Q. Please brief us about recent initiatives undertaken in EDM space? Which are your focus areas?
Electric Discharge Machining technology is undergoing a sea change in terms of process capabilities and productivity levels. Several developments in Power Electronics, Adaptive control technologies and innovative process techniques have pushed the limits of EDM capabilities in terms of machining speed, accuracies and achievable surface finishes. EDM Controllers are getting more intelligent and are able to adapt and optimize machining conditions according to machining requirements and reduce human intervention to a great extent.Automation solutions are also becoming more practical and have a dramatic impact on productivity. Makino has been focusing on integrating these new technologies into practical features in its new generation machines and making it work for real life challenges.
Q. What are the market opportunities for your products in India? How do you plan to position these products?
The Indian Die Mold tool rooms cater to the Automotive Industry predominantly and to some extent the FMCG Industry. In the last few years, requirements in terms of Quality/Cost/Delivery are driven by globally competitive market forces. Hence the Indian tool rooms have an immediate need to upgrade their infrastructure to meet such global levels of productivity and quality. The requirement is not just high quality machines but also a knowledgeable workforce. This is a huge opportunity for Makino, where we focus more on a holistic technology transfer to our customers rather than just supply machines. In the last two decades, many tool rooms have invested on our High Speed Milling machines but the EDM area has always been lagging behind with low cost machines. With growing demand for high quality molds and dies, at greatly reduced manufacturing lead times, tool rooms can no longer survive with age old, low cost/low end EDM machines. We are now seeing a huge opportunity for highly efficient EDM machines whose higher cost are justified by their capability to meet current demands for high quality and productivity.
Q. According you what are the factors affecting to your business?
Our market is predominantly dependent on the Indian Automotive industry. Both domestic and export trends in the automotive industry have a direct impact on our growth The quality and complexity levels of the molds and dies manufactured in India is getting more closer to the global levels and coupled with a demand for short lead times, there is a huge opportunity and demand for highly efficient machining technologies. Demand for short lead times and cost pressures are resulting in long term efforts to establish local infrastructure for producing high quality molds
Q. What are the key technological trends that are driving EDM industry?
The most important trend that is driving CNC EDM business is the usage of Graphite as electrodes. Most of the shops are in rapid conversion mode from Copper electrodes to Graphite electrodes and this switch over demands a good CNC EDM as the technologies in conventional machines are limited to certain quality and speeds and this creates the demand to go for better machines. Recently many Japanese and European companies have entered India directly and also procuring the Tools and Molds from local commercial tool rooms which demand high accuracy and faster lead time. This is forcing the customers to go for a high end CNC Machines to meet the commitments of both quality and delivery. In order to reduce the dependency on skilled manpower, today’s tool rooms demand an easy operator interface modules and easy programming methods to have smoother transitions. The newest controllers focus more on integrating efficient Adaptive Control and intelligent Programming Features which makes EDM operations simple and less dependent on operator skills.
Q. What is your vision for your company?
We would like to be a one stop machining solutions provider to Tool rooms by contributing latest technologies, process and manufacturing practices so that the quality and delivery demands by OEMs can be met by our customers. Keeping in mind the requirement of right manpower for the industry, we have established a Technical Training Center, a first of its own kind that provides a 1 year comprehensive training covering the topics of machining, CAD/CAM, quality and best manufacturing practices. These students, upon successful completion of the course, are offered to our customers across the country.
