Kemppi makes welding a joy

Mr. Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra, National Sales Manager, Kemppi India Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra, the National Sales Manager of Kemppi India Pvt. Ltd believes that if one has to prosper, one should see within and break one’s own barriers. One should have that hunger to grow. An engineering graduate and an MBA, Mr. Mohapatra has worked for BOC (Linde), UK- based Sabre and Ador Welding, before taking the reins of Kemppi India in 2011. His academic background, management style and business acumen have helped Kemppi to take deep roots in India and grow phenomenally in the past three years, registering a growth rate of 82% in the domestic sales. While he is busy building people and relations, Kemppi is bent upon making welding a joy!

The Finnish welding equipment manufacturer, Kemppi, has the distinction of having introduced the world’s first multi-process inverter welding machine in 1977. An innovator all the way, Kemppi introduced the digital technology in welding equipment in 1993. In 1997 it came up with software embedded welding equipment. Hardly five years later, it brought specialized softwares for weld quality management. A company that creates standards, Kemppi developed its own Welding Procedure Specifications(WPS) for on-site welding that comply with EN 1090-2 standard – yet another world record. Kemppi’s WPS are not machine specific. The company’s innovative designs developed keeping user-friendliness, ergonomics and energy saving in view, have won a number of awards, the latest being the ‘IF Design Award’ for its Kempact 253R equipment. Kemppi’s presence in India got a new dimension with its plant in Chennai becoming operational and commencing production in 2011. Mr. P.K. Balasubramanian speaks to the country manager, Mr. Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra to know more about this innovator and its initiatives to gain a dominant position in this part of the welding world and in the burgeoning Indian market. Excerpts:

Q. Kemppi is a well-known name in welding. What’s your niche?
We are a Finnish company and are known for innovations. Kemppi has introduced several significant innovations, including the world’s first welding inverter and digital welding solutions. The designs of the company’s products are equally innovative, and Kemppi’s MinarcMig Adaptive 180 was the first welding machine in the world to win the prestigious international award for product design. We are committed to ensuring that the customer is at the heart of everything we do.

Developing performance: Kemppi spends 20% of its revenue on R & D

Q. What’s your range of manufacture?
Our plant in Finland was started in 1949. Our Chennai plant started production in April 2011. We are basically into welding equipment for TIG, MIG and MMA processes. Today we manufacture about 100 models.

Q. What are your solutions for automated welding?
We supply power sources for automated welding. These are compatible with any robot. We support from the welding side. We ensure that the weld quality is good, there is no rework or rejection. The welds are spatter-free and entail high productivity.

We offer special softwares to ensure better control on arc and position of the torch so that we get a perfect weld without depending on the welder skill. These softwares are of four types: WiseRoot, WisePenetration, WiseThin and WiseFusion. WiseRoot, as the name suggests, is used for root runs. Wise Penetration helps in uniform penetration. In thin sheet welding, aesthetics are very important. WiseThin controls the heat input, so that the deformation is bare minimum and the weld bead is beautiful and gives the desired shape. WiseFusion is used for aluminium welding. It is used especially for aerospace applications. When you talk of productivity, our FastMig X450 is used for pipeline welding with advantage. Instead of using TIG, one can use MIG process which enhances productivity by 500%.

Q. How do you help in maintaining weld quality?
Kemppi is the world’s first welding equipment manufacturer whose welding operations have been awarded ISO-3834-2 certification. Our new top products meet the requirements of ISO-3834. The quality of welds can be affected by a number of factors and a robust quality management system is the best way to address this.

We have developed the world’s first welding quality management system, ArcQuality, to guarantee that the welding work is carried out as per the Welding Procedure Specifications(WPS) and that welders have the relevant qualifications.

We have recently developed WPS for on-site welding that comply with EN 1090-2 standard. This is yet another world first. It is not machine specific. It can be used with any machine produced by other manufacturers. So it is both versatile and compatible.

