industry 2.0 april 2011

A Business Accounting Software for Demanding Businesses

To locate the CHANNEL PARTNER nearest to you, please visit our website www.busy.inTel : 011-2737 5062 / 6063 / 7064 • Mobile : 93122-39487 • E-mail : [email protected]

Call for a Demo, TODAY!

www.facebook.com/BusyInfotechPvtLtdJoin us on the facebook

Over5 Lakh Users

Presence in Over 20 Countries

Now Manage Billing, Inventory, Production & Excise more smoothly

• Bill of Material

• Production / Un-assemble

• Production Planning

• Production Variance Report

• Consumption Analysis

• Product Composition Report

• Computerized Billing

• PLA Register

• RG-I Register

• RG 23A-I/II Register

• CENVAT Return

• Form ER-1/ER-3

Excise & Billing FeaturesInventory & Production Features

www.industry20.com 1 industry 2.0 - technology management for decision-makers | april 2011

The dream run for the manufactur-ing industry could come to an abrupt halt—unless it find a way to attract and retain talent. That’s

because the IT and ITES industry will once again mop up the best people. This year the IT services industry collectively plans to hire more than 200,000 people. The first stop for recruiters fanning across the nation are the engineering colleges. Fresh graduates from the top-tier institutions are lured by the relatively high wages, prospect of overseas postings, comfort-able offices, five-day working weeks—and the promise of stock options. Few want to join the manufacturing industry. Expe-rienced hands are being recruited into consulting positions.

This is an enormous problem because India’s manufacturing industry is growing rapidly, and is also modernizing at a fran-tic pace. Companies are putting in more automation and deploying sophisticated software to streamline operations. These organizations need trained and qualified people to use these technologies effec-tively. They also need young people who can innovate and invent, and develop better products for the market. They need people who can eventually take over from today’s managers, and run manufactur-ing operations.

A small (and diminishing) talent pool compels the industry to either settle for lower skilled people, or offer greater compensation. Neither is a sustainable option. Companies need to figure out how

to get engineers more enthused about the manufacturing industry. The manufactur-ing industry needs to get more involved with engineering colleges—in framing cur-ricula, teaching as adjunct faculty, facilitat-ing plant visits, engaging in projects and sponsoring research. Senior managers from top companies need to articulate the achievements and success of the industry, and show how it offers good career op-tions to talented people. They need to ex-plain the impact of new technologies and systems on manufacturing processes, and how companies plan to nurture a culture of innovation and design. Manufacturing industry needs to refurbish its image as a dowdy, boring and staid environment.

To handle the growing attrition of experienced managers and engineers, manufacturing companies will need to think actively about equipping them with skills that will enable them take on larger roles within the organization. They will need to provide greater business exposure to engineering and manufactur-ing experts through initiatives like job rotation, and create structured programs that will enable them progress as rapidly as peers in the IT industry. Industry-wide programs to recognize and reward high achievers would also act as an incentive to retain people. The key imperative is to act quickly to fix the problem, or repent at leisure.

Vol. 10 | ISSuE 08 | AprIl 2011

Managing Director: Dr pramath raj SinhaPrinter & Publisher: Kanak Ghosh

EditorialGroup Editor: R GiridharAssociate Editor: p K ChatterjeeSub-Editor: reshmi Menon

dEsignSr. Creative Director: Jayan K NarayananArt Director: Binesh SreedharanAssociate Art Director: Anil VKSr. Visualisers: pC AnoopChief Designer: N V BaijuSr. Designers: prasanth Tr, Anil T, Joffy Jose Anoop Verma, Chander Dange & Vinod ShindeDesigners: Sristi Maurya, Suneesh K, Shigil N & Charu DwivediChief Photographer: Subhojit paulPhotographer: Jiten Gandhi

brand managEmEntGeneral Manager: Nabjeet Ganguli

salEs & markEtingNational Manager - Sales: pranav Saran (09312685289)National Manager - Events & Special Projects: Mahantesh Godi (09880436623)Assistant Brand Manager: Arpita GanguliGM South & West: Vinodh Kaliappan (09740714817)Coimbatore: D K KarthikeyanKolkata: Jayanta Bhattacharya (09331829284)

Production & logisticsSr. GM - Operations: Shivshankar M HiremathManager - Operations: Rakesh UpadhyayAssistant Production Manager: Vilas MhatreLogistics: Mp Singh, Mohamed Ansari

officE addrEssNine Dot Nine Interactive pvt ltd Kakson House, A & B Wing, 2nd Floor 80 Sion Trombay road, opposite r K Studio Chembur, Mumbai 400071. Board line: 91 22 67899666 Fax: 91 22 67899667

For any information, write to [email protected] subscription details, write to [email protected] sales and advertising enquiries, write to [email protected] any customer queries and assistance, contact [email protected]

Printed and published by Kanak Ghosh for Nine Dot Nine Interactive pvt ltd Plot No. 725 GES, Shirvane, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400706. Board line: 91 22 67899666 Fax: 91 22 67899667

Editor: Anuradha Das MathurPlot No. 725 GES, Shirvane, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400706.

printed at Silverpoint press pvt. ltd, Plot No. A-403, TTC Industrial Area,MIDC, Mhape, Navi Mumbai 400709.

editorial

Plugging the talent SHoRTAGE

R [email protected]

www.industry20.com2 april 2011 | industry 2.0 - technology management for decision-makers

cover storyManaging Melting OperationsModern aluminium foundry design technology helps save energy, reduce pollution, prevent loss and improve productivity at various stages of foundry operation.

36

20 34

Cover design: Baiju N.V.

contents

departments

Editorial ......................................01

Industry Update ......................... 04

Event Report ............................. 08

Soft Talk ..................................... 12

Technology Update .................... 14

Market Dynamics ...................... 16

Opinion ...................................... 34

Advertisers’ Index ..................... 62

Product Update ......................... 63

manufacturing technology20 Protecting Electrical MachineryMonitoring relays not only provide a maximum degree of safety for machines, plants, systems and people, but also ensure less cost.

facilities & operations32 Lightning-fast Materials TestingA new, reliable ultrasound-based process increases the testing rate a hundred fold.

supply chain & logistics46 Framing Sourcing StrategiesRaw material sourcing efficiency is key to success of a manufacturing organisation.

49 Bridging The Skill GapThe shortage of truck drivers is likely to pose a serious threat to the transportation industry.

information technology53 Business Intelligence Market on Higher Growth Path In IndiaBusiness Intelligence is growing as a vital tool for smarter, more agile and efficient business.

management & strategy54 Boosting Technology Development Of MSMEsThe Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is introducing various schemes for upliftment of this sector.

59 Patenting For SuccessPatenting involves competitive strategies in today’s business world.

46 54

industry update


Germany-based Lapp Group is setting up a manufacturing unit in Pilukedi, Rajgrah District

in Bhopal with a total investment of `150 crore.

Lapp is a leading manufacturer and suppliers of high flexibility cables, cable accessories and industrial connectors.

Spread over 30 acres, the facility will be the second manufacturing unit of the company in India besides another

one in Bangalore where its corporate headquarters Lapp India is located. The Bhopal facility is expected to be the largest manufacturing unit of Lapp Group in the next five years.

The new facility will house three building units with an individual manu-facturing apparatus in each. In the first phase, the unit will employ around 100 people and once fully functional it will have approximately 400 number of people.

Speaking during the occasion, Siegbert E Lapp, Director, Lapp Hold-ing AG, said, “India’s thriving economy is showing a promising outlook and I believe, it is the ‘Future Market’ of the connectivity solutions industry. With the estimated market size of approximately 3 billion Euros, we have a lot to do for the market.”

Frank Imkamp, CEO & President–Asia-Pacific, Lapp Group, said, “We have witnessed 30 per cent year-on-year growth in India and it is one of our focused markets. The investment that we are making in the new facility will help us cater to the growing customer demands and our revenue is expected to rise 4 fold in the next four years.”

Meanwhile, plans are also underway to develop six warehouses and distri-bution centres, 16 service points for customising the products for customer needs as value-additions.

Besides, over 1/4th of the site space will be conserved as green space to grow trees. The company is also plan-ning to follow environment friendly initiatives such as rainwater harvest-ing, ground water recharge and deploy of solar power.

GE Plans Multi-modal Manufacturing Plant

GE is planning to set up a multi-modal manufacturing facility in India to support its Indian busi-

nesses and exports.The new plant, involving a total invest-

ment of $50 million, will primarily serve the company’s energy business.

The company is also likely to increase its investment in the facility to $200 mil-lion in the future.

The company is aiming to grow its In-dia business by 30 per cent year on year as it sees lots of opportunities in selling equipment and services related to its energy business and increasing demand from aviation sector in India besides its financial services business.

Lapp Group To Build 2nd Manufacturing Unit In Bhopal

Wilo SE recently inaugurated its hi-tech manufacturing plant at Kolhapur in Maharashtra.

The pump and pumping system manu-facturer set up the new plant with an investment of Rs 100 crore.

The new unit will manufacture standardised water handling pumps and pumping systems. The plant will also produce the latest range of Wilo prod-ucts for the domestic market as well as for its subsidiary Mather & Platt Pumps Ltd for the global market.

The company has targeted a turn-over of Rs 150 crore a year from the Kolhapur plant with 80 per cent of it coming from domestic sales.

It has also earmarked an investment of over Rs 200 crore in the next five

years’ time to expand capacity and up-grade technology, plant and machinery both at Kolhapur and Pune.

The company also has set up a research and development (R&D) centre at Pune, the first such Wilo facility outside of Germany, where 40 engineers are working on new generation product development.

In India, Wilo operates through its subsidiary Mather and Platt Pumps, a manufacturer of centrifugal pumps up to 50,000 m³/hr, valves up to 2600 mm diameter and pumping systems for wa-ter supply, irrigation, energy, industry, building sector and wastewater fields. The company also specialises in the field of fire fighting systems from small buildings to large industrial plants.

Wilo Sets Up Manufacturing Plant At Kolhapur

(L-R) Srinivas P Kamisetty, MD, Lapp India; Siegbert E Lapp, Director, Lapp Holding AG and Frank Imkamp, CEO & President Asia-Pacific, Lapp Group

industry update


Transport Corpo-ration of India Limited (TCI),

has started a rail cargo express service from Bangalore to Guwahati. Under the service, TCI Freight, the surface transport division of TCI will run a weekly cargo train leaving every Sun-day from Bangalore.

For the new service, TCI has taken a Cargo Express Train on lease for three years, which has a capacity of 21 VP’s (20 Parcel vans+1 SLR) and can carry weight up to 468 tonnes. The average transit time for covering the distance will be reduced by 4-6 days; from 10-12 days by road to 5 days

by this rail service. The service between Bangalore and Guwahati will cover various states like Karna-taka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and other North Eastern states. The first and last mile delivery of the cargo will be under-taken by a dedicated fleet through road by TCI.

Vineet Agarwal, Ex-ecutive Director, TCI says, “Keeping in mind the needs of our customers and

growing trade between South and North East India, we have started this service between Bangalore and Guwahati. This is a multimodal service, which includes the best of road and rail logistics for a seamless, safe and reliable service.”

TCI Launches New Cargo Service Agility Expands Cross Border Services

Agility, a global logistics pro-vider, is expanding its South East Asian cross border truck-

ing operations—as demand grows for road services to connect countries across the region and into China. In 2009, China became ASEAN’s (Asso-ciation of South East Asian Nations) largest trading partner, accounting for 11.6 per cent of ASEAN’s total trade, while in the first eight months of 2010 trade between ASEAN and China was 47 per cent higher than the volume for the same period in 2009.

The company’s expanded cross bor-der service provides a viable option for trade within this area, and helps further develop growth. Mike Gildea, Agility’s Chief Executive Officer of South East Asia, says, “Customer demand for cross border logistics in South East Asia has been growing dramatically year-after-year as more manufacturers relocate to the region to take advantage of the increasing connectivity and lower labour and land costs.”

“Developing a cross border service will create jobs in the region and help the local economies grow. We are discovering that many customers find the door-to-door option suitable to provide the optimum solution for their supply chain needs,” he adds.

DHL Global Forwarding Singa-pore, the freight forwarding arm of DHL, has been awarded a

prestigious business win with Singapore Airlines. According to the development, DHL will manage global transportation of all in-flight amenities from Singapore Airlines—mainly through its distribution hubs in China, Germany and Singa-pore—to all of its network destinations and offices in the world. The current contract covers both ocean freight and air freight services.

As part of the contract, DHL will also provide all in-land transportation services to Singapore Airlines’ China and Germany hubs through its supply chain unit.

The operations com-menced as of 15th January this year at Singapore Air-lines’ hub in Singapore, and are expected to roll out in China and Germany in April and May 2011, respectively.

“We are confident that DHL can help Singapore Airlines deliver reduced costs and enhanced logistics efficiency—in order to meet global passenger demands. This further reinfoces our footing in international aviation logistics,” says Sam Ang, CEO, South-east Asia, DHL Global Forwarding.

International Clearing & Shipping Agency (ICSA) group, an interna-tional logistics service provider, is

implementing the next-generation Logi-Sys, a comprehensive ERP for logistics from Softlink. ICSA is the flagship company, which acts as the focal point of the group’s activities.

The group’s range of services covers various aspects of the logistics domain with the flexibility to tailor services

to suit the requirement of each client. They also operate one of the largest fleet of transport vehicles in South India with about 200 vehicles of vari-ous types and capacities—including cntainer terminal operations for DP World Terminals in the ports of Chennai and Vallarpadam. According to the com-pany, they selected the Softlink solution to integrate its operations and roll out a unified service optimization plan.

DHL Partners With Singapore Airlines

ICSA Implements Softlink’s Logi-Sys

Vineet Agarwal, Executive Director, TCI

Sam Ang, CEO, Southeast Asia, DHL Global Forwarding

Top level decision makers and field experts from the manufac-turing industries in and around Mumbai recently congregated in

the Industry 2.0 Manufacturing Conclave 2011. The annual meet successfully built an open platform for the industry runners and decision makers—to draw ideas from the proven practices for tackling their extant problems, to gain exposure on the forthcoming challenges and the ways to tackle them.

The full-day knowledge sharing conclave commenced with the presen-tation of Satish Kumar Agarwal, Chief –

Corporate Manufacturing, Apollo Tyres. In his talk, titled ‘Driving Quality and Excellence through the Organization’, Satish focused on various aspects of quality enhancement in a manufactur-ing organization.

Bhushan Deshpande, Managing Con-sultant - MES, Global Business Services, IBM delivered his presentation on ‘Using Technology for Manufacturing Excel-lence.’ He drew attention on the latest potentials of IT in enhancing organiza-tional efficiency.

Harbax V Manuja, Solution Special-ist, IBM, spoke on ‘Using Analytic Tools

to Improve Manufacturing Operations.’ He explained the role and capability of the latest analytic tools that can enable organizations to successfully expand their business.

Through his presentation—titled ‘Going Global: Strategies for Achiev-ing a Global Manufacturing Footprint,’ Biswanath Bhattacharya, Director, KPMG Advisory Services, vividly painted a picture of the emerging competitive business scenario that the progressive Indian manufacturers are going to wit-ness soon.

‘Data Centres Mean Business’ was the topic addressed by Amit Verma, Country DC Engagement Manager, APC/Schneider Electric. He explained the needs and potentials of owning ef-ficient data centres for every manufac-turing organization.

In one of the multi-track sessions, Pramod Deo, Assistant Vice Presi-dent - DSM, Reliance Infrastructure

While the Indian manufacturing industry is witnessing a momentous growth journey, apart from technology and engineering skill related issues, there are several other apparently secondary pain points—which are concomitantly growing. Besides addressing traditional issues, this time Industry 2.0 Manufacturing Conclave 2011, drew a special attention on those areas.

“I got a wonderful op-portunity to network with

industry experts.”

Sarbdeep S HanSpalAGM – OperAtiOnsKLt AutOMOtive &

tubuLAr prOducts

I came to know about new technologies. How-

ever, I have enjoyed an excellent presentation

on intellectual property issues. Overall, the event

met my expectation.

C r TalaTHivp -- OperAtiOns

Mirc eLectrOnics

“The content of the event was very good. All the lectures were informative.”

a r TipniSsr GM (prOductiOn)GrAuer & WeiL (indiA)

According to me some presentations were

excellent. For example—the talk on driving quality

and excellence through the organization.

Swapnil CHogleGenerAL MAnAGer --

OperAtiOnsKLt AutOMOtive &

tubuLAr prOducts Ltd.

Voices from some attendees The manufacturing conclave was up to my expectation. I liked the presentations on analytic tools and data centres.

dineSH V paivice president -- MAnufActurinGreLiAnce industries

“The event was very good. I could learn more about new manufac-turing practices and technology.”

K S SawanTMAnAGer – itAte enterprises

Tracing The FuTure Of Manufacturing

event report

Phot

os b

y Jit

en G

andh

i



and Swapna Nigalye, Manager - DSM, Reliance Infrastructure, delivered a presentation on ‘Energy Strategy & Management for Manufacturing’. Major S M A Nahri, Process Excellence India Head, Johnson & Johnson Medical-India, talked on ‘Transforming the Organization for Lean Manufacturing.’ Pankaj Kumar Lavania, Plant Head, CEAT, stressed on the need of embracing ‘Agile and Flexible Manufacturing’ practice.

