In pursuit of excellence in instrumentation
The changes in technology are very fast. And every development brings in some benefit. We must accept and adapt ourselves to these changes to derive the benefits, says Mr. C.S. Limaye whose contribution to the field of Instrumentation & Automation is immense.
Education
He was born in 1954 in a family with educational background at Nagpur, where he completed his education up to B.Sc. He moved to Pune in 1974 for studying Instrumentation Engineering at College of Engineering Pune. After graduation in Instrumentation Engineering in 1977 from Pune University, he moved to Thane to pursue a career. After two years of experience in Industry, he completed part-time Diploma in Management Studies from Mumbai University.
Service
He started his career in 1977 at NOCIL as a Trainee Engineer. At that time NOCIL was one of the most modern and automated petrochemicals complex situated at Thane Belapur Road. The rich experience laid a strong foundation. After NOCIL, he joined J.K. Chemicals manufacturing chlorine, SO2 and textile intermediates. His next job was at Godrej Soaps, Mumbai, manufacturing fatty acids, soaps and detergents. After Godrej, he joined Bombay Dyeing DMT plant at Patalganga. He was responsible for instrumentation during set up of DMT plant imported from USA. In 1984, he joined Herdillia Chemicals, another petrochemical company manufacturing Phenol, Acetone, Phthalic Anhydride and allied chemicals. He was responsible for maintenance of instrumentation and project for upgrading the automation system from pneumatic to DCS. In 1989, he joined Bayer India Limited, a German company manufacturing Agrochemicals, Rubber chemicals and Pharmaceuticals. He was responsible for projects and maintenance of instrumentation and electrical systems. He visited company’s headquarters and various plants in Germany in 1992. During his tenure he has handled Major projects such as up-gradation of automation systems in Agrochemicals and Rubber Chemicals plants with DCS, up-gradation of MCC and PCC systems, new projects in Pharma at Thane and Agrochemicals at Himmatnagar.
Business
After 18 years of service in responsible positions, he entered into his own business in 1995, Supertech Instrumentation Services (I) Pvt. Ltd. along with Mr. M.G. Ranade, an old associate and friend. Supertech was already established as a reliable Instrumentation Contractor. Mr. Limaye added services of Design & Detailed Engineering and Systems Integration. An alliance was made with Schneider Electric for their Automation and Drives products. Subsequently the alliance was strengthened with addition of Electrical switchgear for Intelligent MCC, metering products, APC Industrial UPS and MES solutions. Supertech started providing cost effective turnkey automation solutions in a wide range of process industries such as resins, paints, polymers, API, pharma intermediates, specialty chemicals, food & beverages, agrochemicals, lubricating oils etc. Most of these industries involved batch processes and hence Supertech developed special expertise in automating batch processes.
With this experience, Supertech developed “SUPERBatch”, a comprehensive Batch Management software package based on ISA S88 Batch Standard. The package is tightly integrated with Schneider PLC/ SCADA and DCS, but can also be used with other PLC/ SCADA and DCS systems. There are over 25 successful installations of SUPERBatch. In order to expand the business and to be able to cater to a wider range of industries, Supertech has recently entered into an alliance with ABB for their DCS systems with focus on verticals such as specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food & beverages.
Supertech also specializes in Historian and MES based solutions which involve sourcing the process data from disparate automation systems (PLC, SCADA, DCS) and archiving in open database such as MS SQL Server. By querying this data using special tools, different types of management information reports and dashboards are generated. The solutions also extend upto integration of Automatation system with ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle.
Another area of focus for Supertech is Intelligent MCC. With increasing level of automation, the number of motors in a plant is increasing. These motors are required to be operated automatically from a PLC/ DCS. Intelligent MCC allows soft connectivity with PLC/ DCS through an industrial bus (such as Profibus, Canopen, Modbus) and eliminates the need for PLC I/O and wiring. It provides warnings and extra protection for the motors against disturbances on both load and power supply side. It greatly increases the availability of motors. Supertech provides end-to-end Intelligent MCC solutions with advanced products from Schneider Electric. Supertech also offers energy monitoring SCADA and a unique Asset Management system for motors.
Valuable Clients
Supertech’s valuable clients include highly reputed names in process industry such as Asian Paints, Kansai Nerolac paints, Akzo Nobel, BASF, Bayer, Colgate Palmolive, GSK Foods, Cadbury, Fine Organic, Torrent Pharma, Associated Capsules, Piramal Healthcare, Ranbaxy, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Wockhardt, Watson Pharma, Sandoz, Glennmark, US Vitamins, Reliance Life Sciences, Megafine Pharma, IOCL, Tide Water Oil, Fuchs Lubricants, Syngenta, Huntsmann, Asian PPG, Godrej, Clariant, Novartis, Pfizer, Avestha Pharma, S.D. Fine, Grasim, Indo Rama, Finolex, Supreme Petro, Garden Silk, Birla Cellulosic, Esteem Industries, Gharda, Indofil, Sabero Organic, Gharda Chemicals, Sudarshan Chemicals, Laxmi Organics, Lanxess, VVF, MCF, Garware Chemicals, Firmenich, Tytan Organic, SEYA Industries, Makwell Plasticizers etc. Supertech has also supplied Automation systems and services in Dubai, Sharjah, Iran, Singapore, Nigeria, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and USA.
Professional Work
He is a senior member of ISA (International Society of Automation) for 28 years and has served ISA in various capacities including the District Vice President of the ISA Asia-Pacific District, Chairman of ISA India Region and the President of ISA Maharashtra Section. He has organized various ISA seminars and exhibits for ISA Maharashtra Section and India Region. He had the opportunity of interacting with global leaders in the field of instrumentation through his work in ISA and participation in six ISA President’s meetings from 1998 to 2005 in various parts of USA and Canada. He has played a key role in the formation of ISA Asia Pacific District and opening of various ISA sections at Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Surat, Pune, Shahjanpur, Ambernath, Thane and about 30 ISA students sections all over India. He also has several technical papers to his credit.
Disseminating Knowledge
Coming from an educational family background, Mr. Limaye has a passion for teaching and contributing towards education in his field. He was a visiting faculty in Control Engineering at VPM’s Polytechnic, Thane and currently a member of their Governing Council. He was Chairman of the Courses Committee – Electronics Group constituted by MSBTE for Curriculum development of new semester pattern Diploma Courses in Maharashtra. He was also a member of the Academic Council of MSBTE. He has actively contributed to revision of curriculum in Instrumentation Engineering for Shivaji, Pune and Mumbai Universities. A subject on Batch Process Automation was introduced in the B.E. Instrumentation curriculum of Mumbai University in 2010. He provides opportunity to instrumentation students for carrying out their final year projects and internship at Supertech.
Beliefs & Values
Mr. Limaye believes that honesty, hard work and dedication to your profession are the key elements of success. The changes in technology are very fast, but you must be willing to absorb the changes. Every development in technology brings in some benefit that improves the quality of human life. One must see how fast you can adapt yourself to the changes and derive the benefits.
Through his long experience in process industry, he has lived through the evolution of automation technologies from mechanical to pneumatic to electronic to microprocessor based to present day level. He has also had hands on experience in a wide range of process industries. He specializes in providing cost effective automation solutions to process industries using advanced automation technologies, with special emphasis on batch process industry.
For more information
E-mail: [email protected]
