Investment in machines alone will not do, utilisation levels should also go up. And for this to happen, you need to have an understanding of the entire production eco-system. This is the message from L Krishnan, President, Indian Machine Tools Manufacturers’ Association and Managing Director, TaeguTec India Pvt Ltd.

Speaking to BusinessLine on the sidelines of a conference on “Effective Metal Cutting” organised by the CII here, he said several companies in this region had grown significantly in the last decade.

While they continued to invest in sophisticated machine tools, their competency levels had not risen correspondingly, resulting in higher manufacturing costs. With the kind of investments on machines, one should look at improving utilisation levels, which includes both uploading and non-cutting time. (Non-cutting time, he explained, did not add value to the process; on the other hand, it added to the cost).

There is therefore a need to develop a deeper understanding of the possibilities of how to do machining using new tools, machinery automation and the entire eco-system, Krishnan said, underlying the conference theme -- “accelerating growth through machining economies”.

This is the first edition of the conference on Effective Metal Cutting.

Krishnan observed that the conference theme is highly relevant to Coimbatore which has a concentration of 4000-odd machine shops

“Companies by and large tend to focus on the visible 1 – 2 per cent cost rather than on the larger picture, influenced largely by productivity.

“Metal cutting is a continuous learning process. There is a need to constantly innovate and create new product design in quick time. While there is more scope for improvement in older organisations, any one aiming at a 15 per cent improvement in productivity, is setting no ambitious target for the organisation,” he said on a parting note.

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