Give us a brief overview of the industrial sector in India and globally. Where does the manufacturing sector headed and what impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the industrial sector? Assess the stressors and concerns and suggest the ways in which we could mitigate risks…
The industrial sector in India is undergoing change as compared to the global scenario. Globally, we see that there is already an increasing use and acceptance of technology, while in India – we as a market are still moving towards the adoption of technology. The COVID-19 pandemic situation has caused us to reassess the ways – we as industry representatives to go about business operations. And during a stressful time, the least we can do is innovate. Innovation is key to the development of any industry sector. Eventually, the ones who innovate survive.
You present the industry and manufacturing sector with a new concept and platform – Mappes.io. Could you detail us more about it …
Over the past decade, I have been actively involved in the sales of high-technology products for international companies in India. A key observation made during my trips to a number of exhibitions was that manufacturers were not aware of the latest in technology that was either already available or in development. We are talking of course about technology related to a particular industry. That’s when the need for an online and versatile platform was recognised. I saw the need for a digital platform that not only enables you to connect with peers and with colleagues from your industry, but also primarily with products and technology. Mappes.io was born out of this need and requirement. A user who visits the platform today, has the opportunity to discover new suppliers, technology and follow new methods of networking while doing so. Mappes.io is set to revolutionaries the way we see technology and industry, the way we network, connect and form associations. We have platforms such as Thomasnet and Alibaba – however they are listing sites, thus not enabling user interaction. The other network is LinkedIn – which is people-centric, and does not relate directly to an industry-centric product.
Mappes.io is a platform catered specially to the manufacturing sector, and we have successfully mapped the industries – Optical fiber and cable, UV/EB Curing, PhotoVoltaic, Lithium-Ion, Additive Manufacturing and Carbon Fiber. We have successfully mapped the entire value chain of industrial products by creating a link between its raw materials, machinery and applications, in addition to mapping the suppliers of those products and applications. We are presently in the process of mapping the semiconductor industry. A user must follow the product categories of his/her choice and as a result only content and information related to that particular product and industry will be shown on the timeline. The added advantage is that manufacturers can now interact with their customers and industry partners on a product level, educate them on new applications and also be informed of the technology advances and market trends related to the industry.
What influence according to you does Mappes.io is likely to have on the way the industry networks? What relevance does it hold concerning a specific industry, for instance – brief about its impact upon electrical, cooling, lighting and automation category industry…
Exhibitions and trade shows have proven to be the best method to network, and discover new products and technologies. However, the activity can be cost-intensive. Analysing another aspect, there are multiple sub-industries that can be interlinked – the products of which may not be out for display at expos. This would make product discovery and market intelligence even more of a challenge.
Specifically, concerning the Electrical Industry, Mappes.io has gained special attention from the electrical sector as this was the first segment we tapped into. With India set to digitalise operations, we thought this would be a brilliant idea. We have already penetrated into six industry segments within the electrical sector, and are turning out gaze to mapping the semiconductor sector as well. We are indeed hopeful, and the response we are receiving is overwhelming.
Mappes.io is hopeful for the future, and now we are also turning our gaze to other sectors. As a concept, the platform has no bounds and can be used across industries far and wide. All I can say is that we are hopeful. Regarding Cooling Industry, the HVAC & R industry has tremendous potential, the need for refrigeration, heating and ventilation in industrial and even the food chain is serious business. There are many issues to be touched upon and addressed, and Mappes.io could contribute greatly in terms of being a resource platform for the industry.
Talking about Lighting Industry, our recent move to explore and map the semiconductor industry has implications for the LED and the lighting sector. We see the lighting and LED sector in India progressing as it sees steady growth in industrial applications. Today, LED chips are imported and India is mostly assembling LED lights. Now there is interest in India to manufacture their own LED chips, and at Mappes.io, companies interested in exploring this domain can understand the process, machinery and raw materials required for manufacturing LED Chips, and they can find and connect with suppliers for each product in the value chain
As far as Automation Industry is concerned, the automation is of great significance to the industrial sector, we see companies adopting new technologies and also learning from the global scenario. The Indian Industrial Automation Market is expected to reach $4.43 billion by 2023. The opportunity is great and we are indeed hopeful, the response we are receiving is overwhelming. Companies today are now offering solutions for automating software solutions designed to collect data and intelligence from within their plant. Companies within the sector could use the Mappes.io platform to understand and stay abreast with new technologies such as IoT and more related to their sector.
How is Mappes.io placed concerning its performance and delivering on industry-capability as a global community that caters to the manufacturing and industry sector?
The industrial sector and manufacturers today are looking at marketing themselves and their products globally. We see a pressing need to ‘Go Digital,’ where the industrial sector can have a platform to network and connect with products – both globally and remotely especially during the COVID-19 situation. The works: Mappes.io is a product-centric social network specially designed for the manufacturing community. We have successfully mapped the complete value chain of every industrial product from the six categories mentioned above, as a result of which a user gets access to information from the complete value chain. The platform can prove itself useful for seamless lead generation, customer engagement and sourcing, remotely and globally.
Elaborate on the process of mapping – how many industries does the platform cater to and to what extent? What in your opinion are the positives and the negatives of having a platform such as this?
The intelligence to Mappes.io lies in understanding your product and its complete value chain. The idea is to stay competitive while also remaining relevant in an evolving industry. The first step for a manufacturer is not only to understand his own product but also the raw materials, machinery, and applications. We enable this mapping process through our algorithms, industry experts and users on the platform.
With special regard to the present trading and overall market scenario, how do you think can key players in well-established industry benefit from the platform?
A key insight would be that Mappes.io democratizes product knowledge. Previously, only a couple of representatives would hold the information, today information is key and is at the heart of research and development. We’ve heard so much being said about data and the importance of having the access to the right kind of information, concerning industry content – our aim is for Mappes.io to be the one-stop-shop solution. The platform encourages the freedom to share information related to your brand whilst also enabling its users to learn to a great extent about their products. Mappes.io offers the industry the opportunity to discover new suppliers, customers while also knowing that technology is key for any organisation. With regard to acceptance of the platform, we see a 99% sign-up rate after we demo our platform to potential users and companies. While users can sign-up for free of cost, we have also begun the opportunity to become a Premium member which has a significant added advantage over the free user memberships.
The Challenges and Risks: The first challenge is to talk to as many people about the platform. Since it is a ‘next-gen,’ concept, we have to put in an effort to bring people to the website and introduce the concept to them. Once they understand the concept, we see a very positive turn-out. Our aim to create value added services by incorporating product-specific content, associations with event organisers and build the platform to be self-sufficient with regard to users, the network, the information feed and end-to-end networking as we like to call it.
We’ve heard about the new initiative – Mappes Interactive under the Mappes.io banner. Tell us more about the opportunity…
It gives us pleasure to present to you – Mappes Interactive which is the content and information wing to Mappes.io. Mappes Interactive is strategically placed to benefit the brands that it partners with so as to deliver on information and content. In keeping with the vision of excelling in industry know-how and bracing for change, Mappes Interactive is placed to be a global content and information aggregator. While our users are already connected within a robust industry-specific network – Mappes Interactive pushes with the opportunity to explore even further. We have drawn up various associations under the banners – ‘Strategic Knowledge Partner’ and ‘Strategic Growth Partner.’ The associations are reserved for companies and event-organisers who are interested in an exponential way to growth and content marketing. Our focus has always been to not only deliver on product intelligence but also have our pulse on the market itself. We’re talking about market intelligence and the freedom for companies to freely share with us information about the industry, acquisitions, news-worthy information and more…
