Text: Bhargav TS
GGB Bearings, a Pune-based bearing company foresees the Indian market and developing products that are needed for future. For many applications the company has already developed future products which can be offered to OEMs and component makers immediately when they start new development. GGB is though new to the market gets identified world-wide as a reliable player. They have global footprint across markets and renders bearing solutions for all markets.
The company offers complete range of self-lubricating and pre-lubricated plain bearings for automotive applications. Capable of withstanding the most severe environments and providing low friction, high wear resistance with proven reliability, the company’s high performance bearing includes DP4, DP11, DP31, DTS10, DX, DX10 and HI-EX metal-polymer bearings and EP22, EP43 and EP64 engineered plastic bearings. The bearings offered by them are also light in weight.
Highlighting on the future product needs Mahesh Thangamani, India Sales Manager, GGB India said that, “We constantly capture customers plan for future product and develop material to cater improved performance and efficiency required by the customers. We have already come up with future products and waiting for the customer’s call to deliver the same. These products will get their usage when they start new product development.” The trend is towards improved performance, higher life, higher efficiencies, reduced maintenance and downtime and it is keeping pace with these requirements with its new high performance products.
Mahesh Thangamani, India Sales Manager, GGB India
The compact, lightweight construction of bearings provides space and weight savings for reduced emissions and improved fuel economy. The compact design is also easy to assemble. GGBs non-metal-to-metal contact bearings improves comfort and reduces noise, while the bearings’ low friction provides better response time for greater safety and extends service life. System costs are reduced by the bearings’ ability to run dry, eliminating the need for lubricants, and in many cases, they can be used to replace costly roller bearings.
Commenting on the product developed by GGB, Mahesh said, “Our bearings also offer high resistance to wear and shock loads for greater reliability, smooth operation and extended bearing life. Low friction and breakaway torque eliminate stick-slip effect and reduce power losses for improved performance. Self-lubrication makes them suitable for applications requiring long service life without continuous maintenance and operating conditions with inadequate or no lubrication.” The greaseless lead-free bearings offered by the company comply with increasingly stringent environmental regulations such as the EU ELV, RoHS and WEEE directives and ISO 14001, as well as the ISO/TS 16949 international quality standard for the design, development, production, installation and servicing of automotive-related components.
In India many OEM’s are looking for future bearing material for enhanced performance and efficiency improvement of their product. However, keeping cost competitive is still a major factor. There is a tremendous cost pressure from customer. In some cases, there is an adverse need to come up with just enough quality workable solution with lower cost. The company is on its way to cater to such customers through new product development, added Mahesh.
The bearings offered by the company are used in more than 50 different applications, including seating systems, convertible tops, driveshafts, axles and brakes, struts, shock absorbers and suspensions, powertrain, transmissions, transfer cases, differentials and dual-mass flywheels, pedals, clutches, wipers and lights, fuel injection systems, oil/water pumps, valve train, starters, tensioners, alternators and pulley dampers, heating/AC, steering systems, doors, hood, trunk and roof hinges.
Mahesh pointed that, “We provide innovative solutions to even the most challenging specifications and operating conditions. Our development process involves manufacturing, engineering, quality assurance, health and safety, and marketing. Our in-house production capabilities allow us to respond quickly to customer needs with cost-competitive standard or customised products. We are regarded as trusted advisor and do give suggestions to customers for fine tuning their products.” The company’s tribological expertise, R&D and testing capabilities continue to produce technologically superior products, systems and tools. For the bearing company, the technical centres are located at USA, Annecy at France, where new products and processes are developed, bearing materials are tested, fundamental studies are conducted. In the technical centre both GGBs and other manufacturers’ bearings are analysed.
The company is strong in many industries internationally such as automotive, fluid power etc. The bearing major helps customers to find solution instead of providing bearings. The primary focus of the company will be auto industry as it marks a good profitability for the company. Its key customers are OEMs and Tier-1. The company does not have any eye on aftermarket, as the demand is negligible. Mostly the entire sub-assembly gets replaced in which bearing is a part and not just the bearings could be replaced during malfunctioning. “We can offer all of our products in India, but not all are suitable for automotive applications. These include our complete lines of metal-polymer, fibre reinforced composite, metal and engineered plastic bearings, plus bushing blocks for hydraulic applications and special housings and assemblies,” reveals Mahesh.
Quality is the essence in all its products. The bearing provider complies with world-class quality standards, including ISO 9001 for quality management systems and ISO/TS 16949 international quality management specification for suppliers of automotive components. IT also meets the requirements of ISO 14001 for environmental management, ISO 50001 for energy management and OSHAS 18001 for occupational health and safety.
Foreseeing the automotive industry path in next 5 years, Mahesh opined that, “In next 5 years we will see introduction of new vehicles / technologies with stringent emission norms and weight reduction. Indian government has decided to implement stricter emission norms of Bharat Stage (BS) VI from April 1, 2020 by skipping BS-V altogether. This is very ambitious plan and we will strive to capture requirement from customers as far as bearing is concerned.” The company looks forward for a spectacular growth 5 years down the line as the market seems to be promising.
