Batliboi, founded in 1892, has grown to a position of leadership among engineering companies. The company has spearheaded technological change in all the activities comprising textile air engineering, textile machinery, machine tools, and air conditioning. Batliboi's manufacturing facilities are located at Surat and Bangalore.

What are the products you are bringing at IMTEX 2011?

We are displaying the following new products at IMTEX 2011:

• CNC moving column drilling machine up to 100 mm direct drill capacity in steel, Model - BMCD 825
• CNC mill turn, Model - BMTC 45
• CNC vertical machining centre with die mould features, Model - Chetak 75 MC, and
• CNC turning centre, Model - Sprint 16 TC J.

What are the applications?

CNC moving column drilling machine, Model BMCD 825, is basically built to perform precise drilling operations on the periphery of big Pipe Headers/Channels, Chassis of trucks, where the pipe is stationary and the machine column with drill head moves on rails. The length of travel of the column can vary depending on customer's requirements.

CNC mill turn, Model BMTC 45, is a very versatile machine with combination of vertical machining centre and turning centre. It can machine component having milling, drilling, boring, reaming and turning operation in a single set-up. This is much cheaper than turn mill centre. This is specially designed for small components where turning and milling operations are to be completed in a single machine. This machine is suitable for auto components, valve components, etc.

CNC vertical machining centre with die mould features, Model Chetak 75 MC, has special features for performing machining of dies for multiple applications with very precise accuracy.

CNC turning centre, Model Sprint 16 TC J, is basically a small turning centre with power of 3.7 kW and a small foot print. The machine is suitable for small auto components with high accuracy and finish.

Why should the customer opt for these?

The machines have been designed and built keeping in view the requirements in the market for cost competitive and productive machines. BMCD 825 is particularly developed as a cost competitive import substitution.

How strong/effective is the after sales service?

We understand that the job does not end with the sale of a machine. Our trained team installs the machines and trains the customers' personnel. We have 15 branches across the nation, which are equipped with trained service engineers to cater to customers' service requirements. In addition, we also undertake annual maintenance contract after the warranty period.

How does the cost of ownership over the life cycle compare with competition?

Our machines are designed, built and priced very competitively.

What are the company's achievements?

Batliboi Machine Tool Group (BMTG) manufactures as well as sources leading brands of machine tools from around the world to meet the customers' requirements in the Indian market. The manufacturing facility at Surat and Bangalore turn out an impressive range of stand-alone products from conventional to sophisticated CNC machines. The types of products manufactured are:

• CNC vertical machining centres
• CNC turning centres
• Conventional and CNC milling machines
• Conventional and CNC drilling machines
• CNC vertical turret lathes
• Gantry and bridge type drilling and milling centres

Special purpose machines for the auto component and other engineering industries. The marketing division of BMTG markets in India machine tools (metal forming and metal cutting) produced by some of the world's reputed companies.

Marketing and services support for the products of group are through a nationwide network of 15 offices employing over 60 trained engineers and technicians.

How is the present business environment?

Machine tools are considered as a 'mother industry'. If you don't have machine tools you cannot build manufacturing capabilities.

As long as manufacturing industry continues to grow, the need for machine tools will expand. Demand for machine tools is great in the transportation sector, which includes railways, two/four wheelers, aerospace, defense sector and the engineering industry.

With order books full for most of the companies, the focus areas in order to gain the most of the growth momentum are in improvement of productivity, selective capital investment for capacity expansion as well as improvement of supply chain management. The challenge today is ensuring timely execution not only because of the spurt in capital investment but also because of shortening of lead-time to supply. Strengthening of the R&D team is needed to design and develop newer products that can meet the competition and thereby gain market share.

What are the future plans?

New avenues have come up for machine tool builders, viz., in aerospace, medical equipment, nuclear energy, etc. Currently, the industry is growing at over 50 per cent, so we expect that this tempo will continue. As long the GDP rate continues at the current rate, the manufacturing sector will grow and therefore the demand for machine tools will grow substantially.

We are investing in design and development of new products and are already bringing in new range of machine tools. We already have an acquisition in Canada and are synergising with the Indian operations so as to improve competitiveness and market reach.

(Batliboi Ltd, Mumbai. Tel: 022-66378200. Fax: 91-22-22675601. Mobile: 098200-75708. Email: kaushik.kabiraj@batliboi.com)