Sanyo Denki India Pvt Ltd has entered into a brand new alliance with ITP Electronics Pvt Ltd to boost its presence across India. In a conversation with the Electronics Bazaar team, B.M. Vaish, chairman, ITP Group and Keisuke Keith Tamagawa, business development manager, Sanyo Denki, talk about their new partnership and Sanyo Denki’s latest array of products.
EB: Give us a brief introduction to Sanyo Denki—its focus areas, products, services and its plans for the future.
Tamagawa: Sanyo Denki has been in business since 1927. As a world leader in thermal technology, the company continues to introduce state-of-art products to meet the increasing demand for less power, more air flow and reduced noise. Sanyo Denki’s primary concern is quality, reliability, top performance, and the ongoing development of products that meet the high global standards for environment protection.
For every product, we focus on the quality-conscious end of the market. Even a small Sanyo Denki fan is composed of many components, small capacitors, transistors, etc. So we fingerpick the components of the highest quality for our products—that is what makes the difference. Our cooling fans stand out from the competition because of the dual board bearings—most cooling fans are made of single plastic board bearings. In the telecom sector, service cannot stop for even a minute since that will give rise to major problems. So reliability is crucial. Some of our products have been developed specially for such circumstances, like the long-life fan which runs for around 20-21 years. It is a completely maintenance-free product. This product is ideal for deserts or mountainous regions where weather conditions are harsh.
EB: Do give us some insights into the different sectors your products are used in.
Tamagawa: We primarily focus on the telecom sector, and on the BTS (base transceiver station) space transmission system. Nowadays, more and more people are shopping online. So, in order to accept orders continuously, companies have to set up data centres and servers, which will keep running smoothly. We are looking at this space as a new field of application. Other than that, inverters and PV inverters are some new application areas for us.
EB: Do you market your products to end consumers or are you more industry-oriented? How popular is Sanyo Denki among its target customers?
Tamagawa: The consumer market is a tough one in terms of price and competition. So instead of focusing on that, we intend to focus more on the industrial sectors. Our primary customers are the various manufacturers and not the end users. In terms of fame, even though Sanyo Denki is not as popular as the big market players, we are a brand known for our reliability.
EB: What were the factors that led to the association between Sanyo Denki and ITP?
Tamagawa: Sanyo Denki India has been established in Chennai. But across North India, we are very much the newcomer. So we wanted to partner with someone who has enough strength in the northern region of India – a criterion that ITP measured up to. Moreover, the products that ITP deals with are closely related to Sanyo Denki’s products. So we thought that a partnership with ITP will help us achieve combined growth in the Indian market. This is the major reason for choosing ITP as our partner.
EB: What are Sanyo Denki’s immediate goals?
Tamagawa: The manufacturing of motors has started at our headquarters in Chennai. We had set up the Gurgaon office in August 2015 to cater to the northern region of the country. Our major focus right now is to grow in north India along with western India. We now have ITP as our partner to reach out to the customers in these regions.
EB: Are you following any particular strategy to strengthen this tie-up in India? What are your investments in the alliance?
Tamagawa: We are at the early stages of this alliance. We are both considering how to develop it through continuous discussions. We have many success stories in the Japanese market and in markets like China, USA and Europe. So we can definitely leverage our track record. But we think that we need to build our reputation in the Indian market through the help of our products, which is what will ultimately help us succeed here. We believe the vision we have for our customers will be the key to success in India. Meanwhile, the process of making our investments in this alliance is still in progress.
EB: We would like to hear more about the inception of ITP and the company’s journey so far.
Vaish: The ITP group was founded in 1967. From the very beginning, we have always given priority to quality. In the early days, there were a limited number of companies and our customers were of utmost importance. We started off in a small place in Bengali Market, New Delhi. Then we moved to Nehru Place and, subsequently, as we grew further, to Okhla.
EB: Let’s talk about the different companies you have already partnered with and plan to associate with in the future.
Vaish: Over the course of time, we tied up with the German company Gruna. Omron also tied up with us for electro-mechanical products and, now, we are fortunate to have Sanyo Denki. It’s a difficult product for the market but we love that challenge. We are going to work together and bring about a difference with the products we have.
EB: Among all the sectors that Sanyo Denki products cater to, which sector presents the most business challenges?
Vaish: The traditional market for Sanyo Denki products is telecom, and globally, the company has a good market share in this segment. The important question is: why is it that the Chinese and Taiwanese fans cannot measure up to the requirements of the telecom sector? Nowadays, telecom towers are coming up in remote areas and, therefore, reaching them within a short time for maintenance purposes is difficult. That presents a challenge.
EB: What, in your opinion, are Sanyo Denki’s core strengths?
Vaish: Any other device may fail but Sanyo Denki fans will keep working, no matter how bad the weather is. This is a huge strength. This is the case with high end servers. Ideally, low end servers should also have the same kind of product, because when we talk to those in the server business, they tell us that the root cause for system failure is the malfunctioning of the fan. Because of low quality fans, a system that costs around ₹ 1 – 3 million can fail.
EB: What is the X-factor that helps Sanyo Denki products stand out in the market?
Vaish: The market has not matured yet, which is forcing companies to compromise on certain aspects of quality. That is where we play our role. We want to make people aware of the importance of these products. Nowadays, schools and colleges have started using robotics products. We hope to get in touch with people who are into systems integration or the companies who are making these products. Automation is going to be an important market for us. We are still in learning mode and as we enter the market, we will get to learn more. Also, with the help of Sanyo Denki and its products, we at ITP will be able to gain momentum gradually.
EB : Do you target capturing a particular slice of the market within the coming year?
Vaish: The recent products that have been launched, are new to the market and so there is no particular market share, as such, that can be specifically mentioned. The first part of our work will be to assess the market, understand how big it is and what its potential is. This is a long term process. With regard to this product, when we say ‘quality’, the term doesn’t carry the typical meaning. When we use the term ‘quality’, we intend to focus on the life span of the product, something that is very difficult to achieve. We are heading into a market that we need to learn more about first.
New products launched by Sanyo Denki
- Counter rotating fan: This fan features high air flow and high static pressure. It is suitable for high system impedance machines, and is mainly used in the manufacture of telecom products. This product has two fans in a single device. One rotates clockwise and the other anti-clockwise in order to generate more static pressure.
- DC cooling fan: This features high air flow, high reliability and low noise. This is again mainly for the telecom segment, and for outdoor units of BTS heat exchanger devices. Apart from that, it is also suitable for servers, communications equipment and more. It is mainly used where more power is required for the cooling fan.
- Centrifugal fan: This fan blows air in a centrifugal course. It features high static pressure and is suitable for high system impedance machines such as communications equipment, servers, storage systems and heat exchangers. The fan rotates 360 degrees and is mainly used for cooling down control panels in the telecom sector.
- Reversible flow fan: Multiple fans are usually needed to blow air in both directions to ventilate houses, and to cool soft drink vending machines, food display cases and printers. The wind direction of this fan can be switched, so fewer fans are required. It reduces equipment costs and saves space. It can move in both the clockwise and anti-clockwise directions. This fan can be used for sucking as well as pushing the air.
- Long-life fan: This fan has an aluminium body. It can run continuously for more than 20 years, and is well suited for equipment that must operate without maintenance for extended periods. It can be used for servers, communication equipment and industrial equipment.
- PWM controller (horse-type and PCB type): This device provides external control over the rotational speed of fans that have the PWM control function. By using this product, PWM control function fans can be fully utilised without the need for preparing new circuits, contributing to reducing the system’s power consumption and the fan’s noise.
