Report on visit to CENTUM Electronics Ltd.

CENTUM Electronics Ltd., started in 1994 by Mr. Apparao V. Mallavarapu a first generation entrepreneur. CENTUM is one of the leading fabrication company in the world, it has the fame of being in top 3 companies in the world in delivering oscillator products. Their focus is on medium and high end electronic design along with some prestigious government projects like, ISRO, ISAC and DRDO.

In collaboration with New Zealand based company called Rakon they are manufacturing OCX (Oven Controlled Oscillators). We visited this facility which has 400 employees (325 technicians, 25 R&D engineers and 50 administrative staff) headed by General Manager Mr Unnikrishnan. Most of their fabrication focusses on quartz crystal oscillator manufacturing. We had an opportunity to have a glance of various facilities such as CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition), Clean Room, Annealing, laser etching and Ageing. In the basement they have testing facility where thermal and vibration are tested for reliability and stability.

Later we visited CENTUM (SEBU- Strategic Electronic Business Unit) where we met Mr. Vinod Chippalkatti, Vice President Strategic Electronics, Mr. Veda Prakash and Mrs. Sandhya Thyagarajan. This facility majorly focuses on satellite related projects, they have their presence in almost all student satellite project such as Jugnu, STUDSAT, CubeSat, PISAT. They are significantly involved in all satellite programmes, as 400 to 500 components of CENTUM are housed in every satellite. The Vice-President invited us to visit EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) a ASG Bagalur in near time.

TAKE AWAY

• The industry is moving towards industry 4.0 which encompasses IoT, Big Data, Robotics and Automation.
• CENTUM is Keen in digitizing the industry.
• Diploma students are hired as technicians whereas UG&PG students are hired as R&D engineers.
• A good company to collaborate for student satellite programme.
• Good option for students looking for core job in Telecom, PCB design, Microelectronics, mixed CMOS VLSI design, assembly testing and DFT.
• For mechanical students thermal and vibrations study and for electrical students DC to DC power supply.
• 6 Months internship for M.Tech. students.
• They are looking for IP, IPR, Publications and Patents from Academic collaborations.
• Their management techniques especially Kaizen and Six-Sigma are very efficient.
• High standards of MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) and PbB’0.5 of stability is appreciable.

ROAD MAP

• They already have academic collaborations with RV, BMS and SIT Tumkur, with 2 chairs in IISc (Dr Mohan, thin films specialist).
• We can collect the details of above engagements and tailor a suitable MoU between REVA University and CENTUM.
• Mr. Vinod, vice president, Veda Prakash, Sandhya Thyagarajan and Mr Unnikrishnan can be included in BoS (Board of Studies) and can be invited to deliver technical talks.
• Some of their R&D engineers are interested in pursuing higher education such as PG and Ph.D. We can have a collaboration between R&I Cell of REVA University and CENTUM for industry integrated research.
• Plan for evening engineering for their technicians based on feasibility (management can take a call on this).
• Establishing Centre of excellence in PCB design and Telecom.
• Collaborating with CENTUM for student Satellite programme.

By initiating small possible engagement, as one thing leads to another we can scale new heights of achievements by the symbiosis of technology to have a long and strong relationship with CENTUM.

Members:

• Dr. Rajashekar C. Biradar, Director, ECE
• Dr. Bharathi, S. H., Dy. Director, ECE
• Dr. Seetha Ram Raju, Adjunct Professor
• Mr. K. M. Sudharshan, Assistant Director, ECE
• Dr. Manjunath R. Kounte, Associate Professor
• Dr. Mohammed Riyaz Ahmed, Head, Career Counselling Cell, ECE
• Mr. Raveendra Gudodagi, Coordinator-Industry Interaction, ECE.
• Mr. Ravishankar D, Coordinator- Skill Development Cell, ECE.