CEO: The Importance of Quality and the Impact of COVID

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With over 33 years of experience, MAC Marketing Corporation has gained expertise in the field of bearings and allied products which find numerous applications in various industries such as machine tools, construction and mining equipment, cement, automobile, material handling, avionics, robot, automation, steel, etc. The company has shown consistent growth over the years by providing quality services that has helped it gain trust of the customers. MAC Marketing provides right engineering solution to the customers by understanding their needs in consultation with suppliers, says Deipak Kumar, CEO, MAC Marketing Corporation. In this interview with Rakesh Rao, Deipak Kumar explains importance of quality and selection of right bearings for improving productivity and profitability.

How is MAC Marketing supporting the growth of manufacturing industries?

MAC Marketing Corporation was started in 1987 with a goal to bridge the gap between the final customer and the supplier. We primarily deal with overseas suppliers. As the communication technology was not developed in those days, identifying potential customers in India was a big problem for suppliers. Hence, we established MAC to identify genuine customers. Over these years, we have been able to develop trust among our customers and, hence, they come back to us again and again. We offer a vast range of bearings starting from miniature bearings of 0.6 mm diameter to large dia slew ring bearings upto 7 meters in diameter (which are used in heavy engineering applications). The product range extends to different types of bearings for critical and non-critical applications which are self-lubricating & maintenance free and have longer lifecycles for bearing lifetime. Other products include, Cam followers, bush bearings, combined bearings and profiles, wire race bearings, power transmission products, hydrostatic bearing technology – with quarter micron accuracies, linear actuators, aerospace bearings, bearings for space applications and mission critical bearings to the Moon.

How critical is the selection of bearings for the end-user industries?

Selection of right bearing for a particular operation (application) is very important. Wrong selection can lead to pre-mature failure of not just the bearing but also the equipment that is using this bearing. Selection plays a big role in avoiding breakdown of the machines - which can be very costly for the user. For example, in mining and mineral industry, big stacker reclaimer (a large machine used in bulk material handling) are used to deliver raw materials to the steel plant and breakdown of this machine can cause huge loss to the company. 

While selecting bearings, it is important to know the application, temperature, load parameters, life cycles, etc. We do not just sell bearings; we give right solutions to our customers after understanding their requirement. MAC can customise the bearings to suit customer’s need.

How is the market for bearings? Which end-user industries are your leading customers?

Everything that rolls, requires bearings. In fact, bearings can be considered as the heart of machines and every machine needs specific type of bearings. 

There is a huge demand for bearings - globally as well as in India. Market for bearing is quite diversified - from simple applications (like standard machine tools) to bigger bearings (for steel plants) to specialised needs in industries like aviation/aerospace. MAC Marketing is focussing on every industry and serving customers with a whole range of bearing solutions. We provide right engineering solutions to the customers by understanding their needs in consultation with suppliers. 

India is one of the biggest bearing hubs of the world because of its huge domestic market and geographical location. In fact, we have lots to offer to the world.

Are you seeing a pick-up in demand in Q4 (Jan-Mar 2021) of 2020-21 and Q1 (Apr-June 2021) of 2021-22? 

Yes, there is definitely a demand rise. Unfortunately, last year, due to the pandemic, plant operations were stopped and everybody was in distress. When companies re-started their operations, we could see demand for bearings growing. Market conditions reversed again when there was the second wave of Covid (which was deadlier than the first wave) and people were curtailing their cost as there was lot of uncertainty in the market. With markets opening up again, we are seeing huge increase in demand. Developments are promising and we believe there is a big room for further improvement in the market condition. 

As a supplier of high-quality bearings, what do you bring to the table for your customers?

Customers come to us knowing that MAC has something special to offer. For example, we are currently working on space programme for Gaganyaan Mission, which plans to undertake human space flight mission to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). We have been working with ISRO for Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan missions. For these types of critical applications, customers go into the depth and seek every detail about the product and raw materials (like chemical analysis, strength, etc) used to make them, before we start production. India has become quality conscious, particularly for critical applications. Our customers ask us details about the products and we are very happy to answer their questions. We back all our claims about products and their performance with documentation and certification. MAC Marketing never compromises on quality and this has been our strength since the inception.   

What are the latest trends in the bearing industry?

Emerging trend is to have bearings which are self-lubricating, which require less maintenance, has long life and works well as per application needs. People are demanding low-maintenance products so that they can focus on production (output) rather than waste time and money on frequent repair and maintenance break. Another trend is people are moving towards automation, as they see value in it for making them future-ready.

Is increase in automation aiding the growth of the bearing industry?

Automation has been in existence since long time; but demand has seen manifold increase in the recent years. Automation definitely reduces the lead time, ensures consistency in quality and improves productivity. Automation is the key for the future. We are a major supplier of bearings to automation assembly lines in automotive industry and are proud to serve some of the leading companies. 

What kind of new opportunities are you looking at for growth? 

We, at MAC, have learnt that the key for success is to identify niche markets, which offer huge growth opportunities. We have a plan of segmenting the market into various portfolios and evaluate the performance of these market segments (especially after Covid 19 pandemic). We are identifying industries which need our support and offer them proposition which is win-win for both (MAC as well as customers). Together we can do better for us as well as for the nation. I am sure we will be in much better position in the coming months.