Dr. P.V. Kandachar (Prahbu)

Professor Reliability & Durability
Industrial Design Engineering   

Biography

Prabhu Kandachar is Professor of Industrial Design Engineering with focus on Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Technology and Chairman of the Department of Design Engineering, at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE), Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.
He is born and fully educated in India. He received his B.E. degree (Bachelor of Engineering) in Mechanical Engineering at the Mysore University in 1966. Following this he obtained his M.E. degree (Master of Engineering) in 1968 at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.  He continued his educational and research career at the same institute to obtain his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. From thereon, he moved to The Netherlands.
His career at The Netherlands started at the Delft University of Technology, Delft, in 1975, with the Materials Science and Technology department.  During a period of 5 years at Delft, he worked on environmentally friendly technologies for processing of aluminium. During this phase, he also got an opportunity to develop an affordable product for the foundry industry in Venezuela. In 1980, he joined the famous Dutch Aerospace company: Fokker Aerospace, at Schiphol, near Amsterdam. He worked there for 15 years, in various technical & management positions. Also during this phase, the search for and application of environmentally friendly materials and processes, such as aerospace adhesives and paints, demanded his attention. In 1995, he returned back to Delft, but this time to Industrial Design Engineering (IDE).
His teaching and research interests at IDE are focussed on concretizing design ideas and concepts to artefacts. Also termed Embodiment Design, his attention in this phase of the design process is, among others on, materials and manufacturing technology related to product design, integrating technology and materials selection in design, etc.
Additionally he is also extensively involved in designing products & services for the emerging markets, with many action oriented projects in the last few years. Issues covered include water, healthcare, energy, housing, etc in countries like India, Indonesia, China, Brazil, Ghana, Tanzania, Honduras, Philippines, Pakistan, Madagascar, etc. He is currently directing research work on development of products & services on some healthcare issues of developing countries, including rural China and rural India. He has given several keynote lectures on this topic. He is also involved in research on ethical aspects of product development for developing countries. He has about 90 publications on his work.
Recently together with Professor Minna Halme of Helsinki School of Economics, he organized a conference at Helsinki on BoP, Sept. 26-27, 2008: Sustainable Innovations at the Base of the Pyramid ( http://www.hse.fi/bop ). During this conference a book was launched: Sustainability Challenges and Solutions at the Base-of-the-Pyramid: Business, Technology and the Poor edited by Prabhu Kandachar and Minna Halme, published by Greenleaf: http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=2759

Education

• Born (15 May 1946), grown up and educated in India. Graduated as Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering) in 1966 and as Master of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering, specialisation: Applied Metallurgy and Materials) in 1968, The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
• Between 1968 and 1974, had both teaching (Materials Science & Engineering) and research tasks.  Research in the same field at Indian Institute of Science, till 1974, led to the award of the Ph.D degree in 1977.
• Moved over to the Delft University of Technology (Department of Materials Technology), The Netherlands, in 1974 and carried out research in the field of applied materials technology. Being interested in environmental sustainability, this stage gave an opportunity to conduct research on recycling technologies of aluminium (1976-80).

Experience

• Accepted a position at the Fokker Aircraft in 1980, a reputed aircraft designer & manufacturer in The Netherlands. Till 1995, fulfilled various management positions, among others as head of the Department of Materials & Manufacturing Technology, which was responsible for R&D in the areas of Metals, Composites, Adhesives, Component design, Manufacturing & Inspection Technologies. Environmental sustainability was also part of the job during this period, health and safety aspects of factory workers during adhesive bonding, painting, machining of composites, etc required laboratory investigations and feedback to materials selection of aircraft component design. The management tasks included contribution to company policy development & execution; managing 60 to 100 academic specialists conducting scientific and applied research; bridging the link between marketing, research, design & production; international co-operation in this field (Europe, USA).
• In 1995, moved back to Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, as Associate Professor, educating design-engineering students and graduates in the area of Embodiment Design, with special emphasis on Materials & Manufacturing Technology and Materials Selection during Design. During this process, was responsible for continuous development of the curriculum and for introducing a new course in 1997: Materialiseren, which integrated the then two separate courses Materials & Manufacturing Technology.  Was responsible for further development and for introducing in 2004 a new course Advanced Products. This course emphasizes the technology component of product design and is executed in co-operation with (Dutch) entrepreneurs.
• Advanced Products also gave opportunities to explore Base-of-the-Pyramid (BoP) as many (Dutch) entrepreneurs expressed interest in exploring these new emerging markets.

Languages                

Fluent in Kannada (a local Indian language), English and Dutch. Passive knowledge of Hindi, which is a major language in India.

National Management Positions

• Plastic & Rubber Institute (TNO), Delft, The Netherlands, as Member, Scientific Advisory Council (till the end of 1993).
• The National Aerospace Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, as Member, Scientific Advisory Commission on Aerospace Materials (till the end of 1994).
• Aluminium Centre, Woerden, The Netherlands, as Member, Committee on Industrial Research (till the end of 1994).
• The Dutch Industrial Platform on Metals (IPM), Zoetermeer, The Netherlands, as Vice Chairman (till the end of 1994).
• The Dutch National Research Programme on Metals, as Member, Scientific & Management Board (till the end of 1994)

(Inter)National Initiatives

• Technology for Care – An activity in co-operation with Hogeschool Rotterdam to design, develop, produce and market products for medical care sector.
• Exploring the possibility of organizing Dutch contribution to UN Resolution (61/189)on International Year of Natural Fibres 2009 – a contribution towards Millennium Development Goals.
• Exploring co-operation with the Base-of-the-Pyramid Lab being set up by Tilburgh University, The Netherlands.
• Exploring co-operation with the Base-of-the-Pyramid Lab, Argentina.
• Editor, "Greener Management International (GMI)” special issue on Base of the Pyramid, released in June 2007 coinciding with GIN 2007 [The Greening of Industry Network] conference in Canada (June 15-17, 2007). Publisher: Greenleaf Publishing, UK.
• Editor (co-editor: Professor Minna Halme, Helsinki School of Economics), a book on Base of the Pyramid, with contributions from specialists all over the world, to be released in September 2008. Publisher: Greenleaf Publishing, UK.

Specialisation / field of research

1. Exploring the possibilities of renewable materials like biopolymers to design load carrying products for consumer use. (Ambition project, till 2003)
2. Exploring the possibilities of renewable materials (like biopolymers, natural fibres, bio-composites, etc) in the design components for a lightweight and an affordable automobile to save energy and material. (DIOC project, till 2004)
3. Exploring the possibilities of waste paper in design of products meant for packaging of consumer goods. (Ambition project, till 2003)
4. Materials Selection during Design (till 2007/2008)
5. Meaning of Materials (till 2007/2008)
6. Faculty Research Programme: Human Centred Design, Sub-programma Leader: Engineering Design with New Materials

Lectures and/or coaches students on:

Mr Kandachar supervises final years Masters students during their graduation thesis work; supervising PhD students during their thesis work; research policy formulation for the Faculty; strategy formulation of IDE and departmental management tasks.

Publications

Click here for an overview of my publications.