O/E/N India is a Public Limited Company, manufacturing electromechanical components, sub-assemblies and custom-built products for the electronics industry for the past five decades. Based in Kochi in Kerala, we have been in the service of the nation as “mechanical engineers to the electronics industry,” contributing significantly to our country’s import substitution efforts and the Government’s “Make in India” initiative. Our slogan, therefore, is “We Make Electronics Work.”
I would like to introduce O/E/N to those of you who may like to know our history and to tell you a little about what we do in a layman’s language.
It was in the mid ’sixties that the idea of floating his own manufacturing business took shape in the mind of Mr. K.A. Mathew, when he was working as the Development Manager in Travancore Rayons in the outskirts of Cochin, after giving up a very senior Marketing position in Voltas, a Tata group Company. Those were the days when John F. Kennedy, who, as the President of the USA from 1961 to ’63, had established what was called the Peace Corps to work in developing countries for their social upliftment.
A young Peace Corps worker, Tom Murray, was in Perumbavoor in Kerala at that time, helping people with poultry farming. As a Rotarian, Mr. Mathew invited Tom Murray to spend an evening with him. Among the things they discussed as they chatted over tea, Mr. Mathew expressed his wish to, someday, start out on his own and casually mentioned that his chosen area would probably be electronics, which was bound to be a sunrise industry in India, given the very low penetration of electronics in India at that time. Both went their separate ways thereafter and the subject was forgotten.
Many months later – sometime in 1966 – when Tom Murray was back in his hometown near Chicago, he met a friend of his father, who happened to be a VP in OAK Electro/Netics Corporation in Crystal Lake, Illinois, U.S.A. OAK, as the firm was popularly known, was, at that time, a multi-national conglomerate, engaged in manufacturing components and materials for the global electronics industry and ranked amongst the Fortune-1000 companies of that era. The friend asked him about his trip to India and Tom happened to mention the talk he had with Mr. Mathew since the VP was into electronics. The OAK VP took Mr. Mathew’s contact details and got in touch with him since OAK was, right then, looking at the prospects of selling their products – Relays and Switches – in India. Very soon communications started flowing both ways – mostly snail-mail and telegrams in those days (even the telex system came years later!) – followed by visits on either side.
Initially, a partnership firm was formed to explore the Indian market for OAK’s products and, more importantly, to initiate the process of promoting a Joint Venture company to be named “O/E/N India Limited” (O/E/N standing for OAK /Electro/Netics, after the American partner) to manufacture selected products from the OAK range. Incidentally, during the same period, this partnership firm also took up the marketing in India of various electrical Connectors manufactured by a German firm, which initiative was, eventually, instrumental in O/E/N conceiving the idea of manufacturing Connectors in the early ’eighties after establishing the potential for such products in the country.
A quick market survey conducted in India by OAK’s engineers along with Mr. Mathew revealed a potential in the Defence and Communications segments of the electronics industry for Rotary Wafer Switches, Relays and Miniature Trimming Potentiometers of the types that OAK was then making and it was decided that the potential volumes and the projections justified manufacture in India, though the market was still small but growing.
In 1968 O/E/N India Ltd. was registered and a Joint Venture-cum-Collaboration Agreement was signed by the Company with OAK Electro/Netics Corporation, with Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) as one of the major investors.
Land was acquired on a hillock – which Mr. Mathew aptly named Electrogiri – in the pristine village of Mulanthuruthy, located in the suburbs, to be far away from the industrial pollution of Cochin. While work on building the factory got underway, our first team of three engineers from here underwent extensive training in USA and UK in the various OAK factories and came back to set up the production lines, assisted by experts from the OAK plants.
By mid-1969 trial production started and samples were despatched to USA and UK for validation and clearance to commence commercial production. The factory at Electrogiri was formally dedicated on 11th December, 1969.
Apart from Defence use, we were able to design-in and introduce our products into the Communications and Industrial segments. We reached break-even the very next year and the Company was able to declare a maiden dividend in 1973.
The first decade of our existence – the ’seventies – was predominantly focused on the Defence and related market segments with customers like BEL, ITI, HAL, ECIL, DRDO and ISRO to name a few.
Once the Telecommunications revolution started, gradually products addressed to that segment took over the major share of our business as well as our attention. New technology tie-ups brought in contemporary telecommunication-relays and miniature keyboard switches. We played an important role in the Telecommunications revolution of that era with our relays at the heart of the CDOT Exchanges, which still operate in many rural areas all across India.
