Established near Mumbai in 1946 initially as a pioneering producer of electric motors in India, Bharat Bijlee have a 60 year history littered with notable milestones and events. In the mid 1950’s the company added Transformers to their repertoire and the manufacture of these two products still forms the core of their business to his day. Mr H.C. Dave, company Marketing Director, takes up the story of the company’s development: “We had technical collaborations with Siemens from Germany for transformers, established since 1958,” he tells us. “Several other important events in the company history relate to our growing manufacturing abilities, for example in 1966 when our Kalwe plant was commissioned.” Such additions have allowed the company to increase their abilities and product range, adding Monoblock pumps developed for agriculture in 1968 and adding a Project Division in 1985 to undertake turnkey electrical projects involving EHV-substations. “Since then we have completed over 100 HV and EHV Switchyard projects,” remarks Mr Dave. “In June 2007 we reached another milestone – signing a distribution and servicing agreement for AC variable frequency drives with KEB of Germany for drives up to 900 kW.”

Such developments have led to Bharat Bijlee turning early pioneering promise into a solid and prosperous business, recording a compound annual growth rate of around 34%, compared with the 16% average growth of the Indian market ,and a tripling of company turnover over the course of the last four years. 

Products and divisions

A manufacturing company’s success ultimately rests on its products. In this regard Bharat Bijlee have excelled historically, producing the first 220 kV transformer back in 1982, with future innovations aided by an in-house R&D department set up two years later. Today, the company consists of five divisions, organised by product type, these are: Electric Motors, Transformers, Elevators Systems, Drives Industrial Electronics and the aforementioned Projects division.

Well over two million Bharat Bijlee motors and pumps are at work in various industries such as Power, Steel, Cement, Petrochemicals & Refineries etc. Motors’ Product range is 3 phase, Induction motors from frame 56 to 355 and special motors  such as Hazardous area Motors, Crane Duty Motors, Brake Motors, Loco Auxiliary Motors, Blower Motors etc. Bharat Bijlee Motors are approved with leading consultants like, EIL, Bechtel, Mecon, DCL, TCE among others. Company’s strength in Motor business is to develop application specific customised motors meeting requirements of various standards.

The other historically strong product is Transformers, which the company has been producing for four decades, with notable growth phases over the last five years. With a product range running up to 200 MVA, 220 kV, Bharat Bijlee have supplied to customers such as State Electricity Boards, Public Sector undertaking and private utilities, and have established a reputation for high quality among leading consultants such as TCE, EIL, Bechtel and Mecon among others.

“We have production facilities very close to Mumbai which is the commercial capital of India, there we have around 193,000 m2 of area, a huge area of which about 25% is built on, so as you can imagine there is plenty of space still available for more expansion,” Mr Dave tells us. The company has made good use of this opportunity in the past and have been in a growth phase for the last five years adding a new state of the art plant which raised capacity from 2,000 MVA to 11,000 MVA and integrating all functions across the organisation through SAP ERP system..

“We set up our new transformer shop about six years ago, it was specifically designed for low cycle time, high productivity with a totally pressurised clean room environment which enables the manufacture of quality, high voltage products,” outlines Mr Dave. “Our plants also have 250 ton lifting capacity for work on large components, both our plants are equipped with top quality manufacturing equipment. We are futher expanding our motor manufacturing facilities, adding more than 2,200 square metres to our existing capacity.

Through their Projects Division, Bharat Bijlee have played a large role in the development of the country’s power sector, undertaking projects such as Outdoor EHV and HV Switchyards up to 220 kV, indoor Sub-stations, Overhead and Underground distribution systems as well as Illumination and Power Evacuation systems. “We can take on complete turnkey projects, from design to the supply and commissioning of electrical substations – it’s a very useful department,” explains Mr Dave. “Particular examples of this include our work in cement, steel, sugar and power projects across India.” 

The final leg of the company’s business vision is the Drive Division, manufacturing both AC and DC drives. Notably, in June 2007, Bharat Bijlee entered into an agreement with KEB of Germany to market and service the company’s range of AC Variable Speed Drives as sole distributor of the company’s range of drives, up to 900 kW (690 Volts), in India. These drives have a diverse range of applications including for example; Plastics and Textiles machinery, Elevators, Cranes, Motion Control, Machine Tools and Compressors.