In the other multi-track session focus-ing on the associative pain points of the manufacturing industry : Manish Advani, Head – Marketing, Mahindra Special

Services Group, made his detailed pre-sentation on ‘Security Risk Management in Manufacturing Organizations.’ Mahua Roy Chowdhury, Partner, Solomon & Roy Intellectual Property Services, descrip-tively explained the need of IP awareness to play safe in the international business arena. R Mahadevan, Director, Career Avenues (India), delivered a talk drawing attention on ‘Effective Recruiting, Retain-ing and Managing People.’

‘Imperatives for Green Manufactur-ing and Building a Business Case’ was the topic discussed by Vishal D Mehta, Senior Managing Consultant - Sustain-

ability and Manufacturing, IBM. His presentation highlighted the needs of the hour and the ways to go green.

Balaji Sahu, Head – Manufacturing, Gabriel India, talked on the need for ‘Implementation of Lean Manufacturing’ in Indian manufacturing organizations. He addressed the topic from a very ground level, where the primary thought of lean manufacturing finds its origin.

The eventful day of Industry 2.0 Manufacturing Conclave 2011 concluded with the distribution of Manufacturing Awards. The entire event was supported by APC and IBM.

Phot

os b

y Jit

en G

andh

i

SaTiSH Kumar agarwalchief – cOrpOrAte MAnufActurinG ApOLLO tyres

major S m a naHriprOcess exceLLence indiA heAd, JOhnsOn & JOhnsOn MedicAL-indiA

maHua roy CHowdHurypArtner, sOLOMOn & rOy inteLLectuAL prOperty services

bHuSHan deSHpandeMAnAGinG cOnsuLtAnt GLObAL business services ibM

Swapna nigalyeMAnAGer - deMAnd side MAnAGeMent, reLiAnce infrAstructure LiMited

r maHadeVandirectOr cAreer Avenues (indiA)

Harbax V manujasOLutiOn speciAList ibM

ViSHal d meHTaseniOr MAnAGinG cOnsuLtAnt, ibM

biSwanaTH bHaTTaCHaryadirectOr KpMG AdvisOry services

panKaj Kumar laVaniapLAnt heAd ceAt

balaji SaHuheAd – MAnufActurinG, GAbrieL indiA

amiT VermacOuntry dc enGAGeMent MAnAGer Apc/schnieder eLectric

maniSH adVaniheAd – MArKetinG MAhindrA speciAL services GrOup

pramod deoAssistAnt vp/dsM/ee/ec ceLL, reLiAnce infrAstructure LiMited

Adroit Mentors

Industry 2.0 recently organized the India Supply Chain Management (SCM) Conclave 2011. The event witnessed a mammoth crowd com-

prising senior supply chain and logistics managers from various Indian manufac-turing industries.

With his introductory speech—titled ‘Using Your Supply Chain for Competi-tive Advantages,’ Dr. Umesh Bahadur, Professor and Head of Operations Man-agement at SP Jain Institute of Manage-ment & Research (SPJIMR), started the day of knowledge sharing through interactive sessions.

Later the event continued in two par-allel tracks, keeping in view the varieties of knowledge needs among the assem-bled supply chain and logistics practi-tioners. However, again in the afternoon some common topics were addressed in a joint session. The day concluded with

the Logistics 2.0 SCM Awards presentation.

In the day-long event—Vineet Mehrotra, Director (FMCG), CHEP India talked on ‘Planning Future Focused Supply Chains;’ Ankur Modi, Head–Planning & Logistics, Hindustan Unilever delivered his presentation on ‘Coordi-nating & Managing Complex Supply Chains;’ Sanjay Sahay, Head–SCM, Larsen & Toubro took up the topic ‘Identifying & Managing Supply Chain Risks’ and NV Chandramouli, Head of Demand & Supply Chain, DSM Anti-Infectives AMEA fo-cused on the issues related to ‘Develop-ing Talent & Enhancing Skills for SCM.’

Among other speakers in the con-clave, there were—Supratim Ganguly,

Head–Contract Logistics, Future Sup-ply Chain who focused on ‘Enhanc-ing Visibility in the Supply Chain;’ Promod K Vashisht, Head–Logistics, Tata Chemicals who deliberated on

Top brasses from the Indian Logistics & Supply Chain industry recently participated in an interactive knowledge sharing forum, in Mumbai. They were exposed to various techniques to cope up with the ever growing complexities in the field.

Coping With the Changing SCenario

(L-R) Venkat Madhav L, Group VP – SCM, Amara Raja Johnson Controls; Vineet Mehrotra, Director (FMCG), CHEP India and Laxman Jagtap, Head Logistics and Compliance Integrated Supply chain, Honeywell Automation India, during the panel discussion on ‘Warehouse and DC planning and management.’

(L-R) R Ravichandran, Deputy General Manager Head - Supply Chain & Logistics Electrical Standard Products, Larsen & Tou-bro; N D Wagh, Vice President & Operations Head, Kirloskar Brothers; Lt. Col. Atul Holkar, Vice President, Pepsi, Varun Bev-erages and T Gopi, Head- Logistics & Supply Chain, Piaggio Vehicles, during the panel discussion on ‘Effective measure-ment of third party logistics and outsourced providers.’

(L-R) Anil S Lingayat, VP (Product Supply), Godrej & Boyce; N V Chandramouli, Head of Demand & Supply Chain, DSM Anti-Infectives AMEA and Promod Kumar Vashisht, Head – Logistics, Tata Chemicals, during the panel discussion on ‘Improving and optimising your supply chain.’

(L-R) Dr Umesh Bahadur, Professor and Head of Operations Management, SP Jain Institute of Management & Research; Kamlesh Upadhyay, Dy GM – Supply Chain, Raymond Apparel Limited; Rajiv Ganore, Head – Supply Chain, Knorr-Bremse Systems and Kaushik Dutta, Assistant VP - Delivery SCM Projects, Essar Informa-tion Technology (IT), during the panel discussion on ‘Measuring the performance of supply chain.’

event report


promod kumar vashishtHead – Logisticstata cHemicaLs

shashank raodeogm – suppLy cHain strategymaHindra & maHindra

“The event created an excellent networking

opportunity.”

makarand inamdar generaL manager

(suppLy cHain management)

reLiance industries

“I learnt about various supply chain practices and technologies from this event. I would like to attend other Industry 2.0 events.”

rajiv Ganore generaL manager Knorr-Bremse

“The quality of speakers in the event was

excellent.”

Lt. CoL. atuL hoLkar Vice president

pepsi Varun BeVerages

Voices from some attendees

Adroit Mentors

“Industry 2.0 SCM Conclave 2011 has met my expectation.”

deepak v. sawant generaL manager–projects tecHnoVa imaging systems

dr. umesh bahadurprofessor and Head of operations management, spjimr

n.v. ChandramouLiHead of demand & suppLy cHaindsm anti-infectiVes amea

vineet mehrotradirector (fmcg)cHep india

supratim GanGuLyHead – contract Logisticsfuture suppLy cHain

ankur modiHead - pLanning & LogisticsHindustan uniLeVer

sanjay sahayHead – scmeWac aLLoys Limited (L&t)

‘Customer-driven Cost-effective Supply Chains’ and Shashank Raodeo, Gen-eral Manager–Supply Chain Strategy, Mahindra & Mahin-dra, who unfolded different techniques for ‘Managing Complex Supply Chains.’

Apart from Q&A ses-sions, four highly interactive panel discussions created a fabulous opportunity for the attendees to exchange views on ‘Measuring the Performance of the Supply Chain,’ ‘Improving & Optimiz-ing Supply Chain’, ‘Effective measurement of third party logistics and outsourced pro-viders’ and ‘Warehouse and DC Planning & Management.’ The event was supported by CHEP, Future Supply Chain and Maersk Line. Ph

otos

by

Jiten

Gan

dhi


soft talk


Rockwell Automation has released Factory Talk Historian Machine Edition (ME) version 2.2

software with native connectivity to the OSIsoft PI System. With the latest release, PI System users who employ Allen-Bradley Control-Logix controllers now have an off-the-shelf, machine-level historian application that can easily transfer historical data to their on-site or enterprisewide PI System.

The native connectivity means that FactoryTalk Historian ME can automatically communicate with the PI System, allowing users to easily integrate their PI System with Rockwell Automation products to access a new level of visibility into production op-erations. Such scalable, historian applications allow manufacturers to rapidly tap into manufacturing intelligence and make process im-provements by leveraging granu-lar, real-time and historical pro-

duction data to improve product quality, speed time-to-market and support regulatory compliance.

Rockwell Automation designed the FactoryTalk Historian ME application to work as a stand-alone, rack-mounted historian or to roll-up into a larger plant or enterprise historian systems. Data is accessible from different locations where users can view and analyze role-appropriate historical information.

“Integrating data from a machine-level historian with data from a plant-level historian allows operators to locate and correct sources of inefficiencies more quickly to improve manufactur-ing consistency, energy use and first-pass quality,” said Frank

Kulaszewicz, Senior Vice Presi-dent, Architecture and Software, Rockwell Automation. “A plug-and-play historian that auto-matically configures with existing equipment and effortlessly feeds additional and more granular data into these systems is a cost-effective way to gather more actionable manufacturing data to improve operations,” he added.

With a modular historian, manufacturers can collect data in remote or hazardous locations

and when speed and reliability is crucial, such as oil and gas, mining, pharmaceutical or water treatment applications. Addi-tionally, machine builders can apply FactoryTalk Historian ME to pre-qualify the data collection of their machines, reducing the time required for on-site instal-lation, configuration and valida-tion efforts. In highly regulated industries, the application helps machine builders provide con-tinuous uptime and reliability. Because a machine-level histo-rian is directly connected to the application controller, network connections are not necessary to data collection. As long as the system has a power supply, data gathering is assured.

“FactoryTalk Historian ME version 2.2 is a logical exten-sion of the PI System infrastruc-ture,” said Ron Kolz, Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development, OSIsoft. “This new release ensures smooth and flexible data collection for the PI System and is a solution that will ultimately provide users with better access to their operational data,” he said.

Users also have more control over when data is transferred, which can save time and reduce costs. Transferring data can be expensive and every communica-tions medium has usage limits. A machine-level historian can be programmed to transmit data to avoid peak-usage hours, or can be remotely directed to halt and recommence transfer if vital information needs to be priori-tized. Once communication is reestablished—information from the period of isolation is immedi-ately accessible.

Optimizing Machine-level Data CollectionRockwell Automation has launched FactoryTalk Historian Machine Edition version 2.2 that adds additional functionality to help users quickly and easily optimize machine-level data collection for manufacturing intelligence.

The FactoryTalk Historian Machine

Edition version 2.2 allows users

to have enhanced control when data

is transferred.

technology update


BASF’s biodegradable plastic Ecovio FS Film is to be used in a pilot project by the waste

management service AWB, in the district of Bad Dürkheim , Germany. Starting on April 6, 2011, a three-month test will be conducted to determine whether the bags are suitable for col-lecting organic waste—and how these bags behave on a large scale at an organic composting plant in Grünstadt, owned by the waste management company GML Abfallwirtschaftsgesellschaft.

At the beginning of the project, each of the approximately 65,000 households in the district of Bad Dürkheim will receive 10 bags free of charge by mail along with information material. Additional bags will be available at a num-

ber of distribution points through-out the district. Residents are being encouraged to use the bags to collect food waste and then dispose of them via the organic waste bin.

According to BASF, garbage bags made of Ecovio make the collection and dis-posal of biodegrad-able waste cleaner, more hygienic and easier. They not only prevent unpleasant odours

and keep out insects, but also mean that it is no longer neces-sary to wash and clean the waste pail in the kitchen. The bags have enough wet strength, so that liquids from teabags or fruit left-overs cannot leak through and the bags remain stable, informs BASF sources. Although, the bags are not suitable for home composting, industrial composting plants can provide the conditions needed to ensure residue-free degradation.

The seedling logo that is printed on the bags indicates that the bags as well as the products Ecovio and Ecoflex meet the stringent statutory requirements of European standard EN 13432, which governs the biodegradation and the compostability of packag-ing. “In addition, an extensive series of tests conducted by

BASF at the organic composting plant in Grünstadt at the end of 2009 has demonstrated that the bags are also well-suited for the short cycle times of professional composting plants. Of the plastic bags tested, only organic waste bags made from Ecovio were degraded completely and quickly enough,” explained Jürgen Keck, Head of the Global Business with biodegradable plastics at BASF in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

BASF sources inform that the first Ecovio products made use of BASF’s classic, oil-based biodegradable polyester Ecoflex, Ecovio FS Film is a new develop-ment. This material is made of the partially bio-based Ecoflex FS and PLA (Polylactic Acid), which is obtained from corn starch. Because of this combina-tion, the bags used in the Bad Dürkheim project consist of more than 50 per cent renewable raw materials.

Like the biodegradable waste itself, the Ecovio molecules are broken down by microorganisms with the aid of enzymes. The decisive factor for this degrada-tion process is the structure of the molecule, not the origin of the raw materials. At the end of the composting process, the micro-organisms completely convert the bags into carbon dioxide, water and biomass. This is a key advantage in terms of waste recovery, since the waste disposal companies do not have to remove the bags labouriously. On the contrary, the bags are turned into valuable compost together with the rest of the biodegrad-able waste. Ecovio bags can thus help in reducing the volume of the biodegradable waste in residual waste bins, protect the environ-ment and reduce the cost of disposing of residual waste.

Garbage bags made of Ecovio

make the collection and

disposal of biodegradable waste cleaner, more hygienic

and easier.

AWB and BASF are to start a pilot project with compostable bags for biodegradable waste in the district of Bad Dürkheim, Germany. Although these bags need industrial composting plants, which facility is to be provided by GML Abfallwirtschaftsgesellschaft for this project, this is a praiseworthy step towards protecting the environment.

Deploying Compostable Bags

market dynamics


In 2009, long-term institu-tional asset owners held slightly under half of the world’s professionally man-

aged assets—approximately US$ 27 trillion out of US$ 65 trillion. The WEF- Wyman report finds that long-term investors as a whole have been able to allocate only 25 per cent of their capital to long-term investments, and this figure is likely to fall as a result of the economic crisis and increas-ing regulation.

The report finds that there are considerable internal challenges that must be overcome when making long-term investments. Many institutions have material short-term financial obligations that must be funded with short-

term investments. Furthermore, investors must overcome or-ganizational conservatism and principal-agency considerations to make long-term decisions. These additional internal con-

straints make funding difficult to find for projects with short-term losses but potentially significant long-term gains.

Tony Tan Keng-Yam, Deputy Chairman and Executive Director, Government of Singapore Invest-ment Corporation, Singapore, and Chair of the steering committee for the WEF’s Long-term Invest-ing project, says, “This report highlights the significant barriers that must be overcome in order to execute an effective long-term investing strategy and the broader economic implications of those constraints.”

In addition to internal chal-lenges, there are significant regulatory pressures that also impact the ability to make long-term investments. For instance, mark-to market accounting and strict capital requirements can limit the ability to make long-term investments and promoting pro-cyclical behaviour on the part of the long-term investors.

According to Angelien Kemna, Chief Investment Officer, APG All Pensions Group, Netherlands, “Having to account for mark-to-market price changes for assets that we do not intend to sell for

Increasing Constraints To Long-term Investing

More engaged ownership

of public companies

by sharehold-ers should be encouraged.

A recent report titled, ‘The Future of Long-term Investing’ by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with Oliver Wyman, points out that the ability to make long-term investments is diminishing at a time—when the need for long-term capital is significantly growing.

Four Key Findings From The WEF—Oliver Wyman Survey● Increasing constraints to long-term investing will limit the availabil-

ity of long-term capital in the global economy.● Long-term capital is more necessary than ever to fund important

needs (e.g., infrastructure, innovation and the transition to a low-carbon economy); it acts as a counter-cyclical force in financial markets and can impact the time horizon of corporate managers.

● Insurance and pension fund regulation may have unintended adverse consequences on economic growth.

● Long-term investors should work to better address principal-agent misalignment in their investment process.


many decades makes it harder for us to hold these assets through a market downturn.”

Increasing constraints can prove challenging for the broader economic recovery, as there

are significant societal benefits that can arise from long-term investing, especially in a post-crisis environment.

“The world is looking to long-term investors to help fund

projects such as infrastructure that have historically been funded by Governments. However, these investors are increasingly unable to meet these needs,” notes Max von Bismarck, Director and Head of Investors Industries at the WEF.

In addition to long-term proj-ects, corporations with long-term shareholders are more likely to make significant investments in R&D and other long-term initia-tives, investments that enable economic growth. Policy-makers therefore face a dilemma when regulating long-term investors. Julia Hobart, Partner at Oliver Wyman and Senior Adviser to the project, highlights “Policy-makers must integrate their dual goals of ensuring solvency and stability of individual institutions with pro-moting broader global economic growth. When these issues are considered separately, significant unintended effects can arise.”

Six Recommendations For Long-term Investors, Regulators And Policy-makers

● Policy-makers should consider the unintended impact of regulatory decisions on investor ability to make long-term investments.

● Policy-makers should mitigate the impact of capital protectionism on long-term investors.

● Long-term investors should develop performance measurement systems that balance fostering a long-term perspective with short-term accountability.

● Long-term investors should implement compensation systems that better align stakeholders with the long-term mandate.

● Long-term investors should promote among stakeholders a better understanding of the implications of a long-term investing strategy.

● More engaged ownership of public companies by shareholders should be encouraged by policy-makers and long-term investors.

