Rollon: Reliable technology for linear motion in India

Mr. Rüdiger Knevels, Managing Director of Rollon Gmbh

The Rollon Group, a world leader in the production of components for linear motion, announces the opening of a new branch in Bangalore. Rollon Gmbh Managing Director Rüdiger Knevels explains the strategic role of the new office in India, a rapidly developing country especially in terms of transportation business, for which are required high quality components. So, after recruiting local staff to provide sales and technical support, Rollon Group is ready to be a provider of solutions and not just components, thanks to the know-how gained in almost forty years of activity in various fields and to the ability in customizing each application according to the clients’ requirements.

This year you opened your first branch in India, in Bangalore: why did you take this decision and how has this new branch been structured?
Rollon is one of the most important manufacturer of linear motion products in Europe and the US. A few years ago Rollon has started to become a global operating group. At first we have expanded our product range in order to offer a full range of linear motion products to the market. Afterwards we have started our global concept and we have opened branches in all BRIC countries. India is from our point of view one of the most important future markets. We have an Indian branch manager and Director and we are in a process right now to build up the sales network across the country.

The new branch will allow you to give full support to the Indian customers: how? Which services is Rollon able to offer to the Indian customers in terms of support and assistance?
The first step is that we have sales engineers available in India for the technical and commercial support. We will provide our strong application and product knowledge and the experiences which we have in the different industrial sectors. Specially in markets like logistic, railway and aerospace we have a market leader position for linear motion products in Europe. Today we are in the implementation process for an operating warehouse in India. Even some customization will be done in our new facility. We aim at bringing also in India our know how and flexibility in creating custom-made products. We are also able to work in co-design with the technical-engineering department of the customer.

How does India fit in the overall strategy of Rollon, particularly speaking about BRIC? Which are your growth prospects in India?
India plays a very important role in our growth strategy. The market is growing very fast and many companies need a stronger support from the component suppliers. Already in 2014 India will be one of the best growing markets for Rollon. At first we have to do our homework now in order to provide a very good service level in India and then we are very confident that we have a nice growth prospect in front of us.

Which sectors are most interesting to Rollon in India and which solutions and advantages can Rollon bring to the Indian market?
Rollon is a manufacturer & solution provider for a very wide range of industrial applications. The highest market share we have in the railway and logistic market, where we are market leader. We provide high quality products, strong application experiences and the most important one, solutions. Rollon is not just a component supplier, we are used to customize products according to the customer needs and we design and produce system solutions as well.

Which exhibitions are you going to attend to and how do they fit in your strategy regarding Indian market?
Next exhibition we are going to attend to in India is Imtex, in Bangalore, in January 2015. We would like to become a major player for linear motion products in India. For that reason exhibitions are a very important tool for us. In order to touch most of our potential customers we join general industrial fairs and in addition we exhibit at important specific fairs for markets like railway.

Which are the products you are going to focus mainly on during this year in the Indian market?
We are starting to offer all of our standard components and linear actuators. From next year on we will expand our activities for customized and system solutions. That needs a bit more time for the preparation.