Tooltech Deutschland expands to Austria

Keeping up the pace of expansion, Tooltech recently opened a new branch office in Austria. The office is located in Graz. Wholly owned by Tooltech Deutschland, this branch office will work in close tandem with its parent company. Keeping in line with our mixed model, this front office provide onsite support to our clients based in the region, while also improving communication. The office is situated close to one of our clients that is looking at building long term relationship with Tooltech.

Austria is one of the fastest growing regions in Europe. By establishing the local presence in the country, Tooltech intends to explore new business opportunities in the region.

Currently, the Austrian branch operations are being co-ordinated by Mr. Matjaz Fleisinger, CAE-Analyst.

The Indian Entrance into the Swedish Automotive Market

Gothenburg: The Indian Design Group, Tooltech bought the Swedish Companies - Aspinova and Idéteknik and merged them into one company. This is the first known business case where an Indian Company buys a Swedish Technical Consultant company to get a foothold in the Swedish Automotive Market.

With experience from both Tata Motors and BMW, the new Company will take on competition with listed companies such as Semcon and Caran.

"Our cost, speed and competence will raise the volumes for the Swedish car industry, which is in need of more global perspective" says A. Vivek, President of the Tooltech Group.

Ulf Zandhers, Managing Director and owner- Aspinova and Bror Lundgren, Managing Director and owner- Idéteknik sold their companies to Tooltech. "This is our chance to reach out internationally. We have decided to set up an office in Russelsheim which will enable us to take on projects from GM Europe and Opel. Within two years we will grow from 40 employees to 100," says Bror Lundgren.

Cutting Costs
The idea behind the acquisitions is to reduce costs by half, by executing 80% of the work in India and 20% in Sweden. Tooltech is already working with Atlas Copco and Alfa Laval, where it has applied this cost cutting principle. Aspinova has previously worked with Volvo Car Corporation and the Lear Corporation.

Volvo must open itself
"Volvo is a sluggish company which changes its processes very slowly. They must open themselves for global engineering competence from different cultures", says Klaus Faust, Managing Director - Tooltech Deutschland GmbH. In Germany, the Company has been following the same process as it is now in Sweden, and has got BMW as a customer.

Klaus Faust has worked with BMW for 18 years and was Head of Chassis. He reported to Wolfgang Reitzle, who was later the MD of Ford Luxury Group (PAG) of which Volvo was a part.

Tooltech, President, A. Vivek has worked for 35 years with the TATA Group, and was the former Vice-President of TATA Motors.

N.S. Babu, Head of Automotive- Tooltech is the former Head of the Research & Development Dept., TATA Motors.

Now together they are focusing on creating a global consulting company together with the owner & entrepreneur Atul Khanna. Post acquisitions, Tooltech has grown to 460 personnel and is looking at increasing the yearly turnover from present day’s 200 Mkr to 500 Mkr within 5 years.

Tooltech Scandinavia Announces Acquisitions to the Media

Tooltech Scandinavia hosted a Press Meet on 5th June to announce its recent acquisitions of two Swedish automotive engineering design companies, Aspinova and Ideteknik. Board members and senior management from the Tooltech Group addressed the Swedish media during the meet which was held at the Tooltech office in Gothenburg.

Dr. Klaus Faust (Managing Director- Tooltech Deutschland), Mr. Abhay Jahirabadkar (Managing Director- Tooltech Scandinavia), Mr. A. Vivek (President & Chief Mentor- Tooltech India), Kurt Issakson (Senior Advisor, Tooltech Scandinavia), Mr. Bror Lundgren (Managing Director Ideteknik), Mr. Ulf Zandhers (Managing Director- Aspinova) and Mr. N.S. Babu (Head - Automotive, Tooltech India) were present.

Mr. Vivek spoke about Tooltech’s competencies and rapid growth while Mr. Jahirabadkar explained the Company’s strategic focus on Europe. The acquisitions facilitate the Company’s growth towards a ‘Global Engineering Delivery’ system. With this Tooltech will address the automotive industry in Europe with strong cross border capabilities through our teams in Tooltech Scandinavia, Tooltech Deutschland, Tooltech Romania and our partners B2i in France and Solid Solutions in Design in Germany. Mr. Zandhers and Mr. Lundgren affirmed that the association with Tooltech is a positive step towards a global presence.

The press meet was an interactive session where the Swedish media got an insight into the Tooltech Group. The media has taken keen interest in this acquisition, reporting that it is the first known business case where an Indian Company buys a Swedish technical consultant company and secures a foothold in the Swedish Automotive market.

Tooltech acquires two Swedish automotive engineering design companies

Tooltech, an India based engineering services group has recently acquired two midsized engineering design boutique companies in Sweden. Aspinova is a well established project management chassis engineering firm serving Volvo for more than a decade. It employs 22 engineers. Ideteknik is a well established body design engineering firm, serving SAAB for a decade. It employs 21 engineers. Both companies are based in Gothenburg.

