Date: April 27, 2021

SI ASIA Interviews Hemant Agarwal, Business Head, Display Solutions, Delta Electronics India Pvt. Ltd. on Delta’s 50 years milestone.

Congratulations on the Golden Jubilee moment. That’s no small occasion. How does it feel? The moment coming particularly at a time taken to be disrupted by COVID-19?

It’s a proud moment for the entire Delta Family all across the world. It’s actually not just a milestone for us but an emotion, a sentiment for all employees. The entire team of Delta is like a family, as we do not have an employer-employee relation. Like it’s your own enterprise and you have to work hard to bring up the business. Our success has been possible only because employees have given their 200% in the past 50 years.

It’s a great feeling to belong to an organization that has completed 50 years of its existence. Starting from a one man company to becoming a large mega corporation, spanning the globe with 100 thousands associated with it now. Delta sure has come a long way with trusted customers, who have backed our company always. Delta has time and again proved to be technology leader in most of the domains it works in. Delta celebrates its 50th Anniversary under the theme Influencing 50, Embracing 50 and echoes its Commitment to ‘Sustainable Conservation, Nurturing Life’.

What does it mean to Delta APAC, and Delta India in particular? That Delta India is almost 20 years younger to Delta global, what inheritances have powered Delta’s success in India & SAARC?

To describe it, Delta Taiwan is actually the grandfather, Delta Thailand which overlooks the SEA region the Father and Delta India who is very young, like 20 years, is the child. Being the child, and seeing your grandfather celebrate Golden Jubilee anniversary, its feels like a great achievement and gives an immense satisfaction which is unexplainable.

In what way you think Delta had been particularly impacting on the regional business domain(s)? and ProAV in particular?

When Delta started 50 years back, Delta was not really in the business of ProAV. We were the ODM suppliers to ProAV companies but not directly known as a brand in the industry. This has been made possible in the last 15 years when Delta decided to come out of the closet and venture in the solution business. Delta decided to use its strong brand to start selling its product solution to partners, system Integrators and large end customers. In the past 15 years, Delta has now become a name to reckon with in categories where it operates.

For instance, one such category where Delta has emerged a leader is Control Rooms. Today, as we speak, Delta is comfortably able to offer solutions, which can span the entire control room. Including A total control room solution.

passive infrastructure along with Video wall and control systems. We do the design and ergonomics of the control room, ready to give an end to end solution.

Apart from Control Room, we are also doing a lot of other solutions which range from displays for industries, commercial establishments, conference rooms, enterprise, government, covering a plethora of applications. Delta has become a strong brand in areas we have operated, India being the largest market for ProAV in SEA region.

What would you think are the most proud achievements for Delta APAC, and Delta India thus far?

One achievement which comes to mind is being a leader in Video wall solutions. Whenever people talk about Video wall solutions, the 1st name that comes in mind is Delta. That itself is a big achievement, considering the fact that we only started about 15 years back. There are companies who have been working from over 20-30 years in ProAV domain and have lost ground to companies like Delta. Being in that top-space gives us a lot of pride in what we have done and solutions which we have offered to our customers. It has all been possible because of the dedication and efforts of employees.

Another thing that comes to mind is the technology leadership position which we have attained. Be it first to launch a Laser DLP Video wall, or Industry’s 1st 4K DLP Video wall or worlds 1st 8K DLP Projector, all firsts have come from Delta.

How does Delta’s AV domain interests meet and fulfill the Group’s Mission Statement of “Energyefficient solutions for better tomorrow”? Have there been any specific initiatives to meet this directive?

I will take an example of a recent product introduction, which is Fine Pitch indoor LED wall, which we believe will be the product of choice whenever people are considering to install displays in an indoor space. For these displays, per sqm power consumption is less than 30Watts, probably the best in the world. In turn saving billions of dollars of electricity across the world in the years to go by. Completely consistent with the Delta’s mission statement for its products and solutions. Moreover, Delta celebrates its 50th Anniversary under the theme Influencing 50, Embracing 50 and echoes its commitment to ‘Sustainable Conservation, Nurturing Life’

Delta does have manufacturing base in India. What are Delta India’s contributions to this cause? please explain..
Most of our production plants are certified green buildings according to various national standards. One of Delta’s first factory in Rudrapur, Utrakhand, achieved LEED certification as “Gold-rated” green building and received the honor from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). The Rudrapur factory consumes 35% less energy compared to a conventional building of the same size. It is designed using energy efficient architecture, natural sky-lighting and ventilation, rain water harvesting and water re-cycling, as well as using eco-friendly building materials that provide a clean, healthy and safe workplace for employees.

