Suhner’s know-how, products and services support a variety of industries from design to serial production of metal parts with the mission of improving product performance and optimising their manufacturing process. In this interview, Ashok Kocheril, CEO, Suhner India Pvt Ltd, explains the company’s solution-oriented approach to fulfil customers’ needs and plans for IMTEX 2023.

How is your company serving the industry?
Our mission statement – “We bring solutions for the creation of your perfect success-critical metal workpieces and metal component” - clearly articulates how Suhner is serving the manufacturing and machine tools sectors. We have a solution-oriented approach that focuses on removing the pain points of the customer, which is more than providing just products or tools. Our experienced team studies and understands the customer’s requirements and then propose a solution that meets the requirements of the customer.

What types of products/solutions & services do you offer to your customers? What are the USPs of your company?
Suhner has three product verticals that cater to the needs of the machining sector. In our spindle portfolio, we have drilling, milling and tapping spindles that can be configured together to realise complex manufacturing needs in the shortest achievable cycle times. We cater to the needs of varied industries such as automotive, aerospace, oil & gas, energy and engineering. In our tool holder portfolio, we address the needs of the CNC machines ecosystem though our tool holders and driven tools such as angle heads and multi-spindle heads. In our robot portfolio, we provide end effectors for robots that can be used for grinding and polishing of metal components and surfaces together with the electric force compliance system.

The deep understanding that the Suhner team has on machining and metal processing using abrasives, puts us in a unique position of being able to meet almost all the requirement that the metal working industry has.

What is your opinion about the Indian machine tools industry? What kind of opportunities are you looking to tap in India?
Indian machine tools industry is one of the fastest growing industries. The best companies of the world either have a manufacturing set up in India or a strong sales and service network. The home-grown companies are upping their quality levels and offerings to be at par with the rest of the world. The latest technologies in the industry are being made available in India without a time lag as in the past. Increase in the number of discerning customers give Suhner an opportunity to bring solutions portfolio to India which was hitherto in demand only in Europe and America.

How do you intend to tap the automotive industry? What are the growth prospects in these industries, especially when electric vehicles are getting traction?
Automotive and auto components sector is the single largest contributor to our revenue in India. The growth in the sector has been consistent over the years. Our large volume manufacturing and complex profile manufacturing solutions cater to the exacting demands of the industry in terms of low cycle times and tight tolerances. With the onset of electric vehicles (EVs), we foresee demand of different types of components in the EV segment increasing in the two wheelers and four wheelers that replaces many of the internal combustion (IC) engine and diesel engine components.

Which other end-user industries are you looking to tap for future business growth?
Aerospace is an emerging sector in India, and we see the capacity in the segment increasing significantly. With our solutions portfolio, we intend making a significant presence in the market.

Could please elaborate on some of the emerging trends in the machine tool & accessories industry?
We see the number of discerning customers on the rise within the industry. We believe that the use of robots in machining and surface finishing (grinding, deburring and polishing) will increase manifold in the coming years and this is an area that we see opportunities. The next few years could see use of robots in almost all spheres of machining increasing manifold. Suhner, therefore, has launched the robot solutions portfolio, which will be exhibited in our stall at IMTEX 2023.

How are you planning to tap the trend of digitalization/automation in the industry?
Automation is at the core of the solutions portfolio. Our solutions, be it with our spindles portfolio or robot portfolio is focussed towards automating manual operations. This gives the end customer a lower cost per piece which helps enhance his business.

What will be the highlights of Suhner’s stall at IMTEX 2023?
We are launching our Active electrical force compliance system for the first time globally. This is a critical requirement for all grinding and polishing applications using robots.

We are also showcasing our automated abrasive changing system for the end effectors. This ensures that the Robot Cell’s idle time can be minimised significantly, particularly in abrasive grinding and polishing operations. For customers from varied industrial segments who have a grinding problem to be solved using robot, ours is a must visit stall.

What are your growth plans for the company in the coming years?
We are bullish on India, and we will be focusing to increase the footprint our toolholders portfolio to the Indian market in the coming years to take advantage of the machine tool industry’s growth momentum.