Since last few months, the Indian cold chain industry has been receiving quite a bit of Government attention as evident in its encouraging policy reforms to improve the performance of the sector. While policy incentives are important to drive growth, the crucial link in the cold chain infrastructure is availability of quality reefer trucks in the market. While the country has a handful of quality-conscious refrigerated truck manufacturers, Sub Zero Insulation Technologies is the latest market entrant. Established in technical collaboration with Isi Yogev Technologies Ltd. of Israel, it is indeed a pioneer in the field globally. We find out details about the new venture in an exclusive interview with Mr. Deep Khira, CEO, Sub Zero Insulation Technologies, and Mr. Isi Yogev, Managing Director and Chief Engineer, Isi Yogev Technologies Ltd.
Excerpts:
MOTORINDIA (MI): To start with, can you give us a brief background about Sub Zero Insulation Technologies?
Deep Khira (DK): Sub Zero is a Khira Group company founded in 2014 that manufactures advanced technology insulated truck bodies used for transportation of perishable goods. These bodies are designed for Indian roads and engineered to suit all types of chassis as per customer requirement. The vehicle body dimensions and design are precision adjusted to suit the cargo requirement.
Sub Zero is bringing to the Indian market new-age insulated truck bodies that will offer superior insulation quality and lower maintenance costs without compromising on strength. Customers will benefit through increased payloads, better fuel efficiency and reduced running of the refrigeration unit.
MI: We understand that your parent company Jayanand Khira and Co. Pvt. Ltd. has been in operation for many decades offering vehicle body solutions. How did the reefer truck venture fall in place? Can you take us through the journey?
DK: Khira has been manufacturing all types of commercial vehicle bodies since 1949, including reefers since 1984. I joined Khira about five years back and saw the real potential in this segment. I also realized that our technology of manually injecting PU chemical and making heavy steel containers was not the way forward, and hence I started researching companies and practices globally.
Besides I visited several companies in Europe, Japan and the Middle East and finally found a good partner in Mr. Isi Yogev of Isi Yogev Technologies Ltd. and decided to work with him to develop this business in India. We wanted to create a new company, solely focused on reefers, hence the formation of Sub Zero Insulation Technologies.
MI: Kindly share some details of the Sub Zero-Isi Yogev partnership. What do you think you could offer the market with the new technology collaboration?
DK: The main reason behind the decision to partner with Isi was his expert engineering knowledge. He built his business from scratch and is constantly looking at different materials and processes to improve the product quality.
With this technology we will offer the market well-engineered reefers. We aim to understand the customer’s cargo requirements, door openings per day, and loading and unloading processes, and design a solution based on this. We have also started working closely with some OEMs where we are insisting that we need chassis drawings, so that we can design the body to ensure integration. These are standard practices being followed generally but not in our industry.
Isi Yogev (IY): Our plan it to start manufacturing in India with Sub Zero. We will be supporting them with technology and machinery to manufacture reefer trucks from composite material from Lamilux. We will try and do our best in the Indian market because we think it is a huge market with good potential. Our vision is to implement our globally-proved reefer technology in India, so that we can save nearly 45 per cent of food produce which is wasted every year. We have some very good engineers to ensure project success.
MI: We have a growing number of reefer makers in the country, some operating with global technology back-up as well. How do you think you can differentiate your products from others available in the market, quality wise?
DK: Competition is healthy and does not faze us. One cannot simply bring in technology from a global company and implement it in the same way it has to be indigenized. Nor can one simply pick a reefer from a European country and put it on Indian roads.
The technology that we have brought has been carefully selected after some comprehensive research. We will be working closely with Isi to make sure the designs are suitable for Indian operating conditions. This is where our experience and expertise comes in.
IY: Our machinery is very efficient and involves minimum electronics. The machines are easy to operate and give good results. We have been using the technology for over two decades in Israel, with great success. In India, most of the existing reefers are built using steel and are quite heavy. The technology used to make and connect panels adds a lot of weight to the reefer body. GRP will save 80 per cent of the weight when compared to steel. In GRP, one thing is to have a good panel, but it is equally important to use it the right way, for which you need sound knowledge of the technology.
MI: Who are the major customers for your reefers in the country? Is your presence confined to Pune and around, and not beyond?
DK: Our major customers include Swift Cold Chain, Venky’s, Mapro Foods, Protrans Supply Chain, Chitale Dairy, Govardhan Milk, Associated Capsules and Monginis. Our presence at the moment is primarily in Maharashtra, and we have added a dedicated sales team in Gujarat for Sub Zero. We are in talks with major third party logistics companies in the north of the country and will look at setting up operations there later this year.
MI: Do you export your reefers?
DK: This is the beginning of our journey; we have enquiries from companies in the UK, Sri Lanka and Africa. We have also discussed with Isi Yogev to export some products to Israel.
MI: What is your view of the future of the cold chain industry in the country? How do you think we can improve its performance, and do you see customers accepting this advanced technology?
DK: As you know, there is a lot of talk about the Indian cold chain industry. Further, the Indian Government is offering full backing by way of subsidies and schemes.
There will be further improvements with the introduction of some regulations with regard to transport of perishable goods. There is also a need for regulations related to technical specifications for reefers, I believe NCCD has done some work on this, but it needs to be well implemented at the ground level.
We know that making customers switch from steel containers to these reefers is a challenge. We are sure that we have the right product which will receive overall acceptance.
MI: Lastly, what are your plans for the reefer space in 2015? Looking at a 3 to 5-year timeline, what do you intend to do in the cold chain space in India?
DK: We aim to produce and supply around 300-350 reefers in 2015. Within the next 3-5 years we wish to add distributor and service points in other regions across India. Sub Zero will also explore adding some new related technologies such as Eutectic systems, and we are negotiating with some companies in this regard.
IY: Our Indian facility will be ready soon and our product will be reasonably flexible. Our long-term target for the Indian market is to sell more than 1,000 units annually. However, more than business and money, we want to help improve the Indian economy by reducing food wastage.
The Isi Yogev-Lamilux Connect
”We came to know about Lamilux six years ago, and from then we fell in love with the company – not just the products but also their entire team starting from the owner Dr. Heinrich Strunz. We work with them in India, Mexico, Turkey and some other regions. We also represent Lamilux in Israel and are more like a family.”
– Mr. Isi Yogev, Managing Director and Chief Engineer, Isi Yogev Technologies Ltd.
“Isi brought this technology 20 years ago to Israel, and it was a great success. So we believe he is the man to do it in India as well. I can’t wait for Isi Yogev to come to India because it is not good just for Lamilux, but also for Indian companies to understand the technology of sandwich panels for reefer trucks and dry freight bodies.“
– Dr. Cosima-Klinger Paul, Managing Director, Lamilux India Private Ltd.