Yet Another Milestone

Since its foray into the Indian market, DMG MORI India has been consistently expanding its activities while proactively promoting the development of the machine tool industry of the country. On the occasion of the company’s 20th year in the industry, here’s recounting successful landmarks in its journey and gathering its plans for further accomplishments…

The opening of the first location in Bangalore in the year 1999 saw the start of a success story for DMG MORI that has continued relentlessly right up to the present day. The establishment of the modern Technology Center in Bangalore in 2011 makes for a befitting example in which the company bundles its activities in application technology, training, service and sales. “More than 1,400 satisfied customers and 4,000 installed machines after 20 years speak for themselves and for the other four DMG MORI locations,” says Sunil Rao, Deputy Managing Director, DMG MORI India Pvt Ltd, with evident pride as the company completes its two decades in the subcontinent building a matchless reputation for itself.

From Germany to India

DMG MORI recognized the potential of the Indian economy as early as 1999, and with its local presence played a decisive role in the development of the market in the country. With the tagline ‘Machines from Germany – Solutions from India’, the company started direct operations in India to avoid middlemen and reach the customers directly.

“The merger of DMG and Mori Seiki further strengthened the capability to serve the needs of the Indian market with world-class products. As a result, we were able to both support and shape the production industry with our innovative manufacturing solutions,” shares Rao recounting highlights that contributed in making DMG MORI India what it is today.

The company has continuously kept expanding its activities in India in order to meet the rising demand. Additional branches in Delhi, Ahmedabad and Pune were opened in the year 2010, allowing DMG MORI India even better control of its sales and service activities. “The journey of moving from 25 machines to 230 machines was overwhelming. I still remember our landmark order of 50 machines which was negotiated in the year 2000 with HAL for its center of excellence, Bangalore,” he adds.

Right Products for the Market

DMG MORI India has been serving the needs of the Indian market with its world-class products. Throwing light on the products that are a hit with the market, Rao says, “Our highly popular products for the Indian market include the monoBLOCK, duoBLOCK, NHX and NVX series. They are known for their excellent precision and productivity.”

With the surging growth of aerospace sector in India, the company sees significant potential for its 5-axis machines. “Apart from aerospace, the automotive and defense sectors also contribute a large share in our revenue,” he shares.

According to him, the Government policies and campaigns, especially the ‘Make in India’ initiative, have proven to be a boon to manufacturing entities, both local and foreign.

State-of-the-Art Tech Center

With DMG MORI’s operations growing in India, the team was also expanding. “There was a need to have some sort of in-house set-up to support our customers better. With this thought, we decided to open a Technology Center equipped with world-class training facility and a showroom for machine display and test cuts,” informs Rao.

Since its opening, over a hundred of the company’s employees have taken up their work in the fields of service, application and sales. The Center also houses the service hotline and the DMG MORI spare parts store. The company concentrates its entire expertise at the location so it can develop ideal manufacturing solutions for its customers. “Our experts have already been able to develop over 200 individual turnkey projects with the aid of the diverse machine portfolio, particularly in the automotive, aerospace, die & mould and medical fields of technology excellence,” he adds. The company uses the well-equipped showroom with its five machining centers and turning machines for the necessary trial machining of parts. The customers also have the chance here to watch live demonstrations of the manufacturing solutions.

Imparting Training

DMG MORI Academy, the academic wing of DMG MORI Global, is the world’s leader of knowledge transfer in the area of CNC machine tools which trains its customers and employees in its own training centers or on site when requested. The innovative course program includes CNC as well as Service training for DMG MORI products.

“The Technology Center at DMG MORI Bangalore has sufficient space available for training facilities, in which the well-qualified trainers of the DMG MORI Academy have already provided training in the use of the innovative manufacturing technologies to over 600 customers since 2011,” shares Rao.

The courses have a practical hands-on orientation taking place at training stations with controls from Siemens, Heidenhain, Fanuc and Mitsubishi on the machines in the showroom. The company leverages this medium in its endeavor to promote the use of modern machine tools, which in turn, boosts productivity of its customers.

Reaching Customers Directly

The Indian market, Rao believes, is a relationship driven market. The customer wants to get in touch with the decision makers directly in any purchase transaction. This mindset was basically the motivation for the company to avoid the middlemen when it started off in the country.

“Some of our very close customers from the DMG MORI beginning days insisted us to come in the market directly. This idea was welcomed by other customers as well. Our relationship with customers is based on the bedrock of trust in terms of our product quality which helped us move forward without any hurdles and penetrate in the market directly. We also ensured our sales and service presence in all states of the country with offices in all four regions for better control and coordination,” he notes.

Success Mantra

DMG MORI has been a technology leader in the machine tool market not only in India, but also across the globe. Rao lets out the strategy that has helped the company retain its competitive edge for so long. “The industry has seen many changes in the last 20 years. However, DMG MORI has always been at the forefront of the technological advancements which has given us an upper hand over all other players. We have also recently launched our first ‘Crafter in Japan – Produced in India’ product, the new Vertical Machining Center - CMX 600Vi keeping in mind the demands of customer in changing market trends where everyone expects quicker delivery. The future will be more demanding and we will soon see all the manufacturing systems getting automated. We have come a long way from manual lathes to machining centers. Next is the era of additive manufacturing combined with hybrid machines and DMG MORI is ready for it,” he concludes.