The rapid growth of Telecommunications and the birth of the Digital Electronics segment in the ’eighties led to the opening of our second factory – an assembly plant for relays – in Peenya in Bangalore and gave rise to two diversification activities – O/E/N Micro Systems Ltd. to manufacture Computer Peripherals and O/E/N Connectors Ltd. as a JV with a French firm, to manufacture Connectors, both in 1981. Due to technical reasons the relationship with the German Connector company, whom we had been representing for marketing Connectors till then, did not materialize into a stronger association as originally envisaged.
It was past the midway mark through this decade that we lost our Founder, who passed away, while at work on 21st November, 1986. However, thanks to the strong foundations that he had laid and the well-entrenched organisations in place, business continued to grow. The Founders’ family ensured that there was no leadership vacuum.
Grow we did, but by the early ’nineties, we were becoming uncomfortable under the stranglehold of our foreign collaborator, OAK, who had by then, as a result of take-overs and mergers, become a shadow of its former self and no longer a technology leader and there was little to be gained by us from continuing that relationship. It was in October 1996, that the Founders’ family took a very risky gamble, with the unstinted support of KSIDC, to wrest control and buy out the entire equity held by OAK.
In the early 2000’s we discontinued manufacture of Computer Peripherals and merged O/E/N Micro Systems Ltd. into the parent Company to retain our focus on our core competencies in electromechanical components and, thereafter, in 2007, divested our interest in O/E/N Connectors to the French firm, who had, over the years, taken full control of that entity
The automotive revolution, which had started off in the mid-eighties, was gaining momentum by then and, in the ’nineties, we deliberately shifted gears to focus more on that rapidly growing sector, while retaining our strengths in the Industrial Controls and Instrumentation segments but moving out of our significant role in Communications because of technological constraints as well as the trend then in India to import the main exchanges rather than make them in the country.
Starting with a legacy product – a relay – that we had inherited from a German partner, we developed a powerful presence in the Automotive Relay business, secured ISO TS 16949 approval for our automotive lines in 2003 – the first in Kerala to do so – and kept adding automotive relays that were both state-of-the-art and competitively priced to grow with the market and pre-empt imports.
Our presence in the entire spectrum of electronics is all-pervasive and touches everyday life in a myriad ways. For instance, when you got out of bed this morning and switched on the light, electricity flowed into your room from a local sub-station fed from a Load Despatch Centre. Hundreds of O/E/N relays are at work in many such Centres across the length and breadth of the country to ensure that the power flows efficiently through the grid and reaches the consumer. Even the Smart Meter that monitors the electricity flowing into your house might contain a recently developed Power Relay from O/E/N.
Probably the first thing you did after that was to glance at the waiting messages on your cell phone – it might interest you to know that the local tower that feeds the signal owes its uninterrupted power supply to several O/E/N relays at its heart.
Switch on your PC and if your UPS is from one of the better brands the chances are high that an O/E/N relay is at its heart.
When you took the lift down to the lobby of your hotel you probably had a few O/E/N relays at work in the lift controllers to fetch you to the chosen floor.
When you enter your car the central locking system unlocks the doors through a relay. Switch on the ignition and a number of relays start functioning and chances are high that at least a few of them are from O/E/N. Switch on the turn indicator and an O/E/N relay has to work to make sure all the flashing lights work. Switch on the windshield-wiper and an O/E/N relay controls the function.
Some cars could have as many as twenty relays – even more with options – working to ensure safe and comfortable driving.
With the advent of autonomous cars the number of relays required will grow – but with increased emphasis on miniaturization and reliability. Similarly, the rapid advent of Electric Vehicles, including two- and three-wheelers, opens up additional opportunities for deploying O/E/N relays, especially for high-power switching.
Open the newspaper and the headlines announce yet another successful launch of the PSLV from Sriharikota – around twenty thousand O/E/N relays in the ground-control complex at the launch pad have to work in synchrony to ensure each perfect launch.
When you see pictures of our soldiers patrolling our borders you would have seen the communication sets they carry on their backs with the antennae sticking out. The tiny switches that you see on the face of each radio-transmitter-receiver are mostly from O/E/N. Many of the Armed Forces’ helicopters you see flying around incorporate a complex electromechanical assembly developed by O/E/N.
We continue to remain the undisputed market leaders, not only able to withstand and counter intense international competition from global leaders but also able to export our products to the most discerning markets in Europe – UK, Germany, Spain, Italy – and to the Far East in the face of such competition.
