We have diversified our umbrella beyond trading of AR plates and are providing clients services like CNC plasma cutting, laser cutting, underwater CNC jet cutting, drilling and bending, and fabrication of wear parts, says Bhavesh Mehta, Managing Partner, Leomet Alloys Inc. Excerpts from the interview.

Tell us about the core competencies and strengths of Leomet Alloys.
We are leading stockists and importers of abrasion resistance wear plates in India. At our premises, you can find all the solutions for wear requirement.

How successful have you been in sustaining the growth momentum during these turbulent times?
In order to sustain our growth momentum, we have diversified our industry base and clients. We are creating awareness in many different industries where abrasion resistance wear plates are replacing the old mild steel plates and manganese plates. This is giving them more life for their products. This is helping us to sustain and grow our sales further. We also help clients by providing facilities like CNC plasma cutting, laser cutting, CNC water jet cutting, drilling, bending and fabricating. These services have also helped us to sustain our growth.

What are the value-for-money propositions from Leomet Alloys?
Our pricing for abrasion resistance plates are very competitive as compared to the other suppliers in the market. We give client different options in wear solutions which can fit their budget. This helps the client to maintain their quality at low prices.

What are the services offered by Leomet Alloys?
In order to counter the economic slowdown, we have diversified our umbrella beyond trading of AR plates. We provide the client services like CNC plasma cutting, laser cutting, underwater CNC jet cutting, drilling and bending, and fabrication of wear parts.

What is the overall market and demand-supply scenario for your product line?
The overall market of wear plates is increasing tremendously. This is mainly due to new industries which have started using AR wear plates, replacing mild steel plates and manganese plates. There are many new brands which are also trying to find their niche in this industry and providing similar quality material at much cheaper prices.

What differentiates Leomet from the competition?
Our main core of competency is the service which we provide apart from the raw material. We offer end-to-end wear solutions to our clients that help them to make their products better and thereby increase our sales.

How do you assess the performance so far in 2013?
So far, 2013 has been a good year for us and the market. We have seen that sales are almost 50 per cent extra as compared to the previous year. We expect to keep same level of growth till the end of FY 2013-2014.

What are the challenges Leomet Alloys faces?
The major challenge faced by our company is from cheaper quality wear plates from China which are not up to the standard of wear plates from Japan and Sweden. This is spoiling the market and the user habits of the clients.

How do you see Excon 2013 as a platform?
Our major expectations from Excon are for capturing new clients and new industries where we can diversify product managers to switch from mild steel or manganese plates to wear plates of 400BHN and 500BHN, depending upon their wear requirement.