Interview with Terrence Hahn, Milind Godbole & Nitin S. Kulkarni of Honeywell Transportation Systems

Terrence Hahn, President and CEO of Honeywell Transportation Systems, Milind Godbole, Managing Director of Honeywell Turbo Technologies (HTT) business in Pune, Maharashtra and Nitin S. Kulkarni, Vice President, Global Customer Management of Honeywell Turbo Technologies

Report: P. Tharyan, Photography: Mohd. Nasir

Honeywell International is a $37 billion diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. It is based in Morris Township, N.J.,  in the US. Honeywell has had a presence in India for many decades and currently has businesses headquartered across four locations in India – Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon, and Pune, employing over 7000 people. Honeywell’s business presence in India is roughly about USD 400 million and growing at an impressive rate.

Are turbochargers the in thing among vehicles these days, whether it is an F1 car or an ordinary passenger car with engines big and small?

Terrence Hahn (TH): It’s driven by the interest in fuel efficiency, emissions reduction and greater and greater torque on a downsized engine.  Those are the key attributes that are desired by industry. What we are delivering is what people are asking for. In the showroom people are asking about energy efficiency, fuel economy, emissions reduction, they are saying they still want a driveable car, one that accelerates and one that has a low end torque. Those attributes that are being discussed in showrooms are the same attributes that are discussed in our technology organisation here in India and around the globe. We can make those connections, as a turbocharger supplier.  Now you are seeing that in F1. Formula One is now asking ‘hey are you still connected to the mainstream, connected to what they have always been--to new developments?’ What you are seeing is F1, which is extremely exciting everywhere, saying we are coming to a smaller displacement engine but we are going to allow turbochargers to go on them because we have to show some responsiveness to these global requirements, particularly around fuel efficiency, emissions reductions, etc. But what does F1 stand for? Performance. We have got to have the torque to get around that laps and the expectations that the cars will continue to perform better.

Milind Godbole (MG): Turbochargers are going into F1 in 2014, the 24 hours Le Mans race already has turbochargers. We have been on the Audi diesels that have won in the last four or five years. Eleven out of 13 times the cars have won.  Turbochargers are also there on the WRC cars. Also the off road races like the Dakar rally have turbochargers. Turbocharging is becoming mainstream for sure.

TH: Garrett is our overall brand for our turbochargers which is extended from a Honeywell engineer Cliff Garrett who was from aerospace. The technology of turbochargers comes from the same technology of aerospace. What is fabulous today is that the technology has advanced so much that turbochargers spin faster than jet engines. Its roots are in aerospace technology.  First it was used in commercial vehicles which needed to provide more low-end torque and horse power. Turbochargers provided that. They also needed to be more efficient. It came into commercial vehicles, the Caterpillar D9 and from that the industry saw that aerospace technology can actually help vehicles. Thus it came into commercial and passenger vehicles and is now extending itself into motorsports.

How has the turbocharger technology evolved over the years? 

Nitin S. Kulkarni (NSK): Turbocharging started off with what is known as wastegate technology. The conventional turbochargers used to have something called a turbo lag. When you hit the gas pedal, it’s a little while before the turbo really kicked off. You could actually feel that lag in some engines. With the variable nozzle technology in turbos, the turbo lag is essentially gone. All diesel engine turbochargers or at least the latest ones are VNT based. These would be introduced in India too. Even VNTs have gone through an evolution. From third we are going to the fourth generations VNTs. Most diesel turbos are VNT. Gasoline turbocharging is sort of new kind of science.  Historically only the Porsches of the world had turbochargers, because gasoline cars by itself are rather peppy. But as engines get downsized, and we have to keep the power same, we need turbocharger. Most of the gasoline turbochargers are waste gate turbochargers. The next generation of turbochargers could be VNT based.

Is India a promising market for turbochargers or is the country a great export hub?

