...says Andreas Zeiger, CEO, EMAG India Pvt Ltd, which offers CNC metalworking machines from turning to grinding with a machine tool solution for every application.

 

Germany is one of the most important trade partners. What are your views on India as the market?

 

I have lived 12 years in India. In last four years, I am at least 100 days a year here and most important my two kids were born in India. Thus, I am by heart half Indian. With that experience I have to say that in Germany, people still do not know much of India in detail and still live with prejudices. Of course, it is easy to get the latest figures of population and growth rates, but that leads to wrong assumptions about the market and how to work in it.

 

With over one billion people (of which 30% belong to middle class) and a GDP growth rate of 8%, it is easy to calculate the potential and leads to mind bobbling figures. But one has to understand the market, the needs and expectations to succeed. For example, I could talk for hours on issues such as noise, cleanliness, price, service level, skill level of labour, infrastructure, etc. But if you are interested in India and its people, one can support the development and benefit from it because there are still many tasks to master. 

 

Kindly brief us about your company’s business operations in India. Which end-user industries are the main demand drivers for your products and solutions in India?

 

EMAG is a global player in the machine tool business and caters mainly to the automotive industry. With our 150 years of experience starting with turning lathes, we have accumulated more and more technologies like grinding, hobbing, laser welding, induction hardening or electrochemical machining to integrate them into manufacturing systems with the intention to find the best solution to produce precision metal parts.

 

On one hand, our close cooperation with the global OEMs is showing ways to combine the best suiting technologies that are highly integrated to provide complete solutions. On the other hand, for our component manufacturers, we offer beneficial partnerships to share that know how.

 

 Because our systems are customised to the required part specifications, our company in India is focusing on application and design support in cooperation with worldwide knowledge experts to work out beneficial solutions for our customers. We coordinate the production process in our worldwide manufacturing plants and finally take care of the installation, training and after sales service of the machines in India. By that our customers from the automotive component industry can access world class technologies in a sector that is in the exciting transition phase driven by increasing quality demand, emission reduction, globalisation and alternative mobility concepts. 

 

How has been the performance of your company in the country since it was established in India?

 

It is a wide field of topics. First of all, last year we could triple the revenue and generate little profits. Like for lot of other German companies, who started like us 20 years ago, profit making was not normal, but we were here for a long run. As mentioned above we do not produce standard products and the manufacturing is bundled in our three major worldwide hubs and customised in the respective technology plants to use the experience and get benefit from the scale effect. But in R&D and application support, we contribute to the benefit our global sister companies and enjoy a good recognition from our Indian team. Also, in services, our employees empower our international service teams and by regular exchange we add knowledge to the Indian team with each project. New products that we develop for the market in Asia are more flexible, modular standard machines, easy to connect, etc. 

 

On the other side, I am experiencing a rise in customer expectation, which is created by a tough competition fuelled by many players and the limited market. Here price expectation sometimes is not matching with demanded quality. But in a professional partnership with our customers, we find - at the end - often a realistic base.

 

What is driving the demand for your product?

 

Driven by the initiatives of the government and its good worldwide marketing together with the global uncertainty in the mobility concept of the future (therefore needing funds for investment in many directions), I see a new wave of outsourcing coming to India. As price level increases in other supplying countries, India stands to gain. At the same time, there is a strong domestic demand in India.

 

To survive you need products of high quality in large quantities. EMAG can provide support where tolerances are narrow, surfaces are demanding, hard materials are requested and finally different technologies are required to produce a more and more compact and sophisticated part in seconds.

 

Increase in usage of automation is the second demand driver for us. Base machines with built in pick up automation are our standard, modular machine concepts which make interlink hassle-free and automation easy to adopt. EMAG is known for integration of technologies in one machine or creating whole lines to have a trouble free production from the raw part to the finished part. 

 

India has been recognised as raw part supplier since long. As Indian raw part supplying companies grow to become global players, they will add value to the part by machining the parts to produce quality products and deliver them directly to the OEMs worldwide. That is the right way for the country and EMAG is fully geared up to support this trend.

 

What are the key challenges and opportunities for your company in India?

 

For me the challenge and opportunity is actually the same. Indian customers are price sensitive. Beneficial partnership is blocked because customers start from the first minute of the contact with the negotiation and sometimes never end even after the delivery. But the same price fight this time from their customers is leading to openness to discuss technologies and automation and in that professional partnership a mutual benefit can be developed on a higher quality level for the company and the country.

 

What are the emerging trends in your industry?

 

Here I do not have to elaborate much; the topic of e-mobility is been discussed by all stakeholders. Besides, I want to mention the buzz word Industry 4.0, which has many facets starting from design, manufacturing to service. Here, India can benefit from its lead position in IT and design. And hopefully sustainability and global environmental topics should gain prominence over the short-sighted objective of profit making. 

 

Message to the government:

Please continue the effort to make a corruption free, clean country.  The industry is ready to support if playground for easy business is set. The education of the young generation is the key to create that wonderful India, where the values are respected more than money and egoistic pleasure. There should be a global view on learning and support without nationalistic or religious borders.

 

For details, contact on email: info@india.emag.com or visit www.emag.com