A three-member team was sent to Kundaim industrial estate by Japanese conglomerate Panasonic last week to study the brushless direct current (BLDC) motors and controllers. Kundaim-based startup Lit Air has been manufacturing this tech for their home appliances, and the team from Panasonic was sent to work with them.
Panasonic is impressed with the energy conservation of the BLDC motors and controllers, and has placed an order for 1 lakh components and has also suggested a tie-up for more products. The team from Panasonic met with the Goan engineering start-up to understand how the BLDC motors work and how they reduce power consumption for fans, coolers, lights, and air conditioners.
“They came to check the feasibility of a tie-up with them. They gave us an opportunity to exclusively manufacture components for them, They have been to China to scout for components but they found it better to produce from Goa,” said Rohan Nadkarni, co-founder of LitAir. LitAir has been the manufacturer of components for major electronic firms such as Panasonic, Crompton Greaves, RR Kabel, Hindware Appliances, and CG Power.
The three-year-old start-up has been performing well and last year, they shipped 6 lakh BLDC controllers and motors and reported a turnover of Rs 16 crores. Nadkarni said that Panasonic wants them to develop more products for them. Panasonic also wants LitAir to manufacture products for them in Goa, which is logistically closer to their plant in Valsad in Gujarat. They also visited Tuem, where the Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) is situated.
While the manufacturing takes place at a plant in Himachal Pradesh, the research and development take place at the facility in Kundaim as their customers are all based in North India. However, they said that in Panasonic’s opinion, Goa is a better place to manufacture for export and for the domestic market. The entire technical team consists of Goan engineers who came up with 7 designs that enable up to 50% saving power consumption. LitAir is making efforts toward import substitution by manufacturing BLDC controllers and motors in India and was praised by the Electronic Industries Association for its innovations.
Japanese industrial products provider Panasonic sent a three-man team to the Goan engineering technology start-up LitAir to tie up with them. Panasonic wants to make LitAir their manufacturer of the BLDC motors and controllers in Goa. The devices made by LitAir help reduce the energy consumption of electronic appliances and its manufacture in India is a big step toward replacing product imports with products manufactured in India
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