Rolls-Royce started its relationship with India over 80 years ago with its engines powering the first civil and military aircraft in the country. Chris Cholerton, President - Defence Aerospace at one of the world's leading manufacturers in the sector, tells 'India Investment Journal' how a focus on technology and capability transfer has contributed towards India's sustainable growth.
How is Rolls-Royce supporting the India growth story
Today, as an investor, a high skills employer and a supplier of power systems across aerospace, marine, nuclear and industrial, we are developing a significant portfolio of activity in India to undertake progressively more complex activity across the engineering, manufacturing and supply chain domain. We believe in India's inherent strengths and are well-positioned to support the government in its commitment to 'Make in India' and in other socio-economic initiatives such as 'Smart Cities' 'Skilling' etc.
This year, R-R's theme at the Aero India show was “Co-creating the future together”. Can you elaborate on what this means
This theme recognises the deep relationships we have developed over many years, moving beyond just 'making in India' and looking for opportunities to truly co-creating, co-designing and co-developing the future together to support India's infrastructure and growth requirements. Developing a truly indigenous gas turbine capability is a long and difficult task for any country.
In fact, India has great indigenous capacity and capability to design, develop and manufacture a combat aircraft engine which can naturally be accelerated by technology transfer and close collaboration with trusted international partners, such as Rolls-Royce. We will also explore opportunities for co-creation for other products, not limited to gas turbines.
We believe we are uniquely placed to support India's future requirements as we are the only engine company to have transferred a full capability outside of our home market and to have executed successful international combat engine programmes. Also, our roots and partnerships are deep and long in this country.-Chris Cholerton, President Defence Aerospace, Rolls-Royce
We believe we are uniquely placed to support India's future requirements as we are the only engine company to have transferred a full capability outside of our home market and to have executed successful international combat engine programmes. Also, our roots and partnerships are deep and long in this country.
Our collaboration with HAL for over 60 years proves that we have the partnering capability, technology and the heritage to support the government's Make in India initiative. We are proud to be a leading provider of power to the Indian Armed Forces and our commitment to support India to achieve its goals of indigenisation and self-reliance remains as strong as ever.
Overall, our long-term strategy in India is based on leveraging India's capabilities across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain and services activities and capturing indigenous market opportunities.
Where does India fit into Rolls-Royce's global value chain
India fits as a supplier of products and services, as a partner to support design and manufacture for our global business, as a source of engineering talent and an important customer for our products and services for all our businesses. For example, at Manyata Technology Park in Bengaluru, we are showing real commitment by already employing over 500 engineers on complex component and concept design work. Our Supply Chain team in India is involved in providing inputs on capabilities to inform the component sourcing strategies, the introduction of new suppliers and the development of special process capabilities within the region.
The journey started with HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) forging division for the procurement of Ring Forgings, followed by partnering with HAL in our IAMPL (International Aerospace Manufacturing Private Limited) joint venture in 2012. The facility manufactures rings, shrouds and cones for a wide range of aero engines including the Trent family. Since then, India has evolved into a key supplier of multiple commodities centred upon core machining and fabrication capability. This journey will see us expand into other component types and we have ambition to continue to grow the technical complexity and breadth of component manufacture, helping us meet our customer requirements with the right cost, quality and delivery of our products.
Do you have any plans of setting up a manufacturing centre in India
Our engines have been manufactured in India since the start of our partnership with HAL on the Orpheus in 1956. HAL now manufactures Adour engines that power Jaguar and Hawk AJT aircraft with our support. Over our long-standing presence in India, we have invested time and resources to build best-in-class supply chains, manufacturing and excellent engineering capabilities which support the development of the Indian industries.
We already have component manufacturing capability in country with HAL, through our IAMPL Joint Venture, which produces parts for our aero engines and is an important part of our global supply chain. We have also set up two engineering centres in India, one in Bengaluru where we carry out a range of aerospace design and engineering work, and the other in Pune to support our Marine and Power Systems business.
In Marine, our dedicated spares warehouse and a ship repair unit in Mumbai provide technical support to over 270 vessels using our equipment in India. Our Power Systems business, comprising of MTU and Bergen Engines, is active in the distributed power generation market in the areas of product investment and partnership opportunities for pursuing growth. The MRO workshop and Engine Test facility for MTU Engines in Pune is equipped to provide special tooling and trained manpower to overhaul all engine types.
The skill, the talent and the motivated workforce in India places it at the heart of our global strategy and, naturally, we are always on the lookout for opportunities to further expand our industrial footprint in India.
India has been struggling for decades to make a viable jet engine to power its indigenous fighter plane. Do you see any role for R-R in this
Absolutely. India has made great strides already in this direction and there's an excellent pool of talented engineers and scientists. But a modern gas turbine engine is a hugely complex system and so developing indigenous capability is difficult and time consuming for anyone. Leveraging the existing skills and capabilities of trusted partners, such as Rolls-Royce and the UK government, will naturally help.
As I mentioned above, Rolls-Royce is unique in that it is the only whole engine company to have successfully transferred a complete capability outside of our home markets and has worked on many international engine collaborations. And our long heritage in the country and future global strategy, which places India at the heart of those ambitions, underlines that we have been and will remain fully committed to a successful India.
How can R-R help India in setting up a domestic eco-system for design and manufacture of high performance engines
From a team of two, we now have around 800 (and still growing) highly-skilled and talented people in India capable of driving business growth and have ambitious plans to create a broader ecosystem that includes co-design, co-development and co-manufacturing. With our partners - QUEST and TCS - we develop high quality engineering solutions and services across the entire engine product development cycle in India.
Our growing engineering and supply chain footprint will enable us to build an ecosystem that engages in co-creation across the entire value-chain - from research, design and development to manufacturing, maintenance and repair. For India, it would provide further impetus to the 'Make in India' initiative to strengthen its R&D and access to advanced technologies and products.
In addition, our partnerships with the Strategic Manufacturing Skills Council for defence sector, the Aerospace & Aviation Sector Skills Council, Karnataka Aerospace Technology Centre and Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University (RGNAU) emphasises our commitment to build future skills and competencies required by the Indian aerospace industry. Through our STEM outreach of over 30,000 in 2016-17, we are building and nurturing future talent pipeline. This demonstrates our long-term commitment to strengthen our distinguished legacy and play a major role in helping develop India's capabilities.
What critical technologies do Indian Tier 2, Tier 3 suppliers have to master for the above Can R-R's vendors help achieve this
Advancing capability in primary forming capabilities, including more complex forging and casting processes will provide an advantage for India. This will allow greater vertical integration and a route for greater control of cost, logistics efficiency and open up possibilities for future innovation.
Advancing areas of current strength in both machining and fabrication will also be advantageous in exploiting new opportunities in increasingly complex commodity areas. Aerospace demands the highest levels of quality standard - development and confidence in the application of these standards within the second and third tier of the Indian supply chain is an absolute requirement. This is a key enabler to future growth and an area where Rolls-Royce partnership can bring value.