Sandeepkumar Shivapuram asserting the full potential of Safran Engineering Services India

Could you introduce yourself and your career path?

I have more than 20 years of experience in the engineering services industry. Before my current role as CEO of Safran Engineering Services India, I already had a long international career in the aerospace industry. I have worked in four different countries – Germany, France, the UK and the USA – and in a number of domains including aerospace design, software development, program management, operations management and customer relationship management. My journey started as a Design Engineer, and then progressed to Project Leader and Program Manager. Before joining Safran Engineering Services India In January 2021, I was the Director of an aerospace business in North America. Today, as CEO, I am responsible for the overall management of the company including Strategy, Operations and Business Development in coordination with the Safran Engineering Services headquarters. It is a role I am passionate about.

What is the global activities portfolio of Safran Engineering Services India?

Our portfolio embraces a wide range of services dedicated to the aerospace and transportation industries such as Software Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Technical publications and concessions management, IOT and Digital Transformation, Electrical Engineering, Analysis and Simulation, and Manufacturing Engineering. We also support Safran companies with their activities in India and other locations. To that end, we share a close relationship with them, which goes far beyond a simple customer-supplier relationship. We align with their needs and leverage synergies. We also work in close coordination with other Safran entities located in India. The coordination with Safran entities helps us to collaborate and perform activities in India and support our customers in their geographical locations, whenever warranted.

What strategy drives you and how do you prepare for the future?

We really focus on aligning ourselves to the changing business environment, technological advancement and customer needs. We believe that the future lies in helping our customers increase efficiency through automation and value addition in the areas corresponding to the core competencies I just mentioned. We are also exploring niche activities such as data analytics, artificial intelligence, manufacturing 4.0 and supplier management. Internally, we are investing in developing competencies and ecosystems in automation, IOT and digital technologies to transform the existing ways of working and be aligned for future requirements.

Has the Covid-19 crisis undermined this plan?

Even though the Covid-19 situation impacted the way we work, we took all the measures we could to ensure our services and deliverables were not affected in any significant way. And our efforts were acknowledged by all our customers. In terms of business, we were, of course, not immune to the effects of the pandemic on the aerospace sector. There were abrupt reductions or stoppages of many of our activities and we had to adapt to those changes. Lockdowns and mobility constraints further added to our woes. Nevertheless, we were able to adjust quickly to the circumstances by implementing the necessary IT and logistical means required to ensure business continuity for our customers through work from home.

More than one year after the start of the pandemic, we are seeing a positive trend in terms of business growth, mainly thanks to a better outlook for the industry and the customer confidence we gained during the earlier part of the pandemic. As per the current trend, we should be able to end 2021 at 2019’s level of revenues. The business outlook of Safran Engineering Services India is very positive in the short and mid-term.

How do you see the future of the site and the team?

Located in Bangalore – India’s technological hub with its vast and competitive talent pool – we are in the right place to embark on the next phase of our growth. We see ourselves as an asset for the Group as a provider of quality and cost-effective services. We are also gearing up to support the Group’s vision of the future of aerospace built on the use of technology and innovation. With a workforce of highly skilled and motivated engineers, we have the team needed to embody this vision. The journey ahead is exciting and we are ready for it!