A global leader in barcode and RFID technology, Zebra Technologies has been offering its printer solutions for the last four decades globally and more than a decade in India. Serving four sectors - manufacturing, retail, logistics and healthcare; logistics is a focus where the company finds a lot of scope and acceptance. I P Singh, Head of Barcode and Supplies, India and subcontinent, Zebra Technologies, in an interview with Jasleen Kaur talks about the company, its services, competitors, challenges and of course, how internet of things (IoT) can benefit logistics fraternity.
To begin with, tell us something about Zebra Technologies both from global and Indian perspective. How did you start and where do you exactly stand today?
Zebra Technologies is a 40-year-old company, which started in Chicago, US. We used to manufacture products in the US itself but we then shifted to China about four years back. Now, we manufacture everything in Jabil, China. We have three headquarters – Asia-Pacific headquarter in Singapore, Europe headquarter in the UK; and the main headquarter which controls other headquarters in Chicago, US – for North and South America.
Coming on to Zebra as a company, we are 100 per cent into the manufacturing of printers. We are two types of technologies – direct thermal and thermal transfer. Let me tell you the basic difference between the two. If you see a fax machine, it doesn’t need anything; it has just a thermal paper and you receive the fax. So, it is basically an image which gets transferred directly on to the paper. There is no ink; nothing inside. And the other part of the thermal is that once you get the fax, it vanishes in few months. It fades off completely. So this is the direct thermal, an application where there is no need to keep receipt. Again in that, Zebra has come up with specialisation where we can manage to give you very specific paper which can stand printing for 3-5 years, up to 10 years. This is required for specific purpose; some specific industries need this paper. Therefore, we said that we are not only printer manufacturers but also solution provider for printing. So that is the part of solutions.
This is one part and now, thermal transfer is very simple printing. You have paper, you have ribbon in between and then, image is transferred through ribbon to paper. So, that is permanent printer. That doesn’t go anywhere. All retailers and logistics players use this printer for tracking their logistics because they don’t want printing to vanish. So again, it becomes application perspective and their need. So, these are the two technologies which we use. We don’t do laser, inkjet and we are specialise in these two technologies. And we are the leaders in this.
Zebra did more than a million dollar sales last year and it is doing exceptionally good in Asia-Pacific. In the last quarter, we had a growth of around 29 per cent. We have been growing in India rapidly between 12 and 14 per cent. This year, we expect our growth to cross 16 percent.
In India, we have three offices – Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Here, we have sales team which supports our channel partners. I am saying channel partners because Zebra doesn’t sell anything directly anywhere in the world. We are only a channel company and we sell only through channels. Our channels have got different levels. On the top is the distribution. Our two main distributors in India are Ingram Micro and Inflow Technologies. Then, we have premiere partners who are attached to us and they are allowed to do direct business with us; in the sense that they can import directly from our distribution centre in Singapore. And they do million dollar business for us. This is the first level of the partner. Then we have advance partners.
Then, the other side of our business is cards. We have printers which print PVC and smart cards. We are doing exceptionally good in India in this technology. Technology is same; it works on thermal only. We do many government projects like driving license, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (insurance for below poverty line people), health card projects for government. This is the second line of business. Our main hard core business is label and receipt printing. In India, we have very small team of eight people.
Since how long have you been in India?
We have been in India for the last 11 years. Zebra entered with direct presence in the country. Last year, we did business of $10.3million from India.
How has been the response of logistics industry towards the product?
We work with different verticals. Among them, manufacturing is the strongest vertical followed by retail, logistics and healthcare. These are the four pillars on which we work and logistics has been doing really good for us. There are lots of logistics companies with whom we work. The global alliances we have with FedEx, DHL and locally, with Blue Dart. We do lot of business with Gati and they use our mobility in a big way. Again, mobility is a part of our core business. Mobility means to print anything on the move through Bluetooth, using your mobile phones. It is too quick and you can print both – label and receipt, like DHL does.
Logistics is really a focus for us and it is going to carry on because we feel there is lot of scope in this vertical. We are also very strong on RFID. We have vertical-focussed printers and we have for logistics too. We were the first company to get WBC license for RFID in India for our vendors. Since then, we have been selling RFID printers. These printers are most suitable in logistics sector. Moreover, printers used in logistics are of metal-body and very rugged. We understand the industry and its requirement very well.
And how much is it acceptable in the logistics sector?
I won’t say that this is acceptable to that extent but the solutions it provides, are sometime mix-n-match of bar code and RFID. This is the best way to do right now because people think that RFID is expensive solution and exactly, this is not the case. It has come down drastically. We have our partners who give excellent RFID solutions, using our printers. Printers are too cost-effective.
However, still there are challenges as the logistics industry is not much tech-friendly. It takes time to adapt some technology. How difficult it is for you to approach them?
The main challenge is the first level of automation. There are logistics companies – mid and low sized – who still work with paper and pen; that’s the challenge we sometime face. So, to get that business, we go there with total solutions. Our partners are very well equipped with that and we also as Zebra provide whatever support is needed. We explain them the solutions with bar code and RFID. Maybe in the next 3-4 years, things would change in logistics sector.
Who are the competitors in India?
Intermac, Printronix, Japanese SATO – but they are more competition in North America; rather than in India.