Kindly take us through the journey of Fluke in India so far.
Fluke is in India for more than five decades for now, being represented by different Indian corporates until its direct operation as a 100% subsidiary company of Fluke Corporation US in 2012. More than five decades, Fluke is a household name within the technology community in India, be it residential electrician till the research scientist in ISRO or defense organization. With its distinct identity as one of the most reliable testing tools, it has won the confidence of Indian user in no time and the legacy continues even after 50 years of existence. We remain as the first preferred Electrical, Electronics and Instrumentation tool suppliers in India. Our products are known as the most accurate, reliable and safe both for the user and for the device under test. We have expanded our operation to reach almost every corner of India through our direct and indirect sales network with technical support team regionally located to cater to customer’s need. We have grown to become the biggest TnM Company in India in terms of revenue, reach and product solution offering.
What kind of transformations have you witnessed in Indian Electronic Testing & Measurement market in last decade?
We are country of action only when the things break or reach the breaking point. This attributes hold good in operation and maintenance too. Different industries – starting from process or discrete, infrastructure – such as power, OnG or communication network, we act only when it fails. In other words, Indian OnM ecosystem pre dominantly believes in break down maintenance. Over last one and half decades, with new technologies gone into the systems and more intelligence build in within the maintenance community, major shift on maintenance can be noticed. Preventive and predictive maintenance are given more importance than the breakdown maintenance to ensure assets are maintained properly and timely for uninterrupted working, that saves huge capex. Customers are well informed – thanks to the internet and other medium – they are sure about what instruments they want to buy, that would address their pain points. Entry of many top global companies build up the awareness of predictive and preventive maintenance, and best practices are adopted slowly but surely by most of these customers.
Last decades see a huge transformation in TnM industry with customers wants to buy the best instruments to be used in their systems. The importance of preventive and predictive maintenance is hugely felt and customers are ready to invest on best products that are available to take care of the assets on regular basis.
What are the products offered by the company and in particular catering to Indian Energy market? What are the growth drivers for your products? What are your major customers in India?
Fluke is the pioneer in test and measurement tools that cater to different customer segments addressing exact application areas. All electrical, process and electronics, condition monitoring areas where the need of test tools are required for predictive, preventive and break down applications, Fluke provides solution. Products such as power quality analyzer, thermal imager, scope meter, battery tester, process calibrations tools, laser shaft alignment tools, vibration meters, digital must meters, and clamp meters are highly popular within engineering community and considered as the first preferred tools for their everyday work.
We are pioneer in energy management tools with several offering in our Power Analyzer Basket. We held the highest market share amongst other players in power analyzer market in India with our patented energy loss algorithm that allows the user to pinpoint the exact origin of energy waste within the system. We have complementary products such as thermal camera, insulation tester etc to create a complete package on energy management within the system.
Manufacturing, infrastructure remain our core area of operation with extensive product offering from our product basket. We maintain our leadership positions within these segments for many years and would continue to do so with our innovations and offering. Power, oil and gas, railways and education are some of our segment on focus with many new segment specific offering is on the course of introduction in India.
What technological innovations would you incorporate in your products for making them more superior and efficient?
We have introduced Fluke Connect™, widely known as FC, the world’s largest system of wirelessly connected tools, enabling customers to see, save and share measurement data securely through the cloud. Customer can see, analyze and act based on these information remotely. FC enhances the capability of Operation and Maintenance to many folds and now being widely adopted by most of the engineers across the Globe. We have introduced non-contact type simultaneous voltage and current measurement with a Fork Clamp recently. An incredible technology that would change the entire measurement landscape in near future.
How would you differentiate Indian electrical test equipment markets from the global markets particularly European and American markets while offering your services and products? Do you face any competition in Indian markets?
Indian electrical test and measurement market still remains price sensitive and price plays a major role. Electrical instruments with lots of safety standards and certifications are expensive and manufacturers like us face stiff competitions from the local manufactures or suppliers. Most of them are not complying the international certifications and standards – such as IEC, CE, UL, etc. Our products follows the stringent quality and certifications as per international standard, and it remain same irrespective of countries it is sold. We remain with our customers who are well informed about these qualities and certifications and appreciate our product offerings irrespective of price.
What are your expansion plans in India with the government’s ‘Make in India’ program? What potential do you foresee for your company with the Indian Government’s focus on development of infrastructure like smart cities, roll out of power projects, etc.?
We are upbeat about the Government’s push on ‘Make in India’ program which would help growing the manufacturing sector. As mentioned earlier, manufacturing is our core area of operation and growth in manufacturing sector would be a welcome sign for us. Our focus on infrastructure, power sector with many new products and solutions are growth areas that we are aiming for next few years. We are excited about the government’s initiative on these areas that deem fits in our future plan.
What is your outlook for 2017-18 fiscal for the segment?
We would keep focusing on our core segments on expanding our footprints on areas that are uncovered and keep growing in these areas. Along with it, white spaces, new segments like infra, railways, construction, education are our radar with lots of new solutions and innovative products on its way for introduction in this market. We keep our momentum of growth and aim to grow further during 2018- 19 by maintaining our leadership position in TnM field in India.
