Technology and Innovation Driving Cutting Tools Market

In an interaction with Industry Outlook, Brajesh Kumar, Managing Director, Walter Tools India shares his insights on the development of metalworking market, agile manufacturing, cost management, digital technology adoption and more.

The global metalworking market is expected to reach US$ 27.74 Billion by 2031. How is this industry developing in India? What are the key factors driving the growth?
As the Indian economy shows signs of revival, we are confident of growth across manufacturing sectors in the ensuing fiscal to spur growth. Indian industry today is witnessing a surge in the emerging sectors like Aerospace, Die and Mould, textile, electronics, etc.

One of the most unique challenges facing the metalworking industry is the need to accommodate different customer preferences. How can an agile manufacturing system be attained?
“Mater Artium Necessitas” meaning “Necessity is the Mother of Invention”… this very old Latin proverb stands true, till date in any engineering field. The development in Indian cutting tool industry is similarly driven by the market’s need. Identifying customer’s needs – often before they realize it themselves and creating the right solution, drives our growth. For leaders of innovative technology like Walter, the most important benchmark is the voice of the market and dynamic requirement of our customers.

Indian cutting tool industry is at par with the global trends when it comes to the availability of premium quality cutting tools with technologically innovative products. India is an emerging global manufacturing hub, and all the global leaders from the manufacturing industries, be it Auto, Energy, Aerospace, Railway & General Engineering are setting up their state-of-the-art facilities in India creating the need and thus influencing the growth of product innovation in the Indian cutting tool industry.

Managing costs while maintaining quality, revenue, sales and customers is one of the biggest challenges facing the metalworking industry. How can this be attained?
Today’s end users are demanding the latest in technology at the most economical cost. The industry has a continuously evolving appetite for improvement which calls for challenging applications, surfaces & materials to be machined. On top of that greater precision are needed to be achieved at an ever-increasing productivity rate with rock solid process security. The perpetually growing competition in the manufacturing sector, both from local and global players, has led to an increased end-user expectation towards cost and technological competitiveness. Today, manufacturing companies need to act as cutting tool experts offering optimized machining solutions for increasing productivity and quality. Selecting a cutting tool supplier with competence in product innovation, backed with local engineering support & availability of the entire spectrum of cutting tool products in a single portfolio helps customers to have an edge in the industry against the competition.