Currently, O/E/N operates from two locations in India – one in the suburbs of Cochin, Kerala, and one strategically located in Pune, to be close to the heart of the Automotive manufacturing cluster in Maharashtra. The 2000 sq metres assembly facility that we have had since 1983 at Peenya in Bangalore ceased production in 2017 and is now being earmarked for diversification opportunities.
We currently employ directly or on contract well over 2000 people between the two facilities and provide employment indirectly – through our ancillaries and suppliers – to several thousands more, not only providing gainful employment to all of them but supporting all their families. In effect, the economy of the entire locality around our main facility in Electrogiri, Mulanthuruthy, revolves around O/E/N.
Our first facility set up in 1968 at Electrogiri, in the suburbs of Cochin, has transformed into 9000 sq. metres of modern factory space, housing centrally air-conditioned dust-free Assembly and Testing areas; manufacturing areas for Stamping, Plating and Moulding; a full-fledged Tool Room; Design, Engineering and Prototyping areas; Automation Department; and the General Administration sections, which include Supply Chain Management, Finance and Human Relations.The Corporate Office and Marketing Department of the Company are located in the city proper.
We have been present in Pune since 2010 through the acquisition of a firm that manufactures automotive relays and electronic modules as well as our own assembly operations carried out in leased premises. Considering the strategic importance of expanding our manufacturing operations in Pune we decided to build up a fully-integrated multi-tower complex of over 12,000 square metres in phases, keeping pace with the growth in demand and industrial activities that are projected in the region as well as nation-wide.
The first phase of this project in Pune, was commissioned in November 2016 as a tribute to our Founder Mr. K.A.Mathew’s vision of eventually having nation-wide manufacturing presence. This integrated plant enhances our existing manufacturing base for Automotive Relays, allied components, electronic modules and sub-assemblies in a location that brings us logistically closer to some of our major customers.
O/E/N is, today, a highly focused, technologically specialised organisation that has established undisputed leadership in the national market for a variety of precision electromechanical components, especially relays. In fact, O/E/N has displaced several world leading suppliers of such products and is now the sole or principal supplier to some of the important automotive programmes in the country, with leading vehicle brands boasting of the reliability of the O/E/N relays that they incorporate.
The Company is justifiably proud of the fact that all the advanced precision electromechanical manufacturing technologies, including contemporary automation, currently deployed by it have been almost entirely developed independently or acquired, integrated and refined in-house.
Aerospace and Defence: O/E/N has successfully developed and qualified a Free Wheel Actuator for use in HAL-manufactured helicopters and has initiated another challenging project for the development of a sophisticated device for burning metallic debris present in the gear-train housing of helicopters. There are several other products also in the development pipeline like an Inductor Bush and a Rotary Actuator for critical missile applications and a high-power DC Contactor for use in space launch vehicles.
Medical Electronics: We developed X-ray collimators for a global medical equipment giant and one model was commercially produced for them on contract basis for several years in the recent past.
Automotive Electronics: Apart from conventional relays, we have engineered Latching (Bistable) type relays, Fuel Actuators, Time Delay Modules and other Control Modules for automotive applications. A comprehensive range of special High Switching Capacity Relays for use in various types of Electric Vehicles are in different stages of development and launching
EV Power electronics: Foreseeing the Electric Vehicle (EV) revolution, we are venturing into the EV Power Electronics space & and have come out with the 2-in-1 Combo On-Board Charger + DC-DC Convertor, specially designed for Electric Two-Wheelers and ThreeWheelers, catering to specific needs of different battery compositions and ensuring regulated 12VDC supply required for vehicle auxiliary systems.
Industrial electronics:A range of Special Purpose High Switching Capacity Relays for Smart Metering applications is being lined up to complement our wide portfolio of PCB and Plug-In type Industrial Relays.
O/E/N has sustainable growth plans, including focus on increasing our market shares for existing products and strengthening our market leadership position as well as exploring varied diversification opportunities, leveraging the skills and capabilities acquired by the Company over the years and built on our core strengths.
Development and manufacture of other related Components, Value-Added Products, Special Purpose Relays, Electronic Modules and ‘Built-to-Print’ and ‘Built-to-Spec’ Electromechanical Devices, mainly for Automotive, Industrial Electronics, Defense / Aerospace and Medical applications are areas that engage our interest. Apart from internal development efforts, we concurrently evaluate options to purchase technology whenever required to fill gaps in our knowledge base.
Lateral growth through Joint Ventures and Acquisitions are also constantly being explored for enhancing our growth trajectory
We were among the first signatories in the industry to commit to the United Nations Global Compact that addresses aspects of human rights, labour standards, environment and corruption and emphasizes Corporate Social Responsibility, business ethics, and sustainable community development.