Maintaining market share

“Our different products have different customer markets,” outlines Mr Dave. “Our business for transformers comes from state and public utilities, public sectors undertakings, large industrial business houses and EPC companies – a wide spectrum of customers. We are everywhere, with customers located not only throughout India but abroad, with exports going to several countries. Motor customers come from different segments, covering business sectors from textiles to cement production, from chemical plants to oil refineries, and also, very notably, sugar processing facilities.”

Despite their current wide customer base, Bharat Bijlee is are still keen to increase exiting numbers in near future. “As mentioned we have enhanced our production capacity for both motors and transformers, pursuing a policy of adding new customers, which we have been pursuing for five years and have a much wider client base as a result,” states Mr Dave. “Our customers are organisations who value high quality products and tend to have good business or operation credentials. The Indian power sector is currently booming in a big way, so there’s need for manufacturers related to the industry to increase their manufacturing capabilities – and this has resulted in a highly competitive market. In order to retain our market share in a growing market, which is still growing, we are quoting, executing and delivering at an extremely competitive price.”

Meticulous design

One recurrent theme in the conversation with Mr Dave was the company’s strength in terms of Quality assurance. “We begin with meticulous design followed by attention to detail at every step of the manufacturing process and strict compliance with stringent quality assurance guidelines,” Mr Dave remarks. “The final product won’t leave our facilities unless its been approved by our Quality Assurance people and both our motor and transformer facilities are certified to ISO 9001:2000 level. We also have a lot of new Environment, Health and Safety initiative being implemented including in-depth training for new employees along with rewards for employees who really stand out in this regard.” In addition, the company is also sourcing top quality raw materials from across the globe, valuing the quality of the product over the location of the source.

Staying on the theme of raw materials, a notable issue for manufactures at present is rising costs, fuelled by unfavourable currency exchange rate.  “In terms of product costs you have to consider that our products are made of high quality materials and are very labour intensive to produce” says Mr Dave.  “This has put pressure on our input costs, but, with better equipment and pre-production planning coupled with improved processes, we are able to meet our delivery commitments to our customers. We have one of the best track records in terms of on-time delivery. 

Best under a billion

The past strengths of Bharat Bijlee allow them to look beyond their current horizons in the coming years. An idea of their future ambitions can be seen in technology transfer agreements such as occurred in the second half of 2007 with Spanish firm Permanent Magnets SA, giving Bharat Bijlee exclusive rights in India and neighbour countries to manufacture and sell Permanent Magnet’s gear-less machines for elevators.

“Our business development program is running alongside our production facility enhancement program, which has seen increases over the last four years, with a business strategy which increases to our business both horizontally and vertically,” states Mr Dave. “Now with regards to motors and transformers we are in the big league, capable of carrying out larger projects and we’re able to communicate to our clients the increases in product levels we can supply as a result of our continued expansion. We keep a close track of the industries we’re supplying and see how they’re developing and respond with our own plans to take account of and supply future changes. In fact we’re regularly talking to our clients, bringing them to our plants to show them our manufacturing facilities.”

The clearest indication of Bharat Bijlee’s growing success has been their recent inclusion in Forbes ‘Asia’s 200 Best Under a Billion’ list – one of only 17 companies in India to be selected for this prestigious honour, which capped the company’s considerable growth and improvement in the last decade. However, Bharat Bijlee are clearly not resting on their laurels, with even more ambitious plans in coming years.

“In the future we plan to increase our manufacturing capacity even further, taking account of the need for increased product ranges, occurring over the next two years,” states Mr Dave. “Our next phase of expansion will focus on transformers, we are also exploring possibilities for our motor production facilities. We have grown threefold in the last three years and we have the size of facilities necessary to take on the new and growing market, continuing our commitment to exceeding our customers’ expectations and through increased exports we will also increase our customer base. We were very proud to be included in the Forbes list and will continue to imbibe the values and qualities which have helped us to earn the trust of our valued customers and stake holders.”