It is no secret that Commercial Vehicles see some of the highest road fatalities in India. Lighting major – Hella, takes the cause of road safety very seriously and has embedded the same into how they do business and achieve success. Mr. Ramashankar Pandey, MD & CEO of Hella India Lighting, reveals how he and his organisation are spreading awareness and application of relevant technologies to rid India of all avoidable Road Deaths.

 1. Hella has been focusing on the safety cycle during night – to see and to be seen – is of great importance. Can you share few technological advancements on the product side which have been made focussing on the above theme?

Mr. Ramashankar Pandey: A lot of consideration goes into the design and manufacturing of our lighting solutions. Road conditions and its associated environment is one of them. Our lighting products undergo continuous quality and performance tests for light distribution and intensity. HELLA offers several lighting & signalling products to achieve the traffic recognition on Indian Roads, while driving. Our solutions cover all lighting applications – Headlamps, Rear Combination (Stop, Tail & Direction Indicator) Lamps, Parking/Hazard Signalling Lamps, Day-time running Lamps, Fog Lamps, Cornering Lamps, auxiliary lamps etc.

To enhance visibility in extreme conditions such as  night time, dense fog, heavy rains and snow, or even off-road driving, HELLA offers a range of auxiliary lamps that feature exceptional performance and durability.

For example, from a Hella India perspective, in 2011 we found that almost 90 % of trucks on the roads either fitted with Hella’s bulb based chamber lamps, or a similar design and with similar Bulb Technology Stop/Tail Lamps. This technology being old needs heavy maintenance and has very high rate of failures. While studying India’s Road Accidents in night time, we found that tailgating was one of the major reasons for road fatalities involving trucks, because of dysfunctional or unavailable tail lamps. The filament technology used in the past didn’t last long enough, sometimes not even for a single trip. Even today, you would see 80 % of the trucks without a working tail lamps on most of our Highways. We took this as a new strategy to drive the market. The whole DNA of our Product Innovation process transformed towards driving the Indian Market & provide leadership by technology jump than be driven by current practices, since we decided to stop developing and advocating bulb-based tail lamps for Commercial Vehicle in India. It was decided to invest on the design, development and technology of LEDs, even when the market had no such demand, at that point of time. The initial purchase cost was high and this created initial resistance in adoption among fleet owners and OEM’s alike, but as it was a maintenance free option and Total Cost of Ownership was completely in favor of the product, fortunately by 2014-15 we started getting faster adoption, both by OEM’s and Fleet Owners. We partnered with most of the OEMs in these years, and in the last one year, we have clearly seen the acceptance of LEDs for tail lamps among all CV Manufacturer in the country. On the signal/rear lighting at least, especially in the CV segment, LEDs would become a norm. We were the first company in India to make a fully-sealed LED stop/tail lamp for CVs with 5 Years warranty, high impact lens material and extremely robust against vibration to withstand tough operating condition. And regulation was not the prime motivation. It was driven by the partnership between us and the OEM’s towards better Road Safety by ensuring visibility. It offers roughly 3-4 meters of extra braking distance as compared to a bulb lamp, which becomes lifesaving distance in an accident situation.

In the Front Lighting Space, we pioneered local development and production of the fully sealed projector technology in India which offers “Mass Customization” cost benefit to our OEM Customers. This helps to bring down investment of one individual OEM to adopt newer technology, as the core light unit development is supported by Hella and styling customization only need to be invested by our Customers. Our development and Production infrastructure is ready today to launch variety of safety technology, be it Fog, Cornering or Day Time Running Lamps, at our Derabassi facility.

2. Hella has inaugurated an additional development centre for automotive lighting technology in Coimbatore. Does this mean there will be custom made solutions for CV OEMs?

Mr. Ramashankar Pandey: Complementing the existing lighting development site in Chennai, HELLA has, in the summer of 2017, additionally opened a new development center for automotive lighting technology in the southern Indian city of Coimbatore. The new location focuses primarily on developing headlamps, rear combination lamps, lighting modules and lighting electronics. The development team in Coimbatore is anticipated to increase to more than 200 employees over the coming years.

Hella is fully ready to serve custom made Lighting solutions for CV OEM’s from its Derabassi Production facility.

3.LED daytime running lights are expected to be made mandatory in CV segment? Will this be the next level of replacement for coming 4-5 years?

Mr. Ramashankar Pandey: Daytime running light is used for being seen during the day. Studies show a considerable reduction in the number of accidents when driving with lights on during the day. Daytime running light therefore makes traffic safer for everyone. Daytime running light is required by law in many countries. Studies show that daytime running lights prevents 58% of accidents with serious injuries. Therefore, it would be apt if it is made mandatory for CV vehicles.

4. Hella is trying to build O to O (Online to Offline) platform with Amazon? How is this coming along and what have been the initial results?

Mr. Ramashankar Pandey: We have started online to offline platform with Amazon initially for our Battery.  We  have linked our local distributor with Amazon. As soon as  an order comes to Amazon, it is passed on to the local distributor who provides the product to the customer. This has boasted the morale of the distributors as they are getting additional sales. However, as this is still in the initial phase, and online sales in spare parts category is still to gain momentum, we are yet to see large transactions on a month to month basis.

5. Most People in India take their vehicle lighting for granted, they never think about the safety they provide. So, do you think this kind of temperament affects the vehicle lighting aftermarket?

Mr. Ramashankar Pandey: We believe in the 4 E’s of arresting alarming Road Deaths in our Country, “Engineering, Education, Enforcement and Emergency Care”. Educating masses is the key for  creating awareness & sensitivity towards visibility & signalling safety among the consumers of Automotive Aftermarket. Road safety is a cause very dear to us. In fact, it is embedded into how we do business and achieve our success.

In 2011 , we adopted the company vision of ‘reducing road fatalities’ in India, and have ever since not only developed Lighting Safety Solutions for CV Industry, we also  organized various awareness activities in partnership with the government, industry bodies and other stakeholders. Many of our team members are known in the Industry equally as “Road Safety Activist”, as they are known for their Road Safety Awareness Campaigns across the country, to save Lives.

Our vision for ‘road safety’ is not limited to advocacy alone. We have offered the industry a lot of frugal innovation in the past few years, and OEMs today look at us for solutions, specifically suitable to arrest the alarming Road Deaths happening in our Country. Our Company vision in this direction is self-explanatory, “Technology of tomorrow, for the life of today on Indian roads.” We decided to jump technologies to bring products that are futuristic. We focus not just on the product specifications, but also on manufacturing technology, design and development.

6. Lastly, it would be great if you could let us know what excites you to be a part of upcoming Commercial Vehicle Forum 2018 (taking place on 26 April 2018 at The Westin – Pune)?

Mr. Ramashankar Pandey: Commercial vehicle is an important business segment for us at HELLA. CVF 2018 will provide a valuable platform for all stakeholders to share their knowledge and experiences in taking this segment forward. We are looking forward to our participation and exploration of emerging trends, business landscape and regulatory changes at the forum. I am personally looking forward to engaging with the Leaders of CV Industry to Collaborate and co-create the Eco System to fight the menace of Road Deaths in our Country by Education, Awareness and application of relevant Technologies and not stop till India is free from all avoidable Road Deaths. We need to take on this project as Industry responsibility as CV’s are involved in very high numbers of these Road Accidents.