REPORT

MARKET RESEARCH ON ABRASIVES MANUFACTURED BY CUMI

As stated in the previous report, my first task in CUMI was to do market research by visiting various hardware and paint shops around the city. This was accomplished in two steps :

1) Understanding the organizational hierarchy and distributional structure in CUMI through interactions with sales head and other marketing staff.

2) Going for field trips in various corners of the city to understand the distribution effectiveness of CUMI, its sales and comparing with that of the competitors.

VALUE CHAIN IN CUMI :

PRODUCTSPLANTSKEY INPUTS

CUSTOMER INDUSTRIES

DISTRIBUTION IN CUMI :

CUMI headquartered in Chennai has its presence in about 43 countries around the world to which it manages proper delivery of its goods through an intense distribution network.CUMI has manufacturing facilities spanning the South Asian region along with the ones in China, Russia and Africa. It is from these plants that the finished products reach the different warehouses spread across the continents from where it reaches the retailer and those with bulk needs through intense hierarchical network of distributors.The above theory has been precisely explained in a flow chart on the next page .

CHENNAI HEADQUARTERS

MANUFACTURING PLANTS INCLUDING THOSE IN CHINA ,RUSSIA AND AFRICA.

TRANSPORTED TO THE NEARBY WARE HOUSE

DISTRIBUTED TO STATE DISTRIBUTOR FROM WHOM IT MOVES DOWN TO DISTRICT WISE AND THEN TO THE LOCAL DISTRIBUTORS.

FINAL CONSUMERS RETAILERS AND BULK BUYERS

FIELD TRIP :Since the company felt there could be lot of untapped market in suburbs of Hyderabad . we were asked to do our research there and accordingly our research was done in areas like Ameerpet ,Balanagar ,Ranigunj etc as a part of which we visited around 150 paint and hardware shops. The synopsis of our research has been captured to the best possible extent in the forthcoming paragraphs.OBSERVATIONS :One of the several paint shops that were visited as a part the study

In this store the stock of manual ,long strip abrasives was subsistent but the variety in terms of brands and sizes was very less. One of the sample size that was available is shown in the next illustration:The size shown in the picture is 80 while sizes of 100,120 were also available.Here the size determines the size of the granules used on the coarser side of the strip. The coarser the strip is the more easier it is to level the unevenness. Thus coarser strips are used for first stage level smoothening of the surfaces when the unevenness is high.

Other than strips , abrasives are also available in the form of disks ,illustrations of which taken during the course of the study at different Hard ware stores are as below :

FRONT AND REAR SIDE OF DISK ABRASIVE OF SIZE 100 MANUFACTURED BY CENTURY.

FRONT AND REAR SIDE OF DISK ABRASIVE OF SIZE 100 MANUFACTURED BY CONCORD.

FRONT AND REAR SIDE OF DISK ABRASIVE OF SIZE 80 MANUFACTURED BY PEACOCK.

FRONT AND REAR SIDE OF DISK ABRASIVE OF SIZE 36 MANUFACTURED BY NORTON.

NOTE : On close examination of the pictures, it can be understood that the size determines size of the granule.

Apart from these the abrasives also come in the form of Sheets which can be used to manually file the surfaces. Those can be as below:

Along side the above mentioned abrasives, there are attachments available for electronic instruments as well :

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS :The following points could be deciphered through our research :1) There are several local as well as national companies are strongly competing for space in the market although CUMI has dominant position as of present.2) Strong competitors in the manual discs segments include Peacock, Alkon, Century, 3M, Concord etc.3) Kanvee a local manufacturer of blades has captured the local market quite effectively.4) These companies though trifling for today are ensuring steady market presence by means of close network of local suppliers. In other words the supply of local abrasives in several stores is faster than that of CUMI Products.5) When it comes to strips and papers the space is overly crowded with several companies competing right from trivial ones to conglomerates like CUMI.

FURTHER TASKS :1) To get into touch with construction clients who are the key customers for this industry and understand their business needs.

2) To do further research in paint shops and understand the standing of CUMI from price point of view and try to compile their expectations.

Attached: List of shops visited and comments and notes in excel format.