New opportunities and engineering services for machine builders

Jon Severn: By way of some background, please can you give our readers a brief introduction to Cyient.

John Renard: Cyient, which until recently was known as Infotech Enterprises, has its origins in India as a contract CAD resource and software developer. The company's skill base and global customer base have developed over the last 23 years to the point at which we now have thousands of highly skilled engineers serving global geographical markets in industries as diverse as machine building, off-highway vehicles, transportation, aerospace and defence, energy and natural resources, utilities and telecommunications, semiconductors, medical and consumer. We employ around 12,000 people globally, some 10,000 of which are in India, and the company is expanding rapidly; in the last 12 months we have taken on 40-50 engineers in the UK and 1500 globally. Indian companies tend to be very ambitious, and Cyient is now responding to customers who want more than engineering services; in particular, the company is moving into product realisation.

JS: Does this mean you will now be accepting responsibility for manufacture as well as design?

JR: Yes, although we do not, for the moment, intend to invest in our own manufacturing facilities; rather we are seeking collaborations or partnerships with manufacturing companies.

JS: How are you planning to work with UK machine builders?

JR: One of Cyient's strengths is process engineering, and UK machine builders are renowned for their creativity and innovation. We are therefore looking to partner with UK machine builders who can leverage new processes that we have developed. Our intention is to identify machine builders who operate in niche markets, build small volumes of machines, have a track record in innovation and who are open to working collaboratively.

JS: This implies you could bring new business to your selected machine builders, but what else can you offer?

JR: Cyient has always been very flexible and we can support machine builders in whatever way works best for a particular project. For example, we have people in India who can boost the machine builder's CAD resource, as well as engineers in electrical, mechanical and other disciplines who can undertake design work. Alternatively, we can provide people to work in-house alongside the company's own engineers (we even have an arrangement with the UK Home Office so we can fast-track work permits).

Another way we can support machine builders is in the tendering phase. For example, we can assist with the tendering - for which we would make no charge - which is a direct help to the machine builder, plus it reduces risk because we would effectively be tendering for aspects of the project that we would ultimately take responsibility for. Sometimes machine builders are nervous about tendering for too many projects in case they win so much work that they cannot service all their clients; however, if they work with us they have ready access to additional engineering resources should that need arise. This way we can help machine builders who are eager to expand but who do not feel ready to employ more staff. And let us not forget that large numbers of good engineers are currently hard to find in the UK, so another advantage of working with Cyient is that we can easily tap into a vast pool of highly skilled engineers that would not be readily accessible to UK companies.

JS: How else can you help to develop UK machine builders' businesses?

JR: India has made great strides in developing its service sector but, despite the huge internal market, India still has a long way to go in terms of expanding its manufacturing base. This means there is tremendous potential for exporting machines to India. Clearly the market there is very different from that in the UK, so we can work with UK machine builders to re-engineer existing products to suit the Indian market. The main requirement is to make a substantial reduction in the price point, so we can help with value engineering, de-scoping and making other design changes to suit the Indian market. If necessary, we can assist in establishing local manufacture to keep the price low. We are close to the market and understand it very well, and have worked successfully with European companies as diverse as Atlas Copco and Philips.

Clearly India is Cyient's 'home' market, but the same principles would apply for machine builders seeking to export to the potentially lucrative Chinese market that exists for European-designed machines. This is something that we are working on, so we may be in a position to help UK machine builders export to China within the next two years. And there are other Asian markets where we are anticipating offering the same.

JS: If a machine builder is interested in working with Cyient, how can they be sure of the quality of the engineers you employ?

JR: Cyient has a competency development framework to manage the competence of our engineers. If a project needs someone with particular knowledge, skills, experience and languages, we can readily identify the right person. Furthermore, some 2 to 2.5 per cent of each engineer's hours are assigned to training and professional development every year. Just recently we strengthened our HR [human resources] function, from board level down, reaffirming our commitment to this core aspect of our business.

JS: The design of safety-related aspects of machinery requires very specific competencies. Does Cyient get involved in machinery safety?

JR: Cyient is involved in machine safety throughout the product development lifecycle, from concept design to product realisation. As product designers our engineers' goal will be to design machines that are safe to use without any hazard, easy to operate/assemble and require minimal maintenance. While designing machines, we consider various parameters like design intent and its application, materials to be used, compliance requirements, noise levels, ergonomics, factors of safety, etc. To fulfil safety requirements, in many cases our engineers validate the design with hand calculations followed by digital validation adopting numerical methods. We also do sub-system level physical validation by leveraging our ecosystem partners for product reliability and various functional tests. While designing the machines we develop the necessary technical documentation that is needed for compliance requirements like CE/UL certifications.

JS: There are many other local and global companies that can provide additional engineering resource, so how is Cyient different?

JR: First, we are pure engineers - we say we are designing tomorrow together. There are other companies that offer engineering but are also involved in banking, insurance and retail, for example, whereas we are focused on designing and creating. Also, we operate globally and therefore have a wider perspective than engineering companies that are geographically constrained. Another important way in which we differentiate ourselves is by committing to customers and developing long-term relationships. Often we will open new offices close to customers, and it is not unknown for us to work with customers for extended periods; TomTom is well known for its satellite navigation and other location-based products; 19 years ago we started working with a company that was part of the Sony Corporation and which is now part of TomTom - so our relationship has continued through no fewer than five changes of ownership.

JS: Machine builders are increasingly adopting more of a service-based business model rather than simply supplying machines. Is this something Cyient can support?

JR: In fact we already offer a high level of technical support for our telecommunications customers and in some areas of aerospace engineering. We therefore know how to do this well but have yet to establish the infrastructure to offer this to machine builders. But I think this will happen in the future.

JS: As a global organisation you deal with customers with vastly differing approaches and attitudes. How do find UK companies, and how do they respond to Cyient's offering?

JR: The UK market is mature in terms of its familiarity with outsourcing and offshoring, though we also meet companies that have had poor experiences and who need re-convincing of the benefits. I would also say the UK market is a demanding one, and customers tend to be more sophisticated than those in, say, the USA; we have to demonstrate the value we can offer to UK customers before we are awarded a contract, whereas companies elsewhere are more prepared to plunge in and see how the relationship develops. In the UK, having demonstrated our value proposition prior to a contract being awarded, we tend to become a trusted partner quite quickly once we start working together.

JS: Aside from the previously stated intention to work closely with machine builders, what are Cyient's plans for developing its business in the UK?

JR: We will continue to grow to meet the demands of our existing and new customers. At the moment we are moving our Bristol offices to larger premises and we will open more offices local to customers as necessary. Cyient is heavily committed to the UK for the long term, the market for our services is buoyant, and we believe that ours is a unique offering for engineering companies.

More information about Cyient

If you are a machine builder that meets Cyient's criteria and you are interested in collaborating on new projects, telephone Cyient on +44 (0)20 7404 0640 (please mention MachineBuilding.net). To find out more about Cyient, go to www.cyient.com.