A new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is being set up by EnPro Industries of the US, which is the parent company of GGB Bearings. The plant coming up in Pune will be shared by GGB and Garlock Sealing Systems, another EnPro Group company. The move is part of GGB’s long-term program to build its market presence in the growing Indian market.
Mr. Mathias Senghaas, Sales Manager – Asia, GGB Asia, said: “Initially we had a lot of groundwork to do. We hired the right people and in a relatively short period of time we have reached a very good market position in India mainly due to the quality of our product and also due to the technical support we provide to our customers, as also the after-sales service”.
GGB entered India nearly four years ago. It opened an office in India in 2004 and appointed Mr. Jasvinder Singh Bhatia as National Sales Manager for Indian / SAARC operations. The company has fared well in the last few years with a 70 per cent growth in 2007.
“We are very happy with the growth in India. We have reached a certain market size which justifies setting up of a manufacturing facility. We want to develop our business in India and we know that to further expand our business we need to supply locally, improve service levels and stay closer to our customers. We are expanding our sales and service team to provide better sales and service support to our customers in India”, added Mr. Senghaas.
The new facility is being set up at Bhosari, Pune, very close to the Tata Motors facility. The company hopes to start trial production by March / April and by mid-2008 the first shipments will be made. Initially the company plans to import most of the raw material as it is highly specialized. Over a period of time it would develop suppliers locally.
Mr. Senghaas observed: “We provide not just the bearing but total engineering service to our customers and that differentiates us from other bearing manufacturers. Using our global expertise we can provide design recommendations to our customers and suggest them ways to minimise cost. The decision to set up a manufacturing facility in India is not because of lower labor cost, as in our case we are using the same technology used in Europe or America which is fully automated and the labor content in our product is very little. Our intention is to stay close to our customers”.
Mr. Jasvinder Singh Bhatia has been the face of GGB’s business in India. He has been responsible for establishing and growing GGB’s business in the last few years. “The journey so far has been quite challenging and interesting. We had to create a lot of awareness as the product and technology is totally new to the Indian market. The growth in the last few years has been very good, and we see a good opportunity in the future for our products in the Indian market”.
“The ultimate goal is to attain market leadership in the Asian market just as we have our strong position in Europe and America. We are working towards that in India. We already have a manufacturing facility in China to cater to the Chinese market. What we produce in India will primarily be for the Indian market and on a later date we will explore the possibility of catering to a few neighbouring Asian markets from India”, added Mr. Bhatia.
GGB’s global sales were $300 million in 2007. The world’s largest manufacturer of prelubricated and self-lubricating metal-polymer plain bearings, the company has production facilities in the US, Germany, France, Slovakia and Brazil, as also operating units in two dozen other countries. The facilities in China and India would give GGB, which is presently confined to North and South America and Europe, the necessary foothold in the Asian region.
“We have set very ambitious growth targets in Asia and particularly in markets like China and India. So far we have managed to exceed our targets every year and we hope to continue to perform well in the coming years”, concluded Mr. Senghaas.
