Encourage SMEs

June 26, 2014 4:50 am

There is a lot of engineering skill present as far as SMEs are concerned. However, India is lacking in marketing
Orbital Systems (Bombay) Pvt. Ltd. is headquartered in Mumbai and manufactures variety of products mainly in mechanics, electronics and robotics. Paramjit Singh Seehra finds that engineering skill present in India isn’t getting proper exposure due to lacking in marketing.
Orbital Systems’ product range includes spin riveting machines, clinching machines, cam index drives, rotary index tables, safety light curtains, CNC rotary table, laser measurement systems and special purpose machines. An ISO 9001:2008 certified company has its offices in Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore.
Utilise the engineering skill effectivelyIndia can become a global manufacturing hub by offering relatively low cost yet reliable engineering skills to the developed countries along with on-time delivery. India should take advantage of its comparatively lower engineering cost towards engineering design, manufacturing assembly systems. There is a lot of engineering skill present as far as SMEs are concerned.
However, India is lacking in marketing. That’s the area where SMEs are weak because it’s too expensive to move around everywhere in the world or even in India, setting up offices. More importantly it is very difficult to retain smart people in the SME industries. 
There is a need to create hub where SMEs can get together and share the expenses where their products are complementing each other rather than competing. If there is an organisation which can bring them together and share the resources for all these efforts, it may be possible to have the best in the business and this could do wonders because marketing has been the weakest aspect in domestic SMEs.
Provoking factorsIndia needs to have internal increase in consumption and perhaps export incentives to the manufacturing industries as well. Manufacturing industry can grow only when there is an increase in internal consumption. The industry can definitely be encouraged to do the investments by reducing the interest rates.  Basic needsUninterrupted power supply is a basic requirement. Also better connectivity is needed. Further, labour laws need to be more flexible. For the purpose, there should be some amendment in labour laws which can help the sector to grow. What govt has to do?The govt. has to supply uninterrupted power at reasonable cost which can run the industry in better way. Better connectivity is also important, so that the goods can reach the destination on time after arriving at ports. The govt. should look into labour laws as well to make them a bit more flexible. That can bring in people who can do smart work instead of hard work.       Orbital’s working modelOrbital plans to utilise 50 per cent of its manufacturing capacities for exports to Europe and China. It has already made a beginning as it has associates in Europe and China. Up-front they do the marketing and take care of the installation and commissioning of the equipment as well as after sales services. Orbital’s role has been to design and manufacture. Marketing, after-sales service, installation, and commissioning are the role of its associates. Orbital believes that it really does not matter where do you manufacture as long as you are delivering quality goods in committed time. This model is really working for the company in Europe and even in China.
Paramjit Singh Seehra, CEO and MD, Orbital Systems (Bombay) Pvt. Ltd.