BEC's Participation in InnoTrans 2018

With an outbreak in metro-rail projects, India is emerging as global hub for making urban rail systems

At least ten Indian cities are working on metro railway projects and the government initiated a plan in 2012 to study the feasibility of such networks in all cities with a population of more than 2 million. (Reuters)

Drawn to India by an explosion in metro-rail projects, Alstom SA and Bombardier Inc are now poised to use the nation known for being the world’s back-office as a manufacturing export hub. The French and Canadian multinationals set up manufacturing and engineering operations between 2008 and 2010 to tap into India’s rapidly-growing urban transportation market and will now export to Australia, the Middle East and Asia from these facilities, company officials said. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates total investments in subway projects will reach $230 billion in Asia over the next 15 years.

Alstom and Bombardier want to exploit India’s large pool of engineers and cheap skilled labor that have helped turn the nation into a key center for auto companies including Ford Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. New export avenues such as metro rail systems are critical to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promised economic rejuvenation. Shipments from Asia’s third-largest economy must grow about 15 percent a year to ensure the pace of expansion needed to create sufficient jobs, according to Modi’s top economic adviser Arvind Subramanian.

Sydney is going to be Alstom’s first project in Australia and it will supply railway coaches from India, said Bharat Salhotra, the company’s managing director for India and south Asia. “We will continue to look at India, not just for addressing the Indian market but for addressing markets beyond. Exports will continue to be on the radar.”

Alstom will fill the Sydney metro orders from its manufacturing units in south India and is looking at the Middle East and Southeast Asia, he said.

Cost Competitive

Bombardier has invested about 33 million euros in its Indian manufacturing facility and has orders to export 450 metro rail coaches to Australia and components to Brazil, Australia and Saudi Arabia, Harsh Dhingra, chief country representative of Bombardier India said in a phone interview. The Quebec-based company has manufacturing capacities in Gujarat state in western India and a transportation engineering services center in Gurgaon, near New Delhi.

“We will look at opportunities to export from India to other countries in the region,” he said. “India is a low-cost set up. That is why our exports are going out of India.”

India has already emerged as a base from where the likes of Hyundai, Ford, Renault SA and Suzuki Motor Corp. export cars to Africa, South America and Europe. The South Asian nation shipped 3.5 million vehicles in the year ended March 31, just below a record in the previous year, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

While the government has tried to spur the manufacturing sector via its “ Make in India” push, the nation still ranks 130th in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking, slowing the pace of investment. It has fared better on the services side: The information technology industry is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, providing a livelihood to nearly 4 million.

Future Path

The domestic and regional opportunity for transportation companies only looks to be growing.

At least ten Indian cities are working on metro railway projects and the government initiated a plan in 2012 to study the feasibility of such networks in all cities with a population of more than 2 million. Most cities with ongoing projects require companies that bid for supply contracts to manufacture in India, which led to the setting up of facilities in the country.

More than 500 billion rupees ($7.7 billion) worth of metro projects are underway in India and this pile will probably grow, according to Manish Agarwal, leader – infrastructure at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“All of this implies sufficient scale for parts of manufacturing to be located in India,” he wrote in an emailed response to questions. “The manufacturing base can then also serve the growing market in other parts of Asia (Dhaka, Colombo, etc) as also Africa (Mauritius, among others).”

Railways sets 10% export challenge for its production units

The ministry has clarified that for the purpose of export, these units can even make products in gauges not generally found on the Indian railway network, such as the standard gauge.

In a challenge that the officials are terming as steep but exciting, the railway ministry has asked all its production units (PU) to prepare a plan to market at least 10% of their products to firms or countries outside the ambit of the Indian Railways. It has asked these units to partner with agencies such as the Research Design Standards Organization (RDSO) to develop products for export to foreign countries.

The ministry has clarified that for the purpose of export, these units can even make products in gauges not generally found on the Indian railway network, such as the standard gauge. It has also emphasised on building modern three-phase metre-gauge locomotives and diesel-electric multiple units (DEMU) as both these products have a high potential in certain foreign markets.

"The plan is to create a Rs100 crore corpus for Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW)-Varanasi, to develop new products for export markets. Quality upgrade of products for export is the need of the hour. Third party inspection should be done to improve the standard of acceptability of PU products," read a statement of the minutes of the Chief Mechanical Engineers Conference, held recently at Ooty in Tamil Nadu.

The task is daunting. According to a senior railway official, all production units put together earn about Rs300 crore by selling products to firms and countries apart from the Indian Railways, something the railways calls "non-fare revenue".

Currently, one of the biggest export orders with the railways is the construction of 120 LHB coaches for Bangladesh Railways. These coaches are being built at the Rail Coach Factory (RCF)-Kapurthala in Punjab.

