In conversation with Paayel , Sub-Editor, TimesTech Buzz, Mr. Venkatesh R, Managing Director & Director, Energy Business, India talks about smart technology and post covid survival
Times Tech: How you see the business development of smart technologies and complete lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets after the pandemic?
Venkatesh R: Wärtsilä has been in India from the early 1980s, since then we have contributed immensely to the Power segment of the country. We have about 40 years of experience in providing smart technologies and complete lifecycle solutions for the Indian Marine & Energy markets. As a leading solutions provider of balancing power plants for Utilities, Industry and IPPs, the Wärtsilä name is now synonymous with energy market.
Wärtsilä has about 550 employees in India and has delivered around 250 power plants to India with a total output of over 3,500 MW. Wärtsilä takes care of the operation and management on behalf of its customers in over 35 power plants with a total output of over 1,300 MW in India.
In the Marine market, Wärtsilä has delivered engines to vessels belonging to the Navy, Coast Guard, Port Trusts, Merchant Shipping, floating cranes and offshore rigs.
As experienced by most businesses in the country, the ongoing pandemic has posed challenges and has forced businesses to look at new dimensions to do business and stay profitable.
In fact, during the pandemic, Wärtsilä Expertise Centres in the Middle East and Asia expanded to 24/7 manned operations in order to continue offering unparalleled support to its customers. These centres provide operational support and maintenance planning for our customers under a lifecycle solution agreement with Wärtsilä.
Our project teams in India have continued to execute construction and commissioning projects for our global customers, even during the challenging pandemic period.
Times Tech: On what factors your sustainability is approached by the global audience?
Venkatesh R: Our commitment to sustainability is based on our purpose and strategy, which along with our values, principles, and sustainable development objectives create the framework for our product development and responsible business practices. Our sustainability strategy is based on three closely interrelated pillars: economic, environmental, and social performance. We aim to be a profitable company that contributes towards the well-being of society by being a forerunner in sustainable solutions while demonstrating high ethical standards.
Because of our strong emphasis on decarbonizing the marine and energy markets, innovative and efficient solutions play a central role in our positive contribution towards sustainable societies. Wärtsilä businesses focus on developing and providing solutions and services that maximise the environmental and economic performance of vessels, power plants and entire systems. This is further enhanced by utilising lifecycle data, analytics and artificial intelligence.
Times Tech: What can be your contribution to the creation of the Smart Marine ecosystem in terms of your services?
Venkatesh R: We are on a mission to create a Smart Marine Ecosystem –one in which the maritime industry uses only the cleanest available fuels. Where on-board power production is optimised, and routes are precision-planned to avoid navigational hazards, traffic congestion, and unexpected waiting times. Through our know-how, integrated product portfolio, and full lifecycle solutions all supported by the most extensive service network, we are committed to being the main driving force in sustainable shipping. Our service network is in over 200 locations globally with our presence close to the customers for delivering prompt support.
While 90% of the world trade is carried by sea, over 30 Billion dollars are wasted in over capacity, waiting times and inefficiency. Smart Marine Ecosystem is about the maritime industry working together to address critical challenges and to generate solutions towards a sustainable future. Data, technology, LNG, biofuels and renewables will take us to reducing -40% Green House Gas (GHG) levels by 2030; Sustainable fuels and advanced technologies will take us to reducing -50% GHG levels by 2050.
At Wärtsilä we have adopted a simplified structure to aim at increasing agility and speed in decision-making by differentiating the marine business into Marine Power, Marine Systems and Voyage. The objective is to accelerate strategy execution, simplify the business structure and improve effectiveness.
Times Tech: How Wärtsilä ensures customer satisfaction and employee growth?
Venkatesh R: With an active customer oriented network of over 17,000 employees in over 200 locations in over 70 countries, Wärtsilä focusses a lot on employee engagement and growth.
Active engagement with our stakeholders such as our customers is vital for the development of our business activities, as well as for exchanging information, building long-lasting relationships, and contributing to the building of sustainable societies. Wärtsilä’s Code of Conduct and supporting policies provide the foundation for the management of stakeholder relations. The guiding principle of our Code of Conduct is to promote openness and good interaction with our stakeholders, both internationally and locally.
Wärtsilä’s People Agenda contributes to the company and its businesses in supporting the achievement of business goals and ambitions. By translating business strategy into people priorities and deploying expertise in organisational development and workforce effectiveness, critical competences are secured and further developed to meet both current and future business needs. The People Agenda’s key focus areas are talent and leadership development, culture transformation, and performance excellence. Talent actions ensure that the businesses have people with the required skills and motivation at their disposal. Continuous learning, competence development and growth, as well as evolving the organisation and its ways of working, strengthen our competitive advantage. These actions are integral to driving the business agenda in a dynamic marketplace, and for maintaining a relentless focus on providing value to customers and stakeholders.
Times Tech: According to you, what is the key factor in the development of your international locations?
Venkatesh R: Our purpose is enabling sustainable societies with smart technology. Our purpose drives us, gives us direction and explains why we exist.
It explains how we shape our markets by generating transformative results through collaboration, partnerships, market insight, and active engagement in various ecosystems. The sustainable aspect reflects the long-term environmental, social, and economic impact of our operations that drive our priorities and corporate behaviour. Our purpose statement shows that we care about the communities in which we operate.
By developing smart technologies, we are building on our innovation heritage and combining human and machine intelligence to enable smart, cutting-edge, and data-driven solutions. In order to be able to offer the most relevant solutions to our customers, we continuously strive to carefully listen to our customers and to fully understand their needs.
We have three key brand themes, which are:
- Innovating since 1834, which is focused on how our smart technology solutions and know-how enable the best possible customer outcomes. This theme explains how adapting to change has defined us from the very beginning, with our legacy and culture driving us to innovate relentlessly.
- Together, which is about co-creation, collaboration, ecosystems, and partnerships; our people, customers, and other stakeholders working together both on a daily basis and for the future.
- For a sustainable future, which describes Wärtsilä’s ambition: how everything we do is for the benefit of our customers, partners, citizens, and our planet. This theme proudly states that we can stand out in this crowded space because we dare to believe in the possibilities that lie ahead. And we are already working on it.
Times Tech: What are your future targets and where you see Wärtsilä in the next 5 years?
Venkatesh R: We have been promoting our vision of 100% renewable energy future for many years. Wärtsilä helps countries, cities and companies to choose an optimal path towards a future that utilises 100% renewable energy, advising on smart investments that make economic sense today. We are working together with our partners to create power system modelling that utilities and customers can benefit from and use in their own power system planning. In India too, we are directly engaging with stakeholders, be it states or utilities, to guide them and give them clarity on their planning processes and decision-making. We want to help them make the right decisions and prepare them for the future.
We are also in discussion with various States, utilities and regulators regarding the role that renewables can play in meeting future electricity needs and strategies to efficiently integrate renewables in the grid. The industry should holistically look at the net cost of the system and not just at the variable cost.
Wärtsilä Energy is enabling the transition towards a 100% renewable energy future. It is important to actively invest in balancing capacity in order to utilise all the power generated from wind and solar power sources and avoid curtailment. There is a need to take a holistic view of decarbonising the power systems and create an optimal path to make it happen. Wärtsilä will continue investing in solutions that are future-proof, taking us closer to a renewable energy future.
On the Marine side, the industry is moving towards a future that is increasingly connected. By utilising real-time communication and digitalisation in all aspects of shipping and port operations we, as a reliable partner, create long-term value for our customers and partners. By applying new, smarter, technologies and performance optimisation services, we deliver higher safety, greater efficiencies and minimised climate impact.
