Seco Tools displayed a plethora of its innovative solutions at IMTEX 2015. “IMTEX 2015 is better than 2013. We see positive changes and are looking forward for major developments from the new Indian Government,” said Lars Bergstrom, president, Seco Tools.On similar lines, Andreas Fritz, CEO, Asia Pacific & VP, Seco Tools, feels that IMTEX 2015 has been tremendously good and that the expectations are high. “We are witnessing numerous exhibitors and visitors and the air feels positive and we can expect quite a significant growth. We have a number of good products like T4, and later this year we are coming with next-generation turning inserts. We have the concept of Duratomic, which is our best brand launched seven years ago and are launching an upgrade on that,” he added.
Talking about R&D, Fritz said, “We invest around 4-5% of our revenue in R&D globally. We are building a R&D centre in Pune here in India as our global hub. We already have 50 people working in the R&D centre and we are expanding to serve Seco worldwide. “The R&D centre in Pune is not just for APAC but for the world. We see a lot of energy level and competence among Indian coworkers and we get a lot of positive results in many different ways, and it’s more important for us because it is a key differentiator.”
He sees the APAC region contribute significantly. “The challenge here is infrastructure. We need to convince customers to use highend machines in a productive way rather than looking at cutting tool price which is less than 5% of the component cost,” he stated.
Bergstrom added, “We are one of the major players in the insert industry in India. Our market share will grow through new products and sales activities, and we’ll continue to do so and outperform our competitors who are also here at IMTEX.” According to Chirag Shah, deputy GM, marketing, the main drivers in the industry would be energy, aerospace and medical sectors. “These industries are picking up in India and given that all the machining difficulties involved, we have all the right solutions for these industries. We are expecting much more business now,” he remarked.