Joachim Beck, Manager for Marketing Communications
If you were in Bangkok last month to attend Metalex Thailand, you might be surprised to see a bigger number of German exhibitors at the show. Metalex is the largest metalworking trade fair in the ASEAN region and this year, for the first time, Germany has been named a partner country.
One of the many German exhibitors is CeramTec GmbH. For over 60 years the CeramTec’s SPK® brand has stood for powerful, efficient design in machining processes with ceramic cutting tools, PcBN grades and cermets. Thanks to its matching tooling systems and comprehensive application expertise, the CeramTec SPK® Solution Team is able to create practically oriented solutions in the fields of automotive engineering and aerospace, the transmission and bearing industry, in mechanical engineering and in wind power.
Joachim Beck, Manager for Marketing Communications, said, “At the show, we are launching new products, such as cutting solutions for turning, grooving, milling and boring; high-performance milling with TWINMILL, and hard part machining with WXM 355.”
“Our objective for launching these products at the show is to help customers improve their chip removal rate, and achieve higher frequency. And in addition, longer tool life depending on the application,” he added.
Joachim shared that they are expecting customers who are interested in mass production. “Mass production is our focus. If you are into hard part turning or machining of cast iron products, our cutting materials emphasize on mass production and longer machining time. Normally, customers who visit us are looking for cost reduction, and we can offer a lot of solutions for turning, milling and grooving,” he further shared.
Joachim stressed that Thailand is their biggest hub for the ASEAN region in the machining industry. That is why they focus on being in the country. “
Generally, CeramTec focus in Asia is China and India, where they have branches and sales team. But their next target is the ASEAN region, particularly Thailand. “We started our sales office here only a year ago. We see Thailand with the biggest potential for our business in the entire ASEAN. Our sales is also growing in this market. In Thailand, we only join Metalex because we find this show the biggest and gets a lot of attention, “Joachim noted.
“For 2020, we want to improve our sales here in the region. Acquire new customers and be able to support them with our technology, and knowledge on how to bring cost down and improve production,” he concluded.