Scaling and changing production skill and capabilities is a must for companies in this fast pace world and they have to adopt a more agile mentality. This is needed to address technology changes or indeed global politics or crises such as Coronavirus, says David Bradley, Chairman, AXISCADES Engineering Technologies Ltd – a technology & product engineering solutions company. According to him, AXISCADES is uniquely positioned to offer global standards of domain expertise with an impressive understanding of technology to help companies manage changes in product development and manufacturing. In this interview with Rakesh Rao, David Bradley highlights on emerging trends in the manufacturing sector and explains how companies must adapt to changing market scenario.
How do you view AXISCADES performance in 2019? What are your expectations from 2020?
AXISCADES (AC) performance
during 2019 has been a transition to improve and stabilise the performance to industry norms, this has needed greater focus on detail both internally and with our growing global customer base. The medium term outlook is more of the same with a focus on common objectives for the whole business
and making AC a single high
performing entity.
In the very short term, we will have to global issues of global trade, regional politics and the recent Coronavirus that has already seen AXISCADES back at our home bases in India working remotely wherever possible.
What are the areas/sectors/industries that your company is currently focusing on?
The company has a focus on “technology intensive” sectors where engineering is of strategic importance. These sectors include aerospace, defence, major capital equipment, automotive and an emerging activity
in medical.
Where does India fit into your
global priorities?
India is the centre of our entire business with multiple engineering operations across key cities, this is complemented by our local presence next to our customers to facilitate the externalisation of engineering activities. The business model sees on average 70 per cent of all our 2300 engineers based in India, the balance is anticipated to stay at the level.
From global prospective, where does India stand in terms of adaption of latest engineering and manufacturing technologies? Which industries are adopting global technologies faster than others?
India for many years has used its depth of technology skills to offer innovative technical solutions across the global, engineering has followed in the wake of IT but is significantly different and demands in-depth domain knowledge of each specific sector. I see in AXISCADES a company almost uniquely positioned to offer global standards of domain expertise with an impressive understanding of how technology can be leveraged to make stepped changes in Product Development and Manufacturing Support.
All sectors are embracing what
new technology can bring with no significant differences. However, what changes is the maturity of each individual company all of whom are moving at different speeds.
As manufacturers make transition to Industry 4.0, how are engineering needs changing?
As stated before, AC has domain expertise throughout the product lifecycle couple with in-depth experience of using technology to make a difference, this might be AI, Machine Learning or IoT. The world is a wash with technology being provided by both the global mega IT corporations as well as small groups of forward-thinking technologists in start-up companies, we collaborate with all to bring solutions to our clients.
Auto industry is opting for low-carbon pathway (ie, EV, stringent emission norms, fuel efficiency, etc). What are the challenges faced by auto and auto component makers on this path?
I am a convert being a Tesla owner for some years now. Like any growing technology it’s about scale and matching the accelerating demand. The industry is maturing and the automotive OEMs are well versed at how to scale and have fully functioning and robust supply chains.
Automotive supplier must change and adapt to EV needs as globally countries are legislating to force the change, understand the changing needs and embrace them.
Why EVs are becoming primary
point of discussion (for policy
makers) as a solution to combat environmental issues?
EV is clearly a solution to environmental issues but the required infrastructure to support this is a key topic that will require policy decisions at government level to ensure that the electrical generators have the capacity and the infrastructure exists to distribute it. This is a massive topic that needs smart city planning to ensure robust solutions exist.
Alternatively, IC engine development with alternative fuels is likely to develop in ways we don’t see today, whether this is biofuels or more like alternative fuels such as hydrogen others can comment but EV is part of the solution and is here today. What
this tells me is that companies must monitor emerging technologies and be ready to change.
Can EVs become main transportation mode globally? What are the engineering challenges in developing and manufacturing EVs?
As started EV is here, for mass transport it’s been a reality for decades on land-based systems. New battery technology has extended this to both private and public transport and demonstrator technology exists for air travel. Technology in different or more efficient battery technology will give us need new possibilities, lighter and higher capacity solutions are emerging.
Scaling and changing production skill and capabilities is a must and with fast pace of change companies have to adopt a more agile mentality. This is needed to address technology changes or indeed global politics or crises such as Coronavirus.
For AC we intend to be at the leading edge of agile thinking for both what we do and how we operate. The changes that we have started are the start of accelerating AC for the years to come, challenging the norms and competing globally in our space of engineering complimented with the intelligent deployment of new technology. All products have to be engineered and AC has shown we can offer true competitive advantage to our customers getting products to market faster with greater maturity.
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