* The recommendations are intended to ease the constraints on long-term investing and increase the benefits that flow from it.

manufacturing technology


Monitoring relays provide a maximum degree of safety for machines, plants, systems and people. They serve to indicate or even trip the circuits when the conditions go off normal. Compared to the expenditure involved in mending damaged electrical machinery and /or compensating for plant or factory accidents, deployment of suitable monitoring relays involves much less cost.

ElEctrical MachinEryProtEcting

The continuity of electrical power supply is very important, especially for the industrial sector—where a stoppage of process is extremely costly. Hence, it is important to

take the necessary action to prevent faults, and if these do occur, to minimize potential damage to life, equipment and property.

Typically, electrical motors are used as prime movers to any machine. The motor is protected with



the help of an overload relay, which is a switchgear item. In case of type 2 coordinated feed-ers; this overload relay is also protected by fuse.

If one takes an overall view of the system comprising machine, its electric motor, switching and protecting switchgear items, then the cost of the switchgear is the minimum followed by the cost of the motor and then the highest cost item is the machine itself.

If a fault in the system dam-ages the machine, then there is a huge loss of money compared to when there is damage to the

motor or to the switchgear. When we use overload relay (bi-metal relay), it senses only limited parameters (phase currents) and protects the motor. But there are many parameters that need to be monitored for more accurate and effective motor and more importantly machine protection such as: 1. Line monitoring2. Load monitoring3. Insulation monitoring4. Level monitoring5. Speed monitoring6. Temperature monitoring7. Residual current monitoring

Monitoring relays provide a maximum degree of protection for

machines, plants and systems. This means that line and voltage faults, the effect of wear due to differential loading and insula-tion faults are detected early, and the appropriate response is initiated before more significant damage can occur. It also reduces the system downtime. Hence, the monitoring relays as a part of the switchgear product portfolio indirectly saves you money.

Buying and installation deci-sion for a particular switchgear device is influenced by various factors, viz., importance of the device for the installation, instal-

lation cost, the expected lifetime of the device and the future costs (e.g., repair costs, loss of produc-tion) in case of failures.

Let us analyze each type of monitoring devices and the monitored parameters along with the necessity of monitoring the same.

Three phase line monitoring device The 3-phase line monitoring device monitors phase unbalance, phase loss, phase sequence, under voltage, over voltage, under current, over current conditions and the healthiness of neutral conductor of the system.

Phase unbalanceWhen the voltages of the three phases are not equal, it is called the phase unbalance condition. The current increases radically in the motor windings, and if al-lowed to continue, the motor can get damaged. The unequal single-phase loads, open delta connec-tions causes phase unbalance.

Phase unbalance can be pre-vented by early detection using monitoring relays. We need to just set the percentage of voltage above which relay should change over its contacts for warning.

Single phasing or phase lossWhen one phase of a secondary opens, the current to a motor in the two remaining phases theo-retically increases to √3 (173 per cent) times the normal current of the motor. The increase can be as much as 2 times (200 per cent) because of power factor changes. The two remaining phases can burn out in a few minutes.

Where the motor has a high inertia load, the current can ap-proach locked rotor values under phase loss conditions. During phase loss, the temperature rise may not vary directly with the motor current. In fact, the motor temperature rise may increase at a rate greater than the increase in current. The protective devices, which sense only current may not provide complete single-phasing protection, additional protec-tive means may be necessary when a single-phasing protection is required. Generally, smaller horsepower rated motors have more thermal capacity than larger horsepower rated motors and are more likely to be protected by conventional motor running overload devices.

Causes of phase loss are—breaking of single cable, blowing of only single fuse, open connec-tion in wiring such as in motor junction box (caused by vibra-

The cost of the switchgear is the minimum

followed by the cost of the

motor and then the highest

cost item is the machine itself.

Machine

Motor

Switchgear

COSTLOw

DOwn TiMe

HigH

HigH

LOw



tion), poor connections—particu-larly when aluminium conductors are not properly joined to copper conductors or when aluminium conductors are inserted into terminals and lugs suitable for use with copper conductors or copper-clad conductors only.

Immediate detection of phase loss is needed—so as to take the corrective action and protect the motor and other equipment of the feeder.

wrong phase sequence or phase reversalMotors running in the wrong direction can damage the system or persons. Changing the phase sequence means a change of the direction of rotation of the con-nected device, e.g., a generator, pump or fan. Some applications—which attempt to spin the motor backwards will result in damage to the load.

If the phase sequence at the terminals L1-L2-L3 is correct, the output relay picks up after the

end of set time delay and the LED is lit. If the phase sequence is wrong, the output relay remains in its rest position. The changeover contact of monitoring relay can be used to indicate this condition.

Under-voltage conditionFor 3 phase load (kw) = 3½ x V x I x cos ф ; For single phase load (kW) = V x I x cos ф If voltage goes below the rated value, the motor will draw the current higher than the rated val-ue to drive the load kW attached to it. This increased current in turn overheats the motor and cables. If the voltage dips occur in the line supplies, this situation can be avoided by monitoring the under-voltage condition.

Overvoltage conditionDevices are rated for a particular voltage and current values. If the voltage exceeds the rated value, then it can damage the device. Also, the insulation cannot with-stand overvoltage situation.

Faults in neutral conductorThe 3-phase-4 wire electrical system has R-Y-B-N conduc-tors, where N stands for neutral conductor. Balanced system has phasor sum IR + IY + IB = IN = 0. Whenever there is the phase unbalance, the phasor sum of the current is not equal to zero. The neutral current is not zero and current flows through the neutral.

Even in case of balanced load, the harmonics cause the current to flow through the neutral. The building having many computers installed, generate substantial amount of third harmonic. Third harmonic currents add instead of cancel out on the neutral wire. Therefore, in a building with a large number of personal comput-ers installed, the neutral wire can carry much higher currents than it was designed for. So, there is a possibility of getting shock if neu-tral conductor is broken in case of unbalanced system. Protection of neutral is thus essential. The neutral conductor current needs to be monitored.

The line monitoring device typically allows the user to set the parameters. The firmware of the processor analyses the actual values against the set values to give the indication, if the set values are exceeded.

Current monitoring relayUndercurrent conditionUndercurrent condition can lead to contactor not picking up, and thus gives difficulty in starting the motor. In the running condi-tion also undercurrent condition is undesirable.

Empty water pump can be a dangerous situation. The water typically provides pump cool-ing. Without the cooling water, case temperature can reach an extremely high value. If valves are opened under these conditions, and cold water is allowed to reach red-hot metal parts, the resulting

Applications of a typical line monitoring deviceMeasured quantity Possible plant or system fault

Phase sequence Direction of rotation of the drive

Phase failure A fuse has blownControl supply voltage has failedSingle-phase operation of a motor with corresponding overheating

Phase dissymmetry

Motor overheating as a result of non-symmetrical voltages or phase failureLine supplies with non-symmetrical load are detectedA phase failure is detected inspite of regenerative feedback

Undervoltage

Motor draws an increased current and in turn overheatsA device is undesirably resetDetection of line supply dips, especially when supplied from a batteryThreshold value switch for analog signals 0 to 10 V

Overvoltage

A plant is protected against destruction due to supply overvol-tagesA plant or system switches-in above a certain voltageThreshold value switch for analog signals 0 to 10 V

Insulation monitoring The insulation resistance for non-grounded plants and systems is monitored

Havells contactors undergo stringent quality tests. The entire range of Havells contactors is made from environment-friendly virgin plastic. The range includes 3 pole & 4 pole, AC or DC Controlled Contactors, Capacitor Switching Contactors, Thermal Overload Relays and Motor Protection Circuit Breakers. The superior grade raw materials make them resistant to dust, pollution, voltage variations and they operate in varied ambient temperatures upto 55°C. The range complies to latest IEC Standards and are used in all application areas across the world.

Branch Offices: NORTH: Delhi: Tel: 0120-4771000, Chandigarh: Tel: 0172 4232400-401, Dehradun: Tel: 0135-2521025, 2521552, Haryana: Tel: 91-120 2477848 / 853, Noida: Tel: 0120-3055609/ 3055610, Ludhiana: Tel: 0161-4676001 / 6024, Jammu: Tel: 0191-2490424, Jaipur: Tel: 0141-3988210, Kanpur: Tel: 09935533751 /52/53, 0512-2690128/129/130, Lucknow: 0522-2201032,2200938. EAST: Kolkata: Tel: 033-40129851/52, Bhubaneshwar: Tel: 0674-2598104, 2598105, 2598106, Guwahati: Tel: 0361-2134521, 2458923, Siliguri: Tel: 0353-2525907, 3290402, Jamshedpur: Tel: 0657-6542492, 09234369436, Patna: Tel: 0612-3244218, 2655519. WEST: Mumbai: Tel: 022-67298600-603, Ahmedabad: Tel: 079-40061111, 40060738-740, Indore: Tel: 0731-2572340-41, 4009998, Rajkot: Tel: 0281-3013289/3013290, Nagpur: Tel: 0712-2224132, 2222692, 2222029, Pune: Tel: 020-64016413/14, Raipur: Tel: 0771-4243400 / 01, Surat: Telefax: 0261-2350137. SOUTH: Chennai: Tel: 044-28526941-44, Bangalore: Tel: 080-49075005, Coimbatore: Telefax: 0422-2305767, 2306199, 2305199, Hyderabad: Tel: 040-27533372, 27533355, 27533632, 66320407/0408/6401/6402, Kochi: Tel: 0484-4099000, 2393165, 2393068, Vishakapatnam: Tel: 0891-6514339.



steam pressures can destroy the pump and pose a serious person-nel hazard. Consequently, under-current is also equally dangerous condition as overcurrent, hence needs monitoring.

Over-current conditionOver-current, because of overload or short circuit, is current which is more than the set value that leads to excessive generation of heat and the risk of fire or dam-age to equipment. Obviously, we need to monitor the system for over-current.

In case of overload relay, the inverse time delay curve is fol-lowed. So, if the current is (say) two times the rated set value, the relay will not trip immediately. However, in case of monitoring relay—whenever the current exceeds the set value, the contact changes over after the comple-tion of set trip time delay. These contacts can be used to give indication and / or tripping of the contactor. So, the processes and machines which cannot tolerate the current above the set value for long time—can be monitored for over-current conditions by monitoring relays.

Load monitoring relayThe load monitoring device helps monitoring the load condition viz., no load, under load and overload conditions. The load comprises the following:

As shown in the graph in next page, cos φ changes significantly

below the rated load. The current (I) increases over proportionally above the rated load. However, the product (I x cos φ = the active current Iactive) indicates a linear correlation between the motor load and the measured value over the entire measuring range. Active current Iactive can thus give idea about the load condition.

If the motor is running with un-der load, the actual active power is not equal to the apparent power, since the unused current component is converted to mag-netic energy; the reactive power. This power is not useful and thus wasted. The ratio between the active kW and the apparent power kVA (i.e., power factor) can thus give idea about the load in order to guarantee proper opera-tion of the motor within a specific load range.

Thus, monitoring of active current and power factor both give better idea about the load condition. A typical load moni-toring relay monitors the active current and the power factor and compares with the set values for giving the no load, under load and over load indications.

Residual current monitoringOver a time, systems may experi-ence insulation problems caused by humidity or severe contamina-tion. These problems cause re-sidual currents, which may result in fatal system damage. Using a residual current monitoring relay in combination with the summa-

tion current transformer, such po-tential hazards can be eliminated.

Generally, vector sum IR + IY + IB – IN = 0 in both the balanced and unbalanced load condition. If the difference between the cur-rent flowing out the live conduc-tors (R-Y-B) and that returning through the neutral conductor (N) is not equal to zero, then there is a possibility of leakage current to earth, or to another circuit. Any fault to earth for example caused by a person touching a live com-ponent in the attached appliance or cable puncture can also cause leakage current in the system. This leads to vector sum of (IR + IY + IB – IN) > zero.

The summation current transformer senses residual current in machines and plants. The principle of the summation CT is that—it measures sum of currents passing through RYB-N phases (IR, IY, IB and IN), and if the sum is non-zero i.e., the re-sidual current—induces a current in the secondary winding of the CT. This current can be evalu-ated in the monitoring device and is used to display the actual residual current.

If the measured residual cur-rent exceeds the set warning value, the changeover contacts instantly changes the switch-ing state and an indication can be available on the display. If the measured residual current exceeds the set tripping value, the set delay time begins and the associated device symbol flashes. On expiry of this time, the associ-ated changeover contact changes the switching state. Residual current monitoring device thus should be used along with the summation CT.

Applications: This is applied in systems which are prone to re-sidual currents, e.g., residual cur-rent caused by dust deposits or humidity, porous cables and lines, capacitive residual currents.

Applications of a load monitoring relayMonitoring parameter Plant/system states

Current monitoring

Overload monitoringUnderload monitoring close to the rated torqueMonitoring the functionality of electric loads Wire breakage monitoringEnergy management (phase current monitoring)Threshold value switch for analog signals upto 20 mA



Insulation monitoringTo detect isolation faults within ungrounded AC or DC systems, insulation needs to be checked. The insulation resistance between the ungrounded single or three-phase AC supply or ungrounded pure DC network and a protective conductor is monitored. If the resistance goes below a certain safe resistance value in ohms, it indicates that the insulation is not sufficient, and it may lead to a ground fault. The relay can give an early indication of the condi-tion of the insulation much before a ground fault occurs.

The relay applies a superim-posed voltage (a voltage that is independent from the monitored network) between ground and isolated network. When a phase to ground fault occurs the insula-tion resistance between the phase and ground decreases, so if the resistance between the network and ground drops below the set resistance threshold value, the device trips and announces this event by way of an indication or the power supply is disconnected.

Applications: It is needed in all systems requiring permanent insulation monitoring, and which are galvanically isolated from mains and supplied by an isolat-ing transformer or by generator or by battery need monitoring.

Level monitoringFilling the tank or container, if liquid level is below the re-quired—or draining it if the liquid

exceeds the needed level, is managed by level monitoring. The level monitoring devices can be used with sensors to monitor the levels of conductive liquids. The electrodes are immersed into the medium to be monitored. Current flows if the probes are immersed in the liquid, no current flows if probes fall dry, in this way we can monitor the liquid level. Depend-ing upon the level of liquid, the monitoring relay switches on or off the motor to fill or drain off the liquid.

Applications: To maintain the minimum and maximum level of liquid in the swimming pool, over-flow protection, dry run protec-tion, leak monitoring etc., need liquid levels to be checked.

Speed monitoringThe motor should run at rated speed during normal operation. If the motor speed exceeds the rated speed, there is a danger of

damaging the load, be it the drive and/or the motor itself (if reached critical speed). The overall ef-ficiency of the system is reduced when the motor runs at lower than the rated speed.

Sensors can be attached to a motor to measure the pulses per rotation of the motor. A speed monitoring device can evaluate the speed from received pulses per rotation from sensors. Thus, it continuously monitors against the set point speed of the mo-tor—if the lower or upper limit is exceeded.

Applications: For monitoring the slip speed or tear of a belt drive, overload monitoring, transport monitoring for completeness, load shedding, standstill monitoring.

Temperature monitoringThe temperature monitoring device can be used for measur-ing temperatures in solid, liquid and gaseous media. They monitor temperatures to evaluate whether they lie within the specific operat-ing range. The temperature in the medium can be detected by the sensors, evaluated by the device and monitored for overshoot or undershoot. When the threshold values are reached, the device switches ‘on or off’ depending on the parameterization.

Applications: Motor and system protection, control cabinet

Applications of a load monitoring relayMonitoring parameter Plant/system states

Power factor and active current monitoring

No-load monitoringUnderload monitoring in the lower power rangeOverload monitoringExtremely simple power factor monitoring of line supplies to control compensation equipmentEnergy managementInterrupted cable between the cabinet and the motor

Monitoring of active current and power factor



temperature monitoring, freeze monitoring, temperature limits checking for process industries e.g., in the packaging industry or electroplating, monitoring the temperature of motor, bear-ing and gear oil, monitoring of coolants, controlling equipment and machines such as heating systems, climate and ventilation systems, solar collectors, heat pumps or warm water supplies, temperature control of injection moulding machine.

Thermistor motor protectionMotor windings have to be protected reliably against high temperatures. The windings of three-phase motors are coated by an insulating film that can get damaged or even destroyed immediately in case of high temperatures. To guarantee long-term availability of the motor, the windings must never be exposed to critical temperatures.

If the direct temperature acquisition inside the wind-

ings of the motor is done, then continuously we can monitor the temperature. For this purpose, the motors can be equipped with temperature-dependent resis-tors (PTC) that can be directly installed in the motor winding and

abruptly change their resistance at their limit temperature.

Direct motor protection by temperature monitoring of the motor winding gives 100 per cent motor protection even under the most difficult ambient conditions, without the need to make adjust-ments on the device.

Applications: Motor protection at high ambient temperatures, motors used at high switching frequency, for long start-up and braking procedures, motor used together with frequency convert-ers, irregular intermittent duty, in all such cases the thermistor mo-tor protection devices can be used.

ConclusionIt is said ‘precaution is always better than cure’, so it is always better to monitor the system for different faulty conditions and get indications before they actually damage the electrical system. Monitoring relays serve the precautionary function, and hence potential damages to the systems are averted with mini-mum investments.

Source: Siemens Ltd.

