Challenges of a Global Manufacturing Community: Spotlight on India

Geo/political location can have a major impact on industrial cleaning and the many manufacturing processes that intersect it. We work in an increasingly global manufacturing community and India is a major participant. Jean Mozolic, president of The Mozolic Consulting Group LLC of Wrenthem MA, creates and develops business relationships between companies in India and North America. “It works both ways,” she says. “I have companies in the U.S. that supply India; and I help companies in India supply outside of India.”

Potential for Growth
Hardware, software, and energy resources are all essential to manufacturing, and India’s obviously burgeoning trade in information technology is a critical aspect. “IT is huge in India,” Mozolic says. But in addition to IT, she notes that the steel and automotive industries are large and that “aerospace is growing, and it will be booming for the next 15 years.” Mozolic adds that India is also taking on a number of energy initiatives, including strong growth of nuclear energy. “This is important because they have to shore up power and water,” she says.

Just as many manufacturers in the U.S. are promoting reshoring or even fostering the concept of “locavores,” many in India are looking to build self-sufficiency as well. A.N. Chaskar is COO of Electronica Tough Carb LTD, in Sinnar (Nashik), Maharashtra, India. The company manufactures sintered tungsten carbide products with primary markets in India, Europe, Malaysia, the U.S., Japan, the Middle East and Colombia. Chaskar indicates that India is trying to become self-sufficient in such areas as food and defense-related sectors. Of those areas, he thinks Electronica has opportunities in the defense sector. “Defense needs tungsten in a big way,” he says.¬¬

Concern for Quality
Mantosh Chawla, president of Photo Emission Tech. Inc., a manufacturer of solar simulators and surface cleanliness verification monitors base din Camarillo, CA, says his company is looking to sell its solar simulators to India. Chawla has seen changes in manufacturer’s response to his product. “Two years ago, potential customers were concerned with getting the lowest price possible. There is a totally different mental state now,” he says. “There is much more concern with quality.”

Chawla adds that India wants to produce high-quality product and that increasing numbers of manufacturers in India will pay to obtain the resources they need to achieve that quality. It is reasonable that these changes are likely to parallel increased concern with cleaning and contamination control.

Economics and Ecology
Water quality is essential to effective cleaning. Water is a valuable commodity with quality that varies dramatically in India, says Mozolic “In some areas, especially the shanty towns with ma and pa businesses, the water may not be well-controlled,” she says. “There may be no filtration, or maybe filtration only to remove rocks. The pH? Who knows? This is not good for people or for industry.”

In contrast, Mozolic notes that there are companies using sophisticated techniques, including reuse and recycle, a movement urged in part by economics, by the need to make the most of scarce resources. For instance, “Particles containing tungsten carbide and cobalt generated as part of manufacturing are valuable commodities and need to be collected,” Chaskar says. “Also, letting these particles into air harms the environment. We use dust collectors and collect the particles for recycling.” Chaskar adds that the price of tungsten has risen steeply, and depending on China as a principle source of raw material is a challenge for the Indian carbide industry. Electronica plans to set up a state-of-the-art Tungsten scrap processing plant in India using a proprietary green technology.

Challenges
In addition to resource and ecological challenges, transportation is a challenge in India as well. Although Bangalore is a center of aerospace shopping, the customers are elsewhere. “How do you ship the product?” asks Mozolic. “You can fly it, but in the U.S., we also have a wonderful road system. India knows they need better roads because India wants to service its own industries. What they are doing might best be described as ‘shoring,’ not reshoring, in the sense that they are building something new.”

Chawla agrees. “India needs to continue to close the quality gap, particularly if they want to find customers overseas,” he says. “Fifteen to twenty years ago, the mentality was to get one big order and not worry about repeat orders. That mentality has really changed now. Manufacturers want repeat customers. They are willing to make less immediate profit with the goal of being in the market for the long haul.”