India a global powerhouse

India as a powerhouse of electricity and engineering was recently on display at an international event in Mumbai, as devices and information from metal working to  power transmission and distribution, <g data-gr-id="124">lightning</g> conductors to platinum/silver-via machines highlighted their usage in the meeting the needs of mankind. The occasion was a four-day show combining the <g data-gr-id="125">AMTEX</g> (Asian Machine Tools Exhibition 2015) focusing on metal working and technology, and the ELASIA (International Exhibition on Power,

Electrical and Lighting) that showcased the power transmission and distribution, electrical and lighting sectors.

With fostering innovation, building best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure and facilitating investment being the key targets of the “Make in India” initiative, the twin events witnessed representation from major manufacturers and <g data-gr-id="112">tradehouses</g> of the country with exclusive China and 

Taiwan pavilions as the principal attraction for visitors.

W Chen from China, who was participating in <g data-gr-id="109">Amtex</g>, said that five years ago, he got business in India for medical goods worth $1,00,000 and has been coming to this show ever since. “We are getting many queries now, but our prices are higher than the local (Indian) ones and we need to negotiate a lot. So now we are looking for an agent in India to handle our business which comprises manufacturing in Taiwan, China, Malaysia and Thailand,” he said.

Formosa Heavy Industries Corporation (FHIC) of Taiwan too was present here with its applications for factory automation in various industries like plastics, fibre, metals, electronics, food, frozen, clean room and distribution centers, besides overseas projects in USA, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and China. “Lightning strikes the earth at an estimated 6,000 times per <g data-gr-id="139">minute,</g> and possesses millions of volts that are capable of shattering insulating obstacles but flow meekly through small-diameter conductors. The essential idea behind every Lightning Protection System is to avoid situation in which these forces get diverted to vulnerable points of a building/installation,” said Prabhat Srivastav, Area Sales Manager (UP East), True Power Earth Solutions.

“A Lightning Conductor’s function is to divert to itself a lightning discharge. The Conventional system of Earthing is unreliable, inefficient/cumbersome, needs watering of earth pit at regular intervals, recharging of salt/charcoal and is prone to problems resulting in human life loss and equipment failure, fire, high/low voltage, shock/short circuit etc. Limitations of this conventional system particularly manifest themselves when applied to very tall structures. Over the years, billions of rupees worth of property <g data-gr-id="132">has</g> been destroyed alongside damage to structures and electronics resulting from high voltages and thermal damages caused by improper grounding system. Lightning’s thermal effects include: materials of high resistivity melting at points of impact and bad materials containing moisture having sudden overpressure that may result in an explosion, while other effects in  occur through electrodynamics, induction and indirectly.”

“Our company has come out with an earthing system that costs twice more than conventional earthing and does not need any maintenance at all. Earthing pH value changes according to the soil conditions including moisture and also <g data-gr-id="154">environment</g>. Our product – which requires watering of earth only during hot and long summer months for moisture addition – uses a chemical which boosts moisture and resistance value decreases so that electricity consumption is also decreased. We dig to a depth of 10 feet and put everything including electrodes made of galvanized iron and copper alloy which is three metres long. Then two 25 kg bags of chemical called Back Fill Compound (BFC) is put into the pit which is closed with earth, while a “Lightning Arrestor” is placed on top of the home/building. The lightning arrestor device has been tested to absorb 115 Kilo Amperes of <g data-gr-id="149">electricity,</g> while a lightning strike gives out between 25-26 K.A of electricity,” he said.

P Vidwans, a mechanical engineer by profession and proprietor of <g data-gr-id="145">Mangalmurty</g> Techno Slides with business based in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) highlighted the value of having engineering knowledge at hand through his data charts, which have made many an engineer’s life easier in troubleshooting problems that could bring valuable machinery and production to a grinding halt. Participating in the Show since 2005, Vidwans said he manufactures technical/engineering date slide charts which are useful for workshop floors in production, maintenance, machine-designing, costing estimation etc. and that these charts help in solving technical problems at a glance.

“Business has been good for me in all these shows as, even with computerisation today, people still appreciate using these charts at hand. While designing these charts, we have taken into account frequently-asked questions by customers and, at present, I have 36 types of charts which are related to <g data-gr-id="128">trouble-shooting</g>. I was serving as a production planner for a company – in collaboration with a Dutch company – where I handled lots of queries dealing with the nearest equivalent of the standards of various countries in relation to technology. I then decided to set make my own charts and thus set up my own business in 1993 to share my experience in quality control. I also participate in other shows like Plastic India, Intech etc.”

Abhay Deshmukh, Proprietor/Director of <g data-gr-id="119">Shilpin</g> Machines <g data-gr-id="120">PVt</g> Ltd., said he was upbeat about the event as he got about many queries in barely one hour of the show’s opening. Deshmukh, who hails from Aurangabad in Maharashtra and is participating for the first time in <g data-gr-id="121">Amtex</g>, said he was exploring the possibilities of selling the engraving machines to not only corporate and SMEs, but also the unorganised sector including <g data-gr-id="122">micro entrepreneurs</g>. These machines, which cost anywhere between Rs 6.5 lakhs to Rs 12 lakhs, are used in making: dies, electrodes and punches, signboards and nameplates, jewellery articles, industrial components, mementoes and medals, while using metals like brass, copper, plastic, steel, gold, silver, aluminium and virtually every metal and non-metal. “This machine was designed by a local lad – a mechanical engineer in Jalna near Aurangabad in Maharashtra – under our guidance about a year ago and we then decided to bring it into the market through this show in Mumbai for both domestic and international exposure. Tata Boeing is one of our customers for this engraving machine in Nagpur for engraving nameplate letters on tungsten alloys,” he said.

