Shree Manjunath Engineering Precision Tools Pvt Ltd has been serving the cutting tool industry for close to five decades by supplying high-quality products. In this interaction with Rakesh Rao, the company’s Director, Satish Manjunath, sheds light on the trends in the industry and growth plans for his company.

 

How has been the journey of the company since its inception?

Shree Manjunath traces its roots back to 1969 starting as a provider of high quality, precision cutting tool solutions bringing together fragmented supply chains all under one roof.  Supplying superior and reliable products to dozens of diverse markets for close to five decades, we service the cutting tool industry, one customer at a time. This approach allows us to focus our resources in the direction that best suits customer's requirements in a prompt and cost-effective manner through proper planning. 

 

What is the status of cutting tool industry in India? Which end-user industries are the growth drivers of cutting tool market? 

The cutting tool industry is growing albeit not at the rate it should be growing. The growth is a nominal 10-15 per cent, which if handled systematically can see better growth. The aerospace, defense, nuclear, heavy engineering and process equipment sectors are promising growth drivers in the industry.

 

Auto and auto component industry has been witnessing stable growth in the last few months. Is this leading to growth in demand for cutting tools?

Agreed, to some extent there has been growth in the sector, but unfortunately the margins are drastically dropping, which makes it difficult for the cutting tool manufacturers to sustain.

 

Of the two groups of cutting tools manufacturers - HSS (High Speed Steel) and Carbide - which segment is experiencing faster growth? And why? 

The carbide group is seeing better growth, the reason being earlier only conventional machines were in use and HSS was economical as well as easily available. With the economy opening and more CNC machines being commissioned and widely used, carbide becomes a better option not only because of higher and better parameters but also it is easily available.

 

What types of challenges does cutting tool industry face?

The main challenges faced are from small time manufacturers, who are basically ‘fly by night’ operators, with no vision and no long time plans in place and have infrastructure constraints, but willing to work at lower costs, due to which the margins for major players having the requisite infrastructure and technical knowhow are dropping.

 

We have solutions to tooling problems that most companies never tackle. Our principals from across the globe and across varied application industries impart refresher training at regular intervals to our team of engineers that is the reason our engineers can analyse customer’s machining requirements and deliver tooling's specific to their needs. 

 

Do you supply products to all the types of cutting machines?

We are a one stop engineering shop and cater to all types of cutting machines. We are approved premier supplier of tooling’s to most of the major automotive, defense, aerospace and machine tool industries, offering competitive prices and providing unequaled customer care. 

 

Be it large production houses or smaller job shops, we at Shree Manjunath satisfy all our customers with innovative technology, superior quality and valued service. 

 

What are the emerging trends in cutting tools industry?

PCD toolings for aluminum machining at very high parameters to improve productivity in the aerospace industry are the emerging trends.

 

What are your growth plans for Shree Manjunath Engineering?

We plan to have engineers across the country in all the major cities and metros by the end of the year. We have earned our reputation of having fast, reliable deliveries, and we will continue to earn customer’s trust through fast, reliable service, by always providing our customers with superior quality cutting tools at the most competitive prices. 

 

These are the cornerstones on which Shree Manjunath was founded and the cornerstones that will be its foundation in the future.