11.28.05
GEW’s India hub
serves Asia expansion
India’s global influence on manufacturing and service industries will soon include UV curing systems for label presses. GEW (EC) Ltd. has started work on establishing a sales, service and manufacturing operation in Mumbai. Besides serving the Indian subcontinent, it will also cover sales in South East Asian markets. It becomes operational in early 2006, while Phase Two will follow a year later with full manufacturing and assembly operations.
The extra production capacity should relieve pressure at the firm’s UK headquarters located in Redhill, Surrey. Demand for GEW’s UV systems is expected to rise with the launch of the e-Brick system, which claims marked reductions in radiated energy at lower energy costs without using a conventional transformer. The company also intends to compete head-on with arch-rivals like IST Metz and expand into the sheetfed offset markets.
Malcolm Rae, managing director, says it is important to remain competitive to meet an expected demand for UV curing systems in the region. “We do not intend to diminish our UK operation, as it will continue to serve our important European and American activities. Major factors in our decision include the ready availability of manufacturing materials and highly educated individuals in India, all of whom are fully fluent in English and other Asian languages.”
He says GEW had evaluated several Asian countries, but India showed the greatest potential as the hub of a new Asian operation. The company plans to establish sales and support personnel in all the major Asian markets.
Rae, who formed the company with his wife Gillian in 1991, says the expansion would help reduce the effects of an acute shortage of qualified personnel, including engineers: “Smaller companies like ours find it hard to compete with the larger national engineering groups in attracting skilled personnel,” he says. This partly reflects an overheated housing market throughout southeast England. The group includes a US subsidiary, GEW Inc., located in Ohio, and an office in Germany to serve German-language markets.
serves Asia expansion
India’s global influence on manufacturing and service industries will soon include UV curing systems for label presses. GEW (EC) Ltd. has started work on establishing a sales, service and manufacturing operation in Mumbai. Besides serving the Indian subcontinent, it will also cover sales in South East Asian markets. It becomes operational in early 2006, while Phase Two will follow a year later with full manufacturing and assembly operations.
The extra production capacity should relieve pressure at the firm’s UK headquarters located in Redhill, Surrey. Demand for GEW’s UV systems is expected to rise with the launch of the e-Brick system, which claims marked reductions in radiated energy at lower energy costs without using a conventional transformer. The company also intends to compete head-on with arch-rivals like IST Metz and expand into the sheetfed offset markets.
Malcolm Rae, managing director, says it is important to remain competitive to meet an expected demand for UV curing systems in the region. “We do not intend to diminish our UK operation, as it will continue to serve our important European and American activities. Major factors in our decision include the ready availability of manufacturing materials and highly educated individuals in India, all of whom are fully fluent in English and other Asian languages.”
He says GEW had evaluated several Asian countries, but India showed the greatest potential as the hub of a new Asian operation. The company plans to establish sales and support personnel in all the major Asian markets.
Rae, who formed the company with his wife Gillian in 1991, says the expansion would help reduce the effects of an acute shortage of qualified personnel, including engineers: “Smaller companies like ours find it hard to compete with the larger national engineering groups in attracting skilled personnel,” he says. This partly reflects an overheated housing market throughout southeast England. The group includes a US subsidiary, GEW Inc., located in Ohio, and an office in Germany to serve German-language markets.