Industry Insights: Manufacturing

With Dripta Guha Roy, Head of Design and User Interface at Grundfos.

In the next instalment of our Industry Insights series, our Client Services Director, Rupert Cheswright speaks with Dripta Guha Roy, Head of Design and User Interface at Grundfos, about the water solutions marketplace, innovation in the sector, the importance of relationships and his drink of choice.

Rupert: Hi Dripta, thank you for doing this. I know you’re incredibly busy at the moment, so to start with, it’s basically; Who are you? Where do you work? And what’s your role and remit?

Dripta: My name is Dripta and I work at Grundfos. I’m heading the UX/UI design team at Grundfos and have been doing this for the last two years. My responsibility is mainly to deliver the digital offerings and products coming out of Grundfos.

Rupert: So, just to expand a little, as there may be some people who aren’t familiar with Grundfos and just calling it a pump company doesn’t do it justice, how would you describe Grundfos?

Dripta: I would say that we’re primarily, of course, a pump company, so our primary goal is to provide pumps to all our customers. And from that our secondary goal is to make sure that we have clean water across the world. We drive for sustainability and for clean water.

Rupert: On that, I’ve been reading a few things that your CEO Mads [Nipper] writes on LinkedIn. It’s really a good company and the things you’re striving for are extremely noble.

Dripta: Well, we have five sustainable goals. Part of this is that we want to decrease carbon emissions and make sure we waste the least amount of materials and create reusability. We have certain goals on how we provide clean water to the poorest places in the world. So we create solutions for much needed water challenges.

The goal for me when balancing strategy, design and technology is always that it’s scalable, sustainable, and achievable.

Rupert: And within your role. What tools do you use? Are they off the shelf? Are they developed internally or sourced externally? What kind of things could you not do without? And, just so you know, I’m not going to start plugging John Bevan’s [Conjure’s Design Director] favourite piece of software. [Btw, it’s Figma!]

Dripta: I think at the end of the day, the design team is quite free at Grundfos to use as many tools as needed to get the job done. I think from my point of view, we want to use tools that are sustainable in the long run. So whether that be sketch, whether that be, Invision, whether that be Figma. Whatever it is, we try to use things to get the job done and to create the least amount of challenges when we are using the same tools across borders.

Rupert: Yes, especially when there’s a necessity to work collaboratively.

Dripta: Yes, exactly. And of course, some tools are better than others. And sometimes we face challenges. You know, like we have slow connections or slow uploads or things crashing, and we try to solve it with our partners. And, of course, once we are partnered with someone, we try to keep that partnership going and try to improve on that.

Rupert: It’s a good model. So now, in relation to the success of the business, how important are the following three things: strategy, technology and design? And how do you balance them?

Dripta: Okay so let’s rewind for a second. So, why develop platforms, whether that be a design platform or whether that be a technological platform? The goal for me when balancing strategy, design and technology is always that it’s scalable, sustainable, and achievable.

In the three areas we try to maintain a holistic overview of what is being developed technologically and ask ourselves; How does it affect the products that are coming out in the future? Does that match with our strategic goals, whether that be sustainability or whether that be radical innovation.

Whatever the goal is, design has to be an integral part of creating a great user experience for our end users and customers when they’re using these scalable products in the market.

Rupert: So everything keeps the end user in mind?

Everything has the end user in mind, but at the same time, everything has simplicity in mind.

Dripta: Everything has the end user in mind, but at the same time, everything has simplicity in mind. So how simple is it to apply a technology that is coming out in two years, and will it really affect the strategy? Or is it something that we’re just trying to include because it’s a technological advancement in the industry? So strategy determines the technology, and it also determines the design because in terms of design our one big goal is to satisfy our end users. So that red thread goes across the entire thing.

You could have a technology that’s great to use, but nobody can use it because they’re not up to date yet with what they’re using, right? We can’t always say that the iPhone 12 is what everyone carries, so we need to make sure that we are realistically keeping our customers and end users in mind.

Rupert: Absolutely. And is that a similar approach to your competitors? Or is there something different you feel that Grundfos is doing versus the other people in the water solutions marketplace?

Dripta: I think there’s a big difference, which is that we try to apply advancements that are going on in the tech space as well as in the design space and try to make our products, some might say, sexy, but I say up to date. I think one of the great advantages Grundfos has over their custom competitors is; our product is a better quality product, we don’t try to cut costs in that area.

Our primary product source, which is our pumps, is one of the best quality pumps you can buy. And when it comes to the experience of using the pumps, whether that’s in a physical or digital space, we try to move with the trends or be in front of the trends at times. Whereas our competitors sometimes are overdoing it. You could say they’re creating interfaces and experiences that are just not realistic in this industry.

