Indian market is price sensitive and it is logical in being so

By Niraj M Wanikar, Chief Editor, CNCTimes.com, 2015-02-19 16:38:36

Among the crowd of machine tool manufacturers, the one name that stand apart for its uniqueness is Tornos. The company based in Moutier in Switzerland is a 120-year-old name that is reputed for the types of machines it manufactures. The company was manufacturing CAM-operated till 1980 when it switched gears to go for CNC machines.

“We are manufacturing two-fold ‘sliding head machines’ with ‘multi spindle automats’ for high accuracy part machining. The company started selling in India in 2001, albeit through agency, but from 2007-08 the company started recruiting people and today 5 people have been appointed across India that include two into sales and three  into services,” the General Business Development Manager (India) of Tornos, Mr Vivek Barve said while speaking to CNCTimes on the sidelines of IMTEX 2015.

“Rigidity, accuracy, reliability and high precision has been USP of the machines manufactured by Tornos and till date, we have installed 120 machines in the country of which 15 are multi spindle machines and rest are sliding head machines,” Mr Barve said and added that the main purpose behind participating in IMTEX was to show the technology to the people as here customers come with an open mind and exchanging ideas with customers become easy at the exhibition.

Expressing his views about the present market conditions, Mr Barve said the market is growing. “All the steps taken by the authorities as well as other factors indicate that the revival is certain. Sometimes external factors also affect the market and the biggest advantage with India is that there is no language barrier like China. So, people find it easy to communicate here,” Mr Barve said.

When asked whether Indian market is sensitive towards price factor, Mr Barve replied in the affirmative and said, “It is logical for us to be price sensitive since for us cost reduction is everything. As long as the components are being manufactured, the people will buy machines which give them value for money. So it is completely logical in my opinion.” Sharing the company’s vision in next 5 years, the official said that Tornos has implemented some plans in the last three years and will continue to do so. “The company has started a manufacturing facility in Asia as manufacturing the machines from the facility in Switzerland becomes expensive. Due to the varied product range, Tornos will definitely be one of the major players in the Indian machine tool industry,” Mr Barve concluded.

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