The Hindu : Business : Growth opportunity ahead for tooling industry

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 04, 2006

Business

Business

Growth opportunity ahead for tooling industry

Special Correspondent

Shortening product-cycles call for new designs

— Photo : R. Shivaji Rao

DIE IS CAST: A stall at the Tools and Gauge Exhibition at Chennai Trade Centre, Nandambakkam, on Friday.

CHENNAI: The Indian tooling industry can look forward to years of fast growth and booming demand and at the same time intensified domestic and import competition, according to Viji Santhanam, Managing Director of Brakes India Ltd

The rapid growth of industries like automobiles and auto components, domestic appliances, consumer electronics and consumer durables in the wake of rising economic growth and the consumer tendency towards spending would ensure expanding need for dies, tools and gauges. Setting up of production capacity in user industries in India by foreign companies looking for low costs and a large market would add to the demand base for tooling, he said.

Also, the ever shortening life-cycle of products resulting from intense competition in user industries and consumer preference for new products would warrant the development of new tooling and designs, Mr. Santhanam said on Friday.

Inaugurating DieMould India 2006, the four-day fifth Die and Mould International Exhibition, organised by the Tool and Gauge Manufacturers' Association (TAGMA) at the Chennai Trade Centre, Mr Santhanam said the tooling industry would, however, be forced to cut costs as a result of pressures on margins faced by their buyer-industries and competition in the tooling sector both from within the country and imports.

The industry should benchmark its Taiwanese counterpart to develop capabilities for fast delivery and emphasise skill development among the workforce. Otherwise, user industries would be inclined to set up captive tool rooms, he warned.

Skill base

Mr. Santhanam paid tributes to the role played by institutions and tool rooms the public and private sectors in developing the skill base of the industry.

These include the Nettur Technical Training Foundation, Government Tool Room and Training Centre, Indo-Danish Tool Rooms, Indo-German Tool Rooms, CIPET (Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology) and Central Institute of Tool Design.

S. C. Kalyanpur, President of TAGMA, presided over the inaugural session.

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