Soaring investments flowing through hospitality, retail, commercial and healthcare sectors, and other construction activities are opening up opportunities for smart entrance doors in India, and Gandhi Automations being number 1 in the domestic market is tapping into the full potential of its efficiency and service quality. Samir Gandhi, Managing Director, Gandhi Automations opens up to Upamanyu Borah on their operational strategies, key performance indicators that help attain manufacturing excellence, and how the company’s global growth would be a determinant factor in their successful streak.
Gandhi Automations has gained significant market share in the entrance automation industry. How did you manage this commendable growth?
In the relentless journey of 22 years, Gandhi Automations has learned and gained the know-how into Entrance Automation & Loading Bay Equipment sector.
We are known for our research & development (R&D), quality and commitment towards customers. We have catered to industries like Chem-Pharma, Food, Automotive, Logistics, Warehousing, Shopping Malls, Marine, Aviation and many more. Our customers helped us grow along by trusting and demanding challenging requirements. Hence, we invested in research & development, factory trained sales and service team pan India, and 24×7 customer care to achieve those challenges. Our constant efforts towards innovation with a focus on the latest technology have acknowledged our products and solutions for reliability and sustainability.
Which of your products are in greater demand in the entrance automation industry in terms of offering on-demand solutions and easy to operate features?
Today, with more and more companies streamlining their processes, the demand for material handling automation and equipment has increased exponentially, to deliver faster, hassle-free loading/unloading experience and reducing supply chain operating costs.
The emerging trends which are becoming popular are remote operated high-speed doors and rolling shutters; and Gandhi Automations’ line of products becomes unique because of the cutting-edge technology, speed of movement, functionality and safety, all infused together.
Many manufacturing industries nowadays need a controlled environment that limits the amount of dirt and dust within the manufacturing premises. Medical instrument manufacturers, electronics and computer manufacturers, the food and pharmaceutical industry and some military applications are few of the examples that have strict requirements for maintaining the dust-free environment.
Our high-speed doors are self-repairing which provide effortless passage for material and manpower movement. The high operating speed reduces the time taken in the movement of material, thus hastening the logistics process.
What is the track record of Gandhi Automations in terms of overall performance?
We have maintained a positive trend year-over-year since inception. Our pioneering solutions and technology have extended our business not just in India but also globally.
We anticipate the market demands and our R&D team develops products ahead of time. A product is developed and tested rigorously before launch even for challenging environments.
We maintain international manufacturing standards while innovating and testing our products. Our products and systems adhere to the European Standards (EN) who provides safety solutions for man and material using our products. Few safety solutions arrive in a package while others are optional.
What is the market potential for Gandhi Automation’s products in India? How are you positioning these products?
India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and moving steadily on the path of global integration. In the past few years, many MNCs have set-up operations in India and introduced Indian companies to the advantages of automation for entrances and material handling. In facilitating the quest for being truly world-class and ensuring a ‘competitive advantage’, the Indian industry has started giving emphasis on technology advancements and industry norms.
To address the need for user-friendly operations, material handling and entrance automation leverage the latest technology. It provides ease of operation, swiftness and above all security, the pre-requisite benchmark.
Our product line varies depending upon the location, size, industry and its applications for customers. Our representatives recommend and educate customers on precise solutions that seem appropriate to their use and application.
Dock Levelers, Dock Shelters, Sectional Overhead Doors, Motorised Rolling Shutters, High-speed Doors are few warehousing solutions offered by Gandhi Automations. We have different types of Dock Levelers and Dock Shelters that are offered as per the customers’ requirements. In Dock Levelers, we have Radius Lip and Telescopic Lip and in Dock Shelters the offerings are Retractable Dock Shelter, Cushion Dock Shelters and Inflatable Dock Shelters. With all these solutions, we aim to provide our customers with safe and efficient loading equipment in their warehouses.
What are your company’s crucial milestones and achievements contributing to the stabilisation of expectations and potentially modernising your framework in the Indian automation market?
We work as a consultant and take into consideration the need for a customer. We provide customised solutions as per the specific needs of a particular sector, for e.g. pharmaceutical, chemical, automobile, food, cold storage, etc. Each of these sectors has unique material handling and warehousing requirements. Because of our expertise in the field, we understand and explain to the client how he can make optimum use of technology. The customer acknowledges this as the greatest value-addition when he approaches Gandhi Automations for a particular product.
To fulfil our objective of providing products that are technologically-advanced, energy-efficient and safe, we have a project engineering team that uses the latest design software combined with technologically-advanced machinery to offer the customer a well-engineered product.
Because of our passion and commitment to quality, we have won accolades across different industries and products. Recently, we have been honoured with the Top 100 SMEs in India Award by the Government at the India SME Forum 2018. Our other notable achievements and awards are:
The Innovation Award (twice) – ACREX 2019 and All India Cold Chain Seminar 2019
Best Warehouse Initiative, Best-in-class Loading Bay Technology – 13th Annual Express Logistics and Supply Chain Conclave 2019
Best company product showcase – India Paints and Coatings Forum 2019
Changing Industrial Trends award, and many more.
Brief us about the company’s global reach and the global alliances that have been made in order to out-front the competition.
We are number 1 in the domestic market. However, there’s a huge untapped international market for our products, which we are ready to meet with the right kind of product portfolio and international safety standards. We are relatively new to the International Market however the response to date has been very encouraging.
With increased globalisation and countries opening up for business we see a great opportunity in neighboring countries also. For instance, in Myanmar, in the last few years, foreign investments have increased from a few million to several billion dollars (300 million-dollar 2009 to 5 billion 2014). The Myanmar government has relaxed import restrictions and abolished export taxes. Such policies boost our confidence and we will venture into such countries.
We already have an installation base in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, America and South Asia. However, such projects were intermittent owing to focus on such markets.
Our current target for export is the Gulf Countries and European Countries. In the coming years, we will be aiming for neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Bhutan, SriLanka, and a few other African countries. By the year 2020, we are targeting 50 per cent revenue from export.
How much growth do you anticipate in the Indian industry automation market in the next 3 years on account of the growing deployment of various factory automation systems in warehousing, automotive, chemicals, and other manufacturing units?
There is a clear need to add manufacturing capacities in the manufacturing automation and logistic warehousing sector. The industry is moving towards increasingly sophisticated entrance automation solutions like high-speed doors, automated rolling shutters, loading bay solutions, hangar and garage doors, sectional overhead doors, etc. driven by demand from key user segments such as automobiles, consumer durables, aerospace, pharmaceutical, food, construction, industrialisation, etc. To derive long-term benefits, entrance automation manufacturers should develop capabilities to cater to this demand and promote greater investments in this sector.
We are very optimistic about the local and international markets. We expect India to rank 5th as the Global Manufacturer by 2020, while we are aiming a CAGR of 50 per cent being the market leader in India. The aspiration is further boosted with potential market growth in the manufacturing sector because of government initiatives like ‘Make in India’.
