SPINNING SUCCESS

One of India’s most trusted names in spindle manufacturing and repair, Setco Spindles India Pvt Ltd has grown both in capability and confidence, driven by commitment to precision and an unwavering belief in doing things right.

Setco Spindles India Pvt Ltd began its journey in 2002 under the name Ultra Precision Spindles, operating out of a modest 400 sq ft workshop with a primary focus on grinding spindle repairs. Over time, the company steadily expanded its service portfolio to include the repair of machining center spindles, turning center spindles, woodworking spindles, PCB spindles, and other high-RPM spindles across various applications. “Though the business was originally founded to service belt-driven spindles, it evolved to rebuild direct-drive and high-end built-in motor spindles within just a few years of its inception,” explains Rajesh Mandlik, Managing Director, Setco Spindles India Pvt Ltd.

In 2012, Ultra Precision was acquired by Setco (USA), marking a significant milestone in its growth. The company expanded operations to Chennai in 2015 and Manesar in 2018. Alongside enhancing its spindle rebuilding capabilities, Setco India also began manufacturing new spindles for the Indian market, catering primarily to milling and grinding machines. 

“Today, Setco Spindles India operates from three facilities covering a combined 40,000 sq ft of operational space and employs 190 people,” Mandlik shares. The company rebuilds approximately 200 spindles and manufactures over 100 new spindles each month. With a robust sales network comprising both in-house representatives and dedicated partners, Setco maintains a strong presence across all major industrial cities in India.

Local Roots, National Reach

Setco Spindles recognized a critical need to offer localized spindle repair services in India. “Previously, customers from South and North India had to send their spindles to our Pune facility, which involved 10 days of transit time alone,” shares Mandlik. “This resulted in a total machine downtime of 15 to 18 days—a major challenge, especially for small- and medium-sized machine shop owners.”

To address this, the company established regional service centers in Chennai and Manesar. Today, its Pune unit serves customers from Western, Central, and Eastern India. The Chennai center caters to the Southern region and the Manesar facility supports clients in Northern India—effectively covering the entire nation. “Currently, we manufacture new spindles at our Pune facility. We are aware that India’s Machine Tool industry is primarily concentrated in Karnataka and Gujarat,” he adds. “As we scale up our manufacturing volumes, we are considering a future plan to produce spindle components in Pune and assemble kits in Bangalore and Rajkot.” This strategy, however, is still under feasibility assessment and will be implemented based on thorough company evaluation.

Crossing Borders with Confidence

Setco Spindles primarily serves the domestic market with its range of new spindles, entering a space that was long dominated by Taiwanese manufacturers. It took time and focused effort for Setco India to reach world-class quality standards. “However, through strategic investments in high-end grinding machines and advanced metrology equipment, our products now compete globally in terms of quality,” notes Mandlik.

This relentless pursuit of excellence has led to a proud milestone for the company—its first commercial export order. “It is a deeply fulfilling moment for us. What began as a spindle reconditioning service for the domestic market has now evolved into a company aspiring to become a global spindle supplier,” he says. 

While exports currently represent a modest share of the company’s business, Setco India is committed to growing this segment significantly in the years ahead. “Beyond our recent supply to Korea, we regularly export spindles to our principal in the US, adhering to stringent quality requirements,” he reveals. “We have also delivered products to customers in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.”

These international shipments are paving the way for the company to enter high-end spindle manufacturing, including built-in motor spindles and eventually, milling heads. “This is a step toward realizing our vision of becoming a global player in precision spindle solutions,” he adds.

A Country Catching Up

In India, Mandlik points out, spindles have traditionally not been treated as outsourced components, unlike in countries such as Taiwan and China. “Most leading Indian machine tool builders manufacture their own spindles, as the spindle is often regarded as the heart of the machine. As a result, spindles have remained outside the typical external supply chain in the Indian Machine Tool industry,” he notes. 

This stands in stark contrast to Taiwan, he adds, where Taichung, a city with a population of just 2.2 million, is home to at least 25 independent spindle manufacturers. In India, however, we have yet to see a single company emerge at that level of specialization.

“The disparity becomes even more apparent when we consider China, where 5 – 7 spindle manufacturers each produce 4,000 – 5,000 spindles per month, and Taiwan, where 2 – 3 companies operate at a similar scale. India, unfortunately, has no spindle manufacturer approaching these figures,” he further adds.  

Hence, India must significantly step up its efforts to develop spindles as a strategic, bought-out component. “Until this shift happens, the backward supply chain—including forging of housings, shafts, high-precision bearings, disc springs, and collets—will remain underdeveloped. Even today, component manufacturing for spindles is a scarce capability in the country,” he notes. 

If India aspires to be part of the global machine tool supply chain, the domestic industry must first build confidence in the local spindle manufacturing ecosystem. This requires nurturing interested vendors, enhancing their capabilities and capacities, and recognizing spindle manufacturing as a critical and independent domain.

