A V Srinivasan, CEO Meiban Engineering Technologies Pvt Ltd, responded to the IPF Questionnaire. Excerpts...

What are the products you are bringing at IMTEX 2017?

Three-spindle automated turning line along with MW 40 and MW 180, which are twin spindle turning machines with gantry loader. We are launching MW 40 for the first time in India.

The global machine tool industry is now adopting the concepts of Industry 4.0. Is the Indian industry ready for this?

I think Indian customers are quite aware of Industry 4.0 and are preparing themselves for it. Many of the machines are also becoming Industry 4.0 compliant. The needs of each application and customers towards this concept could be different. Fundamentally Indian customers are trying to adopt this depending upon their needs.

What is the demand status at the moment? India is also a large importer of machine tools.

The demand for machine tool in India right now is better than the last year and we see some good improvement in the machine tool demand. Imported machines will continue to play a big role in supporting the Indian customers. We predominantly work with customers who look for Automation.

Has the government initiative of Make in India resulted in any increase in demand?

While in metal cutting we are still awaiting a good upturn, in sheet metal industry we have started seeing better demand due to ‘Make in India’ programme. It might take some more time to see big results.

What are the problems machine tool manufacturers have to face?

Machine tool manufacturers have to become very flexible in satisfying the demands of the customers in terms of delivery, change in specifications and change in demand. I would not call this as a problem but a situation which we have to address.

What are the expectations from the government?

Quick implementation of GST and clear guide lines on the implementation of the GST.