Successful Delapena India joint venture business prompts further investment in UK and India

The strategic partnership between Delapena and Wendt India sees the manufacture of honing machines, under license by Wendt at its facility in the Tamil Nadu region in southern India, for customers in the sub-continent. While in the UK, Delapena is manufacturing all of the hone heads and associated tooling required to service the Indian market from its manufacturing base in Cheltenham. The first two years of the partnership has seen significant growth in sales of Delapena honing technology within India and this growth is set to continue, with double digit sales increases forecast for 2012. This has led to both companies making further investments to meet the current and forecast demand for machines and tooling. Additional machining capacity, in the form of a VMC 1020 vertical machining centre and CT52 LTY CNC lathe from XYZ Machine Tools, have been added to the three existing XYZ machines at Delapena, while Wendt's manufacturing site will increase in size four-fold during the course of 2012. Says David Arthur, Delapena's managing director: "The joint venture with Wendt is proving to be very successful for both parties, and makes the sales of Delapena honing systems so much easier within the booming manufacturing sector in India. As a result, we have witnessed significant growth over the past two years from this market, and the projections for the remainder of 2012 are very encouraging. What is particularly reassuring is the enthusiasm being shown for our new E-series of horizontal honing technology, which has been picked up on by the two leading manufacturers of fuel injection systems for their Indian manufacturing plants." This E-series of machines, which have been designed and developed in the UK, is rapidly becoming the standard process for high volume manufacture of honed bores in the automotive sector. This is due to the high levels of repeatability and the ability to achieve the tightest tolerances for size and surface finish, with limited input from operators. The E-series uses the latest in Siemens control technology and eliminates many of the mysteries and skills required with traditional honing systems. This has proved to be a major selling point within India, as well as other markets around the world.