Balancing the opposites, perfectly.
With a long standing legacy of over 20 years, Hamilton has been one of the earliest companies in the plastics industry in India. Today, Hamilton Writing Instruments is a leading manufacturer of Pens, Markers and other products with over 80% of its sales to export markets such as US, Europe, Middle East and African markets.
At Hamilton, we speak to Ganesh Babu, the man who knows the art of balancing the opposites in pen manufacturing – to achieve the best quality, while keeping the costs at its lowest. Ganesh (Manager – Production) is a M. Tech. with rich experience of over two decades in the precision manufacturing and plastic moulding processes across automotive, FMCG and packaging industries.
Experience on competing in the Global Market
Today, no matter what your product is, pens or machines, competition is global. I would consider 3 essentials to successfully compete in the Global market – performance, costs and aesthetic looks.
Challenges in manufacturing of writing instruments
Writing instruments might look simple, but in fact, these are highly engineered products that need to be priced very competitively. Very high levels of precision are critical to ensure no flashes or parting lines in the end products. One has to balance seemingly opposite forces of achieving highest precision and quality at lowest costs, while ensuring best aesthetics. It’s a challenge I personally enjoy.
Trends in Mould making
Currently, most of the players in our industry are dependent on Chinese or Korean mould manufacturers for their requirements. But after make in India, there is a clear trend to shift back the mould manufacturing in-house. At Hamilton too, we make about one-fifth of the moulds in-house. In the next 3-4 years, we would have shifted most of our mould manufacturing in-house.
What to look for in an EDM?
Accuracy, efficient operations and speed are the three most important factors in selecting the right EDM. High efficiency is extremely important to us and Sparkonix’s machines are providing us the required cycle time for highest productivity.