Oerlikon Balzers celebrates Silver Jubilee and inaugurates new Forming Tool Coating facility at Pune, India
Pune, November 4, 2019 :Oerlikon Balzers, a leading supplier of surface solutions, celebrated 25 years of presence in Pune, India. Many customers, guests of honour and employees also witnessed the inauguration of the added forming tool centre. The extension represents Oerlikon Balzers’ continued commitment to the growing Indian market.
The existing customer centre has been substantially extended, enabling Oerlikon Balzers to respond to the increased demand for high-quality coatings and to offer an even wider range of services for forming tools in the Pune region and throughout India. The new dedicated production line with state of the art pre-& post-treatment is able to handle big forming tools together with low pressure nitriding for metal, plastics& aluminium die-casting tools. In Pune, Oerlikon Balzers will serve suppliers of a variety of industries in the metal forming and plastics processing industry.
Back in 1994, Oerlikon Balzers opened its first customer centre in Pune, India,and ever since has become a very important pillar of the company’s global business. Over the past 25 years, the demand for its high-end coatings and pre- &post-treatment processing has continuously grown and consequently, Oerlikon Balzers has opened new customer centres and extended existing production facilities to serve the important local and global players in the Tooling, Automotive and General Industries.
About 150 customers, 25 guests of honour and 150 employees met in Pune to celebrate together the 25th anniversaryin a grand inauguration ceremony. Following the ceremony tradition, it included the unveiling of an inauguration plaque and the ribbon cutting. The event was hosted by the Oerlikon Balzers management joined by L. Krishnan, Managing Director at Taegu Tec; Vidhu Nevatia Director, Zecha Precision Tools Ltd.; Anton Angehrn, former Managing Director at Oerlikon Balzers; Dayanand Reddy, Managing Director, Vasantha Tool Crafts Pvt. Ltd and OthmarHardegger, Consul General of Switzerland in Mumbai.
In their speeches, Dr Wolfgang Kalss, Head of Cutting Tools at Oerlikon Balzers;Dr Andreas Reiter, Head of Forming Tools, and Pravin Shirse, Regional Executive India/South East Asia, looked back on the success story of this country’s business development.
Dr Wolfgang Kalss said: “Our start of operations in 1994, continuous investments by opening new coating centres throughout Indiaand a consistent high-quality service have enabled Oerlikon Balzers to build a strong reputation and position itself as a leader of the coating industry in India. And here we have always deployed our latest coating technology and equipment to offeroutstanding products. These are certainly decisive factors, but at the heart of every success are the continuing passion and the endless commitment of the management and the employees. My heartfelt thanks go to them for their dedication and enthusiasm working for our company.“
Dr Andreas Reiter said: “In the last 10 years Oerlikon Balzers’ coating business for forming tools has grown considerably. The existing coating centre has been enlarged by 30% and the new production space is exclusively dedicated to Forming Tools. Equipped with the latest technology including pre- & post-treatments, it will enable Oerlikon Balzers to further expand this business by meeting the demand of our customers for innovative coating solutions and short lead times.”
Pravin Shirse said: ”I would like to express my sincere thanks to our customers for trusting in our technologies and servicesin the past 25 years. Of course, such success can only be achieved with highly professional and passionateemployees. Today, I feel honoured to be able to lead such a fantastic team of dedicated and motivatedmen and women. I’d like to take this opportunity to mention that many of them joined at a very young age and have since grown to very high positions in the organisation. I am proud to be one of them.”
Unveiling of the inauguration plaque (from L to R): Pravin Shirse (Managing Director & Regional Executive SE Asia, Oerlikon Balzers), Andreas Reiter (Head of Forming Tools, Oerlikon Balzers) and Wolfgang Kalss (Head of Cutting Tools, Oerlikon Balzers)
About Oerlikon Balzers- Oerlikon Balzers is one of the world’s leading suppliers of surface technologies that significantly improve the performance and durability of precision components as well as tools for the metal and plastics processing industries. Extremely thin and exceptionally hard coatings, marketed under the BALINIT and BALIQ brand names, reduce friction and wear. The BALITHERM brand opens up a broad range of heat treatment services, whereas BALTONE comprises coatings that are available in a full range of elegant colours, perfectly suited for decorative applications. BALIMED ThinFilm coatings, with wear-resistant, biocompatible, antimicrobial and chemically inert properties, have been developed especially for medical applications. Under the BALIFOR technology brand the company has introduced technologies which provide tailor-made solutions for the automotive market, while ePD allows the metallisation of plastic parts with a chrome look.
Worldwide, more than 1’100 coating systems are in operation at Oerlikon Balzers facilities and its customers. Equipment engineering and assembly of Balzers’ systems are processed in Liechtenstein, in Langenthal (Switzerland) and in Bergisch Gladbach (Germany). Oerlikon Balzers operates a dynamically growing network of more than 100 coating centres in 35 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Oerlikon Balzers is – together with Oerlikon Metco and Oerlikon AM – part of the Surface Solutions Segment of the Switzerland-based Oerlikon Group (SIX: OERL).
