THE AUTOMOTIVE FORUM Innovation = Innovision

Autocar Professional’s Automotive Forum in Mumbai sees industry experts debate the opportunities and challenges of nurturing innovation at the front and back ends of the business. Brian de Souza reports.

The second in Autocar Professional’s Automotive Forum series of seminars took place in Mumbai at the Trident BKC on May 23. The two-session seminar, organised by Autocar Professional with JK Tyres as the principal sponsor and NKH Hammers as the associate sponsor and Bloomberg TV as the television partner, held forth on the theme of ‘Auto Evolution Through Innovation’. The well-attended event saw close to 100 delegates from across the automotive industry including suppliers, IT software providers and management consultancies. Good engineering of a product is as crucial as smart marketing for its success. Conventional ways of doing business are giving way to more innovative ways. And the innovation curve will only need to grow for both vehicle OEMs and component makers to grow profitably, especially through challenging times.

The six industry experts invited to debate on the subject delved on how the innovation curve is growing in India, and what needs to be done to evolve faster and smarter, without re-inventing the wheel.

In his opening remarks, Hormazd Sorabjee, editor, Autocar India, said India had given the world the term ‘jugaad’ that stands for innovation. He said that Indian industry needs to create new and clever products. Unlike in the mature automotive markets where products sell on merit, in India, the dynamics are different and even not-so-good products sell well. He underscored the need for the industry to understand the consumer psyche.



SumantraBarooah, Autocar Professional’s associate editor, set the mood for the event with his opening comments citing C K Prahalad and R AMashelkar: "Innovation, after vanishing from corporate priorities during the recent recession, is slowly making its way back onto to-do lists in corner offices. In most companies, though, the innovation process is coughing and sputtering like a rusty old engine. Not unlike internal combustion, traditional innovation is heading for obsolescence – because parameters have completely changed – and it will take unsuspecting organisations with it."

Consumer is king . . . and queen
It has been estimated that 17 percent of innovation made by companies is what customers are ready to pay for. That was a sobering thought in the presentation made by Dr Aravind S Bharadwaj, Head - Technology, Mahindra & Mahindra, who was speaking in the first session.Drawing on his experience with Ashok Leyland and now with Mahindra, he drew on the challenge of offering 90 percent of new features at about 50 percent of the costs.



Earlier, NandkumarKhandare, CEO, Nissan Ashok Leyland Technologies, spoke about the essence of innovation which he described as “Don’t look at failure in a negative sense.” He spoke about how a company can, indeed, encourage innovation by asking staff to analyse a particular failure. In a macro-sense, he contextualised the issue saying that the imperative of innovation has to be seen from the fact that automotive OEMs draw from the same source of vendors. Describing the other attributes of innovation, he said, “Without knowledge, one cannot have innovation.”
Drawing from other areas of industry, Khandare alluded to import substitution as an area of innovation and made a specific reference to Shanta Biotech that has made a vaccine at a very affordable price – down from Rs 750 to Rs 50 – which helps society at large. Rounding off, he stressed the need for teamwork, within and without the organisation. It was a trend that would surface once again in the second session that debated innovation at the front end.

Ashok G Joshi, senior general manager, Vehicle Attributes & Technical Services, Tata Motors, spoke about how the Tata Group is trying to align its innovation initiatives across various segments. He said he sees no dearth of innovators in India and that it is the funneling of ideas which needs more focus to encourage a flow of innovations.

Explaining the push for innovation at a group level, Joshi spoke about the Tata Group Innovation Forum (TGIF) that links Tata companies all over the world, and aims to stimulate innovative thinking and fostering collaboration and research. This forum organises events and workshops and facilitates interaction between Tata managers, innovation experts and academicians. Headed by R Gopalakrishnan, Tata Sons as its chairman, it includes Dr Tim Leverton, head of Advanced and Product Engineering, Tata Motors.

Creating a market where there was none

The first speaker in the second session was K Srinivas, president – Motorcycle Business, Bajaj Auto – who briefly spoke about Bajaj Auto’s journey of innovation that began in the 1980s. Ironically, he said that in the non-innovation phase of the market, the company actually made more money.

Centering his talk around the fact that successful companies don’t just serve a market but create one, he offered the example of the Pulsar, a brand that is now 13 years old. His other insights were the need to look at rivals, not the customer and, above all, to maintain the first mover’s enduring advantage.

He also urged the largely urban audience attending the event to take time out and visit Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities, presumably to see the changes – especially in women’s mobility – that are taking place. Signing off, he quipped that a successful Indian company should be Japanese at the back end and American at the front end.

Anup Sable, senior vice-president and head, Automotive & Allied Engineering, KPIT Cummins, spoke about how the thrust towards innovation manifested itself in the plan to make the Revolo, a first-of-a-kind plug-and-play hybrid solution for cars and light commercial vehicles. He explained that the idea behind it was to ‘leapfrog” into a new area. The company's journey in this direction, Sable said, has earned it 43 patents, of which 15 are related to hybrids.

Among the various innovations the company has worked on include Autosar, in2@soft, vehicle diagnostric tools, a battery management system and KIVI, a vehicle infotainment platform. He also spoke about the importance of innovation at his company and highlighted the fact that the company has an Innovation Council at the board level.

And finally, Dr ArunJaura, who recently was with Eaton, rounded off the proceedings with a few key comments. Innovation can cover several areas including rural transportation, need for speed, energy efficiency, cost of ownership, policy and competitive advantage.
Dr Jaura also referred to what he called experiential innovation which he fleshed out thus:
• Living with the customer
• Designing for the real world
• Manufacturing – cottage industry
• Servicing – at the doorstep
Innovation, he reiterated, is a contact sport and it is important that an organisation be committed to innovation. Dr Jaura said companies must align with young minds and spoke about how Eaton encourages its staff to make suggestions for innovation which can be done online and in a secure environment.

Automotive platform
The Mumbai edition of the Automotive Forum follows the first edition which was held in Pune on October 19, 2012. That seminar saw participation from key executives from Tata Motors, Tata Technologies, Eaton, Bosch Automotive Electronics India and Pushkaraj Engineering to discuss the opportunities and challenges in the automotive electronics sector in India. The Automotive Forum is Autocar Professional's attempt to extend the intellectual property to other activities and engage with stakeholders of the automotive industry at a different level. Watch this space.