An exclusive interview with Udaya Kumar Kanapady, Group Industrial Managing Director of PETRONAS Lubricants International on business efficiency, industrial sustainability, and PETRONAS Industrial Solutions
As industries are progressively moving towards adopting new technologies in their businesses, the need to remain resilient and robust have become stronger than ever. However, to ensure businesses and day-to-day operations can withstand the pressure from regular business operations, industries require specific solutions to help them stay resilient and future-focused. With demands on the rise, industries need to look for suitable partners that could help them expedite their operations to keep up with the current demand as well as increasing overall productivity.
Logistics Asia had the chance to speak with Udaya Kumar Kanapady, the Group Industrial Managing Director at PETRONAS Lubricants International (PLI) on how its services and products bring holistic solutions to meet the growing demands of the industry while spearheading lubricant technology innovation, used across PETRONAS Industrial Solutions portfolio of products and services.
- Logistics Asia: Can you provide a brief introduction / description of the PETRONAS Industrial Solutions?
Udaya Kumar:
As the world comes together to tackle climate crisis, businesses need strong partners to help them develop the resilience they need to progress and grow in sustainable ways.
PETRONAS Industrial Solutions shares the determined passion, focus and commitment of our customers to doing business responsibly, working as one with their teams to drive industrial resilience in a way that delivers sustainable performance.
We do this in two ways:
- by deeply understanding our customers and their needs so we can build strong, collaborative relationships with them and,
- by delivering ever-increasing efficiency and long-term value through service improvements and constant technological innovation.
2. Can you tell us more about PETRONAS Industrial Solutions and how it helps businesses achieve their industrial needs?
Udaya Kumar:
If there’s one thing that always gets in the way of progress, it’s inefficiency.
Businesses must run smoothly if they want to develop, with as few nasty surprises along the way as possible. They need products and solutions they can trust every day to keep the machines, equipment, and people they rely on working at their best. With this resilience comes reassurance that frees up thinking time and opportunities to concentrate attention in areas that really matter – like growth.
PETRONAS Industrial Solutions offers insight-driven services that help businesses improve reliability, reduce operating costs and free up potential – all because we share the same goals and priorities as other businesses. Expert Solutions from PLI is your secret weapon in your mission to do more, use less and grow faster.
- By sharing our knowledge with customers’ teams through training, we help them to improve their resilience and strengthen their organisation.
- By giving our customers a more detailed picture of how their business is functioning operationally through the latest tools and services, we arm them with the insight they need to improve efficiency.
- By offering technical help and diagnostics, we help customers identify problems before they take hold, preventing downtime wherever possible and allowing them to plan ahead.
3. Logistics Asia: Can you specify which industries PETRONAS Industrial Solutions is targeted towards and why these industries are PETRONAS Lubricant International’s main focus?
Udaya Kumar:
With the pandemic behind us, we see increased demand, a result of consumer spending recovery coupled with population growth and rapid urbanisation which leads to the rise of key industrial sectors globally such as Agriculture, General Manufacturing, Construction, Mining and Power Generation.
These five key sectors are vital to economic growth, and they all share the need to be productive, improve efficiency, adhere to environmental pressures, and remain resilient in a rapidly changing environment. These sectors are important to us, and PETRONAS Industrial Solutions is able to help them reach the next level.
4. Logistics Asia: Aside from the five industries, does PETRONAS Lubricants International have any plans on venturing into other industries?
Udaya Kumar:
While Agriculture, General Manufacturing, Construction, Mining and Power Generation industries will always be in our Top 5, PETRONAS Industrial Solutions also has a complete offer for other industries such as Cement, Steel & Automotive parts Manufacturing. We are also working in the Wind Segment, a sub-segment of Power Generation segment.
We are always on the lookout for new opportunities where we can offer PETRONAS Industrial Solutions to prospective partners. We believe that as the industrial landscape continues to grow, we are able to offer our solutions to many other industries in the future.