A typical 3-phase—4-wire system

Principle of working of an insulation monitoring relay

facilities & operations


Expectant mothers are familiar with a procedure that—when the physi-cian examines them with

an ultrasound apparatus that displays lifelike images of the fetus on the monitor. The application of this technology has been custom-ary in medicine for years; in ma-terials testing though, it has been used only in relatively rudimentary form to date.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Non-Destructive Testing IZFP in Saarbrücken have adapted the conventional sonar procedure—a simple ultrasound method—and have succeeded in generating 3D images with the aid of innovative software. At the same time, they have increased the testing rate a hundredfold.

Many areas of quality as-surance or production for the construction industry call for reliable testing methods—be it pipelines, railway wheels, com-ponents for power plants, bridge piers or items mass-produced by the thousands, there is a need to

ensure that deep down the items produced are free from tiny fis-sures or imperfections.

For many years, ultrasound has proven a valuable tool in non-destructive materials testing. An ultrasonic transducer radiates sound waves into the workpiece, and the time the signals require to travel and be reflected back indicates where material defects are located. Scanning workpieces in this way is relatively time-con-suming, since, an inspection tact can only register a single beam angle. Thus, many measurements must be performed to assemble the composite image suitable for evaluation of inspection results.

However, this approach is too slow if ultrasound testing is to be integrated in ongoing production

or applied to large components. That is why Dr.-Ing. Andrey Bula-vinov and his team at IZFP have developed a method that works at up to 100 times the speed.

“We no longer use the sonar method that emits a sound field in just one particular direction. Instead, we use the probe—which experts refer to as a ‘phased array’—to generate a defocused, non-directional wave that pen-etrates the material. What we get back are signals coming from all directions, and the computer uses these signals to reconstruct the composite image,” explains Dr. Bulavinov.

In a manner similar to subter-ranean seismic testing, it ana-lyzes physical changes the wave encounters in the material—dif-fraction and heterodyning—and uses this information to determine the conditions within the mate-rial itself. He says, “We follow the sound field and calculate the workpiece characteristics on the basis of that. Similar to computer tomography in medicine, in the end we receive three-dimensional images of the examined object—where any imperfections are easy to identify. The startling thing about this approach is that with it, a fissure is now visible even if the ultrasound was not specifically directed at it.”

I-Deal Technologies, an IZFP spinoff, markets testing systems based on this principle. “The method is suitable for virtually all materials used in the aerospace as well as the automobile industry, particularly for lightweight materi-als,” Managing Director Bulavinov emphasizes. “Our method is even suited for use with austenitic steel—a type of steel that current-ly can be tested with traditional ultrasound methods only to a very limited degree,” he continues.

Ultrasound has been a valuable tool in non-destructive materials testing for years. But the demands of modern production conditions are increasing all the time. A more reliable process now delivers testing results at a rate that is up to a hundred-fold higher.

Scientists have generated 3D

images with the aid of an

innovative software.

Also, they’ve increased the testing rate a hundredfold.

Lightning-fast Materials Testing

Exclusive Distributor and Service provider

H.O.:

www.stengineers.com

No. 22, Vasanth Nagar, Singanallur, Coimbatore 641005.

Tel: 0422 2590810, 2591470, 2593487, Fax: 0422 2573629

Email: [email protected] |

Branches:

Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad,

Kerala, Kolhapur, Mumbai, New Delhi & Pune.

Hosur,

Hall 13(12A)

Pavilion 7

FX 380A Five Axis Machining Center

Panchaloha is a term for traditional five-metal alloys

of sacred significance used for making Hindu temple icons.

The practice of making panchaloha icons is a

few thousand years old.

’s FX380A is the most compact 5-axis

machining center in its class, designed to handle

meticulous requirements of hard milling applications.

Power of Five.

opinion


Following three turbulent yet encouraging years for the global cleantech industry, oscillating

traction is now crystallizing across some of the more mature cleantech markets. Against this uncertain and shifting backdrop, Datamonitor makes its top five predictions for global green busi-ness in 2011 and beyond.

Low-carbon power generation will grow at a fast paceThe global power industry is in the early stage of a massive transformation programme led by China, the US and Europe that will see it shift direction and expand radically over the coming decades.

Long-term prospects continue to improve for both nuclear and renewable energy sources, sup-ported by Government incentives and higher fossil fuel prices. From 2007 to 2035, the share of world electricity generation from renew-able sources will grow from 18 to 23 per cent, with hydropower and wind expected to be the largest contributors to the increase in renewable power output.

Of the 4,500TWh of new renewable generation capacity, 2,400TWh (54 per cent) will be hydropower and 1,200TWh (26 per cent) will come from wind. The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2010 con-firms that while forms of renew-able power generation other than hydroelectricity and wind remain

a small part of the total, bio-mass, waste, and tidal or wave or oceanic energy output levels are expected to increase from roughly 235 to 870TWh (a compound an-nual growth rate of nearly 4.8 per cent) over the projected period. In 2011, there will be more strong growth in low-carbon energy gen-eration as the investment market is progressively opened up to institutional investors.

China will solidify its role as the world’s green superpowerChina is now the world’s largest consumer of energy, ahead of the US, which it also surpassed as the world’s greatest emitter of greenhouse gases. Energy is a

major strategic issue for China’s national security, economic development and social stability. As standards of living improve, so will the country’s green energy ambitions. China’s massive re-newable energy programme aims to generate 15 per cent of power needs from renewable energy sources by 2020. To meet this tar-get, more than $1tn of investment will be made.

Of the various forms of re-newable power generation, the outlook for wind power in China is the strongest globally. China is also expected to make an increas-ingly large contribution to the global solar energy market, albeit from a modest base, while deploy-ing record levels of hydropower capacity in ways and locations

that Western Governments no longer attempt.

China has also revealed plans to build 10 nuclear reactors at a cost of $121.5bn, in addition to 25 already under construction, in an attempt to generate five per cent of its power from nuclear by 2020. These reactors will be some of the world’s most technologically advanced (e.g., Westinghouse’s AP1000 and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation’s CPR-1000, as well as other high-temperature gas-cooled reactors and fast reactors) and will deliver an eightfold increase in nuclear capacity from 10.8GW currently to 86GW by 2020. This will make China the world’s second largest

Focusing on The FuTure oFgreen Business

Being released from the grip of global economic recession that precluded

growth of almost all economies worldwide, now is the time for reframing

the strategies for future strides in the field of clean technologies. Datamonitor,

a provider of premium global business information, highlights top five green

business trends for 2011.


source of nuclear power genera-tion after the US.

China’s $736bn plan to develop nuclear, wind, solar, and bio-mass power generation will have enormous implications along the low-carbon energy value chain.

US President Obama’s environmental agenda In 2011, the Obama administration will forge ahead with plans to curb US carbon dioxide emissions and reduce its reliance on energy imports.

However, the President’s plans to deliver legislation to Congress in installments will be met by fierce opposition from Republicans. Democrats and environmental groups should brace themselves for congressional investigations into the science behind climate change, the Obama administration’s handling of the BP oil spill, and the legality of current and proposed environmental legislation.

Coupled with the administra-tion’s failure to make progress on market mechanisms such as carbon cap-and-trade (mandated in the Copenhagen Accord), it is clear that the US’s climate change policies and its international cred-ibility are in poor shape. There is little consolation for President Obama from a Supreme Court ruling allowing the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate

greenhouse gas emissions and a tax bill compromise allowing an extension of grants and tax breaks for green projects. The COP17 climate change conference in Dur-ban will feel the full force of the new Republican power bloc, which will challenge any global deal as well as the Obama administra-tion’s wider green agenda.

Demand-side management and ‘smart’ networks will remain big businessTechnologies that deliver ambi-tious reductions in industrial and commercial energy demand at minimal cost will prevail, as will those that boost decentralized and sustainable power genera-tion and infrastructure capacity. Indeed, global investment in

small-scale, distributed genera-tion projects surged by 91 per cent last year to approximately E60bn (according to Bloomberg). This was mainly for rooftop and other small-scale solar projects, mostly in Germany but also in the US, Czech Republic and Italy. The creation of innovative poli-cies in the UK such as the Green Deal (the government’s proposal to enable private companies to make energy efficiency measures at no upfront cost) and the Green Investment Bank (which creates opportunities for stakeholders to engage with and stimulate the green economy) show the way for-ward for other countries.

Electric car sales will growThe hybrid or electric car market is the subject of increasing inter-est from stakeholders ranging from Governments, through

vehicle and component manufac-turers, to the investment commu-nity and end-users. The adoption of hybrid or electric cars across the top five European automotive markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) has been slow in terms of actual vehicles sold, across all five markets. Hybrid or electric cars represented less than one per cent of total new car sales and made up less than 0.5 per cent of the total car parc in 2009. Datamonitor predicts that the hybrid or electric car market will witness a strong growth over the coming four years (France, 23 per cent; Germany, 22 per cent; Italy, 19 per cent; Spain, 20 per cent; the UK, 29 per cent), which will increase slightly during the run-up to 2020.

green Business


Foundries constitute a big share in polluting environment, also improper designs of furnaces lead to a great loss of scarce resources. StrikoWestofen, a Germany-based company, offers modern, tailor-made solutions for melting and dosing the non-ferrous metals like aluminium, magnesium and zinc. Engineers from the company are describing various aspects of modern aluminium foundry design technology that save energy, reduce pollution, prevent loss and improve productivity at various stages of foundry operation.

by klaus malpohl and rudolf hillen

cover story

operations

managingmelting

The cost situation of a foundry is largely influenced by the efficiency of the melting shop. As the non-ferrous metals processed in the melting shop are very expensive, metal loss is an important cost factor. For aluminium, a metal loss of one per cent of an an-

nual melting output of 5,000 tonnes corresponds to a financial loss of more than 100,000 EUR. Given a yield of 50 per cent, this amount must be allocated to cast-ings weighing a total of 2,500 t. Hence, the lost metal means extra costs of 5 to 10 cent per one kilo casting weight. This is a not to be neglected magnitude.

Also, energy consumption may vary largely de-pending on the melting process used. Here, not only the efficiency of the plants matter, but all other fac-tors affecting overall consumption must be consid-ered, including all auxiliary energy sources. Like-wise all maintenance-related and wear parts costs must be included in the cost considerations—as well

as the effort associated with the operation of the plants. Considerable cost savings can be realized, e.g., when mechanical devices capable of charging complete transport container loads are used instead of manual loading.

Another important aspect is the quality of the met-al produced by the melting and holding plants, as this is a key prerequisite for a high-quality casting. The number of useful direct testing methods in the melt-ing shop is very limited. This makes it very difficult to determine and document the quality, especially as there are no universal assessment criteria. Against this background, it is vital to be able to reproduce proven procedures of the overall process as reliably as possible to guarantee a uniformly high quality of the melt. This especially refers to procedures such as checking of incoming material deliveries, “gentle” melting of the raw material, correct treatment of the metal and last but not least maintenance of the melt-ing and holding equipment.


Pict

ure

Cour

tesy

: ww

w.co

mm

sp.e

e.ic

.ac.

uk There is no universal answer to the question as to how the melting and holding facilities in an alu-minium die casting plant should be designed. As a general rule, clear separation between melting and holding is recommendable. In the melting shop, not only solid metal in the form of ingots is melted—but also the returns from the casting operation—such as ingate systems overflow recesses and scrap. Mixing virgin material and returns has a positive effect on nucleation during solidification. Further tasks per-formed in the melting shop include the treatment of the molten metal and the holding of the melt at pour-ing temperature until it is being used. The follow-ing proven rule has remained valid even for today’s foundry operations: “Fuel for melting and electricity for holding.” This rule takes into account the more favourable costs of natural gas and mineral oil ver-sus electricity and the high thermal energy demand of aluminium melting processes. Figure 1 illustrates the specific thermal energy demand for heating up,

melting and superheating pure metals. For unalloyed aluminium, figure 2 shows that of all the thermal en-ergy required about 58 per cent are needed for heat-ing up the charge to melting temperature, and 34 per cent for melting the charge down. Compared to these amounts, subsequent superheating to casting tem-perature takes up only a relatively small share of the overall heat requirement.

If large amounts of metal are needed and a re-melting shop is at a moderate distance from the foundry, the purchase of molten metal, which will be retained in holding furnaces until needed in the foundry, is a possible alternative to melting down solid metal. In this case, the melting shop’s task is limited to processing the returns arising from the foundry operations. It is recommended to remelt the returns in-house and mix them with the delivered molten metal. As mentioned above, this is an attrac-tive option not only for cost reasons—experience from practical operation has proved that such melts


have superior casting properties. Mixing the molten metal, which contains only very few nuclei, with the molten returns, which are rich in own nuclei, has a positive effect on the solidification behaviour—even in die casting. This procedure has led to reduced scrap rates.

For melting the metal ingots and the returns, aluminium die casting shops mainly use crucible or shaft furnaces.

Crucible furnacesThe advantages of crucible furnaces are their simple operation and maintenance and the low capital in-vestment involved. With a furnace concept on the ba-sis of crucible furnaces, the foundry can also produce different alloys in small lots. There are virtually no restrictions as to the type of alloy. The melt can be

treated right in the crucible and, if necessary, the al-loy can be easily and quickly exchanged.

Crucible furnaces used in aluminium foundries as melting units usually have capacities of up to 1,000 kg (static type) or even up to 1,500 kg (tiltable type). The maximum melting rates of electrically heated furnaces amount to approx. 250 kg Al/h. Fuel-heated furnaces reach rates of up to 400 kg Al/h.

Figure 3 illustrates the principle of a gas-heated crucible furnace. Due to the lateral arrangement of the fume exhaust duct into the stack, the work place is virtually free from pollutants. The crucible is equipped with a swiveling cover to save energy during holding by minimizing heat loss due to radiation from the bath surface. Crucible furnaces with the fumes being exhausted above the rim of the crucible and a hood arranged above the crucible are hardly ever in use today. A drawback of this furnace design is that the fumes come in contact with the bath, affecting negatively the quality of the melt and causing a much higher pollutant load at the work place.

Figure 4 shows a tiltable electric resistance fur-nace complete with the tilting device and the hydrau-lic system. Inside the bath the thermocouple (visible in the right top of the figure), which is used to measure and control the bath temperature, is protected by a graphite sleeve against the heat of the melt. The same design is usually used with fuel-heated furnaces.

In fuel-heated furnaces energy consumption per tonne of molten metal depends not only on the design of the furnace and the size of the crucible. Other im-portant factors are the exact adjustment of the cruci-ble to the size of the furnace chamber, correct tuning of the burners and the ageing condition of the cru-cible. Depending on the crucible size, cold-air burn-ers consume approx. 130—150 m3 of gas for melting 1 t of aluminium to a temperature of 720° C. For the same task, electrically heated crucible furnaces re-quire an energy input of some 400 kWh. In addition to these parameters, also the time needed to melt down

Figure 2: Heat requirement for heating up, melting and superheating pure aluminium

Figure 3: Schematic design of a gas-heated crucible furnace

Figure 1: Specific heat content of non-ferrous alloys

cover story


a complete crucible charge is an important factor for the continuity of the melting operation. For example, a preheated gas-fired crucible with a capacity of 350 kg and a hot heel of approx. 20 per cent needs about 85 minute to melt down the charge. An 800 kg cru-cible needs 130 minutes, i.e., the difference is mod-erate. Using a cold crucible may prolong the melting time by more than 50 per cent. Electrically heated furnaces need about double the time required by gas-fired furnaces.

For larger production volumes, crucible furnaces are no longer an economic option. This is mainly due to the relatively high specific energy consumption and the manual operation of the furnaces. Manual charging causes high labour costs. Moreover, only completely dry metal may be added to the charge, as moist material may lead to explosions and hazardous situations for the operators.

shaft melting furnacesWherever exacting demands are placed on metal quality, melting rate and economy, die casting shops use shaft melting furnaces (figure 5). The melting rates start at approx. 300 kg/h and may even reach 7,000 kg/h in steps of 500 or 1,000 kg/h. According to the melting rate, provision can be made for hold-ing capacities ranging from 500 to 20,000 kg in the same unit. Generally, any combinations of melting and holding capacities are feasible and realizable to suit any operating requirements. The rule of thumb here is that the size of the holding bath (in kg) should at least correspond to one to two times the melting rate (in kg/h).

The most important criteria for assessing the quality of a shaft melting furnace are—• Highmetalquality, i.e., lowgaspick-upand lownon-metallic contamination of the melt• Lowmeltingloss(lowmetallossduetooxidationin the furnace atmosphere)• Highthermalefficiencyandlowenergyconsump-tion per tonne of molten metal• Hightemperatureuniformityofthemeltreadyfortapping• Simple and safe operation during charging andtapping• Easyaccessibilityofthefurnaceinterior.Thiscon-tributes to minimized metal loss during dross remov-al and facilitates cleaning of the furnace (removal of build-ups on the refractory lining)• Lowmaintenancerequirementsand longservicelife of the refractory lining• Highdegreeofautomation,e.g.,installationofanautomatic charging system, automatic burner control system as well as bath temperature control and tem-perature monitoring systems

• Clearly structured visual-ization of the plant condition and adequate and reproducible logging and documentation • Compliance with environ-mental and safety regulations, specifically concerning noise immissions, exhaust gas emissions and pollutant con-centrations at the work place

Figure 6 shows the sche-matic design of a fuel-heated shaft-type melting furnace. Thanks to a special shaft ge-ometry and dedicated burner technology, the process steps preheating, heating and melt-ing are combined within one melting shaft. The metal charged in the cold condition at the top of the shaft is heated up while moving downwards inside the shaft. In the pro-cess, heat is extracted from the flue gases rising up from the melting process at the melting bridge, i.e., the shaft furnace operates according to the thermally highly efficient counter-flow principle. The heat transfer is by convection, guaranteeing an exchange of thermal energy already at low temperatures. When the met-al reaches the melting bridge at the base of the shaft, it is through-heated well enough to enable high melting rates. Consequently, the metal is only for a very short time subjected to the high-temper-ature zone and the direct im-pact of the burner gases. This has a positive effect on the melting loss. Explosions due to moist metal in the charge are precluded. The low-dross molten metal flows from the melting bridge into the hold-ing chamber in a turbulent-free manner, where it is held exactly at the selected tapping temperature. Larger furnace plants are usually provided with a hydraulic tilting device

Figure 4: Electric resistance heated tiltable crucible furnace

Figure 5: Tapping of a tiltable shaft melting furnace

Figure 6: The thermal counter-flow principle of the shaft melting furnace guarantees optimal energy utilization and high metal quality.

