ManufacturingIndia: News and Views-2

Posted on June 14, 2013 by indra

1. Bajaj Auto has developed a quadricycle, RE60. The quadricycles can ply now as public transport vehicles within municipal limits. I fail to understand why some big names in industry are trying to discourage this innovative product when Nano got so much of applause though has failed to be a commercial success.

2. Daimler, the world leader in commercial vehicles, recently announced that its Indian operations — Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) — will manufacture trucks for export markets under the brand name ‘Fuso’ and will start exporting five models from June to 15 countries in the Asia and African regions. Is it an indication that India is becoming a manufacturing hub?

3. With eight NIMZ under consideration as part of DMIC, cooperation between the defence ministry and DIPP will yield rich dividends. The Defence Procurement Policy is a step in the right direction but has many audits to undergo before it can contribute significantly to defence production. DMIC may help India to become a manufacturing power. I wish the government could invite someone like Ratan Tata to help India in becoming a manufacturing power.

4. Construction equipment manufacturer Tata Hitachi, a joint venture between Tata Motors and Hitachi Construction Machinery of Japan, plans to make the Kharagpur plant in West Bengal a global source for small and medium sized excavators. Can Tata Hitachi be the largest in India?

5. Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles, VECV has invested Rs 1,300 crore in India since the JV’s formation in 2008. The plan is to infuse another Rs 1,200 crore till 2015 to meet the requirement of ongoing projects, in setting up an engine manufacturing unit, a bus body building facility, in developing new products and in expanding capacity expansion by 45 per cent to 8,000 units a month by 2015. Here is another competitor to Tata and Ashok Leyland for commercial vehicles.

6. It pays to listen to your employees, literally. Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest car maker, could save a handsome Rs 354 crore in FY13 by paying heed to their workers’ suggestions to improve productivity and cut wastage.During the last financial year, it received over 396,000 suggestions from its employees, which eventually resulted in the savings. In the previous year (FY12), there were 320,000 suggestions, which led to cost savings of over Rs 294.2 crore. I get reminded of the Suggestion Schemes and Quality Circles of our days in industry. The Japanese had been the leader in the world in participative management with its production management practices.

7. Tetra Pak, a food processing and packaging solutions company has invested Rs 700 crore in Chakan facility near Pune and will have a straw production unit, a processing systems workshop, a filling machine renovation and a technical training academy. India is expanding manufacturing in every field.

8.Here is another good news:Pilgrims to the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, once took long journeys by foot to the site in Amritsar, in Punjab, northern India. But now plans are in place to allow them to travel there in a fleet of driverless cars, the first of their kind in India. The driverless cars, also known as pod cars, are set to run on a dedicated double-decker roadway around Amritsar by mid-2016, according to Ultra Fairwood, a tie-up between a U.K-based and an Indian company, which is developing the cars for the city.

9. Voltas and LG are the top two AC makers in India, according to industry estimates. Smaller companies such as Haier and Carrier Midea are also contributing significantly. Air coolers are also making progress.Experts say the Symphony brand, market leader in the air cooler category with a 45 per cent share, grew ahead of the industry on the back of a range of products priced between Rs 6,000 and Rs 15,000. Kenstar and Bajaj, other key players in the air cooler market, also saw brisk sales this summer.

10.Apollo Tyres Ltd, India’s second largest tyre maker by market value, has agreed to buy Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. for $2.5 billion (around Rs.14,575 crore) to gain access to the US, the world’s second biggest auto market. After the acquisition of Cooper Tire, to be carried out through Apollo Mauritius Holdings Pvt. Ltd, Apollo Tyre will become the seventh largest tyre company in the world. Its turnover will rise almost three times to $6.6 billion from $2.4 billion in the year ended March. The company will also gain access to markets in China, Africa and Latin America, besides brands that include Cooper, Avon, Roadmaster, Mickey Thompson, Starfire, Mastercraft and Chengsan.

I wish the politicians make their own contribution. However, I doubt if they will change.

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Advani Revolt and Lessons

Posted on June 11, 2013 by indra

I am neither Advani nor NR Narayana Murthy. Both are in news, one for his unexpected resignation and for his recall after retirement.

In my professional life I faced a situation similar to what Modi is facing. I have documented my story in my photo-biography ‘Over the Years’ on my website.