"The plan is to get all production units under the Indian Railways to have an export target of at least Rs500 crore. It is tough but it is time these units stepped up to the challenge. By making standard gauge products, the railways can also cater to various Indian cities where metro railway systems are coming up on standard gauge (for example Mumbai's Versova-Ghatkopar metro)," said the official.

A query sent by dna to the railway board member (mechanical) Hemant Kumar regarding the feasibility of the plan elicited no response.

BEC successfully participated in InnoRail 2014, the International Rail Exhibition & Conference, is being held during December 11-13, 2014 in India.  The event was being hosted by CII in association with Research Design & Standards Organization to display the latest innovation in Railway sector.

BEC exhibited in 5th Asian Mining Congress, the next edition of the International Mining, Minerals, Metals and Machinery Exhibition - IME 2014 held at Salt Lake Stadium which is the largest stadium in Asia, under the aegis of The Mining, Geological & Metallurgical Institute of India (MGMI) scheduled during February 13-16, 2014.

BEC participated in Innorans 2014 - International Trade Fair for Transport Technology Innovative Components - Vehicles – Systems at Berlin, 23 - 26 September 2014.

BEC had a Very successful participation in the 10^th International Railway Equipment Exhibition 2013 (IREE), which took place at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.  Our Stall No. was 11.111.  We received an awesome response from all over and our products were appreciated for its quality.

BEC participated at the most renowned railway show in the world, Innotrans 2012, International Trade Fair for Transport Technology, which took place from 18^th to 21^st September 2012 at Berlin, Germany. And was well received an overwhelming response from all over and our products were appreciated for its quality.

Bhilai Engineering Corporation Limited exhibited at the RAILTEX 2013 Exhibition - 11th International Exhibition of Railway Equipment Systems and Services - 30 April - 2 May, Earls Court, London. Our stand number was F74.  

BEC is proud BEC participated in India Mining Exhibition organized by FICCI, its 1^st ever show, which took place at Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat from 25^th September 2013 to 27^th September 2012.

Our participation in Expo-Rail 2012

BEC successfully participated in “Expo Rail 2012” commenced from 7th to 9th Nov-2012 in Moscow and received overwhelming response.

Castings for Ship Building Industry

We are certified by the major ship society (ASB). We produce castings for Marine & Shipping Applications.  The range includes castings such as: A Bracket, Stern Boss, Rudder Stock etc. The exceptional quality and technological sophistication of our products are widely recognized.

These are high quality castings that meet the manufacturing requirements at client’s end.

Our castings for marine applications are offered at very competitive price and assure timely delivery of all large and small orders.

BEC’s Testing center is fitted with up-to-date equipment, enabling to inspect castings, welded joints and others. Specialists of the center had been appropriately trained and obtained qualification certificates. Technical competence of testing center has been certified for tests performance in regards to high-risk facilities manufactured under control of State Supervision Committee.

We use qualitative materials to manufacture that are globally appreciated for its rust resistance, high strength and durability. This low maintenance product is especially developed for marine applications under the 3rd party survey such as ABS and many others. These top class casting are available in different designs to suit the diversified needs of our esteemed clients.

Products:

·        A Bracket,

·        Stern Boss,

 Rudder Stock etc.

BEC in Mining

BEC is a major supplier to many Underground Miners & Mining original equipment manufacturers.  Large steel castings for Continuous Miners lead our Industrial casting Value Stream.    . 

Our large melt and molding capacity differentiates BEC as the preferred supplier of several mining equipment manufacturers.

Product Line:

• ·        Bucket Assembly
• ·        Crawler Shoe.
• ·        Crawler Chain.
• ·        Dipper Front for P&H 1900 AL shovels.
• ·        Dipper Front Wall, Dipper Capacity = 5 Cu. M., 10 Cu. M, 20 cu. M
• ·        Mantles, Bowl Liner & Bucket Teeth.
• ·        Dipper Bucket Assembly
• ·        Lip Castings are examples of products that are poured, finished, and inspected on regular basis.

RSI/CMA 2012 Highlights - Article published in RSI News October 5, 2012 - BEC People

The Chicago Sheraton proved to be an ideal event location - offering a beautiful view of the city and a wonderful backdrop for our show and conference.

Over 1300 attendees and 108 exhibitors were treated to the fresh insights of industry insiders Carl Ice, President & COO of BNSF Railway and Tony Hatch, Wall Street Senior Transportation Analyst, as well as the always top-notch technical programs of the Coordinated Mechanical Associations - ABA, IAROO, MARTS, and LMOA. 