5. Logistics Asia: As industries pivot towards Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0, could you tell us how these industries could benefit from PETRONAS Industrial Solutions?
Udaya Kumar:
Businesses cannot afford to stand still, needing to adapt to changing pressures to stay resilient, never mind grow. In the more challenging world of Industrial Revolution 4.0, they must single-mindedly solve new problems to use less, become more sustainable and develop faster.
PETRONAS Lubricants International needs to mitigate the threat of disruptive changes of IR 4.0 by extending our offerings beyond core products. To support our industrial partners as they pivot into Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0, PETRONAS Lubricants International has been at the forefront to identify pain points that IR 4.0 might impose to businesses.
On top of the high-performance fluids dedicated to emission reduction and manufactured in increasingly low CO2 environments, PETRONAS Industrial Solutions also offers value-added services such as Expert Solutions to help our customers stay focused on their progress no matter what to build greater customer engagement, and customer loyalty and intimacy.
Our comprehensive portfolio is specifically designed to meet the rapidly growing industrial sectors. We evolve alongside the demands in order to provide our partners with the most relevant and bespoke industrial solutions – ensuring businesses run smoothly whilst at the same time addressing their specific needs.
6. Logistics Asia: How does PETRONAS Industrial Solutions assist these industries in overcoming the pressing sustainability issue?
Udaya Kumar:
At PETRONAS Lubricants International, we strive to deliver maximum value to our customers and the markets in which they compete – and we do this while minimising our impact on the environment.
Our technologists pioneer high performance fluids that are dedicated to emission reduction and manufactured in increasingly low CO2 environments.
Our R&T centres around the world are constantly pushing at what’s possible, to develop end-to-end fluid technology solutions that set our customers on a clear path to carbon neutral operation. As we enter the world of new energy transitions, we will be investing a substantial R&T funding into emission-reducing projects and solutions.
Moreover, our approach to fluids is to focus on whole system performance, with bespoke fluids that protect and prolong the working life of every part of your vehicle or machine’s system. This not only helps drive efficiency, lower costs and reduce wastes, but inadvertently reduce the impact on the environment.
7. Logistics Asia: Finally, could you walk us through the technology that PETRONAS Lubricants International uses for PETRONAS Industrial Solutions?
Udaya Kumar:
Our R&T centers around the world are constantly pushing the boundaries of fluid technology to develop end-to-end solutions that set our customers on a path towards carbon neutrality.
PETRONAS Industrial Solutions is our answer to our customers’ ever-evolving fluid needs. Our commitment to our customers transcends machines and lubricants. We seek to empower them with resilience and strengthen their business sustainably.
Traditional approach to customers’ needs would have been about delving into the intricacies of machines, metallurgy and applications in order to come up with lubricant solutions. What customers get from PETRONAS Industrial Solutions, on the other hand, is a combination of advanced lubricants developed from PETRONAS Fluid Technology Solutions™ and invaluable insights harnessed by PETRONAS Expert Solutions’ range of services.
Sustainability, safety, Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 initiatives, digital transformation, digital compatibility, increased productivity through connected machines and human-machine interface advancements are some of the things PETRONAS Industrial Solutions is looking to address in partnership with our customers just as much as we want to help them reduce their machine downtime and extending their component lifespan.
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As the industrial landscape continues to expand, PETRONAS Lubricants International is dedicated to providing its partners with top-of-the-line solutions to ensure that businesses run smoothly while at the same time ramping up productivity to match the current industrial demands.
To learn more on how to help your business stay future-focused, visit https://global.pli-petronas.com/lubricants-fluid/industries and prepare your business for the future today.
About the Expert: Udaya Kumar Kanapady has over 30 years of extensive experience under his belt in managing successful businesses, developing and embedding strategy and taking organisations to new heights. As Group Industrial Managing Director of PETRONAS Lubricants International, Udaya develops the strategies and leads the development of the industrial lubricants business, designing the industrial lubricants organization and driving the growth agenda in the global arena.
