Our emphasis is on Quality, rather than cost: Ashok Gupta

Crane-Bel International was founded in 1980 at Ghaziabad by Er. Ashok Kumar Gupta, a Graduate Mechanical Engineer, having more than half a century of practical experience in the fields of design, development, manufacture, maintenance and rejuvenation of hydraulic machines, systems, equipment. Mr. Gupta’s unique and unrivaled experience helped Crane-Bel earn its spurs and name nationally and internationally as a reliable, customer-oriented company. In this interview, P.K. Balasubbramaniian delves deep and discovers the quality obsession and operating philosophy of the company which is pro-active to the needs of the customer. Excerpts:

Q. Your Company is known for its quality products. How do you churn out ‘Zero Defect Products’?

We have a comprehensive Quality policy. Following are the steps we follow to ensure zero defect in our manufacture:

1. We understand the importance of quality and the essence of our quality policy is hidden in the phrase; “The cost is long forgotten but the Quality is remembered for ever”.
2. The philosophy of our company is to become a partner and not only the supplier of our customer. Each supply we make to our customer is the beginning of a long-term relationship, which contributes to the growth of each company.
3. We are a team of qualified Engineers having specialized experience in Hydraulics, Machine Tools & Automation; including Designing, Development and Manufacturing to offer the best possible quality products.
4. We work together with our customers in all fields to make their Plant, Machines and Systems more productive and reliable.
5. We do not permit any defect. Whether it is raw material, manufacturing processes or the bought-outs.
6. We concentrate our full efforts and expertise in the most important aspects like Design, Manufacture of Critical Components, Assembly, Quality Control and Testing.
7. We have the quality certification of ISO 9001 for Design, Manufacture & Supply of Machine Tools, Hydraulic Machines, and Equipment, Automation Systems, Hydraulic Cylinders, Accumulators, Oil Filtration Systems, Power-Packs and Related Parts & Accessories.
8. We manufacture our products under stringent tolerances and standards and we work together with our customers. As a result, we have been awarded by the National Award – 2006 of Quality products for the manufacturing of Outstanding Quality Machine Tools”, instituted by Government of India.

Q. How do you give a competitive edge to your products?

We use the latest and the best available technology in our products. Following are some of the major factors which contribute to our success:

1. Our company philosophy, of becoming a partner and not remaining only the supplier of our customer, is the main factor of the success of our company. Each supply we make to our customer is the beginning of a long-term relationship, which contributes to the growth of each company.
2. Full dedication and Adaptation of High technology products & choosing the best solutions for every customer.
3. Regular R & D and Innovations for having an edge over the competitors’ products.
4. We believe that there is no substitute for quality and there is no excuse for the product which does not meet the customer’s requirement.
5. Our main consideration has always been to deliver high quality Machine Tools in time bound environment at a competitive price.
   We support the needs of Design Engineers and the Maintenance Engineers with the products that meet the specification requirements, in accordance with the functional needs of the customers.
6. With the theme of winning ideas and products for the industry, Crane-Bel promotes the Pro-Active Maintenance concept which increases the life of machines and equipment and Automation for increasing the productivity of the plant and machines of the customers.
7. We have a policy of considering the customer as our business partner and help customer at all the stages for increasing the productivity and maximizing the efficiency through innovation, to allow them grow faster.
8. We use latest technology in the products for the benefit of our customers and we manufacture Machines, Equipment and Systems as per the ones requirements.
9. We strictly follow the honest business practices and our customers are fully satisfied with our after- sales services.
10. We provide the total systems, from concept through design, manufacturing, testing, supply, installation, commissioning and proudly stand behind our product.

Q. Which are other Crane-Bel products that have made a mark in the market?

Apart from the Hydraulic Machines, Systems & Equipment, we manufacture a wide range of Automatic & CNC Broaching Machines and Hydraulic Presses. Broaching is our Core Competence perfected over a period of about four decades of our strenuous efforts in providing the best solutions to our customers. Over the years, we have embraced a culture of Excellence and we have been able to innovate and develop the following unique products:

1. High performance Table-Up Broaching machines.
2. Automatic Broaching Machine with Winged Automation.
3. CNC Broaching Machine with Servo Drive.
4. Heavy-Duty Horizontal Broaching Machines
5. Surface Broaching Machines and
6. Custom-Built/Special Purpose Broaching Machines

Q. What are your growth plans?

We have an Expansion and Growth Plan with a target to achieve more than double our Turnover during next three years, mainly by the following plans:

1. Adding new features in our products
2. Further improving the Quality and productivity of our Machine Tools
3. Increasing Production in the existing factory
4. Putting up an additional plant
5. Appointing marketing agents
6. Exporting our Products in the Global Market

Q. What is your contribution towards National Self Reliance with Technological Innovation?

We understand that Machine Tools Industry is mother industry and is a labour-intensive industry. We believe our industry has quite important and significant contribution to the National Self Reliance by directly providing the employment and further providing the machine tools to the automobile industries, auto-parts industries, Cycle parts industries and general engineering industries, which in turn provide employment to the skilled & unskilled workers and staff at the different levels thereby providing employment alongwith the self-sufficiency to the families of rural and urban masses collectively. To do this with meagre infrastructure is a big Contribution towards National Self Reliance.