While WPS includes all information that a welder needs to complete the task on hand, compliance cannot always be taken for granted, especially in the most demanding offshore and nuclear power plant projects. ArcQuality or ArcQ provides easy and comprehensive means of ensuring that the welders are qualified and the WPS are followed verbatim. ArcQ works under cloud service. One can check the procedures used from anywhere in the world.

ArcInfo, the sister product of ArcQ, is a versatile tool for recording and analyzing welding parameters. Usability and visual clarity are the cornerstones of the design, and ArcInfo is designed for web-enabled use. In addition to detailed analyses, the user has access to many other types of useful materials including video illustrating the properties of the arc, a high quality summary of possible mistakes, and instructions on how to avoid similar efforts in the future. It’s a valuable tool for not only trainees but also for anyone who needs to analyse welding data. ArcQ also helps in prevention of failures in boilers or gas pipelines. It stops reworking. It also helps in sensible buying decisions.

Kemppi has developed the world’s first welding quality management system

Q. How do software contribute to your product mix and turnover?
The said software give us a leading edge in the market. About 80 – 82% of our total sales turnover comes from these software. These help us to break the price barriers. We work with the customer with a process-based approach and add value to him by improving his quality and productivity. Thus we grow and nurture genuine partnerships. Our solutions comprise equipment, software and services. We offer global warranty of two years. We have our service network in place in 92 countries. This includes 17 our own offices world over. The rest is through dealer network.

Q. What are the benefits of inverter technology?
You know of the shortage of power in the entire country. Thyristor-based welding machines only add to the woe. Our welding equipment are all inverter based. These require only 50% of the power consumed by conventional machines. We have made enormous investments in R & D. As a result, the efficiency of our machines is at the peak – 97%. Again the power factor (power used only for welding) is 0.9 – 0.99%. Our machines are compact with better mobility and portability. For example our 4000A MMA machine weighs only 19.5 kg as against 120 kg plus of a conventional machine. Our 150A Minarc 150 weighs only 4.5 kg. And our MIG machines weigh just 37 kg.

Q. You also offer a range of safety products. What are they?
Yes, we offer welding helmets which are auto-darkening when the arcing starts. We also have fresh air helmets which are battery operated and pump fresh air for the welder to breath. These conform to DIN-9-13 standard.

Q. Which are your major user segments?
Railways, shipyards, boiler manufacturers (like Thermax, BHEL), rolling stock manufacturers (BEML), and fabricating and engineering are the major sectors we cater to.

Q. Why do people come to Kemppi?
It is not correct to say that people come to Kemppi. Actually we go to the customers, get involved in their processes, applications and show how they can improve the quality and productivity. We have close-knit relations with our customers.

Q . What is your R & D spend?
We spend about 20% of our revenue on R & D which is at the root of our innovations. We have a big R & D team. And every year we come out with 3-4 new machines globally, and of course a few software.

Kemppi’s Kempact RA power source for excellent power cost efficiency

Q. What’s your role in welding education?
We constantly try to disseminate technology information to the user industry through seminars and workshops. We work very closely with the Welding Research Institute, Trichy as also with the Jadhavpur University. We just concluded a 3-day workshop on pipeline welding At Kolkata. We have our yearly calendar for training. We sponsor institutes and help the students to keep themselves abreast of the latest technology and equipment. The old technology was aimed at the blue colored. But today welding is for the tech savvy, white colored.

Q. How do you look at the future of welding vis-à-vis of Kemppi in India?
A. The Indian market is growing at 15% as compared to the Asian market which is at 5% while the European market is hovering at 1.2%. Although there is a lull in the economy today, especially in the power sector which is a major drive, things will change and welding companies will be back. Customers are more discerning and demanding, and companies who can partner these customers can take the cake. You can see our own case. In the last three years we have grown bigger and better. This year we shall clock a turnover of Rs.82 crores. And in the next five years we are aiming to touch Rs.200 crores.

Q. What are the challenges ahead for you?
The challenges are more internal than external. We have to build our team still stronger, and make it highly motivated to take on the challenges of tomorrow. They should remain committed to the cause of welding and make welding a passion. After all business is done by people to people and we have to make welding a joy!