Challenges for Indian Machine Tool Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Abstract

Machine tool small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India have been a major contributor to the manufacturing sector from last many decades. It has ensured that the Indian machinery market is self-sufficed. In the globalized and modern market, Indian machine tool SMEs is facing competition not only from local players but also from global competitors. Timely delivery of good quality, low cost products is the main challenge for Indian machine tool SMEs. The study focuses and identifies the challenges for Indian machine tool SMEs by the critical review of the literature and tries to prioritize challenges and factors using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) by taking guidance from experts both of academic & industry. The paper also segregates the challenging factors based on their driving/dependence power. It is observed that top management competency, government and regulatory compliance, financial stringency, fragile local/globalized market demand and modern innovation technology are main driving powers and weakly dependent on other factors. Competition from the global market, job precision and automation, Supply Chain disruption, logistics management, better marketing strategy and export policy are weak drivers but are strongly dependent on other factors.