“I can’t forget one incident of those days. I (1961) was the first among the graduate engineers from 1960 and 1961 batches to get promoted as superintendent. The seniors didn’t like that and went to Mr. BM Sharda, the Manufacturing Manager to protest. They took my friend Sandip Mehta too along with them. The same evening Mr. Sharda called me, informed about the objection raised by my seniors and asked, “How’s that Mehta was also with them? You have been kept on talking so high about him.” Next day I sent a note to Sandip Bhai, “How would you have reacted if you would have been working for Dilip (his younger brother) and the same would have happened?” Sandip Bhai came running. He was really repenting. It was some other senior who had pulled him along in the group.” Many seniors worked for me. And at the fag end of my stay in HM, I had to work for much younger and junior person brought in from another plant. For good working of an organisation, these things should hardly matter.

I was also recalled to run a division, when the managers couldn’t run it. Fortunately, I could give much better results than what was expected.

I know politics is a different game, but human beings are same. Media is questioning about the Advani if it is Advani vs. Modi, or Advani vs. RSS. I feel Advani is having a fight between Advani vs. Advani. Advani is not able to reconcile that he is 85. Someone from younger generation should take over and he can’t have a veto power in the decision of the organization anymore. Advani is not able to hear the voices of the cadres and the younger generation of the countrymen.

By his resignation letter, he had made all BJP ‘s leaders pigmy through the content of his resignation letter: ” Most of our leaders are now concerned just with their personal agendas.” What more damaging statement could one make about his own leaders who have been groomed by the same man?

Surveys after surveys conducted by different agencies in the country never placed Advani even near the top, whereas Modi has become people’s darling, if some surveys are to be believed. It was also evident when he addressed the students of Shri Ram College, Delhi or CII conclave. The survey, conducted by GFK for CNN-IBN, finds that 38 per cent of respondents prefer Narendra Modi as PM, while Manmohan Singh weighs in at a measly 13 per cent and Rahul Gandhi fares only slightly better at 14 per cent.

Yesterday, I heard a good analogy from Ramayana. When Parsuram came to know the strength of Rama, Parasuram bowed to him and went to forest for tapasya. Advani would have taken lessons from the story. Advani would have been silent and kept his position of mentor safe and respectable. In every family today, the eldest is to work hard to maintain his respectability of the younger generation.

Modi is today certainly the most popular leader of the country, though no one can predict if he can get the results expected out of him. But Advani’s resignation and adamancy can only benefit those in opposition. Modi will have to be tactful and humble, must seek interview with Advani and seek his blessings. BJP if wants to be in the race to run the government of the country must remain united. The party will be tested in the next election once for ever. It will have win what all sane people of the country wish.

Sonia and Rahul with their sycophants will be very happy today.

The people of India never expected this from Advani. How can he keep himself in the fray at this age. Afterall, he is not holding an appointed post as Manmohan does. Moreover, it was for Atal and Advani to prepare someone to succeed them.

I wish BJP gets over the problem with the old man and lay down a democratic system to elect the best among top leaders to lead the party and the country.

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गांवों की शादियां, बदलती परम्पराएं

Posted on June 7, 2013 by indra

मुझे बहुत सारी गाँव की शादियों की याद है ।अब जब सालों बाद किसी गाँव की शादी में भाग लेना पड़ता है, तब पुराने दिनों की शादियों की याद आने लगती है ।बहुत बदलाव आ गया है पिछले बर्षों में ।गांवों के लोग भी शादियां शहर में ही करना चाहते हैं ।पिछले दिनों मैंने बिहार में दो शादियों में भाग लिया ।दोनों बरपक्ष तिलक समारोह अपने गावों में करवाये ।

लड़की पक्ष तिलक के लिये पचास साढ घर एवं गांव के नज़दीकी लोगों को वातानुकुलित बस एवं कारों से ले ३००-४०० की.मी. की यात्रा तय कर लड़के के गांव गये । नाश्ता, तिलक चढ़ा, फिर खाना खाने के बाद बिदाइ और फिर बाहनों में बैठ  वापस आ गये ।

लड़केवाले इसी तरह बाहनों से शहर के बिबाह- स्थल के नज़दीक निर्धारित हॉटल पहुंचते हैं शाम या रात किसी समय। फिर सज सज़ा, बाजा वालों,रौशनी वालों, आतीशबाजी वालों और दूल्हे को फ़ुलों से सजी गाड़ी में बैठा बिबाह स्थल की तरफ बढ़ते हैं ।बच्चे, नवयुवक और कभी कभी कुछ लड़कियां भी ,बैंड के ताल पर नाचतीं दिखतीं हैं ।जयमाला के लिये सुसज्जित मंच पर दूल्हा दुलहिन एक दूसरे को माला पहनाते हैं ।यह प्रथा फिल्मों से होते हुए शहरों से गांवों तक आ पहुंची है ।पर शादियां अब भी घोर गरमी में ही ज्यादातर होती है ।

