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MDA Technologies 5/2014

MDA Technologies 5/2014

Worldwide News Turkish

Worldwide News Turkish Machinery participated at MDA North America Turkish Machinery is pleased to have co-sponsored MDA North America 2014 in Chicago. Ferdi Murat Gül, Turkish Machinery’s Board member responsible for the US market, said, “It was the place to be in September and Turkish Machinery fulfilled its goal of expanding awareness about the quality as well as the recent technological advances in their machinery sector.” Turkish Machinery Group sponsored by the Machinery Exporters’ Union exhibited its best technologies and solutions for attendees. The inaugural Motion, Drive and Automation – MDA North America trade show introduced attendees to a range of motion control topics and one of the highlights of the show was the Turkish Machinery group promoting its machinery sector. Turkish Machinery maintained a highly visible presence throughout the event. Their logos were spread throughout the fair including at all charging stations ensuring that Turkish Machinery reached its targeted audience and achieved its goal. Gül said that “the venue provided Turkish Machinery with numerous successful networking meetings and business interviews including several potentially profitable US partnership meetings.” He went on, “We left the show very optimistic and with a positive impression of the enormous potential that exists for a US – Turkey machinery and machine tool industry collaboration.” Turkey is now poised to enter the US market and ready to build an equally beneficial partnership. www.turkishmachinery.org SKF invests in Brazil Powerlink Technology Promotion Center opens at Chinese university The Powerlink Tianjin Technology Promotion Center is the newest addition to the Fieldbus Control Technology Center of Tianjin University of Technology and Education. It will provide companies and research institutions in the Beijing region with Powerlink-based training, support and development services, as well as helping to facilitate the continued development and improvement of the technology. “Powerlink is cutting-edge open source technology, which gives it particularly rich prospects for the future,” says Lu Shengli, director of the Fieldbus Control Technology Engineering Center at the opening ceremony within the framework of the Powerlink Technology Exchange Conference. “We have decided to actively support the research and development of Powerlink because we believe it is taking the right approach for the future.” www.ethernet-powerlink.org SKF announced that it is investing around € 24 m in a factory at its existing SKF Campus in Cajamar, Brazil. The 6,600 m 2 facility, which will employ up to 150 people, will produce Kaydon slewing ring bearings for wind turbine manufacturers providing solutions to the Brazilian wind energy segment. Brazil is one of the world’s fastest growing markets for wind energy, with predicted annual installation growth of between 2,000 MW to 3,000 MW per year. Tom Johnstone, SKF President and CEO says, “Kaydon’s market leading position within renewable energy in North America, combined with SKF’s global footprint and the investment in Brazil, creates one of the strongest portfolios and service offerings available today.” SKF completed the acquisition of US-based Kaydon Corporation on 16 October 2013. Production at the new factory is scheduled to commence during the second half of 2015. www.skf.com 16 MDA Technologies 5/2014

global business UNTAPPED POTENTIAL IN INDO-GERMAN RELATIONS Commentaries about international collaboration, particularly when they come from economic development companies like hannoverimpuls, aim at success stories. So, let us indeed start with one, but to cut to the chase: Economic ties between the Western world and countries like India fall far short of fulfilling their potential. This is a tragedy! Firstly, the success story. Next year’s “Hannover Messe” will take place with India as a partner country. More than 250,000 visitors are expected to attend to promote their businesses. India, with a population of 1.2 billion, is expected to surpass China as the most populous country in the world but it also has the third highest GDP (PPP), succeeding only China and the United States. So, not only are we delighted to welcome the business-world to Hanover again. We will have a very strong and promising partner at our side! “We do not understand each other well enough” Nevertheless, there’s a flip side of the coin. Why are economic ties between India and Germany still so backward? Normally, such a market would be a prime interest for European companies. Why is this not the case? – because we do not understand each other well enough. While Germany is focusing more and more on Industrie 4.0 or Big Data, Indian market is different. Why do Indian people need cars? – as a means of transportation. Western sales arguments focus on Bluetooth connections or safety systems. Why do many Indians need a phone? – to communicate via voice calling. Other features may be alright, but become excessive when they only add vulnerability to the core product. While we, in the Western industrialised world, value technical fripperies in a wide variety of products, demand in developing countries continues to rise for products that fulfil basic needs. This philosophy, is condensed to “frugal engineering”. Many in Germany know Dacia Logan – a car, simple, efficient, cheap. It is produced without any robots or other bells and whistles. And, the model is steadily pushing into the global car market. It has been a rude awakening for carmakers like VW, Toyota, Suzuki, Chrysler. High-end carmakers developed countless high-end solutions and are now fearing a low-cost car? Why is a car, intended for nothing more than transporting people such a success? Because it’s using its familiarity with the target countries. Dacia has simply tailored its product to meet demand. Meeting the demand – why is it so difficult to follow such a simple rule? Because frugal engineering is a “moving target”. The urge to sell the same product worldwide is overwhelming. It’s easy: no additional workflows, a simple case of extending sales models. In addition, simplifying complex products can be a considerable challenge when all parts are already engineered to fit perfectly together. You cannot produce a simpler version of the Daimler E-Class. In countries like India or China, demand for luxury products is high and growing. However, many people in these places do not need and cannot fully exploit the functions on such complex products. Even worser, complexity is a reason for failure. We are familiar with reports about unsatisfied customers in China publicly destroying Western cars. This is precisely the reason why companies have to involve local partners. Frugal products cannot be produced and sold without help. A joint approach is the only way to approach such markets. Be aware: Consumers are likely to be as loyal to their products as they were in Germany after World War II. Someone who bought a Mercedes in the 1950’s was likely to remain loyal to his very first car maker. And this has meant success for Daimler. This trend will repeat in India. If Western firms want to be successful, they should pay close attention Peter Eisenschmidt, hannoverimpuls GmbH to mentality and market conditions. If you are not first in you’ll certainly never make it. Sharing insights is precisely what “hannoverimpuls” and the State of Lower Saxony are doing at the “German-Indian Business Center” (GIBC). In this context, the hannoverimpuls company connects German businesses with Indian partners. First and foremost, it’s about understanding. The challenges related to cultural differences must not be underestimated. “Complexity is a reason for failure” Hanover is one of the few locations in Germany with deep and long-lasting experience in Indo-German business relations. The GIBC has existed for eight years. Onesided thinking will not facilitate mutual learning. On the contrary, German business actors must understand: over-performance at a technical level is not needed. Moreover, the reliability of Indian partners is crucial for their German counterparts. This, and much more, is what we can gain from one another. www.hannoverimpuls.de MDA Technologies 5/2014 17

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