 And this year RSI members were treated to 3 timely and informative seminars:

• RSI President Tom Simpson provided a briefing on Railway Interchange 2013 along with how to get the most out of your experience at next year's event.  In addition, Doug Smith, President of Smith Marketing Services, LLC showed attendees how to use your resources and actions to receive maximum results that save you both time and money at RI 2013.  Doug's presentation can be viewed here.
• The Coalition Against Bigger Trucks, GoRail and RSI teamed up to give suppliers an opportunity to hear from Class I officials and other industry stakeholders about truck sizes and weights and where the issue stands.  With a new Congress slated to start work in January 2013 and possibly a new administration, the effort to increase truck sizes and weights has already begun.  Rail suppliers can expect to hear from RSI on this issue on a continuous basis. 

For the small business owner, financial statements can be confusing but are a great source of information about business performance. In this RSI member only seminar, speaker Tony Allen, CPA, shared insights and tools to assist suppliers in maximizing their companies' financial resources.  Allen's Presentation can be downloaded using this link.

About BEC

Established in 1970 , BEC Foundry serves Railways, Steel Plants, Power Plants, Mining & Engineering Industries for their requirements of Steel, Alloy steel and Manganese steel castings.

Our Steel Foundry Div. with Annual Capacity of 12000 T per annum (up to 10 Ton single piece) is already certified by the Lloyds Register of Quality Assurance, U.K. for ISO 9001-2008, DB Germany, Ukraine Railways and AAR M-1003,USA.

We have in-house integrated manufacturing facilities with modern and state-of-art technology for the production of various grades of Steel Castings in fully machined condition, Fabricated Structures and Sophisticated Equipment (involving castings and fabricated structures).

BEC is Research Design Standardization Organization (RDSO) certified manufacturer of bogies and later Cast Manganese Steel Crossings (CMS) for Indian Railways. BEC is one of the worldwide leader in cutting edge molding equipment, custom-design fabrication of railway equipment from rolling stock to specialized maintenance equipment following strict quality control measures for achieving rigidity and toughness to meet our customer’s needs.

Our Foundry has been qualified as 'A' Class Foundry by RDSO, Indian Railways, qualifying us for the supply of critical castings like Bogies for Locomotives, Crossings of Cast Manganese Steel, Bogies for Freight Wagons, Auto Couplers etc. for the Railways.

We are engaged in manufacture and supply of critical castings both for domestic and export markets continuously for long periods of over 10 to 30 years maintaining supplies on long term basis to our customers. This is indicative of consistent quality of our products and more importantly customer satisfaction, specially the overseas customers with very high quality requirements. Our production range consists of High Manganese Steel, Low Alloy Steels, Carbon Steel materials catering to sectors like Railways, Power, Mining and Flow products.

BEC offers a complete range of services in these respective areas:

·         In-house design team

·         Solid works, AutoCAD and 3D modeling drafting service

·         Complete manufacturing facility

·         Maintenance and repair facility onsite or in our workshop

·         It manufactures with approved and qualified welding specification, and all welding personnel are tested and certified in accordance with requirements.  

We also take pride in stating the following: Awarded as Star Export House. Largest producers of Cast Manganese Steel Crossings in India. Largest Exporter of Cast Manganese Steel Crossings in India. One of the biggest manufacturers of Locomotive Cast Chassis Frames, with exports to USA. Exporting to renowned global customers like Siemens, Electro – Motive Diesel, Progress Rail Services etc. Developed Import substitute wear parts for Shovels and Dragline Buckets up to 24 m3 capacities.

Using experience gained from installed base of state-of-art technology, BEC can provide core solutions customized to your specific needs, while specializing in high-volume, high-quality and with intricate designs.

BEC is specialized in production of the following segments and exporting to various countries:

      Locomotive – Co-Co and Flexi Coil Bogies & Truck Frames.

      Tracks – Frogs, Inserts, Cast Manganese Steel Crossings.

      Freight Car – Casnub Bogie Assembly, Bolster & Bogie Frames, Side Frames

      Passenger Car – Pivots & Yokes.

      Mining & Beneficiation – Bucket Assembly, Tooth Point, Lip Casting & Spares for Shovels & Draglines, Pallet Car Assembly

      Marine & Shipping Applications: A Bracket, Stern Boss, Rudder Stock etc.

      Miscellaneous Castings for Various Sectors.

BEC has earned its reputation as a top-quality castings and is constantly empowering itself to adhere to core requirements of quality service, total commitment to time schedules in the most effective manner.  Today, BEC is one of the respected names in the industry fraternity and Ms. Geetika Jain has played key leadership role in BEC’s business initiatives and growth.