TheIndianMachine-ToolIndustryABenchmarking-icrier.PDFVIP

The Indian Machine-Tool Industry A Benchmarking Study John Sutton This report sets out some benchmarking results on productivity and quality for CNC (computer numerically controlled) machine tools produced by leading Indian manufacturers. The study was carried out by Professor J. Sutton of the London School of Economics, with the assistance of Mr. G. Doshi, on behalf of the World Bank, during the period December 1999 to August 2000. The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official views of the World Bank or its member countries. Executive Summary 1. This study relates to the production of two major product lines, CNC lathes and vertical machining centres. There are eight Indian manufacturers who produce significant volumes of such machines, and this study is confined to these eight firms. 2. The first half of the study deals with productivity. A comparison was made with a set of leading producers of similar machines in Japan, and in Taiwan. The main difficulty in making such comparisons lies in the fact that different firms produce a different mix of products, and the proportion of customized versus ‘standard’ machines also differs across producers. To minimize such problems, the productivity comparisons presented here are based on the production of basic (2-axis, single spindle) CNC lathes of small or medium size (up to 12-15 kW spindle motor). In presenting the results, allowances are made where possible for differences i