As one of the largest steel wire rope manufacturers with 78,000 tonnes of annual production, Bharat Wire Ropes has also turned out to be one of the most trusted brands globally in the segment, exporting to over 26 countries.
“BWR extends its expertise to the requirements of general purpose engineering, defence applications, aviation, maritime operations, and all manner of conceivable heavy industrial operations. The entirety of our product portfolio in wire ropes is focussed on stringent quality and safety criteria. We take pride in meeting these safety and quality requirements. All our products undergo rigorous testing at our quality testing labs. Our wire rope products have met and passed some of the most stringent quality benchmarks in the wire ropes industry,” said Mr. M. L. Mittal, MD, Bharat Wire Ropes Ltd in a recent interview with Wire & Cable India magazine.
WCI: Please brief us about your company.
M.L. Mittal: Bharat Wire Ropes Ltd. takes pride in being known as one of the largest manufacturers of steel wire rope in India and globally. Over a period of time, we have steadily grown towards being a trusted brand in the wire ropes business. At Bharat Wire Ropes Ltd., we have dedicated ourselves to perfection in the manufacturing of steel wire ropes, wire strands, and wire rope slings. We believe that perfection is a continuous pursuit, and it is to that extent we have honed ourselves and our business.
Our wide range of products meets the functional needs of a vast array of industrial applications. We comprehensively cater to the needs of the dynamic oil and gas industry and have extensively met the demands of oil exploration and drilling operations, exploration rigs, derrick cranes, and offshore winches. BWR extends its expertise to the requirements of general purpose engineering, defence appli-cations, aviation, maritime operations, and all manner of conceivable heavy industrial operations. The entirety of our product portfolio in wire ropes is focussed on stringent quality and safety criteria. We take pride in meeting these safety and quality requirements. All our products undergo rigorous testing at our quality testing labs. Our wire rope products have met and passed some of the most stringent quality benchmarks in the wire ropes industry.
WCI: Share some information regarding the installed capacity and the product portfolio along with markets served.
MLM: With the production capacity of 66,000 metric tonnes in our Chalisgaon plant and 12,000 tonnes in Atgaon plant, the total capacity has reached to around 78,000 metric tonnes. The old machinery resulted in very high level of maintenance and higher percentage of wastage. We therefore decided to put up a new modern plant in Chalisgaon to tap the growing market as we saw huge potential in the wire rope sector.
Construction work at the Chalisgaon plant site started in April 2015. The production in the plant has already begun. We have procured the latest equipment from top companies of Germany and South Korea. With our modern technology, skilled manpower and excellent quality products at reasonable prices, we are confident that we will give value for money to our customers in India and abroad.
WCI: Tell us about your technical infrastructure (facility, machine installed, R&D, QC capabilities, etc).
MLM: We can manufacture 66,000 metric tons per annum in our plant. We have got machines from Korea, India and Germany. We take pride in our technical infrastructure, which has been built by industry stalwarts. Apart from our machinery, our production line layout is world class and it helps us to reduce material movement and increase manpower utilization. We have a 100 and 500 tonnes break load testing machine, which helps us validate quite range of products in a more precise manner.
WCI: Tell us about your future plans regarding expansion, product addition, and new markets.
MLM: The engineering sector will account for 65 percent of the company’s revenue and drive our future growth. Moreover, the elevator market, which has been growing at a compounded annual rate of 40 percent every year, is also a potential segment. Besides, fishing – which we never touched earlier – high-end surface and underground mining, oil and gas, railways and shipping need specialised wire ropes and are all potential growth segments.
WCI: Share your views on Indian steel wire industry (present scenario, growth potential, future scope etc).
MLM: The Indian steel wire industry has an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes (value: Rs 8,000 crore) approximately. About 70 percent of the total production comes from the organised producers and the remainder is from the unorganised sector. With such a growth in steel production, India is projected to be a net exporter of steel in the near future. The abundant availability of raw materials will provide a tremendous growth opportunity for the steel wire industry.
WCI: What steps have you taken for better operational efficiencies?
MLM: We have been exporting our products to over 26 countries. We have training and plant layout along with state-of-the-art machines. We manufacture a wide range of carbon and stainless steel wire ropes with thickness varying from 6 to 125mm. BWR has 14 licences from accredited global and Indian agencies, and our in-house testing and R&D centres ensures that our products meet the highest safety standards. We are the supplier of some of the specialised wire ropes for the Indian Air Force and are also having a two-year contract with Shipping Corporation of India. The company has taken care to ensure that none of its projects faces cost and time overruns. We have recruited industries specialist in the plant. Besides, we have in-house modern tools to help operational efficiency. Also, we are looking at our unique layout and modern technology to increase the utilization of our manpower.