Figure 7: Convenient charging of the shaft furnace; for tapping, a valve has been fitted.


(figure 5) for tapping, smaller units with a tapping valve (figure 7).

The plants are automated to a high degree. The starting point of charg-ing can be determined either directly by controlling the filling level in the furnace or indirectly by evaluation of the exhaust gas temperature. The only non-automated operation is the trans-port of the charge material (ingots and returns) to the charging device. This is done either by manually filled charg-ing cars or by fork lift trucks directly into the load carrying device. Charg-ing will then start automatically trig-gered by the furnace control system.

A furnace design incorporating a separate burner system for the melt-ing shaft and for the holding area provides the basis for continuous production of molten metal within a temperature tolerance of ± 5°C. This is the basis for the flexibility needed to supply the foundry with metal in such a way that equipment utilization can be optimized.

The two-chamber furnace design consisting of a melting bridge and a separate holding bath ensures a high quality of the tapped metal. The melt is char-acterized by a low concentration of suspended, in-soluble contaminants; the hydrogen content is below equilibrium solubility. In such shaft furnaces typical die casting alloys, such as 226, 230, 231 and 239, can be melted with a high metal yield and a metal-lurgical quality that easily meets the specifications of the operators. Hence, this furnace type is in many cases the ideal melting unit for a die casting shop. However, it is not recommendable to melt extremely small-piece returns such as chips in a shaft furnace. The efficiency of two-chamber furnaces is also lim-

ited in operating conditions calling for low tapping rates below 150 kg/h or frequent alloy changes, especially from copper-containing to non-copper alloys and vice versa.

These shaft melting furnaces can be designed with one or two bale-out pockets (figure 8) and are frequently used in connection with manufactur-ing cells. A ladle system transfers the metal from the bale-out pocket to the casting chamber. The return mate-rial arising in the cell is directly re-charged into the furnace. The result-ing metal quality is suitable for many series products without any addition-al treatment of the melt. Combining a shaft furnace with a manufacturing

cell is a highly efficient solution.

metal yieldAs mentioned above, in aluminium melting the melt-ing loss directly translates into a financial loss of the foundry. On the other hand, increasing the metal yield of the melting furnace has a positive effect on the return-on-investment (RoI) period of the plant and is therefore a decisive criterion for making the invest-ment decision.

The financial equivalent of a metal loss of one per cent at a melting rate of 1 t/h in a three-shift opera-tion amounts to approx. 100,000 €/year. This calcu-lation assumes an Al-ingot price of 2,000 €/t and an annual melting time of 5,000 h.

In order to provide the foundries with prac-tice-proven data concerning the metal yield of a StrikoMelterplantandbeabletoadvisefoundryop-eratorsinahighlyproficientmanner,StrikoWestofenhas drawn up a complete metal balance—taking into account the exact weight of all material inputs and outputs of the furnace. This was done with the ob-jectives in mind to obtain reproducible data on the metal yield, come up with a comprehensive metal balance and create a reliable framework for an in-vestment calculation.

An investigation performed in a jobbing foundry provided the results given in table 1. The obtained values underline the efficiency of this furnace type. It is to be noted that the metal loss is not determined by weighing the dross removed from the furnace but by calculating the difference between the metal fed andthemetal tapped.Subsequentcomparisonwiththe dross quantity revealed that some small amount of metal was lost due to oxidation during the melting process. Overall, the investigation produced a closed and complete metal balance.

Figure 8: Shaft melting furnaces fitted with a lateral bale-out pocket for direct metal removal, e.g., by a ladle

Table 1Parameter

Furnace type Tower melterAlloy 231D (AlSi12Cu1, primary alloy)Melting temperature 730 °CIngots l 6 kgReturns 0.5 – 1.5 kg coming from the DCM, cleanSalt ≤ 0,1 Ma.-% of metal bath

Furnace weighing incoming and outgoing material during several shifts

Metal yield

100 % ingots 99.75 %50 % ingots, 50 % returns 99.4 %100 % returns 99.0 %

cover story


The results of investigations are only to be con-sidered as reference values for standard alloys. In practical operation, the results may be different from these values, e.g., if uninterrupted melting is not possible or the return material is of poor quality due to contaminants or high contents of oxide flakes. An-other important aspect is the care exercised during dross removal. The evaluation of shift logs showed that in some cases the metal yield was up to 0.5 per cent below that of the reference measurement. In melts made of pure ingot material, this difference tends to be slightly lower, in melts with a high share of return material it is slightly higher.

energy consumption and savings potentialsThe specific energy consumption of shaft melting furnace differs largely among the various furnace concepts available on the market. Independent stud-ies give consumption rates ranging from 580 to 900 kWh/t of aluminium. As a general rule, energy con-sumption is influenced by the furnace size, the tem-perature of the melt in the bath and by the input ma-terial (alloy, lump size etc.) For the above described StrikoMelterwithETAMAXshaft,itisaspecificen-ergy consumption of 600 kWh/t for continuous op-eration and a melt temperature of 720°C. The figure refers to the use of ingots and bulky return material as feed stock.

To reduce the energy consumption of shaft melt-ing furnaces the following measures should be in place or tackled:• Highdegreeoffurnaceutilization,ifpossiblecon-tinuous melting operation• Shaftsizeadaptedtothefeedstock.Ifnecessary,enlargement of the shaft should be considered• Automatedchargingoperation• Installationofa laser intheshafttomonitorthefilling level and optimize the starting point of charging• Installationofashaftcover• Controloffurnacepressure(ifrequired)• Evaluationoftheoperatingdata• Personneltraining

It is generally recommendable to have a continu-ous melting operation, as any interruption of the process leads to a loss of thermal energy. Another drawback is that whenever the process is inter-rupted the molten metal resolidifies. When the pro-cess is resumed, the lost melting energy must be input again. Moreover, this “double melting” also promotes oxidation, and hence formation of dross, which has negative impact on the quality of the met-al. Due to the varying metal demand in the foundry, it is naturally not always possible to optimally use the capacity of the furnace. In situations of low furnace utilization, use should be made of the holding capac-

ity of the furnace. Then, while the melting operation is being suspended, the required amount of molten metal can be taken from the holding bath. During this time the furnace operates exclusively in the holding mode. Heat loss can be minimized by clos-ing the shaft cover. Only when the bath is approx. 50 per cent empty should a new melting campaign start, which—depending on the bath size—should run over several hours.

Material preheating is another decisive factor in optimizing energy use. The wide range of energy con-sumption rates of furnaces is largely due to the dif-ference in shaft geometries and the resulting effects on the preheating of the material in the shaft. An en-ergy-efficient shaft furnace features a ‘cold’ feeding zone, followed by a ‘warm’ shaft zone, in which the material is preheated, and a melting zone in which energy density should be as high as possible. Anoth-er important precondition for a high utilization rate of the thermal energy is a uniformly charged shaft with high filling height and high packing density.

Charging of the shaft is usually by means of prov-en lifting and tilting devices. Charging should take place automatically, trig-gered by a sensor, which reliably senses the prog-ress of melting in the shaft. To ensure that the shaft is optimally filled at all times, the shaft cross section may be scanned by a laser beam at a suitable position be-low the charging device. As soon as the sensor signals that the shaft is empty at that position, the furnace control system will auto-matically initiate the charging process. This laser-based monitoring system detects the filling level di-rectly in the shaft, enabling the charging process to start as early as possible, independent of the form, size and bulk density of the charge material.

This approach optimally exploits the advantages of the shaft principle and achieves much better en-ergy efficiency than indirect procedures, such as fur-nace temperature measurements or operation based on time control. In a typical melting shop, efficiency can be further enhanced by installing a roller table as charging device, see figure 9. Charging and fur-nace plant control are coordinated in such a way that handling and transport of the return and ingot mate-rial take place fully automatically. This reduces to a minimum the physical labour to be performed by the personnel. The staff becomes available for other tasks. Thus, this step towards further automation also contributes to improved labour productivity.

Figure 9: Roller is being table used as a buffer for charging containers in fully automatic charging.


The surface temperature of furnaces is often used as a measure for their radiation loss. However, this approach neglects heat losses via the furnace doors and losses during charging, which likewise must be taken into account. All these losses are factors that codetermine the efficiency of the furnace technology. Considerable amounts of heat escape through poorly sealed doors. If the doors located in the area of the hot melting zone must be opened for charging, each charging operation gives rise to enormous additional heat losses. Melting furnaces designed for charging the metal from above into the cold shaft zone by con-trast suffer virtually no heat losses during charging. Eventually, the only measure for the energy perfor-mance of a furnace is the overall efficiency, which is obtained by multiplying the efficiency of the firing system by the efficiency of the furnace technology. Good shaft melting furnaces achieve efficiencies bet-ter than 50 per cent.

metal qualityWhereas in the past die casting was predominantly used for mass produced products, today the product range has been expanded to also include compo-nents which have to meet more exacting quality re-

quirements. This is due to the development of new alloys and casting techniques for ductile, weldable and heat-treatable die castings. Examples are castings for automotive engi-

neering applications, such as car bodies and chassis components made of aluminium.

Typical casting defects, such as oxide inclusions and porosity are often caused by insufficient qual-ity of the molten metal. Treating the melt by purging gases has become a proven practice in aluminium foundries. The treatment is often performed at an impeller station while the melt is in the transfer la-

dle on its way from the melting furnace to the dosing or bale-out furnace. If this process step can be dispensed with, the advantages for the foundry are multiple. It saves on time, capi-tal investment and last but not least on energy as, whenever a melt is treated in an impeller station, it cools down. Against this background the quality of the melt in the furnace ap-pears in a new light. With a sufficiently good cleanliness of

the melt, the melt temperature can be reduced as a result of the fact that a treatment of the bath can be dispensed with.

A simple, fast and practice-proven method for assessing the cleanliness of the melt is the vacuum density test (figure 10). It delivers the density index (DI) of the melt. This mixed parameter allows con-clusions to be drawn as to both the hydrogen content and the content of inclusions of the melt, serving as an indicator for the melt’s potential proneness to casting defects. The higher the density index, the higher the risk of porosity in the casting will be.

The achievable cleanliness of the melt is influ-enced by the melting and holding process and by the quality of the charged material. Therefore, the basis for the quality of a casting is laid as early as in the melting furnace. For standard aluminium-silicon al-loys,twochambermeltingfurnacesoftheStrikoMelt-er series typically achieve density indices of the melt between 4 to 8 per cent. With density indices being in this range, the produced melt is in many cases die-castable without any additional treatment. Thanks to the clear separation of the holding zone from the melting zone, a high-quality melt can be achieved even when inferior grade charge material is used. The sizing of the holding bath, especially the limita-tion of the bath depth to less than 600 mm, and the setting of a uniform temperature by burners featur-ing modern regulation technology are key factors for the attainment of a high metal quality. Additionally, with a generously dimensioned bath capacity the melt can be held long enough to favourably influence its cleanliness.

Measurements at a StrikoMelter shaft meltingfurnace show how an optimal melting process and efficient temperature control will translate into a high melt quality. In the transfer ladle, immediately after tapping, DI values between 4 and 5 per cent were determined. The tapping temperature in this casewas740°C.SuchlowDIvaluesareusuallyen-tirely sufficient to transfer the melt directly to the bale-out or dosing furnace, without gas purging.

If higher-grade castings, e.g., highly loaded duc-tile castings, are produced, the melt treatment may already commence in the holding bath of the melting furnace by means of porous plugs (figure 11). The main objectives pursued by inert gas purging (nitro-gen or argon) is firstly to pre-clean the melt, i.e., de-gassing the melt at a higher rate than achievable by bath holding, and secondly to homogenize the melt. The latter also reduces energy consumption during subsequent holding. However, treatment by purging plugs installed in the bottom of the holding chamber is not recommended if the furnace is batch-charged or if the chamber must often be completely emptied.

Index > 12% Index 6% - 8% Index 1%

Figure 10: Sec-tions of three

vacuum density test samples illustrate the

differences in porosity for dif-

ferent DI values.

Figure 11: Porous plugs installed in the bottom of the holding chamber improve the

quality of the melt by gas purging.

cover story


Additionally, with bath temperatures of 800°C and above—depending on certain alloying elements – the purging plug may be infiltrated by molten metal. This impairs the efficiency of purging and/or increases the consumption of purging gas.

Figure 12 shows the curve of the density index of the melt in the holding bath of a two-chamber shaft melting furnace after start of inert gas injection via the purging plugs. After a period of deceleration the density index decreases continuously. With a low melt temperature of 700°C and very low contents of oxides and other solid contaminants an excellent fi-nal DI value below 1.5 per cent could be attained.

Chip melting furnacesDuring the last few years, many foundries have heav-ily invested in machining equipment for reworking their castings in-house. This was and is still being done especially as a response to cater to the auto-motive industry’s growing demand for finish machined castings. As a result the quantities of metal chips arising in some foundries have reached dimensions, which make internal recycling in the foundries an eco-nomically attractive alternative to selling the chips to external recycling plants or secondary melting shops.

Foundries generally assess the investment in a chip melting furnace under the aspect of the metal yield, as the financial bonus generated by a higher metal yield will dramatically cut the ROI period of the plant. Here it must be taken into consideration that the metal yield is determined by the specific alloy type as well as the form and condition of the chips. The higher the fine-grain fraction of the chip charge and the smaller the chip thickness, the poorer the metal yield will be. A technologically advanced chip melting system will always comprise the analysis of these critical parameters of the charge.

A melting furnace intended for remelting metal chips must integrate a chip conditioning plant, which

ensures that the chips are charged into the furnace in an as dry as possible condition. Moist chips not only reduce the metal yield. They also cause fume and soot, requiring cleaning of the exhaust gases.

In principle, chips can also be melted in induc-tion crucible furnaces. Here the heavy, partly verti-cal, agitation of the bath has the effect that the chips easily submerge below the bath surface. This is an indispensible precondition for low melting loss. As an alternative option, gas-heated multi-chamber furnaces have been developed featuring a holding chamber with an additional furnace pocket (open fore-hearth) for adding the metal chips.

Figure 13 shows a system equipped with a cir-culation pump and a dedicated refractory block for melting metal chips. The refractory block and pump form an integrated unit. The pump sucks the metal out of the holding chamber of the furnace and pumps it into the block (figure 14). The pump is fitted on a steel structure. This makes it easy for the personnel to lift it out of the bath for maintenance or cleaning. In the downstream block a vortex is created, which quickly draws the chips below the metal surface, melting them under exclusion of air—as known from submerged melting. The circulating metal leads to quick thermal and chemical homogenization of the melt. The continuous movement of the melt has the positive effects that the process of heating up the melt to the required temperature consumes less energy and the tap-ping temperature of the melt is characterized by high uniformity. This sys-tem achieves metal yields better than 98 per cent. These values are based on comprehensive per-formance measurements performed at various chip melting furnaces. The form and properties of the chips—in this case mainly turnings—as well as the alloys were well suited for remelting. At the end of the melting campaign, the amount of surface dross in the bath cham-ber was very low (figure 15). This dross can be easily removed through the cleaning door. The re-sidual metal is treated by

Figure 12: Decreasing density index of the melt in the hold-ing bath as gas injection via porous plugs proceeds

Figure 13: Multi-chamber melting unit with additional furnace pocket at the side for rapid melting of metal chips

Figure 14: During chip remelting the circulation pump and a dedicated refractory block ensure a high metal yield.


drossing flux added in small quantities. This creates dross of relatively dry condition, which is removed via the fur-nace well.

In multi-chamber furnac-es of advanced design metal chips can be melted along with ingot and return mate-rial. A possible solution is a shaft melting furnace ad-ditionally fitted with a chip charging pocket (figure 16). This combination furnace has the advantage of low specific energy consumption and provides the possibility of combining all alloy produc-tion processes in one melt-ing unit, with a small overall footprint. If chips of differ-ent alloys or moist chips are to be melted, they should not be mixed into a single

holding chamber as it negatively affects the metal quality. In this case, it is recommended to melt the chips separately.

operational furnace managementDuring the last few years, raw material prices have been on a constant rise. The current slump is not likely to remain for too long. This applies to both metals and energy. The limited availability of these resources and the growing demand will make the cost situation increasingly acute in the long run. This can only be counteracted by increasing the efficiency of raw material and energy use. In metal melting opera-tions this primarily means that the metal yield must be increased and energy consumption decreased.

Efficient melting plant management is only pos-sible if suitable information is available as to the performance of the melting plants. The required data are captured and provided by the furnace control

system. It logs furnace operation data, equipment utilization as well as metal and energy consumption figures. Then it is up to the production management to analyze and evaluate the process data.

