Chakan, India – Indo-Italian PU foam machinery joint venture Cannon Indikos is set to expand in the India market. The JV was created early last year, and is now preparing to bear fruit.
The JV will set-up an assembly site at Chakan in the state of Maharashtra. “Cannon Indikos is putting up a small plant for assembly of elementary PU foaming lines, with substantial localization for better cost-management.,” said Mukesh Bhuta, managing director of Expanded Polymer System, the Indian partner in the JV.
The assembly site is expected to open in June, as part of the Pune automobile hub, the key region for automotive manufacturing in India.
The new plant will be located close to the Huntsman System House, and many automotive and refrigeration manufacturers. Bhuta said: “This is just the beginning, in a growing Indian PU market. The vast knowledge and experience of the Cannon Group will thus be tethered to the advancement of the PU industry in India.”
Cannon Indikos is a JV between Milan-based Cannon and Mumbai Expanded Polymer Systems, which became operational on 1 January 2022, but wasn’t publicly announced until the PU TECH 2023 trade show in April.
Cannon Group MD Marco Volpato, said: “This new Cannon company in India completes the crescent of Cannon offices in the Eastern part of the world. Our silk road is now uninterrupted, taking this to the southern part of Asia.”
The initial investment will be directed towards building up a strong team to support Cannon customers besides focusing on technology, production, tech service etc. Most of the investment would be met through internal accruals of Cannon Indikos.
The JV has already made a beginning by procuring order of an automatic pillow moulding line, which will be ready and supplied in June 2023, to one of the largest flexible foam and mattress manufacturers in India.
The foaming machinse will still be imported from Cannon’s Italian site and offered alongside locally manufactured equipment, to ensure high quality reliability and consistency at viable project investments.
