For Kennametal India, IMTEX 2015 was a platform to showcase its solutions as it is South-East Asia’s biggest machine tool exhibition. BC Rao, MD, Kennametal India, said, “As a major announcement,we launched a series of products in the milling cutters category. In terms of technology, we are moving the digital way. So are our customers. We have our new platform called ‘NOVOsphere’ and have been giving a demonstration about it at IMTEX. This is built from the wealth of our knowledge from the past 75 years. Along with that there are application details that are available in cloud and the customer just needs to key in the name of the part and it throws up amazing information in terms of optimised parameters and tool selection. It also connects to our e-commerce platform containing our products, stockability, inventory and ordering. Going forward, we are also going to work with CAD-CAM capabilities to improve the output.” Talking about partnership investments, Rao stated, “For any overseas investors who want to invest in India and expand their capacity, we are the right partners. The ‘Make in India’ campaign is going to open up a lot of opportunities in other sectors. There is a slow turning around happening. All in all I’m quite positive that Indian economy will show positive things.”
He sees railways, defence and aerospace sectors to be growing in India. Gerald Goubau, VP, GM Kennametal Tooling, spoke about innovation, “We are working on innovative solutions and products and keeping the future in mind we created the ‘NOVOsphere’ which provides a new environment to select tools to our customers and advice on tool selection.” He feels that India is a significant market for the company. “We are a leading innovator in the market. For the last few years we have not fully tapped the existing potential in India. Regarding aerospace, there are significant parts in airplanes that will be manufactured here in India. This will create opportunities in terms of business growth, employment, and investments in infrastructure. This will bring India to a very high level,” he concluded.