Mr. Stephen Joseph, Director, Ammeraal Beltech India
Ammeraal Beltech (AB), a global leader in process and conveyor belting, has made a strong foray into the Indian textile industry offering belting solutions. The company recently participated in Texfair in Coimbatore. We spoke to Mr. Stephen Joseph, Director of Ammeraal Beltech India, to know more about the global company and its foray into the Indian market.
Ammeraal Beltech is a Dutch company with operations in 25 countries and a worldwide distribution network, in over 150 countries. The company has production plants in six countries and over 80 fabrication centres close to its customers, which provide standard and tailor-made solutions. AB does a turnover of Euro 500 million globally.
Upto 2010, the Indian market was handled by the Singapore office. Looking at the potential in the Indian market, AB decided to start its own operations in India in October 2010, Ammeraal Beltech (India) Pvt. Ltd. AB India established a fabrication center in Chennai to cater to the Indian market. The products are imported in rolls and converted into suitable sizes as per the application and customer requirement. For the first few years, the company was focussing on segments like automotive, engineering and other industries. Parallely it started focussing on the textile industry.
AB offers belt types for the all key textile applications: yarn spinning, weaving and non-wovens. Yarn-spinning and weaving manufacturers mainly use Rapplon high-performance flat belts that offer the best performance in tangential, spindle, circular knitting, machine tapes and drive belts.
In yarn spinning, AB offers complete solution, from blowroom to winding. The company supplies to open end spinning machines, TFOs, texturizing machines, conveyor belts for blow room and other applications. The belts and solutions for the textile industry are mostly manufactured at the AB plant in Switzerland.
Mr. Joseph said: “Since 2011, we have been supplying belts to various mills, and the response has been very encouraging. In 2014 we decided to make an aggressive foray into the textile segment. We have appointed 8 distributors all over India. In fact, we have established leadership position in a short span of time in markets like Surat. Most of the machinery OEMs in Surat are using our belts and most of the large textile groups in Surat are also using our belts”.
AB participated in Texfair and showcased its complete range of products and solutions for the textile industry. “We want to use Texfair as the launch pad. We hope that by next year we will have good presence in the textile industry. The belts are made in Switzerland; hence they are probably the best available globally”, said Mr. Joseph.
AB has recently launched printing blankets which are manufactured at its factory in Spain. These blankets were showcased at Texfair for the first time. “In 2015 we hope to sell a good number of these products”, said Mr. Joesph.
The belting segment is a highly competitive one with many global and domestic players already entrenched in the market. But for applications like textiles, there are very few global companies that are capable of manufacturing and supplying these high quality belts. What differentiates products offered by AB: “We have launched a new series of belts which is highly abrasive resistant. It can withstand higher temperature and longer life compared to other products available in the market. All belts that we are selling in the Indian market are TNBR and not XNBR. When you compare XNBR, TNBR is more abrasive and temperature resistant, which results in offering better life for the product. So far the customer response has been very good, and that gives us the confidence about the quality of our products”.
When looking to invest or expand, textile producers need excellent partners who can meet their individual demands precisely. AB supplies to all the major manufacturers with high quality customised belting solutions. Globally, AB supplies belts as part of the original equipment to Rieter, Zinser and Truetschler.
“In India AB is supplying belts to machinery manufacturers in Surat, like Alidhra, Himson, Sapru and many others who have been using our belts since last two years. This has given us tremendous confidence. We hope that in 2015 we will be able to do well in the belting business”, added Mr. Joseph.