हम बचपन में कुछ साल गांव में रहे । उन दिनों कृषक परिवार में बैल रहते थे खेती के लिये, पकी सड़के बहुत कम थीं, बैल गाड़ी आम सवारी थी सामान एवं आदमी के लिये, काफी यात्राएं पैदल ही करना पड़ता था । कुछ थोड़े शौक़ीन परिवार में घोड़े रखने का रिवाज था ।यहाँ तक कि एक दो लोग किसी किसी गांव में हाथी भी रखते थे ।शादियों में बैल गाड़ी में बारात जाती  थी । ज्यादे दूर की बारात में दोपहर का बिश्राम स्थल भी रहता था, जंहा खाने की ब्यवस्था होती थी ।लिट्टी चोखा ज़्यादा लोकप्रिय था । बारात द्वारे लगाने के पहले किसे इनारे के पास रुक सभी तैयार हो लेते थे । लड़की पक्ष वाले समूह में बारात की आगवानी करने के लिये आगे बढ़ते । इसी समय घोड़े वाले दोनों पक्षों से घुड़सवारी की कला दिखाते थे । द्वारपूजा के समय हाथी दरवाजे तक आती थी और उसकी पूजा शुभ मानी जाती थी ।

तिलक राशि और लड़के पक्ष के स्तर के अनुसार शामियाना लगता था गांव के बाहर खुली जगह में या साफ  बराबर  खेत में जंहा पानी की भी सुबिधा होती थी ।नाश्ते के बाद बाराती सज धज कर शामियाने में बैठ जाते, आज्ञा मांगने आते लड़की पक्ष वाले, मंच पर नाच या भाँडों का दल मनोरंजन करता । उधर लड़की के आंंगन में डाल चढ़ाने, और शादी आदि का कार्यक्रम चलता रहता, फिर रात का भोज करते बाराती गांव की महिलाओंं की मधुर गाली के बीच ।
 
दूर की बारात एक दिन ‘मरजाद’ रहती थी ।लड़कीवाले सभी तरह से बारातियों का आवभगत करते थे ।तीसरे दिन बहू को ले या द्विरागमन के लिये छोड़ बारात लौट जाती थी ।लड़के और लड़की वालों में झगड़ा और लड़ाई भी हो जाती थी ।तिलक तो आज भी ख़ुलकर लोग ले दे रहे हैं, पर बहुत सी बातें सावधानी से की जाती है ।अब लड़की की मुंह दिखाई नहीं होती, रिसेप्शन होता है, उसी समय लोग गिफ्ट दे देते हैं ।लड़कियां पहले की तरह बिदा होते या घर के किसी के मिलने आने पर रोती भी नहीं, और न इसके लिये उसकी शिकायत होती है ।

समय के साथ बहुत बदलाव आता जा रहा है, पर पुरानी परम्परा का कहीं लेखा जोखा एैतिहासिक धरोहर की तरह अच्छा ही रहेगा ।

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Manufacturing India: Aviation

Posted on June 4, 2013 by indra

For all these years, HAL was the only manufacturing company in aviation sector with huge manufacturing facilities built over the years. HAL over the years has developed expertise in managing the technologies of aircraft building and has absorb new technologies in manufacturing areas like machining, forming, welding, assembly, testing and aircraft system checks.The aircraft airframes are made at Nashik, engines at Koraput, accessories at Hyderabad (communication and navigation), hydraulic, pneumatic and fuel aggregates and instruments at Lucknow and avionic displays and INGPS at Korwa.

The 2005 defence offsets policy turned things in favour of domestic manufacturing. Industrial groups, including the Tatas, Mahindras and L&T, formed partnerships and talked big investments in this sector.

Quest Global: A joint venture of Quest Global Manufacturing and Saab is planning to set up a manufacturing unit for aerospace and defence engineering services to be located in Quest Global’s Special Economic Zone in Belgaum, Karnataka. On the outskirts of Belgaum, the 300-acre special economic zone (SEZ) set up is already notified as the state’s first precision engineering region.

It will be another design-to-build capability in aerospace like state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics. Over the past four years, Quest has developed essential capabilities of an aerospace cluster, such as machining, surface treatment, forging and assembly. It has done some on its own; for others, it formed joint ventures with overseas partners: Magellan Aerospace of Canada, Saab of Sweden and Aubert & Duval of France. The ventures are to serve the global supply chain, although India’s share in the $100 billion commercial aerospace manufacturing is a paltry $100 million.

Mahindra Aerospace: Under the Karnataka’s 10-year aerospace policy with target $10 billion in investment, Mahindra Aerospace’s first greenfield project is nearing completion in Kolar that is dedicated to the production and innovation of the best utility aircraft and aerostructures that meet the varied needs of the global market.

