Netherlands-based, ‘The Odournet Group’ started its business operations in India two years back. Odournet India recently inaugurated its laboratory in Goa. It is equipped with the latest technology to perform odour sensory evaluation and provide basic odour testing facilities to industries. The new facility will help in reducing the operational costs by more than 50 per cent. Rajal Shinkre, Director-Business Development and Operations, Odournet India reveals her company’s future plans, to Usha Sharma
It has been two years since Odournet set up its office in India. Tell us about your learning experiences.
Odour management and measurement is a new technology in India. In the absence of odour regulations in India, industries with odour issues are not willing to spend on odour specialist services unless it is an internal proactive improvement process or if there is community or political pressure on the industry. Companies that manufacture products and materials, for which odour is the final determinant in the product, are willing to invest resources to perform evaluation of their products whether it is for product development or optimisation or for claim support.
While we have spent much time in creating awareness about our services and our company, we managed to make inroads in the Indian market and have already completed numerous projects in the environmental sector and in the product and material testing sector. We receive plenty of queries about our services and products. However, in India we find that converting a query to a project can take months or even close to a year due to administrative reasons.
What kind of services do you offer to the pharma industry? Who are your clients?
The pharma industry can be catered to in four distinct areas. The first being the evaluation and remediation of the environmental impact caused by production and specially waste water treatment plants. The second area is the evaluation of not only their products for odours, may they be desired or undesired, but also the packaging material. This promotes the clients’ perception of quality once in contact with the product. The third area is the training of in-house capabilities to execute the odour evaluation of their products. And the fourth being sale of equipment for sampling and measuring odour so as to enable building in-house odour evaluation capabilities.
In the pharma industry, what kind of odour is generated in manufacturing facilities and while conducting research activities? What applications do you offer?
The main environmental impacting sources of odour evaluated so far are related to waste water treatment plants and zero discharge systems. In most cases no equipment or installations are required, simple operational and maintenance changes are sufficient to solve the undesired odour emissions. If necessary, however, we can provide case specific solutions.
What is the USP of your product, Odourmap?
Odourmap is the only tool available in India for authorities and industries to come in contact with the community to understand the impact of odour emissions from industrial units. This can negate any kind of foul play or false allegations from the community for personal gains. The idea is to facilitate direct communication between all parties (Community, Industry and PCBs) in order to reduce stress between them and provide the community with the certainty that they are being heard. Moreover, it is a user-friendly application that allows the community to lodge a complaint by making a mere call from the landline. Of course those who are computer-savvy can lodge complaints online.
The Odourmap has various modules – web-based, phone-based and app-based.
Odournet has recently opened its odour testing laboratory facility in Goa. Tell us more about the facility?
The laboratory in Goa was implemented with the goal of performing all types of odour sensory evaluation. Our laboratory is equipped with the latest technology to perform odour sensory evaluation using the Olfactometer, the PureSniff device and presentation booths. Sensory evaluation gives better results in terms of odour evaluation than molecular analysis, and is a cheaper solution. However, if molecular analysis is desired we can rely on our centre of expertise located in Barcelona for in-depth high-resolution testing with GCO and more. While our sampling technician can collect odour samples from the source, environmental agencies and labs can send odour samples to our lab for analysis and we can provide the data to them.
Earlier the company used to procure technologies/ applications from its global offices. After the inauguration of the Goa centre, will you be able to serve your clients better with cost effective measures?
The aim of starting a laboratory in India is precisely to provide Odournet’s services to the Indian markets at a much lower price without altering the quality of these services and applications. The operational costs decreased more than 50 per cent after the implementation of the lab.
The company is planning to work with different state pollution control boards. Can you put some light on the same? Which state pollution control boards will get associated with the company and why?
The State Pollution Control Boards have the mandate of regulating pollution from Industries. In the absence of national regulations for odour assessment and control in India, the PCBs rely on the Air Pollution Control Act to make sure that Industries are compliant. We have organised seminars on Odour Assessment and Control in India in association with the State PCBs including the Goa State Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Pollution Control Board and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. We have presented our services to numerous other PCBs including Maharashtra and Telangana and the CPCB, interacted with officials from PCBs at events and exhibitions in India.
We are in talks with the CPCB, which is taking up the matter of framing regulations for odour in India. Odournet is a major player in framing regulations for odour worldwide.
What are the marketing strategies chalked out for Odourmap. How does the app work and how beneficial will it be for the pharma sector?
We wish to launch the Odourmap in India and have already begun discussions with the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, as Gujarat is a highly industrialised belt of India. We will be providing a demo of the Odourmap so that they can understand the applications and usefulness of it. Once launched, we will then extend the opportunity to other PCBs and municipalities.
Odourmap from the industry point of view exists to create direct access to community’s perception. The idea is for you (Pharma Industry) to know what the population is saying before it gets to the ears of regulatory agencies, so you can act before bigger consequences. Odourmap is tied to weather stations and with this information you can prove you are not the culprit for odour complaints, if that’s the case. It is especially beneficial for industry clusters, where finger pointing is a daily sport.
Tell us about the company’s corporate plans.
The company is presently in its infancy and consists of a small team. In spite of the challenges faced by ‘start-ups’, Odournet India has been able to make a mark in the Indian market. Odournet India is also the arm of Odournet that serves the Asian market.
We have plans to diversify into the field of food sensory testing, and also focus on product and material testing especially in the FMCG and pharma sector, while continuing to assist industries that have environmental odour issue. By starting the first-of-its-kind odour laboratory in India, we have completed yet another milestone in our second year of operations in India. Odournet India intends not only to provide basic odour testing facilities but also to understand the needs of the Indian industries for odour and other sensory requirements, and be in a constant endeavour to cater to these needs and regularly upgrade the laboratory based on these needs.
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