Versatility in high-end engineering for critical process equipment

April 13, 2019 12:37 pm

Anup Engineering, the demerged arm of Arvind Ltd has actively contributed to India’s growth by charting an independent course, that is best suited to its specific business needs. In an interaction, Rishi Roop Kapoor, CEO, The Anup Engineering Ltd talks about their versatility in handling a wide array of high-end engineering of static process equipment.

Tell us bit about your association with Anup Engineering so far?
My association with Anup Engineering started in May 2010. I was amazed at the versatility of their manufacturing capabilities, high skill levels and an extremely innovative approach towards fabrication. Despite the workshop being full of orders, the product mix was generally run of the mill and not consonant with overall engineering capabilities. Most were running behind committed schedules and my most immediate priority was to get those orders completed and delivered with the least amount of delays.

The initial struggles in execution gave me valuable insights into the company’s strengths and the areas which needed to be strengthened further. I identified my focus areas, with team building being the foremost, strengthening project management and quality control processes, establishing direct contact with key customers, enhancing customer perception, cost control processes, rework reduction and right sourcing of materials being some of the others. Overall, it has been an exhilarating and fulfilling journey so far.

Post demerger from Arvind Ltd, what are the current strategies of your company?
The demerger will provide Anup Engineering with a better focus to chart an independent course, that is best suited to its specific business needs. This will help unlock Anup’s full potential and sustain its growth to become a `1000 crore business.

What is your company’s current product profile?
Anup is primarily into manufacturing of static process equipment – mainly shell and tube exchangers, columns, reactors and pressure vessels for core sectors such ascrude oil refining, petrochemicals, fertilizers, chemicals, power and water treatment plants. All this equipment requires high end engineering and design capabilities, such as thermal design and vibration analysis, FE analysis and designing under fatigue conditions. Anup is well placed to offer equipment, as well as special design services to our customers.

How would you define your company’s USP?
Our USP, is our versatility in handling a wide array of metallurgies, ranging from carbon steels to all types of austenitic stainless steels, duplex and super-duplex stainless steels, full range of Cr-Mo steel, high nickel alloys, copper alloys and titanium. Our expertise in the entire range of fabrication processes such as bending, rolling, forming, cutting, welding and surface treatment for different steels and nonferrous material, is well established and well endorsed by our customers.

Besides, Anup Engineering has excelled in the last six years and has generated an exceptional on time delivery record, apart from displaying excellent product quality and customer focus. If we specifically look at the shell and tube exchangers in the whole gamut of process equipment, Anup is currently a market leader from all perspectives – be it the volumes or versatility in terms of sizes, metallurgies or applications.

In 2018, Anup Engineering’s Odhav plant in Gujarat won the Innovation award at the Machinist Super Shopfloor Awards. Please walk us through a bit about it.

The award was presented to Anup Engineering’s Odhav plant in Gujarat, for implementing a special design, catered to the specific requirements of fatigue analysis, nozzle load Finite Element Method (FEA), thermal and vibration analysis, expansion bellow of heat exchanger and tubesheet FEA.

We have been successfully innovating in the domain of heavy engineering, which is our core strength. Our team at Odhav plant is constantly attempting to envision and create a bigger, better tomorrow – one with infinite possibilities for engineering excellence. This recognition came at just the right time and has motivated us to build our strength in developing innovative solutions to the myriad process applications that we cater to.

What kind of quality measurements are carried out in order to ensure stringent standard?
Our equipment is designed to adhere to very strict codes and the quality requirements are well laid out in the applicable specifications. There are inbuilt, in-process checks and controls to guarantee the final product quality. In addition, there are intermediate stages where different quality aspects such as dimensions, integrity of material and welds, desired fitment at joints and aesthetics are gauged. The final product is subjected to most stringent pressure tests, to establish complete compliance to codes and specifications.

What kind of engineering support does Anup Engineering provide to the aerospace industry and water treatment plants?
These are new areas where we have plans to enter, in the near future. ANUP has been one of the very few approved fabricators for ISRO and have done substantial work for them in the past. That knowledge and experience will help us in supporting ISRO’s growing needs for fabricated components. Similarly, we have made some marquee equipment for water treatment, for global giants such as Suez, and we believe that water treatment is a high growth sector and will provide us with many opportunities in future.

What’s next in 2019?
Anup has been growing at a steady clip over the last 5 years and has delivered its best performance in FY18. The cornerstones for this success have been it’s exceptional on-time delivery track record, which has ensured repeat business and a continual shift towards a more challenging, high-end product mix. We intend to continue to focus on these strengths and reach out to more markets internationally, to better tap the increasing opportunities. We, currently, get 50 per cent of our revenues from offshore businesses, mainly from the Middle-East region. We are looking at opportunities from upcoming refineries in India and the US refiners, as well as emerging businesses such as shale gas exploration.

Our equipment is designed to adhere to very strict codes and the quality requirements are well laid out in the applicable specifications
Rishi Roop Kapoor, CEO,The Anup Engineering Limited