For years it was toiling for Metaflex in India. But the perseverance of the Gelderland-based manufacturer of high-quality operating room and refrigerated freezer doors is now being rewarded. "India accounts for half of our annual sales," says the company.
Management of Metaflex
Production in India
"We are extremely proud of the journey we have made in India," says Managing Director Tom Engbers. Engbers himself did not witness the difficult start-up years of Metaflex in India - he has only been in the management of the company from Aalten for two years - but he knows the history. "In 2006 our shareholders came up with the plan to start a factory in India. Not to outsource our production, but focused on sales in India. He saw great opportunities for Metaflex in the Indian healthcare and food industry."
Time, energy and money
In the first few years Metaflex invested a lot of time, energy and money in the Indian factory, but the efforts did not pay off. While the company muddled along in India - one Indian director after another came and went - the crisis in Europe took hold. In 2010 the course of events changed. Metaflex divested itself of various business units and focused entirely on the production of high-quality doors for conditioned spaces. Since the appointment of the current Indian managing director Rajesh Sikka in 2014, the factory in Greater Noida, an hour and a half outside of Delhi, has been profitable. Engbers: "We found Rajesh through a headhunter, very traditional actually. His arrival was really a turning point. The impact of a good local director cannot be underestimated: he is respected locally and knows the market inside out."
400 percent growth in five years
In India, Metaflex focuses on three sectors. Doors for cold storage warehouses is the main market. This is followed by doors for operating rooms in hospitals and doors for laboratories of pharmaceutical companies. Doors for industrial warehouses constitute a third market. Apart from the factory in Noida, the company has four sales offices in India. Metaflex also provides maintenance for Indian customers. In total more than two hundred people are employed there. Engbers: "Over the past five years we have quadrupled our business in India. And we think we can double again in the coming years. Most of that growth comes from India, but from the India factory we also supply customers in the Middle East and Southeast Asia."
Metaflex team in India
Intertwined
The Dutch and Indian teams work closely together. Engbers: "Originally they were two separate companies owned by the same shareholders. In the last few years we have really become one company. Our Indian factory can make exactly the same products as the factory in the Netherlands. We have set up a global account management team: Indian and Dutch employees work intensively together to sell our products in markets outside the EU and India. Depending on the location of the customer and the exact demand, that customer is supplied from India or the Netherlands."
No joint venture
"What makes our story unique is that we have been operating independently in India from the beginning," Engbers states. "We are not stuck with a joint venture partner. You often hear that parties withdraw from India in frustration after a few years because a collaboration with such a JV partner has stalled. Of course we had our own teething problems: setting up a new factory in a new country is always a crime. I have great respect for the perseverance of our shareholders. You have to have the financial resources to last through the initial phase, but above all you have to be convinced of your product and your plan."
