Christian Mueller, CSO & Member of the Board, Grob Group
The GROB Group headquartered in Mindelheim, Germany, is a formidable name in machine tools and manufacturing systems. The company, with a standing and reputation of nine decades in the engineering world, has a turnover of over 1.5 billion euros and a workforce of 6,600 employees worldwide. GROB’s present portfolio ranges from universal machining centers to highly complex manufacturing systems. It also sets up production plants for electric motors and assembly lines for battery and fuel cell technology. GROB Machine Tools India Pvt. Ltd, the Indian arm, has been serving its Indian customers with world-class products and matching services. The company is shortly opening its manufacturing facilities in India. The value addition from GROB India plant with complete process for customer specific workpieces will benefit Indian customers in terms of bringing down investment and import costs, says Christian Mueller, CSO & Member of the Board, Grob Group in an exclusive interview with P.K. Balasubbramaniian, Chief Editor. Excerpts:
For generations, the GROB family business has stood for high-quality products, future-oriented technologies and maximum reliability with highest flexibility. From sales to design and production to commissioning, our qualified engineers and technicians meet the most demanding customer requirements, giving GROB a leading position in the construction of highly innovative production and automation systems.
For more than 95 years GROB has been one of the Global players in the development and manufacturing of machines and production lines. GROB’s customers include the World’s most prestigious car manufacturers, their suppliers and many other renowned companies from various industries. With our production plants in Germany, USA, Brazil, China & Italy, and worldwide services & sales subsidiaries, we are represented around the globe.
GROB sees huge potential in Indian market for its products in the years to come. Accordingly we acquired a land of 80,940 sq.mtrs. in Gudipalli Industrial Park, Ananthapuram Dist, Andhra Pradesh and the construction activity of its 6th state-of-the art manufacturing facility is in progress, which is expected to be completed by August 2023 and the commercial operations will start from September 2023.
We are now developing 1/3rd of the acquired land and constructing Administration block, factory building which will have spindle repair centre, Technology & Application Centre with 2-latest 5-Axes machines installed. In the first phase we are installing 15 machines in our production to carry out all machining operations in-house and a huge high accuracy CMM along with other QC equipment. We will first start with sub-assemblies and clamping fixtures for machines that are built in our already existing plants. Once we gain skills and match with German quality and standards in production & assembly, we will build complete machine in India in 2 years. We will also expand our production and office area by 4 times in a phased manner in the next 5 years.
The value addition from GROB India plant with complete process for customer specific workpieces will benefit Indian customers in terms of bringing down investment and import costs, says Christian Mueller, CSO & Member of the Board, Grob Group
Grob’s Technology & Application Centre in Mindelheim, Germany
To start with we are planning to import naked machines from our other plants, add value to them with local content and sell to be competitive in the Indian market. We plan to manufacture our first universal 5-axis machining center G550a machine in 2 to 3 years and later will expand the plant to produce other GROB 4 and 5-axis machines as well. We are getting prepared to handle e-mobility projects from Indian plant in 3 years.
Initially we were serving mainly automotive manufacturers and now we are also serving 2-wheeler manufacturers, forging companies, aerospace, die & mould, medical, precision mechanical engineering and e-mobility. Due to “make in India” initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Machine Tool Industry being back bone of manufacturing has enormous potential to grow. Our plan is produce German engineered machines with same quality, reliability and standards of Germany at a competitive price to Indian market.
GROB offers an integrated concept for tomorrow’s components through its MODULAR, FLEXIBLE and SCALEABLE electric powertrain SOLUTIONS. GROB has realized worldwide many turn-key projects in electromobility. Thanks to our many years of experience in assembly solutions, today we are the biggest and the market leaders in providing turnkey solutions for producing Hairpin motors, Round wire motors, Battery cells, Cell to module and Module to battery pack.
Complete turnkey solutions from GROB mean you can bank on efficient, future-proof and sustainable solutions tailored to your needs. Benefit from our long-standing experience and extensive network.
Machine tools are more important than most of us know. They enable the economical manufacture of standardized parts for use in everything from automobiles to aircraft. Advancements in hardware and software are changing the machine tool industry. Industry trends in the coming years are likely to focus on these advancements, especially as they pertain to automation.
One of the biggest departments in GROB Group is its R&D and Engineering with over 1800 engineers working on continuous development of new technologies for tomorrow’s market needs and at the same time focusing on reduction of the number of parts in the machine which helps in increasing machine reliability and energy saving. GROB is the first machine tool company to sense the need of new technologies for the fast emerging electro-mobility segment outfacing IC engines worldwide and in the mean time we are the worldwide market leaders in this segment.
Today machine tool industry in India is in a growth path. For companies who come-out with innovative technologies and reliable machines, there is always scope for growth. Customers preference is changing from low cost machines for short term to advanced technology long-term reliable machines. We forecast multifold growth in machine tool demand and e-mobility requirements for the next two decades. India is becoming a global manufacturing hub in all segments which means very high growth prospect for machine tool industry in India.
Grob’s G440 machines
Our strength is always our workforce. We have Germany trained engineers who can perform on par with German colleagues in design, manufacturing, assembly and quality control. GROB machines are engineered in Germany and produced in all the manufacturing plants with same bill of material to the same quality standards. We have more than 35 service engineers trained in Germany and with long-term working experience in International projects to provide after-sales service support to Indian customers. The value addition from GROB India plant with complete process for customer specific workpieces will benefit Indian customers in terms of bringing down investment and import costs. Furthermore, with local motor spindle storage and professional spindle refurbishment center, machine downtimes will be drastically reduced in case of spindle failures and will reduce refurbishment costs by 50%. In our state-of-the-art Technology & Application Centre, we will be installing two latest 5-Axis machining centers for demonstration, training purpose and also for the prove-out of customers’ components.
A 3D model of Grob India’s proposed plant
With the overwhelming support from GROB Management and Indian customers, in the next 5 years, we are hopeful to complete all 4-phases of production facility and would achieve a business turnover of INR 5,000 million from the Indian market with an employee strength of 800.
Visit :https://www.grobgroup.com/
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