Littelfuse offers everything from Circuit Protection to Sensors to Power Semiconductors

Littelfuse founded in 1927 started its journey from a protective fuse but during the last few years, it has evolved into many diverse areas right from circuit protection to sensors and power electronics. The company has a global presence in more than 15 countries, and serves over 100,000 end customers, in a variety of industrial, transportation and electronics end markets. Our editor Ms Pratibha Rawat has a candid interview at electronica India, with Dr Boris Golubovic – Vice President of Marketing and Strategy for the Electronics Business in which he shares Littelfuse growing portfolio, recent acquisition and the Indian electronics market.

Littelfuse started as a circuit protection device manufacturer and now in recent years, it has entered into power semiconductors. What is the strategy of the company and will it add more portfolio?

Dr.Boris Golubovic: Entering into the power semiconductor business is part of our strategy to evolve as a company. Littelfuse started with fuses and we expanded to circuit protection, sensing, semiconductor protection devices and now to power semiconductors. It is just part of the evolution of helping our customers by making their products more safer, reliable, and protected.

Littelfuse’s strategy is to continue to innovate and develop devices, and acquisition is also part of our deliberate strategy. We plan to continue with the strategy of expanding our offering to our customers and helping them to solve their problems more effectively.

What values do C&K Switches and Embed acquisition add to the company as C&K is electromechanical and Embed is software related?

Dr. Boris Golubovic: It is about our customers rather than Littelfuse itself. Safety, efficiency and connected devices are among the most important parameters for our customers. We look at customers’ needs when we make an addition to our portfolio.

Switches are very close to input and output devices and the first point of contact for customers. Littelfuse protects such devices, so C&K is a good match for serving our customers to provide good solutions and it also complements the new technology.

Embed is a very important acquisition because the world is shifting towards e-mobility and digitisation and thus to electronics. We can serve a customer in this direction. So embedded software is another technical capability we are adding to our devices.

In power semiconductors what is the major focus of Littelfuse?

Dr. Boris Golubovic: We are serving our customers with technology that matches their needs, as a company, we evaluate what is appropriate and what is best for customers.

What marketing strategy Littelfuse has for India and the rest?

Dr. Boris Golubovic : Littelfuse is rapidly evolving, our customer interaction became much more digital and we have expanded our digital presence via our website and through our partners. We have a very strong distribution network. We continue to expand the process of digital interaction through our website, through our partner’s website. We are also seeing such progress in India as more customers are comfortable with video conferencing and at the same time, we are also resuming in-personal interaction and meetings that we missed over 3 years.

How Littelfuse sees growth in India?

Dr. Boris Golubovic : Personally, India has a very dynamic area. I travel twice a year to India to see customers and this is my second time already. It’s a great place for innovation, not just in terms of products and services targeted to India but for the rest of the world. With more investment in semiconductors, renewable and e-mobility, we see more reasons to visit and work with companies in India.

What Littelfuse has to offer to the Indian market? In the realm of Mobile phones, 5G, EV etc

Dr. Boris Golubovic : We have been protecting Mobile devices for many years with a lithium-ion battery and we hope to continue the same, as the industry grows in India.  5G is an evolution of communication infrastructure we tend to continue to contribute to 5G evolution as we are not just spread into consumer areas but also serve industrial. From Littelfuse’s perspective, we continue to channel some of our basic circuit protection technology as more devices are connected, and open and need to be protected.

India has been at the forefront of Light mobility. We see a lot of innovation and a lot of small companies and entrepreneurs working towards it. India is approaching EVs from its angle. In North America and China traction is more towards passenger vehicles and in India, we see that traction from the smaller vehicle to passengers. We are curious, about how that will converge in a unique solution to move India more efficiently.

What is the major technology that will drive the future?

Dr. Boris Golubovic : I wish I could know the answers! The drive towards electrical and more efficiency across all segments of our life is something going to stay for a long. E-mobility is very hot right now. The next generation will see electrifying buildings, perhaps office buildings will see further electrification as in Europe. A lot of drive-ins replacing combustion fuel in heating as the world will move towards the zero-carbon goal.  We are going to see more sustainability through renewable energy and EVs and Electrifying buildings. The change is still to come to make the world more sustainable.

Any message to Indian customers?

Dr. Boris Golubovic : We are a company that maintains a very passionate connection to the technical community and we learn with our customers, we are proud to be always in front of innovation they help us to work better.

 We provide products and solutions to a very diverse area, right from protection to sensing.  The world is going to be digital and as a hardware company, we are ready for it.