Rockman Industries acquires stake in UK’s MCT Engineering  

Rockman Industries, part of the $6 billion (Rs 37,902 crore) Hero Group, has announced that it has acquired a strategic stake in the UK-based carbon-composite manufacturer, MCT Engineering through Moldex Composites.

In a bid to be ready with next-generation materials as regulatory norms evolve, in January 2017, Rockman Industries had acquired a majority stake of 51 percent worth Rs 100 crore in carbon composites company Moldex Composites. This Gujarat-based Indo-British joint venture in design and manufacturing provides advanced carbon composites to F1 racing cars. This acquisition flagged off Rockman’s strategy to be a frontrunner in fast emerging technologies.

MCT Engineering is the UK’s specialist carbon-composites manufacturer, which produces high-quality and innovative components for automotive, motorsport and defence industries. Its clients include marquee motorsports and high-end, luxury car makers like Jaguar Land Rover and other British and European brands.

The acquisition is part of Rockman’s strategy to be a front-runner in emerging technologies and to expand its footprint in European and US markets.

In 2017, Rockman had acquired a majority strategic stake in Moldex Composites, a British-Indian enterprise, engaged in design and manufacturing of advanced composites. This partnership complements MCT’s existing capabilities by giving it access to Moldex’s expertise in cost-effective advanced composites manufacturing as well as in-house design and production of patterns and moulds.

At present, Moldex Composites supplies composite components from India, with 99 percent of the output exported across the world to premier racing series in North America and other automotive and motorsports customers in UK and Europe. The Moldex-MCT collaboration has already started supporting and supplying to a number of Jaguar Land Rover programmes in the UK, together with other regular volume projects from India. The two companies together have the vision to be ‘a global composites market player’ and ‘the number one choice’ for high performance composite solutions.

Targeting end-to-end solutions
The company claims this will be able to offer end-to-end solutions to their customers from detailed design, mould and patterns manufacturing to bespoke products, prototypes and short runs as well as volume production. 

“The future belongs to carbon composites. We expect it to account for 10 percent of Rockman Industries’ turnover by 2022. Moldex Composites’ strategic stake in MCT Engineering allows Rockman Industries to leverage the advanced technology and to expand presence in the global aerospace, motorsports and automotive businesses,” said Suman Kant Munjal, chairman and managing director, Rockman Industries.

Parag Rajda, MD and co-founder, Moldex Composites, said: “We are proud to announce Moldex Composites’ partnership with UK’s MCT Engineering. The partnership will be beneficial for our global customers as it will increase our capabilities to handle turnkey packages involving end to end solutions from design to FEA, manufacturing and testing of crash structures, bodywork, wings, suspension, engine ancillaries, seating and frame assemblies among others.”

The company states that this acquisition brings together the market reach of MCT and the cost effective, yet comprehensive manufacturing expertise of both Rockman Industries and Moldex Composites. This investment will provide Moldex Composites’ global customers the flexibility to outsource for quick turnaround and long production runs from a single source.

Utilising the combined strengths and experience of the Indian and the UK technical teams, the partnership now has the capabilities to handle turnkey packages including design, FEA, manufacture and testing of crash structures, bodywork, wings, suspension, engine ancillaries, seating and frame assemblies among others.

MCT has over 20 years' experience in the supply of advanced composites to the UK and Europe’s leading luxury and sports car makers. The company’s facility, situated close to Silverstone Racing Circuit in the UK, focuses primarily on cosmetic components and short production runs with quick turnaround times.

Moldex is backed by advanced composites design and manufacturing experience of more than five decades of its two British founders and its team in India. It can take full ownership of customer’s composites requirements and be a one-stop-solution – from prototypes to volume runs – covering detailed design, material choice, laminate design, in-house patterns and mould design, jigs design and manufacturing – all at a competitive cost.

Also read: Ujjwal Munjal, executive director, Rockman Industries: ‘Being at Silverstone will help us drive developments in the carbon composites space.’