Escorts to get a tech twist

MUMBAI, INDIA: Escorts, one of India's leading engineering conglomerates wanted to modernize its technology landscape to meet the corporate’s vision of digitally transforming its businesses with innovative products, improvised customer experience, and growth.

For this, it has signed on a multi-year, multi-million dollar strategic relationship with Cognizant which spans across Escort's agri-machinery, material handling and construction equipment, railway equipment and auto components.

Cognizant will set up a transformation office to help Escorts embrace adaptive production lines and demand-based manufacturing practices, and develop new digital capabilities in mobility, analytics, cloud, telematics, and machine-to-machine communication.

By enabling connected worksites, remote product monitoring and diagnostics, and platform-based governance, Escorts will be able to harness and analyze real-time data from multiple sources for improved customer insight, decision-making, and productivity.

Cognizant will enable Escorts to improve control and collaboration by mobile-enabling its workforce and integrating multiple systems used by vendors, sales partners, and customers. This will help Escorts to continuously improve product quality and offer a broad range of customized, configurable, and value-added products and services, strengthening existing customer relationships and building new ones.

Rajan Nanda, Chairman and Managing Director, Escorts said, "In today's dynamic market, technology is key to stay ahead of volatile demand patterns and rising expectations of informed, socially networked customers. With the global domain and technology expertise of Cognizant, we will be able to raise the bar of manufacturing excellence."

Nikhil Nanda, Managing Director of Escorts, added, “By leveraging organizational synergies and next-generation technologies, we will be able to improve performance efficiencies as well as attain the next level of innovation and market leadership. This partnership will help us bring our businesses in line with global industry benchmarks and increase our ability to develop future-ready products based on digital and other cutting-edge technologies."

"As multiple stakeholders replace traditional value chains and embedded technologies prepare to unleash the next wave of smarter products and services, there has never been a more exciting time for technology innovation in the manufacturing and engineering industry," said R Chandrasekaran, Executive Vice Chairman, Cognizant India.