“In the earlier days, most of craftsmanship was manual. Bidri work (engraving) involved sculpting by hand and was laborious and time-consuming. Today, this machine reduces the engraving effort down to barely 10 per cent of the manual time while ensuring accuracy. Our effort is also on to bring about 5,000 entrepreneurs from around India including rural areas into mainstream manufacturing as today, they cannot depend on agriculture due to drought and other problems.”

“Also, it’s an unfortunate scenario where idols of Indian ‘gods and goddesses’ in plastic and non-plastic are being Made in China when they could easily be Made in India. Indian industry is now synonymous with big brands and companies requiring heavy capital. So crores of youth – women in particular – need to be encouraged to come into manufacturing and stop this Chinese products influx. Otherwise, the gap between “Haves” and “Have-nots” will continue increasing,” Deshmukh added.

“Our company is named Hindustan Platinum but it uses 500 to 900 tonnes of silver annually in the making of various objects as big as 300 mm to 400 mm – to tiny as 1 mm – and comprising silver plates and bars that can be used by customers as per their specifications for different purposes including minute electrical contacts (since electrical contacts need good conductors and silver is the best. Platinum is a separate unit,” said Abhishek Surve, Sales Officer (Contacts Division) of Hindustan Platinum Pvt. Ltd. in Navi Mumbai.

Set up in 1961 in Mumbai for manufacturing precious metal engineered products, the company set a new milestone in 1999 with the commissioning of its state-of-the-plant in Navi Mumbai to produce contacts and contact assemblies for the electrical and automobile industry; precious metal catalysts and <g data-gr-id="224">salts</g> for the pharmaceutical industry’ platinum/rhodium gauzes for the fertiliser industry; <g data-gr-id="223">spinnerettes</g> for the man-made fibre industry; stirrers and bushings for the glass industry; and silver targets for optical media storage industry. “Today our company is recognised as preferred Indian 

supplier even among developed countries like USA, Japan, Singapore, South Africa and European Union, besides being accredited as the first Indian company to introduce bi-metal contacts in 1973, and also among the few manufacturers in the world who can manufacture Silver Tin Oxide and Silver Cadmium Oxide both by powder metallurgy and melting process,” he said.

Cyril Pereira, MD, Reed Triune Exhibitions which organised the event, said this is the first time this Show has been taken away from the conventional Bangalore and Delhi venues to Mumbai since this city is the economic hub of India. While the first edition of this bi-annual Show in Bangalore generated about Rs 80 crore along with 180 stalls comprising only national participants and 9,000 visitors, the 9th edition held at Pragati Maidan in Delhi witnessed 1,400 participants stalls with 35 per cent of them being from overseas including pavilions of China, Taiwan and Korea and which generated a whopping Rs 850 crores business and drew 35,000 visitors.

“We brought the 10th edition of this Show to Mumbai as Maharashtra and Gujarat are now becoming major business hubs and are centrally located, besides the fact that there has not been a major machine tools show in Mumbai. The end-users are the auto industry, pharmaceutical, textiles industry and Maharashtra has lots of these industries in the state that use such machineries. So it is convenient for them to come here to do business with these companies rather than go all the way to Bangalore or Delhi. In fact, we are looking at making Mumbai a permanent hub for this show on a biannual basis,” Pereira said, adding that this present Mumbai Show is featuring only Taiwan and China as foreign participants (comprising 30 per cent of the event) who are right now in search of new dealers and agents.

Security for the entire industry too was being highlighted in Mumbai recently with Shiva Industrial Security Agency Pvt Ltd (SISA) – a Rs 55-crore turnover Pan India company giving Canbank Venture Capital Fund a Rs 11 crore investment minority stake in it through equity shares and convertibles. The Indian private security services industry is an estimated business of Rs 30,000 crore with continuous growth of 15-20 per cent annually and FICCI expects it to cross Rs 60,000 crore by 2020. However, barely 60 per cent of this is in the organised sector and physical guarding accounts for bulk of the revenue. The private security services industry is one of the largest employers in India with around 6.5 million private security personnel and further growth expected to continue in the future.

Sameer Sharma, MD, SISA, said that the company’s nationwide presence included providing security services to leading corporates, industrial units, airports, metro stations, public and private sector banks, malls/shopping complexes, apartments, hospitals etc. “So, besides expanding and upgrading our Pan-India operations for Physical Guarding and Cash Management Services, we are focusing on giving added thrust to high margin business segment like Emergency Response Services and Event Management Security services, increasing our Cash Van fleet strength from the present 150 by adding another 100 Cash Vans in 2015-2016 and reaching turnover of Rs 150 Crore by FY 2017-2018.”

Sharma told Millennium Post that over 2,500 persons – from rural areas and unemployed – additionally have been trained and used over the past one-and-half year by the company, which is planning setting up of various training institutes across India to train and supply security manpower. “The government pays us Rs 24 per person under this scheme over the past three to four years,” he said while underlining the need for better and increased security training in preventing bank and other robberies.