Multi-axis CNC machine tools provide Indian shoe last manufacturer with competitive advantage

Founded in 2002, Rupmaya Shoe Last Industries is headquartered in Agra, and it also operates production facilities in Kanpur and Ambur, as well as a product development centre in Noida. Rupmaya’s customers include many of the world’s leading shoe manufacturers.

Although it started out as a traditional craftsmen-based manufacturer, Rupmaya decided to transition to CNC machines at an early stage in the company’s development. An initial investment in CNC technology from the Far East proved unsatisfactory on quality and support grounds, so in 2017 the company procured a state-of-the-art shoe last milling machine from Newlast for evaluation purposes.

Rupmaya was so impressed by the performance of the Newlast machine, and by the ease of control provided by the machine’s CNC system, that it took the strategic decision to differentiate itself from competitors by migrating all of its production facilities over to Newlast machines. The entire upgrade programme, which represented a major investment by the company, took three years to implement and was finally completed in 2020.

Mayank Agarwal, director of Rupmaya, said: “We were the first company in India to use Newlast machines with their patented ‘SDF’ shoe last clamping technology. From the outset, the improvements in product accuracy and quality were apparent to our customers and quickly gave us a competitive edge. The control flexibility provided by NUM’s Flexium CNC systems makes the machines extremely easy to set up and use – our operators only need a few days of training. We are currently running three production lines simultaneously, giving us the capacity to craft over 1,150 pairs of lasts, as well as more than 350 pairs of samples, every day.”

Rumpaya’s production facilities make extensive use of Newlast’s latest generation SDF HS machines, which can finish three pairs of plastic or wooden lasts automatically during a single working cycle.

As Rajesh Nath, managing director of NUM India, said: “These machines, which are based entirely on NUM’s open architecture Flexium CNC platform, have nine interpolated axes and are capable of producing about 45 pairs of highly accurate, fully finished shoe lasts per hour.”