Specialising in mold making and automations solutions, Vasantha Group has achieved much in recent years, including the successful expansion into global operations. Director, Vasantha Group, Varun Reddy and Vice President Sales Automation & Packaging Solutions, MULLER Technology, Marco Marconi discussed the developments, in conversation with Imogen Ward.
Headquartered in Telangana, India, Vasantha Group has built a strong name for itself within the injection molding industry.
“Everything we do is connected to the injection molding machine, and we are proud of what we offer to the market, not just locally but globally,” explained Varun Reddy, Director, Vasantha Group. “Having focused on India for decades, we took the bold leap in 2018 to operate in other countries and completed our first international movement. We haven’t looked back since.”
Group growth
Established more than 37 years ago, Vasantha Group continues to operate with the same philosophy at the heart of everything it does, placing customer service, innovation and flexibility at the core of its business.
Today, the group has manufacturing facilities in four different locations, including Austria, Switzerland and the USA. An achievement that was only possible thanks to the success of one pivotal venture.
Founded in Austria by former KTW managers and Vasantha Group, VTW has gone from strength to strength. The greenfield company is now supported by 70 staff members and brought in around €22 million in turnover last year alone.
“VTW also has a healthy EBITDA and continues to grow steadily,” explained Mr Reddy. “This is phenomenal for a greenfield company in our industry. The continued success of VTW also enabled us to consider other investments in Europe.”
In 2022, Vasantha Group opened its own automation company – also a greenfield venture in Austria. Called Savya Automation, this subsidiary swiftly sprang into action, supporting its neighbour and sister company VTW with the supply of custom robotic systems, assembly lines and post-molding automation.
“We saw almost immediate success from Savya,” added Mr Reddy. “This was very encouraging and inspired us to expand our automation portfolio. It just so happened that around the same time, an opportunity arose to acquire precision mold design and automation specialist MULLER Technology.”
The acquisition marked a significant milestone in Vasantha’s evolution. Having already demonstrated the value of integrating automation into its offering through Savya, the group recognised that expanding its capabilities would enable it to deliver increasingly comprehensive manufacturing solutions while accelerating its international growth ambitions.
“With its headquarters in Switzerland and a well-established operation in Loveland, Colorado, MULLER Technology was an extremely appealing prospect for Vasantha,” revealed Mr Reddy. “The company’s presence would grant us a foothold in the American market and its global reputation (one we have immense respect for) would be game changing.”
Since completing the acquisition in March, Vasantha Group has been focused on integrating MULLER into the wider business, bringing together the group’s expertise across mold manufacturing, automation and precision engineering. The consolidation process is already strengthening Vasantha’s global capabilities and positioning the business for continued growth.
“It is an incredibly exciting time for Vasantha because we are busier now than we ever have been before,” continued Mr Reddy, “resulting in an incredible group turnover in excess of €100 million.”
Introducing the new addition
MULLER Technology brings extensive experience in high-performance injection molding solutions to Vasantha Group, with particular expertise in thin-wall packaging, in-mold labelling (IML), mold technology and high-speed automation.
“Sustainability is one of the major challenges facing the packaging industry, and technology has an important role to play,” explained Marco Marconi, Vice President Sales Automation & Packaging Solutions at MULLER Technology. “In thin-wall packaging, reducing the weight of a product means directly reducing the amount of plastic required to produce it. The challenge is to achieve this while maintaining the same functionality, quality and production performance.”
This requires the right combination of advanced mold technology, process know-how and fast, reliable automation – areas where MULLER has developed strong expertise over many years.
“Our strength is that we understand the complete production process around the injection molding machine,” continued Mr Marconi. “By combining mold technology with IML, high-speed automation and downstream solutions, we can help our customers reduce material consumption while increasing production efficiency.”
MULLER develops and manufactures its solutions from Switzerland and Colorado, supporting customers across Europe, North America and other key markets. Its integration into Vasantha Group further strengthens these capabilities by combining the complementary expertise of Vasantha, VTW, Savya Automation and MULLER.
For customers, this integrated approach creates value beyond the individual technologies. By considering the mold, automation and downstream processes as one complete production system, MULLER can optimise cycle times, reduce material consumption and improve overall production efficiency. This is particularly important in high-volume packaging, where even small reductions in product weight or cycle time can translate into significant savings over millions of parts produced.
MULLER continues to invest in R&D, developing new ideas and increasingly complete downstream solutions. Strong, long-term partnerships with suppliers and technology partners are an important part of this development.
“To deliver high-performance solutions, you also need strong technology partners,” added Mr Marconi. “We work closely with our suppliers, sharing experience and know-how to continuously improve our solutions.
“OMRON is a key partner for our electrical and automation technology, including servo drives and motors, control systems, AMRs and collaborative robots, while Stäubli provides the six-axis robots we integrate into our automation solutions. We also have a long-standing partnership with Husky for hot-runner and hot-half technology.
“While we cannot mention every partner here, we highly value our entire supplier network and the strong relationships we have built globally. Combining these proven technologies with MULLER’s mold, automation and application know-how enables us to deliver highly integrated solutions.”
Expansion plans
As Vasantha looks to the future, the group is committed to building on its success by continuing to work closely with its valued suppliers while pursuing ambitious expansion plans.
“We intend to grow and enhance each of our subsidiaries,” explained Mr Reddy. “Having already invested €1 million into VTW, integrating a new YASDA 5-axis milling machine complete with automation, as well as a new tomography scanner, we are now preparing to upgrade Savya’s facilities.”
As part of this next phase, Savya is set to construct a brand-new facility in Austria dedicated entirely to automation. Spanning approximately 3,000-4,000sqm, the new site is expected to become operational by the beginning of 2028.
Alongside this investment, Vasantha is placing a strong emphasis on continuing to consolidate its operations to maximise collaboration across the group.
“Although we have different locations for mold making and automation, we want to ensure that everyone is communicating effectively and working together as one organisation,” said Mr Reddy, in conclusion. “Once we have achieved that short-term objective, we aspire to strengthen our foothold in the USA, which is an incredibly important market for us. This could be achieved through another acquisition or by expanding our existing automation facility in the region.
“We also see significant opportunities for growth across the Asian market, supported by MULLER’s ongoing partnerships throughout the region.”