Kindly brief us about your company.
Bohmen Industries was founded in 1979, as a manufacturer of position switching devices, in a market which dominated by large industry leaders then. From its humble origins, today we offer a wide variety of such devices catering to each and every process industry, manufacturing them exclusively at our factory in Bhayander, Thane. Our team is capable of producing approximately 2,50,000 devices a year and this capacity is under augmentation.

What is the USP of your company? How do you contribute to the growth of the Indian manufacturing sector?
Our products have always offered a combination of reliable performance at conservative prices. Over the past five years our brand recall is always on these lines. We believe globally successful industrial products from India are constructed with components that offer these two parameters I have mentioned above.

Could you please share with us information about your new innovations or products/solutions that you have launched in 2022?
We are constantly designing products based on our customers’ requirements and that in itself enhances our catalog as well. We have launched a series of compact precision switches, series BPS, which provides robust alternatives to micro switches in most industries.

How important is branding for your products/solutions? What are your marketing plans for 2023?
Branding is key to being successful in an industrial market where experiential customer loyalty is difficult to shake. Since customers who are machine designers, tend to lock their component list once the performance testing is a success, our recall for any future new designs will only be our brand.

We emphasise on our reliable performance and all our communications suggest how our customers can exactly do that ‘switch’ ‘reliably’ with our brand Bohmen.

What is your mantra for success?
We believe in focusing on our product and its core premise of reliability and frugality.

What are emerging trends in your industry?
Miniaturisation of switching devices is emerging as a de facto necessity for all manufacturers. This is because of a breakdown in the legacy of over specifying a product keeping maintenance and life cycle of plants in mind. Ease of maintenance and replacement is more of a key driver in today’s market.

It is said that to improve competitiveness, it is important to adopt modern manufacturing technologies (like automation, robots, cobots, digital tools, AI, Industry 4.0, 3D printing, etc). What is your take on this?
One cannot deny the fundamental importance of investing in modernisation of our manufacturing practices. MSMEs like us face financing challenges for new age machines. However facilities like 3D printing, messaging platforms and modular ERP softwares have made it economical to streamline our processes and enhance competitiveness.

SMEs are the backbone of India's manufacturing sector. How can we help SMEs to increase their productivity and efficiency? What are your suggestions to the government (union as well as state) to make SMEs stronger?
Government support like priority purchasing from MSME sectors, credit safety rules, subsidies for ancillary services etc are already providing good support. But one cannot extend handholding beyond a point. MSME sector has to up the ante in training personnel towards a professional approach of doing business.

The government is aiming to make India a $5 trillion economy. What is your vision for the Indian manufacturing sector for 2025?
Manufacturing will always be the backbone of any economy as it helps the country to be self-sufficient in several fields, thereby insulating it from global uncertainties. Covid is a prime example. Growth rate is just a number which satisfies statisticians, but what matters is the improvement in the life of the lowermost section of our society, which is dependent on manufacturing sector in a big way.

Solar, defence and water management industries will be sunrise sectors with potentially huge demand and scope.