'We Are A Technology Company That Places Great Value On Innovation'

You complete nine decades in India! How has the journey been?  

Yes, nine decades in India! For Honeywell, it has been more than a century-long journey. We are a conglomerate that has been able to stand the test of time and thrive. One of the very first inventions by the company was a programmable thermostat and look how far we have come today! Let me give you another example. Back in the day, detergents were non-biodegradable. Honeywell was the first to come up with technologies for bio-degradable detergents. Today, 85 per cent of these detergents have our technology in them. We invented auto-pilot for airplanes. We invented Solstice ‒ the molecule that reduces GHG impact of the refrigerants.  So, you see, we are a technology company that places great value on innovation.  

For us, cutting-edge technology holds immense value, but we also focus on transforming that technology to use it at its optimum level. For instance, globally today, there is a move towards sustainability. We have been at the forefront of developing technologies that help organisations – both large and small – achieve their emission reduction goals. These breakthrough technologies in plastic circularity, cleaner fuels and low global warming potential (LGWP) refrigerants, hydrogen and carbon, capture changing the quality of life for citizens, while also ensuring a cleaner, greener and more sustainable future for the planet. To cite an example, our Solstice range of LGWP refrigerants have had the same impact as planting more than 77 billion trees, or the equivalent of removing more than 55 million cars from the road for one year. 

Speaking of sustainability, do you think the sustainability mindset got a push over in the last two years? How has the outlook changed at Honeywell in these two years?  

Yes, definitely. And it is a much-needed shift. The good thing is that the shift comes at the level of the individual. Sustainability is no longer a box to tick but is slowly becoming a way of life. The consumer is aware and is asking questions, demanding answers, and that is what keeps our focus consistent.  

Last year, we took the pledge to be carbon neutral in our facilities and operations globally by 2035, and to continue to investigate and evaluate carbon emissions up and down our supply chain, quantify them and address them wherever possible. In fact, globally, 60 per cent of Honeywell’s R&D investment for new products is directed toward ESG-oriented outcomes. 

Just like sustainability, even digital transformation was getting lip service. The pandemic helped push digital transformation. For us, the focus has been on safety, efficiency, collaboration and sustainability. And, this is possible through leveraging digital technologies. When we looked at bringing these digital technologies to the industrial world, we realised that there was a risk of cyber-attacks. So, we took it as a responsibility to develop industrial cyber security measures.  

The pandemic also highlighted the importance of healthcare and the pharma sector. We innovated to apply technologies to this area to combat a future Covid-19 like situation.  

We launched BluTag 360, a ‘Make in India’ IoT-enabled digital tracking and shipment condition monitoring solution that captures critical information to ensure product integrity of temperature-sensitive goods such as vaccines and pharmaceutical products.  

Last year, we announced Honeywell’s Real-Time Health Monitoring System (RTHMS), a smart edge-to-cloud communication platform for remote and real-time monitoring of patients that acts as a bridge between caregiver and patient. By digitising and automating critical tasks, RTHMS can reduce hospital administrative tasks by 35 per cent. 

The Line, a proposed smart linear city in Saudi Arabia is currently under development. Is this the future for us? 

The interesting thing is that people are thinking about a concept such as The Line. The different components planned are quite impressive.  

It is essential to understand that technology plays a central role in making such concepts successful. At Honeywell, we work towards using technologies that help organisations achieve and monitor their ESG goals.  

Some of our key initiatives in plastic circularity, such as UpCycle, has the potential to increase the amount of global plastic waste that can be recycled to 90 per cent. Then there is our focus on cleaner fuels. Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), an alternative to conventional, petroleum-based jet fuel produced by Honeywell UOP's Ecofining technology, can reduce GHG emissions by up to 80 per cent on a lifecycle emissions basis. 

Another aspect I want to highlight is that India is the largest producer of solar energy, and over the next few years we want to get to a 500 GW type of generation. Honeywell provides a number of components that go into these solar PV manufacturing cells. Our engineers in India developed the Honeywell Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) platform, which integrates Honeywell asset monitoring, distributed energy resource management, supervisory control and analytics functionality to help optimise energy use from renewable sources.  

Please tell us about your partnership with the government and private organisations and how you help with their digitalisation journeys. 

We are keen to help India accelerate its digital journey. Our work in the smart cities space is testimony to our capabilities in helping the government automate and digitise processes to offer improved citizen services. From enhancing security and surveillance to automating administrative tasks; from creating complex command and control centres to enabling safer vaccine delivery – our digital solutions are at work 24x7.  

Increased automation and digitalisation are key to helping India move towards her Industry 4.0 goals. We are witnessing a move toward adoption of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), in which Honeywell has leadership position. Industrial Internet of Things is the game-changer that will help India accelerate toward Industry 4.0, along with technologies such as robotics, AI, ML and remote of everything. We also see customers warming up to the idea of data as an asset and enabler – to forecast trends, ensure predictive maintenance, and solve for unforeseen challenges. We are making chemical process plants and production facilities autonomous, something that is analogous to a self-driven vehicle. 

During the pandemic, we saw corporates adopt digitisation and automation like never before. There has been a surge in the need for digitalisation – right from mass-mid segment to large cap companies. This is no longer being viewed as a cost; from a ‘good-to-have’, it has now become a ‘must-have’.   

Please tell us about new innovations we can expect from your organisation over the next few months. 

For us there is a big focus on ‘India for India’. This essentially means to create solutions for the Indian context. We have a strong local presence: around 5,500 of 16,000 development engineers globally are based in four global technology development centres spread across India. They are working on developing solutions in India for India and the world.