Smart Spindles for Smart Factories

While the Industry 4.0 movement is still in the process of being fully democratized, Setco has taken a meaningful step forward with the introduction of its latest offering—Vibe Pro. “Recently, Setco USA acquired GTI Spindles, a company that developed Vibe Pro, an advanced system capable of capturing real-time spindle data related to vibration and thermography,” Mandlik shares. “The solution includes vibration sensors, integrated hardware, built-in software, and a user-friendly dashboard, offering powerful diagnostics and analytics.”

At present, Setco India is actively using Vibe Pro at its service locations to perform dynamic spindle testing, enabling a deeper understanding of spindle health and performance. “Setco is now undergoing a structured training program to leverage Vibe Pro as a key Industry 4.0 tool, capturing real-time spindle performance parameters,” he shares. “The next evolution of this technology involves integrating the sensors directly into the spindle design itself.” While currently Vibe Pro functions as an external attachment, the vision is to embed it within the spindle architecture, making smart spindles a standard offering soon.

This initiative marks an important milestone in digitizing spindle diagnostics, improving predictive maintenance and enhancing machine uptime—paving the way for a more intelligent and connected manufacturing ecosystem.

Building a Leaner,
Smarter Setco

One of India’s leading machine tool companies recommended that Setco India adopt Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) to strengthen its operational excellence. True to its culture of openness and continuous improvement, Setco embraced the idea and initiated TPM implementation with guidance from CII (Confederation of Indian Industry). “The journey so far has been enriching and impactful, leading to measurable improvements across several operational areas—such as reduction in supplier and in-house rejections, improved delivery performance, and fewer external customer complaints,” stresses Mandlik.

Most notably, people’s involvement in implementing 5S principles—the MD continues—has brought a visible transformation in workplace organization and the quality of end products. “TPM, as we believe, is not a one-time initiative but a continuous journey, and Setco is committed to making it a way of life, aligned with world-class manufacturing practices,” he adds. “Another significant milestone in our operational journey has been the successful implementation of Epicor ERP. This integrated enterprise solution, already in use across Setco Global, is now empowering Setco India to track individual job orders, manage inventory more effectively, and improve visibility across the value chain.”

Together, the twin initiatives of TPM and Epicor ERP are enabling Setco India to build a leaner, more agile organization with enhanced control over operations—ultimately contributing to stronger operational performance and improved profitability.

Atmanirbhar Bharat: More Than a Slogan

As the world increasingly looks to India as a manufacturing hub for emerging sectors such as Aerospace, Defence, Railways, and Electronics, a wealth of opportunities is now at the nation’s doorstep. “Setco Spindles is proactively responding to this shift by strengthening both its core business areas—spindle repairs and spindle manufacturing,” Mandlik notes.

In the service domain, Setco India has expanded its offerings to include the repair and rebuilding of milling heads, which are widely used in double column VMCs. Like spindles, milling heads come in various types—manual, semi-automatic, automatic, and servo-based. Setco is actively enhancing its technical expertise to support the rebuilding of high-end, precision milling heads.

On the manufacturing front, the company has invested heavily in world-class infrastructure, building robust in-house capabilities for machining and metrology. Recent acquisitions include e-Tech CNC ID and OD grinding machines, significantly improving both capacity and quality benchmarks. In addition, advanced metrology tools such as CMMs and Taylor Hobson’s roundness testers have been installed to ensure sub-micron accuracy in component inspection.

Setco has also developed a balanced model of in-house production and outsourced manufacturing, which has helped cultivate a strong vendor ecosystem for spindle component production—further strengthening the backward supply chain. “To support both verticals—repair services and new spindle manufacturing—Setco India has heavily invested in manpower training,” he reveals. “Many of our engineers and technicians have undergone specialized training at our global facilities in Taiwan and the United States, focusing on spindle assembly, design, and milling head technology.”

The company’s customer base reflects this versatility. In spindle repairs, it services industry giants like Craftsman Automation Ltd, Bharat Forge Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, and Rico Auto Industries Limited—over 3,000 customers in total. For spindle manufacturing, its clientele includes Macpower CNC Machines Ltd, Jaewoo Machines Pvt Ltd, Global CNC Pvt Ltd, Hi-Life Machine Tools Ltd, Cosmos Impex India Pvt Ltd, and Friction Welding Technologies Pvt Ltd (FWT).

Next Milestones in Motion

Since its inception, Setco Spindles India has maintained an impressive track record of approximately 20 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). The company aims to sustain and accelerate this momentum over the next five years. With world-class capabilities in both repair services and new spindle manufacturing, Setco is well-positioned to support the evolving needs of the Indian and global Machine Tool industries with precision, reliability, and innovation.

Sovan Tudu Assistant Editor Magic Wand Media sovan.tudu@magicwandmedia.in

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