Recently Podrain Electronics was invited to visit Ola’s annual event Ola Sankalp 2024 held at Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu.
Podrain makes prototypes for Ola. Read our blog on how an EMS can supercharge your PCB prototyping needs.
We were able to visit their manufacturing facility for scooters called Ola Future Factory. Ola is also building a Gigafactory to manufacture advanced cells for electric vehicle batteries.
Indian Two Wheeler Market
The Indian Two-Wheeler market consists mainly of scooters and motorcycles. The market has experienced significant growth in recent years due to increased urbanization and government subsidies. The Two-Wheeler is also more affordable for most of the middle-class population. With the increase of delivery services for everything from groceries to medicines the Two-Wheeler also affords a way for a lot of Indians to make a living. As the cost of petrol is high EVs become more attractive over the long term even though their initial cost is higher than petrol powered two wheelers.
The market for Two Wheelers was estimated at 302.2 Billion USD in 2022 and is expected to grow to 411 Billion by 2032 which is a 3.50% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). (Source:marketresearchfuture)
Electric Two Wheelers
Recently Electric Two-Wheelers (E2Ws) have entered the market and are becoming very popular propelled again by government incentives and the growing awareness of environmental issues. E2Ws make up around 55% of all electric vehicle sales in India. (Source:autocarpro)
Among the E2W manufactures Ola has the biggest market share currently at around 50%. TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto and Ather are some of the other big players in this market. Ola is also introducing EV motorcycles in addition to their EV scooters.
In 1964, Phil Knight started selling imported high-quality, affordable athletic shoes out of his car. He earned $8,000 in his first year. In 2015, Nike earned $30.6 billion. And in April 2016, Phil Knight published his memoir, Shoe Dog, in which he wrote with humour and honesty about the trials and tribulations he – and Nike – faced over that half-century.
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is an excellent read for any entrepreneur
Shoe Dog is an extremely well-written memoir, an absorbing story full of interesting, eccentric characters and exciting twists. But it also contains plenty of lessons for the entrepreneur. If you are looking for inspiration, motivation and reassurance as you grow your business, I highly recommend you add Shoe Dog to your personal library. I have found it an excellent resource on my own entrepreneurial journey.
Here are eight entrepreneurship lessons I got from Phil Knight’s story.
1. Sometimes, you just have to jump.
At its core, entrepreneurship is a leap of faith. Not all ideas will work out. Evaluate them objectively, discuss with experts, make a plan. But a day will come when you have to stop thinking and take that first step. As Nike’s tagline says, ‘Just do it.’
2. Every day brings its own crisis.
Problems come up all the time – from competitors to new technology, from regulations to finance, from supply issues to weather conditions. The problems of maturing companies are different from those of start-ups. But there’s never a time when all the problems disappear. Accept this and face each challenge with courage.
3. Keep innovating.
Bill Bowerman, an eminent running coach and part of Nike’s story from the time it was still Blue Ribbon Sports, figured out how to reduce the weight of a shoe by one ounce, saving 55 pounds over a mile. That philosophy of iterative improvement has driven Nike ever since. As the pace of technology development gets ever more feverish, embedding the innovative mindset in the DNA of the company is essential to stand out from the competition.
4. Trust is the key.
Five interrelated factors cause a company to lose its way: lack of trust; fear of conflict; lack of commitment; avoidance of accountability; and inattention to results. Entrepreneurship is full of uncertainty. A team that believes in the vision and faces these challenges unitedly is vital to come out of the tough situations. It isn’t that everyone in the company agrees about everything; rather, it is that everyone knows that they all want the company to succeed and views their disagreements in that light. When a company is young and fragile, trust is the glue that holds it together.
5. Failures will happen. Be honest when they do
Knight gives multiple instances of product recalls due to quality issues, mistakes that he made and decisions that, with the benefit of hindsight, could have been better. Nike treated their customers with respect by acknowledging errors, both internally and in public. Nobody is perfect, but when the internal culture of trust is matched by honesty to customers, the circle of trust can buoy a company through some very tough times.
6. Stay humble
One interesting fact is that it was Employee No. 1, Jeff Johnson, who came up with the name ‘Nike’. Throughout the book, Knight praises Johnson, Bowerman, legal counsel Rob Strasser, first COO Bob Woodell and many others, including his wife. Knight rarely mentions his own contributions once the company is more than just a car boot shoe sale. But he was the CEO – how likely is it that he didn’t contribute anything? It’s not an accident that Knight plays down his own role. He knows that success, like sports, is a team effort – and he never forgets to show appreciation for his teammates.