These acquisitions make the fourth European acquisition for Tooltech, in a ‘string of pearls’ acquisition strategy. Tooltech has grown from a CAD Services to a Product Development Services firm. It has also evolved from providing outsourced services to a ‘global engineering delivery’ model, combining low cost locations in India and Eastern Europe with its 7 front office delivery locations in Europe. The earlier acquisitions are Teco (since renamed Tooltech Deutschland) in Germany and Design Tech (since renamed Tooltech Romania).

Tooltech has a significant Swedish presence. In December 2007, our Swedish office, Tooltech Scandinavia AB, won the coveted title of “The Foreign Owned Company of Göteborg Region”. The Award was bestowed upon us by “Business Region Göteborg” as a part of its annual Christmas tradition for the region’s expatriates.

Ship Design under Capt S.K. Murthy's leadership

Tooltech welcomes Capt S.K. Murthy into the team as Head - Ship Design. A graduate in Mechanical Engineering, he also holds a post graduate degree in Marine Engineering & Management. He has been an active member of the Indian Register of Shipping and the Lloyds Register of Shipping, and has been the former Director of Mazgaon Dock Ltd (MDL). He served in the Indian Navy for 20 years and held the post of Deputy Director at the Institute of Armament Technology.

Tooltech Scandinavia wins "The Best Foreign Owned Company of Göteborg Region"

"Business Region Göteborg" annual Christmas tradition for the region's expatriates falls nothing short of an extravagant event, with the legacy being carried on over the years. So when Tooltech Scandinavia emerged as the triumphant winner of the coveted "Best Foreign Owned Company of Göteborg Region" award, we were honoured that such a title was bestowed upon us. The award was received by Abhay - Managing Director, on behalf of the Scandinavian team.

The event was held on December 7th, at the City Hall- "Börsen" and saw a participation of about 280 individuals from 41 different countries, the largest ever.

According to tradition, Lord Mayor of Göteborg, Jörgen Linder set the ball rolling while Petra Sedelius from Business Region Göteborg (BRG), introduced the increased numbers of foreign owned companies and expatriates in the region.

Tooltech Scandinavia has managed to find firm ground in Sweden and Göteborg, in particular. Tooltech Scandinavia has consistently worked towards expanding their market and has successfully secured new projects and assignments.

Tooltech Scandinavia aired on TV 4

Recently, Tooltech Scandinavia, our office in Sweden, was contacted by TV 4, the biggest news channel in Sweden. Following "The Foreign Owned Company of Göteborg Region" award, Abhay Jahirabadkar - Managing Director and Kurt Issaksson - Senior Advisor were interviewed by the channel to speak on the topic of Indian companies investing in Sweden. Earlier, Swedish companies invested in India, the new trend of Indian companies establishing offices in Sweden was the subject matter of the discussion. The programme was aired primetime and the honour bestowed upon us makes us proud. Log on to http://tv4nyheterna.se/2.139?videoId=1.248624 to see the clip.

Mr. Bjarne Estdahl heads the Danish office

Mr. Bjarne Estdahl joins Tooltech as the Country Manager of Denmark. He has served in the Royal Danish Navy for over 13 years and later relocated to Italy where he stayed for over 25 years, heading the Italian operations of Kongsberg. He parts ways with the Kongsberg Group to head the Tooltech office in Denmark and contribute towards expanding our market reach in the country.

Mr. Ralf Speth Joins the Tooltech Board

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Speth, to our Board of Directors, as an independent Director. With more than 30 years of experience in the Automotive industry, Mr. Speth has extensive understanding of Corporate Strategy and Research and Development. Mr. Speth currently serves as the Head of Global Operations at Linde AG and is a member of the Supervisory Board at JumaTech, Germany. At Linde, he initiated and led the restructuring teams, responsible for corporate-wide operational excellence and organizational initiatives focused on cost saving, innovation and revenue growth. Prior to that, he was with Ford as the Director of the Premier Automotive Group (which at the time included Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo).

BMW Visit to Tooltech Strengthens Existing Relationship

The BMW team is suitably impressed with Tooltech on its visit to the Pune office.

Tooltech recently had the pleasure of receiving the BMW team at its Pune office. BMW had come here to understand Tooltech's project implementation procedures. The 11 member team included Senior Design Management, Head of Strategic Purchasing and Technical Experts from several departments in BMW.

The engineering protocols and knowledge management procedure adopted at Tooltech earned great respect from BMW. The global engineering platform showcased not only what Tooltech does, but also how it prepares to tackle process problems. Tooltech's CAE work evoked a spontaneous "We are impressed!" from the visitors. The Tooltech-BMW partnership is now poised for growth to the next level of maturity.

Above all, it was very satisfying for the designers and the design customers to give a face to what were previously, merely names on email correspondence. It is a visit that will always be treasured by Tooltech and one that satisfied the visitors.