The idea of Machinecraft emerged when B P Doshi a polymer chemist from UDCT Mumbai, went to visit one of his customers in Hyderabad and realized that the company used to import expensive German-made machines in India to assemble parts of refrigerators in 1976. In the 1980s, India imposed steep import taxes on virtually all foreign goods. Because of this, the customer offered Mr Doshi to have an overview of the machines and make something similar locally, promoting Make in India. That’s how the formation of Machinecraft came into the picture and B P Doshi, the grandfather of third-generation entrepreneur Rushabh Doshi, built the first Vacuum forming machine to make Polystyrene thermoformed panels for refrigerators.

Today, Machinecraft through its thermoforming machines is shaping Technologies for Multi-Material Thermoplastics & Multi-Layer Composites. We spoke to Rushabh Doshi about how the company came into existence, the journey which goes beyond four decades, and how they are enabling manufacturers through Make in India. Initially, Machinecraft used to manufacture the machines in Mumbai and sell them in India, but that changed when Mr Doshi’s father and uncle joined the business and took the business internationally. To begin, they supplied the machinery for creating acrylic bathtubs to the Middle Eastern market. Later, they expanded to Europe, where they were required to incorporate advanced automated PLC-controlled zone heating & automatic features like sheet loading in the machine. Consequently, they began making increasingly complex devices around 1998. They also began showing up at the K Show event, where they were one of the most important companies from India, who were showing up plastic processing machinery and was possibly the only company showcasing thick gauge single station thermoforming machines.

Rushabh Doshi studied in Germany and was a part of the Indo-German program. His goal in the entire program was to visit German companies and determine whether they were interested in expanding their business in India. With FRIMO, a German-based company, Rushabh found success, and they have now successfully completed three years of their partnership journey. Earlier the products were manufactured in Germany and exported to India but that arrangement was not fruitful for FRIMO to establish their market in India because they were too expensive for their customers. As a result, they pivoted to the Make in India strategy with know-how transfer on how to make thermoforming machines for automotive interiors.

“FRIMO has transferred some of the technologies like vacuum lamination, press lamination & IMG thermoforming, and is now aiming to manufacture those technologies in India. So as a result, it is more economical, and debugging is also made much simpler”, shared Rushabh Doshi. With Making in India, Rushabh and his team are now approaching FRIMO customers in India mostly Tier-1 firms like Motherson, Tata Auto components, IAC, Groupo Antolin & Faurecia, to expand their market.

FRIMO also is working with Machinecraft to promote thermoforming ++ technologies like LFI, SRRIM & WCM -where you reinforce a high-gloss ABS/PMMA thermoformed thin foil with glass-fibre sheets using SRRIM process OR the more sophisticated Long Fibre Injection (LFI) process – mainly used in the development of parts for agriculture & off-highway vehicles. Also, a special process called Wet Compression Moulding where the core is a honey-comb paper with glass fibre & PU is also being promoted to replace traditional blow-moulded and injection-moulded parts in the automotive industry to make them lightweight.

The new generation is taking up the future of the company, which includes Rushabh and his brother who are running the day-to-day business. The sales and marketing department is handled by Rushabh Doshi, while his brother assists their uncle, the company’s Technical Director to look after the manufacturing process. “We are actively forging alliances globally, and in addition to FRIMO, there is also a partnership made with FVF, a Japanese-based company”, said Rushabh. The two alliances Machinecraft has, are primarily in the automobile industry. Starting with FRIMO, they are focusing on the car’s interior components, producing plastic objects that mimic leather, and FVF, focuses on the car’s wooden and metallic components.

Machinecraft’s collaboration with the German firm FRIMO involves the Thermoforming ++ process. Prior to the introduction of FRIMO, the polymers worked within India were very simple; today, however, they are attempting to promote this technology in the automobile interior market by working with far more difficult polymers such as – TPO. Whereas, for the Japanese firm FVF, providing them with specialist fillings from firms like 3M and supplying them with machinery for use in the automobile interior industry, especially for new electro-mobility platforms where lightweight paint-free processes are of value. All these technologies would make the exterior panels class A metallic looking without any paint on it, lightweight & strong NVH.

Rushabh Doshi saw the trend of the Indian consumer and how it is changing. He takes an example of the automotive sector and how people’s expectation from the industry has changed. “Previously, people used to look at the features only in volume, but today the young people of India are investing their money to purchase these more expensive cars, which are produced by firms like TATA and Mahindra. Additionally, automation will be required in India whenever these luxury vehicles are produced in large quantities here”, says Rushabh. Machinecraft sees this trend increasing and thinks now is the time to try to secure the Indian market order. The European markets have advanced and India’s automation is 5 years behind Europe’s. According to Rushabh Doshi, the economy will fit in when India reaches the level of automation Europe did five years ago.

For the “Make in India” they built a new factory in Umargam, a small village in Gujarat, using a loan of 8.16% from SIDBI, which works to encourage MSMEs and small-scale manufacturing enterprises in India. After finishing the factory project, they received a 7% reimbursement, which allowed them to use the cash to promote “Make in India” with an interest rate of 1% approximately. Mr Doshi further adds, “This programme has made it simpler to obtain finance, which benefits small businesses like ours.”

Rushabh foresees that Indian manufacturing will have a lot of partnerships with foreign companies. His vision for Machinecraft is to attract European, Japanese, and North American firms to set up chains in India, producing goods for both the domestic and international markets and giving rise to a new generation of skilled engineers in the Indian workforce for the future.