7. Find an outlet for the stress.
Entrepreneurship is demanding. Because the problems never stop coming, you will be tempted to never stop working. But you can’t look after your business if you aren’t around or aren’t in good health. An activity unrelated to work is an excellent way to get a clear, fresh perspective on seemingly insoluble issues. Phil Knight loved running, and running was his outlet. By finding a relief valve and paying attention to your own physical and mental health, you can be energized to keep going, no matter what.
8. Never stop.
For almost the first decade of Nike’s existence, Knight had to work other jobs to support himself. Suppliers ignored or shot down the company’s product ideas. Its first attempt to raise capital was a monumental failure. Advertising flyers got no response. But the team didn’t give up. As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to get disheartened. But if there’s one lesson from Shoe Dog that every entrepreneur should hold on to, it’s this: never stop.
Let everyone else call your idea crazy…just keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t even think about stopping until you get there, and don’t give much thought to where “there” is. Whatever comes, just don’t stop.
These days, the business news is all about startups getting capital infusions going public. In 2021, investors’ rose-tinted glasses began to crack: the PayTM IPO imploded; Oyo and Delhivery postponed listing plans; Zomato and Nykaa went public but struggled immediately afterwards.
These examples are all tech startups, but there’s another kind of tech that isn’t often mentioned: physical tech, i.e., electronics manufacturing services (‘EMS’). When the manufacture of complex, delicate and sophisticated physical products is involved, the benefits and drawbacks of listing are slightly different.
For EMS companies – especially MSMEs – which require major capital investments to put in place the equipment, infrastructure and controls required to manufacture products at scale and to quality standards, going public makes a lot of sense.
What does ‘going public’ or ‘listing’ actually mean?
A company is ‘listed’ or ‘goes public’ when its shares are formally admitted to the trading platform of a stock exchange. That is, some portion (‘shares’) of the ownership of the company is now open for the general population of investors to buy and sell (‘trade’), under the law and stock exchange rules.
Why should EMS MSMEs go public?
Listing on a stock exchange has many benefits for any company, such as reduced debt, increased liquidity, improved employee morale, transparency and better operational efficiency. For EMS MSMEs in particular:
Access to capital markets. In a previous blog, I described the ‘money maze’ MSMEs must navigate to access capital. Steady-state MSMEs can accelerate growth, expand, and uncover additional R&D and capital expenditure funding by going to the markets. This is a virtuous cycle in a way: going public enhances a company’s credibility, unlocking the hearts and chequebooks of institutional lenders who hesitated before.
Distributed risk. In the initial stages, a risk-averse lending environment often compels EMS MSME founders to put their own assets on the line, supplemented by soft loans from friends and family. An IPO is an opportunity for founders to end this situation, for themselves as well as for people outside the formal lending ecosystem who helped the business get off the ground.
Enhanced visibility. Listing requires a company to comply with regulatory norms regarding transparency and accountability, increasing its credibility amongst lending institutions and investors. But there’s another advantage for specialist MSMEs like EMS companies: visibility to potential customers. Listing gives such companies a platform to reach a wider but targeted buying audience without extravagant advertising. Financial credibility casts light on manufacturing quality and capability as well, a particular concern for manufacturing enterprises when choosing vendors.
What are the drawbacks of listing for an EMS MSME?
Despite these undoubted advantages, going public isn’t necessarily the right choice for all EMS MSMEs for a few reasons:
Burden of disclosure. Transparency is good, but complying with regulatory strictures can be complicated and time-consuming. For EMS MSMEs, which are typically founded by people with technical expertise and little awareness of financial and regulatory intricacies, adhering to these requirements can be burdensome and costly.
Increased market exposure is a mixed blessing. The Indian EMS sector is just opening up and opportunities abound in the domestic market. For EMS MSMEs, the export market is very attractive. Listing will bring such companies to the attention of global clients – but it also means scrutiny from international regulators, not just in terms of financial compliance but also on international environmental, sourcing and other compliance standards that Indian MSMEs may not yet be able to meet. Customers and compliance can chase each other in a spiral that distracts focus from running the business.
Short-term pressures. EMS is a capital-intensive business which needs extended periods of investment before showing results. Rapid technological advances mean that EMS companies will regularly invest large sums in infrastructure, equipment, R&D and training to stay relevant and competitive. A large, established enterprise can do this; an MSME may struggle to keep up if growth, scale and quarterly profits fail to meet shareholder expectations quickly enough.
