High-tech manufacturing is not everyone’s cup of tea. Having a sophisticated manufacturing set-up with the best of men and machines performing multiple operations for producing quintessential components is only part of the high-tech story. It also presupposes design and process capabilities and the entire chain of manufacturing including raw material management and in-process quality check to ensure that the final product meets the complex geometries, close tolerances and stringent specifications, discovers P.K. Balasubbramniian in an interview with G.K. Pillai, Managing Director & CEO of Walchandnagar Industries Ltd. WIL is known for its eminence in high-tech manufacturing to cater to the stringent requirements of products and equipment of priority sectors like defense, aerospace, nuclear, missile and energy. Excerpts:
Q. How do you define High-tech Manufacturing?
I’m glad the question came up. Whenever a topic of High-tech manufacturing kicks in, our imagination intuitively glides to a place with sophisticated machines performing multiple operations and producing quintessential components. However, one should not forget the prominence of activities associated with the entire manufacturing process. Advances are happening in all levels of product development whether it be designing, setting up the processes, managing the raw materials or even packaging of the final product. High-tech manufacturing can thus only be achieved by accommodating all these aspects to harvest the final product. Only a synergy of these advances will provide the maximum efficiency and produce an immaculate product and only then the process can be titled as High-tech manufacturing. Achieving this synergy becomes a prime objective in industries such as ours where complex geometry, close tolerances, stringent specifications, and the usage of exotic raw material becomes a common occurrence.
Q. What are your capabilities and facilities for high-tech manufacturing?
Walchandnagar, today, have three manufacturing facilities which are located in Walchandnagar (135 km from Pune), Satara, and Dharwad (Near Hubli, Karnataka). The Walchandnagar plant carries out production activities for Defense, Aerospace, Nuclear, Missile, Gear, Cement, Sugar and Energy, and Centrifugal businesses. We have our Foundry business running in Satara and Instrumentation division in Dharwad.
As Walchandnagar is associated with the manufacturing of different types of products and equipments, our facility has been fortified with machines of not only different sorts but also sizes.
CNC multi-axis boring machines, milling machines, Gear cutting and grinding, Plate bending machines, Lathes are some of the machines available in different sizes in our plants. We respect the quality requirements and uniqueness of different businesses and thus have ensured that the machines are allocated to different divisions to provide superlative efficiency and quality.
Our Missile, Aerospace, and Nuclear businesses involve working with exotic materials which are very challenging to work with. We have sophisticated Automatic Welding Systems to deal with these subjects. Our qualified and dedicated welding engineers deployed in the Welding Development Section and skilled welders have also proved themselves on multiple occasions.
Our plant is also equipped with Dust-free enclosements for critical welding and assembly of intricate components utilized in Nuclear, Aerospace and Missile divisions. And not to forget the Heat treatment facility comprising furnaces of wide ranging sizes. The quality aspect is taken care by the Optical tooling and measuring instruments. Our material handling system is also well advanced which not only consists of overhead cranes (25 tons to 250 tons) with an area under the crane of 56,000 sq mtr but also hydraulic cranes, industrial lifters, trolleys, etc.
Apart from this we also have equipped our engineers with high-end design and analysis softwares which help us create products that define our superiority in the market. It is this why we proudly say that our gearboxes, cement equipment, centrifugal machines deliver a life not less than 20 years. Apart from this, we also have our own Hydraulic test facility for Missile, Aerospace and Defence jobs and test facility for Gearboxes.
I would also like to update you on the fact that WIL maintains a dedicated design team ‘Walchand Technology Group’ and Tooling design team which is essential keeping in mind the fact that we manufacture special project based products. Apart from this, we are also proud of our 1000 plus workers and 200 plus engineers.
Q. What are the business opportunities available for your Division?
Walchandnagar has a portfolio of wide-ranging businesses under its canvas. With Defense, Nuclear, Aerospace already in its DNA, we also provide tailor-made Gearboxes, Cement equipment, and castings. Walchandnagar is also distinguished for its ability to provide EPC plants to its Sugar and Co-gen customers. Our business segments allow us to serve both Government as well as Private organizations. The current growth emphasized government has brought to the table all-round reforms, in turn, creating many growth-oriented prospects. The foremost “Make in India” program now also followed by the “Buy in India”, Finalising the long pending CLND Act, Union Budget 2017 which focussed on infrastructure growth and Agriculture; They all have unlocked new business mines. It is thus not surprising to note that we carry a good load of orders in our kitty and envisage much more shortly.