Utility Aircraft:
Mahindra Aerospace, an AS 9100 Rev C certified company started with the acquisition of the Australian company, GippsAero in 2009. Over the years, GippsAero has grown into one of the largest Australian manufacturing companies with production of 20-25 aircraft per year. Gipps Aero has been assisting Mahindra Aerospace in manufacturingthe first 5-seater aircraft in partnership with CSIR-NAL.The combined strength in India and Australia is capable of realizing an idea of a perfect aircraft from its nascent stage to full-fledged certification and production level.

Aerostructures:
M&M acquired Aerostaff Australia for manufacturing aero structures. Aerostaff is an established supplier of close tolerance high-precision sheet metal and value-added products to aerospace and defense customers across the globe. Its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Bangalore will soon focus on component and aerostructures assembly in sheet metal, machining, and special processing. The 250,000 square feet facility, besides meeting all customer requirements, will also deliver all possible standards of high-quality finished products. In addition, the facility will house capability to make large parts and assemblies.

RIL in aerospace
RIL, one of the latest major private-sector entrants into aerospace, had cash reserves of Rs 82,975 crore as on March 31, 2013. The Mukesh Ambani-controlled conglomerate recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Boeing to grab the offset work when the aerospace giant begins work on supplying P8I naval reconnaissance aircraft to the Indian Navy. India’s biggest private sector company by revenue is looking to spend $1 billion (almost Rs 5,500 crore) in the sector and hire some 2,000 engineers over the next few years in its aerospace division; it has now agreed to partner with the world’s second-largest aerospace company in the latter’s offset programme — which requires for-eign aerospace sellers to source 30% of its inputs from domestic partners.

As per a recent report, Swiss aircraft maker Pilatus is planning to set up a manufacturing facility in India, starting with the manufacture of airframes.

With huge domestic requirements in aviation sector, big industrial houses must go whole hog for manufacturing with collaborations of reputed global companies and develop a large number of vendors for all parts and services .

Posted in industry, management, manufacturing, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Visiting Bihar in Summer

Posted on June 2, 2013 by indra

I had to go to Bihar twice in last two months to attend two marriages, the first in Patna and the second in Dehri-on-Sone. I got rare opportunities to talk with a good cross section of the society. The law and order situation has certainly improved. Not a single person had any thing to say against the law and order situation. I found the people in marriage party travelling across Bihar whole night without any trouble. Roads have lesser and bearable potholes. In both the marriages, people moved from the western Rohtas to eastern Bhagalpur and Purnea and back. People preferred night journey by 4-wheelers, mostly Baleros of M&M. Only some took to trains. It was for escaping the scorching heat of the daytime.

Farmers are doing better. However, the government has hardly done any significant contribution in the field of irrigation. There is hardly any initiative to improve upon the existing canals or building new canal system. Bihar’s land is very fertile. With availability of water, the yield can be ensured. Bihar still lacks badly in having electricity for farming or for domestic uses. Farmers have gone for diversifying the crop for better earning. I was amazed to hear that many in my relationship are growing menthol mint(Mentha arvensis) instead of wheat between February and July. Interestingly, they have invested in extracting and processing for converting the plants into oil that they store for selling when the price is good.

Some young men are also exploring ways and means to get into business. A young man, the son-in-law of my wife’s younger sister has started a small manufacturing units for copies of different types (stationary)in Natwar. After the initial teething trouble, the business is stabilising and the revenue is reaching to about Rs 10 million. Interestingly, I found him well-informed about the prospect in the business and the competition from the large scale manufacturers that are setting up plants and his strategy to face the situation.

But the most disturbing situation is in education, particularly in the government schools in Bihar. The system is at the deathbed. And the most affected are the children of underprivileged class where education is most needed. The government perhaps does not want to do anything about that. However, the parents, particularly landholders are getting their kids admitted in private schools based on their resources. Most of them move the kids with a lady of the house to the nearest town to educate them there.

Nitish Kumar would have focused on effective education and skill training. People expect at least this much from him. But perhaps he hardly has any time for this important task.

Posted in bihar, economy, education | 1 Comment

Manufacturing India: And BanglaDesh

Posted on May 21, 2013 by indra

During my sole visit to BanglaDesh, I had some opportunity to visit some of facilities of apparel manufacturing in early 90s- basically huge halls with large number of sewing machines both in Dacca as well as in Chattogram. As far as I remember the women or girls working there used to get some 10-15 takas per day. It was the Chinese who provided the clothes and other materials including stitching thread and buttons. They managed the technical and marketing aspects of the organisations.

