Know our Coimbatore - Part 2

As all of you know that Enterprise and resilience are ingrained in the Coimbatorean's psyche.

The entrepreneur here has shown a remarkable ability to survive crises by adapting and innovating.

This is widely held to be the main reason for Coimbatore going global ahead of the country.


Our Coimbatore district has nearly 4,000 registered factories, some 300 large and medium units, over 30,000 small-scale industries, and over 4,500 cottage industries, besides several village & agro-based units unregistered small units.

One of the 10 most industrialised districts in the country, it supplies 60 per cent of all pumps used in India, 40 per cent of motors, and a significant percentage of auto parts.

While Tata Motors sources over 25 per cent of its components from the region,
Maruti Udyog gets 40 per cent of its requirements.

Coimbatore has made a foray into knowledge-based industry too.


Coimbatore's growth is sustained by a variety of industrial activities.
But textiles have been at the core of all industrial activity, and these almost revolutionised the region's industrial scene.
This revolution was set off towards the end of the 19th century when the first textile mill was set up here.


If drawing water for cotton cultivation got the pump industry going, the latter fired the foundries.

With the pump industry, the Coimbatore entrepreneur developed engineering skills to develop farm equipment.

From there to auto components was a natural progression.

With industrial development, the trade and finance sectors grew.

This not only led to massive industrialisation but also created the spirit of enterprise.

Large, medium and small manufacturing sectors grew at a fast clip, linked with and feeding one another.

The free flow of technology and knowhow also helped.

This was dictated by quality considerations.

Bigger companies expected and got quality products from their feeder units; to ensure quality they were willing to offer the technology at their command.

Quality is, in fact, an obsession with the Coimbatore industrialist.

While Coimbatore seemed all set for a boom, a number of bad monsoons between 1971 and 1981 sent the pivotal textile industry into a decline.
( Year 2004 onwards the textile industry is booming with so many new units in and around Coimbatore )

A number of mills became sick because of their uneconomic size and the competition from modern units in north India and from manmade fibres.

Some of the sick mills were taken over by the National Textile Corporation.

But, once again, the region showed its resilience by taking advantage of the export incentives offered to the hosiery industry.

This led to the growth of Tirupur and the development of markets abroad.
( We shall see it later.)


Coimbatore is best known for the manufacture of automotive parts.

Regardless of the vehicle one drives - be it a Tata Motors truck or a Mercedes car - chances are that one will be using a made-in-Coimbatore horn.

Roots Industries Limited, one of the eight companies under the Roots group, has been making electric horns since it started operations in 1970 as American Auto Service.
Besides a variety of horns, the Roots group now manufactures various other auto accessories, including halogen headlamps and fog lamps and parking and reversing sensors.
Its clients include such big names as DaimlerChrysler, Mitsubishi, Mahindra and Mahindra, Toyota, Tata Motors, TVS Motor Company and Piaggio. Roots products find their way to the United States, Europe, West Asia and Africa.
It is the first horn manufacturer in Asia to obtain the QS 9000 and VDA 6.1 certification and the first in the world to win the ISO/TS 16949 certification.


Thriving on high-end research and diversification, the Roots group also manufactures a range of non-automotive products, including cleaning equipment, castings and precision tools. According to its director N.V. Krishnan, the group is constantly innovating and developing technology.
The technical collaboration with Bosch SA for auto products in 1995 set the group on the path of sustained technical growth.
It also has collaboration agreements with other German companies for non-auto products - with Hako for multicleaners and Zeinser for textile machinery.


The Roots group's obsession with technology is evident from the range of the state-of-the-art tools it uses for research and development (R&D) - solid modelling, hard prototyping, drafting and graphics.
Its metrology laboratory is a comprehensive calibration-cum-consultancy centre that offers electrical, mechanical, pressure and vacuum calibration.
It also offers specialised CAD/CAM consultancy services for a range of products and industries.
According to Krishnan, Roots has several new products in the pipeline.


In top gear is Shanti Gears Limited (SGL), which commenced operations in 1969 with the manufacture of gear products.
Incorporated in 1972 as a private limited company, it went public in 1983.
It has created a niche for itself with its quality products.
The company, a dominant player in the design and manufacture of premium industrial gears and gearboxes, commands 25-30 per cent share of the organised sector market valued at Rs.400 crores.


It has built for itself a reputation as a quality supplier with strong design capabilities and quick turnaround time.
From products weighing a few grams to ones that are more than 20 tonnes, SGL manufactures a wide range of gears, gearboxes, geared motors and gear assemblies (both standard and custom built) to global players in critical industries such as cement, power, steel, sugar, fertilizers, paper, Defence, passenger lifts, medical electronics and proton collision.
SGL is the leading aviation gear manufacturer approved by the Directorate-General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance.
Its gears meet ISO (international), DIN (German) and AGMA (American) standards.


SGL is the only industrial gear-manufacturing company in India that has all support manufacturing facilities such as cutter-manufacturing unit, pattern-making unit, casting unit (ferrous and non-ferrous) and fabrication, forging and heat treatment facilities in-house.
This, according to senior vice-president P.K.R. Kurup, helps to gain better production control, improve quality and maintain delivery schedule.


SGL has a well-diversified customer base of over 15,000, which covers over 35 industrial categories.
Its clientele include Ingersol Rand, Atlas Copco, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), Siemens, Mitsubishi, Rolls-Royce, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), L&T Komatsu, Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd. (TISCO), Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), the Indian Space Research Organisation, Alfa Laval, Rieter LMW and Suessen and Himson; for some of these companies SGL is the sole supplier.
Recently SGL was listed as one of "Asia's rising firms" by the Forbes magazine. Sustained gains in sales and returns, market momentum and investor friendliness were considered for the ranking.
SGL is one of the 24 Indian companies that figure among the list, and the only engineering company from South India.


SGL was ranked fifth among the 500 companies by RoCE (Return on Capital Employed) in the engineering and capital goods sector.
With effect from September 27, 2004, SGL has been included in the BSE 500 by the Stock Exchange in Mumbai.
SGL's dividend policy has been liberal.
Not a single year since SGL went public (1986) has gone without dividend.


Now Shanthi Gears Limited has forayed into constructions, Auto turned components CNC, and other ventures.

Rest in Next part III ...

Subbu

 

You are right our dear shobanag,

The respect to others from coimbatoreians is a rare phenomena any where in the world.
Elders or youngsters, everyone being treated with love, affections and respects.
Konghu Tamizh prevails all over.
Hope you enjoyed the details and in next parts I will be highlighting more products and cultures.

Subbu

 

Thanks to our kanakaraghavan and sriniketan for the kind gestures and hope the informations are useful.
Do read other parts too....
Subbu