Steelbird, the company that just launched the SXE helmet in India, is actively looking forward to expanding its production facilities, which will include a dedicated carbon fibre helmet manufacturing plant in India. Steelbird is looking to manufacture over 60,000 helmets per day with its plans and achieve a turnover of Rs 1,300 crore.
Steelbird helmets: Expansion plans
Steelbird currently has over 1 million square feet of built-up area, which includes six manufacturing plants in Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), three in Noida (Uttar Pradesh), an online Business office in Panchkula, and a global office in Italy.
The company’s EPS facility makes 45,000 EPS units daily, while it has the added capacity to manufacture EPP products. The company has invested Rs 40 crore only for the EPS, EPP, and decals infrastructure.
All the investment is towards Steelbird’s aim of launching new helmet models and expanding its range to cater to the domestic as well as the international market. The development of a new helmet costs about Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 10 crore, says the company, while the development cycle takes about two to three years.
Steelbird carbon fibre helmets
As mentioned earlier, Steelbird is looking at establishing a dedicated carbon fibre helmet manufacturing facility, and intends to set up India’s first in-house carbon fibre and fibreglass weaving facility. This will allow Steelbird to have complete control over raw materials, thus having quality under control.
With the new facility, Steelbird is planning to explore and develop various hybrid material combinations and weave structures to enhance the strength, reduce the weight, and improve the impact resistance of helmet shells. Currently, carbon fibre helmets are sold top helmet makers globally, and the new facility should help Steelbird achieve ECE ratings, beyond the current DOT certification the helmets have.
Steelbird manufactures most of its products – Shells, EPS, Visors, Chinstraps, Buckles, Stickers, Rivets, Metal Components and more – in-house itself, and with the new facility and carbon weaving, the company can have complete control over its products.
Rajeev Kapur, Managing Director, Steelbird said, “Every helmet component at Steelbird is made in-house to maintain the highest safety standards. We do not rely on third-party workers, because even a small deviation in production parameters can compromise safety. Quality is non-negotiable for us.”