Interview with H.P. Nanda, Director - Strategy and Growth Initiatives, DuPont India

Report: Motown India Bureau, Photography: Mohd. Nasir

Company Description: DuPont India is the wholly owned subsidiary of the US-based E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. DuPont’s relationship with India began more than 200 years ago when it received its first shipment of raw materials from India to produce black powder for explosives in 1802. Today, DuPont India markets a wide range of products in varied market segments. With six production facilities in three locations, the DuPont Knowledge Center in Hyderabad and the DuPont India Innovation Center in Pune, DuPont India is delivering science-based solutions to address the needs of local markets. The material company has developed certain patented, composite-configurations trademarked under names such as Tyvek, Nomex, Zytel, Kevlar, Vamac and many others which are used in developing vehicle components such as fuel tank, oil filter module, air intake manifold, air cleaner cover, cylinder head cover, air ducts, engine mounts, fuel filler pipes, hoses, and multiple other parts. Among the OEMs which use DuPont’s materials are Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hyundai Motor, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Auto.

DuPont is a well known chemicals firm which is focussed on developing innovative solutions for the automotive industry. What are the various themes that you are working on especially in the Indian market?

DuPont is a 211-year old science company. We work collaboratively to find sustainable, innovative, market-driven solutions to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges, making lives better, safer, and healthier for people everywhere.  We focus on three big global challenges- Food, Energy and Protection. We are also focused on developing innovative solutions for the automotive industry across eight automotive themes: Sustainability; Alternative Drive; Lightweighting; Improved Performance; Powertrain Efficiency; Total System Cost; Safety; and Comfort and Aesthetics (Design). Together we can find the right solutions and build cleaner, energy-efficient cars that people love to drive. The one which is most relevant for India is lightweighting.

Globally, one-fifth of DuPont’s business comes from the auto sector and this is expected to grow multifold. Do you expect a similar trend in your Indian operations too?

The automotive segment is a strategic growth market for DuPont globally. We have been associated with this industry for more than 100 years. The very first car that rolled out from the assembly line of Ford Motor Company (at Detroit) was DuPont-painted. Even in India, the automotive segment is one of our strategic growth markets. Currently, close to 10pc (US$ 100 million) of our total revenues (US$ 1 billion) are contributed by the automotive segment in India. Of course we are extremely optimistic about the long-term growth potential of this industry in India.  This is because 1.6pc of the total Indian population are car owners today. There is a rising number of young people with a higher disposable income and conspicuous consumption. Notwithstanding the downturn in the market in the last few quarters, we are quite confident that the long term growth story remains robust. Since we are offering scientific solutions to our clients, we should be growing faster than the automotive industry.

Does DuPont India collaborate only with OEMs or do they also partner with auto component firms to deliver both innovative and sustainable automotive solutions? And are any of your products supplied to end customers too?

Collaboration has always been our DNA and we firmly believe in our science-based solutions to truly make a difference. We make one of the advanced polymers which will be able to replace metals in the automobile to make them lighter, more efficient, eco-friendly and thereby improve the fuel efficiency.  We also make the resins worldwide where it is possible to have the economies of scale. We bring those resins to India and do additional compounding which is then supplied to many plastic moulding companies based here. These plastic moulding firms then supply the products to tier-I component makers which finally gets fitted on to the OEMs’ finished product (vehicle) as an integrated systems supplier. So in this value chain, we have to work with the entire stakeholders of the automobile industry. We have to work along with the OEMs to understand what their needs are from their buyers’ standpoint. We also have to gauge what capabilities and infrastructure facilities our tier-I suppliers possess. Then we have to finally go back and work with our plastic moulders. In the entire scheme of things, materials play a very tiny role and we have to think about combining multiple streams of science like prototyping, processing, designing, computer simulation, processing, and putting it all together and create a value. We also have a few products which go back to the consumers directly. We have ‘Tyvek’ branded car covers which are sold directly to the end buyers through our value chain partners. ‘Tyvek’ protective vehicle covers were created in response to a need for a strong, durable protective cover against the elements and environmental pollution. Vehicle covers made of DuPont Tyvek use a unique flash-spunbonded process to create a fabric which resists water and damaging UV rays.

DuPont has opened its global innovation centre in Pune, which is incidentally its fourth such centre in the Asia-Pacific region, to address the needs of the automotive segment. So which are the key areas that this centre is focussing on? And how many engineers are stationed there?

We strongly believe that we are in the world where speed and agility are extremely critical business imperatives. We cannot rely on conventional way of application or innovation development activities which could take ages. So keeping those trends in mind, DuPont India established its innovation centre in Pune to focus on India’s fastest growing automotive industry. It is a strategic expansion primarily focussing on the automotive segment, and bringing automotive OEMs and component and system manufacturers together to develop effective solutions for the automotive industry. It operates as an interface between OEMs in India and 10,000 scientists and experts at DuPont’s 100 R&D Centres across the globe to provide solutions to help make automobiles faster, lighter, safer and more fuel efficient. The centre is developing products and solutions in six key areas that I have already spoken about. It is working on several forms of advanced materials and processes such as polymers, green materials, and alternate sources to develop vehicle-specific components made of lighter composites.  In this way, we can understand the problem of Indian consumers and try to delve deeper into their challenges and requirements and come up with solutions expeditiously.  We focus on all the automotive themes that I have spoken about. ‘Lightweighting’ is one of themes that we are actively working on because it is of great relevance to India. Initially, it would employ 15-20 engineers which will be ramped up over the years based on the growth plans we have in the next few years. The centre collaborates with its 500 scientists and engineers at the Application Development Centre in Hyderabad which was established a few years ago. So we are basically leveraging on the local science and technology talents for solving our global challenges.