And when it comes to the experience of using the pumps, whether that’s in a physical or digital space, we try to move with the trends or be in front of the trends at times.

Rupert: Almost innovating for the sake of it, as opposed to what the needs are?

Dripta: I’ll give you a good example. There is a certain competitor, who is now working on touch key interfaces. If you actually look at touch key interfaces, it’s really a great interface. People are used to using touch screens. Now, how would you do that in a pump facility when you’re wearing gloves or when the gloves are dirty. Or even if you take that pump, you transport it and take it out of the box, it’s 15 kilos in weight and it falls on its side and cracks the screen. That’s innovating for the sake of innovation.

Then on the other side are people who are not innovating at all because they think, who really cares about the installer, who really knows how to use the old Scada system, they will just use it. But that generation is also moving, one trend that we’ve seen at Grundfos is that we’re no longer categorising an installer as an installer. It could actually be someone very fresh to the industry who comes in to install a pump, which 20 years ago would have been someone who had been in the plumbing industry for 20 years.

So you also have to have that in mind, that demographics are changing. Younger people are sitting at home and are installing an Alfa pump and not calling someone to come in and help them because it’s very expensive in Europe. So we need to keep those kinds of demographics in mind too. You can’t satisfy everyone, so you have to see where the mid-balance is.

Rupert: Yes, that’s very true! A related question; How straightforward is it for the business to innovate into a new area? And, I know we’re working with you on a variety of products that aren’t on the marketplace yet, so I know you do a lot of innovation but how easy is it as a business?

Dripta: The journey has not been easy at all. When you have a tech company moving towards digital, there will be some major teething issues that you have to go through. But what Grundfos has been good at is embracing the change when this change is necessary, and realising that the old way may not always still work.

The success that we’re facing in delivering digital offerings and products is due to the people at Grundfos, who are more receptive to going through a mindset change. This is an integral part of any company who is moving from one major sector of technology, and especially hardware technology, to one that needs to have digital services.

But what Grundfos has been good at is embracing the change when this change is necessary, and realising that the old way may not always still work.

Rupert: It’s quite a transition and actually this next question, you’ve almost answered it already, but how agile do you think the business is? Is it typical for your industry to be agile?

Dripta: Again, no, it’s not typical for our industry to be agile because physical products are based on waterfall concepts. But in terms of agility, there is a balance because I see agility as the morphed version of your industry, so the agility model is not a textbook model that will work for every industry. It is a textbook strategic model that an industry should abide by and then morph it to fit.

I see in our digital development where our teams are agile, but our downstream is more waterfall. Because that’s the way it works, and that’s the way we know best. Because you could say our digital products are also not purely digital, as they’re connected to a physical product most of the time.

Agility, whilst it’s a term loosely used by almost all industries, is a journey that Grundfos is taking, and has taken for the last two years to find the type of agility that works for Grundfos.

Rupert: Yes, it is quite a broad term, isn’t it? And I like that you’re using lots of water terminology and metaphors as well.

Dripta: I can’t deny that, it’s part of the industry!

Rupert: So what direction do you think the industry is heading in over the next five years? What initiatives and drivers are coming from your customers and the competitors?

Dripta: This is quite open already, Grundfos have said that they want 25% of revenue in 2025 to come from digital services. So that’s one thing. The industry is definitely heading towards digital solutions and predictive maintenance, and you could say a big part of this is data collection.

One of the great things that our founders did very early on, and which is why I think Grundfos are so big, is adding electronics and intelligence to their pumps. What that has led us to today is the ability to collect all of that data that our pumps have been collecting in the ground for for the last 10 to 20 years, and use that to our benefit and to input into our digital offerings.

So I think where other pump companies failed is that they didn’t make that risky move when our founders did, and add intelligence into their pumps.

Rupert: So Grundfos has been ahead of the game?

Dripta: Yes, for a very long time.

Rupert: How will you be differentiating yourselves from the competition over the next 5 years? And how important is digital in that? I think you’ve almost answered that, in that digital is a huge part of the business and a key differentiator of the whole thing.

Dripta: If you look at waste water pumps, if they break down it costs the city millions to repair. We want to be able to give that warning. It’s super important, of course, to save lives and predictive maintenance is something that’s vital, for example, in the aeronautics industry, right?

But it’s just as important, if you think about it, to water. It’s something that you take for granted. But for example, if you have something go wrong with your toilet and you have water coming back the other way…

Rupert: That’s not so much fun.

Dripta: No, that’s not so fun. It’s just because you don’t face it that often. It’s really important to understand that if you install a pump in a small village in the backwaters of India where 5,000 people are dependent on it, where if you drink the normal water you might get a waterborne disease, if that pump shuts down for even one day then you have a huge problem and that’s going to affect 5,000 people.

