HRS : Growth in innovation
Mr. V Gokuldas, Managing Director,
HRS Process Systems Limited
Q. Being the key player in heat exchangers business, Please brief us about recent initiatives undertaken in Chemical & Process equipment industry?
HRS today is a “One-Stop-Shop” for heat transfer solution to the Chemical & Process equipment industry. We felt the need of our Customers who wanted value added heat transfer solution rather than buying on ” equipment fabrication” or competing product evaluation basis. Customers want to work with Companies who have all the key heat transfer products and can cater to their total project requirement, rather than go to different manufacturers.
We provide ECOFLUX* Corrugated Tube Heat Exchanger, which is a revolutionary technology introduced by us in the market a decade ago ! Our FUNKE rage of versatile Plate Heat Exchangers and Customized Shell and Tube heat exchangers enable us to offer our Customers effective, techno commercially viable solutions.
Q. What are the market opportunities for Chemical & Process equipment industry in India?
We anticipate a healthy growth for our products in the Chemical & Process equipment sector, since their application is across the industry segment. Many new companies are being set up to address the growing demand of various chemicals and intermediates that make up for a host of consumer durables. With buoyant growth in pharma and allied sectors, demand is going to build up for expansion in chemical process industry and thereby for all kind of process equipments.
HRS Factory Overview
Q. The incisive competition leads to work on lower profit margins, how do you tackle this position by implementing what kind of marketing strategy?
Incisive competition does have pressure on margins; however this is more predominant for “equipment fabrication”. At HRS we believe in providing innovative customized solution to our Customers, with a technological edge and excellent service backup. We offer Customers our expertise as a value added service, to evaluate their existing systems and perform a cost benefit analysis which will enhance productivity and profits.
HRS is “One-Stop-Shop” for heat transfer solution, giving Customer the confidence of a valued solution for their heat transfer application.
Plate heat exchanger with Mr Gokuldas
Q. According to your opinion, how does the synergy of R&D & technology developments is maintain to maintain the position in the market ?
Synergy of R&D and technology development gives us the competitive edge. These need to be based on market requirement of present (short-term) or as foreseen (medium to long term) technology requirement. R&D is key in all our business plans. Our pioneering technology, the ECOFLUX* Corrugated Tube Heat Exchanger is an innovative product which has “Corrugated Tubes”. These tubes enhance the efficiency of the heat exchangers which not only helps to have a uniform thermal processing but also ensures that there is very low fouling of heat exchanger surface. ECOFLUX * CTHE is a low maintenance, no spares requirement heating equipment and thus ideally suited for the chemical and petrochemical industry.
Our energy efficient range of Funke Plate Heat Exchangers having special embossed plate design, higher heat transfer co-efficient and special gasket design, enhance energy savings and eliminates loss due to any leakage. We have a wide range of application area for our product independently and in combination to become an efficient solution provider to the Customers. Considering the prime role that process equipments play in the chemical industry and global competition, it is essential that good R&D and sound technology go hand in hand. This will enable Companies to provide cost-effective solutions to the Customer.
Q. What are the recent development in Chemical & Process equipment sector?
The chemical process industry is one of the main sectors where heating equipment is used for all kind of processing. This industry has been expanding at a decent rate, whereby we have new projects and also requirement for modernization of the plant and replacement requirements. We anticipate a further growth in this sector based on enhanced consumer life style and growing population which gives a backward thrust for this industrial growth. We have observed that the Chemical industry is evaluating the heating equipments in a much better manner than earlier.
HRS range of heat exchangers
The Customers are ready to evaluate new technology and not afraid to take calculated risk. We have also observed that Customers are more conscious to ensure a reduction in daily operating cost with incremental increase in capital cost. The Customers today evaluate the total energy cost, which many time include other equipments (like pump) that would form a part of the energy cycle. Companies today are shifting buying from mere fabricator to technology provider in heat exchanger too. Another area is evaluation of environmental impact while designing with assessment on emission reduction in plants involving gases. Overall the industry has started looking at heating equipments as one of the key process equipments which has a big impact on process stability and performance.
Unicus
Q. Could you brief us on Indian & Global perspective of Chemical & Process equipment industry?
Globally and in India, the Chemical & Process equipment industry is looking at enhanced technology products to enable better product conversions at optimum cost. The scale of production also has gone up necessitating better process equipments and high level of reliability. The developed economies process high end product and the base products are manufactured at locations globally based on raw material availability and cost of production. Hence, it is essential that all Companies understand this changing dynamics and orient to serve a global business community rather than local. We anticipate a healthy growth in this sector in coming years.
HRS Hot Water System
Q. According you what are the factors affecting to Chemical & Process equipment business?
The factors affecting the growth of the chemical & process equipment business is availability of funds, some policy decisions and taxation issues which hold up major projects. However, on the other hand, lack of knowledge on new technology and products, impedes Customer at evaluating their conventional design and perform a cost benefit analysis with a new heat exchanger design which will help them enhance the plant efficiency and save on cost. At HRS we have studied various industry sectors and have found many avenues in the existing process line, for the Customer to add heating equipment which has a very quick pay back on investments, there-by giving a value add to the customer.
In many chemical process industries “heat recovery” is not still a common practice. There is also immense scope for reducing the heat energy and power costs (pumping costs) on heating / cooling medium by various heat recovery solutions. HRS today offers Customer this expertise at no extra cost which helps them reduce the energy bill and become more efficient
Q. What are the key technological trends that are driving Chemical & Process equipment industry?
Heating equipment for chemical process industry has not changed much in generic terms. Primarily shell and tube type and plate type heat exchangers are used in the industry. Majority of these heat exchangers have one of the fluids which have fouling tendency (typically cooling water). Hence reducing or eliminating fouling becomes one of the key challenges for any heat supply to the chemical process industry.
Our ECOFLUX* Corrugated Tube Heat Exchanger with “Corrugated Tubes” enhance the efficiency, with better thermal processing and low fouling of heat exchanger surface. UNICUS® Scraped Surface Heat Exchanger is an excellent heat exchanger for all applications where fouling is a major problem. UNICUS® can run non-stop in such conditions where other heat equipment will not run even for few hours. Today many companies have devised special heating equipment for various industrial sectors with specialized equipments for certain applications in the same sector.
Q. What is your vision for your company?
Our vision is to be a globally preferred, innovative heat exchanger company, providing sustainable heat transfer solutions. We would like to create value for our Customers in terms of energy efficient heat transfer solutions.
Q. Please let us know the issues you need to address that are related to Chemical & Process equipment industry?
The heating equipment for the chemical industry segment needs to address two key areas. One, energy efficiency viz-a-viz cost of the equipment and secondly reducing or eliminating down time for maintenance which can be due to fouling or wrong selection of equipment. This is possible by good interaction between the user and the equipment manufacturer. HRS is a “one stop solution” provider for all heat exchange solution for the process industry. Another issue that also needs focus is educating the industry on advancements in the existing technology and availability of new technology.
Q. What is your advise to the Indian Chemical & Process equipment manufacturers to achieve global competitiveness?
Saving on energy cost is the need of the hour in India and across the globe. Hence providing equipments that are high on energy efficiency and heat recovery will surely enable equipment manufactures in India to remain competitive on the global front.
