Taking the mantle of EMAG India this January, Mr. G D Patil had a challenging task to initiate his journey. How to expand the growth of EMAG in India when the traditional automotive market is not doing great. He brought in a five year plan, made plans to enter into unexplored industry verticals, and he started steering its growth from the recently concluded IMTEX 2019 at Bengaluru. In an exclusive interaction with Machine Maker, he talks about EMAG and his future plans.
EMAG India Private Limited, is a part of Germany based EMAG GmbH, a global leader in advanced equipment and technologies for metalworking industry. EMAG group caters to automotive, oil field, power generations, and large equipment industries with entire spectrum of machining processes. EMAG is also a trendsetter in the field of vertical turning and multi-functional production machines.
G D Patil, Managing Director of EMAG India, is currently heading the company successfully with his vast experience and technical expertise. Mr. Patil, who joined EMAG in January 2019, has a background in the metal-working, metal-cutting and machine tools industry. Having worked with big groups and companies as Plamsee and Kennametal, now he devotes more time to sales.
EMAG India specializes in automotive parts and gears, and supports the EMAG factories located in China and Germany. The company helps in the realization of entire manufacturing lines of EMAG group from its corporate office in Bengaluru where blueprints for customization and designs for new machines – a prerequisite – are drawn. The centre also provides what the company calls LEVEL 1 support: namely, product demonstration and basic customer support. LEVEL 2 and LEVEL 3 support, which have to do with software and control assistance respectively, are provided from the other two countries.
Besides, its branch offices are located in major industrial hubs of India – Noida, Gujarat, Pune and Chennai that endlessly support customers for technical feasibility check, hands-on training for machine operation, maintenance and quality at customer end and after sales service support.
In China, the standard tools and machines, mainly automobile components are manufactured. At the same time, solutions are reached to address the specific needs of the customers. From there, the components are sent to Germany, where they undergo customization.
EMAG India serves two kinds of customers. The first are the customers with projects essentially grounded in India: these are Indian companies, such as Tata, which creates projects in India as well as abroad. The second is what EMAG refers to as ‘key accounts’, or customers which are foreign companies, such as Ford, Hyundai and Volkswagen.
Mr. Patil has been a regular visitor at the IMTEX fair since 1998. One of his first tasks with EMAG India was representing the company at the 50th anniversary of IMTEX this year. Under him, EMAG India has adopted Five-Year Plans in India in order to improve its hold on the market faster and more efficiently. It is also making efforts to expand its customer base in India.
Mr. Patil is optimistic about EMAG’s chances, and for good reason. The base it has in India is small but solid, consisting mainly of repeat customers. EMAG products have not only proved to be high-quality and reliable, but seamlessly customizable, and their rejection-rate is virtually nil. Slowdown in the automobile sector, which is its main consumer segment, poses a challenge to the revenue of the company. However, EMAG is taking strong, reassured steps to advance further. The company has been trying to diversify into other fields. Already, 10% of its income comes from sectors such as oil mining, surgical instruments, electronics, and so on. Now the company is making important endeavours in aerospace.
Among EMAG India’s selling points is a unique machine which is capable of combining several manufacturing processes simultaneously. This product will be the cynosure of its campaign in India. Earlier, EMAG India was capable of producing only one machine a year, but the company is going for mass production, which will enable it to produce six machines per year. This will significantly increase EMAG India’s chances of growing their market in the country.
The other crucial factor is a new initiative called ‘service plus’. It consists of an elaborate customer network which will allow EMAG to gain access to their products online and provide repairs without having to physically perceive them. In the near future, EMAG India is expecting to build more offices in India, to make large-scale demonstrations of their repertoire. Emag India by 2022 would have planned of making automation, track motion and machine accessories including customers prove out and applications The company is confident about making a bigger imprint on the Indian industrial map.
