Schmersal India Celebrates Ten Years of Manufacturing Excellence
Published on : Tuesday 08-08-2023
Schmersal India was established in 2007 with just three members in order to participate in the growing Indian market for machine safety.
Schmersal India celebrated its 10 years of manufacturing in India on July 1, 2023 at its Ranjangaon facility in presence of its staff, officials from Schmersal – Germany, and dealers & distributors, vendors & suppliers and members of the trade media. Present on the occasion were Michael Ambros, Managing Director of K A Schmersal GmbH & Co KG; Sagar Bhosale, Managing Director of Schmersal India; Henning Carl, International Production Director of K A Schmersal GmbH & Co KG; Ms Nina Schmersal, Shareholder, Schmersal Group; Dnyaneshwar Pangarkar, Plant Head, Schmersal India; Swapnil Kulkarni, Managing Director of Schmersal Competence Centre; A A Ghogare, Deputy Director, Directorate of Industrial Safety & Health (DISH); and Rajesh Nath, Managing Director, German Engg Federation (VDMA) India Office.
Dnyaneshwar Pangarkar, Plant Head, Schmersal India presented an overview of the company’s presence and activities in India right from the time it was initially founded in 2007 as a sales organisation in order to participate in the growing Indian market for machine safety. In 2012, the cornerstone for a production factory was laid in Ranjangaon near Pune in the State of Maharashtra. Production commenced in July 2013. Ranjangaon is one of the seven production sites of the Schmersal Group globally. India, Brazil and China are the only other manufacturing sites besides Germany. Pangarkar emphasised how the Covid pandemic was a turning point for Schmersal in India as the company’s growth doubled after 2020, and how it was very quick in adapting to the changed working scenario amidst the lockdown, resuming production with the help of just 6 to 7 employees residing close to the plant. Tracing the role of Quality Management in this journey of excellence Dnyaneshwar Pangarkar stated how it began with the QMS-ISO9801 certification for the plant in 2013 followed by the UL CSA Product Certification.During 2015 the company successfully passed the customer audit of Schindler India and the CCC Product Certification. More customer audits passed from Wittur India and CLW. Along with that the journey towards localisation had also begun with small rubber parts in 2015 and later the process of evaluating potential Indian suppliers for development of moulding tools and cast parts and machined components. Gradually, the company developed a dedicated supplier base.
Sagar Bhosale, Managing Director of Schmersal India, traced the company’s 16-year long journey and the impact it has had on the safety landscape in the country. “Whenever people think about safety, the name of Schmersal comes to mind,” he said, referring to the trust and reputation that Schmersal has earned over the past decade, reinforcing its position as a leader in industrial safety solutions. Sagar elaborated on the goals for next five years for Schmersal in India as: maintaining leadership position in safety market; making Schmersal India a certified ‘great place to work’; making Schmersal spell everything for safety – software technology + automation; and 100% localisation of all products manufactured in India. For the record, as of now only the electro-mechanical parts of the products are made in India while the electronic components are largely imported. “This journey has been immensely gratifying as it has enabled us to develop comprehensive solutions that cater to the current and future needs of the industry,” he added.
Next, Swapnil Kulkarni, Managing Director, Schmersal Global Competence Centre Pvt Ltd (SGCC) spoke about the activities of the company. The SGCC, launched in January 2022 as a new subsidiary in India, supports the IT and Engineering projects of the Schmersal Group globally. The IT services consist of SAP, Infrastructure, Microsoft Technologies, and Custom Application Development. The Engineering Centre takes care of firmware, embedded and IIoT technologies to propel the Schmersal Group into a Digital age. Within the SGCC, there are six different service streams and these are briefly as follows:
1. SAP – SAP delivery centre, implementation and support services, SAP on demand and consolidated support
2. Infrastructure – Turnkey projects, server management, L1, L2 and L3 support, application packaging and Azure services
3. Microsoft Platform – Office 365 Apps, MS CRM Support, MS Sharepoint Online, MS Service Bus and MS Power Automate
4. Engineering Applications – End to end product development, Re-engineering in legacy products for feature enhancement, Design optimisation and Application development
5. Business Applications – Digitalisation, Custom software development, Cross platform, Modular methodology Cloud base and integration
6. IoT – Building the complete architecture, data driven services for safety and other components and data integration and visualization over cloud platforms.
Rajesh Nath, Managing Director of VDMA India congratulated the K A Schmersal and Schmersal India teams for achieving yet another milestone in India. He specifically mentioned the success of the family owned German engineering companies, referred to as the Mittelstand companies in Germany, which are much like the SMEs in India and elsewhere. “It is a very happy and satisfying feeling to see the growth of Schmersal in India. The core strength of German companies lies in the family owned Mittelstand companies which have made the country a power house of engineering and manufacturing globally; and it is very encouraging to see how that spirit is transformed to their subsidiaries. Schmersal India is a living example of this successful transformation in India, and the confidence the company has in India,” he said. Rajesh Nath also recounted how India has transformed in the last 10 years from being mentioned as one of the fragile 5 economies of the BRICKS group, into one of the fastest growing economies of the world.
Michael Ambros, Managing Director of K A Schmersal GmbH & Co KG, expressed his satisfaction at being part of India's growth story. “We at Schmersal take immense pride in witnessing India’s remarkable progress over the past few years. Schmersal India has wholeheartedly embraced this potential, making a positive impact on various industries by providing cutting-edge industrial safety solutions. We have complete faith in India’s current and future success story. We are determined to increase our investments in India in creating more production facilities locally, for domestic demand and for exports,” he said.
For Henning Carl, International Production Director of KA Schmersal GmbH & Co KG, who has been associated with the pland from it groundbreaking ceremony 10 years ago, it was an occasion to recollect the contributions of the team as well as the relationships build with the suppliers and the customers. “Moving forward, our focus is on localising components, which can be challenging as it involves finding suitable suppliers and ensuring quality coordination. However, we are committed to taking the necessary steps, not only in terms of components but also in advancing our product technology,” he said
A A Ghogare, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Industrial Safety & Health (DISH), commended the Schmersal India team and emphasized the invaluable partnership between DISH and Schmersal India. DISH plays a pivotal role in ensuring workplace safety and health standards across industries. “The Schmersal tagline, DNA of Safety, is something that we at the Directorate of Industrial Safety & Health closely identify with and work for safety across all workplaces in India. On this occasion, I on behalf of DISH congratulate the Schmersal India and global teams for this remarkable 10-year journey towards industrial safety in the country," he said.
The event concluded by celebrating the success stories of Schmersal India’s vendors and suppliers who were felicitated on the occasion, some of them recounting the challenges of the initial years and the support they received from Schmersal Group. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Ramjit Singh. “We take pride in being one of the fastest-growing leaders in the safety segment. Schmersal has achieved a significant milestone by surpassing one hundred crore revenue in just 13-14 years. To further expand our presence, we are investing in increasing our on-ground workforce to prepare for the future,” he concluded.
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