For decades, SAS Engineering & Planning has been in the field of processing of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, supplying cutting edge technological solutions and constant support to companies. The Italian company has been keeping an eye on the Indian market since long, and has already set its foot. Convinced by the development of India, SAS is launching a base in India, which is its first branch outside Italy. Mr. Dott. Carmelo Crea, Commercial Director, SAS Engineering & Planning S.R.L. shares insights about the new project with Wire and Cable India magazine.
Wire & Cable India: How would you describe the journey of SAS Engineering and Planning? Highlight some major landmarks of the journey.
Dott. Carmelo Crea: SAS Engineering and Planning was started in 1973 when a small worker reconditioning drawing machines on the weekends in Italy, was asked to produce new machines.
Then the big change for us was the end of the 90s and the beginning of 2000 when we decided to enter India. Because of that old decision, today we are setting up a fully owned company in India.
SAS Engineering and Planning is a leader in the production of coil-to-bar, coil-to-coil and bar-to-bar combined drawing lines and peeling lines both for ferrous and non-ferrous metallic materials further to wire drawing machines, grinding lines and, in general, any customized solution for cold finishing of ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
Besides the production of new and the latest generation equipment, SAS has always been known for its proven experience in the revamping and maintenance of used lines. SAS doesn’t limit itself to the simple revamping of used machines but tries, in line with customer expectations, to make those technological improvements resulting from 50 years of experience and successfully completed projects, which allow the final customer to make a better use of the same equipment in terms of production efficiency and ease of operation.
WCI: Please elaborate on your current presence and your future plans for the Indian market.
DCC: In India, we enjoy quite a strong position, with 62-plus installations for carbon steel, stainless steel, special alloys and non-ferrous. The demand is strong, but India remains a very price-sensitive market. We are launching a fully owned company in India. It is the first time in the history of SAS Engineering and Planning to launch a branch outside Italy. We have already finalized all the papers and have received orders from a couple of big companies.
The company is incorporated in Maharashtra. We have some ongoing operations in Pune where we are already producing under the supervision of our engineers and technicians. We have already undertaken two projects for a complete bar-to-bar peeling line in Gujarat, and a complete factory for nine grinding lines that will be based in Pune, with main machines and machines for grinding, peeling and straightening coming from Italy while all the handlings supplied out of our factory in Italy. There is a huge possibility of the company getting bigger in the future as we have already received orders. We are following this incredible growth that India is enjoying and are ready to invest and shift resources from Italy.
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WCI: What scope of activities are you planning in India?
DCC: We are planning not only assembly but also production in India for which we will make pre-acceptance of the entire line in our factory in India. The first pre-acceptance is scheduled between the end of June and mid-July this year. The second one would be between the end of December and beginning of January, 2025 for the bar-to-bar peeling line. So two projects are already there. We also closed a big project with Tata Steel in Jamshedpur for their 0.5M ton Rolling Mill Project. We are supplying the main machines from Italy while handlings are supplied out of India.
WCI: How do you foresee your Indian operations in the long-term? Do you foresee India becoming your manufacturing hub and exporting from here?
DCC: At the moment, our plan is to manufacture in India, specifically for Indian projects and for some close areas like Vietnam or Indonesia. For the moment, the scope is specifically for the Indian domestic market. For the number of machines we have and our historical involvement in India, we consider India as our another domestic market after Europe.
We are not interested in producing in India and shipping back to Italy or Europe due to the fact we are not interested to speculate from manufacturing there and we don’t see the interest in doing that. We are convinced that the development of India is worthy enough to justify our focus with our company in India only for the domestic market. It means bringing our experience and knowledge to make the machines in India to support domestic players. We’ve been approached by big players like Tata and JSW who are not interested in just buying economical but are mainly interested in finding someone who gives them the correct solution and is there ready to give support in the long term.
WCI: Are there any new developments with regards to machines or technology?
DCC: For our core business lines like peeling and drawing, developments like automation, safety aspect and cost-efficiency or energy saving implementation, are something that I can’t call innovation. We comply with European norms, and we are bringing the same experience, the same knowledge, the same approach and spirit with our machines to India. For a company celebrating 50 years of activity, adding grinding machines, wire drawing machines, multi pass and bull block is already a big innovation.
WCI: What challenges do you foresee in entering into the Indian market ?
DCC: It’s exciting and also very challenging because it means to be ready with manpower and essential support. We design, install and test internally every machine for the drawing and peeling of ferrous materials and non ferrous metals. The scope is becoming bigger, as the possibilities in India are tremendous. So the key factor is to be ready with the manpower. We are optimistic about it, as unlike in Europe, in India, finding engineers who are keen to work in this sector and grow with us, is not a challenge.
WCI: Would you like to comment on the vision of the company?
DCC: We want to be the next door partner of the Indian companies like we do here in Italy. Here we act not only as the supplier of machines, but also as a partner. We want to repeat this kind of approach, and this kind of philosophy in India. Even if we are sitting in Italy, we are always there in India.
