The Machinist
Sandvik Coromant's Klas Forsström
believes that the best way to sell more is to train customers better
Klas Forsström is a regular visitor
to India. In his 22 years at Sandvik Coromant the last four as Global
President--he's travelled to the country almost 25 times, but rues that he
hasn't really ticked any of the `must-see' tourist destinations off his list
yet. Indeed, most of his time is spent visiting customers and this trip to the India
HQ in Pune is no different. “India is an important market for us, and one of my
favourite markets so I try to come to India at least once a year; this time I'm
meeting the team and our customers,“ says Forsström.Part of Sandvik, a 153
year-old engineering business, headquartered in Sweden, Sandvik Coromant is
among the biggest companies globally that caters to the requirements of the
metalworking industry, providing tools and tooling solutions for customers
ranging from the auto, aerospace to the oil and gas industries. Forsström says
that the global nature of his business (it operates in 130 countries) means
that it has multiple home markets.India is clearly an important one, more so in
the context of the Asia Pacific region.
The global nature of the business
also means that it wasn't overly impacted by the recent slowdown. However there
are the all too common concerns about attracting the right kind of talent to
what essentially is an old-economy business, but Forsström has his way of
dealing with that. Last year, the company entered the Guinness Book of Records
for creating the `World's Largest Coin Mosaic' during the International
Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago. Made using coins worth about
$65,000--the amount of money manufacturing contributes to the U.S. economy each
sec ond--this money was later donated to a non-profit and would be used to
promote more women candidates opting for careers in manufacturing.
“The attractiveness of the
manufacturing industry in most markets isn't at peak level,“ he admits. A
father of four, he often chats with his children's' friends about what kind of
work they'd like to do. “All of them say they want to work in new technology,
IT, international business, design and innovation, and I tell them that in that
case you must come work for us. That is the manufacturing industry in a
nutshell,“ says Forsström. While the industry and company many be old, there
are a lot of modern technologies that are shaping the way they evolve “We have
innovation and product renewal in our DNA and when you explain that to
youngsters today, it's not that difficult to get the right talent,“ he says.
Shailesh Prabhune, president, Sandvik Coromant India points out that as a
company they churn out 2000 new products a year, so the degree of innovation at
work ranks fairly high. A recent innovation that the company came up with was
in turning inserts where it reoriented the crystals on the coating such that it
improved productivity of the insert by 30%. Forsström points to a number of
global trends that are shaping the future of the company, and the industry at
large. One is hyper specialisation. “Customers are demanding smaller batches,
things made for a specific purpose. We need to tailor-make solutions and
deliver these faster,“ says Forsström.Prabhune adds, “Product lifecyles are
getting smaller and our customers constantly need to innovate and thus we as
partners need to be very integrated with them to respond faster.“
The other big change is what
Forsström calls the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and the internet of things.
Whether it is using technology to connect better with customers or how the
customers interact with the products, the internet is having a deep impact on
all of it.Earlier this year, Prabhune live transmitted the proceedings at
Imtex, an industry exhibition to customers who weren't present with a person
from Sandvik Coromant onsite to take them through it.
One thing the company has been
focused on across the countries it operates in is providing training and making
it easier for customers to access information. From videos on YouTube to apps
for smartphones and physical training centers, Sandvik Coromant has invested
significantly in training.Forsström's reasoning is simple. “If I were in the
business of making pens, I'd teach people how to write. Here I'm selling drills
and it's important that customers know how to get the most from them.“ Last
year the company trained 30,000 people globally, including 1500 in India.
Sustainability is another thing that
rates high on Forsström's agenda and over the last ten years he's been running
an initiative to recycle all the inserts that the company sells.
Last year this hit the 95% mark and
the ultimate aim is to recy cle 100% of what they sell.
Meanwhile, as a leader who believes
in walking the talk, Forsström admits that he is never pleased with what
they've achieved. “If you belong to a winning team, whatever you've delivered
last year isn't good enough. It goes back to our DNA of constant renewal. At
the same time, when you achieve success, it's important to stop and celebrate,“
he says.
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By Priyanka Sangani
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CDET10APR15
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