EMS MSMEs thinking of going public should work with an experienced investment advisor to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks, and take a dispassionate decision on whether it is – or ever will be – the right time to list. It’s important to remember a few things:
The company gets an infusion of capital during the IPO. After this, money only changes hands amongst stock exchange buyers and sellers. IPOs are tedious and expensive in themselves, and the ongoing costs of compliance are onerous, as is the burden of scrutiny from shareholders, investors, regulators and customers. By listing, founders cede their autonomy, so they should be wise about deciding whether to do so, and have a clear vision for the company in either case. Being capital-intensive and R&D-dependent, EMS companies can always use more funds. Founders should ask themselves whether going public is the best way to obtain those funds.
The 48th edition of Arab Health was held between 30th Jan and 2nd Feb of this year and Podrain was there. Spread over 20+ halls we needed all of the 4 days of the event to visit everything.
We visited Arab Health 2023 held in Dubai
Two of our customers were participating and it was great to visit their stalls and see some of our work in action. It was just as exciting to see so many innovative medical products from across the world. From European countries like Spain, Poland and the UK to the USA and Japan, there were a variety of countries. India also had a big presence at the event and for two lads from Kerala, it was particularly inspiring to see a large stall from the Start-Up Mission of Kerala at the event.
There was a large and busy India stall at Arab Health 2023
We’re seeing a lot of potential to support the export of Electronics Manufacturing Services for medical devices. As an ISO 13485 certified company we hope to be well-placed to take advantage of opportunities.
Next year we hope to visit again and see more of our customers present.
Las Vegas hosted the 2023 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show last week (Jan 5-8) and representatives from Podrain were there.
It was great to see products we have worked on, showcased. (Some of our customers participated in the show). We also saw many innovative products and product ideas and hope to find a way to contribute to making them a reality.
A Cool Robot on display at CES
As the premiere event for the industry in the world, CES attracts visitors from around the world. Even those new to the USA could navigate the event easily. The transport, logistics, and general flow of events were all professional and made the experience very smooth. Of course, with the location being Vegas, there were many attractions and entertainments outside the exhibition venue too.
India Pavilion at CES was at a prominent location
India had a good presence through the India pavilion. Since it was also the hall with new electronics products and gadgets as well as award winners were showcased, our capabilities got a lot of exposure. However, the participation from larger firms or even some of our MSME peers was quite limited.
In comparison, China and Taiwan have a significant presence at the event. Speaking to potential customers, especially those based in the USA and Europe, we realised they aren’t aware of India’s capabilities as a manufacturing partner in Electronics. China, Taiwan and Eastern Europe, in that order, are top-of-mind destinations. So the current India presence was a good move and there is a huge opportunity for Indian companies to pitch their services since many of these companies are looking to diversify their supply locations.
All in all, it was a pleasure and a great learning experience to attend CES. The electronics manufacturing services industry’s future seems bright! And at the next CES, we will hope to have many more product displays by our customers.
The 2019 filmFord v Ferrari, starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon, can be called a racing movie, or a David versus Goliath movie, or a mismatched buddy movie. As an entrepreneur, I saw it as all of those – but I also saw it as a movie with lessons about how the perspective of management has to change and adapt as a business grows from a startup with a prototype to an established production enterprise.
The movie tells, in a fictionalized recounting of history: how, in 1963, the Ford Motor Company begins its pursuit of an audacious and near-impossible goal.
Ford v Ferrari is an entertaining movie with valuable lessons
Henry Ford II is dissatisfied with the state of the company his grandfather founded, and wants to shake things up. Young hotshot executive Lee Iacocca comes up with an idea: acquire Italian car giant Ferrari and its famous stable of hand-crafted marques. Ford isn’t enthusiastic, but allows Iacocca to make the approach.
Enzo Ferrari doesn’t want to sell his company, and says so with some rather creative and colourful insults. Infuriated, his pride hurt, Henry Ford II seeks revenge. He declares that Ford will defeat Ferrari at the prestigious, brutal La Mans 24-hour car race – a race that no American car has ever won.
He hires Shelby Carroll (Damon), a former champion racer and now car builder, and Ken Miles (Bale), a hotheaded engineer and driver. The movie recounts how they went all out to design, build and finally race a car that would win at La Mans and restore Ford’s wounded pride.
