How should an electronics manufacturing unit be set up, and which machines should receive priority in the initial investment? Nitisha Dubey from EFY explored these questions with Alok Gupta of Prosem Technology, uncovering sharp, practical insights that cut through the noise…
Q. Could you give an overview of Prosem Technology and what the company does?
A. Prosem Technology was established in 2002. The name stands for Professional Solutions for Electronic Manufacturing. For almost 23 years, we have been supplying solutions to electronic manufacturing companies. Our offerings include SMT Pick-and-Place machines, Printers, Reflow ovens, Loaders, AOIs, and SPIs, essentially any type of equipment used in modern electronic production.
We serve a wide range of customers, including renowned names such as Visteon in the automotive sector, Beetel in the telecom sector. In the LED lighting industry, we are among the largest equipment suppliers, having provided solutions to Dixon, Havells, Surya, Calcom, and Eveready, along with numerous smaller companies manufacturing LED Tube lights, Bulbs, Downlights, Strip lights, and Rope lights.
Q. Who is your target audience, and what industry are you catering to mostly?
A. Our target audience is primarily the electronics industry engaged in SMT manufacturing, including power electronics, Automotive, consumer electronics, LED lighting, and telecommunications. For the past 1.5 years, we have been focusing specifically on the LED lighting industry. We are also supplying equipment to toy manufacturers and smaller electronic meter manufacturing companies. Basically, these machines are generic, not specific to a single use. The same machine can be used to make an LED light, a telecommunication product, a power electronics product, or an automotive electronics product.
Q. What type of pick and place machine do you offer, and how do they compare in terms of speed and accuracy?
A. We supply pick-and-place machines ranging from very low to extremely high capacity. These machines can be defined by their speed, component-handling type, accuracy, and other parameters. We offer highly advanced machines used in equipment manufacturing, capable of processing up to 160,000 components per hour. Additionally, we provide machines with a rated speed of around 30,000 components per hour, delivering a practical output of approximately 15,000 components per hour, depending on the configuration and application. With our range of pick-and-place machines, we cater to the entire spectrum of requirements, and in the LED segment, we offer machines capable of mounting up to 250,000 LEDs per hour.
Q. Do you provide refurbished SMT equipment, and how do you ensure its quality?
A. We supply refurbished SMT equipment and have delivered to many customers, including Dixon. Our machines are sourced directly from European and American markets, where they are already well-maintained. At our refurbishment centre, each machine is fully opened, inspected, and tested against all parameters as per the manufacturer’s guidelines, and any faulty parts are replaced with thoroughly tested replacements. Many machines look and perform as good as new, and we offer a warranty as well.
Q. Can you provide a cost comparison for fully automatic and semi-automatic stencil printers?
A. Semi-automatic stencil printers are available in the market at approximately ₹250,000 to ₹ 350,000. Fully automatic printers would approximately cost around ₹2 million.
Q. What is the type of additional service your firm extends in addition to the machine?
A. The machine we supply is fully covered by warranty, with service included during the warranty period. We also handle installation, provide operator training, and offer support tailored to the customer’s needs. For existing customers who are already familiar with our machines, only minimal guidance is required since they are simply adding another unit.
For new customers with different requirements, sometimes without prior knowledge of program creation, we provide comprehensive training, followed by support for a week or 10 days, depending on the need, to help them become familiar with the machine. In addition, we offer telephonic support, and if required, we can remotely access the machine from our system to resolve issues. When necessary, our engineers also travel onsite to address customer requirements.
Q. Do you offer on-site support and training after equipment installation?
A. Mostly, the machine training is provided on-site. However, if a customer purchases offline software, we can also offer the training at our office.
Q. Can you help your customers improve their existing line’s overall equipment effectiveness?
A. That is the goal, and that is why we always advise our customers that if they are investing in a complete line, it is better to source the entire solution from a single vendor. This way, we take full responsibility for the overall process. We also provide application support to our customers, since components in electronics change very quickly. For example, if a customer purchases a machine and, after six months or a year, new or more complex components are introduced, we help them create the required programs so that the machine can also mount these components.
Additionally, we supply machines for the production of odd-shaped components. By odd-shaped components, we mean those that are usually through-hole components, which were previously mounted by radial or axial machines. Now, certain components have shapes and sizes that radial machines cannot handle, leaving manual mounting as the only option. However, since companies want to automate this process as well, we provide machines that can automate the mounting of even such through-hole components.
Q. What is your response time for critical support requests or machine breakdowns?
A. Typically, telephonically, it is immediate. However, if the customer is within around 50Km, it usually takes 2 to 3 hours. But if the customer is about 300Km away and an engineer is not nearby, then the time depends on travel, as we dispatch the engineer immediately, but including travel, it may take 6–7 hours or more, depending on the customer’s location.
Q. What is the typical lead time from purchase to installation?
A. Around two and a half months or at least 10 weeks. First, you need to get the machine ready, and then comes the sailing period. So overall, it takes almost two and a half months.
Q. Do you offer demo units before full commitment?
A. We have specific machines available for demonstrations at our facility. For trial runs, if the person is willing to travel and the customer permits, we also organise trials at customer sites, demo centres, or customer production lines. In some typical applications, we can also approach the principals.
