Machine tool giant BFW India enters metal AM
Ashok H Varma to lead business as Executive Vice President
Bharat Fritz Werner India, the leading machine tool manufacturer in the sub-continent, is entering the metal additive manufacturing area. In order to lead its new AM activities, BFW India appointed Mr. Ashok H Varma as Executive Vice President and Global Leader – Additive Manufacturing – strategies, business & partnerships.
Mr. Varma is a widely recognized and acknowledged industry thought leader in metal additive manufacturing, specializing in large format metal 3D printing via Directed Energy Deposition (DED) and hybrid solutions for metal AM. He has worked on building the business cases applied to key industry verticals such as Space Technology, Aviation, Defence, Oil & Gas, Energy, Tooling, and Heavy Industries.
“I am delighted to join the BFW India team in this stimulating leadership role,” Mr. Varma commented. Unlike many recent entrants into the metal AM/3D printing arena, BFW India vision, commitment from the top management, and know-how in manufacturing technology and innovation will truly disrupt this market space with unique and creative AM Metal solutions in game-changing Metal AM platforms and Manufacturing as a Service (MaaS) domains”.
With over 35 years of innovation, experience, expertise, and leadership in advanced manufacturing technologies, Mr. Varma has built unique know-how in working with machine tool systems such as CNC machines, real-time in-process monitoring, and cutting-edge additive manufacturing technologies and their applications. He will be asked to help globalize BFW’s AM business leveraging his international professional and academic experience as an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology – Kanpur, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
“Ashok brings an incredible wealth of experience, knowledge, drive, and passion to BFW’s core and emerging business focus. Ashok will lead strategic initiatives focused on creating a worldwide presence for this next generation Metal AM DED Enterprise with a clear focus on “Make in India” initiatives. This will include the creation of fully operational Equipment Showrooms/ Demonstration Centers and Assembly plant locations in the US, Europe, and Asia. With the only truly affordable and scalable Metal AM, customized, Powder & Wire Fed Product Portfolio, BFW will emerge a serious worldwide supplier in this exponentially growing Metal AM space.” – Ravi Raghavan, Managing Director of BFW India
