Global leader in metal cutting Sandvik Coromant has demonstrated its agility through turbulent times by advancing its services with digital live machining systems, hosted at the company’s Indian Sandvik Coromant Centre in Pune. The new systems allowed the centre to provide the ultimate customer experience despite visiting restrictions, and will form a long-term part of the centre’s customer communication and support strategy.
The digital live machining systems each feature a microphone, microscope and inbuilt camera in the machine case, allowing live streaming and recordings of machining processes to take place. These digital recordings can be streamed anywhere in the world, so Sandvik Coromant customers can experience cutting edge machining knowledge no matter where they’re located.
Most recently, the systems have been used to demonstrate products and processes to groups of customers in a collaborative way, with viewers having the opportunity to ask questions about the machining throughout the demonstrations. Several digital events have also taken place, where video recordings have been broadcasted to a large number of viewers, showcasing a new product release, for example.
In addition to ensuring continued engagement with Sandvik Coromant’s customers in India, the systems have also been used to support Sandvik Coromant Centres in other countries. The Pune site was one of the first Sandvik Coromant Centres to have CoroPlus Process Control attached to its machines, a system that monitors machining in real-time and acts in accordance to programmed protocols. Because of this, the Pune centre has been used to demonstrate CoroPlus® Process Control to customers across the globe.
As the live streaming system has proved an efficient way to communicate with customers, the Pune site will continue using this method going forward. However, that doesn’t mean the centre will be leaving traditional visits behind. In line with current Indian government regulations, the Pune Sandvik Coromant Centre is beginning to open its doors to groups of up to five visitors per day. The in-person visits focus on training in particular metal cutting applications, or the features and benefits of specific Sandvik Coromant products.
“At the heart of all we do at Sandvik Coromant is the customer experience,” said Nitin Kand, team leader at Sandvik Coromant’s Pune site. “Through unpredictable times, we’ve ensured effective communication with our customers and made valuable services such as demonstrations and training work in the virtual world.
“Now we can offer both a digital way to experience our services as well as in-person visits, providing our customers with the best of both worlds. The addition of the digital live machining systems at the Pune site aligns with Sandvik Coromant’s commitment to digitalization and innovation, and helps us to reach even more manufacturers” explained Kand.
“Our digital offering and knowledgeable team help us provide the ultimate customer experience, and allow Sandvik Coromant to collaborate with customers in projects at the forefront of engineering. We want our customers in India to know the doors to our Sandvik Coromant Centre are open, and our yellow coat experts are ready to share their knowledge. However, for those who aren’t ready to experience Sandvik Coromant in person, having digital tools at our fingertips is key to helping them achieve their metal cutting goals,” he added.