Established in 2004 in collaboration with Muratec, Meiban Engineering Technologies Pvt Ltd boasts a proud legacy of 17 years in the industry. Specialising in automation and turnkey projects for manufacturing automobile and sheet metal components, Meiban offers a comprehensive range of solutions. In this interview with Rakesh Rao, A V Srinivasan, CEO, Meiban Engineering Technologies Pvt Ltd delves into the company’s journey, its association with Murata Machinery and future growth plans.

How has the journey been so far?
Meiban has entered 20 years this month, and is happy to achieve this milestone. In the last 19 years, we have grown from a team of 3 to 45 members. Beginning from a small office in Bangalore to now having; headquarters, a tech centre and unit-2 in Bangalore, offices in Chennai and Delhi and engineers based in Mumbai, Pune, and Ahmedabad. Our footprint has increased from 200 machines to 1000 machines in both metal cutting and metal forming put together. The journey has been very challenging, yet extremely fulfilling. Thanks to our customers and steadfast support from Muratec, during all these years, Meiban has grown region wise, customer wise and application wise.

How has Meiban's association with Murata Machinery benefited customers and industry?
Murata is a highly customer focused company, where the customer is the centre of every decision. Meiban, being an associate company of Muratec Japan, follows the same philosophy. Working hand in hand with Muratec Japan our goal of growth is customer satisfaction as well. This reflects in terms of numbers, as 70 per cent of our sales come through repeat orders every year. Indian industries have also benefited with our close working with Muratec Japan, as we bring a lot of solutions for some demanding production requirements. These solutions to Indian industries have made them more competitive and technically advanced to compete globally.

What are some of the new developments in your company in the last two years?
Meiban is continuously trying to improve the localisation percentage in the products, and has strengthened the engineering team not only in Bangalore but elsewhere as well. In addition to this, we are able to offer automation for sheet metal machines more effectively and economically, especially to suit the Indian market. Meiban has also recently forayed into non-automotive markets.

What are key trends in the Indian machine tools industry?
The Indian manufacturing industry is growing faster than before, and they are able to compete globally. This requires the machine tool industry to raise to the standards required by the manufacturing industries. We observe that the machine tool industry is more focused on providing end to end solutions to customers, rather than selling the stand alone machines. Meiban also sees a larger focus on automation for various applications. The Indian machine tool industry is adapting very fast.

How is the demand for your deliverables from the automobile and auto component industry?
The demand for products is still quite good in the automotive industry, especially for internal combustion engines. We are also seeing that EVs are increasing every year. Meiban is closely working with our customers to develop new solutions for EV parts.

Which non-automotive industries are driving the demand for products and are potential growth propellers?
Non-automotive applications like hydraulics, pneumatics, valves, off-road, construction equipment, medical, aerospace are the sectors which are driving demand. At the same time, infrastructure sectors like railways, defence, aerospace and electronic white goods are also growing. We expect good growth close to double digits percentage for next few years at least.

How are factors like automation and sustainability leading to changes in customer demand and solutions offered?
Meiban has always been ahead of the industry in offering automation solutions for our customers. The early adaptation is helping us in the present situation. We are also seeing the demand is increasing day by day for sustainable automation solutions. Muratec looks at this challenge as an opportunity and is working with customers for solutions which meet their needs.

What are some of the key challenges faced by SMEs? Is compliance a major hurdle?
There are hurdles in every industry. We see more benefits after the introduction of GST in India. We are able to sell anywhere in India without much paperwork and the machine movements have become better and quicker.

What are your growth plans?
We are working with Muratec Japan for the next 3-5 years and are aiming at a double digit CAGR every year, in line with the growth rate in our industry.