Q. Can you assist in facility planning and production line layout?
A. Most people ask us to provide the line layout, power and air requirements, the space needed in front and behind the machine, and the proper line flow. We cover all of these aspects in our pre-installation checklist.
Q. How do you differentiate Prosem from others?
A. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses in different areas. The market has now matured, so I would not say others are bad or exceptionally good; it really depends on the application and the cost of placement for a customer.
We, however, bring a significant advantage through our experience. Our background gives us actual hands-on expertise. We are not just businessmen who started a company, but we actually understand the ins and outs of these machines. That’s a key strength we possess. All our engineers are B. Tech graduates who manage installations, training, and servicing. Many of them have been with us for 15–20 years, which adds tremendous depth to our knowledge and capability.
Another advantage lies in the pricing of our machines and the return on investment they deliver. In the pick-and-place industry, everything ultimately comes down to the cost of placement: how many components the machine can place, the money required, and the resources consumed (space, air, electricity). Based on these factors, customers calculate the cost of mounting a component, which becomes the decisive factor in gaining an edge.
Q. How do you promise a better RoI?
A. Electronics manufacturing is becoming increasingly competitive. For example, if you’re buying a machine worth $125k from major brands, the brands I sell can offer a similar solution for around US$35–40k. This means my investment is already just one-third, while the capability and speed are almost the same, or even better in some cases. Naturally, my ROI is higher.
That’s why most companies now prefer this approach. Of course, it depends if they have a joint venture, their parent company may insist on purchasing a Japanese or European machine. Otherwise, they mostly choose our solutions. In fact, I recently supplied a complete line to a Japanese automotive company for manufacturing a small product.
Q. How do you manage supply chain disruptions or component shortages, especially for critical parts?
A. The critical parts we need to maintain are the machine spares. Normally, we keep stock so we are prepared, which is one way to manage the situation. However, the supply of machinery and related items faces real challenges. For example, over the past two months, there have been significant international freight issues. Containers were unavailable due to tariffs on China. As a result, many Chinese exporters were sending more containers to America before the tariffs took effect. Challenges of this kind always occur.
The biggest challenge in recent years was, of course, COVID, which everybody is aware of. However, there is also a silent impact that receives little attention. After COVID, many small and medium enterprises actually closed down. They were not reported, but the effect was quite real because for almost a year, there was hardly any business, and with the burden of loans and financial pressures, they quietly shut down. I have seen this happening in our own industrial area as well.
Q. According to you, what kind of challenges in your industry are you facing?
A. In the electronics industry, the biggest challenge is pricing. Unlike other sectors, where customers accept higher prices due to inflation, electronics prices continue to decline. For example, a pair of jeans today costs ₹2500 to 3000, despite involving only cloth and stitching, while a 2.1 music system, which requires numerous components and complex processing, sells for just ₹1500.
This constant price erosion puts immense pressure on manufacturers. To earn the same revenue, they must sell more units each year, even as profit margins shrink and expenses such as salaries, electricity, and fuel continue to rise.
Another major challenge is the shortage of skilled engineers. Most students prefer computer science, and even those who study electronics often move into IT jobs, leaving the industry with a significant talent gap.
Q. What can be done to resolve this issue, in your view?
A. One approach, similar to Trump’s strategy, is to impose high tariffs on China, which is likely to push manufacturing to India. I am not sure whether this is entirely feasible for the government, but that is for them to decide. They have already raised duties on assembled PCBs imported from China and similar products, but under-invoicing, smuggling, and related activities continue. So yes, that is one possible way forward.
As far as talent is concerned, I believe that within our ecosystem, students and universities should be encouraged to pursue electronics and mechanical courses more actively. Even if we succeed in producing skilled electronics engineers, a product ultimately needs to take physical form. For instance, if you are building a computer, the electronics are just one part. The components then have to be integrated into the casing, along with the keyboard and other parts, which requires mechanical engineers to design and execute. At present, we are not even producing enough capable mechanical engineers.
Therefore, I think the education system as a whole should place greater emphasis on core engineering fields such as material sciences and related areas, rather than focusing so heavily on computer science. Students should be encouraged to develop an interest in these core domains as well. That, I believe, is a very real and practical issue.
Q. How many employees do you have right now, and how many are split between white and blue?
A. At Prosem, we currently have approximately 22 to 23 people, of whom around 17 to 18 are engineers. We are mostly white-collar, as we are not really involved in manufacturing.
Q. What specific skills or competencies are most commonly missing among these engineers?
A. Most engineers today lack basic hardware skills in electronics. If you look at the resumes of electronics engineers, you’ll often see their skill sets focused on C++, Python, Java, and other software-related areas. Very few are genuinely interested in electronics, such as circuit design, understanding concepts, and applying intelligence to hardware rather than just computers. For example, in a class of 50, you may find only two or three students who can truly grasp electronics. Even when asked a simple question, many are unable to answer.
Q. What is your strategy for the future?
A. When it comes to managing and growing our business partners, our strategy is clear. Take the example of Dixon: we started with just one machine a long time ago, and today we have 40-50 machines. We have grown alongside our customers by understanding the changes they face. For instance, when they moved into rope lighting, they wanted a complete solution, and we provided it.
We always work closely with our customers to identify their future requirements and ensure we are prepared to deliver the right solutions as they evolve.