Since inception of the industry, we are regularly doing R&D and technological innovation as a regular feature of our industry:

1. In the very first phase of our industry, we innovated & promoted a unique & most simple Broaching as a common, affordable, accurate & highly productive machine tool which are used in Hand tools, Bicycle parts, Automobile & Auto-parts industries and General Engineering industries.
2. We have been regularly doing various R & D and innovations for energy conservation, system protection, simplification of the processes and enhancement of productivity.
3. We have been promoting the Pro-Active Maintenance concept in Indian Industries for a long time and had been doing R&D for the same. Our Innovated fluid power products and machine tools have been mile stones on the way to promotion of Pro-Active Life Extension Maintenance concept and simultaneously have been increasing the productivity, improving the quality of products & repeatability with eliminating or minimizing the maintenance of Indian Industries.
4. We also developed a unique Oil management machine Systemguard® for the Contamination Monitoring and control, being an indispensable tool for the Pro-Active maintenance, Conservation of Oil, Environmental Protection and conservation of energy.
5. Another major Innovation we have done is innovating and successfully developing a unique, CNC Broaching machine which is fully computerized, without any Hydraulic system & Power-pack.

Q. What are your initiatives for Environmental Protection?

We have been working for the environmental protection and safety consistently. We have been regularly doing a lot of R & D and have developed the Unique Innovative systems & Machine tools, as already mentioned, including Oil management machine Systemguard® for protecting and conservation of oil and CNC Table-Up® Broaching machine without any Hydraulics and Hydraulic oil; to save the environment. As the discarding, replacing and disposal of used oil harms and damages the environment, as described under:

1. Waste oil is generally not handled properly and hence it pollutes the ground water, land, air, and environment. Water and soil contamination occur when any used oil is spilled, dumped or leaked on the ground.
2. Spilled oil can seep through soil to pollute groundwater, and some used oil will “run off” into surface lakes & streams. Water pollution can damage marine habitats.
3. Just one misplaced gallon of used oil on the amount from a single small auto engine, has the potential to contaminate up-to one million gallons of fresh water.
4. The discarded oil is very dangerous because of the contaminants present in used oil. These contaminants have been linked to bronchitis; adverse effects on human body development; lethal toxicity to plants and animals; and causes cancers of the skin, lungs, liver, bladder, kidney, and gastrointestinal tract.
5. Used oil that is dumped on the ground or is put in storm drains contaminates ground water which is certainly very difficult to clean up.
6. Used oil from earth moving equipment, cars, trucks, motorcycles, tractors and other engines, gear boxes and other industrial plants and machinery; contains traces of heavy metals, arsenic and other chemicals which are very harmful for plants, humans or other animals, when these chemicals are absorbed by plants and passed up the food chain. Because of these problems, it is criminal offense to dispose of used oil by dumping it on the ground or in water.
7. When plants are grown in the oil contaminated soil or irrigated by the water contaminated by discarded oil, they absorb (bio-accumulate) high concentrations of heavy metals. One of the indirect risks of such environmental dangers is the poisoning of the food chain, which ultimately affects human health.

Q. How conducive are the Government policies for the economic growth?

In our view the Economic policies of the present Govt. are more inclined towards controlling inflation for achieving a sustained growth in GDP. To what extent the goal has been achieved is debatable, but the Govt. has agenda for big economic reforms since it took over, but it has not been able to get a ten out of ten for all the work done in the past four years. We feel that the political constraints of the Govt. has been an obstacle to the decision making process for big time economic reforms.

Q. What is your definition for success?

Success, according to me, is the result of setting a proper goal, being responsible for it, having strong will power, self-confidence & faith, acquiring the necessary knowledge & skill, properly planning for it, and then consistently working hard for achieving the goal.

Q. We understand you have won a number of wards in recognition of your contribution?

Yes, we have been honoured by the Govt. of India with the following National Awards:

1. National Award-2006 for Quality Products – Outstanding Quality Machine Tools
2. National Award-2007 for Research & Development Efforts
3. National Award-2008 for Outstanding Entrepreneurship
4. UdyogPatra Award, and National Integrity Award
5. Honour by Delhi Technological University as Achiever of 70 years (Celebrating Excellence).