Though the movie title is Ford v Ferrari, the rivalry between the two is really just the catalyst that sets the plot in motion. The story is really about the two mavericks, Shelby and Miles, and their experiences working with the Ford Motor Company as they develop the world-beating car that Henry Ford II demands. Both men are creative, open to experimentation, and have hands-on experience of how races – and racecars, and drivers – operate. Their confrontation is not with Ferrari, but the ‘company men’ of Ford: the men who adhere to the corporate way of doing things because they are convinced that the tried and tested processes and procedures are the best.
In a memorable scene, Shelby’s proposal, in a red binder, goes through fully fifteen mid-level managers around the Ford HQ. All of them are cautious, reliable, trustworthy, solid and intelligent men. But this is an unprecedented project with a high degree of uncertainty – i.e., a prototype.
Shelby was a racing driver before he became a car designer and builder, and instinct honed by years of experience tells him what needs to happen for the project to succeed. How does he know? He just does. But the mindset of Ford’s middle management is different. This, after all, is the place where mass production was perfected. What they want is reliable, repeatable, structured and iterative answers – in a word, predictability.
This scene beautifully illustrates the contrast between the mindset required for prototyping – flexible, creative, willing to trust that years of experience can speed up decision-making to the point where it almost seems like a miracle of intuition – and that required for production, where it is vitally important for every stage and step to be carefully planned, executed, supervised and documented.
Both perspectives are important to the success of any entrepreneurial effort. Shelby and Miles, however brilliant they were, would have been very unlikely to beat Ferrari at La Mans without the money, facilities and production power of the mighty Ford Motor Company at their backs. When they want something done, it gets done because the company has the muscle to get it done. At the same time, Ford would not (and historically, did not) have much success building a La Mans-winning car without the experience and experimental, creative attitude of Shelby and Miles. The company struggled to solve the basic challenge of keeping the car moving for 24 hours without overheating or catching on fire.
The movie shows that being flexible and open to new ideas, adapting and pivoting as needed is a vital attribute of management when developing prototypes and new answers to challenges. Once the solution is determined, making it consistent and repeatable demands the rigour and discipline of the production mindset.The wise manager cultivates the ability to do both – and the ability to know which one to apply in which situation.
I highly recommend Ford v Ferrari to my fellow entrepreneurs: it’s a highly entertaining movie with superb racing scenes, great acting and some very funny dialogue, and it delivers several excellent lessons about business, management and leadership that any businessperson can relate to.
Spoiler alert:
So, did all the hard work of Shelby and Miles, and the hard lessons learned by the Ford Motor Company pay off? Yes – in 1966, the Ford GT MK II defeated Ferrari at Le Mans, and just to prove it wasn’t a fluke, they did it again the next year.
The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt is among the most important management books of the 20th century. It has significantly influenced my journey as a professional engineer, employee and entrepreneur.
My first manager gave me the book when I started my career twenty-odd years ago. I am grateful for many gifts of learning from him, not least of which is that he placed this book in my hand. It made a huge impression on me, as did his act of trusting a green 24-year-old with so much responsibility and giving me a great tool to learn how to deliver.
The book is written as a novel, quite different from the majority of management books. Most of the action takes place in a manufacturing plant. The protagonist, plant manager Alex Rogo, is facing two crises: his supervisor has given him a 3-month ultimatum to turn around the plant’s fortunes, and his wife has left him. One day, Alex meets his old professor at an airport and begins a series of conversations that help him identify his true goals and navigate towards them. By using this novel-like structure, Goldratt is able to lay out several valuable ideas without preaching.
As an engineer on the factory floor, I could easily relate to the lessons of The Goal. The concept that stayed with me the most was what Goldratt calls bottlenecks. The common-sense principle is that the weakest part of the system constrains the efficiency of the whole system. But there are lessons everywhere in The Goal, and as I gained more work experience, I began to appreciate them even more. When the entrepreneurial bug bit in 2014, seeing the principles of The Goal in action influenced how I approached the setup and operation of the business.
Here are a few things I learnt from The Goal:
Know the ‘true’ goal
If we don’t have clarity on what we are trying to achieve, we may waste a lot of effort without making progress.
Identify the bottlenecks
Everything is interconnected, and the weakest part holds the stronger parts back. So, understanding how things are connected, finding and focusing on the constraints is vital to getting better results.
System is more important than its parts
Designing a system or process that is more efficient is key – even if it means that a few individual steps or parts are less efficient. In other words, when we think of optimization, we should think big, because local optimizations may interfere with each other.
