By Mr. M. Ramani
Managing Director
MODUTEC Ready Panels Private Limited
A Panel Builder from Orissa, India just called me this morning. “I heard you are conducting Type Tests as per IEC 61439 & I would like to get my Switchboards Type Tested in ERDA”. I said, “Great; what’s your budget?” He said Rs 15 Lacs. I asked, “What’s the breakup?” He said Switchgear Rs 6.5 Lacs, Panel with Bus Bar Rs 2.5 Lacs & then the ERDA charges.
I clarified that the ERDA charges would be around Rs 8 Lacs for his requirement, & then he will have to add further the design, packing, freight up & down & the Engineer’s charges. Further, he will have to provision for failures which will all lead to an expense of Rs 23 to 25 Lacs minimum. “Add the loss due to distraction & then check your ROI & satisfy yourself about this strategy!” I signed off.
Then I asked him what he does for Panel Enclosures presently. He said he has in-house facilities of a Lazer cutting machine, CNC Press Brake and associated machinery. I expressed my appreciation & enquired as to how many tons of steel he converts every month. He said 10 tons! I immediately quipped that in this case, he will find my Modutec type tested & flat pack modular enclosures cheaper by far.
I clarified that this kind of a CAPEX investment in machinery will need a minimum of 50 to 100 tons conversion per month! For this, here was his unexpected revert, “Sir, we do business not just to earn money, we also need to gain respectability in society”. This was a shocker! Once, I gathered myself from this boomerang, I found myself getting sarcastic, “If you want to gain social respect, you should either be doing social service or becoming a Politician. Business, I believe, should be run to generate wealth!”
He sheepishly agreed. For the first time, he asked me what was my recommendation. I shared with him that his profitability will come based on his closeness to his Customer; that he therefore had to focus on his core value-add which is electrical solutions; that he needed to find an appropriate purpose for this machinery or sell it; that he needed to consider sourcing enclosures from Companies like Modutec instead, which would not only be more economical for him, but also give him the focus on developing his core strength!
I asked him if he was using a DOT MATRIX Printer in his Company now? He said No. I reiterated that for the same reason, he must upgrade from conventional Panel Building to a standardised modular way of building Switchboards. He said, he couldn’t agree more. He then said that he would surely visit Modutec in Bengaluru and explore switching over to this technology in his factory!
This PB from Orissa is just one of the 4500 PBs there are in India & many times more, world wide. We often, unfortunately, tend to play blindfolded, sometimes by our ego, wrong notions, assumptions & so on. If we on the other hand, get our sight & direction right, sky, I believe is not the limit for our growth. Remember, faster, smarter and safer electrical distribution, can’t wait!!!
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Sales@modutec.net ramani@modutec.net prashanth@modutec.net
Ramani : +91 98450 40837 Prashanth Nadiger : +91 99014 59624