Capital Efficiency Meets Digital Foresight: Raptee’s Smart Manufacturing Playbook

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“For a startup, capital efficiency is everything. We brought the same frugal innovation we applied in engineering into manufacturing- automating where it matters most and building flexibility around it.” - Dinesh Arjun - Co-Founder & CEO, Raptee.HV

November 2025 : For emerging manufacturers, the journey to smart manufacturing is often shaped as much by capital constraints as by technology ambitions. Mr. Dinesh Arjun, Co-Founder and CEO of Raptee.HV, brought a fresh, startup-driven perspective to the panel on Advanced Factory Management and Optimization, illustrating how digital tools and data-driven planning can level the playing field against capital-rich incumbents.

Raptee is among the first companies in India to manufacture high-voltage battery packs for two-wheelers, a segment with unique technical challenges and heightened safety expectations. “One of the biggest challenges for any startup is capital. As much as I’d like to have a fully automated, state-of-the-art facility, the reality is, we simply can’t afford it,” Mr. Dinesh said. “But we’re competing with incumbents who can set up highly automated plants and supply chains. So our approach had to be different - how to bring frugal innovation from engineering into manufacturing.”

Before setting up physical infrastructure, Raptee leveraged advanced digital design and factory simulation tools largely through India’s Startup India program and partnerships with software providers such as Autodesk and Dassault Systèmes. “We had tools worth over ₹20 crores that helped us map everything - plant layout, operator efficiency, supplier flows, and quality checkpoints before spending a single rupee on the facility,” he explained. This allowed the team to optimize production flows virtually and pre-empt bottlenecks well before operations began.

On the shop floor, Raptee applies a hybrid model a relatively automated battery manufacturing line for precision and safety, paired with a manual vehicle assembly line to keep capital expenditure lean in the early stages. “If you walked into our assembly line today, you might laugh,” he quipped. “But that’s the reality of building in stages—automate where it matters most and build flexibility around it.”

For Raptee, digital tools aren’t an afterthought; they’re foundational to scaling smartly. By front-loading digital investments, the company has built future-ready flexibility into its operations while maintaining capital efficiency.

Mr. Dinesh Arjun shared these insights as a panelist during the 3rd Edition of the ACMA Automotive Smart Manufacturing Think Turf, powered by Pro MFG Media, in a discussion on “Advanced Factory Management and Optimization.”

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