Knowledge and help are everywhere if we just look
Alex Rogo is trying to do everything himself and failing miserably. Over time, he realises that he and his team – all people with years of experience – can do more collectively than any of them were able to do on their own. Even his wife, who knows nothing about his work, contributes to solving some of his most pressing challenges because she has a fresh perspective
A fresh environment can give birth to new ideas
The problems at the factory are overwhelming, and the questions posed by Alex’s professor seem unanswerable until Alex takes his son’s hiking club on an outing. He is then able to relate the problem of how to keep the kids together and reach their campsite on time to the issues he is facing at the plant.
Asking people can be better than telling people
Alex’s professor never tells or advises. Instead, he asks Alex and his team questions that force them to think and work things out for themselves. Because of this, they develop the habit of considering things carefully, collaborating, finding their own solutions, and figuring out the right questions to ask.
The Goal was first published in 1984. Many great, transformational ideas about management, operations, systems and other concepts have come about in the four decades since then, but the fundamental lessons of the book remain relevant even now. They apply to any industry, even those that did not really exist in their current form in 1984, such as software and services. As the book demonstrates, the ‘bottleneck’ framework can even be used to deal with the challenges in our daily lives.
Over two decades after I first read it, The Goal is still very meaningful to me and I often gift it to others (most recently, our Head of Operations). I highly recommend The Goal to entrepreneurs, employees and anyone who is looking for a rational approach.
The past two years have offered some harsh lessons to all in the PCBA industry on the value of inputs. For a long time, the cost paid was the only consideration. The supplier might be located on the other side of the world, but if the cost was marginally lower, the choice was clear. But the pandemic changed all that. The cost of logistics / transport that used to be negligible ballooned beyond expectations. And for some parts – no matter what cost we were willing to pay – the availability just did not exist.
PCB Assembly
In India, we import more than 90 percent of the components required for assembling PCBs locally. These imports come from 4 countries – China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia. A break down at one source country, as we saw in 2020 and 2021, drives up the cost of doing business for all.
Here’s our experience with supply trends for some of our major inputs:
Bare PCBs:
Bare PCBs are the stronger point in our supply chain. We have seen reliable suppliers of Bare PCBs based in Tamil Nadu and in Gujarat. We (and many of our customers) have been able to source Bare PCBs in the past 18 months with no major issues. Supply lead times have remained consistent and price increases have stayed within tolerable limits.
Assembly Machinery:
Machinery needed for PCBA is mostly manufactured outside India by majors like Yamaha, Fuji, Panasonic, and Siemens. While prices have stayed stable, lead times have increased considerably. What used to be available in 4 weeks now takes 4 months to get delivered. We’ve had to plan and order earlier than ever before for any capacity enhancements or repairs and replacements.
Other Components / Services:
Integrated Circuits (IC’s), their component resistors, capacitors et al, solder paste etc. are mostly imported and have all seen prices and lead times zoom up. 52 weeks is now the new normal! Companies like Micron, TI, Cypress, Infineon, Latis, NXP have factories based in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. When supply and manufacturing centers were shut and major ports slowed down, component shortages have visibly hit every industry from automotive to computers and mobile phones. Even stocks held by major distributors Avnet, Future, Arrow, or online suppliers like Digikey, and Mouser could not tide the industry over for long.
This is the area where India needs to attract investment and build manufacturing capacity.
What Next:
The government has already recognised the need for building an electronics components manufacturing ecosystem. It is doing its part by offering Production Linked Incentive programs and other sops to encourage manufacture of components in India. It is now up to us in Industry to pick up the challenge and partner in building a strong local eco-system for components.
The global human population is projected to reach 9.8 billion people by 2050. Food security is a critical concern worldwide. Resource availability, distribution and access imbalance, higher agricultural and dairy output, and sustainability are major challenges.
The Indian agriculture sector is valued at over $370 billion. It employs 40% of the population and contributes nearly 20% of India’s GDP. Agritech is vital to ensuring our nation’s food security issues. A 2020 E&Y study estimated that the Indian agritech market could reach $24 billion in the next 4 years. Another study put the number at $35 billion.
Over 1,300 Indian startups are working in the Agritech space as of October 2021. They use AI, ML, IoT and other digital technologies to improve productivity, efficiency, revenue and profitability for farmers. In 2020, Indian agritech startups received $242 million in funding in just ten months.
