Face-to-Face

March 201520

The company started its exports much early at its birth year 2010. In 2011, after intensive research and massive technique adaptation they introduced Inoculants. nickel magnesium and ferrous titanium followed in year 2012. The company credits to a highly qualified technical team whose constant research and developments lead to where it stands today. However, it was the belief, strength and supervision of Mr. Ashwani Jindal, Managing Director at AEPL that the company built its name.

AEPL is currently en-route planning installation of new furnaces and taking its production capacity to new heights. With a current production capacity of 12,000 metric tons to forecasted 20,000 metric tons annually. The idea is to work on serving more countries with much cost effective production methods and higher quality control measures. The whole world is only a platform with so many different opportunities what AEPL believes in.

AEPL has a well equipped manufacturing plant with a melting capacity of over 1200 MT/month. AEPL has:

Three Induction Furnaces with a capacity of 500 Kg, 750 Kg & 1500 Kg each

Overhead cranes for smooth operations

In-house testing laboratory

Integrated sieving and crushing Plant

Automated Packing System

XRF

Spectrometer

The company provides high quality products by complying with the international standards or customer's own specifications by monitoring quality at each stage from procurement of raw material to the silvery of the finished products.

At the same time, the company has seen its share of rough patches. The initial years of the company couldn't be any easy. Just like any other company, AEPL also struggled to hold a foot in international market. In belief of Mr. Achal Garg, the company gained its momentum with the exposure and response at GIFA, 2011. Since then the company has not looked back, and spread over 20 different countries. The company has participated in major exhibits globally and marked its presence clearly in last 4 years. The commitment and dedication of the whole AEPL family leads to its success. With the hard work of entire technical and marketing team, the company is serving more than 500 foundries worldwide.

AEPL's CEO, Mr. Achal Garg is a young, dynamic entrepreneur who himself handles all the production and technical part of the company including development of new products. Mr. Garg looks after the national and international marketing of the company. He is also the man who keenly participates in various conferences and exhibitions related to foundry.

“As India is a developing nation, the demand for industrial products will increase which will automatically increase the demand for castings in the country itself. Due to low cost and consistent quality, we see a great scope of increasing exports for India, especially to countries like Europe and United States”, says Achal Garg, CEO of Akshit Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. in an exclusive interview to Metalworld. Excerpts:

stablished in January 2010 by its Efounder and CEO, Mr. Achal Garg, Akshit Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. (AEPL)

has emerged as a key player in the field of foundry within a short span of time. The company is primarily into manufacturing and exports of ferrous alloys like ferro silicon magnesium, inoculants, Nickel Magnesium and Ferro Titanium with its plant located in Sonipat, Haryana. Akshit Enterprises is in the ferro alloy industry from the past 30 years producing Low carbon ferro manganese, Medium carbon ferro manganese and ferro molybdenum in the name of DS Alloyd Pvt. Ltd having its manufacturing facilities at Nagpur.

- Achal Garg

Foundry industry has huge potential

for growth

Achal Garg - CEO, AEPL

March 201522

How do you see the present status of the Indian Foundry industry?

This is a struggling phase for the Indian foundry industry due to the lack of demand for castings worldwide, especially due to the decreasing demand in the automobile sector. Most of the foundries are working below 50% of the installed capacity which has made them difficult to survive in the competitive world. Also, there is a huge shortage of well trained and experienced foundrymen which hampers the growth of the industry.

How do you see the future prospect of foundry nationally as well as globally?

We see a bright future for the foundry industry in India, but it requires significant amount of hard work, healthy management as well as superior product quality. With the thrust on ”Make in India” by the Prime Minister and Government of India, the manufacturing sector shall see a rapid increase as more and more manufacturers would set up base in the country, thus there is a huge potential for growth in the foundry industry as well.

Also, as India is a developing nation, the demand for industrial products will increase which will automatically increase the demand for castings in the

country itself. Due to low cost and consistent quality, we see a great scope of increasing exports for India, especially to countries like Europe and United States.

What are the expansion plans of AEPL?

It is only our sixth year in the foundry industry; therefore we are still a growing company. In these six years, we have been able to attain a significant growth by introducing new products and exploring new markets. In the current year we have increased our installed production c a p a c i t y f r o m 1 2 0 0 0 M T t o 20000MT/annually. A constant research and development is in process to develop a new range of inoculants and nodulizers, which can help our foundries to produce quality casting at a comparatively low cost. We will soon be opening a new branch office in Coimbatore to cater to the Southern foundry industry effectively.

W h a t a r e y o u r v i e w s o n technological upgradation in foundry industry? How is AEPL catering to this?

Technological upgradation is a major concern for the Indian foundry industry. Despite being the third largest casting manufacturer in the world, we are quite behind in terms of technology which not only increases our cost of production, but

also results in relatively inferior quality. More than 80% of the foundries are small units and lack in organisational and management skills. Due to non availability of funds, squeezed margins and lesser support from financial institutions, they face severe difficulties in investing in capital goods which is over ruling the growth of the industry. We at AEPL believe that we can grow only with the growth of our customers; hence we provide competitively higher credit limits to our customers which give them an opportunity to invest in technology upgradation.

What support do you expect from the government for foundry sector?

Without the support from the government, growth is merely impossible. New policies are needed to ease up the entire system. Every state has different policies which play a major role in growth. For example, there is a significant difference in energy cost across different states which lead to an unhealthy competition. Also, a few states are unable to provide sufficient energy resources. At the same time, we also expect a reduction in financial cost which can make us more competitive in the international market.

Face-to-Face