Starrag Heckert plans new facility in city

Starrag Heckert Machine Tools Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of Switzerland-based $250 million Starrag Heckert AG, a manufacturer of horizontal machining centers, today announced the setting up of a manufacturing plant in Bangalore, its first outside Europe.

The company will invest Rs50 crore on the new plant, which will produce 60 units per year in the first phase and 120 units in the second phase.

“There is a demand for about 300 horizontal machining centers in India annually and we want to capture about 15 per cent market share in the next two years. We will manufacture 4-axis and 5-axis horizontal machining centres for both Indian and Chinese markets,” A N Chandramouli, managing director, Starrag Heckert Machine Tools Pvt Ltd said.

 

As a first step towards its Indian operations, the company has set up a technology center at Peenya in Bangalore with an initial investment of Rs 6 crore.

The tech center will demonstrate its heavy duty WMW CWK machining centers. The headcount at the tech center will be doubled from the present 30 in the next one year, he said.

The machines produced in the new factory will be supported by tooled up solutions from the tech center, which will relocate to the new facility, he added.

Walter Borsch, executive vice-president (operations), StarragHeckert said, the company has recently acquired 8 acres land at Aerospace Park near Bangalore international airport from Karnataka

Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to set up a greenfield facility to build WMW brand of machining centres, which will be operational in 2012.

The Bangalore facility will have 200 technical manpower, which will be trained through the Swiss Vocational Education and Training programme already initiated in collaboration with Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce, he said.

Ashok Leyland, BHEL, Hansen, HAL and Ace Designers are its early customers in India, for whom the company is importing machines from Europe, Chandramouli said adding that the company would be able to manufacture at 30 per cent less costs in India compared to Europe.

To begin with the company will achieve 40 per cent localisation in India and scale it up in the second phase, he said.

Globally, Starrag Heckert is known for its SIP Jig Borers, the precision milling machines. In India, it has sold over 100 such machines over the last four decades.