Only good is ahead for Indian industry: SKF

February 17, 2014 8:37 am

 “What’s very exciting to know is that majority of global players are now present in India, indicating a bright future for this industry,” opines Shishir Joshipura, Managing Director and Country Head, SKF India
SKF has been a leading global technology provider for more than a century. Its fundamental strength is the ability to create products that offer competitive advantages to its customers and help them stand out stronger among the competitors. Shishir Joshipura shares how SKF has achieved this by combining hands-on experience.
Mr Shishir, how is the market behaving as far as construction equipment segment is concerned?I think there is a clear challenge in the market right now. Our infrastructure spend has come down because we have not built enough recently. From the announced 20 km of road building per day, we are down to 2.7 km per day. Obviously, we cannot live like this; we have to go back closer to the 20 km. When that happens, the industry will definitely pick up. What’s very exciting to know is that majority of global players are now present in India, indicating a bright future for  this industry.
You have very significant presence in bearing segments. What is your position and what are the strategies you have to expand your market?SKF is the clear market leader in India for industrial bearings and significant portion of our sales comes from what we sell for  the industrial applications. As the construction industry volumes grow and technology plays an increasing role in driving growth, SKF will have an even bigger role to play. We operate on five platforms which allow us to be in the unique position to offer the customer not just  the component but the holistic solutions which go beyond the components. SKF offers a lifecycle based solution which is critical to ensure sustained performance so we stay with customers’ right through the life of the product and keep providing services for reliable and improved operations.
You have lifecycle management supply for power sector. Do you have same kind of offerings for construction equipment as well?In a sense, we are industry neutral. The capability and the knowledge that we leverage is what we have learnt across various geographies and segments. We try and bring the best practices forward through our knowledge sharing programs with our customers which allow us to offer these services to even construction equipment industry.
How critical is the market in terms of awareness and knowledge?In the current circumstances, as project sites become more and more remote, at the back of construction and development making inroads into the interior part of India.
 The timely maintenance, uptime and lowering the downtime will become more and more critical as we go forward. With the current availability of technology, I think industries will do very well to leverage on this available technology to improve their own productivity.
Would you like to talk on any specific product?We have a whole range of products across the five platforms. We are producing slewing bearings at our Ahmedabad plant. We also produce a whole range of sealing solutions in Mysore and lubrication systems under Lincoln brand in Bangalore. SKF has the products for every need. Whenever the customers need solutions, we are there to provide them for lowering friction and improving performance.
As far as OEMs are concern, what is your message to them?SKF is here to partner with them, help them win in front of their customers, and stay with them as a partner for life.