Establish quality standards in line with global acceptance

June 17, 2013 12:39 pm

“The fall of the rupee by more than 15 per cent since August 2011 is a blow to India’s economy.”
– Keshav Khurana, Sales Director, Wohlhaupter India Pvt. Ltd.
Wohlhaupter is in the cutting tools industry and serves the niche market of boring tools. It is a well-known manufacturer of modular tool systems for machining centres and turning/milling centres, facing and boring heads, grooving heads, clamping tools as well as customised solutions for boring operations. The widest range in boring application covered by Wohlhaupter is from 0.4 mm to 3,255 mm. The company is into the most critical area of manufacturing. Therefore, the company is an important, value-adding supplier to them. The cutting tools industry is maintaining a slow but steady graph and Keshav Khurana shares how Wohlhaupter maintains its share of proceedings.
Wohlhaupter in IndiaWohlhaupter has recently set up its operations in India. Despite its new presence and the competition from the established and local players, it has been able to make inroads. If anyone looks at the industry standards of performance for new companies, Wohlhaupter has done quite a good job in the past one year and been able to achieve good returns. Investment in expensive toolingThe fall of the rupee by more than 15 per cent since August 2011 is a blow to India’s economy. This is adding pressure to the price of production in manufacturing and inflation in general, which has been around 9 per cent for the last couple of years. More important, rising production costs would reduce profit margins and overall investment activities. Indian companies try to control the CPC and hesitate to invest in expensive tooling, but quality never comes cheap.
Approach to perform wellTo perform well in the industry, one needs to understand the real needs of customers. A company also should respond faster and clarify the queries in-line with their requirement and believe in offering exceptional, flexible services to its customers.
Marketing activities Wohlhaupter has maintained a continuous flow of marketing activities in advertisements, promotions etc. It also has initiated new product launches, team expansion, and reduced delivery time.
Increasing share of manufacturing in GDPIncreasing the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25 per cent from 15 per cent is a welcome move by the Indian Government, but the current norms to set up manufacturing in India and the cost for final products have to come down. Indian companies need to adopt the latest technology and establish the quality standards in-line with international acceptance level which will attract developed countries to demand more “made in India” products. In current scenario, China is way ahead to fetch more manufacturing business. Today, the government has to be more flexible in the investment options for the manufacturing companies. Also, the tax structure has to be friendlier. Fuel prices too need to be analysed so that the ultimate cost is competitive. Other states should follow something similar to what Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have done.