HMT Fast Farward
Evolution of HMT Machine Tools Limited
Our first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s dream to build modern India paved the way for setting up of various Public sector undertakings in different industrial sectors. This initiative led to rapid industrialization of the country and he acknowledged the same as “Temples of Modern India“. Hindustan Machine Tools Ltd. in the year 1953 was established with the same thought and was termed as “Jewel of Nation“.
Machine Tools industry , being the mother industry , has strategic importance and is a major support for growth of various other industries. Initially it started with an objective of producing a limited range of machine tools, required for building an industrial edifice for the country. Thus, Hindustan Machine Tools Limited, or HMT began in a small way to meet a big commitment -“To manufacture mother machines to build modern industrial India”.
1953 – 2000:
With the success achieved in the initial years in absorbing the technology and in attaining production competence far ahead of the original plans, the Company launched a bold plan of diversification and expansion which resulted in the duplication of the Bangalore Unit and the setting up of new units at Pinjore, Kalamassery and Hyderabad.
In 1967, recession struck the Indian Engineering Industry and the consumption of machine tools dipped drastically. The traumatic years of recession did indeed serve to bring to the fore two latent strengths of HMT, namely, the urge to survive and the confidence to innovate. With these strengths at full play, the Company emerged from the recession – with the world’s widest range of machine tools and associated services under a single corporate entity.
With action plans firmly launched for diversification into Presses and Press Brakes, Printing Machines, Die Casting and Plastic Injection Moulding Machines, that were considered to have economic cycles that are different from those of machine tools, with export markets of enormous potential under active development.
During 1970s, HMT took over Machine Tool Corporation at Ajmer as its sixth machine tool unit. Consequent to the wide diversification, in September,1978 , the company dropped the name Hindustan Machine Tools Limited and instead adopted the acronym “HMT” itself as its name, and thus the company came to be known as HMT Limited.
During the”1980s, HMT, as a part of vertical integration efforts, launched units to manufacture :
- CNC Systems at Bangalore,
- Ball screws at Bangalore
The 1990s witnessed the formation of Central Reconditioning Division at Bangalore, and formation of the Machine Tool Business Group as part of business reorganization, along with other groups such as Watches, Tractors and Industrial Machinery within the company, HMT Limited.
THE NEW MILLENNIUM
In the year 2000, the various diversified businesses of the Company were reorganized into separate subsidiaries and thus in April,2000 HMT Machine Tools Limited was born as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the holding company, HMT Limited along with other subsidiaries i.e. HMT Watches Limited, HMT Chinar Watches Limited, HMT International Limited, HMT Bearings Limited.
The holding company, HMT Limited, retains and directly operates the Tractors Business.
The Machine Tools Subsidiary, head-quartered at Bangalore, initially had 5 manufacturing units located at Bangalore (Karnataka), Kalamassery (Kerala), Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Ajmer (Rajastan) and Pinjore (Haryana). Later, Praga Tools Limited (PTL), Hyderabad, which was another subsidiary of HMT Limited, was merged with HMT Machine Tools Limited (HMTMTL), and became the 6th Manufacturing Unit of the latter. These units are named as MBX , MTK , MTH , MTA , MTP , PTH.