At O/E/N we take all environmental concerns very seriously because the very reason for selecting our location is to be in a pollution-free environment. In Electrogiri, where we have effluent producing processes, we have set up very extensive -- and expensive -- pollution control facilities. With all grey water being used in our gardens, we ensure that no polluting effluent is released from our campus, while we strictly comply with all requirements of the Pollution Control Board with regard to disposal of other wastes. Our facility in Electrogiri remains a green campus in the true sense. Our facilities at Cochin and Pune are partly supported by solar power generated within our campus.
Years before the Government even drew up Corporate Social Responsibility guidelines, we had initiated such activities, both directly as well as through the K.A.Mathew Foundation that we had set up in honour of our Founder, in 1989 addressing critical social, environmental and economic needs of the marginalized and underprivileged sections of society and the welfare and sustainable development of the communities in our hinterland. A Care Home for senior citizens is presently being readied by the Foundation.
Our commitments to such initiatives are maintained at well over the recommended levels and include financial assistance to local NGOs for Pain and Palliative Care and for supply of food and medicines to the needy. We support various institutions for economically backward students, mentally disturbed people and destitute women as well as institutions engaged in vocational training and rehabilitation of differently-abled people in the neighboring communities. We also aid the noonmeal programmes of local educational institutions and assist organizations to procure books and journals to inculcate the reading habit among youth.
Direct financial assistance is provided to needy students to pursue higher studies as well as to patients suffering from chronic kidney and heart ailments and cancer. Educational institutions in our locality are being aided to set up Smart Class Rooms and adapt to new teaching methods. We provide financial support to self-governing agencies of surrounding rural areas to build roads, culverts and waiting sheds, to supply drinking water and to install street lights. Apart from all these, we directly support the local Police and Fire Force in their various activities, including disaster management, whenever the need arises.
Over fifty years ago, when the Founder of the Company, took the plunge and ventured out into uncharted waters of the then nascent industry that was electronics, he had to weather severe tests and trials, surmounting hurdles from all quarters, including the worst phase of the dreaded 'licence raj,' when clueless bureaucrats could make or break the fate of an infant enterprise, as well as political and trade union issues thrown in his way. Nevertheless, he persisted, undeterred against all odds, in the pursuit of his vision and, having laid firm foundations, the Company strengthened and grew.
When the leadership baton was passed on to other members of the family, it became our responsibility to maintain the enviable legacy of the brand that he had so painstakingly built up and to sustain and justify the trust of all stakeholders. In the years gone by we have confronted and overcome every conceivable challenge – technological cycles of rapid obsolescence and constant innovation, economic volatility, financial fluctuations, changes in market trends, unethical competition from imports and aggressive, sometimes, even violent, trade union activism, apart from a political environment that has not always been corporate-friendly. We have seen it all!
Despite all these factors, we have managed to steer a steady ship and we remain market leaders and hold our own in the highly competitive marketplace and we continue to thrive and grow from strength to strength. Over the years, we have continued to change with changing times and to evolve in tune with the dynamics of the market. In recent times we have been harnessing the powers of increasing digitalisation, including Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), in all aspects of our operations and will continue to focus on these aspects to remain contemporary
It has been transformation several times over – technology, product-mix, customer-profile, distribution channels and even our own strengths are far different from what we started out with – and, all this, while we have been growing in size and stature. We now have over 31,000 square metres of vertically integrated facilities in multiple locations and, in a few years, we would cross 50,000 square metres of operational factory space, when our plan for additional space is implemented. In fact, far different even from where we were just a few years back!
Apart from our infrastructure and assets built up over the years, our most valuable resources are our employees, who have stood loyally by us through thick and thin. It is their vast accumulated experience, and technical expertise that sustains and strengthens us. The trust that we carry on our shoulders of all stakeholders of the Company as well as the legacy of the brand that is O/E/N demands total unstinted commitment from the Management.
Of late, the future is becoming increasingly uncertain, clouded with new elements in the even otherwise dynamic equation. Changes in social systems and lifestyles may call for directional changes. Old, familiar, conventional markets may fade away, giving rise to totally new markets and, with them, present new challenges and new opportunities. We will have no option but to learn to accept and live with the new and evolving factors and gear up to seize such new opportunities – maybe even undergo another transformation – to overcome the upcoming challenges and not just survive but flourish. It would call for uncanny leadership. We are preparing for the new reality – but, grow, we will!!
Some views from within our vertically integrated factories:
