ABB's "Make in India" strategy comes full circle

Make in India has witnessed a lot of traction recently, with proactive policy announcements associated with the mission -- including reliance through making in India for the rest of the world. There are many instances which demonstrate India’s evolution as a globally competitive destination – movement in ease of doing business rankings, FDI and sectors like design of compact cars or textiles, etc. which have demonstrated global benchmarks, providing a sound foundation for Make in India 2.0.

In all the discussions about self-reliance, a hint of protectionism across the globe, import substitution and export slowdown, it is important to have a balanced outlook on the multiple facets of manufacturing in a globalized and now pandemic-affected world. India’s global MNC engineering companies can provide some key examples.

Be it building a deep local manufacturing footprint, sustainable supply chains, local innovations for global exports, or a solid eco-system of research, design and engineering, these companies have created benchmarks in combining the local and global to deliver value to all stakeholders.    

ABB has localized and manufactured MCBs for smart buildings with 700 variants, packaged solutions in medium and low voltages with digital features that cater to making Indian buildings and real estate spaces smarter and more energy efficient. We have also worked with the railways to customize traction solutions as locomotives and coaches go electric.

Some solutions -- like the ladle tracking software piloted here by ABB India -- are of great Interest to global steelmakers to de-bottle neck their steel melt shop operation by improving the visibility, scheduling, and thermal modelling.

There have been some solutions made in ABB India which have been at the heart of a sector’s value chain, like our blending solutions, which give companies the option of not importing costly LPG but sufficing with Propane and Butane. Our blending solution, designed in its entirety by Team India, is a combination of various mechanical components supported by local software and hardware.

There are others like locally-developed versions of ABB terminal automation software which have several takers now. Earlier, oil and gas companies used to import metering solutions, and thus our dependence was high on global suppliers. ABB India has created in-house competency to design, engineer, and develop a completely engineered solution to meet the spectrum of metering requirements.

With our customers, suppliers and other valued members of our stakeholder universe, we remain invested to continue this journey of innovation, agility, and collaboration with our fellow workers, and help build a more confident, prosperous, and inclusive nation.