Welding Technologies India (WTI) is India’s premier welding solutions supplier and welding consultant to varied industries. From a company born out of sheer conviction to a trusted welding partner company of many industrial customers today, WTI’s journey has been as illustrious as of its founder Mr. Milan Supanekar. An adept engineer, a crackerjack salesperson, and a proponent of future generation welding – that’s how we can delineate Mr. Milan Supanekar, the unassuming founder of Welding Technologies India.
MachineMaker is proud to tell the story of this Mr. Milan Supanekar who brings excellence to Indian Manufacturing.
Welding Technologies India started its journey in 2005 and over the 13 years, WTI has grown into a trusted solutions provider for critical welding operations globally and mastered welding automation into diverse sectors of Indian manufacturing. WTI today sells a diversified range of specialized welding equipment as well as critical and special welding consumables.
However, the transformation was far from a cakewalk as the futuristic vision in welding with which the company entered the Indian market was difficult to get across the Indian manufacturers. Mr. Supanekar persisted and laid out elaborate plans to gradually shift Indian manufacturers from manual welding processes to automatic processes. While the comparatively large companies especially, MNCs were welcoming of the new technologies, for the small companies which were reluctant or hesitant, he devised training programmes and scope for the first-hand handling of the whole process, whereby the customer can experience the difference in efficiency, quality, time, and cost.
However, this is not as much to say as the adaptability rate is too high even today. So, the effort is still on as he puts, “it is not difficult to talk about automation but the main challenge is to prove the concept and make it workable before the procurement. So the change is a little slow. In order to overcome this, we have to prepare different models, pictures, videos and live demos of the systems before the finalization of the systems.”
The company always strives to upgrade itself to match the revolution in the arena of the welding industry. “We are now in a position to work with the latest technologies and offer solutions in all types of Automatic Systems like Robotic Automation, Laser Welding, Special Purpose Welding Automation, etc. Also, we are offering specialized welding consumables and equipment for Nuclear, Aerospace, Oil & Gas, Heavy engineering industries. We are providing welding consultancy services and welding training with the support from our Korean partners who are well experienced, knowledgeable and working in the similar areas for more than twenty years in Korea.”
For the founder himself, his perspective to view his life as a learning curve has been the most enriching one. He grew up idolizing his father who was also a successful engineer and hence the engineer in him grew inside him as well. Accordingly, he pursued a degree in Mechanical Engineering and started his career with ITW and soon followed ESAB and ADOR. He, however, attributes his core interest in sales to his stint with ITW.
In 2003 he ventured on his own as a service consultant, undertaking job projects with different companies in Pune. Within two years, he gained prominence as a welding industry consultant and just at this juncture of his career, his ex-boss P Mehra who was then representing Panasonic Welding India entrusted him with the responsibility of forging a dealership which resulted in the establishment of Welding Technologies India. It was a leap partly of faith and partly of farsightedness on Mr. Milan Supanekar’s part.
His heart’s call stood him in good stead and from consulting company, WTI moved forward as a successful trade-oriented company. But it is the same ethics that brought success. “As a welding service consultant, then trader and now Automation system provider, one thing are very common and that is customer satisfaction by providing right solutions. Though the requirements at each point are different, it is necessary to understand the customer requirements completely and offer the right solutions. That is where we focus and that makes our job easier while satisfying customer needs.
“In the process, it is very important for us to make the maximum advantage of the latest technologies and we, therefore, always try to get associated with the world-class companies having the technological advantage. The most difficult part is to convince the customers about the benefits and finally the cost factor. So, this process and the journey has been always challenging and personally, I find it interesting.”
Another instance of his farsightedness is setting up of Welding Training Institute in 2010 to create awareness in changing the mindset of domestic manufacturers as well as making them ready for handling the future of welding technologies.
“In the future, Automation is going to be a keyword in India. Robotic Arc Welding, Laser Welding, High Deposition Welding, Special Purpose Automatic Welding Machines, Fully Automatic production line (Weld 4.0) and similar systems will be a trend in the welding industry.”
“Welding is a very vast subject. There is a lot of innovations and changes happening. Welding trend is changing very fast. This training is an integral part now. We need to offer training at every level from a welder, supervisor, engineers, even top management getting trained on various subjects.”
A growth-oriented man, he airs a positive outlook for the welding industry as well, “manufacturing segment is growing almost more than 6 – 7%, it is expected that welding industry will grow at the same pace.”
Just like his multifaceted careers, he has multifaceted family life being a doting father, a loving husband, and an ideal son, and a complete man per se. You can reach Milan Supanekar by writing to marketing@weldingtechindia.com
