Lamilux, now becoming popular among Indian commercial vehicle industry circles, made its Busworld India debut, showcasing a single-piece bus roof much to the delight of customers in the sector. Having made decent inroads into the truck reefer segment, Lamilux is looking to make a mark in the bus industry in which its materials find a variety of applications such as roof, floor, side panels, etc.
Not only does Lamilux have global expertise in the glass reinforced plastic (GRP) technology, but now it also has a sound understanding about the Indian market, having served it for nearly a decade through its representative Dr. Cosima-Klinger Paul, who is now Managing Director, Lamilux India Private Ltd.
Says Dr. Cosima: “We have a special composite fibre glass specially made for the bus roof, and we supply it worldwide to many major bus manufacturers such as Evobus and MAN. We are very happy with the response at the show, and customers are happy with our material, its lightweight and in particular the single piece roof which is not too common in India today.”
Having started off with a hostile response to its composite material which was unheard of many years back, Lamilux is receiving completely different response from customers at present, with many OEMs and body builders reaching out to them rather than the company approaching them.
“The main difference between last year and this year is that now there is a lot of momentum in the market for use of composites. Until last year, we faced questions like ‘will it work?’, but now our talks are in a more advanced stage, with customers asking us about the kind of material, the payback period, etc. We have to work closely with our customers and provide a lot of technical support, because it’s a new technology and a whole shift in the industry. But we see people talking about interesting new developments and export plans; so overall, everyone is getting their act together and India, as a country, is on the move”, adds Dr. Cosima.
Apart from showcasing the bus roof, Lamilux also gave a live demonstration to compare the strength of composite material versus steel. While a 0.8 mm steel sheet of 5 kg per sq. m. density was dented badly when banged with a hammer, a 1.6 mm GRP sheet with density 2.8 kg per sq. m. hardly gave way to dents, clearly showing the strength of the material.
“Seeing is believing. Customers now understand the strength of our material better. It’s like an eye-opener for them”, remarks Mr. Oliver Liebsch, Sales Manager, Innovative Fibreglass Solutions, Lamilux Composites GmbH, who conducted the demo.