Open economy policy of our country has definite advantages to the end users as there is availability of various brands meeting the new specifications at competitive prices, thus making procedure of procurement easy.

– Dr Manish Samant,
Vice President (Technical), FSH Welding India

Good demand for welding industry
“By virtue of Indian populations, labour is cheap making India a hub for many export fabrication jobs besides internal infrastructure projects. Hence in near future there will be good demand for welding industry,” observes Dr Manish Samant. This factor would lead to job opportunities for skilled and unskilled labour, welding engineers.

Opportunities and current trends
Government policies with respective to infrastructure and open economy fortunately have positive impact on welding business and this will help to grow. As consumption of the steel and welding goes hand in hand, the demand for the steel, welding equipment, consumables, welding accessories etc. will improve and go up. Demand for new and innovative welding consumables, high tech equipment, robot, automation will also increase. Fabricators and manufacturers will invest in capital goods and infrastructure to enhance their capacity and competency. Overall, there will be a good business and job opportunities for Indians as well as overseas players.

There is more and more demand for consumables. Moreover, the need of innovative or special consumables will be high over and above conventional consumables. Same is valid for the welding power source and accessories. “FSH Welding is getting benefited by these demands for special products,” informs Dr Samant.

Procurement-related activities
“Open economy policy of our country has definite advantages to the end users as there is availability of various brands meeting the new specifications at competitive prices, thus making procedure of procurement easy,” says Dr Samant.

FSH supply chain
FSH welding is a France-based welding and brazing consumables manufacturer which market the consumables under brand name ‘Selectarc’ having two manufacturing units in France. It supplies products through its distributors as well as to end users. 

Procurement practice for welding consumables varies with the type of end user and location. So there is no fixed model for FSH. It also depends on the customers’ strategy in terms of finance, storage, location of consumable procurement, rate of consumption, transportation cost, consumable price, etc.

For customers
“For equipment procurement, customer’s strategy is most important. They have to manage within their financial budget and maximum features at minimum cost i.e. value for money,” suggests Dr Samant.

There are various strategies that customer have to adapt for the procurement of welding consumables. There are many constraints, like customer’s client recommendations for specific brands, specification over and above the conventional standards, consumables which are meeting specifications. Then, it comes to price, quantity and availability. Consumable requirements are basically of three types: components manufacturer (automobiles, White goods etc.), Project base and Maintenance & Repair. So procurement strategy changes with the requirements.