Over the years BanglaDesh has changed and march ahead. I was surprised that BanglaDesh exports more apparel than India. Manas Chakraborty rightly points out the way Bangladesh has gone ahead. “Over the past few years, Bangladesh has successfully used its low-cost advantage to become a base for garment manufacturing. This has led to the migration of millions of people from rural areas into the manufacturing sector, with women being the biggest beneficiaries. Significantly, the share of employment in the formal sector in Bangladesh is 27.9%, well above that in India, and the proportion of working women in formal employment is even higher.”

A natural question is : Why Indian states Bihar, West Bengal and Assam or for that matter, the north eastern states could not take the clue from the BanglaDesh to excel in textile trade?

A recent unprecedented mishap in BanglaDesh killed around 1200 of the employees of an apparel making company.

An article appeared in ‘The NewYork Times’-‘After Bangladesh, Seeking New Sources’. It made me think over a question. Why has a New York fashion company searched for other countries, from Guatemala to Vietnam to Indonesia including BanglaDesh, capable of supplying top retailers like Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus beside China but not India with teeming millions remaining unemployed? After the multistory factory collapse in Bangladesh, the mass-market retailers are again in search of alternative suppliers from different locations and their senior executive are planning trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and perhaps Indonesia to seek alternatives. Why are they not looking to India as another China like source?

Further as per news reports, the Chinese have reached Bangladesh to help and invest in the industry, but not Indians.

Interestingly, some Indian entrepreneurs also outsource the apparels for export and domestic consumption to Bangladesh and as an excuse they blame the non-availability of skilled labour in India. Why should Indian industrialists only talk about the labour law and government support without providing any leadership to skill and organise the unemployed millions of women in India who can do the job willingly and better?

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Manufacturing India: News and Views-1

Posted on May 20, 2013 by indra

Even in gloom around mainly because of political mess, many things are happening in India that are pretty inspiring.

1. Coram International, the Netherlands-based coordinated design bathroom company, which set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in India in 2012, also has plans to set up a manufacturing facility for its flagship products in India, which is identified as the “sweet spot” for Coram. “India is likely to emerge as the manufacturing base for our operations in Asia over the next few years,” said Niels Pilaar, CEO, Coram International.

2. Karl Slym heads Tata Motors now and if we go by media he had a fix for the ailing Tata Motors, as its sales for most of the products are declining.

3. Automotive electronics maker Bosch has launched its electric drives manufacturing facility in Chennai. The plant, with an investment of Rs 35 crore, has a capacity to manufacture 2.2 million window systems, 7,00,000 wiper systems and 500,000 thermal parts systems per annum. The company expects to start with around 30 per cent localisation in the initial stage.

4. India has developed its first vaccine – Rotavac— under public-private partnership. The indigenous low-cost vaccine, to prevent rotavirus diarrhoea that claims the lives of about 1 lakh children a year, will soon hit the market. Priced at around Rs 54 ($1), it will be a boon for developing countries that are fighting the killer virus. Can someone responsible puts a figure for ‘soon’?Will there be one for malaria too?

5. Manufacturing must get it due priority if India is to remain in race for poverty alleviation. “Manufacturing strategy of most firms is still not addressing certain fundamental issues of competition: need to change product mix rapidly, need to introduce new products based on indigenous R&D, need to use process innovation and quality improvement process to reduce cost of operations and consequently price of product.”

6. Eureka Forbes, a Shapoorji Pallonji Group company, is acquiring Lux International, a Switzerland-based home appliance firm with a 100-year history, marking the group’s first overseas acquisition. Can every household in India get a water purifier?

7. Japanese auto manufacturer Suzuki Motor Corp. is reorganizing its Indian operations in an attempt to streamline production systems in a country where it is the biggest car maker by sales, but is lagging behind rivals in the motorcycle market.

8.India has proposed to set up three funds with a combined corpus of Rs.17,500 crore to boost local research and manufacturing of telecom products as it seeks to cut dependence on imports at a time when the current-account deficit has widened to a record and also to reduce security concerns posed by such imports, particularly from China.

9. The Osaka-headquartered Panasonic, which makes the Viera brand of TVs and the Econavi line of ACs, will continue investing at least Rs 300 crore on a yearly average in India till 2015 as it aims to launch products and take up share in key product categories.

Sony, which recently consolidated its mobile phone business with the company that markets its Vaio laptops, Bravia TVs and cyber-shot cameras in India, has said it would triple its investment to Rs 300 crore in mobile phones this financial year.

10. Sandvik Asia is planning to set up a facility to manufacture construction equipment and infrastructure machinery. The plant will be operational by mid of 2015.The company is planning to set up a facility to manufacture construction equipment and infrastructure machinery. The plant will be operational by mid of 2015.

