WCA January 2017

India Insight

Pump manufacturer takes new direction The Coimbatore-based pump manufacturer CRI Group has announced its move into high-end specialised wire and cable. In its first phase, the company has established a manufacturing plant with an integrated cable compound manufacturing facility, capable of processing over 10,000 tonnes of copper per year. “In the second phase, the company has planned to invest further to double the capacity in about two to three years time,” said G Soundararajan, vice-chairman, CRI Group. The company currently manufactures pumps, valves, pipes and castings. CRI’s wires and cables division will benefit from CRI Group’s long-standing relationships with reputed EPC contractors, retailers, consultants and contractors. The company has a distribution network in 120 countries, seven foreign subsidiaries and 32 branches in India. In addition to sales through its existing channels, CRI is establishing a new distribution network for some of its wire and cable products. The company has developed a winding wire with higher dielectric strength and DC solar cables. Its wider cable range will include lead-free insulated cables, EPDM cables, special oil-resistant and chemical-resistant cables for waste water, communication cables, halogen-free flame-retardant cables, termite-resistant wires, flexible power cables for industrial applications, and submersible cables. CRI Group – India Website : www.crigroup.com Students stay on track Student research and development group Team Ashwa Racing, from R V College of Engineering in Bangalore, is supported by Habia for its cables and wires. The team takes part in Formula SAE events in India and around the globe, competing with some of the best universities in the world. Formula SAE is a student competition organised by SAE International (initially the Society of Automotive Engineers). The competition began in 1978 and calls upon teams of students to design, build and test drive a formula racing car prototype. Habia’s country manager for India, Nagaraj S Aithal, said: “We are very happy to support [Team Ashwa Racing]. They are a dedicated and technically strong team who travel all over the world as great ambassadors for Habia when they participate in big events.” In the recently held hybrid event in the US, Ashwa Racing took second position in both the design and the project

management sub-events, and stood fourth overall among all the teams in the world. Habia Cable – Sweden Website : www.habia.com Copper wire rod line Ryker Base Private Ltd, a joint venture between Polycab Wires and Cables and Trafigura, India, has placed an order with SMS group for the supply of a Contirod ® CR-3500 line. The line, for the casting and rolling of wire rod in a single process, will have a production capacity of 35 tons of cast and rolled copper wire rod per hour. Commissioning of the Contirod line, at Ryker’s new plant in the Indian state of Gujarat, is scheduled for the first quarter of 2018. Ryker will use the Contirod line for ETP copper wire rod, the starting material for its own cable production. In-house production of 8mm drawing stock will enable Ryker to maintain a consistent supply for its existing wire drawing plant. The scope of supply includes a shaft melting furnace, a twin-belt caster, a 12-stand rolling mill with separate individual drives, a deoxidisation and cooling section, a wire coiling station, a strapping unit and a film packing station. Ryker Base Private Ltd – India Rebar line Concast (India) Ltd, a Primetals Technologies Group company, has received an order from the Indian steel producer Orissa Metaliks to supply a three-strand continuous billet caster for the company’s production site near Kharagpur, West Bengal. The plant is designed to produce 384,000 tons of carbon steel billets per year with a cross section of 100mm for further processing to commercial rebars. The aim of the project is to increase capacity. To save energy, the casting machine is designed for hot direct rolling of billets to rebars without reheating. Orissa Metaliks is involved in producing steel products and is part of the Rashmi Group. The caster has a machine radius of 6m, a metallurgical length of 11m and a curved tube mould. Maximum casting speed is 4.1m per minute. Concast (India) Ltd – India Website : www.concastindia.com Tell us YOUR news. . . To submit news for the Indian section free of charge, email david@intras.co.uk or call direct on +44 1926 334137. For advertising queries, please call +44 1926 834684.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2016 January/February 2017