For product-based businesses that must consistently meet consumer demands quickly, choosing domestic suppliers is an advantage | By Indira Rao |
The need for the efficient handling of large and small loads does not usually depend on the size of a company or the handling rate of an application. Hence, to achieve specialised and economical solutions, there is a need for modular load handling concepts. For example, BHEL at its factory in Hyderabad manufactures turbine generators, heavy compressors and condensers used in power plants and therefore needed cranes for handling heavy components. Investing in a process crane that is subjected to high loads, day in, day out that provided maximum reliability was the need of the hour at their factory.
The company chose Demag Cranes and Components (I) Pvt Ltd as their supplier of material handling equipment mainly because by then the company had set up its manufacturing operations in India. “We were keen to procure from a supplier who had good design sense and the ability to service the equipment in the long term. Around the time we were procuring the cranes, Demag had upgraded their manufacturing set up in India. Having seen their facility and understood their design and manufacturing practises, we were confident they could deliver what we required,” asserted KV Prasad, senior DGM, M&S cranes, BHEL.
Demag has supplied 80/20, 150/40 and 200/60 tonne cranes to BHEL and they are used to lift parts or whole of turbines and heavy capacity of compressors / cooling condensers. The material handling systems were installed at their existing plant as part of their expansion plan. Since, Demag was involved right from the design stage to the completion of the project; they were able to provide the equipment as per BHELs requirement. “A crane is an essential equipment in our plant premises. While it does not produce anything for us, stoppage of the cranes brings our entire manufacturing process to a halt. A poorly designed and manufactured crane is likely to give us such a problem. We are always under pressure to deliver our products against a stiff timeline. Hence, reliability is very important for us. The Demag cranes post installation has performed as per our specifications. We have had no stoppages or breakdowns. This definitely is a positive point for us,” stressed Prasad.
Prasad mentioned that as far as the cost was concerned the products were at par with respect to similar capacity crane manufacturers in the country. “The cycle time is reduced to the extent of less down time of the equipment supplied. Also as mentioned earlier, we haven’t faced any downtime on account of the cranes and that too offsets any higher price one has to pay initially. We believe we have made a wise investment.”
Demag’s process cranes are completely designed and manufactured at their Chakan plant, based on locally sourced components. The process cranes supplied to BHEL too were with a high degree of localised components. What is to be noted here is that while components may have been localized there has been no compromise in the quality. “The cranes at BHEL are used for workshop duty conditions and they have performed well since their installation and the team there is quite satisfied. Lesser breakdowns in the cranes means their production processes are carried out unhindered, this in itself improves their efficiency,” affirmed Manojit Acharya, executive director , Demag Cranes and Components (I) Pvt Ltd. He further added, “We have developed an eco system of suppliers for this product and have been quite successful in our endeavor. We have over a 100 process cranes working in critical applications today across the country. And yes they do provide us the competitive edge as well.”
Process cranes are typically custom built and each crane turns out to be a project since the requirements vary with each application and with every user. The components that Demag selects in the process cranes e.g. gear box, motors etc. are designed for crane applications. These will usually not be off the shelf products but integrated to create a product that is safe and reliable. Demag started the manufacturing of process cranes in India in 2008 and many components at that stage were imported. “To remain serious and competitive players in the process cranes market it was important to have a crane where the components were localised”, emphasised Acharya. Thus, they started looking for partners and vendors who could supply quality components in India. This search led them to Nord Drivesystems Pvt Ltd.
High efficient helical parallel shaft geared motors from Nord are supplied to Demag. These helical gears are manufactured according to the highest standards DIN 3990. “This enables to mount gear boxes directly on wheel shafts, which also improves mechanical efficiency, reduces loses and makes the crane more efficient. The brakes used are fail safe electromagnetic disc brakes and with the VFD operation, safety goes up,” asserted PL Muthusekkar, managing director, Nord Drivesystems Pvt Ltd. Talking of selecting their supplier, Nord, Acharya says, “Since, they have a manufacturing facility in India that makes their product more competitive. Also, their geared motors are compact and can be mounted directly on the wheel shaft with negligible supporting structure. This also minimises the time required to assemble the system as well as the vibration is transferred to the main structure or vice versa and hence has a positive impact on the running and life of the crane.”
Typically conventional systems offered by local manufacturers face a problem of leakages. This can be very messy and expensive to maintain. Nords’s UNICASE design helps combat this. Explaining this concept, Muthusekkar avowed, “UNICASE is a concept for housing. This is a single piece casting where all the centres and bores are machined in one set up to ensure accuracy and concentricity of bearing seats and oil seals. With this single piece housing we ensure a leak proof gear box and as every component is supported by a single piece sturdy housing, the overall efficiency is very high. This enables zero oil leakage with long maintenance intervals.”
As seen above there are several benefits to developing products locally and supplying it to manufacturers than importing the same. The entire supply chain here becomes efficient because localisation played a very crucial part. The ultimate end user, BHEL benefitted immensely because their supplier manufactured products in India and the same goes with Demag whose supplier too was local. On a concluding note, Acharya stressed that they have been encouraging the Nord team to develop more products locally thereby increasing their product range; “this would mean that they need to have more components locally developed. This is in line with our own practice of global design and local product.”