As part of the globally renowned Mitsubishi Materials Group, MMC Hardmetal India stands at the intersection of legacy and innovation. With over 150 years of history backing its parent organization and a strong commitment to “Circulating Resources for a Sustainable Future,” the company is making a decisive impact in India’s evolving metalworking landscape. From cutting-edge tool solutions to environmental consciousness, MMC Hardmetal India continues to empower the manufacturing sector through technological excellence, deep customer engagement, and a philosophy that puts people, society, and the planet at the center of everything it does. In this exclusive conversation with Machine Tools World, the leadership of MMC Hardmetal India reflects on the company’s journey, its differentiators, and the way forward in a world that demands both precision and responsibility. Excerpts:
Q1. MMC Hardmetal India is part of a group with a 150-year global legacy. How has this heritage shaped your operations and ethos in the Indian context?
We are indeed fortunate to be blessed with glorious legacy of Mitsubishi. This has given us clear vision and unambiguous direction in our journey towards excellence. It inspires us to embrace the new tasks with conviction and commitment. It leads us to act with integrity to build a ‘better tomorrow’ that promises a sustainable future.
Over the years we have been able to develop young and dynamic leadership and the talent with cross-functional experience. Thankfully, we didn’t have to make any adjustments or dilute these values to shape our operations in the Indian context. We have embraced the Japanese culture of discipline, diligence and delivery in true sense. And true to our legacy, we have tried to build a responsible, sustainable and employee-empowered organization.
Q2. Mitsubishi Materials Group’s commitment is ‘For People, Society and the Earth.’ How does MMC Hardmetal India align its strategies with this powerful philosophy?
The Mitsubishi heritage closely resembles with the Indian tradition and life values. Our company philosophy “For people, society and the earth” revolves around the sustainable future. It focuses on resource recycling, sustainability, innovation and mutual respect. It is also aimed to create societal value through materials and solutions. Therefore, everything that we design, produce and offer, reflects our philosophy.
At MMCI we have strengthened this philosophy and the Japanese work culture with rich Indian values and ethical principles like righteousness, integrity and commitment towards ecology. This exciting blend of our global legacy and Indian ethos has enabled us to rise on the strong foundation. Thus we have been able to foster harmonious, positive and productive work culture at MMCI.
Q3. What role does MMC Hardmetal India play in the Group’s global Metalworking Solutions Business, and how significant is India in the overall scheme?
MMC has phenomenal manufacturing and technology presence across the world, with the operations and technology centers established in various regions. This infrastructure supports company’s different business verticals including the metalworking solutions. Right from the beginning of India operations, we have pursued our dream to align ourselves with the Group’s global set-up.
In pursuit of this goal, we took conscious and strategic steps to commission the State-of-the-Art manufacturing facility at Aurangabad (Chh. Sambhajinagar) in Maharashtra. We offer cutting tools, end-mills, carbide tools and special tools for various applications like Automotive, Aerospace, Energy, Die & Mould, Oil & Gas and Medical, from this plant.
In Mar 2020, we proudly inaugurated the Machining Technology & Education Center (MTEC) in Pune—a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to advancing machining excellence. This center has propelled us into a niche league of innovationand technological advancement, reinforcing our commitment to precision engineering and future-ready manufacturing.
A couple of years before we have acquired the sales rights for MOLDINOproducts and we offer the best quality Die & Mould products from this plant. This has widened our product canvass substantially.
We have one of the best sales set-up and robust network of distributors to cater to the Indian market. We handle our sales & marketing operations through our Head office at Bangalore and branch offices at Pune,Gurgaon, Ahmedabad and Chennai. We provide complete technical knowhow for MTB projects. Over the years wehave expanded our operations to the Gulf Countries, Sri Lanka,Bangladesh,In the recent times, we have acquired the new sales territory in the SouthAfrican region and Kazakhstan.
Q4. With increasing emphasis on sustainability and circular economy, what initiatives has MMC Hardmetal India undertaken in resource circulation, recycling, or decarbonization?
Sustainability is at the core of our entire business operations because it is an integral part of our Corporatevalues: “For the people, society and earth”. We have adopted a very structured approach towards this. Every step of our manufacturing process, right from sourcing of raw materials, actively integrates sustainability.
We focus on resource recycling, efficient machining and development of environment friendly products. Over the years we have developed cemented carbide tools, using recycled powder. We are keen to make the use of renewable energy resources and have focused on eco-design of our tools to ensure recyclability.
Q5. How are MMC’s products—particularly cutting tools—helping Indian manufacturers enhance productivity, reduce waste, and meet global quality standards?
We are offering smart technologies and as a part ofintelligent manufacturing. This has transformedour operations from the conventional manufacturing into smart, adaptive and efficient manufacturing.
Our customers are immensely benefitted because we have introduced high-productive tooling and data-driven services. One of our key contributions is theconcept of Productivity Enhancement Process(PEP). This includes tool monitoring, real-time feedback and optimized use of data. We offer cutting tools with advanced coatings and geometries. They are designed through AI driven R&D. They are manufactured to offer top-class cutting performance with high precision, exceedingly high tool-life and material compatibility. With the use of advanced coating technology we have successfully improved heat and wearresistance of our products. As a result, we are providing the tools with higher performance and better longevity.
Q6. Could you shed light on your recent innovations or R&D efforts in cutting tool technology and how they cater to high-growth sectors like automotive and aerospace in India?
Some of our innovations include development of ceramic and cemented carbide tools with the integration of AI. These are aimed for optimized performance with longer tool life. Another thing, I would like to mention, is adoption of additive manufacturing for complex geometries. Earlier it was not possible to manufacture such tools with conventional practices. These innovations have ensured phenomenal precision, efficiency and productivity in the high-growth sectors like automotive and aerospace. Another innovation is about coated tools. Due to the use of advanced coating technology we have successfully improved heat and wear resistance of our products.
Similarly, we have developed PCD and CBN inserts, which are crucial for machining of lightweight materials like aluminum, titanium or composites. These daysthey are necessarily used in aerospace and automotive sectors in order to achieve fuel efficiency.
Q6. What differentiates MMC Hardmetal from other global toolmakers operating in India? Is it technology, customer engagement, or service support?
It’s a combination of all of these. Our objective is to achieve success by strategically integrating the future-ready technology and foster healthy customer engagement and at the same time, promise committed service support. With this combination we have been able to win the trust in the market. We are in constant dialogue with our customers and try to understand their needs with true intent.
We actively involve ourselves in proving critical machining operations and ensure process validation at customer end. Offering the cutting-edge technology, honoring the delivery commitments, faster response time in service support are the key areas that put us in different stead. In many instances, as a part of proactive support, we have identified and addressed the potential issues of the customers. Although the technology plays the decisive role, I think it is because of commitment and empathy, that we have been able to create an environment of trust in our customers’ mind.
Q7. Skill development and training are crucial in advanced machining. How does MMC support customer education, especially on using your products for optimal performance
We organize customer training programmes where we share advanced machining techniques with their personnel. This is an important part of our initiative of customer skill development. We also arrange customers’ visit and training to ourstate-of-the-art technology centerMTEC Pune-a facility dedicated to advancingmachining excellence to share the new technology.
Q8. How does MMC Hardmetal India ensure compliance with global standards in safety, quality, and environmental management—core priorities under SCQDE?
We have a comprehensive approach about safety, quality and environmental management. It covers sustainable business operations, corporate governance and responsible and sustainable sourcing. We adhere to the safety standards with serious intent, implement strict quality control practices throughout our manufacturing process and keep highest priority to environment protection through resource recycling and de-carbonization etc.
For the safety compliance from Corporate Governance point of view, we ensure legal compliance and create totally safe working environment. As a part of occupational health and safety we have special emphasis on the improvement of working environment at plant level.
As for Quality Control, we ensure strict measures throughout the manufacturing process to promise high reliability and performance of our products. We focus on continuous improvement in our manufacturing process and are keen to develop environmentally friendly products.
We are serious about promoting the recycling resources like tungsten fromused cemented carbide inserts and tools and take serious efforts for proper processing of the tungsten carbide scrap.
Q9. Looking ahead, what is your vision for MMC Hardmetal India over the next 5–10 years in terms of growth, technology leadership, and contribution to India’s manufacturing ambitions?
In the coming 5 -10 years, MMC Hardmetal India is poised to cement its leadership position in the Indian metal cutting industry through strategic expansion and technological advancement. By establishing state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, we aim to significantly boost our production capacity, better serve our customers, and actively contribute to the Government of India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.