Do you foresee any change in the consumer’s choice when it comes to buying a vehicle? If yes, what solutions is DuPont India exactly offering to meet those choices?

The Indian consumers are smart and are evolving in their tastes and preferences. We have discerned the criticality of fuel efficiency for Indian vehicle owners. Safety is another critical area that we will be focusing on. We have realised that airbags as a safety aspect is gaining a lot of prominence (in India). The number of consumers buying airbags-equipped cars is much higher than what the industry expected it to be. At the same time, the government also plays a very key role in propagating the safety aspects of a vehicle. Just like the way the government made it mandatory to have seatbelts in cars and (wearing) helmets with two-wheelers, they can also consider the same for airbags for four wheelers. Comfort and aesthetics are another emerging areas for us. Factors such as the car’s aerodynamic design, shape, colour, interiors and exteriors, etc are making a huge difference in developing the final product. The fourth aspect which will contribute in a small percentage is the green products. Even though such eco-friendly cars are yet to gain mass acceptance, we do see some sort of presence of sustainable automobiles and that could be electric vehicles too. So we will be focussing on the automotive mega trends of the future: faster, lighter, safer and fuel efficient vehicles.

Your ‘Kevlar’ nylon hybrid cord fabric adopted by a handful of tyremakers here. So have you been able to offer this product to other tyremakers in India too?

This is a unique programme that DuPont is trying to roll out in India.  If you look at truck and bus tyres in India, super bias tyres account for a major chunk of the volumes unlike radial tyres giving maximum volumes around the world.  Moreover, there are two unique challenges in India. First among them are the potholed roads in this country. Secondly, overloading (of trucks) is pretty commonplace at every city’s street. So in such conditions, super bias tyres perform a lot better than radial tyres. So that’s why India is a unique country where such tyres are predominant. So we actually work with these super bias tyre manufacturers and help them in improving their products’ performance so that they can deliver a better proposition to Indian consumers. So that’s why we have thought about bringing in the ‘Kevlar’ nylon aramid fibre which is a high-strength material, has a higher resistance to extreme temperatures, and is used for many applications around the world.  So we are working on ways to bring in the properties of ‘Kevlar’ and combine them as a mix with the nylon fibre cord and ultimately bring this value to the tyres. As the ‘Kevlar’-mixed tyre is able to withstand high temperatures; the drivers can take the vehicle for a much longer distance. Furthermore, the blowout percentage of the tyres will go down. Thirdly, the rolling resistance of the tyres reduces thereby enhancing the fuel efficiency of the vehicle. So these technical attributes helps our products to meet the unique challenges of the Indian market. What I can confirm at this juncture is that we are already working with the top three truck tyre manufacturers in the country for the last two-three years. Now they are in an advantage stage of development undergoing some fleet tests in different parts of the country in various climatic and road conditions. So we are hopeful to commercialise our products in the tyre market by next year.

With more than 10 million cars that are expected to hit the Indian roads by 2020, what sustainable solutions are you exactly working on? Can you talk a little bit about that?

Let me talk about a couple of solutions that we are working on. When asbestos was phased out globally, including India, we played the role of bringing in ‘Kevlar’ automotive brakepads. The chopped aramid fibre, which has been used as a replacement for asbestos in brake pads, is utilised in a sustainable way thus being environment-friendly. That is the first success story already in India. Secondly, we would be benefitting from Indian cars being exported to Europe.  As you are aware, any new car introduced in the European market needs to be run on ultra-low global warming potential refrigerant at 4. The existing refrigerant has a global warming potential of 1,300. So you can see the dramatic reduction in the global warming potential. And today, using our science, we have been able to develop that product which is approved by many OEMs selling their cars in Europe. So there is another sustainability solution that we are offering. Apart from developing sustainable materials like polymers, we are also eyeing ethanol blending as another business stream. Last but not the least, we are also betting big on turbocharging solutions. In a country where 80pc of the crude oil is imported and where fuel efficiency is becoming a burning issue, we see increasing number of vehicles being turbocharged. A turbocharger not only enhances the fuel efficiency of the engine but also ensures that it complies with stringent emission norms. A turbocharged vehicle is also able to withstand higher temperature and higher pressure. And a turbocharging hose (that we make) is a very critical component in the entire process. If you look at turbocharging hose as a product, most of the materials are developed by us. We use our advanced elastometers, aramid fibres, and also PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) i.e. Teflon and all put together we are able to make a turbocharging hose and meet two key things i.e. better fuel efficiency and stringent emission norms.