Rupert: With things like predictive maintenance there is such a positive impact on the environment and the way it affects people. And here’s a question that I have to ask, which is very current right now, and almost impossible not to talk about. What impact is Covid-19 having and had on your business and wider industry? And do you see any opportunities that might come out of the back of the whole thing?

Dripta: I can answer this in two ways. The negative side of Covid-19 has impacted us a relatively small amount, just impacting our manufacturing in some countries. But we have safeguarded our business quite well, because we supply pumps and it is a basic need for people. So, regardless of Covid, people still need water. If a pump breaks down in a city, they will still need to replace that pump. Right? So in terms of manufacturing it has affected us in terms of how many orders we can fulfill. But it hasn’t affected our business in the way that has affected many others.

The other positive thing that has come out of this is that we have come to realise that we don’t always need to travel or to work in the same way that we used to. I myself have been working from home for the last couple of months and have been able to achieve more than I have sometimes being there in person or flying to see a customer.

And, of course, the negative side of Covid is from a design point of view. From a UX point of view, it has impacted our ability to meet with end users. That has been a considerable hit for us. So we had to do a lot of guesswork and a lot of online testing, which is not always optimal. Because for pumps, if you want to improve an experience you need to see what they go through every day. You need to talk with them and see what they’re doing. So that’s one of the one bigger impacts from the design department point of view.

Rupert: Relationships are a massive part of every business, and especially when there’s a huge focus on user testing and making sure that you’re heading in the right direction. And personally, I feel like I’ve been more productive since the lockdown as well. It’s just a strange thing.

Now we’ve got another question of shameless self promotion, which is what do you like about working with Conjure?

Dripta: What I really like about Conjure is the fact that you guys one; understand platform thinking, and two; you have been able to switch gears left and right based on our needs very quickly and adapt. Adaptability is a big thing with guys that work with Grundfos. And number three; your astronomical help of going more than beyond what’s necessary to deliver a certain project.

You understand that platform thinking is not something that we’re used to at Grundfos. It’s something that I’m building, and you’re supporting that by making sure that knowledge is preached across any project that you’re involved in. You don’t take a project as a singular project, you take it as an overarching platform solution and consider the strategic platform direction that I’m trying to take.

Rupert: It’s always a pleasure working for you guys. And the downside of Covid is that we don’t get to see you quite so much. Now, putting you on the spot, do you have any questions that you’d like to ask us?

Dripta: Not really! Except what do you find positive about working with Grundfos? Maybe that’s one general question that I would want to ask you.

Rupert: Basically, everyone is incredibly knowledgeable on what can be very complex products and they’re always happy and available to share the knowledge and expertise. Everyone is always ready and willing to help whenever we have a question. Collaborative working is extremely effective and has been a great experience with Grundfos. In that respect, I think it’s a classic case of, what’s the expression? The sum of the parts is greater than the whole when we work together.

With you guys we end up being even more productive than we’ve been as two separate entities which is the main objective of collaborative working. And we work at pace and really efficiently which is invigorating.

Dripta: That’s awesome. That’s really great to hear.

Rupert: Right then, I have a couple of ludicrous questions now for you Dripta. And my choices appear to be somewhat strangely food orientated… If you could eat one meal for the rest of your life? What would it be?

Dripta: I would say tandoori chicken.

Rupert: Okay, so I know a bit about this, so I assume this is your own or is there a particular place you would go for it?

Dripta: No, it would be my own, and to be honest very close to it is pasta, but I think that’s the comfort food for a lot of people. A bit of pesto pasta.

Rupert: Controversial question is, pineapple on pizza: Yes or no?

Dripta: I’m okay with it, Yes. Yes, that’s a good mix.

Rupert: I feel a bit weird about it myself. I mean, sweet and savoury is unusual.

Dripta: It’s one of those things that people ask. I teach people about bacon and maple syrup.

Rupert: Yeah, that’s true. I’ve moved away from eating meat, but bacon with maple syrup has a special place in my heart.

Dripta: I have the same thing.

Rupert: This isn’t on the list, but what is your favourite cocktail?

Dripta: Actually, I don’t have a favourite cocktail. It’s whiskey on the rocks.

Rupert: Okay, you’re a purist. So is that scotch or single malt.

Dripta: It’s scotch.

Rupert: And would you commit to a brand, or do you prefer to keep it loose?

Dripta: I keep it loose. I experiment.

Rupert: Okay, so it depends on your mood?

Dripta: Exactly.

Rupert: Brilliant. Well, Dripta. I really appreciate this. I owe you a drink.

Dripta: No worries. Thank you.

Rupert: Scotch on the rocks, of course.