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On The Shop Floor | The Story Of Zen Technologies & The Atluri Brothers
Fierce advocate of IDDM (indigenously designed, developed and manufactured) products, Hyderabad-based Zen Technologies are the leading player in supplying state-of-the-art Combat Training Solutions for the training of Defence & Security Forces worldwide and is a leader in providing Counter-Drone Solutions for safeguarding the borders, critical infrastructures etc. It has offices in India, UAE and USA.
New Delhi: With the stellar performance in production as well as new orders since October 2020, India's manufacturing activity continued to expand in March 2024 as the HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index or PMI climbed to a 16-year high of 59.1 in the same month from 56.9 in the month of February this year, reflecting stronger growth of renewed job creation in the country, a private monthly survey showed on Tuesday.
Apple just shipped the iPhone 16 last month, but it’s already working on the manufacturing process for next year’s iPhone 17 models. And in a milestone for the company’s supply chain, India is reportedly where early production units of the base iPhone 17 will be developed.
Wayne Ma writes at The Information:
For the first time, Apple is using an Indian factory to do the early manufacturing work for the base model of next year’s iPhone 17, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. The choice of an Indian factory for this stage of iPhone development—figuring out how to translate a prototype designed in Cupertino into a device that can be mass produced—highlights the progress Apple has made in diversifying its supply chain to India from China and its confidence in the capabilities of Indian engineers.
That’s because this work is the most challenging and resource-intensive aspect of Apple’s product development, say current and former Apple employees. Internally known as New Production Introduction or NPI, the work involves tweaking the iPhone’s design and materials and experimenting with different types of equipment and manufacturing processes to ensure that millions of iPhones can be produced a day across different locations with minimal defects. The majority of this development typically takes place between October and May.
Ma notes that this shift only applies to the base model iPhone 17.
Apple will still perform early manufacturing and testing of the iPhone 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, and highly anticipated iPhone 17 Air in China.
Apple Inc.’s iPhone exports from India jumped by a third in the six months through September, underscoring its push to expand manufacturing in the country and reduce dependence on China.
The US company exported nearly $6 billion of India-made iPhones, an increase of a third in value terms from a year earlier, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named as the information is private. That puts annual exports on track to surpass the about $10 billion of fiscal 2024.
Three of Apple’s suppliers — Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group and Pegatron Corp., and homegrown Tata Electronics — assemble iPhones in southern India. Foxconn’s local unit, based on the outskirts of Chennai, is the top supplier in India and accounts for half of the country’s iPhone exports.
Salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group’s electronics manufacturing arm exported about $1.7 billion in iPhones from its factory in Karnataka state from April to September, the people said. Tata acquired this unit from Wistron Corp. last year, becoming the first Indian assembler of Apple’s bestselling product.
With India diving deep into semiconductor manufacturing this is a good overview of semiconductor history and manufacturing by Raja Manickam of Tessolve now with iVP.
"The value of defence production has surged to a record high of ₹1,27,434 crore, marking an impressive 174% increase from ₹46,429 crore in 2014-15, according to data from all Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), other public sector units manufacturing defence items, and private companies."
The blade part starts at 6:55 minute mark. The blade shown are the fan blades that go in front of a turbofan (guessing from its size). The pinnacle of technology in blade is as follows - number one is high pressure turbine blade, followed by low pressure turbine blade, then HP compressor blade, then is LP compressor blade and last is Fan blade. RR has handed the tech for the lowest 'tech' blade. I would be very happy to be corrected (Maitya Sir chime in please).
RR has handed the lowest tech blade to Kalyani. For Kalyani, it is a good segway into engines, it shows the initiative they have.
Having said that, Fan blades contribute most to the weight, any weight reduction there can benefit the engine greatly, increasing efficiency (it will require less work/energy/force to rotate a lighter shaft with blades). The go to area here is ceramic/carbon fiber blades (light).
Per my understanding, the turbine blades (especially for fighter aircraft) are the tricky part due to high temperatures and require material science and heat transfer technology. The compressor section does not have to deal with extremely high temperatures. Here it is more about fluid flow, mechanical strength and vibration.
