I always believe that the biggest strength of India vis-a-vis any other emerging economy, including China, is the pioneering spirit of its entrepreneurs. It’s interesting to see how small companies started in the 1980s and 1990s have emerged leaders not just in the domestic market but in the global markets as well. One such young entrepreneur is Mr. Amit Malhotra, Managing Director of McCoy Silicones Ltd., part of the Teknos Group. McCoy is the market leader in India for polyurethane(PU) based sealants. The company was established in 1999-2000 by him with the idea of importing and distributing new technology and futuristic products in India.
The company initially started as distributor for Wacker Chemie GmbH of Germany for Trade Label and Elastosil Brand of Silicone Sealants for India. From a turnover of Rs. 1 crore and 26 distribution centers in the first year, McCoy is today a Rs. 120-crore company with more than 600 distributors spread across India. It is clearly the largest adhesive and sealant company in India and has spread its wings across South east Asian markets as well.
Amit says that the big break for McCoy came in 2000 when the company became the distributor for Le Joint Francais(LJF), a French company, which is part of the Total Group worldwide. LJF is a global leader in sealants, and McCoy became the distributor in India for its Total Seal range of urethane, polysulphide, mastics & sealants for bus and coach applications and for the automotive after-market.
Globally PU is a common form of sealant used for automotive applications. In fact in mature markets like the Europe and the US, it’s almost 100 per cent on PU. But in 2000, it was a major challenge to introduce this technology in India and to create a market for it, says Mr. Amit. The reason was the Indian market was primarily using silicon based sealants which were 50 per cent of the cost of PU.
Mr. Amit recollects that the initial years was very tough. “Our first major breakthrough in the bus segment came from Sutlej for their Tarmac coach project which was built using the Mercedes McClaren engines. We worked with our partner LJF and made 42 buses using PU sealant technology. Also with entry of Volvo in 2001, usage of PU increased considerably. In fact Volvo was our first major customers in terms of buying large quantities of PU sealants”, admits Mr. Amit.
“Gradually, we started marketing the product across India to all bus body building units and created the market for PU sealants in India. In a sense, McCoy has been responsible for the birth of PU sealants in India”, says Mr. Amit.
Nothing in Indian automotive history is complete without Tata Motors. In 2003, the company launched the Starbus and Globus range of buses, and Tata Motors clearly mandated usage of PU sealants across all its buses. This further added to the increase in usage of PU. Today close to 80 per cent of the bus market is using PU-based sealants and within that McCoy dominates with a marketshare of well over 50 per cent.
After having established the product and technology in the Indian market, McCoy started identifying areas where the company can provide better value to its customers. It was identified that there was high incidence of wastage of sealants at the customer end as the products are usually being applied by unskilled labour.
Identifying the problem and with a genuine intention to provide value to its customers, McCoy initiated the first training program at JCBL in 2006. In the very first batch, more than 200 employees from various departments including procurement, purchase, design and development and most importantly the shop floor workers were trained on the proper usage of sealants and ways to reduce wastage. The same was organized by McCoy’s home team of professionally trained specialists and experienced personnel who have become the backbone of their training team.
The response was overwhelming, says Mr. Amit. “We have till date conducted over 30 such workshops all across India including all major bus body builders, State transport corporations and even OEMs like Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland. The results were obvious. Wastage levels dropped from as high as 15 per cent to 3-5 per cent in most units, and this resulted in significant saving for the customer. We are also do a monthly or quarterly audit to ensure that the systems and process are followed”.
Apart from the bus manufacturing segment, McCoy is also supplying its products to the automotive after-market and construction equipment manufacturers like JCB, Terex Vectra, Telcon and Escorts. Currently, McCoy is distributing the products in India, and the target is to set up a manufacturing facility in the country by 2010. More so as McCoy now employs around 100 professionals across India with corporate HQs in New Delhi and offices and warehousing facilities in Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Guwahati. In addition they are developing the very first R&D; Centre in Delhi for testing and training needs for the industry.
