The market of precision parts is expanding since several years with more and more sectors and industries flourishing in India. While automobiles and aeronautical industries are major consumers of precision parts, demand is also growing from other sectors. Seeing this tremendous potential, RUJ & SRM Mechanics Pvt Ltd (RS India) forayed into India by establishing a plant to manufacture precision parts and components. Government’s impetus to promote foreign investments and India being one of world’s favorite investment destination in manufacturing sector motivated RUJ Group to invest in India, says Jayant Joshi, Managing Director, RUJ & SRM Mechanics Pvt. Ltd. In this interview with Rakesh Rao, he highlights the factors driving the demand for precision parts and how RS India is aiming to fulfill this need through its high-tech manufacturing plant.

 

How is RUJ & SRM Mechanics Pvt Ltd serving its customers?

Incorporated on June 10, 2016, RUJ & SRM Mechanics Pvt Ltd (RS India) is a joint venture between SRM AG in Switzerland which is also a knowledge partner of RS India. Formed with an objective to introduce precision manufacturing and create employment opportunities for the talent pool in India, RS India is a brainchild of Dr Rajendra Kumar Joshi, an 85-year-old social entrepreneur who believes that consistent hardwork and exploring the true potential with sheer dedication would make every individual’s dream come true. An Indian born Swiss resident, Dr Rajendra Joshi’s dream was to contribute to his motherland by creating employment opportunities and making the youth in India independent and capable by skilling them. Contributing to the society through education, creation of employment by establishing organisations that could generate them, improvising the social fabric by setting up world class infrastructure has been the key contributions made by Dr R K Joshi. 

 

RS India is incorporated to offer consultation and solutions in precision machining and manufacturing of precision parts, metal anodizing, galvanic, painting and heat treatment, assembling, and quality. RUJ & SRM Mechanics produces high quality precision parts from small to midsize dimensions and quantities, pre-assembled and tested components etc. RS India’s Jaipur plant conducts manufacturing processes and techniques like milling, turning, Swiss style lathe and turning, surface grinding, cylindrical grinding, punching, laser cutting, heat treatment, anodizing, plating, powder coating, etc.

 

The company had begun its operations in July 2018 and has been manufacturing precision parts and components, where 99 per cent of its produce is exported to its partner SRM AG in Switzerland. The company will cater to the Indian market with the sole objective of forming partners in India and offer solutions and consultations to them on precision manufacturing.  

 

In March 2018, RUJ Group inaugurated a Swiss precision & assembly plant in Jaipur. What is the significance of this move? Also, which industries will be catered to by this plant?

RS India believes that the manufacturing sector is thriving in India and is one of the driving forces of the Indian economy. In the domestic and international machine industry, opportunities exist in many sectors to supply parts and components. However, there 

has been a huge dependence of Indian companies on importing precision parts and components from countries abroad as most of the domestic players could not cater to this demand. 

 

Understanding this gap and the need to serve the domestic players with quality precision parts and components and reduce their reliability on imports, RS India had an aim to manufacture precision parts and components here in India with its knowledge partner SRM AG in Switzerland. RS India has installed high-end machines imported from Austria, Germany and Switzerland to produce high precision machined parts and components and offer the best quality and durability of their products. 

 

The main objective of RS India is to become the international partner of MNCs and other Indian companies offering them solutions and consultations on precision manufacturing and precision machining. The company can cater to the requirements of various companies including Indian manufacturers, suppliers and vendors with no restriction to serve a specific sector. 

 

At Indian production facility in Jaipur, the company offers manufacturing solutions to the sectors like automotive, polymechanical, machine automation, aerospace and many more. The company has a clean room facility in its premises that can offer the assembling of medical devices and components and offers all solutions from surface treatment/ galvanic, heat treatment, precision machining, assembly, quality 

and painting.   

 

What motivated RUJ Group to invest in this plant?

The Indian fabric is improvising and has developed over the years. Positive changes brought in the Indian economy coupled with a huge young talent pool in the country has shifted the limelight from other nations to India.

 

Over the years with great observation and travel summed with experience and know-how, Dr R K Joshi a veteran scientist turned a social entrepreneur saw tremendous scope in India and always wished to contribute to his motherland. 

 

The reliance of many domestic industries to import precision parts from European countries, primarily due to the standardised nature and good quality; pushed Dr Joshi to think over if these precision parts could be made available in India itself. He also realised that there 

is a tremendous need to refurbish and create a good supply chain model in India, replicating the European model of supply chain and its management. 

 

He was also thoroughly inspired by the Swiss model of skilling individuals by training students and candidates at scholastic level to make them aware on the line of business that they would want to opt for when they grow up, giving them a perfect picture on the industry or the business they would wish to be a part of. This idea not only makes the individual more responsible towards his job, but he/she perfectly fits the role going forward, making the individual more successful in future. 

 

Taking a cue from all these aspects and the ‘Make in India’ mission introduced in India, Dr Joshi realised the country has immense talent and scope to make this dream come true, thereby decided to invest in India by launching RUJ & SRM Mechanics Pvt Ltd through a JV with SRM AG in Switzerland. 

 

How will collaboration with Swiss firm SRM AG benefit RUJ Group? 

