Beating the heat: Here’s how 1,500 Voltas specialists, kept ACs across India working, despite the lockdown

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A total of 100 hospitals, 50 industries, 50 million square feet of buildings and data centres, 25 airports and metros, and 25 pharmaceutical companies. It took consumer durables firm Voltas about 1,500 plus technicians and engineers to keep essential services running across 260 sites.

When the Indian government announced a lockdown from March 25 (now extended till May 17) to help contain the Coronavirus (or COVID-19) pandemic, essential services like banks, hospitals, technical operations as well as power, water supply units were given an exemption.

However, considering the load of work and extreme heat-related conditions during this time of the year, it was a given that service requirements for air-conditioner brands like Voltas would pile up.

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In response to a query by Moneycontrol, the Voltas spokesperson said that one of the most common challenges faced during the lockdown would be that of transportation, especially since movement has been restricted at this time.

The spokesperson added that due to this, safe travel of the engineers and technicians proved to be a challenge.

“However, our teams were very swift in securing special permissions from essential service customers, local police authorities and worked cohesively with the third-party logistics partner to help meet each service request,” said the spokesperson.

Voltas, the country’s largest AC brand and Tata Group company had Rs 1,492.51 crore of revenue from operations in Q3FY20. Here, its revenue from unitary cooling products (ACs, air coolers among others) rose 14 percent year-on-year to Rs 601 crore.

What was the common service request?

The March to June period is the time when extreme heat condition also lead to breakdown in devices. With essential units like hospitals, data centres and other industries facing issues, Voltas spokesperson said that the most common customer service request was the necessity of operational manpower for the essential sites and emergency breakdown calls for rectification.

Further, with the rise in COVID-19 cases there was also a need to convert regular wards to isolation centres within hospitals. These isolation units need special ventilation for infection control.

“Our team of engineers have been relentlessly working across different hospital sites to convert standard wards into COVID-19 isolation wards using smart ventilation solutions. AIIMS, Bhatinda, and Guwahati Medical College and Hospital are few such examples,” said the spokesperson.

Also Read: India state-wise tally May 2

The extreme heat and non-availability of equipment in stores in India could also be a concern for hospitals. The Voltas spokesperson said that the company has been involved in the maintenance of chillers in hospitals and pharmaceutical companies that make life-saving drugs.

For medical service upgradation, Voltas is conducting sanitisation, duct cleaning, retrofit with UVC (ultra violet) lamp solutions and ventilation modifications as per COVID-19 design guidelines.

Across India, there is a rise in isolation wards being set up in hospitals because there is a view that home isolation may not be effective.

India has seen a total of 37,336 COVID-19 cases and 1,218 deaths so far as per data from the Ministry of Healthy and Family Welfare.

What were the customer sites?

Voltas spokesperson told Moneycontrol that the company has catered to 260 customer sites in India.

These customer sites include 100 hospitals where the company addressed 50,000 TR (ton of refrigeration or heat extraction capacity) of air conditioning and serving 25,000 beds.

It is also servicing 50 million square feet of buildings, data centers and IT Infrastructure. These buildings are part of essential services and help the back-end operations of services like banking, power and water supply among others.

Further, the company said that the company is handling 25 airports and metros wherein Voltas manages 80,000 TR of air conditioning. Also, Voltas is working with 25 pharmaceutical companies to help manufacture life savings medicines where the temperature needs to be controlled within the units.

Among the 50 industries, these include across metals, manufacturing and refineries. Even if there is a lockdown these industries require some personnel and essential staff to run operations as the equipment is not suitable to be shut down completely.

How is the staff being rewarded and safeguarded?

Voltas spokesperson said that personnel working extra hours are given overtime charges and are giving recognition in their internal platforms.

The spokesperson also added that specialised training and protective equipment has been given to the staff.

“As part of the Tata Group, we have always placed utmost priority to the health and safety of our employees. We have been reaching out to our vast community of field engineers and technicians via the mobile learning app Handy Train to sensitise them regarding health and safety by sharing Covid-19 awareness videos, safety measures and use of personal protective equipment,” said the spokesperson here.

Through the Handy Train application, the company is also creating technical content for the users, resolving queries and troubleshooting, as well as conducting assessment and certifications for its technicians in a streamlined manner. This has been extended to over 28000 plus workforce that include contract and last mile workers.

To prevent disruptions, the company has also trained its personnel digitally handle breakdown calls and preventive service schedules.

Voltas provides heating, ventilation and air conditioning solutions to retail and commercial units. Hence the company's over six decades of experience in the country came handy during the COVID-19 crisis.

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