For Uwe Wagner, passion will be the driving factor for the India workforce at Schaeffler to take the growth story to the next level.
“We expect our teams to be passionate and display this while working on their products and projects. From our end, we will try to make this happen with challenging products,” the Chief Technology Officer of Schaeffler AG told Mobility Outlook during a recent media roundtable.
The occasion was the inaugural of Schaeffler Technology Solutions India in Pune, which will have 200 engineers on-board by the end of this calendar. It will be the German component maker’s new centre of competence in software development with the focus being on e-mobility and chassis applications.
Globally, Schaeffler makes high-precision components and systems for powertrain and chassis applications as well as rolling and plain bearing solutions for a large number of industrial applications.
Confident that “this highly qualified team” in Pune can rise to the occasion in handling “pretty good projects and technical solutions”, Wagner reiterated that the interconnection between Schaeffler’s teams worldwide with a special knowhow “is the core element of our R&D strategy”.
He said the company has maintained very strong values during its 75 years of existence and always wants to be innovative. “It is just not a buzzword for us since innovation has always been our calling along with sustainability,” continued Wagner.
According to him, Schaeffler was working on a host of plans while adapting its complete product strategy to the overall objective of sustainability. From the local leadership’s point of view, the employee value proposition is a pyramid and there are basic needs that everyone can cater to.
Employee Value Proposition
“The value system for employees and the organisation should be in sync to attract the right talent. Once we meet the basic needs of individuals, things will work,” said Yogesh Patwardhan, Director, Schaeffler Technology Solutions India.
In his view, Indian engineers are “technology-hungry” and “we need to make sure that we are taking them a little bit away from the service industry and bringing them more towards products and systems”. The key was to ensure that people take away more value in their work lives, while focusing on technically-challenging topics to enrich their experience, challenge their mindset and improve their learnings.
Wagner then chipped in to add that it was not Schaeffler’s intent to be “some anonymous company somewhere in Germany hiring people here in India”. On the contrary, it was keen that the people here push the envelope and exhibit passion in their work while identifying with the values of the organisation.
“It is better to perhaps grow even slower if necessary rather than grow too fast and lose that perspective. Sustainable growth is critical and people should like what they are doing,” he said.
Even while the world is coping with constant challenges in the form of a recession looming large, the Russian war in Ukraine, supply chain issues etc, Wagner maintained that electric mobility would continue to gather pace in China, Europe and other markets “at an increasing speed” despite all these headwinds.
Addressing The Electric Momentum
The electric momentum actually kicked off during the pandemic and is now accelerating for “reasons of changing energy supply and sustainability”. This is also true for India where two- and three-wheelers are expected to lead the way during this decade. Yet, the Russia-Ukraine war and its fallout on gas prices coupled with the cap on crude oil supplies globally could prompt some policy deviations on electric, be it in India or other parts of the world.
By the end of the day, as the leadership team at the Pune roundtable said, Schaeffler is keen on getting the best from every market. In the case of India, this will happen by way of collaborating with big brands such as the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru as well as the IITs.
The idea is to strengthen the industry-academia bonding, which is what a host of companies are focusing on worldwide, especially in this turbulent era of mobility disruptions. Beyond this, Schaeffler will explore partnerships with start-ups for innovation where “the ecosystem is taking shape quickly in India”.
Likewise, energy solutions will present another opportunity in the future especially with India focusing on green hydrogen for the future. With sustainability being the mantra, this fits in with Schaeffler’s own vision statement and this is where the Pune technical centre will have a key role to play going forward.
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