Ceratizit Group breaks ground on plant expansion in Bangalore

The Ceratizit Group of Luxembourg, which is a leading global manufacturer of hard material products for wear protection and cutting tools, has had the ground-breaking ceremony of Ceratizit India’s expanded plant in Bangalore. The move is in line with the company’s plan to cater to the steadily increasing demand for cutting tools in Asian markets.

The expansion ceremony, held in end-November, was inaugurated by Jean Claude Kugener, Ambassador of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in India, in the presence of Members of the Board –Thierry Wolter, Andreas Lackner, Andreas Schwenninger, and Gerhard Bailom, AK Sareen and Anil Kumar. With the expansion, the company has gained the flexibility to accommodate the machines necessary for further growth and to optimise its production processes.

Inauguration stone unveiling by Jean Claude Kugener, Executive Board Members Thierry Wolter, Andreas Lackner, Andreas Schwenninger and Gerhard Bailom, AK Sareen and Anil Kumar

The original building, opened in 2009, currently has an area of 36,500 square feet. The new extension has more than doubled it to 85,000 square feet and now offers the urgently needed space. According to Managing Director Anil Kumar, “Due to the growth in recent years, we have been lacking the space to install additional machines. The extension removes this crucial bottleneck and allows us to continue growing here at the site.”

This flexibility is necessary to meet the Group's ambitious growth targets for India. “Our Indian locations have already grown at an above-average rate in the past. We want to maintain this trend,” explains Executive Board Member Thierry Wolter. On an average, the Indian business of the internationally active carbide specialist is expected to grow at double-digit rates in the coming years.

Ribbon-cutting ceremony of the extension of the Ceratizit India’s manufacturing facility in Bangalore

Jean Claude Kugener, Ambassador of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in India says “We are celebrating the 70 years of our diplomatic relations with India and celebrating 90 years of Luxembourg’s first Vice-Consulate in Bombay. We have become strong partners over the years, a relation that has further deepened with the inauguration of the resident Embassy in Delhi in 2002. The bilateral relations between both countries are developing fast. The ever-increasing political, economic, financial, cultural and people-to-people bonds give us a promising outlook for the next decades of friendship.”

Made in India for Asia (and the world)
Since this growth cannot be achieved solely through the Indian market, the Group is gradually expanding its production facilities in India to serve as a production hub for the whole of Asia, says Thierry Wolter, "The two sites in Bengaluru and the one at Uluberia, near Kolkata offer ideal conditions for supplying the markets in Southeast Asia and China with tools and turnkey solutions. That is why we will continue to invest in the future."

Thierry Wolter: 'The two sites in Bengaluru and the one at Uluberia, near Kolkata offer ideal conditions for supplying the markets in Southeast Asia and China with tools and turnkey solutions.'

At present Ceratizit India’s Bangalore plant plays an important role in the international supply chain of the Group and delivers finished and semi-finished tools to the Ceratizit locations in Germany, Poland, Mexico and the USA.  Although the focus is currently on growth in Southeast Asia and China, the international role of the Indian locations might also be expanded in the future, explains Thierry Wolter: "Our employees in India are doing an excellent job. If we maintain our current course, Ceratizit India will be able to play an even more important role beyond Asia in the future".