The Ramachandrapuram (RC Puram), Hyderabad, unit of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has achieved the highest ever turnover of Rs 5,004 crore, a 21% increase over last year and a profit of Rs 930 crore, an increase of 24% over last year. This was possible despite huge challenges. The unit?s strong will to grow both in the domestic and global markets is reflected in the order book worth Rs 840 crore.
Explaining the unit?s success, R Krishnan, GM-in-charge, said that it is growing at a rate of 25%, but there are opportunities to fuel more growth. It is gearing up to meet super-critical applications essential for the low carbon growth strategy of the country.
?Despite global instability, stiff international competition and critical input constraints, customers continue to repose their confidence in the reliability of equipment supplied and services provided by this unit. In fact, our current order book position reflects this satisfaction level,? he says. It received orders of Rs 6,254 crore and the outstanding order book as of 2009-end Rs 15,264 crore for this unit. This is about 68% increase over the previous year. ?Indeed, it is a big challenge to meet such a huge order book. We have taken initiatives to accelerate manufacturing and project delivery. Outsourcing of finished assemblies, pre-order of advance manufacturing action and process improvements are being done to meet the delivery schedules,? he pointed out.
Some of the major orders received during the year include utility sets for Hindalco Adithya Aluminium, Sambalpur for 8X150 mw, Jai Prakash Associates, 2X60 mw, Bara 3.660 mw and Pipavav 2X600 mw. Besides, four new customers have enrolled for compressors, namely NOCL, MRPL, Technimont and IOCL Paradeep. This apart, the unit has bagged orders worth Rs 962 crore for spares, repairs and others.
For the unit, its investment in research continued to fuel its growth. To meet the commitment to government of 20,000 mw by 2012, the unit has invested more than Rs 200 crore on R&D during 2009-10. ?Having set a target of Rs 7,000 crore by 2011-12, the focus on R&D spend, which is about 2-3%, is steadily going up with the increasing demand in volumes,? Krishnan explained. In the process, there has been upgradation of technology as well that includes 15 KV rating generators for generating up to 150 MW being manufactured for the first time; boiler feed pumps with three minutes dry run capability was developed in-house for Nuclear Power Corporation for its Kalpakkam project; air-cooled condensers for the steam engine based-power station that reduces the need for cooling water and also eliminating the cooling towers.
Some products developed in-house are radiographic quality aluminium silicon fan castings. Initiation of patent application for a protective arrangement to enhance the life of resistance thermometers used for direct temperature measurement in highly corrosive chrome plating electrolyte media is under process. A test facility for higher configuration KMP 350 type planetary gear boxes has been established and facility for rig manufacture will re-established soon.
?We, along with the corporate R&D, are jointly developing a 100 KW permanent magnet exciter to cater upto 35 MW generators for the first time in the world. Besides, A 200 KW high temperature super conductor (HTSC) will be manufactured for the first time in the country. We have also completed parametric designing of four pole turbo generators as part of cycle time reduction,? he informed.
?A test facility is being developed for testing traveling shops up to a load of 1,000 MTs. These blocks are used in oil rigs for providing the required travel during insertion of the pipes and also support during drilling operations. We would be contributing 4,445 mw as capacity enhancement in company level effort of augmentation of capacity to 20,000 mw,? Krishnan added.
This unit holds the second position after the Trichy unit in terms of sales volume. ?We would be doubling the volumes for turbines, compressors and heat exchangers. With the increase in raw material prices, we adopted reverse auction that saved about Rs 63 crore. Bulk buying, strategic outsourcing of non-core areas, which is expected to increase by 35-40% from the present 25%, and reverse auction helped cost management,? he said. Besides, it is also developing a centre for nanotechnology and centre for advance energy materials along with the corporate R&D for super alloys, where there are only two to three players in the world at present. ?In the next two to three years, we would develop high heat-resistant materials which can cut down on material erosion and also develop indigenous designs,? he opined.