Having started its operations in 1996, Lapp India  provides about 150,000 km per year of power, control, instrumentation and data cables along with connectors, accessories and end-to-end systems to over 6000 customers pan India. It caters to industry segments like automation, textile, automotive, machine tools, oil and gas, renewable energy, process industries, as well as in the infrastructure and building sectors. Marc Jarrault, Managing Director, LAPP, in this conversation with Shashank Chaurey gives an insight of the cables, connectors and adapters market in India alongwith the company’s e-commerce venture.

 

How would you describe the company's performance in the last fiscal year?

 

For the first time, LAPP has recorded an annual turnover of more than EUR 1 billion. To be specific, the turnover of the global market leader for integrated cable and connection technology solutions increased by 13.9 per cent to EUR 1,026.8 million in the financial year 2016-17 (1 October to 30 September). LAPP in India has a turnover of over Rs 5 billion.

 

What is the present condition of cable connectors and adapters market in India?

 

The key drivers effecting Indian wire and cable industry in 2017-18 will be economic reforms, trade co-operation, improved transportation infrastructure, and industrial growth. Also with Industry 4.0, IIoT and smart manufacturing, there is an increased opportunities for wire and cable industry in India. 

 

The Government has placed strong focus on catalyzing development in the country with initiatives such as Make in India and Smart Cities program. They have also given great emphasis on improving metro and rail connectivity in India. These projects will come together to fuel massive growth in the cable industry across the country as power and control cables will play a critical role in the development of the metros and rails.

 

Could you take us through LAPP's most demanded product line? Any new launches made recently?

 

LAPP has been a driving force for innovation and our portfolio includes standard and highly flexible cables, industrial connectors and screw technology, customised system solutions, automation technology and robotics solutions for the intelligent factory of the future, as well as technical accessories. We have kept pace with the times with our products and solutions under the our brand OLFLEX® for power and control cables, UNITRONIC® and ETHERLINE® data cables, EPIC® industrial connectors and also the cable assembly solutions under ÖLFLEX® CONNECT systems.

 

Few of our key product lines are:

With the wireless technology taking noticeable leaps every year, how much has this hindered the demand for cables?

 

LAPP cable and connectivity solutions are primarily catered to the industrial application. We offer special cables, connectors and accessories for critical applications. The Indian cable industry in this segment is broadly categorised into low voltage power cables; control and instrumentation cables and data, BUS and networking cables. With the expansion of industrialization and infrastructure, the Indian wire and cable market has been growing steadily. The imminent trends that are driving growth of Indian cable industry over the next few years will be robotic cables, IIOT and so on, due to the growing automation market. Moreover, automation in the industrial environment has given us a scope to cater to various connectivity requirements.

 

As a 'cable and connection technology' solutions provider what are the other challenges involved in this sector?

 

The challenge for the cable and connectivity industry will be to combine the requirements of flexibility, robustness and the highest data transfer rates. Also, Industry 4.0 would require data, power supply and pneumatics in one connector which would significantly reduce the retrofit times of a modular production plant. In general, the trend would be towards complex and space saving design of these products and solutions, which are at the same time more efficient and of reliable quality, meeting the industry standards.

 

LAPP recently started a dedicated online store; how would this strengthen the connect with consumers? Tell us about its features.

 

Through LAPP’s online store, we plan to offer small and medium businesses the ability to buy directly from the manufacturers. The store has a user experience that allows our customer to do a hassle-free purchase with a full portfolio of more than 20,000 LAPP products. The store provides product information, stock availability status and delivery lead time details for the buyer to make their purchase any time. It’s search engine allows one to search the appropriate products according to their requirement and also add filters to make a targeted search of products at product, industry or application level. One can also compare products and make an appropriate choice and the product will be delivered for free for more than 18,000 pincodes across India.

 

It also permits a buyer to buy LAPP’s products in smaller quantities as and when the requirement arises. With this feature, LAPP plans to cater to the requirement that is for maintenance, repair and operations. It will also ease the new buyers to place bulk orders as they can order a product in smaller quantity, test it and then order for actual quantity. The store also offers our global products without any extra charges levied along with local products.

 

What were the factors that led to the company's decision of venturing into e-commerce business?

 

In the age of internet, e-commerce has gained more popularity in a business model structure worldwide and now-a-days B2B e-commerce is intensifying in India. More and more companies are venturing into their own online stores to provide seamless customer experience and offer quality service. LAPP, as an integrated service provider of cable and connection technology, realises that it is very vital that the cables and other connectivity accessories should be made available to buy 24x7 at a click of a button. Hence, through LAPP’s dedicated online store, we hope to help our customers to take an informed decision as the site would have product information which can be viewed at product level, application level or industry level and get the product delivered to their doorstep. The store was initiated to strengthen our motto ‘we are where you are’. With this initiative, we have ensured that over 20,000 LAPP’s products are available to the buyers pan India.

 

The global cable connectors and adapters market is expected to reach $ 85.75 bn by the end of 2022. How would you predict the Indian market performance by then?

 

The industry is highly competitive with few organised players eying for a major proportion of the market. A high level of consolidation has led to increased pressures on pricing and promotion. In the coming years, with the consumers becoming more sensitive towards value addition, manufacturers will be seen providing products by anticipating the consumer needs in advance and broadening the appeal of the product to suit a variety of needs. 

 

Future growth of Indian wires and cables market is expected to be led by investment in infrastructure, electricity consumption, increased demand for broad band and high speed connectivity, among others. The key drivers effecting Indian wire and cable industry by 2022 will be economic reforms, trade co-operation, improved transportation infrastructure, and industrial growth.