“The market in India is highly competitive. It is a cost-focused market. The big challenge for us on this market is to be able to meet the commercial requirements of the customers with our solutions, which are European solutions,” says Johann Jäkel, Business Unit Director & Sales Director, Rosendahl Nextrom GmbH, in an interview given to Wire & Cable India.
Wire & Cable India: What new developments are taking place at Rosendahl?
Johann Jäkel: Plenty of new developments are taking place at Rosendahl, and that’s because we are a forward-oriented Company. Today’s market environment is booming, and we need to keep moving forward. We are currently working on a couple of new projects but it’s too early to talk about them.
WCI: So, tell us about your newly launched products.
JJ: One important step for us is the introduction of silicone rubber extrusion technology, which is relatively new to us. Let’s quickly take a look at the main benefits of Rosendahl’s silicone extrusion lines. These lines have been optimized to both material and geometry. In addition, the processing equipment and material are tailor-made. Also, these lines have single and multi-layer configurations with defined adhesion between the layers. We have successfully introduced silicone extrusion lines to various industries, such as automotive, shipbuilding and mining. Quite a wide range of products have come from this technology.
WCI: Shed some light on the latest trends in the wire and cable industry.
JJ: I will focus on some of them. In the wire and cable industry, there are two streams: The first one is all about becoming cost-effective and providing cost-efficient solutions that meet the commercial pressure. This surely is a high target for us as a solution provider. The second stream is new technologies in terms of developing new solutions. The challenge lies in seeking ways and means of manufacturing upcoming products. Different product areas pose different challenges. Consider an example. Increasing fiber count and reducing the size of a product to get it into a microstructure so that we could create a demand for a high-precision, low tension, high-speed solution is one of the toughest challenges we currently face.
WCI: How do you ensure that your clients have the most efficient manufacturing processes?
JJ: Well, I think it starts with solutions. We come up with solutions that give benefits to our customers in terms of enabling them to have an advantage over their competitors. We provide our customers with as many advantages as possible. We try our best to make them successful. Our motto is ‘Your success is our passion’, and we follow this motto.
WCI: What does R&D mean to you?
JJ: We do R&D on specific machines for specific processes. We have in-house R&D facilities, and we have R&D centers for all product groups. Extrusion/training equipment has been permanently installed at these centers – all waiting for our customers to come and see, to carry out trials and to do even R&D on their own.
WCI: What developments have taken place for Rosendahl in India? What have you to say for the market in India?
JJ: The market in India is highly competitive. It is a cost-focused market. The big challenge for us on this market is to be able to meet the commercial requirements of the customers with our solutions, which are European solutions. So, we are not focusing on the solutions, machineries and components coming out of Asia and South-East Asia. We are concentrating only on European quality standards, and that poses a challenge to us; but it also gives us the chance to prosper in India.
