Omron South Africa experienced record growth in fiscal year 2016, despite the tough economic environment, reveals Country General Manager Victor Marques. Apart from effective target-market strategy implementation, this success was also largely due to ongoing innovation at the automation leader, such as its i-Automation ‘Innovation in Manufacturing’ drive.

The previous fiscal year proved to be very successful, with impressive double-digit percentage growth, despite many external factors at play. “There are always challenges associated with accelerated growth. These are necessary growing pains we need to prioritise and address as efficiently and effectively as possible, so to ensure that we continue to provide the highest possible level of service to our customers at all times,” Marques comments.

While the South African economy continues to exhibit sluggish growth, anticipated to be the case for the foreseeable future, good opportunities still abound. “Social-value driven innovation, coupled with strong customer-centred solution efforts, together with the skills and team to back it up, means one can go places despite these challenges.”

Another exciting area are the ever-expanding growth opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa, an essential part of Omron’s growth strategy. “In the last two years, we have grown our resource investment in this area, and will continue to do so. It is a region with many opportunities, not only now, but particularly into the future, as Africa takes its rightful place globally. It is most important we walk this journey with Africa,” Marques highlights.

Omron’s i-Automation ‘Innovation in Manufacturing’ drive is focused on intelligent, integrated, and interactive automation. “Customers will see accelerated advances in areas such as robotics, motion solutions, and further exciting developments in IOT-supporting devices (the Internet of Things),” Marques reveals.

Such innovation is critical in the automation industry, especially as customers have so many competitive options from which to choose from at present. “We believe strongly that, in order to keep a leading edge, we need to be prepared to ‘walk the talk’ and accompany the customer through all stages of the journey, from the initial opportunity to the successful conclusion of the solution.

“It is about what kind of value we as Omron South Africa can add to our customers in assisting them to achieve their goals,” Marques elaborates. “To all of our customers, a big thank you for your loyalty to the quality of the Omron brand and its team. We look forward to being part of your ongoing success into the future.”