KUKA Robotics (India) Pvt Ltd is a 100% subsidiary of KUKA Roboter Germany and was incorporated in India in May 2006. In a short span of three years, KUKA has successfully made a strong presence in India as a supplier of industrial robots by bagging customers like Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, Reliance and so on. Raj Singh Rathee, MD, KUKA Robotics (India) in an interview with Priyanka Akhouri talks about the company?s involvement with the Indian auto sector and its plans for other sectors. Excerpts
How did the global slowdown impact you, considering your exposure to the automotive industry?
There was a worldwide slowdown in the automotive industry since last year. This year, there are very few new projects in the automotive sector. Fortunately, we have some projects from the OEMs that are due last year, which will be installed this year. With the growth in the auto sector, India is being seen as a manufacturing hub in the Asian region. The demand for robots is increasing in the manufacturing lines to meet the volumes and quality requirement. We are pretty optimistic about the demand for robots in the Indian automotive market in the coming future. All major auto companies like Tata Motors, Volkswagen, Ford, and Maruti, which have stringent quality requirements are already using robots for their application. We have been associated with Tata Indica Vista, Sumo Grande and Xenon and hope these companies would invest more in robotic automation for their manufacturing plants.
What will be KUKA?s growth strategy and expansion plans in FY09-10?
We would like to explore the possibility to work with every auto company, which has plans to invest in coming times to automate their lines. Hence, in India, a large part of our business comes from the automotive industry and it will continue to grow. We are also looking at unconventional sectors like medical, entertainment, foundry, food, FMCG and renewable energy for growth in the Indian market. If the market continues to grow at a rapid pace, then definitely we can foresee the possibility of opening similar training institutes in other regions as well. We have an art-training centre in Pune where we train people from the industry as well the students from educational institutions on different aspects of robotics. If the market continues to grow rapidly, we can foresee the possibility of opening similar training institutes in other regions.
What was your sale in FY 08-09? What are your plans for the entertainment sector?
We cannot disclose our sales figures. KUKA is the only robotic company, which has a special product for the entertainment industry as well. The special product is called Robocoaster and we have number of installations of these products worldwide in different entertainment parks, amusement parks and theme parks. We are in talks with number of customers in India so that we could introduce this ride in the Indian market.
How has the demand for robots been across other verticals?
The major requirement till now for industrial robots is from the automotive industries and its suppliers. But recently, industries like foundry, food, wood, logistics, solar, medical and aerospace have shown interest in industrial robots for different applications. KUKA has one of the biggest product portfolios to cater to the needs and demands of different industries. KUKA being the technological leader in this segment is preferred by the industry verticals for very precise applications. We would certainly want our Indian customers to be benefited by the use of the latest German technology. As we already have number of good references worldwide including the auto industry, we want the Indian industry to benefit from this technology.