These Agritech startups offer a range of products and services including sensors, signal conditioning, processing and security, power management, connectivity, and positioning. As a precision-engineering EMS manufacturer, Podrain works with IoT-driven Agritech startups to create the hardware required for smart farming. Some of the many applications are:
Precision agriculture and farm management.
Geospatial and weather data, IoT sensors for humidity, temperature and other variables, resource and field management, energy and water use, and robotics on farm equipment.
Farm infrastructure and equipment.
Industrial automation using machinery, tools and robots to seed, harvest, and handle materials. Greenhouse systems, temperature and humidity monitoring, environmental controls, irrigation and water management, heating and ventilation monitoring.
Dairy farm optimisation.
IoT sensors monitor the health parameters, milk production, eating patterns and nutrition, fertility and reproductive cycle of individual cows, and overall herd health. Diseases can be detected early. Digital milk analysis devices measure fat and water content, SNF and contaminants at every stage.
Cultivation and land use.
GPS data have applications in land mapping, soil quality, crop placement, soil sampling, weed identification, determining the right time to harvest, pest management and optimum pesticide use, and water availability and irrigation, among many others.
PCBs are a foundational component of IoT-based digital technology. Podrain has vast expertise in developing customised solutions and solving highly complex problems for our clients. We apply our talents to the vital area of agritech. It presents a large and growing opportunity to harness the power of digital technology to improve the quality and quantity of agricultural and dairy output, and the economic well-being of 40% of India’s population.
India’s Aerospace and Defence (A&D) market is estimated to grow to around $70 billion by 2030 with government encouragement and improving infrastructure. There are opportunities beyond commercial and military aviation. Private players are entering new areas like unmanned flight, space transportation and commercial satellites.
When most people think of India and space, they see VSSC and ISRO. In recent years, several impressive private startups have entered the domain. These startups are driven by strong R&D, and they are changing the profile and perception of Indian high-tech. Here are just a few:
Asteria Aerospace combines robotics and AI to create customised hardware products and software solutions for UAVs.
Bellatrix Aerospace, incubated at IISc, develops in-space propulsion systems and orbital launch vehicles.
Agnikul was incubated at IIT Madras, and is part of the Airbus Accelerator. This company uses 3D printing to build launch vehicles and engines.
Dhruva Space, based in Hyderabad, is a National Award-winning start-up that offers full-stack space engineering solutions from ground stations to launch solutions and satellite platforms.
Skyroot Aerospace is developing Earth-to-space transportation systems for both materials and people.
These startups, and many others like them, are based on the combination of decades of space research expertise from ISRO and VSSC, and the new generation of IT entrepreneurs. The new entrepreneurs have an understanding of how to win over investors with deep pockets and the appetite for risk.
This industry faces two unique challenges: massive amounts of capital and long development cycles. Companies in this area are not just developing software. They are building physical products which must go through an extended design, development and testing process, are highly regulated and require precision engineering.
Ancillary manufacturers of aerospace components and assemblies face new challenges to supply these startups. Aerospace-grade materials and components require special design, materials sourcing, transportation, manufacture and storage.
PCBs used in aerospace equipment must be able to withstand extreme temperature, high humidity and excessive vibration.
Their lifecycle must be measurable in decades.
In some cases, replacing a PCB may be nearly impossible – for example, a PCB used in a GPS satellite.
Aerospace PCBs must be absolutely uncontaminated to perform reliably.
PCB size is severely restricted by the high cost of transporting equipment to space.
Aerospace PCBs are also highly complex, requiring double-sided and multi-layered designs.
Many of these challenges have no Earth-bound equivalent. Replacing a PCB in an aircraft engine is expensive, time-consuming and complicated, but it is possible; replacing one used by an orbiting satellite is near-impossible. Solving these challenges requires new and revolutionary thinking at every step of component/assembly manufacture.
Podrain works with several of these startups. We are AS9100-certified as a top-quality manufacturer for the aviation, space and defence industry. Podrain is one of the few EMS companies in India with this level of quality. This is an exciting new industry for us. There are many new challenges and problems to solve. The possibilities are only growing.
Will private spacefaring companies be able to sustain and be profitable in the long run? India’s low-cost, improvisational manufacturing philosophy and engineering expertise make Indian EMS companies perfectly positioned to manufacture aerospace components. Podrain sees huge domestic and international potential for Indian EMS companies as space becomes democratised. Podrain stands ready to seize the opportunity.
