Pune-based boiler manufacturer, Forbes Marshall, has opened a new facility in Chakan. The Forbes Vyncke boiler pavilion was inaugurated recently at the campus, which is the result of a MoU signed with the Government of Maharashtra in 2011. The project is located on 50 acres of land and has been granted ‘mega project’ status. It project has been launched in a joint venture with Belgium-based Vyncke, which is into producing biomass boilers. The new manufacturing facility will be used to manufacture emission and pollution monitoring equipment, high-efficiency oil and gas biomass and waste fuel boilers with Vyncke, as well as the new solar technology project for combined heat and power solar co-generation systems. Forbes Marshall has two other manufacturing locations at Kasarwadi and MIDC, Pimpri.

In 2010, the engineering and energy conservation solutions provider had planned an investment of Rs 250 crore in the new facility but as of now the company has already crossed an investment of a little over Rs 300 crore. “By the time the second phase is complete, we would have invested Rs 330 crore in the facility. We were completely out of space in the MIDC, Pimpri and Kasarwadi unit and so we decided to expand in Chakan about five years ago,” said Naushad Forbes, Director, Forbes Marshall. The company has said it has started production at the new steam systems manufacturing facility and “can now progressively concentrate manufacturing activity covering all businesses at one site.” The next phase, Forbes said, would be building facilities like warehousing, dispatch centres and a corporate office, which will entail an investment of Rs 100-120 crore. The same shall be built over the next three years.

At present, Phase I and Phase IIA are complete with a total built-up area of 48,000 sq.m. The company has only utilised 60 per cent of the total land while 40 per cent still remains for future expansion. At the Chakan facility, the company employs 600 of its own employees, besides the support staff, and this will be scaled up to 1,000 employees in about three years. Forbes Marshall’s complete range of steam products and systems will be made at the new Chakan factory, including steam traps, automatic pressure-powered condensate pumps, pressure reducing station, de-aerators, pipeline ancillaries like strainers, check valves and piston valves, steam-operated pump traps, custom-built hot water solutions and heat recovery packages, catering to the entire spectrum of the process industry.

The campus has been designed by internationally renowned Christopher Charles Benninger Architects (CCBA) and has received many awards including The Indian Institute of Architects Award for ‘Best Industrial Building’, the Builders Association’s ‘Well Built Structure Award’, and the ‘Artist in Concrete Award’ at Asia Fest 2014-15.

Forbes Marshall is a leader in process efficiency and energy conservation for process industry, with over seven decades of experience building steam engineering and control instrumentation solutions. This unique complementary expertise enables them to engineer customised systems that improve manufacturing processes, conserve energy and are environmentally sustainable. They have a comprehensive range of services, products and solutions for utilities and process control. They are present in over 50 locations globally, with five manufacturing facilities.