While manufacturing has not been India’s strongest suit in the past, things seem to have changed for the good in the last few years. V D Intellysis is a new player in the domestic Surface-mount technology (SMT) manufacturing domain. Vishal Deoarshi, director and co-founder of V D Intellysis, in an interaction with Baishakhi Dutta of the EFY Group shares the motive behind their new strategic move and the company’s business plan to stay strong in this market. Excerpt follows…
Q) Your company recently started manufacturing Surface-mount technology (SMT) equipment. What are your other existing product lines? Do you see these two as separate business entities?
Apart from SMT equipment, we are manufacturing LCD/LED/laptop/mobile repair equipment. LCD/LED repairing equipment includes ACF bonding machines (brands like VD 480/580/680 PS), laser LCD repair machines, lamination, delamination machines and their accessories. Recently, we have also started manufacturing BGA rework stations (brands like VD 5860 and VD 6200). We have been also manufacturing solder paste for the last two years.
We don’t see these as different business entities, for we take them as different domains.
Q) How are you planning your distribution channel – by yourself or through distribution partners? If distributors, what are your selection criteria?
It is still in the process. We plan to add distributors for both domestic as well as international market. We are planning to have a pan India service and support team for our products. For the domestic market, we will be looking for distributor partners who have prior exposure to SMT machines. Those who are in the market will be preferable.
Q) In the SMT manufacturing domain, do you have any long-term product portfolio expansion plan?
In the SMT manufacturing domain, we are already manufacturing reflow oven (both three zones and six zones). Very soon, we will start manufacturing SMT wave soldering machine and stencil printer also. Our R&D on SMT machines is in the advanced stage. We have already made a prototype and mass production will begin in a couple of months.
Q) Are your products 100 per cent ‘Made in India’ or are any components imported?
We always give priority to the components from Indian vendors, provided the quality is not compromised and pricing is not too high. More than 95 per cent of our components is sourced from the Indian market.
Q) How are you planning your after-sale service?
We plan to have pan India service and support teams. To streamline this, we plan to establish regional offices in India and abroad. We also have our own training centre under the brand name “CHIPTRONIKS” where we provide complete training for our machines.
“Our foray into manufacturing SMT line is the outcome of our strong emphasis on R&D”
Q) What is your strategy to get hold of the bigger pie of the market?
We focus on giving a complete solution to the customers. The strategy includes manufacturing all types of equipment in the relevant domains, keep working on product quality, providing strong support and training to the customers along with competitive pricing.
Q) Who will be your top competitors in the SMT market? How do you plan to keep up with the competition?
The Chinese companies and their representatives would be the main competitors for us in the domestic market. In the international market, apart from the Chinese, we will be competing with the European and American companies.
Q) Give us a ratio of your product price to the rest of the market.
In most of the SMT items, we are the exclusive Indian manufacturer. We are competing with Chinese firms in this domain. Regarding prices, our products are cheaper than the landing price of the Chinese goods which are sold by their representatives or traders in India. But apart from pricing, we excel over them in terms of quality and after-sale support.
Q) Going forward, do you plan to export your products?
We are already exporting this equipment. We have a strong presence in the Indian subcontinent, central Asia, Middle East, Asia Pacific and North Africa. We have also installed our machines in the USA, Brazil and Mexico. We are giving tough competition to the international players in this market. But this is just the beginning, we have to do a lot of work in terms of marketing to tap the international market.
Q) Kindly share your emphasis on R&D.
Our company gives major emphasis on R&D and because of this we have been growing continuously in the product value chain. Our foray into manufacturing SMT line is the outcome of our strong emphasis on R&D. Moreover, this becomes a necessity if you want to remain competitive in the market.
Q) Why you chose to manufacture SMT equipment?
Earlier we were into trading of some of these equipment. But, our customers were facing a lot of problems in terms of warranty, support and training and since we were not manufacturing those equipment, we had limited knowledge of the involved technologies. But now these problems stand resolved since we are manufacturing them. Apart from this, the prices in the domestic market have also come down significantly making it affordable for many customers. Also, this has enabled us to compete in the international market.
Q) What are the challenges that you have faced as a domestic SMT manufacturing company?
Major challenges that we have faced as a domestic SMT manufacturing company are :
(a) Lack of adequate skilled workforce in the electronics field
(b) Absence of adequate equity funding in this sector
(c) Non-availability of some of the components used in the domestic market
(d) The manufacturing ecosystem is yet to grow.
(e) Lack of good vendors in surface finish domain
(f) Lack of Indian manufacturers in tool room equipment like VMC, sheet metal cutting equipment leading to high capital costs
“Very soon we will start manufacturing smt wave soldering machine and stencil printer also”
Q) How do you see the SMT equipment demand in India?
Electronics production is in a very nascent phase and is ought to grow manifold in the coming years. So, there is going to be a huge demand for SMT and other electronic equipment.
Q) What is your view on Make in India and domestic electronics production scenario?
Make in India is a good initiative and will go a long way in creating employment opportunities, imparting skills and creating a manufacturing temperament among us. However, we still have a lot of work to do in domestic electronics manufacturing. We are still importing most of the electronic products. We need to have short-term as well as long-term vision for this sector. Surprisingly, most of the equipment we are importing are not so much challenging technologically and can be manufactured in India provided proper interventions are made.
Q) How do you plan to reach your target audience about your latest offerings?
We are mainly focussing on displaying our products in trade expos. We also plan to coordinate with other industrial forums to disseminate the information regarding the latest products.
Q) What will be your business and growth plan for the next three years?
In the next three years, we aim to have a greater market share in these domains with the larger aim of making India a leading player in these domains. Apart from this, we aim to increase our sale of repairing equipment that we are manufacturing. We will also focus on our training institute CHIPTRONIKS, which impart vocational courses on laptop, mobile and TV repairing.
