Schmersal sets up manufacturing plant near Pune.

Schmersal, a Germany-based group specialising in safety for man-machine interface, has set up its first manufacturing plant in India at Ranjangoan near Pune.

Built with an investment of Rs. 65 crore, the Greenfield facility, which is Schmersal's seventh plant worldwide, can make 3.6 million safety switches annually.

The company plans to sell its made-in-India products in the Indian market initially, and later begin exports to both the parent company as well as to ASEAN and Gulf markets later. It is also setting up an R&D team by the first quarter of 2015.

At Ranjangoan, Schmersal will begin with manufacturing 400 products and variants from the Group’s range of 25,000 devices, and over time proposes to move to offering complete safety circuits and solutions.

'Right now we are assembling the products, but we plan to begin localisation and go to 100 per cent,' Heinz Schmersal, President, Schmersal Group, said. The process of identifying vendors for local supply had begun, he added.

Sagar Bhosale, Managing Director, Schmersal India, said that currently the turnover stood at around €2.5 million per annum. 'By 2018, we expect it to touch €12.5 million,' he said.

The Indian subsidiary has been selling the Schmersal range of products in the country since 2007, and the clients include Bharat Forge, Ferromatic Milakron, Johnson Lifts, L&T, LMW Group, OTIS, Schindler, Tata Steel, Thyssen, Trutzschler and Unilever.


HBL