Bobst India is expanding its service and technical support infrastructure as its installed machine base continues to grow across the country and Zone India, which includes Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Sameer Joshi, Zone Services Director – India, Bobst India, presented a broad breakdown by applications of the more than 2100 machines at the company’s Open House in Pune on 9 September, held to celebrate 30 years of Bobst operations in India.
“We have 82 machines in the corrugated board segment, and more than 350 machines in flexible packaging,” Joshi said. The company also has close to 100 label presses installed across the India zone. The folding carton segment, with more than 1350 machines, accounts for the largest share of the installed base, reflecting the relatively lower ticket size of machines compared with equipment used in corrugated board and flexible packaging.
According to Joshi, more than 70% of Bobst’s installed machines in India are less than 20 years old. “That also shows the growth that we experienced in the last two decades in India,” he said. “I’m sure the next years are going to be even more exciting.” Digital connectivity through Bobst Connect forms part of the company’s service infrastructure, linking different elements of machine support and enabling remote access and assistance.
Bobst continues to support older machines where technically and commercially feasible, although maintaining very old equipment can become increasingly difficult because of the resources and costs involved. “We keep servicing them till it is practically feasible to keep serving them,” Joshi explained. “Supporting a very old machine requires a lot of effort and a lot of cost.”
The company’s service portfolio covers the complete lifecycle of its machines, from installation and commissioning through relocation, retrofits, upgrades and remote services. “The whole crux is on protecting your investment, maximizing the uptime and improving the profitability,” he said.
The India service organization currently has close to 50 field service technicians and around 10 process specialists covering various technologies. Technical service specialists based in the Indian offices provide remote and telephone support, including accessing machines online to diagnose and resolve problems. The service organization includes three technical service managers and one project manager responsible for folding carton and corrugated board projects following machine sales through commissioning and handover to customers.
Backbone that keeps the show running
The customer support organization comprises more than 20 employees, including around 15 people handling customer care and spare parts and five performance solution managers. The latter team works with customers throughout the lifecycle of their machines.
Joshi said Bobst had also expanded its geographical coverage across India, placing service technicians close to major industrial and packaging centers to reduce response times and travel costs. “We are practically going to all the industrial pockets of the market,” he said. “We try to place our service teams closer to the markets and clusters so that we do not have to spend much time on travel.”
The company has a significant service presence in the Delhi-NCR region, with close to 20 service personnel supporting all Bobst technologies. Multiple service hubs are located across key industrial belts in Southern and Western India. “I’m happy to say that in the last one and a half years, we have grown our field service engineers by 30%,” Joshi said. “And the number is still growing.”
The company is also examining the possibility of using India as a shared service center for customers in other parts of the world where operationally feasible. “There are plans to use India as a shared service for the rest of the world also, wherever it is practical,” Joshi said. “We want to use Indian talent not only to serve the Indian customers, but also customers in other parts of the world.”
Joshi said the expanded service infrastructure was intended to give customers greater confidence in investing in Bobst equipment by providing support throughout the machine lifecycle. “This is the backbone, you know, this is the team which keeps the show running,” he said.
