‘This would be the biggest die & mould exhibition ever’

The 12th edition of Die Mould India International Exhibition is returning after a hiatus of four years. It will be for the first time that the machine tool industry will be participating in an exhibition physically after two years due to Covid-19 pandemic. In the wake of this, CNCTimes.com conversed with Mr. D Shanmugasundaram, Vice President, TAGMA India and Managing Director, S&T Group of Companies as regards challenges and difficulties posed by TAGMA India in organizing the exhibition. Mr. Shanmugasundaram also opined on the latest advancements and future trends within the machine tool industry in general and die & mould sector in particular.

The Excerpts:

Q. Congratulations for hosting the Die & Mould Exhibition. What do you expect from the event?

A. After 3 years of pandemic, industry is going to witness lot of interaction between TAGMA members, and customers. There is genuine interest among the industry professionals for the physical events such as exhibitions. Also, since the pandemic struck, companies are now looking to upgrade their existing infrastructure and digital solutions. Die & Mould India will provide them a platform where they can witness some of the latest technologies in action. As an exhibitor and organizer of the event, I am really looking forward to the event and hope this exhibition will serve as connectivity bond between various stakeholders.

Q. How was it difficult to organise resources for such a big event post relaxation in sanctions due to pandemic?

A. Arranging all the necessary resources for the exhibition was not a challenge at all as we have been organizing events since long time and have many good vendors. The main hurdle was winning back confidence of exhibitors and convincing them to participate. However, to our surprise, we are fully booked and many companies are still enquiring for the booth. Also, many overseas exhibitors couldn’t participate owing to travel restrictions

Q. What were the challenges? How did you cope with it?

A. Challenges are only in terms of uncertainties. You never know when the new wave is going to appear. We might see less overseas visitors and exhibitors in this edition, which is understandable but, we will definitely have huge number of domestic visitors from different sectors. We have got all the necessary clearances and look like we will be organizing biggest ever die & mould exhibition this year. 

Q. How was the reaction from the industry?

A. Reaction from the industry was fabulous. The entire industry is looking out for revamp, now, in the post-COVID-19 recovery, finding opportunities while becoming stronger – including building resilience to react in agile and decisive ways. As we move into the next phase, now is the time for businesses to seek out and seize the opportunities emerging in the recovery. This involves capitalizing more effectively on the opportunities rising in the post-COVID-19 recovery and to continue to win in the present market conditions.

Q. Do you think that the exhibition will meet your expectations from the sector?

A. The exhibition has already exceeded the expectations, in terms of stall booking. The bookings are relatively more in comparison with the past editions. There is a big queue of companies that want to participate in this edition of exhibition but due to certain limitations, we could not take the other hall. There are about 40 companies that want to exhibit but because of space limitations we are not able to accommodate them.

From the visitors’ perspective, we have received request from various user industry OEMs for meeting with toolmakers. Another observation is that in this edition, we are getting requests from new sectors such as toy making, aerospace, white goods, mobile makers etc. which was not the case in previous editions.

Q. How much crowd do you expect to turn out for the four-day expo?

A. Nearly 35,000 visitors is the past record and this year, we would expect minimum of 40,000-50,000 visitors. We have already received over 8,000 registrations till date without much marketing and I see its going to grow exponentially when we start the aggressive marketing from April onwards.

Q. What safety precautions have you taken in the wake of pandemic? 

A. As part of safety measures, we are doing multiple arrangements such as:

·Doing away with spot registration and having online registration only

·Thermal sensors to check the temperature of visitors

·Sanitizer kiosk in many places of the ground.

Basically, we are following all the COVID-19 safety protocols issued by the government and will ensure smooth conduct of exhibition.

Q. What kind of new technologies are being exhibited?

A. Looking at the exhibitor count and the kind of companies we are having at this edition of the exhibition, I have a feeling that we are going to witness some of the latest technologies in the field of tool making. At this edition, we will have the latest 5-axis CNC machines equipped with industry 4.0 features; injection moulding machines; cutting tools with new geometries; latest software for design, manufacturing & simulation and not to forget additive manufacturing solutions. In the Indian manufacturing space, the scenario has changed drastically in the last few years. With the presence of many global brands in India, the expectation level from customers has increased in terms of speed and accuracy. To cater to such demand, toolmakers have no option but to adopt the latest technologies. I see companies are adopting best-in-class machines and software.

Q. What is the current share of India in the global die mould industry?

A. Currently the market share for Indian companies in global tooling industry is less than 5%. However, with the kind of growth we are experiencing in recent years because of the localization among automotive companies, campaigns like ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ and PLI schemes on various industries; the Indian companies are set to increase their market share in coming years. We need to firstly reduce the imports and then look for overseas markets.   

TAGMA is working hard to help Indian companies in their growth. We organize events to help our member companies showcase their capabilities in front of potential buyers, we also work with global association and agencies to share knowledge and facilitate collaborations. Apart from this we also work with government in drafting industry friendly policies.

Also, I would like to use this platform to thank the Indian die mould industry, as many of them, during COVID crisis, proved their capabilities by producing goggle mould, moulds for N95 mask, and other such kind of essentials responding to the needs of highly critical times faced by the nation.

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