GEM glitters in process cooling and drying

“We thrive in innovations. We are the largest manufacturer of dryers in the country, making 6,000 dryers in a year, the bulk of which goes to OEMs.” – K.P. Manoharan, Managing Director, GEM Equipments Pvt. Ltd.

Our goal is to deliver world-class compressed air and cooling solutions to the industry at large,” says Mr. K.P. Manoharan, Managing Director, Gem Equipments Pvt. Ltd. The company founded by him and his technocrat colleagues Mr. G. Ravichandran and Mr. C. Raviselvan way back in 1984 is today a Rs.60-crore entity, aiming to hit a century in the next 3-4 years. The company with a strong technology base, thrives on innovation. It has a wide range of futuristic products in its portfolio. It includes dryers(compressed refrigeration, desiccant, compact desiccant, wall mounted refrigeration types), compressed air receivers & filters, moisture separators, automatic drain valves, air & water cooled after coolers, FRP & evaporative cooling towers, Dry cooling towers, Aqua Savers and Industrial Chillers.

With an unwavering commitment to quality and excellence, Gem has set up and nurtured its in-house R & D with the best of talents and in-depth knowledge of international codes which facilitate to design products to ISO standards. GEM has ISO-9001-2008 accreditation from DNV. It is also a member of CTI. It works in close co-ordination with research institutes and the user industries which helps in developing new products and improving existing ones to meet the exacting requirements of its customers spread across the world.

Manufacturing excellence
GEM has a sprawling, well equipped manufacturing facility in a 5-acre verdant land. It has a workforce comprising 150 dedicated employees. A good number of them are professionally qualified managers and engineers involved in Engineering, Planning, Procurement, Production, Quality Assurance and other allied functions. They are assisted by a select few consultants & specialists in specific domains. The company is following state-of-the-art Process and the Japanese methodology for chiseling out products of impeccable quality and enduring value.
GEM has a technology tie-up with Orion, Japan for manufacturing Desiccant dryers as per their design in India and market them under GEM brand in India and abroad. GEM has a wide experience in design and supply of Air Cooled Heat Exchangers for various process applications and presently boasts of supply, erection and commissioning of Fin Fan Coolers for 2 nos. of 80 MW and 3 Nos. of 150 MW Coal-based Power Plant Auxiliary Cooling System to OPG Power and ARS Metals in Chennai and Gujarat respectively.

GEM is a dominant name in cooling towers. As of now it has 10,000 installations in the country

Innovative Products
GEM is the largest manufacturer of dryers in the country, making 6,000 dryers in a year, a large chunk of which goes to OEMs. GEM’s Compressed Refrigerated Air Dryers are in a class of their own. Its 7X Heat Exchanger is the combination of Pre-cooler, Evaporator and built-in stainless steel demister moisture separator. The dryer is compact in size with ozone-friendly refrigerant and wiring as per IS.694. The dryer is made to have least specific power and with non-cyclic refrigeration system for longer durability.

GEM’s SPD series Heatless Air Dryer is equipped with a pre-filter to protect desiccant from free water contamination, dust, scales etc. and an after-filter to avoid desiccant dust carry over. GEM is a name to reckon with in the cooling tower segment too. It offers Bottle Cooling Towers, Square Cooling Towers, Cross Flow, Evaporative Coil, Modular Cooling and Dry Cooling Towers for varied applications. Its Evaporative (FRP) Cooling Towers are of vertical induced draft counter flow design with uniform water flow distribution and optimal heat transfer. The towers can be installed independent of wind direction. The tower casing is made of tough FRP and has sufficient structural strength to withstand high velocities and vibration. UV-stabilized resin is used along with gel coat for longer service life. GEM’s Nexgen series cooling towers are highly energy efficient.

The company has installed over 10,000 cooling towers in the length and breadth of the country – in power plants, cement plants, cogen plants, textile mills and so on. The fact that Clarke Energy, the distributors for GE Gas Engines, is using GEM dry cooling towers is creditable. The Industrial Chillers manufactured by GEM also need special mention. GEM offers chillers up to 100 TR capacity. These factory assembled package units go with a 2-year warranty which is industry’s first. The Mini series Industrial Chiller uses a coaxial type heat exchanger. The design maximizes exchanger efficiency by using copper tubes in a coiled tube-in-tube arrangement. It promotes turbulence break-up boundary and maximizes the heat transfer rate with minimum pressure drop. A counter flow pattern is used to achieve maximum temperature difference.

A view of GEM’s cooling tower warehouse

Firsts galore

GEM has several firsts in the field of dryers and cooling towers. Some of them are:

• The first cooling tower company to replace aluminium alloy sprinkler with nylon 66
• The first cooling tower company to develop injection molding fans
• First Indian company to develop coil tube-in-tube Evaporator & Pre-cooled based Refrigerated Dryers
• First Indian dryer company to get ISO 9001 certification way back in 1997
• First South Indian company to design and supply dry coolers to diesel engines
• First Indian company to design and supply dry coolers for compressor cooling, induction furnace, coil cooling applications
• First Indian company to introduce Combo cooling system to conserve industrial water
• First Indian company to develop and supply Evaporative Coil Cooling Towers for various process applications
• First South Indian company to develop Modular Cell FRP Cooling Tower for higher flow application and alternative for RCC towers, and
• First South Indian Company to export FRP cooling towers and dryers to Middle East, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

GEM has a nationwide marketing & service network. It has regional offices in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata, and channel partners and service engineers stationed in all strategic locations to stay close to the customer and attend to service calls within the shortest response time.

Wide customer base
GEM’s ever-expanding customer list reads like a Who’s Who of the Indian industry. Since its basket has varied products, its customers also represent diverse industry segments. Some of the prominent names are: L & T, Gujarat Cement, Ultra Tech Cement, Grasim Cement, Zuari Cement, Hindustan Newsprint, TNPL, West Coast Paper Mills, ITC Bhadrachalam, Neyveli Lignite, Ennore Thermal Power Station, Karnataka Power Corporation, Vizag Steel Plant, Jindal Steel, Bhilai Steel, Tata Steel, Bhokaro Steel, Powerica, Hindustan Lever, Saint Gobain, ELGI Equipments, Atlas Copco, Chicago Pneumatics, PSG Group and so on.

GEM has its modern, well equipped manufacturing facility in Coimbatore. Seen here is its Testing & QC Section.

“Almost 80% of the orders we receive are repeat orders,” reveals Mr. Manoharan. Product quality, excellent service back-up, ability to provide cost-effective & optimum solutions are the attributes of GEM that make these customers come back again and again. The company also does value engineering, saves costs and keeps a check on input costs so that the benefit can be passed on to the customer. Mr. Manoharan adds that his company has not increased his product price for the last 10 years!

Mr. Manoharan sums up the major strengths of his company as: Complete range of products, comprehensive solutions, presence in air & water, patronage from OEMs, contemporary technologies and back-up from the Japanese partner.

Future thrusts
GEM unfolds several thrust areas. Continuous improvement of its products & processes to gain customer delight is one of them. The company is also striving to get a set of new customers from newer segments of the market every year. It is also talking to select MNCs’ to explore the possibility of contract manufacturing as a part of its growth plan. Enhancing exports is also a major thrust area for GEM which is already exporting its products to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
– P.K. Balasubbramaniian

For more information
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