Modern furnace control systems capture, visual-ize and store process-relevant data. The operating panel acts as the interface between the human oper-ator and the machine (figure 17). Operation is menu-driven. Current process data are visualized in a clear structure and by self-explanatory illustrations on a colour screen (figure18).Pop-up submenus canbe opened for viewing further details. Information about the current furnace state and even current shift logs can be called up at any time at the push of a button (figure 19). If the data are logged and stored on a removal storage medium, they can be transferred by a hardware medium to a customer’s PC.Alternatively, thedata logscanbe transmittedfrom the field to the management level via Ethernet. However, efficient furnace management does not need a vast flood of data but a clearly structured pre-sentation of the process data—which qualifies for a comparable analysis. Therefore, the external evalua-tion of the data is made using standard spreadsheet software. A specifically programmed, dedicated ap-plication is provided by the furnace manufacturer. As a minimum standard, furnace logs must include data about operating modes and operating times as well as temperature curves and message archives rele-vant for quality assurance. If the furnace is equipped with a weighing cell, the amounts fed and removed including the amounts removed during cleaning can be compiled. The data are complemented by evalu-ations of fuel consumption figures. A complete data log hence contains average energy consumptions, consumptions by operating modes and the specific energy consumption, i.e., relative to the melting rate. For a clear overview it may be useful to output shift logs or evaluations by days, weeks, months or years.

Thus, the production management has on hand an efficient instrument to capture resource per-formance data and compare these with data from the past. This knowledge enables conclusions to

be drawn as to the operation and condition of the furnace plant. This forms the basis for initiating tar-geted organizational or technical improvement measures capable of exploiting available resources in the best possible way and increasing the efficiency of production.

Klaus Malpohl is the Manager Development at StrikoWestofen. Rudolf Hillen is connected to the Development of the Melting Technology at StrikoWestofen.

Figure 17: Modern furnace control system with opera-tor panel and process data acquisition

Figure 15: Minimum formation of dross thanks to sophisticated chip remelting technology

Figure 16: Combination melter for ingot and return material as well as metal chips

Figure 18: High-resolution graphics enable clearly structured visualization of the furnace and the process data.

Figure 19: Example of a shift log including all important facts and energy consumption figures

cover story

supply chain & logistics


Pict

ure

Cour

tesy

: ww

w.ph

otos

.com

In today’s competitive world of business, prosperity of any manufacturing organization depends on its raw material sourcing efficiency, as to a great extent—pricing of the final product depends on the raw material’s cost. A few important elements of material sourcing strategy have been narrated in this article.

by pavan. v

Sourcing StrategieS

Framing


The words ‘sourcing, pur-chasing and buying’ have been used in various contexts under different

situations. However, for clarity, the right connotations need to be understood.• Sourcingistheprocessofidentifying, selecting, developing suppliers for a long-term objec-tive—based on organizational strategies covering all the aspects of risk management. This function is strategic in nature, and clearly falls in line with the organiza-tional objectives or goals.• Purchasingfunctionismoreof tactical nature that involves developing new design or obtain-ing new services from the existing vendors and other issues related to already existing processes etc.• Buyinginvolvestacticalissuessuch as sending purchase orders, co-ordination with the suppliers for day to day production, mea-surement of suppliers efficiency—basedonKPIs,inventorymanage-ment etc.

With the above background, let us look at how and what role doesSourcingandBuyingplayin an organization, and how the above two activities matter to the entire profitability of the organi-zation. The following topics will be touched upon here:• Basicstatisticsofpurchasedmaterials• Importanceandroleofsourcing• Sourcingstrategies• Materialbuying/procurement

Basic statistics of purchased materials: Typically a manufactur-ing organization spends anywhere between 30 to 50 per cent of its turnover for purchasing raw ma-terials, components, indirect ma-

terials such as consumables etc. used for production, and other services such as logistics, capital expenditure such as machinery, travel etc.

Of late organizations have real-ized the importance of purchasing spend as it plays a very important role in the overall profitability oftheorganization.Savingsofeven 3 to 5 per cent would give a long term benefit and impact in the long run. The next section explains the role, importance and various methodologies and strate-gies to be adopted for effective spend management.

Importance and role of sourcing: Sourcingisastrategicactivitythat is in line with the organiza-tional strategies, goals and objec-tives.Itdealswithidentifyingandselection of suppliers irrespective of geographical location, differ-ent cultures etc., for a long term mutual benefit.

Beforewegetintothenitty-gritty of requirements before selection of a supplier, let us un-derstand why sourcing is required (?) or the role of sourcing.

Let us consider an example of manufacturing of an aircraft. There are innumerable compo-nents inside the aircraft, which come from across the globe. Now, hereisthetypicalsituation.Ifthere are more than two lakh components that go into a jet, every part being different techni-cally, it is literally being sourced from various parts of the globe. Precisionisthemostimportantand crucial parameter in a flying machine. Do you think every com-ponent manufacturer is capable of supplying the parts as required? No.Itrequiresagreatamount

of skill and understanding about the product as this is not just a labour oriented job work but every part needs a great depth of research having gone into it.

Inthisexample,sourcingplaysan important role as identifying this kind of supplier, his ability etc., matters the most. Here one sourcing strategy doesn’t fit all.

Sourcing strategies: A few very broad strategies are discussed below, which need to be consid-ered before sourcing a supplier.• Expenditure based buying as this gives weightage among the other small expenditure parts—Bigplay-ers always have the muscle power to obtain the best price due the high volume game and they are always at an advantage.• Region based buying (APAC, EMEA etc). Further this can be elaborated for a specific country, for example in India, logistics sector’s strength is predominantly region based—Buyingaparticu-lar product can be sector based, for example; coffee is sourced predominantlyfromSouthIndia.Similarexamplefitsforasupplierwith a patented technology• Technology based—Cutting edge technology used for manu-facturing parts.• Commodity or material specific (Metals, consumables, plastics etc.)—Depending on the supply and demand of the commod-ity, location of the suppliers or geographical location as also the availability of the material in a specific region or sector.• Based on future localization—Possibilitiesoflocalizationofthematerials over a period of time based on maturity on processes, technology etc.



• Based on lot size, and price variation etc.—Depending on the type of material sourced, the price would vary based on the lot size etc, for example; the lot size for steel processing and turning components vary a lot.

Beforeselectionoftheabovestrategic suppliers, one has to mainly consider the following parameters. • Productportfolio• Supplyconditions• Price• Quality• Supplier’sreputation• Supplier’sfinancialstability• Supplier’sperformance• Marketintelligence• Whoaretheinternalandexternal stakeholders and their exposuretowardsBuyingofpartsonce established• Risksinvolvedintermsofbackup plan (two-supplier strategy comes into effect here)

While the above is fine with the direct materials, the services sector is where typical challenges lie.Servicecostshoversome-where between 10 to 15 per cent ofanorganization’sturnover.Ser-vice costs are usually treated as expenses rather than counted as inventory costs that for a part of input costs. Further, each service

is unique in itself. The services of mobile phones or communication, travel etc is measured differently. We have to depend more on the customer’s feedback or percep-tion rather than quantifying the numbers.Servicessourcingshould be done with the help of KPIsthatincludesthepointsgiven below.• Ontimedeliveryrate• Damagerate• Escalationrate• Responserateetc.

InterestinglythereareITtoolsthat help analyze the spend man-agement and other facts.

Material buying or procurement: While we discussed a few sourc-ing strategies, it is also important to understand the buying part that closes the loop completely. Once the sourcing activity is completed, it is handed over to the buying team that interacts with the supplier on a day-to-day basis for fulfillment of production. Buyingorprocurementismoreoperational in nature that helps the organization in saving costs in the ways listed below.

Ordering or call offs:• Inventorycontrol• Avoiddemurrageanddetentioncharges

• Expeditedtransports(Airfreight charges)• Avoidstockoutlossessuchasloss of customer’s production and self, machine idling, overheads etc.

Itismandatoryforthebuyingteam to understand some impor-tant things such as before getting into the day-to-day operations mode.Buyingrequiresaverystrong technical background such as understanding of the product, manufacturing processes, finan-cial analysis, statutory require-ments, import-export laws etc. At the same time, it requires a set of soft skills that are absolutely important to have effective rela-tionships with the suppliers and ensure the business relationship is kept healthy.

As a part of the procurement organization, internal strategies make an important step in achiev-ing the above goals.• Enterintoschedulingagree-ment with the suppliers for order-ing and call off strategies.• Reviewmeetingsonsup-plier performance that covers on-time Delivery, damage free shipments etc.• Defineandagreeuponastan-dardized process for effective day to day co-ordination.• Workingonnewsolutionssuchas better packaging, returnable.• Othersoftissuessuchasdeveloping personal rapport etc.

Summary: These solutions and strategies coupled with disci-plined processes ensure effective results. Thus, contribute to the bottom line to the organization.

Pavan. V is a Senior Officer at Corporate

Logistics Department in Bosch Ltd.,

Bengaluru.

Details Supplier’s side Sourcing organization

OverviewNo. of customers in the region To which plants/factoriesCommodities supplied Similar productsFinancial details of the company Regional details

Operational details

Performance (if supplying to the same organization in other regions) Performance feedback

Details such as price, lead time etc Details such as price, lead time etc

Contact details Regional contact details


Pict

ure

Cour

tesy

: w

ww.

leyl

ine.

org

Phot

o by

: Jite

n G

andh

i

There is no denying that the Indian trucking in-dustry is facing a severe shortage of truck drivers.

Making matters worse is the fact that the situation is likely to aggravate rather than improve in the years to come.

Says Srinath Manda, Program Manager - South Asia, Middle East & North Africa, Transporta-

tion & Logistics, Frost & Sullivan, “The issue of shortage of drivers has definitely aggravated in the recent years, as is evident from the concerns expressed by both trucking companies and the end-user companies alike in multiple industry forums, requesting for immediate measures to curtain the challenge.” The transportation industry is worried that the next

generation (children of truck driv-ers) are reluctant to take this as a profession. A truck driver himself doesn’t want his son to take up this profession.

Their declining number is causing serious concern in the industry, who fear that their non-availability will affect the growth of the logistics industry per se.Adds Manda, “If the same

Bridging The

Skill Gap

Truck drivers form the backbone of the logistics industry, transporting goods from one place to another.

Mostly having very less or no formal education, this class is

slowly and steadily declining as the next generation (children of truck drivers) are averse to take up this

profession. This is not only posing a serious threat to the transportation

industry, but also has brought to light their concerns and fears.

by reshmi menon




scenario continues (deterio-rates) further, this would stall the growth of truck movement volume, thereby restricting the business prospects of all manu-facturing industries, apart from the stagnation in growth of trans-portation industry.”

Though the consequences are severe, there is little that the truck drivers themselves can do to rectify the same.

“There is no respect in this pro-fession. We took it up as there was no other choice for us,” says Jagat Narayan Mishra, who has been a driver for the past 25 years.

Lack of social status, insecu-rity, threat to life and the harass-ment by officials all in some way or the other make this an unat-tractive profession.

“We are often ill treated. Some even think of us as thieves,” says Siyaram Yadav, a driver for the past 22 years, and who earns a meagrely `4,000 per month for his job.

Lack of education has been considered to be one of the prime reasons for their neglect. Says Ramesh Agarwal, Presi-dent, All India Transporters Wel-fare Association and Director,

Agarwal Packers & Movers, “The logistics sector has a lot of un-skilled people working for them and drivers mostly comprise a non-educated class hence they cannot fully understand the rules, regulations and paper formalities required. Often they fall in a trap to the harassment by government officials.”

Though considered to be the backbone of the road freight industry, truck drivers mainly comprise the profile with the most critical skill gaps in the road freight segment, says a CII-KPMG whitepaper titled, ‘Skill gaps in the Indian logistics sector’.

The profession attracts largely illiterate people with no formal training for the job. Most of them graduate from working as helpers or driving small vehicles.

Moreover, poor quality of ve-hicles and support infrastructure (resting places, dhabas [eating joints], check posts etc.) ensure that even slightly qualified people are not keen to enter the truck driver’s profession.

Even though the necessary skills required are not very high, their number and the reluctance on the part of existing drivers to undergo formal training, makes imparting necessary skills dif-ficult, the report adds.

“We Will be launching a driving school shortly”

Chitra Shinde, Chief Operating Officer, Gati Limited, throws light on the situation in India and abroad.

Q: Has Gati Limited faced this obstacle (shortage of truck drivers)?A: Not very acutely so far, as Gati has only 20 per cent owned fleet; while the rest are through vendors. In order to support the industry at large and meet internal demand, Gati will be launching a driving school as part of Gati Academy shortly.

Remote speed monitoring and Vehicle Tracking Systems installed enable safety of drivers. Besides, we always follow the double-driver system ensuring

adequate rest (for them). Meanwhile, we are also contemplating the idea to introduce medical cover to all drivers working with the company.

Q: How do you foresee the future?A: Today the situation is such that if we don’t evolve, the sector will not be able to cash in on the growth the country will witness in the times to come. In the West and other de-veloped markets, a long haul driver is paid more than Rs 60,000 with stringent rules on rest, logs, breath tests etc. On paying more with proper amenities—efficiency, dedication and values can be expected from these drivers.


FutureP V Subramani, CMD, Cargow-ings (Madras) and President, Chennai Goods Transport Associ-ation says that with an estimate of about 1.2 crore commercial drivers in the country, the trans-portation industry will continue to work in the current scenario but in the future, the situation is going to be critical.

The role of the truck driver gains more significance, says Manda, as there exists a lack of desired expansion of alternate transport modes such as rail and sea in the country.

With road infrastructure being given prime importance, the role

of road transport is likely to grow further in the years to come.

“We are aware of the situation. We have at times been called for double duties due to shortage of drivers. But what can we do? With such low paid wages, who will want to become a driver?” asks Rajaram, a truck driver in Mumbai, who gets paid `3,000 per month.

On the other hand Suresh Kamble, another truck driver from Mumbai, says that today’s youth are educated and they do not wish to be known as a driver. “This profession has gained such a bad reputation. Today a 10th-class pass out doesn’t even want to become a cleaner,” he points out.

Besides, lack of educational qualifications, living conditions, security also form prime reasons for the lack of interest to take this up as a profession.

Says Chitra Shinde, Chief Operating Officer, Gati Limited, “Booming economy has thrown open more options for livelihood. Driving, as a profession is termed

Srinath Manda, Program Manager, South Asia, Middle East & North Africa, Transportation & Logistics, Frost & Sullivan, analyses the prime reasons for the shortage of truck drivers.

Q: What are the prime reasons for the shortage (of truck drivers)?

A: One of the primary reasons for this shortage is due to the rapid growth of transportation sector (both in commercial cargo transport segment and passenger transport segment) within the country. This is driven by the accelerated progress of manufacturing sector, economic progress and infrastructure development that is facilitating as well as necessitating higher scale of transportation of cargo and passengers.

As a result, the volume of commercial vehicles (on road) em-ployed by transportation sector has grown at unprecedented

levels or multifold over the years (especially over the past decade of 2000-2010). However, the growth of available num-ber of drivers has been extremely slow when compared to the growth of transport sector and commercial vehicles’ (CV) sales. This has resulted in declining Driver to CV ratio over the years and reaching a state of serious concern at present.

Lower availability of drivers could also be attributed to in-creasing drift (and preference) of new generation potential em-ployees towards white collar and/or professional jobs - which is in a way driven by the rising literacy levels and increased em-ployment opportunities in the service sectors like IT, ITES, BPO, Banking and Telecom. As a result, even the children of previous generation drivers have opted for other office/corporate jobs, while there has not been any notable turn-in into driving career from other professions.

Q: How do you foresee the future? A: The issue could become further challenging in the coming years unless the large cargo transport companies and the Gov-ernment authorities undertake rapid measures to restrict the dwindling numbers (or scarcity) of drivers. If they fail to act fast on this issue, it could have serious implications for the road transport industry in the next five years.

“it has reached a state oF serious concern”

“The Government can start new drivers’ training institute in every state and also introduce driver training course in ITI colleges.”

P V Subramani, President, Chennai Goods Transport Association



risky; and fatal accidents discour-age people from taking up this profession. The remuneration and living conditions too does not help the sector.”

Measures“The Associations and all the stake holder i.e., manufacturers, Government and truck operators’

association should chalk out short term and long term plans to meet the requirement,” says Subramani.

According to him, the indus-try will have to work together to improve the social and economic status of the drivers.

Manda also feels the same. He says that logistics companies

should strive towards transform-ing ‘Driver’ jobs into a profes-sional and respectable job by creating better working condi-tions, pay structures, benefits and living conditions.

The All India Transporters Wel-fare Association (AITWA) on its part has commenced a scheme for the drivers—‘Budhape ki lathi’—a form of support for helping driv-ers with monetary relief during their old age.

AITWA has also urged the Gov-ernment to introduce measures such as private highway terminal and tax holidays to provide relief to this sector.

Agarwal suggests that like the Army and Armed Forces, there should be highway canteen/high-way shopping centres on subsi-dised rates.

According to Subramani the Government can start new drivers training institute in every state and also introduce driver training course in ITI colleges.

“Certain standards are expected in this industry, “Compa-nies should set minimum wage standards, compulsory medical cover, PF and other benefits. The Government too can intervene here and help achieve industry standardization to remove any kinds of disparities,” opines Shinde.

