as there is an accelerating growth Y-o-Y in comparison to Europe. So, we are committed to provide support in form of technical support, products, grievance addressable. Given India is a large country, we are providing training to technicians, sales support, marketing team in order to cater to the customers at local level. The company has witnessed niche growth rate in the country and we are looking forward to Indian market closely and continue to provide with all required assistance to our Indian operations.

Will you strengthen your manufacturing base in India?
Sushil: Last year we upgraded our facility in Gurugram. We also introduced new specialised range of switches after gap of 15-20 years. We have been exporting UPS to other countries in APAC region. As the Indian market is growing, our wallet of growth is coming up. The management has foreseen few products to be localised in coming years. The future looks bright.

Oliver: We are discussing India at length this year. The company definitely wants to manufacture more products in India. We are well equipped with all the required skills and technology to manufacture products from India for the global market. The company aims to implement new range of products in near future. It does plans to increase its production capacity in the upcoming time.

Which segment of products will drive the growth for Socomec in India?
Sushil: Socomec’s strategy is profitable growth. We make investment in India with a view of decent RoI. It matches with the strategy what we have. We have solutions for critical process applications such as data center, healthcare and process industries where ensuring availability and reliability of power is utmost critical. Socomec does have products to meet these requirements for various clients where the importance of critical process application is of high value. We also have solutions for non-critical applications.

What are the new products Socomec launched at ELECRAMA 2018?
Sushil: We have launched Medium Power Platform (MPP) next generation Masterys GP4 & BC+ UPS solutions at Elecrama and now available for all our customers in India. We had a huge crowd of industry visitors for the demonstration of these products. We will be holding multiple launch of MPP in upcoming months globally and in India. Socomec is a significant player in the premium range of UPS product market.