The Maillefer company originated with a family of Swiss industrialists and entrepreneurs who shared the same name. One brother Auguste (1838-1916) started the dental instrument company in Ballaigues which is still operational today. Meanwhile the younger brother and founder Charles-Louis Maillefer (1848-1920) went on to open his workshop in Romainmotier in 1900. Today, Maillefer continues to build on over a century of tradition to serve customers with fine plastic extrusion and reel-handling technology. It maintains manufacturing sites in Switzerland and Finland, and has offices in China, USA, Russia, India, and Egypt along with the agents in more than 40 countries. Maillefer provides complete extrusion solutions serving both wire & cable and pipe & tube manufacturers worldwide. From individual components to complete production units, it prides itself on providing maximum productivity to its customers through superior technology, know-how and services. In a candid chat with Mr. Antti Mattila, Director, Maillefer Extrusion India Pvt. Ltd. he addressed us about the Maillefer presence in India, its product offerings, future plans for India etc. Excerpts

Wire & Cable India: About Maillefer in India?

Antti Mattila: We are present in India since 1973 through our agent Asaco in Hyderabad. During 70’s and 80’s the telecommunication industry was the key target for us. Many Indian companies like Hindustan Cables invested a lot in copper telecom cable lines. Maillefer had supplied more than 100 lines in India, but later on in 90’s the copper cables for telecom were dead; nobody was investing anymore so we lost that business. For power cables we sold our first CCV line in India in 1981- 82 and then there was a long pause for couple of years but we succeeded again and have sold 7 CCV line since 2004. It makes us the market leader in the high voltage segment of 130kV to 220kV in India.

We established our Indian operations 2 years ago and from 1½ years we are operating from this Indian subsidiary. The intention to set up office here is to support the cable customers here by offering faster access through local contacts at a reasonable cost. We consider India as a future market where the power generation demand will grow with regards to the increase in population and change in the lifestyle. We are here to share our experience & expertise for the cable industry and help them to grow as what has happened in China also.

WCI: Brief us about the product offering and specializations of Maillefer?

AM: We provide machines and equipments for all cable applications ranging from telephone cables, fiber optic cables to extra high voltage cables but in India our strong focus is on medium & extra high voltage cable manufacturing systems. Maillefer is a global leader and we have supplied around 420 CCV lines till today which is more than our competitors together. And many of the milestones in the development of the CCV products are by Maillefer. This is where our strength is and we put our efforts in providing our customers with cost effective solutions. Our focus is less on the areas like building wire applications because there are so many local players and we are not really competitive here. Then, we have another division for pipes which is something that we are targeting here in India as well.

WCI: How you look forward to the Indian market and its growth prospects subsequently what future plans does Maillefer has to meet that demand?

AM: For the time being investments in this industry are not very huge, the recession in Europe and USA has an impact here too. Right now we do not see too big opportunities but we are targeting the longer perspective. India and China are equal in size and in China we have sold more than 100 CCV lines and here just 7 CCV lines. India will never come to that level because in China they are over investing. India is more realistic in this respect but certainly to cover the demand for cables in the future they have to invest substantially in CCV technology for high voltage cable production. This is the reason why we are here and have our own operations, sales and services. We are setting up spare parts warehouse as well. The options of establishing local manufacturing and assembling process will come later in the coming years.

WCI: What kind of customization are you offering to the Indian customers and to make solutions available to them?

AM: We are very well aware that cost is the main factor in any of the business and we have to be competitive in all respects which means we have to offer certain low cost solutions which may not be much sophisticated and technically complicated but can do the job. Presently, we are getting the equipments which don’t require very high technology focus from our sub contractor in China where we can save some money, as engineering in Switzerland and Finland is expensive. There are certain key things where we don’t compromise like extruder parts, software etc. We are looking for some good opportunities to have joint manu-facturing facility here in India too.

WCI: What kind of focus does Maillefer has on R&D and innovations for the industry?

AM: Most of the innovations and components of CCV line have been developed by us like dry-cure technology. Curing simulation programs and the theoretical background of the process itself is a part of Maillefer’s strong know-how because originally we were the part of the Nokia cable company. Many other components in the cable operations are patented and invented by Maillefer like pre and post heating systems. We were the first one to develop automatic double spooler for telephone cables making it possible to change the reels at over 2000 meters line speed.

WCI: What trends & challenges do you foresee for the Wire & Cable industry in India?

AM: There is one trend here which I see in China as well that simple lines to produce simple cables are made locally and this is the segment where we can’t really do much about. Our focus is mainly on high to extra high voltage cables. We foresee to sell here some 4-6 CCV lines in the coming years down the line.

The cable industry almost everywhere is facing the competition from the East due to subsidized cable coming from Korea and China, and western products are not competitive enough. The same is happening in India, there is a fierce competition inside the country, and margins are very low. At this stage, to survive they need to revise their technology and offerings. We feel that the cable industry require a lot of technology up-gradation. The manufacturer must not only make cables but also have the accessories to offer in the package. In the last couple of years the industry has improved on the technological front and that’s why many Indian companies are going for technological tie ups with the companies like Nexans, Pyrsmian etc.

WCI: What kind of strategy you have planned to go ahead in the Indian market?

AM: We have established good contacts here over a period of time and we understand the Indian cable producers pretty well. We are not here for selling only but to provide dedicated customer service and to help our customers by upgrading their old lines even if it is our competitor’s lines. This is something that very few companies can do and we can do this because we are able provide the total package. We want Indian wire & cable industry to benefit from our extensive experience.