Ramachandran Vaidyanathan’s entrepreneurial journey started in 1995 with a single lathe machine under a small shed, and has now transformed into Arrow Machine Tools, a leading brand in the automatic lathe segment. With customers including prominent companies such as Tata, Honda, and Hyundai, the company has not only expanded within India but also reached international markets in Sri Lanka and Thailand. This journey, which began in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, has now expanded its reach globally.
Arrow Machine Tools was established in the year 1995 and since then the business entity has established its brand in the segment of small automatic lathes and has grown into an approachable brand in the past two decades. Ramachandran Vaidyanathan, the Managing Partner at Arrow Machine Tools, recently was in an exclusive conversation with Machine Maker, wherein he explained the journey of Arrow Machine Tools since its initial days and thus explained the growth of the company over the years.
The company, Arrow Machine Tools, has expertise in producing various components for the automobile sector, which is a prominent industry in the country. The company began in a small shed initially with a single automatic lathe in Chennai and has today grown into a well-established brand in and around the country. Today, the company finds its target customers in the form of companies like Tata, Honda, Hyundai, and so on. The third and fourth-line vendors of these established brands have been buying the auto components from Arrow Machine Tools.
Ramachandran Vaidyanathan further briefed that the company has been finding its growth at a healthy rate as in recent years it has grown into a go-to brand in the minds of its customers. He feels proud to say that today, around 10,000 machines of Arrow Machines Tools are been used all around the country and even in various foreign countries around the world.
Components belonging to various things including computers, home appliances, and so on are been manufactured through the lathe machines of Arrow Machine Tools. To match the growing competition Ramachandran Vaidyanathan stated that the company made modifications to its machines by adding various features in order to improve productivity and reduce manpower. As per Ramachandran Vaidyanathan, these adjustments or upgrades made by the company have been able to differentiate them from their competitors. Today, an unskilled or a semiskilled person is also able to run the machines of Arrow Machine Tools.
According to Ramachandran Vaidhyanathan, one thing that differentiates the company from its competitors with respect to machines is its size. Arrow Machine Tools, manufactures machines that are smaller in size in comparison to the big machines offered by many in the market. “The small machines offered by us play a vital role in the cost-cutting of the end products on the part of the competitors. These factors have been playing a role in increasing the growth of Arrow Machine Tools”, said Mr Vaidhyanathan.
Automatic lathe of various diameters, the company’s second operation lathe that is further segmented into automatic one and manual, and small CNC lathe of various versions, all these happen to be the segmentation of the products of the company. As per Ramachandran Vaidhyanathan, all three segments happen to be very much popular and have been finding customers with ease.
Speaking about the challenges in the industry Ramachandran Vaidhyanathan briefed that varying expectations of the customers have been termed to be a major challenge on the part of the firm. Further, he also added that Arrow Machine Tools apart from the aforesaid, one faces various challenges in various projects and has been overcoming them successfully on a consistent basis. Apart from this, another common challenge faced by the company has been finding skilled manpower. Owing to these factors, today Arrow Machine Tools has also succeeded in finding its customers overseas in the countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand, and so on.