Q. What do you offer to critical segments like nuclear power, aerospace, defense and missiles?
Nuclear Sector
The nuclear sector in India saw a very tepid growth over the last decade. A lot of projects were stagnant due to the CLND Act. But a complete turnaround of this scenario has happened with the finalization of the crucial points in the act and suddenly the market has been inundated with new Nuclear Power Plant projects that will be undertaken by the NPCIL. We have supplied, in the past, critical components for Nuclear Power Plants of capacity 220, 540, and 700 MWe. Some of the components include Calandria, Moderator Heat Exchangers, End Shields, Air Heat Exchangers, Core support, Core Catcher, etc. and we look forward to supplying them in the future too.
Aerospace
WIL has been an integral part of all space projects/ programs driven by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).This association has been spanning over 4 decades. ISRO views WIL as a reliable manufacturer of various strategic and critical components for various space programs.
- SLV-3 (Year -1980) Weight- 17 tons, Payload Capacity – 40kg, Height – 22 m
- ASLV (Year – 1987) Weight- 19 tons, Payload Capacity – 150kg, Height – 23.5 m
- PSLV(Year- 1993) Weight- 295 tons, Payload Capacity – 1600kg, Height – 44 m
- GSLV(Year- 2003) Weight- 414 tons, Payload Capacity – 2.5 tons, Height – 49 m
- GSLV MK-III(Year- 2014) Weight- 620 tons, Payload Capacity – 4 tons, Height – 42 m
WIL is currently supplying PSLV, GSLV, and GSLV MK-II on a continuous basis. The GSLV MK-III launch that took place on 5th June 2017 had S-200 motor casings supplied by WIL. It gives me immense pleasure to state that WIL has played a crucial role in Chandrayaan-I (India’s first Moon Mission) and Mangalyaan (India’s Mars Mission).
Defense
WIL has been closely functioning with DRDO, R&DE, and other defense organizations on various defense projects and have supplied Aluminum alloy bridges, Container and Launchers, Surface launchers. Currently, WIL is executing surface launcher projects (Wagon mounted and Trailer mounted) with associated hydraulics and control systems for the Missile programs and other confidential projects.
WIL has also contributed to the Indian Naval ships and has a track record for supplying high-speed gearboxes (up to 18 MW) for frigates, corvettes, fleet tankers, and survey vessels and submarines. Over the last 11 years, WIL has successfully met various stringent program requirements with demonstrated capabilities for indigenous design, engineering, manufacturing, testing and supply of gearboxes.
Missiles
WIL is one of the very few industries that partnered with DRDO during the development phase of its ambitious missiles programs viz., Akash and Agni.
It was more than two decades ago that DRDO approached WIL for their flagship projects. The combined expertise of the WIL engineers and the DRDO scientists as well as extensive R&D has helped in the development of critical manufacturing techniques to meet the design and stringent quality parameters for its strategic and tactical missile programs.
The development phase of Akash missiles demanded a strong knowledge of the manufacturing technology in order to convert the designs into actual products and today a dedicated facility is established in Walchandnagar to supply these critical components with close tolerances and stringent quality checks.
Q. Could you give a brief account of your recent achievements?
Our list of achievements come from the combined efforts of all businesses. Aerospace Division allowed us to be a part of the elite group which supplied critical components for “Chandrayaan-I” and “Mangalyaan”. We are a trusted source to the Indian Navy for supplying Marine Gearboxes and I’m proud to state that we have recently supplied a gearbox to the DMDE (18400 HP). It gives me immense pleasure to point the fact that WIL has supplied 50+ gearboxes to the Indian Navy. We have contributed in supplying the critical components for India’s “Agni-V” and continue to do so. Apart from Akash, our missile division has also added Astra and QRSAM to its portfolio.
Our Defense business is also involved with many confidential programs. Recently our Instrumentation business has also started catering to the needs of PSUs which is a great breakthrough for us. We are also going to play a major role in Government’s vision to increase the utilization of Nuclear Power as an energy source by supplying components for the Nuclear Power plants, orders to which have already started to flow in. In the past, we have already supplied critical equipment to 20 Nuclear Power Plants in India and it is a big achievement when the total count of Nuclear Power Plants is 22 for our nation. Apart from this, WIL’s Centrifugal business has also flourished owning a market share of 60%.
Q. What are the challenges you face and how are you geared to meet them?
Being a project-based manufacturing firm, every new project brings with it new complexities and complications. Efforts are indispensable when it comes to design and engineering, process planning, project management and even hunting for new suppliers. This on occasion, makes it difficult for us to adhere to the delivery schedules resulting in delays in product delivery. But as previously mentioned, to bring in Hi-tech manufacturing, improvements in all these sectors is imperative. These issues are critically studied and improvements are planned to bring about the change. Our engineers are even burning the midnight oil to standardize the process wherever possible.
With new developments happening daily, it is also very crucial to keep in step with the latest technology and maintain the skill set of employees to be at par with the competition. Actions are being taken in this aspect too with our firm planning to establish new business lines.
