In an exclusive interaction with Wire & Cable India, Mr. Uwe Scharunge, Managing Director, Verschleißtechnik Kämpfer GmbH, Herborn, Germany, with an unmistakable conviction in his tone shares that the infrastructure boost and socio-economic growth are lending to the rise in the demand for wires and cables in India, which in turn is driving the need for its machinery and tooling. As a machine tool component and sub-assembly manufacturer, the company aligns closely with this demand by providing machine tool functional parts to the developed and the developing countries along with India supporting the upsurge in the demand in this segment. In demanding wire drawing operations, even small improvements can have major impact on productivity and product quality. Advanced tooling concepts and precise tool tuning inside the drawing machine are becoming key performance drivers. In this context, specialized tool manufacturers – often regarded as hidden champions – play a decisive role in enabling higher efficiency, stability, and consistent performance in demanding production environments.
Wire & Cable India: Please briefly outline your company’s cable and wire industry product focus, including key technologies, product types, and principal end-use sectors.
Uwe Scharunge: Our product portfolio includes machine tool functional parts, typically displaying high-wear resistance characteristics. The key machining operations could be named as CNC turning and CNC grinding, coating and finishing; while the key components and assemblies manufactured are Capstans, Pulleys, Rollers, and Contact Tubes. Our principal customers are Machine Tool Manufacturers, and the end users using the machine for producing wires and cables and, in turn, looking for replacement parts upon wear and tear due to sustained deployment for production needs.
WCI: Within your core product segments, how would you characterise current demand conditions and order visibility?
US: Developed and developing countries, driven by infrastructure and socio-economic growth, continue leading the demand for the wires and cables. This, in turn, drives the need for machinery and tooling used in their production. As manufacturing capacity expands, the demand for such equipment remains closely linked to machine sales and is recurring in nature. Additionally, the push for higher productivity in developed markets, and the growing focus on quality improvement in developing markets, continue to generate the sustained demand.
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WCI: Within your manufacturing offerings, how do you currently assess investment sentiment among wire and cable producers, particularly in emerging markets such as India?
US: The Indian wire and cable industry is projected to experience robust growth of approximately 13–16% in FY26, driven by intense infrastructure development, renewable energy projects, and real estate demand. This growth is supported by the sentiment of the investors who are optimistic about the dynamics in this segment and is expected to prevail for at least a few years without any other major disruption insights that might affect the demand adversely.
WCI: Which customer or application requirements are currently exerting the greatest pressure to improve productivity and quality within your product range?
US: The customers in the target market like India continue to look for faster deliveries with budget-friendly offerings. The competition from neighbouring countries like China, with its established systems for addressing customer expectations- right from the stage of enquiry through sales and after-sales support, has also influenced the way the manufacturers around the world look at their potential regional markets and the evolving ecosystem. Further, the service and support system packaged and integrated with the product is expected to be a part and parcel of the deliverables´ expected from the supply chain.
WCI: Which manufacturing disciplines, automation measures, or quality-assurance practices have delivered the most tangible improvements in your yield or rework reduction?
US: The daily pre-planned standup meetings with the production and management teams for alignment of integrated deliverables, inclusion of internal as well as external experts for thematic discussions and continuous improvements – be it technical, administrative, or financial, root-cause analysis linking the problem to its source, extended network for partners and suppliers supporting manufacturing operations and participation of the top-management for enabling customer outreach have delivered the most tangible improvements in our yields and has certainly reduced the instances of internal rework or rejections for the manufactured components and subassemblies.
India as an emerging market is growing strong and steady, offering promising returns over the long run. With the perception of India as a market for the world, the region also needs to double itself up for addressing the manufacturing needs of the overseas Company who wishes to sell locally in India.
WCI: How are sustainability and decarbonisation goals translating into practical changes at your company?
