The bearings segment in India has come a long way in the last decade showing rapid growth in terms of volumes and quality standards amidst growing competition. While the task of battling competition and coming out on top in the domestic market is a great challenge in itself, a handful of home-grown bearing manufacturers have gone out and established their strong presence in global markets despite several odds. One of them is the Rajkot-based Orbit Bearings India Pvt. Ltd. which is growing fast both in India and overseas, nearly tripling its capacity in the process. We spoke to Mr. Vinesh Patel, Managing Director, and Mr. Samir Patel, Director – Marketing, Orbit Bearings India Pvt. Ltd., to get details.
Orbit Bearings, established in 1990 in Rajkot, manufactures taper and cylindrical roller bearings for automotive and industrial applications, catering to manufacturers of trucks, truck trailers, agriculture tractors, transmissions, engines, compressors, industrial gearboxes, etc. The company earns 60 per cent of its revenue from the domestic market, with the rest from exports to different regions across the globe, including the US, Europe, Australia and parts of Asia.
With 98 per cent of its sales coming from the OEM segment, the company attributes its success in global markets to factors such as hard work, focus on quality and understanding of customer needs. The fact that many global vehicle makers, especially truck OEMs, have either already entered or planning to enter India is a contributing factor as well.
Says Mr. Vinesh Patel: “Indian suppliers are increasingly becoming competent to compete at the global level, and the fact that multinational OEMs have started sourcing components from around the world gives players like us a lot of opportunities to showcase our capabilities. There is always a global market for all Indian companies, and to come up to that level, we need to work harder and deliver globally acceptable quality at a competitive price. We have done our homework well, so we are globally recognized.”
In the truck segment, Orbit works with leading brands, both domestic OEMs as well as global ones.
Manufacturing capability
Over the years, Orbit has graduated from being a manufacture-oriented company to a knowledge-based engineering entity, specializing in design, testing and customizing bearing solutions as per specific customer requirements. While Orbit’s commitment to consistent quality, from design to distribution, has been one of its core strengths, optimizing manufacturing processes and resources has been another.
Currently the fourth largest in India in the product lines it competes in, Orbit has a manufacturing facility with state-of-the-art technology at Rajkot. In 2007, the company started manufacturing advanced hub bearings which help achieve greater life cycle cost savings, a move which led to its becoming the first Indian company to supply hub bearings to European trailer OEMs.
Early next year, Orbit will be inaugurating a new manufacturing plant along with a technology centre to provide advanced engineering solutions to its customers. The new facility, combined with the existing one, will nearly triple the company’s manufacturing capacity. “We are expanding our capacity with our second plant which is coming up close to our existing facility at Rajkot. From around 350,000 units as monthly capacity, we will now be able to produce a million units per month through our two plants”, adds Mr. Patel.
Orbit has invested in an R&D facility to perform simulation testing for its automotive customers and friction management processes to improve fuel efficiency. The company’s aggressive investments into research, development and plant infrastructure have been instrumental in enabling it to provide strong and reliable support services to its global axles and transmissions OEM customers. Orbit which has around 40 sales offices in India, in addition to a global office in Germany, works in other overseas markets either directly from India or indirectly through sales partners.
Rapid growth
Despite the prolonged slowdown in the industry, Orbit has been able to maintain consistent growth over the last decade. The company’s knack of identifying growth areas even during challenging times has helped it stay on the growth path, while one must also give credit to its high level of optimism despite odds. “The Indian market has always been good for Orbit even during the slowdown. Throughout the last 10 years, except during the recession in 2008-09, we have grown by around 30 per cent year-on-year. While things are generally smooth when the market is good, some OEMs look for alternative sources during the slowdown. This is an area we have identified, and this has helped us quite well”, says Mr. Samir Patel.
With the automotive industry sentiments getting better, thanks to the new government and strong growth expected in 2015, Orbit is ready to enter a new growth phase of its own. “The market scenario looks good and we are confident of the platform we are creating for our customers. Within three years our capacity should be fully utilized, and we would then go for further expansion”, he concludes.