RLE International to focus on automotive electronics; Plans to set up new CoE in core automotive areas
Cost optimisation against value for money is intrigued by RLE International. The global engineering company is looking at offering end-to-end engineering solutions by leveraging “Global Capabilities” at a “Local Cost” in India.
RLE International a Germanbased engineering company has proven its excellence in engineering over 3 decades and showcases its design think ing exper tise in the field of automotive and other industries. RLE I ndia, a 100% subsidiar y of RLE I nternational is offering end-to - end ser vices far the past 10 years in Body in White (BIW ), interior, exterior, system integration, power train and chassis, Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and data migration and is now look ing at expanding its business in India by entering into new avenues. The company currently has offices in Bangalore and Chennai and is investing heavily on setting up Centers of Excellence (CoE) in core areas of automotive engineering.
The Managing Director and COO of RLE I nternational, Rober t P Rupa told Auto Components India that, “the ver tical integration of commodities have lot of challenges to deal with and we are in the phase of encountering it. There are cer tain complexities on one side but on the other side we stick on to our deliverables inputting necessar y contingency attributes like lightweighting in the components. The platform we develop for India not only ser ves I ndia but globally. Cost consciousness in all the areas of technical inputs does not make sense and it is not feasible to the desired extent. We would still work on leveraging the cost but only in cer tain niche areas. The product we deliver proves the value for money and the best in class engineering excellence will be catered to all our engineered products and OEMs will use the engineering inputs globally irrespective of the market,” he added.
RLE I ndia has strengthened its business relations with key I ndian OEMs and suppliers and is now look ing to scale up their business in the countr y with an expectation of 30% YoY growth. Darren Gowland,
Group Vice President I nternational Operations, RLE I nternational said, “We aim for RLE India to become a leading player in 2-3 niche segments in India and to become one of the top 3 players in transpor tation segment adding more OEMs and Tier 1 customers. Going by the global standards, we have already added new ser vice lines like automotive electronics, BIW and design using lightweight material to suppor t the new needs of our customers and our goal is to grow fur ther in I ndia.”
The company is work ing on infotainment and all driver assistance systems and in 2-3 years the output of which will be realised and OEMs will star t investing in the technologies which proves its superiority, feels Gowland. The company lauded that the suppor t from the government with regards to infrastructure should be commendable for an effective initiation of electronic feed to Indian vehicles. Though the company ’s core area is not electronics, they do have a 10% segment in engineering the electronics like power train ornamentation.
The company now focuses much on Euro V standards and has a check from OEMs to have the crash per formance output satisfactor y. According to RLE, there is a sinister alarm for IC engines and the road for IC engines are blurred. Rober t commented that, “As markets are now ver y keen for hybrid and electric vehicles, the strategy has to be redefined from our end and should have a different approach and design parameters. In India though ever ybody speaks about hybrid and electric vehicles, there is a need for infrastructure in roads. The quality of infrastructure also has to meet cer tain guidelines. I ndia is a ver y big market along-side China and OEMs are showing much inclination towards investing in the markets. The technology usage is already getting exhausted in Europe and US as the market easily embraces the latest technologies in their vehicles. Electronic energy is weak in I ndian vehicles and the market por tends a huge hit for the OEMs.” Body engineering is the major work the company does for OEMs which involves engineering the body structure like interiors, exte - rior doors, ergonomic engineering, chassis work and little bit of power train integration. Employing aluminium and fiber composites in the body structure, plastics in the interior have become pretty standards of-late. From concept to design the company works with all OEMs, prototype their components and with minimum iterations and they pass through the testing phase. Hiring and bringing exper tise across geographies is the company ’s motto as the simulation plays a vital role in all its engineering outputs.
“The technological inputs as of now in I ndia definitely gets varied when compared to Europe, US and other countries. The trend, regulation eve - r ything has to be monitored when the vehicles are fed with technical inputs. We contemplate much and develop vehicle design for future I ndia,” said Rober t.
RLE I nternational is planning to make significant investments on sk ill development and to set up several Centers of Excellence (CoE) in the next 5 years in I ndia which would suppor t the RLE Group’s overall business across geographies. RLE I ndia is creating 2 focused growth engines in India - Product Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering and is also planning to invest 10% of its revenues annually towards expansion of its business por tfolio. The company ’s focus in I ndia currently lies in building innovative solutions in lean engineering, manufacturing engineering, automotive electronics, lightweight materials and vehicle safety.
Speak ing about the R&D centre, Gowland averred that, “Though OEMs have their R&D centre built-in not all the intricates will be taken care at their centre. Some re - engineering of the components have to be outsourced to companies like us. With our design inputs and prototype success the OEMs will star t work ing on manufacturing and product development. We work on aluminium and fiber composites for bringing in weight reduction to
the vehicles and restructuring the vehicles with those components.”
Make in India though has become viral throughout, the company ’s contribution to this may not be in the form of tangible measure but there are sk ill and k nowledge impar tation from its end which is the fundamental concept of Make in India. Lot of OEMs plan to work and manufacture things in India for 2 reasons, like work force hiring at a minimum cost and qualified people with niche talents. Rober t commented that RLE works with suppliers and OEMs and they look for right talents and no doubt I ndia is a globe of talent and efficient workforce.
He fur ther commented that, “We work with US and Europe customers and unambiguously the talent pool in I ndia supersedes the other countries. When we initially launched in India, the aim was merely to be an offshore deliver y centre catering to some of our global customers. But over the years this market has proven itself to be much more promising and it is one of the high-per forming markets today catering to creme customers with quality ser vices. For our global customers we develop and manage commodities and total vehicle projects from design to production and are heading to become one of the market leaders in I ndia within the next 5 to 8 years. The market is challenging but we have the right exper tise, the right experience and the right investment strategy to grow further,” added Rober t.
As compared to other players in the market, RLE I ndia brings in “Global Exper tise” and also carries the benefit of global capabilities to “Follow the Customer ” and suppor t them in multiple geographies. Unlike the other wise popular “Re - source Augmentation” model, RLE India has developed the “Managed Staffing Solution” to suppor t customer ’s in-house engineering requirements. The Managed Staffing Solution ensures lowest Total- Cost- of- Ownership ( TCO) to the clients.
Commenting on the reduced product life c ycle, Gowland re - plied that, the psychology of the people brings in more business for us. Obsolescence has become per vasive and the life of the vehicles have become ver y shor t. New models are expected in shor t durations which lime lights the importance of re - engineering. The platform re - engineering requires at least 18-24 months. The feasibility of introducing new platforms in a shor ter duration is a million dollar question. The OEMs will not introduce new platforms to ensure their quantity as quality of the platform and the contentment of customers while adapting the same matters them a lot.
The newly appointed Managing Director of RLE India Vijay Machigad said, “India is a booming market for automotive engineering industry and RLE India has already come a long way since its inception. During the next few years, we aim to grow multiple folds not only in terms of revenue but also in terms of our ser vice portfolio, business footprint and customer relations.”
The company has planned to invest 100 million Euro for sk ill development and futuristic capabilities and it would be on a long term basis. “There seems to be a lack of availability of high- end sk illset. RLE plans to invest on sk ill development as well as leverage its global exper tise to offer niche solutions in I ndia. While RLE I ndia’s key focus is on quality, the highly cost competitive I ndian market poses a huge challenge, as cutting on price means compromising on quality and safety. Our “Follow the Customer ” and “Global Capability at Local Cost ” strategies would help us build strong relationships with our customers and deliver high value,” added Machigad.