August 3, 2017 4 min read

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These two mechanical engineer-turned-entrepreneurs have set a right example of how engineers can be a boon to Indian manufacturers.

With escalating costs, stiff competition and sole focus on outsourcing, lot of Indian manufacturers face major challenges in logistics and storage that ultimately restrict the setting up of production units.

To address critical issues that are slowing down the manufacturing sector’s growth in India, Vineet Majgaonkar and his brother Pranav Majgaonkar started their entrepreneurial venture Armstrong Machine Builders Pvt Ltd in 2000.

Hailed as a technocrat by his team, Vineet entered into a technical partnership with his younger brother Pranav in the business. His brief experience of working with big auto-mobile giants in and outside India helped him chart his course in the company.

In a conversation with Entrepreneur India, the Majgaonkars shared some unique experiences in their business journey. The business kicked off with providing mechanical solutions to poultry farming and now it is offering automated machinery solutions to marquee clients like Unilever, ITC and Amazon.

Tech-fortified Supply Chain

“India is world’s second largest consumer market and it is imperative that Indian industries have a sophisticated supply chain that can handle a huge volume of consumer goods,” said Vineet.

Implementing his idea of using advanced technology to automate machinery processes, Vineet brought machinery technological innovations in India. One such innovation is aluminum profile technology. Apart from working on unique aluminium profile-based design, the company is also serving as a link between the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP software) and machines.

The Majgaonkars are strong believers of the fact that automation can save a lot of operational costs and time and Vineet stressed that India was in a dire need of integrating manufacturing process with innovative technologies.

Driven by the mantra of making lives easy, the company is gifting Indian manufacturers intelligent sorters, lifts, profiling systems and industry 4.0-enabled solutions. These advanced solutions will ease the operations and make it error-free.

Automated Warehousing Will Help Companies

The concept of automated warehouses in India will give a lot more visibility to the entire supply chain than ever before, said Vineet.

“An automated warehousing set-up will save operational costs by cutting down on the processing time, facilitate space optimization and ensure error-free operations. It will also curb the problems of product damage and pilferage,” he added.

“With GST in effect, warehouses will become more centralized,” he added.

@home is an example of a retail chain where we have automated warehouses.

“Machines should come into play where humans are unable to provide solution”

While interacting with us in the India Warehousing Show, 2017, a team of AMB took us on a tour to show how their models will expedite manufacturing processes.

Any job cuts? And Vinnet is prompt to give a repartee, “Automation will be the driving force behind the creation of a smarter workforce as it will upgrade mundane jobs to a more skill-based work.”

With the implementation of technologies like Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence the company is making its range of solutions more user-friendly. The company is producing machines that could connect with any existing ERP system with ease. The modules are powered by latest IT tools such as Predictive Analytics, IOT and AI, so that machines can easily collect and analyze data to further optimize operations.

“Never into Losses”

The company has never run into losses from the date of its inception till now, confirmed Vineet.

“Nobody matches our scale and excellence in India,” he said. Amrstrong names Flexlink, Bosch, Bastian Solutions as it biggest competitors.

AMB has also partnered with American company Pitney Bowes for the marketing of its e-commerce solutions in the private sector. Pitney-Bowes brings in its wide service network and offers a global marketing channel while Armstrong delivers a world-class product to the customers at Indian prices.

The company’s directors often boast that their business model is so flexible that, like an amphibian, it move anywhere. The company is also a part of the government of India’s Skill India Initiative and is currently training individuals by providing them industry-centric guidance.