Swiss-based SRM Technologies is aligned to apportion its 30 years of rich experience in the manufacturing of mechanical components and devices. It plans to bring the broad spectrum of various production techniques with a capability of producing all mechanical components in-house, from prototypes to large scale productions. RS India also invests on its employees and believes that precision cannot be brought in 

unless the manpower has been trained. The company sends most of its employees to its partner in SRM AG in Switzerland to receive training on how to function and handle specific machineries. 

 

Currently, RS India exports 99 per cent of its production to SRM AG and plans to cater to those MNCs in India who have a requirement of precision parts and products. RS India through this joint-venture aims to become an extended workbench for these MNCs and be an international partner to them, offering to manufacture precision parts and components.  

 

How is the demand for high precision parts in India? Is there enough manufacturing capacity in India to meet the domestic requirements of high precision metal parts or are we still dependent on imports for such parts? 

The demand for precision parts is every increasing since several years with more and more sectors and industries flourishing in India. The manufacturing sector of India has the potential to reach $ 1 trillion by 2025 and India is expected to rank amongst the top three growth economies and manufacturing destination of the world by 2020. Government’s impetus to promote foreign investments and India being one of world’s favorite investment destination in manufacturing sector (where several mobile phone, luxury and automobile brands, among other manufacturers, have set up or are looking to establish their manufacturing bases in the country) motivated RUJ Group to invest in 

RS India. 

 

The manufacturing capacity in India is segregated as per the volumes in specific sectors. The demand seen in automobiles and aeronautical sectors is a bit higher than the other sectors. However, one cannot rule out the possibility of the demand of precision parts and components in multiple sectors which is why RS India sees tremendous potential. 

 

Companies who support trade for international partners sense a huge demand of precision parts and components. RS India would like to be the extended workbench for these companies. RS India’s objective is to offer customised or tailor made solutions as per international standards for the MNCs who are seeking to get good quality products matching upto the European standards here in India. RS India would like to be the international partner for such companies. 

 

What are the challenges faced by precision part manufacturers in India? How can we overcome these hurdles?

There are many hindrances, however, the success of precision manufacturing industries can be determined by the following factors:

Skilled workforce: No matter how advanced your machines may be, they still need to be programmed by your people.  Their quality, accuracy and overall productivity depends upon the skill of the person operating the machine as he must have pre-defined knowledge before, he begins to work on a machine. Reskilling the workforce in regular intervals determines how well the workforce handles day-to-day challenges in production and keep them in-sync with industry trends. Training workforce to know what can be delivered as an output from a machine is also an important aspect in ‘Precision Manufacturing’.

 

Customer satisfaction: Precision industry usually follows zero-rejection policy to ensure that customer gets what they desired. This, in turn, is a deciding factor which justifies the level of workmanship and machining. Just imagine if a company must import a certain pricy part from a distant country just because of quality, this highlights the importance of maintaining quality and not just delivering output.

 

Knowledge of machining markets: Ultimately what is important is to keep abreast of trends in markets whether it is with use of different machines, new machines, skill or reskilling requirements of the workforce are some of the decisive factors in the success of any precision manufacturing industry.

 

Lean Manufacturing- minimising cost: Minimising stock means utilizing raw materials in a defined time frame and not increasing the cost of production which is an important aspect of precision manufacturing.

 

Focus on core business area: Many manufacturers in the country prefer conducting all lines of businesses including hardening, turning, milling, grinding etc. under one roof. ‘Precision Manufacturing’ demands to have a core business area not only to improve flexibility in working conditions but deliver quality over just massive output.

 

Transportation, handling and packaging: Precision manufacturing begins with proper transportation, handling, packaging and diligent measurement of raw materials. Damage caused to the raw materials can be a possible cause of an increase in scrap giving rise to the overall cost of machining the product to make it more suitable before manufacturing. Precision manufacturing, therefore, requires vigilance at all levels and processes 

 

Precision manufacturing is setting an example to whole manufacturing industry where in order to remain competitive, industries will need to integrate a high level of traceability of variations, skilling and reskilling of workforce and inclusion of latest technologies from around the globe put together to bring about the final product to be identical.

 

Is government's Make in India initiative leading to rise in demand for precision metal parts?

Yes, absolutely with government’s Make in India Initiative, many leading manufacturers from different domains are looking to set up or have already set up manufacturing facilities in India.  With JVs like RUJ & SRM Mechanics, many world-class manufacturers have also entered in Indian market which in turn has raised quality standards for precision metal parts in the country.  Some of such companies in India are TAL Manufacturing in JV with Heller (Germany), RS India in JV with SRM Mechanics AG, UCAM Bangalore in JV with Rosa Ermando, etc. Indian manufacturers are now also capable to serve import demands from Indian markets which earlier used to go to other countries.  

 

What are your growth plans for RUJ & SRM Mechanics Pvt Ltd?

RS India would like to partner with various manufacturers and Indian companies to offer solutions. It intends to take a step forward by showcasing its capabilities in India to the potential clientele.

 

The company has a huge land bank which can be further utilised to add on more lines and increase its capacity. RS India plant promises 5600 MT per annum production and aims at generating employment for 250 workers. The company intends to export its major portion of its production and to explore the domestic market.