Exclusive Interface with Mr. Aveen Padmaprabha, Divisional Head – Industrial Quality Solutions, Carl Zeiss India Pvt. Ltd.

A&I: Take us through the journey of “Carl Zeiss – India” In India & Company’s Current Operations.

ZEISS India began operations in India over 25+ years ago and is currently headquartered in Bommasandra industrial area in Bangalore, Karnataka. We started with just a few employees, and today we have over 1500 employees across a variety of roles, including software testing, R&D, sales and service operations. Our major operations in India include lens manufacturing and sales, medical and surgical equipment sales and service, research microscopy, industrial quality solutions, sports optics, cinema lens, and global IT hubs based in India and APAC support hubs.

It has been a long journey, but we are proud of what we have accomplished and are committed to continuing to provide the best possible service to our customers.

A&I: “Carl Zeiss – India” is a leading Company for measuring machines, optical and multi-sensor systems, and metrology software. What are the solutions offered to the industry?

We are proud to be a leading provider of metrology solutions, with a wide range of solutions available under one roof. Our portfolio includes systems and software, and we are known for our excellence in CMMs. We have our 2D and 3D X-Ray solutions, and our newest addition of Optical 3D portfolio and 3D scanners along with software is already a leading solution in the market.

In addition to the above we have our microscopy solutions from light to electron microscopes, we also offer surface and form solutions, as well as multi-sensor systems for 2D dimensional measurement. While capital equipment is not our only solution, we recently made a significant change in our software portfolio and launched some unique solutions in this domain for our customers and the manufacturing sector. These include ZEISS Quality Suite, our one solution for all metrology software, ZEISS Smart services and ZEISS Health check for equipment efficiency and maintenance, ZEISS PiWeb for Quality intelligence and Metrology data analytics, ZEISS Inspect for Dimensional and optical 3D measurement, and the portfolio goes on. There are many solutions by ZEISS in metrology and listing them all here would not do them justice.

A&I: Please brief us on the “Carl Zeiss – India” measuring machine product range for various industries & brief us on the latest top-line product range.

We have recently focused on solving specific problems industries, including Automotive, Aerospace, Electronics & Consumer electronics, Medical manufacturing, new energy sector, Additive manufacturing, and the Electric Vehicle sector. Our solutions for each industry sector are unique and designed to solve their specific problems, be it through equipment features or software modules.

Our solutions cater to a wide range of applications, including Aero Blade inspection, PCB macro and microscopic inspection, electric vehicle battery-motor-tray-battery management system inspection, fuel-cell inspection, wind turbine and blade inspection through our Optical 3D solutions, shop floor quality inspection, technical cleanliness and particle analyzer, and more. Our solutions are created based on the requirements of our customers and are further developed together with their feedback.

A&I: What Is Your Marketing Strategy for Indian Market?

Our goal is to provide the best possible metrology equipment and solve our customers’ challenges. Our passion for customer success is what drives us, and our DNA is innovation in software, systems and services. With this DNA, we pursue our mission to support our customers in realizing their ambitions in decarbonization and digitalization.

Hence, our Global Strategy is implemented at the country level in India also. Our customers are from the manufacturing sector and are looking to produce quality products, and we are here to help them achieve that goal. The “Future Factory of the World” needs solutions that the entire world is already aware of. Our marketing strategy is to bring and share these solutions to the quality-oriented product manufacturers, right from cost-conscious to problem-focused customers. We are proud to have been able to do this over the years and look forward to bringing even more solutions to every manufacturing company in India.

A&I: Can You Please Brief Us about Your Manufacturing Facilities & R&D Activities in India?

We have a manufacturing facility in our headquarters in Bangalore, Karnataka, where we manufacture some of the products we offer. We cater not just to the Indian market, but to more than 28 countries from this facility. We are proud to be one of four factories of ZEISS in India and cater to our customers worldwide.

We have worked hard to reach this stage of global operations, and it has taken us at least a decade to do so. We believe in the manufacturing capabilities of India and the suppliers we have developed over the years. Our “Make-in-India” philosophy started exactly during its inception from the government in India and has since then led to the setup of India manufacturing operations and the global software testing and R&D facilities in India. Today, due to the ecosystem of IT talent and infrastructure in India, we have more than 5% of our employees in India, working on R&D activities for the Indian as well as the global market.

A&I: Brief us about the quality policy for your business?

Instead, let me share a short extract from our Quality policy, which should be able to tell you where we stand. “Our products, solutions and services must be safe and meet the required quality and performance to deliver effective, reliable, accurate, and optimal results according to their intended use. We support the success of our customers and business partners through innovation, reliability and user friendliness and promote sustainable business relationships and solutions…..” hope this shares a clear understanding of who we are and where we stand on our Quality Policy.

 A&I: What is your future vision and growth plans for “Carl Zeiss – India” in India?

Our vision is to support our customers’ success and provide them with the systems, software, and services that will help them to have a better reach in the market. We plan to expand our manufacturing operations and capacity, make new investments in India, and continue to provide the best possible metrology solutions to our customers. We are committed to realizing the ambitions of the people who are building the Indian manufacturing sector and contributing to the growth of the Indian economy.

A&I: Any special message for our readers?

We are proud to have been a contributor to the growth of the Indian economy over the past 25+ years. We are thankful to our customers who are pillars of our success in India. We are proud to be part of the Government’s larger vision of “Make-in-India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat” by providing solutions to the industry to uplift their quality standards not only for Indian Market but also help them tap the global opportunities.