Delta’s Gurgaon Factory is also a platinum rated green building certified by LEED, received the honor from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). For harmony with nature and the local community, every detail of the factory is in sync with the green building spirit.

That itself means that we have instituted many products and processes which help to contribute to the cause of Energy-efficient solutions. If we see the products which we manufacture, are all power related and mostly all have high power efficiency ratios.

What focus does Delta lay on AV domain? How much of that focus is handled by Delta India?

In AV domain, Delta recently launched 8K projector, which is the world’s 1st Laser DLP 8K Projector under the brand Digital Projection which is a Delta associate company. The 8K projector leverages Delta’s cutting-edge display, power supply and thermal management solutions, such as its laser light source, signal processor, and unique algorithm to provide a seamless, industry-leading 33-megapixel resolution image, made especially for public viewing, broadcasting, planetarium, simulation and visualization applications.

Delta Dislpays division contributes slightly less than 10% of Delta’s worldwide turnover. Delta India has a significant contribution towards this, as Delta India contributes to a large extent to the global revenue. As apart from looking after India market, we are also nurturing markets in Middle East and South East Asia markets contributing to Global revenues. We also export many of our products to countries like Spain, Russia and even US sometimes. Contributing significantly to turnover of AV division in the group.

Having completed 50 years of business, how does Delta look into the future, say next 50 years?

Delta, today, is poised to do in one year what it has done in 50 years. Delta, in the last 50 years, has become strong and agile and now stands on the brink of being able to jump rather than walk. In the last 50 years, we managed to consolidate ourselves, spread our operations across the world, acquired and merged with many companies. Delta is at the forefront of technology having thousands of R&D engineers and R&D labs across the world. We are all ready and poised to take a big leap into future. We believe Delta will grow fast in future, and will gain grounds much faster than we have done in the last 50 years. We have turned direction from purely ODM to OBM and Solutions Company. Delta decided to take this step 10 years back and now has successfully trained people, got that mindset, put its resources in OBM business. With this change, it will ensure Delta moves very fast in next 50 years and probably becomes the largest Multi-national company in the world, and a force to reckon with.

What particular domains make its focal areas? AND, how does the company intend to transform those domains?

Delta is a diverse company, operating in multiple domains. Delta operates in Manufacturing, ICT, transportation, Renewable energy, real-estate, and more. This more or less covers most parts of the industries. Under these heads, we have verticals, channels, applications – all kind of businesses are happening under these heads.

What positioning you think Delta enjoys right now as Group in the region, and as an AV-ICT major in India?

As a group, Delta is perceived as a power supply solutions major because that is where Delta’s major business comes from. Most people are exposed to the power division of Delta.

If we talk about India, both AV and ICT are strong verticals / business for Delta. Within AV we are more into ProAV, which have to do with museums, planetariums, high-end control rooms. It is very difficult to differentiate between AV and ICT as now ICT incorporates AV in its domain. Because ICT has become a very big word, encompassing AV. For instance Smart Cities, Integrated Command & Control Centers (ICCC) in Smart cities are a conglomeration of AV and ICT. A true ICT solution where both technologies come together. Most of the control rooms in this domain have been done by Delta creating a major impact within the country.

What’s your immediate priority right now? How much distance you believe you have travelled on the task?

Immediate priority in terms of Displays business, is to have business back on track. During Covid times, many things had taken a back seat. A lot of business which display solutions do, has to do with people coming together, because when you say “large screens” it is for collaboration purpose. When you say collaboration – it means people coming together. And in Covid it is actually the opposite, no one wanted to come together and meet, wanted to stay away. So, we need to start running to cover distance which could not do last year.

Priority in terms of Displays products will be our 8K Projector. The Digital Projection INSIGHT Laser 8K stands out when it comes to performance and has set a milestone in projection space with ultra-high 8K resolution (7680 x 4320). With growing digital projection market, there is a lot that is expected from the Indian market for the new 8K Laser projector. Indian states are revamping historical museums and also conducting events with projection mapping on monuments by using high-class projection technology. Adding to it, simulation & visualization projects which rwequire unsurpassed detailing through large-scale imagery need a high-end projection system to meet the most demanding visualization needs. The INSIGHT Laser 8K projector provides a new performance benchmark to all these applications.
Another product range will be the NovoConnect Series under Vivitek Brand name (Vivitek is a brand of Delta), a cost-effective and hassle-free solution for easier collaboration and engaging meetings. The Vivitek NovoConnect is for wireless presentation and collaboration solutions enabling full BYOD support and intuitive connectivity.