The Number Of Humans That Robots Replace Is Not The Formula For Calculating ROI

Automation is the next big industrial trend that will drive factories and production units. But a lot of questions about unmanned factory floors are yet to be answered, such as what will the capex and opex of such technologies be or will there be any major trade-off associated with such investments? Baishakhi Dutta of the electronicsforu.com network speaks with Soni Saran Singh, executive director of NMTronics India Pvt Ltd, to get the answers to these questions.

EB: How has your business in India been lately?

Business in India has been the greatest ever. The company has grown to almost eight times the size it was just two years back, in terms of the topline and bottomline.

Thanks to Prime Minister Modi’s Make in India initiative and the effective implementation of the Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP) which has been initiated by ICEA (India Cellular & Electronics Association), we have seen an influx of mobile phone companies in the country. Business has really increased a lot and this is true not only for us—the overall market has improved tremendously. This is mainly because of the mobile phone market.

With regard to PCBAs (printed circuit board assemblies), the Make in India drive has led to a lot of Chinese companies are making considerable investments here. This is mainly in the northern part of India and also near Chennai. These two areas are the major manufacturing hubs of the country. I would say that Delhi NCR and Chennai will soon be equivalent to Shenzhen in China, in terms of manufacturing.

EB: Have you tied up with any new principals?

NMTronics and iNETest Technologies India Pvt Ltd together represent more than 40 companies worldwide—all of which are the top firms in their own technology segments.

Of late, we have tied up with Essegi Storage Solution, a company that provides intelligent storage solutions. For iNETest, we have partnered with SAKI primarily for automated optical inspection, since it is becoming widely accepted in mobile phone production.

EB: What are the latest product lines you have added?