A joint venture with Waldemar Loeser GmbH & Co KG, Loeser Arm India was formed to offer premium grinding and polishing solutions for a wide range of applications. In an interview with Manufacturing Today, the company’s Managing Director Ajay Madan says the JV was founded in 2009 after four years of representation of the German company Loeser in India. “It was during these four years that we jointly recognised that India needed quality belt grinding machines and solutions specific to customer requirements,” says Madan.
In the four years of this representation of Loeser in India, he says they realised the missing link was “technically weak solutions unable to deliver consistent quality”. “Once our JV was formed we gradually started to learn the German manufacturing systems and started to implement them in our small workshop step by step.”
Today, Loeser Arm India manufactures a wide range of belt grinding and polishing machines in India under the technical know-how from Waldemar Loeser GmbH & Co. KG, Speyer, Germany. “Our technology is quite different from what is available in India as it focuses on the end requirement of the customer and is minutely adjustable in different areas of its functioning,” explains Madan.
He says they do not consider themselves competing with others because “they have a very different technology”.
Platten Grinding
Loeser Arm India manufactures all its machines in India and uses a wide variety of vendors for component manufacturing. It also uses standard companies like Havells, Festo, SEW, Elesa+Ganter, ABB and many more for buying their parts. “There is a certain component of import of specialised parts that is very critical to the functioning of our machines. These are still imported from the various pioneers around the globe,” he says.
Loeser Arm MD acknowledges that the Indian market is a growing and sustainable market. With sectors like Metro, Rail, Infrastructure, Nuclear Power, Solar Power, Automotive Manufacturing, Component Manufacturing on the upswing, he foresees India becoming the next economic superpower of the world.
One of its customers X’Mas Steels Pvt Ltd which is into manufacturing of Hydraulics & Pneumatics Piston Rods says Loeser Arm machines are durable and reliable and economical for production.
“The reliability and repeatability is very good, easy to operate and cost of production in terms of belt wheel is very low. The machine has variable speed for regulating wheels as well as belts. The variable speed in belts helps in cutting, polishing and to improve and achieve RA value,” said Girish Prabhu, a spokesperson for X’Mas Steels Pvt Ltd.
Madan insists that technology availability, its acceptance and understanding go hand in hand. “If you have a technology and don’t know how to use it, then you are not benefitting from the technological enhancement you have invested in. It is the role of the seller of the technology to cater to the needs of the customers and not just sell what he has available,” he says.
Madan says he would urge people to make efforts to learn new systems, consider new ideas and not sit on the past concepts that were formed decades ago.
With the manufacturers fast adopting digital technology and Industry 4.0, how does Loeser Arm products/technology fit into the whole digital transformation process? To this, Madan says they have already started using newer electronic systems, including remote monitoring, service etc. “Digital transformation is a very important part of our growth and improvement program,” he insists.
With the pandemic hitting all the industries, how did Loeser Arm deal with the disruptions? Madan reveals that they were devastated from the start of COVID. “It was during this time that we decided to expand our operations rather than sitting idle. We also did not throw any of our workers out nor did we deduct any salaries of them,” he shares.
In regards to future plans, the company is in the process of introducing new products in the summer of 2022 and would hope to continue growing and servicing the Indian sub-continent for it’s finishing requirements.