On 18th June 2010, Hensel Electric India added another milestone in its history with the inauguration of its new swanky headquarters at Sriperumbudur by Mr Felix Hensel, Chairman & Managing Director of the Hensel group. Built rapidly in a span of 12 months, the new facility is spread over an area of about 20000 sq.m that consists of modern production and assembly facilities, storage and warehousing and a central office block including the Hensel information centre and seminar/training facilities. With this new facility, Hensel has quadrupled its storage and warehousing area mainly to cater to domestic requirement and to provide logistical support to the South & South East Asian regions.

The location at Sriperumbudur near Chennai is strategically placed as it is popular for its SEZs acquired by companies like Nokia, Motorola, Dell and Samsung, besides manufacturing giants like Hyundai and Saint Gobain. The office building is fully equipped with a nice reception that depicts the open culture of the organisation and the interiors are kept simple yet very elegant. The major attraction for the office building area is the corridor that leads to the Seminar and permanent Exhibition area. A walk-through from this corridor gives a slice of Hensel history since 1931. The Exhibition area gives a complete idea on the innovative range of products that Hensel offers in this region. The meeting rooms are designed to provide space and comfort for everyone and are aptly named after famous scientists. A look around inside the buildings and one can find the Kirchoffs, Hertzs,Watt, Ampere, Volt and Ohms - all designed to discuss "out of the box" ideas and strategies in Hensel. Mr R Rajesh, Managing Director, Hensel Electric India, talks about the company and its activities.

How old is the company's India connection? When did the company formally enter India?

Hensel, Germany, established its liaison office in India way back in 1999 with just one person based in Chennai. Within a span of 3 years, the company grew in leaps and bounds and saw an urgent need to form a subsidiary. On 9th April 2003, Hensel Electric India Private Limited was formed as a 100% fully owned subsidiary of Hensel International GmbH, Germany. Today, the company has a strong workforce of more than 100 employees and has an undisputed brand leadership in India.

How has the India experience been so far?

The Indian industry has been very positive towards Hensel products as these are focussed on safety. It has been a challenging journey so far to achieve a leadership along with a strong brand name in the Indian market. Initially, it took a bit of educating every customer on the benefits and safety aspects of our products in comparison to solutions available in the market. However, the Indian electrical installers are very positive towards a new product that offers them immense benefits compared to the conventional due to which the company progressed consistently. Today, Hensel is the most favoured product when it comes to difficult environment like dust, moisture or corrosion. Overall, it has been a great experience and the company is getting stronger by the year.

What are the products that you offer?

We have a focused product line that targets a market niche and finds their scope in difficult environments. Every product is on customer feedback. The core products marketed in India are: thermoplastic insulated cable junction boxes with IP 54-67; small type distribution boards or MCB Enclosure Systems with IP 65; modular enclosure panel systems made of thermoplastic polycarbonate with IP 65 degree of protection up to 250A; combinable and modular thermoplastic polycarbonate panel systems with IP 65; cable entry systems consisting of cable glands, stepped glands, grommets up to IP 67; insulated and shockproof modular enclosure systems for temporary power in maintenance or construction site projects with a very high IP 65; and photovoltaic distribution that meet the standards with IP 65 degree of protection. In addition, Hensel in India represents other specialist German companies that include: Walther Werke; Schill GmbH & Co KG; Schlegel Elektrokontakt GmbH; and Agro Ag, for related and complementary products.

What are the applications?

The applications for Hensel products can vary from industry to industry or customer to customer, industrial or commercial. All products focus on safety and are made of high quality thermoplastics: indoor and outdoor solutions for lighting, power and control applications like junction boxes, distribution boards, construction power panels, industrial plugs and sockets, metering solutions, solar PV solutions (BOS) and many more.

Why should the customer opt for these?

The products are made out of high grade virgin thermoplastic material free of halogen and silica and offer immense benefits like flame retardant and self extinguishing features, acid and chemical resistance, recyclable and environment friendly. By default, all the products offered by Hensel are of high IP 65 rating (dust proof and water tight) and being thermoplastic products, they promote safety as these are insulated and shock proof.

Do you have manufacturing activity in India or is it just a marketing/servicing operation?

Hensel is more of a marketing organisation as almost every product is manufactured at fully automated plants in Germany. At the Indian headquarters in Sriperumbudur, we have the assembling and warehousing facility. The company pioneered modular panel building systems made of insulated thermoplastic enclosures and all the customised panel assemblies are made and tested in these premises.

How strong/effective is the after sales service?

The company has a dedicated department for the After Sales Service however, the scope of work involved in such product range is very limited as overall the product barely need any after sales service. However, to service and educate our esteemed customers, we have the necessary qualified staff to attend any issues related to the product or service.

How does the cost of ownership over the life cycle compare with competition?

All Hensel products have a project life. Hensel is ahead of its competition as most of them try to just follow the success story. The conventional products being presently used in India are pre-dominantly made out of sheet steel and the problems related to such products are big topics and can be discussed on a different platform. However, in comparison to the life cycle of products, Hensel offers a clear leadership and is more reliable as they do not involve any extra costs in future for any installer. There are no extra costs of maintaining, painting or safe-guarding from weather as is required for the conventional ones.

What is the Company's history?

The parent company Gustav Hensel GmbH & Co KG was founded in 1931. During the last 78 years, the company has grown significantly with market leadership in its product segments. Hensel now has a combined turnover of Euro 100 million. In addition to the 3 subsidiaries in Germany, Hensel has subsidiaries in India, China, Russia, Middle East, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey with 800 employees worldwide.

What are the Company's achievements?

The company has achieved a lot of milestones over the past decade in India. It has accredited itself with an ISO 9001: 2008 quality certification. Within a span of ten years, the company expanded its facility four times already, and have own premises at Sriperumbudur near Chennai. The strong workforce of more than 50 engineers is based in all major industrial centres in India and the products are available almost everywhere due to a strong channel of more than 150 distributors in India. Today, Hensel India is the HQ for South East Asia and takes care of the marketing, technical support and training for its business in this region.

How is present business environment?

India is a big country and the potential is tremendous for Electrical companies. With a stable government and announcement of new policies on clean energy like solar or wind, the situation is getting better and better. We hope the present business environment will get just better and bigger.

Give us some information about your new company premises.

Recently, the company inaugurated its own premises at Sriperumbudur and has built a state-of-the-art Production and assembly centre along with its office building and warehousing facility in an area spread across 20000 sq mtrs.

The facility will be a hub for its business in India and Asia Pacific. Hensel India is also engaged in developing the Asia Pacific countries and will act as a technical centre for the region to provide the required training and support to its partners in coordination with the parent company in Germany. Every year, Hensel India hosts the annual regional sales meeting for its partners of the Asia Pacific, in different venues across the region to focus on the growth and development, and opportunities ahead. For the Indian customer, the good news is that the company has upgraded its stocks and assembling capacities so as to offer deliveries even faster.

At Hensel, the quality, and the deliveries have been the main drivers and key factors that have made them the leaders in India.

What are the future plans?

There are a lot, mainly, ideas for complementing some of the available products so that we can value add to the existing business. Customers have an image about us as specialists in weatherproof enclosures and we shall strive to keep this image intact. With regards to the areas of operations, we have many new plans and have already started working on them. We hope in the coming years, you would find a lot of good news from our end.

(Hensel Electric India Pvt. Ltd, Tel: 044-37270202, Fax: 91-44-37370200. Email: info@hensel-electric.in)