With the industry gearing up to face the challenges thrown by the shortage of truck drivers, the efforts, in the long run, are hope-ful of bringing about a turnaround in the number of truck drivers in the country. If not, then as Suresh Kamble, a truck driver, says, “A day will come when they (trans-porters) themselves will have to drive and deliver.”

“We Will have to produce robots to Work as drivers”

Ramesh Agarwal, President, All India Transporters Welfare Association, throws light on the crisis, faced by the transportation industry.

Q: How severe is the shortage of truck drivers in the country? A: Yes, this is true that there is shortage of truck driv-ers in the country. The chart below will give you a brief idea of the situation.

Q: What could be the prime reasons for this shortage?A: The drivers do not have any social security. There is no facility of truck terminal at highways. Hence, they

feel deprived from the society. Therefore, though the ratio of driver’s death has reduced from the last 10 years, there is lot more to be done to make them feel as an integral part of the society.

Q: How do you foresee the future?A: As the whole economy is dependent on the movement of goods from one place to another, it will be very difficult to cope up with the situation of deficiency of the drivers in the future. The Government should give rebate to the logistics sector to let them make themselves organized and driver’s work should be given a status of a respectful job oth-erwise no person will be willing to take the job of a driver in the future.

If the current situation prevails, then in future to deal with the scarcity of the driver—we will have to produce robots to work as the drivers.

1982 (ratio) 1992 (ratio) 2002 (ratio)2012 expected

(ratio)

Drivers Truck Drivers Truck Drivers Truck Drivers Truck

1240 1000 1000 1000 900 1000 870 1000


Improved decision making is the top driver of BI purchases.

The market for business intelligence (BI) software in India is expected to touch revenue of $65.4

million in 2011, up 15.7 per cent over 2010, according to Gartner. Meanwhile, worldwide BI soft-ware market revenue is expected to grow 9.7 per cent to reach $10.8 billion in 2011.

BI is currently ranked num-ber five on the list of the top 10 technology priorities in 2011, ac-cording to Gartner’s annual global CIO survey.

“It is a sign of the strategic im-portance of BI that investment re-mains strong,” said Bhavish Sood, Research Director, Gartner. “This market segment has remained strong because the dominant ven-dors continued to put BI, analytics and performance management at the centre of their messag-ing, while end-user organisations largely continued their BI projects, hoping that resulting transparency and insight will enable them to cut costs and improve productivity and agility down the line.”

According to Gartner, the mar-ket for BI platforms will remain one of the fastest growing software markets despite the sluggish economic growth in most regions. Organizations continue to turn to BI as a vital tool for smarter, more agile and efficient business.

Decision making in India historically has been based on either ‘gut feelings’ or on the busi-ness experience of managers. BI allows enterprises to make more fact-based decisions. The applica-tion promotes revenue growth and faster innovation through shorter product and service life cycles and the ability to find where value is being created in the business.

Sood said that the demand side of the BI platform market in 2010 was defined by an intensi-fied struggle between business users’ need for ease of use and flexibility on the one hand, and IT’s need for standards and con-trol on the other.

“With ‘ease of use’ now sur-passing ‘functionality’ for the first time as the dominant BI platform buying criterion, vocal, demand-ing and influential business users are increasingly driving BI purchasing decisions, most often choosing easier-to-use data discovery tools over traditional BI platforms—with or without IT’s consent,” explained Sood.

Gartner has identified three major demand-side factors that continue to expand use and drive BI platform revenue growth. These include the following:

Consumerisation of BI: BI tools must be simple, mobile and fun in order to expand use and value. Business users are demanding the same experience from their BI tools that they have come to enjoy with their personal tools. The need for more intuitive and inter-active BI tools and applications extends to users on the go, but the vast majority of organizations have yet to embrace mobile BI. This is set to change very quickly with the proliferation of Apple’s iPhone and iPad products.

Support for Extreme Data Perfor-mance—Emerging Data Sources: Ca-pabilities that enable the analysis of large, volatile and diverse data will open up possibilities for a broad range of new, high-value BI applications and will be another driver of BI growth. This includes in-memory technology and social and content analytics. Combining

these capabilities with support for extreme data volumes and consumer-oriented tools opens up possibilities for a wide range of new, high-value BI applications and is believed to be another driver of growth.

BI as a Decision Platform: Gart-ner’s user survey shows that ‘improved decision making’ is the top driver of BI purchases. Capa-bilities that will evolve BI from an information delivery system to a decision platform will increase the value of BI and drive its growth.

Business Intelligence Market On Higher Growth Path In India

The Indian market is growing to adapt business intelligence not only as an information delivery mechanism, but also as a vital tool for smarter, more agile and efficient business, conveys a recent study.

information technology


The Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play a pivotal role in the overall indus-

trial economy of the country. The MSMEs sector acts as a breeding ground of entrepreneurship, often driven by individual creativ-ity and innovation. This sector contributes eight per cent of the country’s GDP, 45 per cent of the manufactured output and 40 per cent of its exports. The MSMEs sector provides employment to about 60 million persons through 26 million enterprises.

It is increasingly recognized that while credit, marketing etc., are essential, the critical factor that drives growth is technology. In the present economic scenario Pi

ctur

e Co

urte

sy: w

ww.

phot

os.c

om

management & strategy

MSMEs

BoostingTechnology Development Of

The employment potential as well as the overall growth in the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector is much higher than in the large industries. Further, the sector has been consistently registering higher growth rates than the overall manufacturing sector. Keeping in view the huge contribution of the sector in Indian economy, the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises has been implementing various schemes and programmes for the promotion and development of the sector.

by uday kumar varma


of globalised competitiveness, it is the technological edge that will determine the winners. In view of this reality, the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enter-prises is initiating a number of programmes and schemes for technology development of the sector. It has recently introduced ten innovative schemes under the National Manufacturing Com-petitiveness Programme (NMCP) covering the entire gamut of manufacturing in the sector—and aiming to develop global competi-tiveness among Indian MSMEs.

Lean manufacturing competitiveness schemeThe lean manufacturing competitive-ness scheme: Launched in 2009, this aims to reduce manufactur-ing waste, thereby, increasing competitiveness and productivity of the MSMEs. Under lean manu-facturing, simple techniques are applied, which identify and

eliminate waste and streamline the manufacturing system. The scheme is implemented under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Initially, the lean manufacturing techniques have been introduced in 100 mini clusters on a pilot basis. It is expected that 1000 MSME units will be benefited for the pilot. Over 70 Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) have been formed by MSME units in various industry clusters and 42 Lean Consultants have been selected as part of the scheme implementation.

The design clinic scheme: This brings design experts in MSMEs on a common platform to enable the MSMEs to access expert advice and cost effec-tive solutions for their real time design problems. The scheme introduced in the year 2010 com-prises two major parts, namely—Design Awareness and Design Project Funding.

The design awareness stage comprises various activities like seminars, workshops and diag-nostic studies of the clusters. In design project funding, projects of students, consultants or de-signers and consulting organiza-tions are assisted by providing 60 per cent of the project cost by way of Government grant. The scheme will initially be imple-mented in 200 MSME clusters. So far 43 seminars have been organized in 99 MSME approved clusters, and 15 design projects have been approved.

Marketing assistance and technology upgradationCompetitiveness in marketing is sought to be improved through the marketing assistance and technology upgradation scheme, by using latest techniques and

In the present economic scenario of globalised competitiveness, it is the technologi-cal edge that will determine the winners.

The support for MSMEs aims to sensitize the manufacturing MSME sector in India to upgrade their technologies to reduce emissions of green-house gases, adoption of other technolo-gies mandated as per the global standards, improve their quality and reduce cost of production etc.



technologies. The broad activities under the scheme include tech-nology upgradation in packaging, development of modern marketing techniques, competition stud-ies, state or district exhibition, corporate governance practices, marketing hubs etc. Under the scheme introduced last year, ten product groups have been identi-fied for studies on packaging. Further, over 140 units have been identified for participation in industry fairs and exhibitions.

Technology and quality upgrada-tion: The support for MSMEs aims to sensitize the manufac-turing MSME sector in India to upgrade their technologies to reduce emissions of green-house gases, adoption of other technolo-gies mandated as per the global standards, improve their quality and reduce cost of production etc., towards becoming globally competitive. The major activi-ties planned under the scheme include capacity building of MSME clusters for energy ef-

ficiency or clean development interventions, implementation of energy efficient technologies in MSME sector, setting up of carbon credit aggregation centres and encouraging MSMEs to acquire product certification licenses from national or international bodies. Under the scheme introduced in 2010, twenty clusters have been identified for intervention.

Promotion of ICT: The promotion of information and communica-tion tools (ICT) scheme envisages that SME clusters, which have quality production and export po-tential, shall be identified and en-couraged and assisted in adopt-ing ICT applications to achieve competitiveness in the national and international markets. The activities planned under the scheme includes identifying target clusters for ICT intervention, setting up of e-readiness infra-structure, developing web portals for clusters, skill development of MSME staff in ICT

application, preparation of local software solution for MSMEs, construction of e-catalogue, e-commerce etc., and network-ing MSME cluster portal on the national level portals in order to outreach MSMEs into global mar-kets. The scheme launched this year will initially be implemented in 100 clusters.

Tooling and training centresThe setting up of mini tool room and training centres: This scheme envis-ages setting up of 15 new mini tool rooms under PPP Mode, dur-ing 11th Five Year Plan period for creating tooling and training facili-ties in private sector. Entrepre-neurs and associations would be selected through competitive bid-ding to set up mini tool rooms. The Government support is restricted to `9.00 Cr. on viability gap funding basis up to 40 per cent of the project cost. The scheme with a total cost of `210.00 crore (with Government contribution of

`135.00 crore) was approved. The objective of the

scheme is to develop more tool room facilities i.e., tech-nological support to MSMEs, by creating capacities in the

private sector for designing and manufacturing quality tools–and also to provide training facilities in the related areas. The scheme will be implemented in three models in order of preference,

viz., private partner i.e., an individual, firm, company,

association, NGO or society (Central PPP Model), SPVs set up by the

Indian (MSME) manufacturing

sector needs to be made competitive

through Qual-ity Management

Standards (QMS) and Quality Tech-

nology Tools (QTT).

Pict

ure

Cour

tesy

: ww

w.ph

otos

.com


states in partnership with private partners (State PPP Model) and State Government or State agen-cies other than NGOs (Centre-State model).

Improving quality in products: The enabling of manufacturing sector to be competitive through Quality Management Standards (QMS) and Quality Technology Tools (QTT) was launched in 2009—in order to improve quality and productivity in the MSE sector. The scheme is aimed at improving the quality of products in the MSE sector, and it inculcates the qual-ity consciousness in this sector. The major activities under this scheme are: (i) introduction of appropriate modules for technical institutions (ITIs or Polytech-nics), (ii) organizing awareness campaigns for MSEs, (iii) orga-nizing competition watch (C-Watch), (iv) imple-mentation of QMSs and QTTs in selected MSEs, (v) monitoring interna-tional study missions and (vi) impact studies of the initiatives.

Awareness on IPRThe building awareness on Intel-lectual Property Rights (IPR) scheme has been launched to enable Indian MSMEs to attain global leadership position and to empower them in using effec-tively the tools of IPR of innova-tive projects. The main features of the scheme are: awareness or sensitization programmes on IPR; pilot studies for selected clusters or groups of industries; interactive seminars or work-shops; specialised training; assistance for grant on patent or GI registration; setting up of IP Facilitation Centre (IPFC); and interaction with international agencies. These initiatives are being taken in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. About 112 awareness programmes and 35 seminars have been organized

along with set-ting up of 18 IP facilitation centres.

Bar code certification

The marketing assistance/ sup-port to MSEs: This scheme aims to popularise the bar code registration, and motivate the

small and micro-manufacturing enterprises to adopt the bar code certification on large

scale—and to sell their

value added

products worldwide and enable higher export price realization. It also helps in domestic market-ing (both wholesale and retail). Seventy-five per cent of annual fee (recurring) of bar code certifi-cation for the first three years are reimbursed to micro and small entrepreneurs, under the scheme. about 101 MSMEs have been benefited so far.

Nurturing innovative business ideasThe support for entrepreneurial and managerial development of MSMEs through ‘incubators scheme’ aims at nurturing in-novative business ideas (new or ingenious technology, process, products, procedures etc.), which could be commercialized in a year. Under this component, various institutions like engi-neering colleges, management institutions, research laboratories etc., are provided funds up to `6.25 lakh for hand holding each new idea or entrepreneurs. The incubators provide technology or guidance, workshop and labora-tory support, and linkage to other agencies for successful launching of the business–and guide the entrepreneur in establishing the enterprise. Under the scheme, 76 ‘business incubators’ have been set up and 190 ideas approved so far.

CDP for enhancing productivityThe Ministry of MSMEs has adopted the cluster development approach as a key strategy for enhancing the productivity and competitiveness – as well as ca-pacity building of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) and their collectives in the country. The cluster development initiatives are being implemented under Micro and Small Enterprises—Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP).

Bar code certifica-tion helps in selling value added products worldwide .


Under MSE-CDP, financial as-sistance is provided for prepara-tion of diagnostic study report with a maximum grant of `2.50 lakh, 75 per cent of the sanc-tioned amount of the maximum project cost of `25.00 lakh per cluster [90 per cent for cluster in NE and Hill States] for soft interventions, up to `5.00 lakh for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR), 70 per cent of the cost of project of maximum `15.00 crore for Common Facility Centre [90 per cent for NE and Hill States] 60 per cent of the cost of project of `10.00 crore, excluding cost of land for infrastructure develop-ment [80 per cent for NE and Hill States].

After launch of the cluster mode schemes, more than 470 clusters have been covered un-der MSE-CDP scheme. Moreover, 124 proposals have been taken up for infrastructure develop-ment. A total of 10972 plots have been allotted to small and tiny units in these projects and employment generation of 37555 persons has been achieved. The cluster development approach has been very successful. The success is evident in six Hand-made Safety Match Clusters in Tamil Nadu, where the cluster mechanism evolved—is in-strumental in creating synergy among safety match clusters under community movement, scaling up their operation, creat-ing employment opportunities. In another case of Brass and German Silver Utensils Cluster, the turnover of the cluster has increased to almost three times, cost of scrap meting has reduced and employment has increased.

After certain modifications in the guidelines of the MSE-CDP and increasing awareness among various stakeholders, the scheme is poised for a big leap in the near future.

PMEGP generating employmentAn area where MSMEs play a pivotal role is in employment genera-tion. Keeping this in view, the Prime Minis-ter’s Employment Gen-eration Programme (PMEGP), a national level credit linked subsidy scheme, was introduced in August 2008 with a total plan outlay of `4485 crore towards margin money subsidy for generat-ing an estimated `37.38 lakh additional employment oppor-tunities during the four terminal years of XI plan (2008-09 to 2011-12).

Under this pro-gramme, financial as-sistance is provided for setting up of mi-croenterprises—each costing up to `10 lakh in service sector and `25 lakh in manufac-turing sector. The assistance is provided in the form of subsidy up to 25 per cent (35 per cent for special category including weaker sections) of the project cost in rural areas while it is 15 per cent (25 per cent for special category including weaker sec-tions) for urban areas. PMEGP is implemented by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) as a nodal agency.

Financial assistance is provided under backward and forward link-ages to implementing agencies of PMEGP for awareness camps, exhibitions, bankers meeting, workshops, entrepreneurship development programme, physical verification of units, printing of literature and publicity, advertise-ment, E-tracking etc.

The Ministry of MSMEs has taken a number of initiatives for

further improving the perfor-mance under PMEGP through KVIC like implementing E-applica-tion tracking system and related data collection and its upload-ing in the system, relaxation in mandatory EDP stipulation etc. The programme has elicited tremendous response from the public. During 2009-10, 3.20 lakh applications were received by the various implementing agencies of which 67473 cases have been sanctioned by banks, and disbursement could be made in 39335 cases only utilising `742.76 crore as margin money subsidy. The estimated employ-ment generation is for 4.42 lakh persons. The performance of this programme is likely to be still better in the current year.

Uday Kumar Varma is the Secretary of the

Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enter-

prises, Government of India.


Pict

ure

Cour

tesy

: ww

w.ph

otos

.comIt is increasingly recognized that while credit, market-

ing etc., are essential, the critical factor that drives growth is technology.


Abraham Lincoln’s words ring true when he said that the patent system is “the fuel of interest to the fire of genius.” The concept of patenting inventions can be traced back

to the 14th century. The system was introduced to encourage the inventors by awarding them exclusive rights to their inventions for a specific period of time in exchange of public disclosure of the inven-tion once the period of protection was over. During this specific period, the inventor could reap the benefits of his hard-work by exploiting his patent in

Pict

ure

Cour

tesy

: ww

w.ph

otos

.com


Patenting involves competitive strategies in today’s business world. To build a successful company through protecting its patents, one needs to develop a patent-filing strategy, as well as manage their IP assets in a way that would bring revenue to the company. But above all, one should be aware of the pitfalls of the patenting system and learn to combat them efficiently by devising a wholesome, customized patent strategy.

by priyanka gogoi

SucceSSPatenting For



any number of ways. After such period was over, the knowledge of the invention is dissipated to the public, so that the public can utilize this knowledge.

