In what constitutes the latest step in its strategy of growing its global footprint, Schlemmer Group (Poing / Germany; www.schlemmer.com) in July set up a subsidiary in India. Schlemmer Technology India was created through the acquisition of two local corrugated tube manufacturers, Tubicor and Tubecraft. Located in Puducherry, in the south of the country, the two production sites have a combined capacity for 18m metres of corrugated tubes a year, with an overall workforce of 35.

The subsidiary will focus not only on corrugated tubes, but also on specialised injection moulded plastic parts, catering to a wide range of end markets, from the automotive segment to white goods and medical technology. Schlemmer previously served to the Indian market from its plant in Dubai, but said that customer demand for a local presence led it to establish its own presence on the subcontinent.

Schlemmer Technology India will receive its first investments this year already, in the shape of two injection-moulding systems. Next year the group plans to install new extrusion lines to increase output further. Looking even further ahead in time, group CEO Josef Minster said Schlemmer is mulling the set-up of another two production sites in the country. “We plan to gain a foothold in the west of the country in 2018 or 2019, and then also in the north two years later.”

By setting up shop in what it called one of the largest growth markets in the world, “Schlemmer is now represented in all four BRIC states with its own sites,” which gives it a “finger directly on the pulse of the next, upcoming global markets,” Minster added. The Indian subsidiary brings the German company’s total number of global production sites to 25. Around this time last year, Schlemmer set up new facilities in China and the Philippines (see Plasteurope.com of 10.07.2015).