Dr. Raju Desai says regional manufacturing must start at the design stage for large plastic parts

Dr. Raju Desai, senior director of Jyoti World Private Limited and president of Plastindia Foundation, says large plastic components should be engineered for regional production from the start. He argues the shift could improve manufacturability, logistics and sustainability as OEMs diversify supply chains.

Why it matters: - Large plastic parts are harder to regionalize than small components because design, tooling, logistics and assembly choices are tightly linked. - Dr. Raju Desai says OEMs can improve commercial viability and technical performance if they design products around regional manufacturing ecosystems instead of moving existing parts to new factories. - The approach could help manufacturers reduce transportation burden, simplify supply chains and align production with local polymer capabilities.

What happened: - Dr. Raju Desai, senior director of Jyoti World Private Limited and president of Plastindia Foundation, argued that regional manufacturing for large plastic components should begin at the engineering and product-design stage. - Desai said localization should not mean shifting a purchase order to another country and expecting the same economics. - Jyoti World described its integrated manufacturing base as covering polymer compounding, profile extrusion, injection molding, tooling, plastic machining and value-added assembly. - The company said its injection molding range runs from 60-tonne to 1200-tonne machines. - Jyoti World said its extrusion capabilities include mono-, twin- and tri-extrusion technologies.

The details: - Large extruded profiles, industrial covers, structural sections and electrical enclosures can create challenges in production, storage, packaging, transportation and assembly. - Dr. Desai framed Design for Logistics as an extension of traditional Design for Manufacturing. - Engineers can decide whether a long profile should be shipped as a complete length or made closer to the point of assembly. - Large molded parts can be optimized for modularity, nesting, assembly strategy and material use. - Tooling and process parameters can be set with regional production volumes and local supply conditions in mind. - For profile extrusion, relevant factors include material formulation, layer construction, die design, dimensional control and downstream processing. - For large-part injection molding, relevant factors include Moldflow analysis, tooling strategy, machine selection, cycle optimization and scientific molding. - Desai said a plastics manufacturer should be involved before the drawing is frozen, when the polymer, geometry, tooling concept, extrusion or molding process and assembly requirements are still under review. - Jyoti World said its integrated setup can help OEMs evaluate manufacturability earlier, reduce hand-offs between suppliers and build regional production programs around one engineering and manufacturing partner.

Between the lines: - The message goes beyond China+1. Regional manufacturing is shifting from finding alternate factories to redesigning products so local production becomes easier and more economical. - Desai’s view gives plastics processors a more strategic role. They become part of product development, not just post-design execution. - The sustainability argument also starts earlier than the factory floor. Lightweighting, recycled polymers, modular design and reduced transport all depend on early engineering choices. - India’s opportunity, in this framing, is to move from low-cost backup site to engineering-led manufacturing partner for global OEMs.

What's next: - OEMs serving India, Europe, the UK, the Middle East and other markets may increasingly align product design with the geography of demand. - More manufacturers are likely to evaluate regional production programs by asking not only where a part can be made, but how the part should be designed to make regional production work. - Dr. Desai said the next step for India is to connect domestic capabilities in engineering plastics, tooling and processing with global product development programs.

The bottom line: - For large plastic components, regional manufacturing is no longer just a sourcing decision. It is becoming a design decision first.