Amalgamation of production techniques making manufacturing autonomous: Mansi Thapar, Jaquar

Headquartered in Manesar, Jaquar Group has set up a one-of-a-kind environmental friendly office spread over a sprawling space of over 48,000 sq. m. (12 acres). The building has been awarded the LEED Platinum Certified rating from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) for the headquarters.

Jaquar is one of the fastest growing bath brands in the world with presence in over 45 + countries across Europe, Middle East, Asia- Pacific, Africa and the SAARC region.

Here, Mansi Thapar, IT Leader, Head - Information Security, Jaquar Group, talks about the challenges in 2020 and what they are doing to foster innovation. Excerpts:

DQ: What are the three challenges before you in 2020?

Mansi Thapar: The IT leaders' job is always full of challenges, and 2020 will be no different. But, with the increasing IT landscape due to IoT, OT, robots, big data, etc., and more and more employees are using BYOD. Working from home being the new way of working, our key challenges will be gearing up for the new data privacy laws coming in India. Globally, like GDPR, etc., how do we ensure the zero-trust architecture on the end points, and of course, the shadow IT.

DQ: What are you doing to foster innovation in 2020?

Mansi Thapar: Any innovation is a success with the combination of people process and technology where people are our main link. Our key focus this year is the use of technology to educate and make employees aware of cyber and information security.

We are using tools like simulation phishing attacks to end users and then re-educating them on the same. The use of AI and ML on behaviour analysis to understand insider threats, which can be intentionally or unintentionally, is also important.

DQ: How are you connecting the decentralized hardware and software?

Mansi Thapar: Securing remote users can be difficult, especially when you have to rapidly scale and on board a large number of employees. We must ensure our employees have an uninterrupted Internet access, and a seamless user experience to all the applications and data they need, but at the same time, providing it in a secure manner.

We have implemented Global Protect on endpoints, which extends the prevention capabilities of the Security Operating Platform to mobile workers, regardless of their location. By leveraging next-generation firewall capabilities, Global Protect provides greater visibility into all traffic, users, devices and applications. You can extend consistent security policies to all users while eliminating remote access blind spots and strengthen your security.

DQ: How are you dealing with disruption in 2020?

Mansi Thapar: While disruption in manufacturing can lead to losses in market share, brand reputation It also offer manufacturers opportunities to innovate and evolve.

Digital transformation is the present industrial revolution. The rise of the informed customers and innovative technologies have made the manufacturing industry an example of how effective modern operational strategies can reshape the overall operations of an organization.

The amalgamation of production techniques with the latest technological developments are helping to make manufacturing autonomous, cheaper and more efficient. Robotics, IoT, data analytics , CAD/CAM usage are just few of the digital solutions disrupting our manufacturing space.

DQ: How you planning to adopt the emerging technologies, such as analytics, AI/ML, blockchain, IoT etc. in 2020?

Mansi Thapar: The IoT adoption is happening in our lighting division where we have integrated our lights with Alexa. Also, The idea of the interconnected factory is on its way, where all the equipment can be online, and in some way can also be intellectual and proficient of making its own decisions. The connected factory is the future in store for us.

Leveraging IoT, machine learning, Big Data and augmented reality, the connected factory can lead to the removal of data silos, machine-to-machine communication, optimization of value chain and operations, and proactive machine maintenance. By embracing man-machine collaboration, we intend to get there very soon

DQ: Which are the divisions within your organization that have adapted any new technology?

Mansi Thapar: We believe in the adoption of new technologies and automation across all verticals. Major developments have happened in SCM where we are using world-class infrastructure to create 100% WiFi-enabled, centrally connected warehouses with 24 / 7 CCTV surveillance and analytics.

We have done the major adoption of technology in mobile applications where all our sales staff is using mobile applications to geo tag the customer, record their visit, make market coverage plan, etc.

Also, our entire customer care team gets their service calls via mobile apps. They use the app to track their visits and log their service report etc. We have also provided mobile apps for customers where they can view our products, understand its features and check nearest dealer/display locations and much more

DQ: How are you finding and retraining talent with modern skills?

Mansi Thapar: We believe in the continuous upskilling of our internal team and are in touch with various consultants and agencies which support us in the same. There is a huge shortage of security talent in the market. We are upskilling our team to learn new skills like Secure Devops, ISO 27001 implementation, etc. We are also developing our teams to do trainings on public cloud, SAM, etc.