New player on the toy market in India
These days, almost every child has a remote-controlled car or robot at home. Sanco, based in Pune (India), is looking to produce high-quality toys while keeping pollution levels low. Solutions from GF are helping the company get started in this new market.
Suresh Peter, Deputy Managing Director and Head of Sales – Machines at GF Machining Solutions, is not used to seeing new machines from GF inspire quite so much enthusiasm. His new customer, Sanco Dies and Moulds in Pune (India), opened a new production facility in August 2021 and invited technology partners and local politicians to join in celebrating the occasion. The core of the facility consists of seven GF machines, all of which were decorated with flowers for the special day.
Smart toys for India
Sanco was the first company anywhere in India to order a Mikron MILL P 500 Milling machine, which is designed for round-the-clock operation. Other high performance machines ordered by Sanco include the MILL P 900, the CUT P 550 wire cut machine, and the FORM P 350 spark erosion machine. “With our machines, Sanco can boost precision and efficiency in its production process. Many of the work steps are now automated,” says Suresh Peter, Head of Sales India at GF Machining Solutions. “Plus, the employees at Sanco have to put less effort into training than before because the machines are easy to operate.
Our System 3R tools also reduce the setup time for the machines.” Sanco’s core business is developing and producing solutions for high-precision tools and molds for customers worldwide, primarily in the aerospace, automotive, and medical technology sectors. Among other things, Sanco manufactures components for auto transmissions, seal slots, and metal implants.
“With our machines, Sanco can boost precision and efficiency in its production process. Many of the work steps are now automated.”
Suresh Peter, Head of Sales India GF Machining Solutions
Customers around the world
Sanco is also moving into yet another segment with the new GF machines, and is looking to produce toys under the Sanco Toys brand. The Indian market is primarily dominated by foreign products at present. According to Nandkumar Salunkhe, Managing Director of Sanco, these products are often laden with toxic substances and have a short lifetime. Sanco wants to focus on reducing toxic substances and manufacture high-quality products that are more durable – thanks in part to the machines from GF. “Sanco Toys is an important part of our vision,” says Salunkhe. “Toys aren’t just for entertaining children; they also promote their physical and mental development. We are focusing on electronic toys, toy robots, remote-controlled toys, and learning toys – and we’re confident that we can significantly increase India’s market share in this segment.”
Pramod Saste
Position: Senior Sales Engineer
Division: GF Machining Solutions
Location: Pune (India)
Joined GF in: 2017
Suresh Peter, who coordinates sales across the country from GF Machining Solutions in Bangalore, is happy to have Sanco on board as a new customer: “We were able to offer an end-to-end solution that will move Sanco forward.” The new machines will enable Sanco to implement its expansion strategy and tap into new markets. “Just as GF is passionate about manufacturing precision machinery, our passion at Sanco is offering our customers high-precision solutions,” says Salunkhe. “There is no question that GF is the world leader with its first-class machines.” According to Salunkhe, the machines from GF are a great fit for achieving Sanco’s goal of offering its customers even better solutions, as well as now producing its own range of toys. “While the costs are somewhat higher for GF machines, we also know that quality comes at a price.” Salunkhe notes that this aspect is not a given in India, as the South Asian country is what he describes as a “price-sensitive market.”
How it all started
Sanco’s first contact with GF dates back to in 2019 at EMO Hannover (Germany), the world’s leading trade fair for production technology: “We spent many hours at the GF Machining Solutions booth and had really in-depth conversations with the experts from GF,” Salunkhe recalls. He says that, after the trade fair, his company knew it definitely wanted to consider working together with GF. “We then invited the Indian team at GF Machining Solutions to come to visit us.” CO2
years in the tool and mold-making segment have contributed to Sanco’s expertise.
employees work at Sanco in Pune.
the number of machines from GF Machining Solutions Sanco has been using since the summer of 2021 to produce molds for customers in various industries. In the future, the company also wants to use them for its own toy line, Sanco Toys.
It took another year and a half before Sanco had its new expansion strategy in place and was able to select the new machines. However, the COVID-19 pandemic at this point had severely affected the whole world, and India along with it. “We received the enquiry from Sanco in the middle of the lockdown,” Pramod Saste now recalls. Saste is Senior Sales Engineer at GF Machining Solutions in Pune. “ Sanco wasn’t able to visit us in Bangalore due to the travel restrictions.” There isn’t a GF showroom in Pune, where Sanco is headquartered, so a visit would have been necessary to demo and test the machines,” says Saste.
“Luckily, we have a longstanding customer in Pune who made their machines available.” The demo was successful, and the tests ultimately convinced Sanco to purchase an end-to-end solution consisting of seven machines rather than the three machines that were originally planned. “Listening carefully to the customer is what made it possible for us to offer them the best solution,” says Saste.
Pune – India’s industrial hub
Sanco’s headquarters are located in Pune, a metropolis of 6.6 million people in the state of Maharashtra in western India. The city, approximately 150 kilometers southeast of Mumbai, is a key hub for the automotive industry, as well as the mechanical engineering and IT sectors.
Toy market in India
India’s toy market has huge potential. One-quarter of the country’s nearly 1.4 billion inhabitants are under 15 years old. But the India Brand Equity Foundation, which promotes the export of Indian products for the government, estimates that domestic toy production currently accounts for only 2% of the global market.
Global focus
The start of serial production for Sanco Toys is planned for the end of March 2022, and this is only the beginning of the Indian industrial company’s expansion plans: “In addition to establishing our own line of toys, we also want to acquire new customers who need precision tools,” says Salunkhe. “We want to convince global suppliers, and especially European ones, that our service is the right one. When this happens, we will definitely invest in more GF machines.” In other words, it might not be long before there is another big celebration in Sanco’s production facility.