11. G e r m a n l u x u r y c a r m a ke r Mercedes Benz plans to infuse a fresh investment of 250 crore into its Indian arm to double its production capacity to 20,000 vehicles by the end of this calendar.

12. The government’s decision to set up an inter-ministerial committee on quadricycles brings to sharp focus a debate that, if handled right, can have enormous beneficial consequences for India. Can Bajaj win the war?

I shall agree with TN Ninan that he expressed in his weekly column in Business Standard:
“Many Indian entrepreneurs, big as well as small, decided quietly in the last few years that they were better off investing in other markets. Despite their running battles with the taxman, many global giants can’t seem to get enough of India. Unilever wants to increase its stake in its Indian subsidiary, just as GlaxoSmithKline, Siemens and others have already done. Japan’s consumer products giants Sony and Panasonic are committing themselves afresh to the Indian market, after having ceded the first-mover advantage to Korean rivals.”

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Manufacturing India: MNCs

Posted on May 17, 2013 by indra

MNCs entered colonial India some even in late nineteenth century as traders. After independence, many got out, but some continued and set up its manufacturing plants in India. Scores of new ones have come in.

For example,in 1888 Lever Brothers introduced Sunlight soap in India. It happened just four years after Sunlight was launched in England. Today Hindustan Unilever Ltd. is a Rs. 26,000-crore company. It today produces for domestic consumption as well as for export. Its innovation of Pureit, the low cost and effective portable water filtration system can be revolutionary for preventing waterborne deceases.

In 1867, Siemens set up the first direct telegraph line connecting Calcutta and London and thereby it laid foundation of Siemens AG’s association with India.

Siemens is now one of the biggest engineering companies in India with annual revenue close to Rs 13,000 crore. Siemens started its first manufacturing in 1955, medical equipment in 1959,electric motors in 1966 and electronic equipment in 1987. Today, Siemens employ 20,000 persons in 23 factories in India competing with other European engineering company such as ABB and Schneider that entered the Indian market and also with Indian engineering companies such as Crompton Greaves and Thermax. Siemens has set up a corporate technology centre in India and earns about 15 percent of its revenues from overseas business.

Genera Electric still remains one of the world’s top engineering company with huge manufacturing in US. It has a long history of association with India. In 1902, GE built the power station at the Shivanasamudra Falls for supplying electricity to Kolar Gold Mines. GE supplies nuclear power plants, jet engines and locomotives to Indian Railways and employs around around 14,500 people with its India revenue of about 2.8 billion US Dollars, but it doesn’t manufacture any of its high tech products for which it is known in India. GE got known for its low cost health care equipment innovated and manufactured in India, and its GE Technology Centre. GE also pioneered the BPO sector in India.

Can one day GE India set up its own manufacturing facilities for locomotive engines or gas turbines in India and export to other Asian countries. Interestingly, GE has set up a wind turbine factory in Pune.

Philips Electronics was known for its radio sets and transistors in 50s and 60s. In 1995, Philips was number 3 TV maker in India. Today, it figures nowhere in competition to Samsung and LG in present digital era. However, Philips remains market leader in lighting and compete well with local brands such as Surya, Bajaj and Sylvania Laxman. Philips started making healthcare related imaging products that helped Philips to sustain its profitability.

SKF, the Swedish bearing set up its first bearings manufacturing plant to meet the needs of automotive sector in Pune in 1965.In 1989, SKF started its second plant in Bangalore in 1989.In 2008, SKF set up a Rs 250- crore customised-bearings plant in Ahmedabad. In 2009, SKF set up a global technical centre in Bangalore too.Eighty percent of its resources are now devoted to providing solutions to the global parent and the rest for domestic solutions. SKF employs today around 3,000 people and commands an almost 50 percent share in the automobile aftermarket. The presence of the manufacturing plants for companies such as SKF and TIMKEN in India is good enough indicator of the manufacturing strength of India.

Alfa Laval, the Swedish firm, entered India in 1937 and last year it completed 75 years. Alfa Laval India is one of the largest supplier of technical processing products in the biotech, brewery, distillery, food, pharma, comfort climate, energy and refrigeration, refinery, petrochemicals and wastewater applications. The company’s offer includes everything from equipment to complete solutions, which are often tailor-made to meet the specific process requirements of the Indian customer. The company has its manufacturing facilities at Pune, Satara and Sarole in India.

Finnish Nokia is well-known for its cell phones. Even though India was one of the largest market for cell phones, cell phone manufacturers were hesitant to set up a manufacturing plant in India. However, Nokia that has a number of manufacturing plants around the globe set up one of its largest factories in Chennai in India to manufacture cell phones. Nokia has recently launched the latest offering in its Asha series, in the presence of company’s global chief executive officer (CEO) Stephen Elop in New Delhi in an attempt to stay in the fierce smartphone race.

