Greaves Technologies placing significant emphasis on design for sustainability: Suman Nelluri

Driven by the purpose of democratizing sustainable mobility solutions, Greaves is on a mission to revolutionize the cleantech mobility ecosystem. Committed to touching a billion lives by 2030, Greaves is on the mission to empowering the seamless transition to everyday green transportation.

Suman Nelluri, Executive Director, Greaves Technologies, tells us more.

DQ: Can you provide an overview of Greaves Technologies and its core areas of expertise, and tell us about your clientele?

Suman Nelluri: Greaves Technologies operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Greaves Cotton Ltd., serving as a comprehensive full-service engineering, R&D (ER&D), and digital services and solutions provider with a wealth of experience spanning the Product Development Life Cycle (PDLC). At Greaves Technologies, our core mission centres on aiding enterprises to accelerate the shift towards sustainable mobility solutions, facilitating swift and efficient transitions.

The company leverages its profound expertise to offer end-to-end design and virtual engineering, embedded hardware /software development, software architecture, verification and validation, enterprise-wide digitalization powered by AI and cloud, IoT, and analytics for a full life cycle development of sustainable mobility solutions.

This comprehensive portfolio addresses sustainable mobility solutions' complete life cycle development, effectively executing tasks across the product development continuum. We have established a prestigious client base, including distinguished OEMs such as Stellantis, PSA, and Daimler, reflecting the high level of trust and expertise we have established within the automotive industry.

DQ: With your experience in manufacturing, what specific insights and expertise has Greaves Technologies harnessed that set it apart from other technology service providers?

Suman Nelluri: With a rich legacy of 164 years and extensive experience in the automotive and industrial sectors, Greaves holds invaluable insights into these industries' distinctive challenges and prevailing trends. Our expertise extends to product design, simulation, testing, and manufacturing optimization, allowing us to offer comprehensive solutions catering to all aspects of product development and enhancement.

With a global reach, we effectively serve multinational clients, demonstrating our ability to comprehend and navigate diverse markets and regulatory environments. We are at the forefront of integrating cutting-edge digital technologies such as IoT, AI, automation, and cyber security into the manufacturing processes, ensuring our clients remain competitive in the ever-evolving business landscape.

Our commitment to continuous innovation in advanced materials, sustainable practices, and state-of-the-art design techniques positions us ahead of the curve in our field. Maintaining stringent quality and regulatory standards is at the core of our operations, recognizing their significance in ensuring product reliability and compliance with market requirements.

Our team of skilled engineers and domain experts is empowered to deliver high-quality services consistently. Our proven track record of working with diverse clients showcases our adaptability in tackling various manufacturing challenges. We are dedicated to forging lasting partnerships and providing tailor-made solutions that align with our client's objectives.

DQ: How do you integrate IT with manufacturing to excel, and why is this link crucial?

Suman Nelluri: Integrating information technology with manufacturing is crucial in today's industrial landscape, as it can significantly enhance a company's competitiveness, efficiency, and overall performance. This integration, often referred to as IT-OT integration, involves the convergence of traditional manufacturing processes (operational technology) with modern IT systems.

At the core of this integration is the ability to monitor and control production processes in real-time. This real-time monitoring enhances oversight and allows for the swift identification and resolution of issues, ultimately reducing downtime and optimizing overall efficiency.

Furthermore, IT excels in data analytics, enabling manufacturers to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, leading to increased productivity.

Automated quality control processes ensure consistent product quality, while automation reduces the risk of human error, enhancing overall reliability. Additionally, precise inventory tracking reduces carrying costs and prevents stock-related problems, while supply chain visibility empowers quick decision-making and improves overall supply chain efficiency.

Energy management, through IT monitoring, leads to lower operational costs, and predictive maintenance helps prevent unplanned downtime, ensuring continuous operations. IT also facilitates demand forecasting and product customization, meeting customer demands effectively.

Comprehensive integration of IT and manufacturing enhances efficiency, quality, compliance, innovation, and customer satisfaction, ultimately driving success in the industry.

DQ: Can you provide an overview of your strategic roadmap in the areas of design, digital, and data, and what it entails?

Suman Nelluri: Greaves Technologies envisions a comprehensive strategic roadmap that seamlessly integrates design, digital, and data to offer end-to-end solutions. We aim to assist businesses in designing and developing products, digitizing manufacturing processes, and harnessing data for continuous improvement and innovation.

We are committed to offering engineering services encompassing CAD, VE/CAE, and CAM to support product development. This includes the application of advanced simulation and modelling techniques to enhance product performance and Advanced Vehicle Dynamics for better handling, comfort and active safety and Autonomous driving solutions.

Additionally, we are placing a significant emphasis on design for sustainability, helping clients integrate eco-friendly principles and materials into their products, aligning with evolving environmental considerations.

Our digital strategy is centered around guiding our clients through their digital transformation journeys. This entails adopting Industry 4.0 principles to digitize and optimize the manufacturing processes. We are actively pursuing integration of IoT devices and sensors into manufacturing equipment and products to enable real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and data-driven decision-making.

Leveraging AI and ML, focusing on predictive analytics, quality control, and process optimization, is another vital component of our digital roadmap. We are also committed to offering cloud-based solutions for data storage, collaboration, and remote access to design and manufacturing tools, promoting flexibility and scalability in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

The company is investing in data analytics capabilities to empower our clients to make informed decisions based on the data generated by their manufacturing processes. This includes predictive analytics for maintenance, demand forecasting, and quality control.

Given the sheer volume of data generated in manufacturing, our focus extends to effective big data management and storage solutions to ensure data accessibility and security. We are also taking data security and compliance seriously, implementing measures to protect client data and adhere to regulatory requirements. Finally, we're providing tools and services for data visualization to facilitate actionable insights from our clients' data.

DQ: Regarding your proficiency in creating embedded systems, can you provide examples of how Greaves has bridged the gap between hardware and software, enhancing device functionality through seamless interaction?

Suman Nelluri: While Greaves Technologies is relatively new to offering embedded systems services, we are committed to bridging the gap between hardware and software to enhance device functionality through seamless interaction.

Here is an example: We seamlessly bridge the gap between hardware and software for an ADAS control unit (Advanced Driver Assistance System) by providing hardware design, embedded software, sensor fusion, machine learning and AI, HMI integration, communication protocols, over-the-air (OTA) updates, functional safety and redundancy, integration with the vehicle network, and regulatory compliance.

Skilfully combining hardware design with sophisticated embedded software, the company creates an ADAS control unit that significantly enhances vehicle safety, providing features like adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, and collision avoidance—all critical components of modern automotive safety systems.

DQ: In what ways does Greaves Technologies utilize artificial intelligence, data analytics, and visualization to empower data-driven decision-making, and catalyze operational efficiency and innovation?

Suman Nelluri: One of the use cases that includes the deployment of IIoT, AI, analytics, and visualization is the AI-based unified monitoring of solar and wind power.

Electric power producers use conventional and renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and thermal to generate electricity. Field equipment such as generators, inverters, gearboxes, meters, combiner boxes, etc., are monitored by sensors, from which data is transmitted to the edge servers in the field.

These edge servers ingest the data from the field equipment and feed the ML algorithms, which in turn sense and respond for efficient field site power management and power operations and maintenance management. As the data volume and quality increase, the learning capability of the system is continuously enhanced.

Not only does this innovation catalyze operational efficiency, but also empowers data-driven decision-making as the secondary data from the operations and management modules flows into the cloud server, which provides the key data visualizations based on pre-defined KPIs.