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India is a key pillar of Feintool’s growth strategy: Tobias Gries
Articles- Jul 27,26
In this interview with Rakesh Rao, Tobias Gries, Managing Director India, Feintool System Parts India Pvt Ltd, shares insights on Feintool’s growth strategy, technology roadmap and long-term vision for India.
Founded in 1959, the Switzerland-headquartered Feintool has grown to become the world's leading fineblanker and tool manufacturer with 18 production plants in three continents.
Recently, the company opened its manufacturing facility in Pune to support automotive and industrial sectors with advanced manufacturing technologies. In this interview with Rakesh Rao, Tobias Gries, Managing Director India, Feintool System Parts India Pvt Ltd, shares insights on Feintool’s growth strategy, technology roadmap and long-term vision for India.
Feintool operates across fineblanking, cold forming and e-lamination stamping. Could you briefly explain your core competencies and the key industries you serve globally?
Feintool is an international technology and market leader in electrolamination stamping, fineblanking, and forming. We manufacture high-quality precision parts in large volumes from steel. We supply the automotive industry, energy infrastructure equipment providers and a wide range of high-end industrial manufacturers. Feintool’s portfolio complements the megatrends for renewable energy generation, storage, and usage.
Our core technologies deliver measurable cost-efficiency, consistent quality, and improved productivity. Feintool continuously expands the capabilities of its production methods and develops intelligent solutions, innovative tools, and state-of-the-art manufacturing processes in line with customer needs.
Founded in 1959 and headquartered in Switzerland, the company has 18 production sites, 2,851 employees and 89 vocational trainees in Europe, the USA, China, Japan and India. Furthermore, Feintool is publicly listed at the Swiss stock exchange and majority-owned by the Artemis Group.
Feintool’s first production facility in Pune marks a major milestone. How does this facility support the company’s ‘local-for-local’ strategy and strengthen its presence in Asia?
The Pune facility is a perfect example of Feintool’s “local-for-local” strategy. By manufacturing in India for customers in India and the region, we can respond faster, collaborate more closely, and provide the reliability our customers expect, while still leveraging Feintool’s global technological expertise. This gives us the advantage of being more agile and resilient in responding to geopolitical developments.
Operationally, the Pune facility brings our core competencies much closer to one of the world’s most dynamic industrial markets. India has become the world's third-largest automotive market and is rapidly emerging as a major manufacturing and export hub. For us, India’s automotive and engineering sectors have reached a level of maturity that justifies the localisation of highly specialised manufacturing technologies, starting with fineblanking today and expanding into forming, e-motor cores, and hydrogen technologies in the future.
The investment reflects a strong commitment to India. As our CEO, Lars Reich, stated during the inauguration: “This is more than an industrial investment—it is a strong signal of confidence in India’s industrial maturity.” It also reinforces Feintool’s long-term growth ambitions in Asia, complementing our well-established operations in Japan and China and further strengthening our regional footprint. The Pune facility creates a third pillar for Feintool in Asia and is intended to be developed through close collaboration across the region.
India is now the world’s third-largest automotive market. How important is India within Feintool’s global growth strategy, and how do you see its role evolving over the next decade?
For Feintool, India is not just another market - it is one of the most important long-term growth opportunities within our global portfolio. The country combines a rapidly expanding automotive sector, increasing industrialisation and a growing role as a global manufacturing hub. Our Pune facility enables us to serve customers locally while bringing Feintool’s global technology expertise into the market.
Over the next decade, we expect Feintool India to evolve from a fineblanking operation into a broader technology hub covering cold forming applications for lightweight drivetrain components, e-motor cores for electric motors, and hydrogen applications for fuel cells and electrolysers. Beyond serving the Indian market, we see India becoming an increasingly important contributor to Feintool’s Asian footprint and global supply network. Beyond the investment itself, India provides access to a highly qualified talent base that complements Feintool’s global operations.
Feintool has started production of fineblanked automotive seating components in India. How is the ramp-up progressing, and what are your near-term capacity expansion plans?
We have started ramping up production of fineblanked automotive seating system components as we have secured our first major seat-recliner program. The order comes from a long-standing customer relationship that dates back to Feintool's early expansion in China.