It was nice to see the blade being inspected using a Zeiss Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) with a star configuration 4 touch probes. On a personal note, I was involved with using our technology to help inspect P&W blades for the 777 and GE blades on a CMM and applying surface fitting algorithms to determine conformance in the late 80s.
I think i also saw the CNC machine using similar touch probe to perform in-line inspection for the gun barrel being machined.
Overall, it was good to see use of modern technology by Kalyani.
Nice ! We should have got the EU commissars who visited India recently to visit BF in Pune and make their eyes pop. They are cooking up an 800 BEur common defense budget.
Rahul Bajaj wrote this article in 2020. He is 100% correct about how the IT industry sucked the air out of Indian manufacturing. I was in Pune in 1999 and started a company there for testing of CAD/CAM/CAE software. We wanted to hire BTech, MTech, and PhDs in Mechanical Engg. It was hard to find folks who would work in their major. I have a lot of stories to tell but not here.
I remember reading Lee Iacocca's autobiography when younger. He recounted a similar path where he started work as an engineer. And then switched out into sales because he couldn't see himself doing the job long term.
Which is to say that engineering has long had trouble retaining people because of desirable jobs elsewhere. I feel that India has the right strategy in both engineering and medicine, which is to train everyone who wants to be trained to ensure that supply of employees is not artificially constrained.
True but the quality is not what is supposed to be. Also skilled machinists, welders, etc. are hard to find. Most of the ITI grads are going into call center jobs.
I also read Iacocca's autobiography. I don't recall his switching into sales. Maybe marketing which is definitely a backroom job and strategic. Marketing people go onto become CEOs in most companies irrespective of manufacturing or service.
My bad. Wikipedia says "Sales and Marketing". He has an BS in Industrial engg. and a MS in Mech Engg which is somewhat unusual. Industrial Engg., IMHO, should be a Grad major only. But then that's how I did it. BE in ECE and PGDIE at NITIE (now IIM Mumbai).
Last edited by Vayutuvan on 20 Apr 2025 23:17, edited 1 time in total.
Vayutuvan wrote: ↑20 Apr 2025 01:42
Rahul Bajaj wrote this article in 2020. He is 100% correct about how the IT industry sucked the air out of Indian manufacturing. I was in Pune in 1999 and started a company there for testing of CAD/CAM/CAE software. We wanted to hire BTech, MTech, and PhDs in Mechanical Engg. It was hard to find folks who would work in their major. I have a lot of stories to tell but not here.
More than IT/services, I worry about the government jobs, for which students waste their early 20s, and then work at 20% productivity.
Vayutuvan wrote: ↑20 Apr 2025 01:42
Rahul Bajaj wrote this article in 2020. He is 100% correct about how the IT industry sucked the air out of Indian manufacturing. I was in Pune in 1999 and started a company there for testing of CAD/CAM/CAE software. We wanted to hire BTech, MTech, and PhDs in Mechanical Engg. It was hard to find folks who would work in their major. I have a lot of stories to tell but not here.
More than IT/services, I worry about the government jobs, for which students waste their early 20s, and then work at 20% productivity.
Well said. I have talented nieces & nephews who have wasted their 20s on UPSC examinations. They were eligible for top graduate programs in electrical & mechanical engineering in the US. Given their age, they've now got to move on with other aspects of life such as marriage, family and so on.
The only saving grace here is that General Category now realize they have to be in the top percentiles of the UPSC final results.
Manufacturing isn't going to get a big boost until electricity prices come down to Rs. 5/unit.
Talking about Civils exams (a little OT - should go into Understanding the US thread), I took the US Civil Services online exam just to see how hard it. Previous exams which are time limited are online and anybody can take those exams for practice. They also give you scores of how likely you are to pass that exam. There are three parts - US history, English language, and situational reaction. First one I got a 67% probability, second one I got 95% probability. I had something else to do during the third one.
Exam is only part. One needs to write an essay about why they want to be a public servant and what they want to do and why they should be selected. There is an interview at the end before the decision. One needs to have a Bachelors with decent GPA, I am sure.