The government must discuss with all the foreign companies having manufacturing establishments in India to explore the potentials for exporting as much as possible to take care of the country’s fiscal deficit.

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Manufacturing India: PSUs

Posted on May 13, 2013 by indra

Just after independence when the big industrial houses were not ready to put its money in capital intensive manufacturing sectors, be it steel, machine tools, shipbuilding or even drugs or telephone sets, the government decided to set up PSUs in almost all the sectors. Pandit Nehru called them ‘the new temples of modern India’.

According to a study by globalisation advisory firm Zinnov, the public sector in India gives employment to 1.4 million people and 40% of PSUs operate in the manufacturing sector. “India is a hub of 225 PSUs operating across verticals, with 16 of these companies featuring in the global list of top 2,000 companies. With their growing size and dominance, PSUs have started looking at IT to address the global competition. Examples like SBI, which has done one of the largest Core Banking Solution implementation globally or BPCL which has made early investments in Big data make the segment very lucrative for the technology companies.” “India is a hub of 225 PSUs operating across verticals, with 16 of these companies featuring in the global list of top 2000 companies.

1. Bharat Dynamics Ltd:BDL was established in July 1970 under the control of Ministry of Defence with the prime objective of establishing a production base for guided missiles in India. It is now one amongst a few strategic industries of the world having the capability to produce the most advanced guided missile systems for Armed Forces.

2. Bharat Earth Movers Ltd: Bharat Earth Movers Limited is a premier ISO 9001-2000 Company in India and the second largest manufacturer of earthmoving equipment in Asia. A four- decade-old multi-locational and multi-product company, BEML has vital applications in diverse sectors of economy such as coal, mining, steel, cement, power, irrigation, construction, road building and railway. It has expanded its product range to cover high-quality hydraulics, heavy-duty diesel engines, Welding robots and undertaking of heavy fabrication jobs.

3. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL):BHEL manufactures over 180 products under 30 major product groups and caters to core sectors of the Indian Economy viz., Power Generation & Transmission, Industry, Transportation, Telecommunication, Renewable Energy, etc. The wide network of BHEL’s 14 manufacturing divisions, four Power Sector regional centers, over 100 project sites, eight service centers and 18 regional offices, enables the Company to promptly serve its customers and provide them with suitable products, systems and services – efficiently and at competitive prices.

4. Heavy Engineering Corp. Ltd: HEC was established in the year 1958 as one of the largest Integrated Engineering Complex in India. It manufactures and supplies capital equipments & machineries and renders project execution required for core sector industries. It has complete manufacturing set up starting from casting & forging, fabrication, machining, assembly and testing – all at one location backed by a strong design – engineering and technology team.

5. Hindustan Aircraft Limited: HAL’s supplies / services are mainly to Indian Defence Services, Coast Guard and Border Security Force. Transport aircraft and Helicopters have also been supplied to Airlines as well as State Governments of India. The Company has also achieved a foothold in export in more than 30 countries, having demonstrated its quality and price competitiveness.

HAL had tried to be many things at the same time. In aerospace, an
integrator company assembles all components made by tier-1 companies
to make an aircraft.Tier-1 companies are those that make engines,
fuselages, wings etc. Tier-2 ones are those that make components for
engines, fuselage, etc. Tier-3 firms are those that make nuts and
bolts, the most basic of components. HAL wanted to be all of them at
the same time. In the process it ended up exposing itself and its
inefficiencies. HAL would have evolved as integrator company while
encouraging many vendors for the components.Even with a huge manufacturing facilities, HAL failed to be a major source for different types of aircrafts or for even helicopters.

India has a number of companies for meeting manufacturing requirements
of the huge railways network and defence services. But hardly few of
them have developed products and that at a scale of global
competitors. It is only because of the lack of accountability or
managerial autonomy of the units. A re-engineering of the
manufacturing facilities of railways and defence on the line of
globally competitive enterprises can boost the manufacturing sector to
a great extent.

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Manufacturing India: Machine Tools

Posted on May 7, 2013 by indra

Machine Tools are the mother machines to manufacture almost every part that goes into engineering products. It was in 1957 that I first came across these machines in the workshop of IIT, Kharagpur. The machine tools in the workshop were left out from the WWII. In 1961, I joined Hindustan Motors that one of the biggest facility manufacturing almost all the parts small and big going in cars, trucks, as well as heavy earth moving machines. And up to 1997 I remained in touch of machine tools industry and its growth in the country, as we did a number of projects at HM procuring the latest machine tools for expansion as well for the new products. That was the period when the machine tools sectors of India got matured.

