FRANKFURT, Germany—Hose maker Tristone Flowtech Group GmbH is looking to expand on several fronts as the firm's sales and booked orders continue to climb.
It has added additional machinery capacity at its plant in China as well as at several of its European facilities, including those in Poland, Turkey, Slovakia and Spain, and it intends to penetrate the Indian market with the addition of a sales and engineering company in the country in 2016, according to President and CEO Guenter Froelich.
It is aiming to further penetrate the passenger car market in India, he said. “Tristone Group will start with the company doing sales and engineering to prepare for our own market entry and the intention to build up a plant” in the country. The company is already working with several automotive customers on booked business it has been awarded, he added.
To be located in Pune, India, Froelich said the new operation is currently going through the legal process of being set up in India, with a goal of finalizing the project in 2016.
Tristone already has a presence in the country. The company has had a technical assistance agreement with Faridabad, India-based Bony Polymers Pvt. Ltd., under which Tristone has provided technical support in the production and logistic areas of engine cooling hoses, PA pipes, surge tanks and turbocharger hose applications.
That pact is scheduled to end on Dec. 31 of this year, but the companies “will stay in close and friendly business cooperation in India” and continue to work together on a project basis, Froelich said.
Its pact with Bony was the first step in the company's long-term plan to establish a manufacturing operation in the Indian region, he said when the agreement was approved in 2011.
Frankfurt-headquartered Tristone's newest operation in Pune will operate as a subsidiary of the company and likely will be expanded as booked orders grow, Froelich indicated.
He anticipates the firm's plants in China, Mexico and Turkey will grow further next year because of growing booked business.
A producer of hoses used for fluids in the areas of motor and battery cooling as well as air charge and air intake systems, Tristone currently operates plants in Mexico, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Spain, France, Turkey and China. It employs about 2,260.
It is coming off a strong first half with sales of more than $126 million, up 14 percent from sales recorded in last year's first half. The firm said it anticipates continued revenue growth for the remainder of 2015 with a goal of hitting the $249 million mark by year-end.
In addition, Froelich said, the company recorded “a significant higher order intake versus the prior year as well as further improved profitability despite further investments in production startups in the plant in China.”
Tristone's sales improvement was driven by its European business with growth of about 8 percent over the first half of 2014 and much higher growth outside of Europe of approximately 78 percent above the prior year, “mainly due to higher sales in the plants in China and Mexico,” he said.