The cutting tools industry has a benefit over the machine tools industry in that when the capital investments are not happening, cutting tools are still required on existing machines. On their part, MMC Hardmetal India brings a great amount of value to the customers’ business and is putting in efforts to educate them, too. “I always say that having the right tool is one thing and using it for the right application is another thing. That is why customer education is very important,” says Sardeshmukh.
Mitsubishi worldwide puts in efforts for this. Engineers from MMC go to the global technical centre in Omiya, Japan, to attend a training programme called ‘Train the Trainers’. They are trained for a couple of months, and come back to train MMC’s field staff as well as customers, who are given a live demonstration and training on their own machines.
Besides this, MMC is developing new technologies to serve the customer. At IMTEX, they showcased a new series of drills for the Indian market – including indexable insert drills and solid carbide drills. In addition, a double-sided face milling cutter was also displayed. For the automotive industry that is turning to aluminium, they have recently launched a milling cutter called FMAX, which can work up to the feed rate of 20m per minute, which is probably the fastest milling cutter available today.
“Customer sentiments are mixed right now. December was a big blow, because two-wheeler and four-wheeler sales came down to single digits, and that is why customers were a bit reluctant to buy. However, this month, we have already seen the market picking up,” he ended on a positive note.