GANDHINAGAR, INDIA — The Indian distributor of a Chinese injection molding press maker is set to form a press manufacturing joint venture at Coimbatore in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
S&T Engineers (P) Ltd. is a distributor of Hangzhou, China-based Tederic Machinery Co. Ltd. in India, and it is set to commence production of injection molding presses soon.
“We have already purchased 13 acres for the proposed plant in Coimbatore. The production would likely to start by early 2016,” said Harminder Singh, vice president of S&T in an interview with Plastics News at Plastindia 2015 at Gandhinagar.
The firm also represents Philippines based injection molding press market J.I.T. Injection Machinery Phillipines Corp.
S&T distributes presses above 1,000 metric tons from Tederic and from 80 to up to 1,000 tonnes from J.I.T.
The Indian government imposed anti-dumping duty on the import of Chinese presses below 1,000 metric tons to safeguard the interest of the domestic press industry, so S&T offers only the larger tonnage Tederic machines.
S&T already operated sales, service and equipment support across India before entering the distribution of processing machines in 2013. In 2014, it sold about 135 presses, Singh said.
“Our strength is in the sales, service and distribution,” he said. “We are now venturing into manufacturing also.”
In the first phase in Coimbatore, the companies plan to produce presses of up to 250 metric tons. From there, it will offer up to 550 metric tons, if the market demands it.
“We are coming with a complete package of new design, latest technology, servo presses in a ‘value for money' preposition,” he said.
Singh said prices will be comparable with Indian brands, but offer better features.
The proposed plant also will house a mold making machinery center in collaboration with Manford Machinery Co. Ltd. of Taiwan.
“The idea is to become a single source supplier of molds to molding,” Singh said.
Final investment details are still in development, but the venture likely will begin with an annual capacity of 300 presses.
