Indra finds highly skilled talent and a suitable location for its regional hub in Greater KL - Europe

Indra finds highly skilled talent and a suitable location for its regional hub in Greater Kuala Lumpur

29 May 2017 - Global Consulting and Technology company, Indra is aggressively expanding its local operations in line with its regional aspirations. The company is currently constructing its regional hub in Greater KL to support its operations in Southeast Asia.

“Our office in Malaysia is currently managing our business development activities locally as well as in other countries in the region. We have decided to make this a regional hub that will support more of our operations. This decision is based on several factors. Firstly, the Malaysian government has a very fl exible policy for foreign investors that are looking to establish a business here and Kuala Lumpur offers a large number of business opportunities in the traffic and transport industry, which is our area of expertise. Finally, I have to say that this is a beautiful country to live in,” says Gabriel Moyana Vázquez, Managing Director of Indra in Malaysia.

Established in 1993, Indra is a world leader in technology solutions for a variety of fields such as defence and security, transport and traffic, energy and industry, telecommunications and media, financial services and public administration and healthcare. Headquartered in Madrid, Spain, and listed on Bolsade Madrid, the country’s largest and most international regional stock exchange, Indra has also established a business unit, known as Minsait, to respond to challenges posed by digital transformation to companies. In 2015, the company reported a revenue of €2,709 million, a global workforce of 34,000 professionals, a presence in 46 countries and sales operations in more than 140 countries.

“Indra has been participating in projects in Malaysia since 1997. We started with a representative office in Kuala Lumpur and converted this to a subsidiary company in 2011. Government agencies such as Invest KL have supported us throughout our journey here,” says Gabriel.

In Malaysia, Indra and Rasma Corp were awarded a RM152.9 million automatic fare collection work package for the second mass rapid transit (MRT) line in September last year. The company had previously implemented the automatic fare collection and train control access system for the Kelana Jaya and Ampang light rail transit (LRT) line and the monorail in Kuala Lumpur as well as the Transport Integrate Control Centre for Prasarana Malaysia. Other technology solutions implemented in the country include a railway access control system, an air traffic management system and an aeronautical simulation system.

“We currently supply equipment for the control tower at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and provide the navigational aid system for other airports in the country. We also supplied the Airbus Helicopter EC255 that is used in Airbus Group (Malaysia)’s flight training centre to train civil pilots and pilots from the armed forces,” says Gabriel.

" In Malaysia, Indra intends to foster local engagement and we are fully committed to bringing our expertise and knowledge in the industries that we specialise in. We believe in longterm partnerships and the development of joint capabilities, including transfer of technology and knowledge sharing. We always aim to establish mutually benefi cial relationships with our partners. "

Gabriel Moyana Vázquez, Managing Director of Indra in Malaysia

He adds that Indra’s office in Malaysia has a team of professionals in specialised fields that oversees its projects in the transport, defence and air traffic management industries. This team of 40 also pursues new opportunities in other industries, including consumer goods, energy and utilities, defence and security, and healthcare. “Among all our employees in Malaysia, 19 are local hires. We provide training and our Malaysian employees also visit our headquarters.

Our approach is to send a team consisting of Malaysian and foreign employees to work on a project. This allows them to interact and share their knowledge,” says Gabriel, adding that the local employees have demonstrated a positive attitude and a willingness to work hard.

“Finding and retaining talent is always a difficult task but so far, we have been able to recruit and develop the right talent in Malaysia. The local team is committed to achieving our company’s goals and we appreciate their effort and support when projects become complex and difficult,” he says.

Indra also looks to transfer its skills and expertise to its business partners. The company frequently partners local companies to implement their products and solutions.

“In Malaysia, Indra intends to foster local engagement and we are fully committed to bringing our expertise and knowledge in the industries that we specialise in. We believe in long-term partnerships and the development of joint capabilities, including transfer of technology and knowledge sharing. We always aim to establish mutually beneficial relationships with our partners,” says Gabriel. This collaborative approach can be seen in Indra’s iTEC (interoperability through European collaboration) air traffic management system, which is expected to manage one-third of Europe’s air traffic and generate savings in flight duration, fuel burn and operational cost. Providers of air navigation services from Spain, the UK, Germany, Holland, Norway, Poland and Lithuania are participating in iTEC.

Besides iTEC, many of the company’s highly specialised technical solutions and products are benefiting countries around the world. For example, more than 5,000km of land and sea borders around the world are guarded by systems implemented by Indra. The company has also successfully installed more than 60 surveillance systems for air traffic management, more than 65 air traffic control systems, more than 700 navigation aid systems and several voice communication control systems and advanced surface movement guidance and control systems in Asia.

Among Indra’s bigger projects in this region is the implementation of air traffic control centres in Chengdu and Xian in China. These centres manage air traffic for eight provinces, that is, 4.2 million sq km of airspace or 43% of total airspace in the country. An advanced four-dimensional (consisting of three dimensions and time) flight route track management system, a communication system and a route conflict prediction system were installed in Chengdu’s air traffic control centre to allow real-time management of flights. Indra has also provided the control centre, complete with a traffic fl ow management and control system, in more than 50 airports across five provinces.

“Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, the Philippines and India also use our air traffic management system. We are looking to become a main player in the air traffic management industry in Malaysia and are currently working on some new opportunities in this area. We are continuously looking to explore further collaborations with our local partners,” says Gabriel.

Source: The Edge Malaysia