Stuart Etheridge, General Manager Nasmyth India, gives his perspective on the promotional benefits of a high level trade mission and the rewards of a successful Indian supply chain strategy.
When I heard that Nick Clegg was leading a UKTI trade delegation to India at the end of August, I was delighted for a number of reasons. One of which, I’ll be honest, was the fact that Nasmyth Group had been invited to be a part of the delegation. We hadn’t had to ask to be involved, and that was an encouraging sign of just how firmly the Nasmyth name is on the map.
More seriously, I was also very pleased to see that our letter of introduction referred to ‘advanced engineering including aerospace’ as one of the three areas of UK excellence that the visit was going to focus on – and ‘advanced engineering including aerospace’ is a fair summary of what Nasmyth does as a company, in the UK, the US and here in India.
On top of that was the news that the delegation was to spend a day in Bangalore, the home of Nasmyth India. Established in 2013 as a management team leading the manufacture of products for global and local markets, Nasmyth India plays a critical role in supporting the Group’s globalisation programme, manufacturing quality-assured precision parts and complex assemblies for an international customer base. This complements the core skills and capabilities offered by the Nasmyth Group within the UK.
In short, our India supply chain strategy has been proven successful. From our base in Bangalore, employing local people from a growing pool of talent, we are now in an excellent position to respond to the requirements of OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) seeking to extend their global sourcing into the emerging economies.
Whilst establishing ourselves operationally in India wasn’t without its challenges, the benefits of working in a country where English is widely spoken and where the commercial and legal sectors are based on UK principles helped us enormously along the trading, importing and exporting learning curve. Together with our Indian partners, we are now offering a comprehensive precision manufacturing and engineering service for turned and prismatic components from single products, through to medium and large batch orders.
I like to think that Nasmyth India has not only established a footprint but is also ahead of the game and that we can be every bit as responsive and proactive in India as the rest of Group. So when Nick Clegg spoke of India offering excellent opportunities for UK businesses, I knew exactly what he was talking about. And it was a great pleasure to meet him out here and to help spread the message - and to promote ourselves!
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