Patenting, in today’s world, is a different ball game altogether. Though, the basics of patenting remain the same, i.e., exclusive protection for a specific period; today, patents are used to give a company leverage against its competitors. Patents can be used to enhance the competitiveness of a business. Patents are used as

weapons of defence: to be ahead of others as well as to stop others from overtaking one’s progress. Companies stringently protect their IPs (Intellectual Proper-ties) and have IP management portfolio because they realize that a single, novel patent can be the only difference between one’s company leap over others. A single example to exemplify this can be the technology of xerog-raphy developed by the Xerox Corporation that created a new industry in itself.

When such a product is in-vented, which is a leap over the existing technologies available, then it is prudent on part of the company to protect such inven-tion. Protection is sought to keep the company ahead of others- so that none can use the patented product or process. Usually, in a company, the employee(s) who invents the product is the Inventor(s) and the Inventor(s) assign the rights to the company. Patent rules and rights are differ-ent in different countries, but in most countries, it includes a right of exclusive use of the patents for a limited period of 20 years.

Rights of the patentee or companyDuring these 20 years, the paten-tee gets the exclusive rights to: • Enjoymonopolyrightsoverhisinvention• Ceaseothersfrommaking,us-ing, selling, importing, offering for sale or distributing the patented invention without his permission• Monetizehispatentbysellingor licensing

From the standpoint of busi-ness enterprises, these rights mean that its competitors cannot create similar products that infringe the patent; and if it does so, the patentee company can sue them. In case the competitors want to use the patented prod-uct or process, it would need to get a license from the patentee company. During this period of 20 years, the R&D team can further improvise on the patent.

Points to be taken care of while patentingThough there are definite gains in patenting, yet a company should have a patent strategy in place. One should not patent every in-vention available. This is because patenting is an expensive proce-dure and some patents are not worth patenting. Also, as against

general notion, patent protec-tion is not international; it is a national process and one should understand the risks involved whilechoosingjurisdictions.Oneshould also be aware of others IP and respect the same to safe-guard oneself from unnecessary litigation or royalty payment.

Expensive procedure and way to combat itAlthough patenting is necessary to create a unique position in the market, often the costs of patenting deter companies from patenting their inventions. In the US, as well as in most other coun-tries, attorney fees are charged by the hour and it can be anywhere between $250- 500 per hour. To combat the cost, most foreign companies employ Indian IP firms such as Intepat IP Services to cut costs of patenting while maintain-ing the quality of their patent applications. Another strategy is to evaluate the inventions, and separate the important inven-tions from the non-important ones and patent the former category only. Also, one should evaluate in which countries the future of the product lies and then file patents accordingly. Filing patents on a world-wide basis is simply a waste of money.

When should a product or process be patented?Though there is fierce competi-tion to patent inventions and gain exclusive rights, one should not patent each and every invention. Sometimes, the product is not worth the money to be invested in order to protect it. To estimate whether your product is worth patenting, the question to be asked is- whether the product would be successful enough that competitors would want to obtain the product. If the product would generate a meager amount of profits, it is not worth patent-

Patents are territorial. There is nothing called

International Pat-ent Protection.

Pict

ure

Cour

tesy

: ww

w.ph

otos

.com


ing. If it would be successful enoughtojustifylegalexpensesin defending the product, then you can consider patenting it. You can also consider patenting it if the product is successful enough to create revenues for your company by licensing it to others.

Once you have decided to patent it, there are many ways of gaining revenue from it. You can license it, mortgage it or market the patent yourself.

Patent procedure and in which countries should a patent be obtained?Patents are territorial. As against general notion, a patent is pro-tected nationally and not interna-tionally. There is nothing called International Patent Protection. The only way of protection of patents on a global basis is to file patent in each country separately. ManyhaveheardaboutthePCT(Patent Co-operation Treaty) and have a wrong notion that PCT applications are protected internationally. PCT application is preferred only because it gives ex-tra time to the applicant in decid-ing in which countries he wants to file national patent applica-tion.Decidingthejurisdictionsinwhich to file patent is an impor-tant decision. The procedure for obtaining patent is expensive andjurisdictionsmustbechosenwithutmostcare.Mostly,insuchdecisions, countries where the product will not be launched should not be chosen. Countries where the company will be doing business should be taken into ac-count. One should realize where the future of the patented inven-tion lies.

Be aware of others’ IP rightsIf your product becomes success-ful, there might be companies holding patents that can drag you into unnecessary litigation or ask you to pay royalties to the

tune of lakhs of rupees. There are companies who patent inventions but do not utilize them. They wait for other companies to develop similar products, and once these products become successful, the patentee companies start su-ing them for asking for royalties. These companies are Patent Trolls.

The Blackberry case made everyone aware of the perils of patent troll actions. NTP never made or sold anything but strived on licensing its patents to other companies. In early 1990s, it purchased patents relating to wireless e-mails. When Black-berrymaker,RIM,startedprovid-ing wireless e-mail services, NTPsuedRIMforinfringingitspatents. What ensued was a legal battlethatresultedinRIMpay-ing NTP a one-time payment of $612.5 million.

To avoid messy situations like the one illustrated above, one should be sure that the product of a company does not infringe any patent. To this end, patent search for freedom to operate can be conducted to confirm that no similar product using the same technology exists. “It is actually better to do a preliminary patent search before delving into the R&D or product developments to avoid investing money in unneces-sary avenues”, says Senthil Ku-mar,PatentConsultantandCEOof Intepat IP Services, Bangalore.

Patenting and successNotwithstanding the risks involved, there is a definite cor-relation between patenting and business success. Companies with patents are four times likely to be successful. The reasons for success, besides the exclusive rights are explained below.

IP valuation—how it can be helpful in making your business a successKnowledge is now considered to

be an asset and protected vigor-ously by companies in the form of IP protection. Corporate strategy includes the management and protection of IP assets. The first and foremost step in the strategy is the correct valuation of your company’s IP.

Valuation is important for both licensing and investment options. Moreover,valuationisimportantfor mergers and acquisitions (M&As).Forobviousreasons,companies with technological overlap in their patents are more likely to form mergers than ones where there is no overlapping.

Companies perform IP valua-tion of their assets and usually, segregate the IP assets into three categories:• Veryvaluablepatentsthatareworth defending• Moderatelyvaluablepatentsor patents that are not used or planned to be used, yet are valu-able to others, and• Patentsunlikelytobeusedandnot of value

Patent rules and rights are differ-ent in different countries, but in most countries, it includes a right of exclusive use of the patents for a limited period of 20 years.

Pict

ure

Cour

tesy

: ww

w.ph

otos

.com



Dow Chemicals, which had 29,000 patents, classified its patents in the above three classes and the first class was segregated for business growth purposes, the second offered for licensing and the third class was donated or abandoned.

Patents and investment- how to rope in investors?Patents can bring in investment to the company. When invest-ing in a company, an investor would want to be assured that his investment would be protected and that he would gain some returns for his investment. When patents are a part of the IP as-sets of a company, they form an assurance to the investors that the company would gain a unique position in the market due to its protected inventions, and there is a possibility of financial gains from the same. Analysts have also found that companies with great patents, i.e., those cited by others in their patent applications, are likely to be a better investment than those holding patents that are never cited.

While investing, several ques-tions may arise in the minds of the investors- some being: When will the validity for the patent

expire? Can the patent be reverse engineered or worked around to make similar inventions? Can it be proved invalid?

These uncertainties in the minds of the investor can be removed by making a patent portfolio, wherein a patent search of similar products is done to evaluate your leverage against the currently available or pat-ented products. The patent search report would consist of inventions consisting of similar products, and would also cite how your product is different and advanta-geous from the ones available in prior art.

Patents and licenses- how do they bring revenues?After a patent is granted, the same can be licensed to others in order to create revenue for the company. Some businesses exist solely to collect revenues from the patents they license to others. Li-censes can be exclusive – where there is a sole licensee who can use the patent- or non-exclusive- where there are several licensees who can exploit the patent.

The power of licensing to oth-ers may be used as a weapon to obtain royalties in cases where there are infringements of your

patent. In such infringement scenarios, the patentee company usually sends cease and desist lettersandobtainsinjunctionsagainst the competitor who infringes its patented product. However, if a company is not will-ing to defend its patents through the expensive and time-consum-ing process of litigation, specially when it is of the opinion that the patent is not that successful or worth as to invest money in litigation, it can bargain with the competitor and obtain royalties for the infringing operations of thecompetitor.Moreoftenthannot, the infringing party is willing to pay royalties than get tangled in litigation procedures.

ConclusionPatent strategy, when applied in the right way, can make your business leap light years ahead of others. For this, a patent-filing strategy and an IP management strategy should be customized according to the needs of the com-pany. If properly executed, these strategies could lead your company to unprecedented success.

Priyanka Gogoi is an IP Analyst at Intepat

IP Services, Bangalore. She may be con-

tacted through [email protected].

Busy Infotech ..................................................... IFC

CHEP ................................................................. 31

Diesel ............................................ 7, 47-48, 50-52

Exxon Mobil .................................................. 8 A, 9

GW Precison .......................................................BC

Havell .................................................................25

Indiamart ...........................................................15

Mahindra ...........................................................27

Mitsubishi ............................................................3

National Instruments ............................................ 5

S & T Engineers ...................................................33

SBI ....................................................................23

Schunk India.......................................................13

Siemens ............................................................ 21

Taegutec ............................................................IBC

Uniworld .............................................................29

Vodafone ......................................................18, 19

Advertiser index


Piston Pumps & MotorsEaton Corporation has launched the DuraForce range of high-pressure piston pumps and

motors for heavy duty application markets in India. The pumps and motors are suitable in heavy-duty mining and construction vehicles,

forestry equipment, concrete pumps, primary metal production equipment and oil and gas drilling and production applications.

According to Eaton, all DuraForce products are rated for 40 Bar high pres-sure applications with peak pressures to 500 bar. The product range includes the HPV closed circuit pumps and motors, and the HPR open circuit pumps for industrial applications. The motor prod-ucts include the HMF and HMA fixed motors, and the HMV variable motors with a full range of controls.

Eaton CorporationWebsite: www.eaton.com/hydraulics

Chlorine SensorSensorex has launched FCL series free chlorine sensor, which

measures free chlorine in real time. The new product is available in three different measurement ranges, viz., 0-2 ppm, 0-5 ppm and 0-10 ppm. According to the company, the sensor’s long-life design reduces maintenance cycles, which lowers lifecycle costs with less frequent sensor cartridge replacement and reduced technician installation time.

After hypochlorous acid (HOCl) diffuses through the FCL sensor’s membrane, it is electrochemically reduced, releasing electrons and creating a current flow proportional to the free chlorine concentra-tion in the medium outside the sensor. The low current output is then conditioned to a 4-20 mA direct output. The sensor operates at a range of 4-11 pH, a temperature range of 0-45°C and at a maximum pressure of 14.7 psig.

The product is suitable for a wide range of water applications in municipal, potable water treatment, municipal wastewater, industrial plants and commercial facilities. These applications include munici-pal intake water, wastewater effluent, swimming pools, amusement parks, food processing disinfectant stations, aquaculture, commer-cial property lagoons and more.

SensorexTel: +1-714-8954344Website: www.sensorex.com

Industrial Friction Clutches

Mach III Clutch, Inc has announced new spring engaged industrial friction clutches

for torque transmission in the absence of air pressure or during power-off conditions. The spring engaged clutches are available in both regular duty and heavy duty models offering fixed torque transmission from 506 to 24,375 pound inches.

The clutches release when air pressure is applied to overcome spring the pressure. Cata-log models currently available mount at the end of the shaft and include a finished pilot for easy

mounting of a sprocket or pulley. Spring engaged

friction clutches are made to order with

bore and keyway sizes specified by the buyer for shaft sizes

from 0.625 to 3.5 Inches. Metric sizes are also available.

The advantage of a friction design,

according to Peter Buckley, the company’s

Senior Applications Engineer, is that “In contrast with spring engaged tooth clutches which must be engaged at zero or low speed, friction clutches slip slightly when engaged dynamically allowing engagement at any speed.” No lubrication or periodic maintenance is required. When worn, friction linings can be replaced in the field.

The features of the product include soft start engagement, enclosed design, bored and keyed to suit for easy installation – no bushing required, no anti-rotation arm required and rotary air union included.

Mach III Clutch, Inc.Tel: +1-859-2910849E-mail: [email protected]

Manual Limit SwitchHayward Flow Control has launched LHB series manual limit switch product platform.

The product includes a new lightweight and robust design with ease of installation and exact control. The product is available in two sizes to fit all sizes of Hayward TB series ball valves and through 8-inch of BY series butterfly valves. The two sizes, viz., LHB-1 and LHB-2, will be available with either 2 or 4 limit switches. Both sizes are available in a robust GF-PP housing with FPM seals and 304 stainless steel stem. Standard handles include T-handle or hand-lever.

The other key features of the product include temperature range 20°F to 200°F, two adjustable SPDT 10 Amp @ 120 VAC switches (open/close position), integral lockout, ½-inch conduit port and terminal blocks for ease of wiring.

The additional options include potentiometer, optional handles and LED for open / close indication. According to the company the typical applications or installations comprise waste and water treatment, chemical processing, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, marine and corrosive environments, pools, water/theme parks and aquariums.

Hayward Flow ControlTel: +1-888-4294635, E-mail: [email protected]

forestry equipment, concrete pumps, primary metal production equipment and oil and gas

mounting of a sprocket or pulley. Spring engaged

friction clutches are made to order with

bore and keyway

from 0.625 to 3.5 Inches. Metric sizes are also available.

of a friction design, according to Peter

Buckley, the company’s

product update

product update


Solenoid ValveThe Lee Company has launched a new quiet operation High Density Interface

(HDI) solenoid valve. The new 3-way valve is designed to achieve patient comfort by reducing actuation noise by 50 per cent.

The new quiet operation design of the product uses ‘whisper’ technology to pro-vide a sound level measurement of less than 37 dBA when measured at a distance of 24 inches and a valve cycle frequency of 10 Hz.

The unit is available in face mount, plug-in and ported configurations. The prod-uct is suitable for medical applications flowing gas or air, such as dialysis machines, patient monitors, ventilators/respirators and other bedside medical devices.

The Lee Company USATel: +1-860-3996281E-mail: [email protected]

Crankshaft Measurement Gauge

Adcole Corporation has introduced a large crankshaft measurement

gauge for manufacturers of diesel, marine and locomotive engines and mining, oil field and power genera-tion equipment.

The new product, viz., model 100-10, features a ball bearing spindle with <0.25 µm runout for measuring crank-shafts up to 4.57 meters long, with a 559 mm swing diameter, that weighs up to two metric tonnes.

The machine utilizes a laser interfer-ometer in combination with a contact follower having a 330 mm stroke, to measure 3,600 data points on pin journals for roundness and straightness with 0.5 µm accuracy.

The product is equipped with a 483 mm touch screen display and a Windows-based operating system. The unit is able to execute a full crankshaft measurement within 10 minutes.

The machine is built on a base of structural steel main cabinets with a large 457. mm thick surface plate. It weighs 20 metric tonnes.

Adcole CorporationTel: +1-508-4859100E-mail: breeceadcole.comWebsite: www.adcole.com

Steam CleanerDaimer has launched the KleenJet Pro Plus 200S,

which is a canister-based commercial steam cleaner. The product is useful for both businesses and homeown-ers. The vapour steam cleaner model is also suitable for light commercial work or homeowners wanting higher pressure and temperatures than other steam cleaner brands on the market.

The product features true variable pressure control, which enables operators to adjust, using a dial, the pres-sure levels up to 75 psi depending upon specific cleaning tasks. Besides, high steam tempera-tures of 310°F also work effectively to dissolve dirt and other residues for effective cleaning.

The steam cleaners also include an assortment of accessories/brushes, allowing users to easily switch for various cleaning applications. This includes a large rectan-gular floor brush with towel clips for steam mopping with included microfibre towels.

Daimer Industries, Inc. Tel: +1-800-4717157Website: www.daimer.com

Transfer Conveyor

FleetwoodGoldcoWyard has released its latest conveying technol-ogy, viz., the Tight Pitch Live transfer conveyor. The new product is

designed for companies running shrink wrap packs, corrugated 4-packs, 6-packs, 8-packs and 12-packs.

“Any company running the aforementioned products has almost certainly run into a situation where product has gotten skewed due to product drag on a deadplate. The Tight Pitch Live Transfer Conveyor aims to put an end to that headache,” said a company source.

The conveyor utilizes a 0.3-inch pitched chain wrapped around a ¼-inch nosebar to minimize deadplates from chain-to-chain transfers - helping to eliminate product skewing. The machine is designed to be driven off an existing chain with no need for a motor. Besides, the unit is also available as a standalone conveyor.

FleetwoodGoldcoWyardTel: +1-630-7596800E-mail: [email protected]

-ogy, viz., the Tight Pitch Live transfer conveyor. The new product is

designed for companies running shrink wrap packs, corrugated 4-packs,

a ¼-inch nosebar to minimize deadplates from chain-to-chain transfers - helping to eliminate product skewing. The machine is designed to be driven off an existing chain with no need for a motor. Besides, the unit is also available as a standalone conveyor.

TaeguTec India P Ltd.Plot Nos.119 & 120, Bommasandra Industrial Area, Phase 4, Bangalore 560 099, IndiaTel: +91-80-2783-9111 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.taegutec-india.com

R.N.I. No. MAH ENG/2001/4796 Tech/MH/MR/SOUTH-127/2006-08

industry 2.0 april 2011

Documents

manufacturing industry

indias manufacturing

ites industry

services industry

manufacturing companies

talented people

qualified people

best people