Message from the President/CEO



Dear Customer,

Thank you for considering AVG’s Uticor Automation products Made for India. As you will learn from this catalog, Uticor is one of the oldest companies in the field of automation controls. Uticor, formerly known as Struthers Dunn Systems division, was founded in 1968 in Bettendorf Iowa, near Chicago, Illinois, and was the inventor of the first PLC itself. This PLC, known as Director 1000, was used extensively in the welding controls used by the Ford Motor Company.

You will also learn that AVG has always been on the forefront of new technology ever since 1968. It introduced the use of microprocessors in industrial automation in 1972, created a new product/industry known as PLS in 1975 for the metal stamping plants of General Motors, introduced the very first graphical touch panel in 1993, has a patented “on line programming” feature in its HMIs, introduced the first Remote monitoring and Control feature in a touch panel, and has recently introduced the first white LED based HMI’s and industrial computers to the market. Yet another innovation being introduced with this catalog is OLED based HMIs capable of operating from -40°C to 70°C.

You will also learn that AVG Automation has always been recognized by control engineers in US as well as the technical trade media. AVG’s products are constantly featured on the front covers of major US magazines such as Control Engineering, Control Design, Automation World, NED and IEN and recently won the most coveted “Engineers’ Choice Award”, the “Oscar” of Automation, for the Best HMI of 2008.

Now, why the theme of “Made for India”? I am an Indian American who migrated to the US in 1969. Until 1995, there was no automation industry in India, so to speak of. Only recently I learnt that the Indian automation industry has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 10-15 years and the current recession notwithstanding, continues to grow at a clip of almost 20% per year. Hence this summer of 2009, I decided to learn first hand the needs of the Indian automation industry. Logging about 15000 km by air, 4000 km by road, in a span of 9 weeks we visited with the movers and shakers of Indian automation, about 60 customers in total, in all parts of India, including senior management of companies like Tata Motors, Bajaj, GM India, Ford India, Pharma-Labs, IDMC, NTPC, BHEL, Electrotherm, Good Year, Honeywell, Hind Hydraulics, Electrolab, and many others.

The concept of “Made for India” began with my first flight from Bangalore to Ahemdabad which landed at 7:30 PM and the pilot announced the current outside temperature of 42°C. I asked my Managing Director of AVG India as to what it would be during the day tomorrow. The answer was over 45°C. Knowing that CCFL backlight based displays, HMIs and Panel PCs, can not operate over 50°C, I was eager to know how the Indian automation professionals are dealing with the issue, unique to the Indian sub-continent. Well, our visits to 30 plus factories only confirmed my suspicion that India does have a problem with this, but just living with it with shortened life span, some outright failures and yes, in some cases with air-conditioned control panels (half the time in-operational) while the operators, technicians and engineers have to sweat it out at 40 plus ambient and high humidity. Somehow, it does not sound right. Fortunately, Uticor had recently harnessed the white LED technology and had developed HMIs and Industrial Computers that can work up to 60°C and 95% humidity. Hence the theme: “Made for India”.

Besides, heat and humidity, we learnt about other challenges facing the Indian automation professional, such as lack of product stock, long lead times for delivery, local support, software licensing and constant obsolescence of products by the major automation suppliers such as Siemens, Mitsubishi, Rockwell and Schneider. AVG Automation and its Uticor division are about to change this dynamic, even from our competition. We come from USA where the customer is the king. We will operate with the same customer care policy in India as in the US.

As we launch Uticor in India and become a major force in its automation industry, I am sure we are going to make some mistakes, however we are committed to continuous improvement. For this reason, I welcome all customers, large or small, to give direct feedback to me at Shalabh@avg.net

Thank you,
Shalabh Kumar
Chairman/CEO