TH: Both, and in a very strong way. First is that as automobile manufacturers come to India they have understood that in order to bring global platforms, they also need to localise to the attributes, the ambient conditions, the roads etc. Honeywell has manufacturing as well as engineering and design capabilities here, has allowed us to partner with local OEMs, in help bring turbo charging capabilities that works in India. At the same time the ambition of automobile manufacturers in India is to export to other markets. And they want to have partners from the supply base who can enable them to do that. Our presence here clearly represents our ability to innovate products for the local market and deliver them from a local facility and the ability to ensure that as their aspirations grow we can continue to supply them. Honeywell operating system ensures that if we are supplying our customers in other parts of Asia or back into Europe from our facility here, they know that they are getting the same quality and competence as they would from any of their other plants.

Globally, what has been the demand for turbochargers?

TH: The highest penetration rates for turbochargers are in Europe and that is both from a diesel as well as a gasoline perspective. The area that is also significantly growing is the United States. Penetration of turbochargers in the US is very low, around 15pc to 20pc. Now there is an opportunity with the new CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards that require higher miles per gallon (mpg) and that means more opportunity for turbo charging. The other big market is in China which is also looking for energy and fuel efficiency. In addition to that they also have engine displacement restrictions. Turbo charging is required for higher hp in smaller displacement engines. For different reasons around the planet we are seeing turbo charging. In Brazil you may be aware of the Inovar-Auto standards that will drive fuel efficiency. Turbo chargers is the technology that auto makers are looking to be able to meet those requirements. One example, which is the most global of all, pertains to Volkswagen. They have made statements publically that all of their new engines will have turbo chargers.

Which are the countries to which Honeywell exports out of India?

MG:  We export to South East Asia and Europe. We have a plant that can make turbocharger for domestic as well as export markets. The ratio between exports and domestic consumption varies. It varies depending on where the industry is moving. The capability we have built here include VNT and also the wastegate definitely. In the domestic market we are getting much stronger. Honda Amaze has been a good success story. The engine has a Honeywell turbocharger. It also means that it makes sense to put a turbocharger in a mid size segment car. Our focus is to be present locally very strongly.

What about wastegate technology based turbochargers, how popular are they now?

NSK: Wastegates are used overseas as well. The technology is not dead by any means. There is a lot of advancement in technology here too. A lot of off-highway vehicles use this technology. A lot of light diesel vehicles use wastegate technology based turbochargers. It all depends on what the performance criteria  is for the vehicle. Both wastegate as well VNT are doing very well and are being developed in their next generations.

What about micro turbochargers?

TH: It’s engine downsizing but you want to have the same power. Also you want the fuel efficiency and want to meet the emission standards. Those reasons do not change. Any of those attributes whether it is a small engine or a very large engine, turbochargers are the no compromise solution to meet those attributes. The challenge is in the technology.

MG: Turbo started on the big trucks and has percolated down. It has come down to the Honda Amaze and maybe the smaller cars. We are ready for that. From a product standpoint we are ready for that. It is for the OE to decide what their product roadmap is.

How critical is your technical centre in Bangalore?

MG: It is a boon for India. We have around 8000 engineers in our Bangalore centre who are doing work not only for domestic but also for global markets. We have an application engineering team that is based in Pune. We have a plant here and we have a sales and marketing force.

What about Honeywell investments?

TH: We are building two plants for turbochargers as we speak. One is in China, and the other in eastern Europe. Our Pune plant is expanding. We are the leaders and our customers expect us to support them with products.

Is there a demand for turbochargers coming from commercial vehicles?

NSK: The commercial vehicle segment can be split into two parts. One is the on highway segments that comprise trucks and then there is the off highway that comprise the construction vehicles.  There is turbocharger penetration happening in both those segments.  Especially when you look at emerging markets, India is a great example. The boom in on highway vehicles and construction vehicles is coming. For construction the same attributes apply. You need reliability, fuel efficiency and power. Turbochargers provide that. The value proposition is the same.

Honeywell is also into braking solutions? Can you throw some light on that?

TH: We look to make engines more powerful and faster, and then we look to stop them and make them safe. The technology of making brake pads is more of material science. The analogy to our turbo charging business was to aerospace. Brake pads is a combination of multiple materials processed in multiple ways to get to the attributes that the customers desire. We look at this business as a technology business just as we do every other aspect of our enterprise. Just as we have a sister division of aerospace that helps our turbocharger business, Honeywell has a very large performance materials and technology business and so we are able to take learnings from that.  We have just put up new brake pad units in Romania and China.