India stands 12th in production and 7th in the consumption of machine tools in the world as per one of the latest survey that I know. The Indian Machine tool Industry has around 1000 units in the production of machine tools, accessories/attachments, subsystems and parts. Of these, around 20 are in the large scale sector and account for 70 percent of the turnover and the rest are in the SME sector of the industry. Approximately, 75 per cent of the Indian machine tool producers are ISO certified.

India consumes in value terms ($1.74 billion) as against China at $27 billon, Germany $5 billion and Japan $4.5 billion. India ranks 13th in terms of production in value terms at $500 million and 27th in exports. I have seen USA, Germany and then Japan at the top of the industry and its consumption and their sliding down too over the years. The production, consumption, and the exports of the machine tools are clear indicators of the engineering strength and the global position of a country and its economy to a great extent.

Five Indian Machine Tool Companies are among the top 115 Machine Tools companies of the world.

Metal Working Insiders Report published the list of top 115 Machine Tool companies across the world based on their financial results. Five Indian Machine Tool companies found place in the list.
1.According to the report, Ace Micromatic Group on basis of its revenue is the largest machine tool builder in India. The group has Ace Designers, Ace Manufacturing Systems, Micromatic Grinding, Pragati and Micromatic in their group. It produces different types of turning as well as grinding machine tools.

2.BFW placed at the 92nd position with a turnover of 60.9 million US Dollars can produce the total solution through a manufacturing system of bigger prismatic components such as cylinder block, cylinder heads, transmission case for different production capacity and varying amount of flexibility for multi-models manufacturing with CNC machining centres and special purpose machining units integrated with an automatic component transfer system.

3.HMT the public sector Machine Tool Company of India with revenue of 53.9 million US Dollars at the 99th position in the Metal Working Insiders Report. HMT produces almost all types of machine tools. It went for collaborations with a large number of machine tools companies from the West. It provides the total solutions including automatic handling of the parts from end to end as transfer machine. HMT has been the pioneer in producing a very wide range of machine tools in its huge facilities at four plants in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kalamassery and Ajmer. In Hyderabad it produces sheet metal stamping presses. Praga, Hyderabad is also part of HMT.

4.LMW, Coimbatore with revenue of 46.8 Million US Dollars at the 103rd position in the list has CNC machining centres and turning centres in its product range.

5.Jyoti CNC Automation, Rajkot with 28.8 million US Dollars is at 110th positions. Jyoti CNC Automation Pvt. Ltd has acquired Huron Graffenstaden, a France-based high-precision CNC machine manufacturer, valued at Rs 240 crore, in an all-cash deal. Huron with revenue of 55.1 million US Dollars is shown at the 98th position in the report.

Some OEMs such as Tata Motors started building specialised machine tools for using in its manufacturing systems. As a policy, Tata Motors while procuring machine tools from western manufacturers signed an agreement to procure the design and got the right of manufacturing them. It helped them in executing the project fast and at less cost. TAL Manufacturing Solutions Ltd manufactures a wide range of machine tools for its new projects

The latest trends are for high speed machining, near-dry machining, MQL, or machining with minimum quantity lubrication. It aims at heavily reducing coolant costs while being friendlier to the environment and the workers. The absence of high pressure coolant pump saves about 50% energy. Moreover, the tool life is claimed to increase dramatically. Basic processes such as castings, forgings are more precise, almost net-shape in dimensions cutting down the roughing cuts.

As estimated the share of the domestic manufacturers in the Indian machine tool market will increase to 50% by 2016-2017, as against 35% in 2010-2011. The Indian machine tool industry currently has a direct employment of 30,000, which is estimated to double by 2016- 2017.

The major improvements to be achieved over the next few years include in the machine tools sector relate to some technologies: development of high precision machine tools; multi-axes, multi-function machines; heavy duty machine tools; metal-forming machines of various types; critical mechanical elements; machine tool electronics and other sub- systems; as well as software for design / analysis / simulation, machining and manufacture.

Machine tools sector in India could have become the leading in the world but for the presence of HMT machine tools that lived on government protection. It would have set up huge design offices and used outsourcing for the major accessories as was the practice in the Japanese machine tools industry.

The government established Central Machine Tool Institute at Bangalore in the 60’s by the Government of India that was a major event in the history of the Indian Machine Tool Industry. The institute changed its name to Central Manufacturing Technology Institute (CMTI) in 1992 in tune with its current role in the manufacturing scenario in which the machine tool has become just a part of the entire gamut of concerns in the productive endeavors of the manufacturing industries.

One can see the range of the machine tools and accessories produced in India at the IMTEX that is held every second year.India has everything to become a major player in machine tools industry.

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