Numeric forays into inverter market

NR Sethuraman

Chennai

April 14, 2008

Numeric Power Systems recently announced its entry into the inverter segment
and a few of its products are already available in the market. R Chellappan, MD,
Numeric Power Systems said, “We were late in launching our inverters as we
were busy in the online UPS segment. Four models have already been launched
successfully in the market. We are doing very well in the export market, and are
not looking at increasing our domestic presence.”

Recently, the company launched HPX series of sine wave inverters, which have
the ability to run ACs and take on more load for homes and commercial
enterprises. Numeric has previously exported HPX series and is now preparing to
launch it in the Indian market. The HVH range square wave inverters, which are
compact and suitable for homes is also ready to enter the market. The inverter
division would be taken care of by Numeric's Power Product group. They have
already appointed channel partners, however they will not be the same set of
partners who carry out the UPS products.

“We have tied up with around 100 partners, who are all part of electrical
contracting systems and building construction groups. We see a lot of
opportunities in the construction sector. Electrical contractors are the right
set of people to carry this out, as they are familiar with the wiring and
modifications involved in the incoming switchboard,” informed Chellappan.

As another development in the company, Numeric would be focusing more on the
renewable energy products through which it is looking at powering home needs,
banks and rural areas for office automation through solar power. In this, the
existing Numeric UPS would be interfaced with solar panels on the rooftops
through an electronic system called Maximum Power Point Tracking Technology (MPPT).
“We are also going for mid-range to large capacity solar powered installations
like power plants and working on this on a large consolidation basis. Also,
Numeric owns wind energy firms for the past three years. And we are exploring
more opportunities in this renewable energy area,” Chellappan claimed.

Numeric is enhancing its product range from 500VA to several Mega Watts to
address total industry power. “Different models with more digital options,
which can provide digital information on single touch and network interface
options, which can facilitate remote operations, would be introduced this year,”
he informed.

To enhance the technical knowledge of partners, Numeric has planned to
rollout online training and certification process in 300 towns and cities across
the country. “Numeric is focused to grow with channels with a wider product
bandwidth. The prime objective being to train partners on high-tech power
conditioning solutions and providing enablers is to make them participate in the
steady growth,” Chellappan said. On not being a 100 percent channel oriented
company, he claimed that the dominance of technical difficulties, while
installing huge projects is the reason for not including channel in the online
UPS segment. However, considering the importance of the channel, Numeric has
started involving them in the online UPS segment up to certain KVAs.

“The channel are very important for making a product successful. Now we are
supporting our channel, not only in offline and line interactive products, but
also in online products up to certain capacity with very special schemes and
training,” Chellappan informed. 20KVA is the range of first batch of online
systems that are to be sold through channels. “It's already happening now
and we are going to enrich that further and have lots of schemes, plans for
that. We have even sold 40KVA range of UPS through channel, but by authority
they can order and stock up to 20KVA. We normally stock 40KVA range of UPS only
based on demand and not on a regular basis. There are 30 batteries in the 40KVA
range and so stocking would become a major problem for the channel,” he said.

The presence of 210 service centers across the country will facilitate
Numeric's decision of involving channel in the online UPS segment. On the road
ahead, Numeric is planning expand its presence across the country, with focus on
D and E-class cities. “Our focus would be on D and E-class towns, as we have
very good presence in A, B and C-towns,” Chellappan informed.