- Arun Bhatia, Managing Director, UTC Climate, Controls & Security (India region)
With products designed for top efficiency and top performance, Arun Bhatia, Managing Director, UTC Climate, Controls & Security, shares more on the current market and the company´s plans in conversation with PRATAP PADODE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, CW.
For Carrier and Toshiba products, where is the demand coming from? Major airports in India have Carrier chillers. Carrier also caters to light commercial products that go into small offices. While the mid-sized chillers are manufactured in Gurgaon, the large chillers come from China and USA. As for VRF and inverters from Toshiba, the apartment market is one of the biggest; and in India, we are doing or have done around 25 large projects in pre-air-conditioned apartments.
How do you view the growing demand for green buildings in India? Demand needs to be created and this can be done in two ways. First, incentivise real-estate developers for green building. The Noida authority gives 5 per cent extra FAR and the Rajasthan Government is considering the same. Second, initially, there was reluctance because building green incurred 8-10 per cent additional construction cost, which has now reduced to 1-2 per cent. Then, the issue was if the building or structure continued to be maintained green. For this, a measurement and verification protocol is being implemented; audits are done at regular intervals to decide if the development can hold the rating or not.
The company recently inaugurated a remote monitoring centre in Bengaluru. Please tell us more. The idea is to hook up remote monitoring services to customers. It will start with basic security and alarms and a video feedback with many operators looking at it. But we are focusing on the energy aspect; it can be monitored to understand if any preventive measures or maintenance are required. BMS is also linked to your phone so you can actually watch and control everything through your mobile.
Is there any additional training you offer customers in the case of fire-safety solutions? We offer training for the installation team. Additionally, we train customers and operators by creating awareness about our detection and security systems and how to operate them.
What is the emphasis laid on R&D for the company´s businesses, especially for UTC Climate, Controls & Security? UTC has a two-fold approach to this. We have a global R&D centre in Hyderabad that comprises over 450 engineers and designs and makes products for global requirements. For example, we are developing a solution here where your mobile would actually behave as the device to open the door of a hotel room, eliminating the need of a swipe card. Further, in India, we initially started by offering products for residential, then moved on to light commercial, followed by commercial. Also, in terms of localisation, India is a cost-competitive and value market. The local engineering team ensures that they localise best solutions.
How do you strategise to stay ahead of the competition? The talent in our people is leading us to success in India. With both brands, Carrier and Toshiba, we comprehensively cover the entire market. And, the new products and innovations we develop annually help us grab the market. Our approach is to build a system based on our core values and excel using the excellent talent that we have. Employee health and safety are considered as matters of prime importance within the company. We have a concept of LWIR (lost work incident rate) - any employee unable to work owing to an injury at work is counted. So, in the past 25 million man hours, there has been no injury. A combination of our relentless focus on core values, combined with the exceptional people we have and a constant innovation - both from a product and technology perspective, allows us to stay ahead of the competition.