US: Our energy and resource-intensive in-house manufacturing processes are currently under review, with plans to outsource a few non-critical operations to competent vendors who can also offer greater logistical efficiency. Further, the new air-compressor installation enhances operational performance by delivering optimized air pressure to shop-floor utilities while significantly reducing energy consumption and, consequently, carbon dioxide emissions. Lastly, the company has begun its transition toward a paperless office by ensuring seamless access to digital media across all levels of the organization. This comes in addition to the already installed automated lighting system detecting the presence of the associates in the vicinity for efficient use of electricity towards the lighting needs and the use of the peripherals. All these initiatives are integrated into the policy and being implemented in a way so as to translate the sustainability and decarbonisation goals into a routine dynamic work-habit that unfolds itself every day and every moment in the factory as well as in the office.
WCI: How are cost pressures across raw materials, energy, or logistics being managed without compromising product reliability or compliance?
US: Processes and Products demanding higher overhead costs for operation have been identified and being sought for outsourcing to partner setups to bring in economies of scale for processing the same. The cost-efficient alternative manufacturing facilities in targeted regions worldwide offer the convenience of being in the proximity of the regional customer while offering the opportunity to address the processing at a cost in tandem with the regional competition. Theresponse time´ to the customer needs has also come down drastically with this measure. Resource consumption is also being optimized through product redesign, process improvements, and production planning and control, enabling lower wastage and higher output.
WCI: How has the wire and cable industry benefited, in practical terms, from automation or real-time digital control?
US: The deployment of CNC machine tools, especially for the key processes such as turning and grinding operations, has resulted in savings of time and resources while ensuring error-free deliveries. Automation in business processes has lent us an upper hand in streamlining the routine tasks such as accessing and tagging E-Mails, searching for information over the ERP system and utilising the cloud tools for information sharing in real-time, among other internal activities.
The wire and cable industry is yet to take a leap in aligning with and keeping pace with technological advancements in design, manufacturing, and business processes, particularly to meet the growing demands of the automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, and other sectors.
WCI: Looking ahead three to five years, which wire & cable segments or applications are most likely to drive the next investment cycle?
US: The next investment cycle is expected to be driven by value-added manufacturing processes for end-product offerings like wire and cables for E-mobility, Renewable energy, Electronics, Aviation, and Defence sectors. The economies of scale need to be realised through integration of the Product-and-Service Mix’ along with batch scale production and standardization.
WCI: How do you see India as a market?
US: India as an emerging market is growing strong and steady, offering promising returns over the long run. With the perception of India as a market for the world, the region also needs to double itself up for addressing the manufacturing needs of the overseas Company who wishes to sell locally in India. Without this, the logistical expenses for bringing in the goods from distant countries would not look feasible and the overall potential and attractiveness as a Marketplace could look hazy. The country, although, offers a great potential as a destination for Outsourcing´ for Manufacturing and Service with a pool of available talent and abundance of competent resources to cope up with the manufacturing demands of the international market.
However, challenges exist in terms of lack of comprehensive offerings and support through all stages of the enquiry, order, delivery, and after-sales support. There seem to be missing links in the mechanisms to understand and capture customer requirements and tune the business processes to address customer expectations. The country has an abundance of skilled resources along with state-of-the-art facilities for manufacturing and test but lacks trained personnel who can navigate the processes through a system that works towards realising end-to-end goals for the customers. Perhaps, it also needs to pep itself up for adapting to the dynamic and comprehensive needs of the export market while tuning itself to catch up with the momentum of growth at the scale and precision sought by the overseas customer.
The potential in this area is immense, and our company has already launched several initiatives to expand our sourcing activities in India. Over the past year, these efforts have steadily progressed through structured supplier assessments and capability evaluations. With the approval of the first sample parts and the successful assessment of the underlying processes at our supply-chain partners, we expect the first consignments for production lot orders to reach us in the third quarter of this year.
We are highly optimistic about the opportunities ahead and look forward to shaping our future together with our extended supply chain partners. As we continue this journey, we remain curious, confident, and committed to forging and leading a successful and sustainable partnership.
