Our founders Shriniwas Karande and Parag Desai travelled to the International Machine Tool & Manufacturing Technology Exhibition (IMTEX) 2025 from 25 January to 28 January. This article draws from their experiences and observations during the event.
This year’s IMTEX offered a fascinating opportunity to observe the impact of the Make in India initiative directly, particularly on overseas manufacturers. Many global machine makers have set up factories in India to manufacture and sell high-end machines to cater to the demand for higher productivity machines, while also generating employment here.
Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese manufacturers have the lead here. They are better adapted to serving Indian customers – and more geared up to offer country-specific pricing – compared to their Western counterparts. A case in point is Brother Machine Tools India, whose SPEEDIO CNC machines are produced at their eco-friendly plant in Karnataka. They can deliver the machines to their clients faster, at lower costs which are not affected by currency fluctuations. Yamazaki Mazak Machine Tools, with a Technology Center in Pune, is another example.
The rising popularity of Swiss-type sliding head machines and specifically multi-axis machines, e.g. 5-axis machining, was also in evidence at IMTEX 2025 through manufacturers like DMG Mori. These machines are considered replacements for a significant amount of manpower and they eliminate the need to invest in multiple machines.
Another notable aspect is the growth of import substitutes, such as the Pune-based company FlexGrip Work-Holding Systems developing work holding solutions that reduce dependence on their European competitor’s products. They are already in the market for 3 years, a marker of their success.
From our perspective, IMTEX 2025 was a chance to see how we can innovate and enhance our productivity solutions to extract optimum performance from the high-end machines preferred by current and potential customers. We visited IMTEX 2025 along with one of our customers – Creative Tools and Components – to understand their viewpoint on the technologies in which they would like to invest.
Given our strength in Swiss sliding head solutions, the surging demand in India for Swiss automats to boost precision manufacturing is an exciting development. Conversations with the teams from Tornos and Tsugami India were useful in this regard, as was learning about SolidCAM’s programming innovation tailored to these machines.
Our discussions with machine tool makers at IMTEX 2025 also revealed a continued focus on technology to further process reliability and heighten productivity – objectives that we have always sought to fulfill with our solutions. Our workholding solutions, for instance, greatly reduce machining downtime and spindle overloads. ETP’s Hydrogrip range and Schüssler’s Shrink Fit technology, both part of our portfolio, combine well with the CNC machines offered by Brother Machine Tools and DMG Mori, among others. We have also collaborated with URMA AG to bring their MX Diamond PCD milling cutter to India, which is ideal for machining aluminum parts.
Indian manufacturing is undoubtedly pivoting toward a future marked by higher productivity and utilizing less manpower. Sustainability, via improving process efficiency, is also high on manufacturers’ agenda. Digitalization of shopfloors, which can address both these ambitions, is now a priority for customers who are keen to use technology to minimize wastage and streamline their processes.
Manufacturers can make smart shopfloors, with transparent and digitally connected processes, a reality by leveraging digitalization solutions like Siemens MACHINUM and ACM Suite. Sharpedge Technologies is already established in guiding customers through digital shopfloor transformations; we were recently declared the runner-up in the sustainability category at the 2025 Siemens TechChamps competition, for our Seinumero Nirman project.
Manufacturers, especially top management personnel, are certainly aware that productivity improvements contribute the most to improving revenues and profitability and accordingly looking for solutions to improve their toplines and bottom lines. However, at the department and supply chain level, lower price items are preferred even at the risk of losing the competitive advantage.
This somewhat paradoxical situation requires tool makers entering the Indian market to tailor their penetration and pricing strategies suitably. They need to ask, at what cost are they offering innovative solutions? The cost of manufacturing is unlikely to be comparable in a European country and India and, therefore, tooling and accessories should be priced accordingly. Solutions that can sustainably deliver process consistency, machining efficiency, and reduce scrappage of parts – and are available at India-specific price points, are sure to find takers here.
The 2025 edition of IMTEX, dubbed “the Largest Machine Tool and Manufacturing Technology Show in South and South-East Asia”, was held at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) in Bengaluru Karnataka, from 23-29 January. With stalls spread over 8 halls, IMTEX 2025 featured live demonstrations of the latest manufacturing advancements and knowledge-sharing sessions. Over 1,000 exhibitors participated in the Exhibition, and over 100,000 visitors attended it. Media coverage of IMTEX 2025 included podcasters like Tony Gunn of MTD CNC.
