Ranjan Sen, Trelleborg India

Mr. Ranjan Sen,
Managing Director

Areas like Aerospace, Defense, Off-Highway etc, have all seen tremendous growth due to the strong focus and initiatives of the government, be it the Make in India program or the Golden Quadrilateral, and other highway construction programs.

There is a significant shift from ‘price only’ to ‘performance over price’

Our growth has been tremendous over the last decade due to our strong application, material and product engineering capabilities. We have also seen a significant shift from “price only” to “performance over price” behavior, which is good for high-end engineering companies like ours.

The Indian market has opened up significantly: areas like Aerospace, Defense, Off-Highway etc, have all seen tremendous growth due to the strong focus and initiatives, be it the Make in India programme or even the Golden Quadrilateral and other highway construction programmes.

Our customers have accepted our quality and capability and we see them recognizing us as their dependable sealing partners. This has helped us notch up double digit CAGR growth in the last 5 years.

Going forward, we are eager to explore new segments in the industry, expand our reach, and become a design partner to our customers in their new development and upgrading efforts. We expect to grow at a similar or a higher rate in the coming years.

We cater to sealing needs of performance-driven segments

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions cater to different sealing needs of performance-driven segments like Fluid Power, Construction Equipment Industry, Off-Highway, Automotive, Aerospace, Energy, Healthcare & Medical, Mining, Food Processing etc. Specific products are developed as per the application needs and the working environment of the system.

Apart from standard products, we also work with customers in developing custom-engineered products. Our major applications would include the fluid power hydraulic cylinder applications, high-end seals in muddy and contaminated applications like tractor axles or even in excavator drives, sealing in challenging applications in space vehicles where the temperature and environmental conditions are extremely harsh, and in critical application areas. Damping solutions usually find application where there is a large amount of vibration that needs to be cushioned, like in industrial machines, and railway applications. All these are for capital-intensive, performance critical areas, where failure would mean a significant risk and loss.

There is high demand for hydraulic sealing solutions in challenging applications

The CE industry has been growing since the past few years, and with the government allocating the right investments into it, it is expected to rise further. We have witnessed a tremendous increase in the requirements of customers in this segment, be it in challenging applications or in new designs. In many cases, the designs are contemporary to what is being used abroad in matured economies. Our major customers like WIPRO are going global and that helps us to address their requirements through our global knowledge and support-base.

Other segments where we have seen new challenges would be aerospace, where we are the sealing partners for Mangalyaan, and also for the satellite launch vehicles, defense for various mission critical projects, the Agriculture industry where new performance levels are being requested, and of course in the Healthcare and Medical Industry.

Trelleborg invests a high proportion of its sales in R&D activities globally

Our strategy is drawn from our inherent strength of being a global partner within a local reach, a high degree of customer focus, ability to innovate, and offer solutions with ownership. Trelleborg enjoys an early association with almost all our major customers starting from the design stage itself. This helps us understand customer requirements very precisely and offer a solution that is the best fit – performance, life, and price.

Trelleborg, as a group, invests a high proportion of their sales in R&D activities globally. Our central R&D centre in Europe works closely with local centers in Asia and helps us leverage the gains for customers all over the globe.

‘Global but Local’ is one of our major strengths

As mentioned earlier, ‘Global but Local’ is one of our major strengths. We have dedicated Application Engineering teams in local markets to reach out and capture the customers’ requirements and translate them into products that suit their specific requirements at the quickest time. Quick availability is ensured either through local manufacturing or through local stocking.

We believe that competition drives us to perform and raise the bar. That is true for all segments that we are in. We aim to provide differentiated and value-added services that help us grow our position, be it in revenues or in market share, and sustain that growth for years. Trelleborg India is constantly looking at new markets, new segments, and new products.