Problems in the supply chain are not the only issue that haunts the auto ancillary units worldwide. There's huge resignation, and then there is a requirement for working on cutting and new-age tech to stay afloat in the market as the world of automobiles is going through a once-in-a-century transformation.
Uno Minda, a Tier-1 supplier of proprietary automotive solutions and components to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), seems to have found a secret sauce to address the issues of retaining talent and working on innovating new-age solutions with just one move. For the past few years, the organisation has been organising innovation meets for its teams.
These innovation meets have provided different teams and individuals working with Uno Minda a podium to showcase their talent and, at the same time, allowed the organisation to stay ahead in terms of innovation, noted Sunil Bohra, Group CFO, UNO Minda, in a conversation with Mobility Outlook.
'The products developed were based on the concept of PACE (Personalised, Autonomous, Connected and Electrified). The focus behind this is providing customers differentiated offerings across a variety of vehicle segments, as market demands shift to products promising personalised and automatic experience,' said Bohra.
This year, three of the top projects were selected by the senior management during the event. These projects, after close scrutiny, will be applied for patents.
Keeping Clients In The Loop
While professionals judge the applications and projects from outside the organisation during a mini-exhibition, the best part about the same is probably the fact that the existing clients of UNO Minda are kept in the loop and informed about the innovations on showcase.
'We invite applications from internal teams and request teams to disclose what kind of innovations they have been working on,' said Bohra. The company received 190 innovation project applications in 2022. It has so far organised three innovation meets. The organisation, on account of the pandemic, was not able to organise one last year. Bohra noted that the prime reasons behind starting this programme include helping the organisation establish an innovation culture.
He explained, 'The innovations we do at the meet are also showcased to our customers. Normally the focus in India is more on manufacturing. The innovation meets helps us educate our customers on the kind of innovations we are doing here. UNO Minda invests around 3% to 4% of its revenues in R&D.'
The organisation's revenue for FY22 stood around INR 8,200 crore.
Innovation Meets also help the company in creating future funnels. Bohra explained that the same also helps it plan ahead by innovating what customers would require in the future. Giving an example, Bohra noted, 'The side stand switch which UNO Minda holds a patent for was innovated about seven years ago but the usage of the same has picked up pace now. This is how innovation helps us gauge what the OEM might require in the future,'
Also in the works via the Innovation Meets programme is a switch for the two-wheeler OEMs situated outside India. This touch-based switch, Bohra explained, will be embedded on the bikes and will help riders access their smartphones. Once launched in the market, a piece of this switch will cost somewhere close to INR 10,000.
The Patent Game
Patents are something that separates great organisations from good ones. The OEMs are generally super-interested in working with components and solutions suppliers with many patents. The company currently holds patent 340 registration and 250+ design registrations.
'Patents are something which the Innovation Meets are helping us with. In fact the majority of the components and solutions we deliver to the electric vehicle industry have been incubated under this programme,” pointed out Bohra.
Bohra claimed that the company has a design centre which is capable of designing automobiles of the future. Clients who visit the company are given a sneak peek into this design centre and explained how the innovations exhibited fit into the present and future products.
'People who are tech-savvy, people who have a hunger for creating new things, require such an atmosphere. Such people want to stay back once they are given the freedom and an atmosphere to innovate. We have a big appetite for failures as well because we understand that great things take time. The innovation meet has definitely helped us retain a lot of excellent talent,' said Bohra.
About 35 patents were filed by the organisation’s India last year. One patent every week is what the company is focusing on currently, and the Innovation Meet programme is seen as one of the enablers to achieve the same.
Hopes On EVs
UNO Minda's revenue is split 50:50 between two-wheelers and passenger cars. The organisation expects the EV industry to start contributing a fair share to its revenue figures during the next three to four years. “We expect the electric adoption will be faster in the two and three-wheeler space,” added Bohra.
The company’s kit value for ICE two-wheelers and three-wheelers has been around INR 7,000 to INR 7,500 on average. As explained by Bohra, this kit value will increase by six times once the company starts including EV components and solutions in the kits.
About 80% of the raw materials and components the component maker uses in its solutions are sourced from India. It is also working towards sourcing the rest 20% from within the country.
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