In addition, we are very close to concluding agreements with additional long-standing customers for similar manual and power recliners, utilising our initially planned presses faster than expected. As we are also anticipating a massive trend towards automatic and hybrid transmissions in India, we are getting ready for the technology transfer of fineblanking applications such as clutch discs, parking pawls, rooster combs or end plates.
Moreover, we have already received the investment approval for a 1600t cold forming transfer press, with a 6-meter table, bringing our forming capabilities to India. This will allow us to deliver high-end, lightweight hubs and carries for Automatic Transmissions (AT), Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT), and Hybrid Transmissions at very competitive prices, being one of the first major players locally here in India.
Our constructed production facility will allow us to accommodate up to 8 fineblanking presses (depending on the size) and one 1,600-tonne forming Press. Nevertheless, we have secured space for an additional 6,000 sq m shop floor expansion, making sure all our technologies will find space under one roof.
Beyond conventional automotive applications, Feintool is entering areas such as e-motor cores and hydrogen technologies. Which emerging segments in India offer the greatest opportunities?
Beyond conventional automotive, I am particularly excited about three areas.
In the near term, as just stated earlier, advanced forming technologies for hybrid and transmission applications offer significant opportunities as India's automotive industry continues to grow.
Looking slightly further ahead, e-motor cores are especially attractive because they support not only electric vehicles but also industrial automation, HVAC systems and other electrification trends. Here, Feintool's advantage is our in-house developed and patented glueing technology glulock®, which enhances the performance of high-end motor applications. These could be used in automotive main drives as well as cooling fans in data centres, for example.
Finally, hydrogen remains a very promising long-term opportunity, as India also wants to become a leading nation when it comes to green hydrogen. Feintool is ready to offer metallic bipolar plates for fuel cells and electrolysers in proven mass-manufacturing quality, with homogeneous channel heights, square channel structures, small radii and superior flatness.
While the market for metallic plates is still in an early phase of development, Feintool is actively engaging with local universities, research institutes and industry partners. Feintool India will also benefit from technological expertise and production experience gained through our established operations in China and Europe, which will accelerate the technology transfer to Pune.
How is Feintool responding to trends such as electrification, lightweighting and stricter emission norms, and how is the Pune facility positioned to support these developments?
Feintool is responding to these industry megatrends by aligning our technology roadmap with the evolution of powertrains, vehicle efficiency requirements, and emerging energy systems— rather than focusing on a single propulsion technology.
As outlined earlier, the Pune plant was deliberately designed as a scalable technology platform rather than a single-process factory, bringing all our technologies together under one manufacturing ecosystem.
In the field of electrification, Feintool’s portfolio includes rotor and stator production—the core components of electric motors. The Pune facility is expected to become an integral part of Feintool’s global manufacturing network for these products, supporting the future market demand in the region. Feintool's proprietary glulock® stacking technology enables high-performance motor cores with improved electromagnetic efficiency and compact designs, supporting applications ranging from EV traction motors to industrial automation and HVAC systems.
Importantly, we see electrification as broader than passenger EVs. With opportunities in industrial automation, HVAC systems, data-center cooling motors, and other electrified applications, we are providing a diversified growth path beyond automotive cycles.
Lightweighting is addressed primarily through our cold forming technology, as we produce highly complex steel components without machining or heating, enabling lighter alternatives to traditional cast and forged parts. Additionally, our advanced fineblanking technology helps manufacture more complex, smaller seating applications to reduce overall component weight.
Tighter emissions norms are supported by our multiple low-emissions pathways: Hybrid and automatic transmission components, electric motor components, and hydrogen technologies.
What is Feintool’s long-term vision for India in terms of capacity expansion, local partnerships, talent development and market growth?
In summary, Feintool's vision for India is to transform Pune from a start-up fineblanking operation in 2026 into a fully integrated technology centre covering Fineblanking, Cold Forming, E-Motor Core production, and FEINforming for hydrogen applications, while simultaneously becoming:
- A major manufacturing base for India and export markets
- A strategic partner for global and local automotive customers
- A key source of skilled engineering and manufacturing talent for the Feintool Group
- A cornerstone of Feintool's long-term growth strategy in Asia
Feintool India
Tobias Gries
machine tools
fineblanking technology
cold forming
e-motor cores
automotive manufacturing
electrification
machine tones
lightweighting
hydrogen technology
precision components
Rakesh Rao
Pune manufacturing facility
Switzerland
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