Sandvik Mining has announced plans to relocate its various global mining equipment facilities to India and China from the US and Europe.
The company’s latest move is said to be part of a two year business reorganisation plan that it will conclude in the next fiscal.
Sandvik Mining president of emerging markets Kobus Malan told Business Line: “A number of factories in Europe and the US are to be closed down.
“They were acquired during the ten-year long mining super cycle when chasing orders were a priority.”
Details of the plants being relocated were not disclosed by the company.
Owing to plunge in commodity prices, the company is concentrating on cost-efficiencies and shifting its operations to the growth markets of India and China.
Beginning next fiscal year, the company hopes that underground coal mining gear business will be a growth driver of operations in India.
The company is said to dominate the hard-rock mining sectors such as zinc and copper in India, and has little presence in the coal sector.
Sandvik Mining, a global supplier of equipment and tools, service and technical solutions for the mining industry produces peripheral equipment for underground sector.
The company’s operations are organised into five business areas responsible for research and development (R&D), production and sales of their respective products.