MUMBAI, INDIA — Chinese injection press maker Tederic Machinery Co. Ltd. and its Indian partner S&T Engineers Ltd. are considering assembling and manufacturing some molding machines in India to better tap the local market, according to an S&T executive.
Discussions are in the early stages but the companies see potential to better tap into India's growing use of plastics in manufacturing automobiles, household appliances, pipes and packaging, said Subhabrata Chakraborty, sales manager with S&T's plastics machinery division in Coimbatore.
“It is very much a preliminary discussion between our management and their management,” Chakraborty said, in an interview at S&T's booth at the Plastivision trade show, held Dec. 12-16 in Mumbai. “By manufacturing in India, we believe we can give some cost savings to customers. … The demand of plastics in India is huge.”
He said Tederic has sold about 1,000 machines in India in the last nine years. He said the two companies only started working together about 18 months ago.
Tederic, which is one of China's largest makers of molding machines, manufacturers presses at its headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, and in Manila, the Philippines.
S&T does not manufacture its own plastic machinery but the company has other divisions that make equipment for mold making, including CNC machining centers, electrical discharge machining centers and grinding equipment. It has about 350 employees, he said.
India's government currently has anti-dumping penalties of up to 223 percent on some Chinese-made injection molding machines, but Chakraborty said that's not a significant factor driving the discussions. Tederic's Philippine-made presses are not subject to the anti-dumping duties, and the companies instead see the potential to shorten delivery time to India and show commitment to the market, he said.
“We are trying to give that confidence to customers,” he said.
