As a pioneer, Ador Welding has played a significant role in country’s industrialisation and infrastructure development by providing the finest welding consumables, and equipment, automation solutions and skill development in India. With knowledge based centres of excellence (R&D), a comprehensive sales and distribution network, project engineering business division, high-tech patented plasma MIG solution covering many high-end specialisation, Ador Welding Ltd (AWL) sets new standards in the Indian and oversea’s markets. Aniruddha R. Vilekar, CTO & Head-Marketing of AWL, expresses his views on the emergence of Indian welding industry and future prospects of this sector, in this conversation with Shashank Chaurey.

 

Welding has been the core of modern technology. How would you describe its evolution in India, today?

 

Welding has seen a huge transformation on the Indian scene in the last decade or so. The growth of the Indian industry in the last decade has also seen the advent of high productivity processes; the Stick electrode or the SMAW process has been replaced by the GMAW or the MIG process in many applications. With the growth in infrastructure and the increased use of steels in building structural, expansion in the rail and metro network etc. have led to a surge in demand for the SAW process. Advanced cutting processes like plasma cutting and to an extent even laser cutting are in vogue today. Welding equipment too have seen a tremendous shift from conventional rectifiers to the modern-day inverter welding equipment that are continuously raising the bar in performance, delivery and efficiency with vastly improved quality. There has also been a shift from conventional structural steels to the use of higher strength steels for structural fabrications especially in FCAW, SAW and MIG processes. New processes like laser welding and frication welding are finding their way into the mainstream in terms of applicability. Internet of Things (IOT), ANN (Artificial Neural Network), Weld 4.0 hold promise to offer some refreshing and radical offerings to the welding industry.

 

What are the featured products and technology the company offers?

 

Ador welding has been at the forefront of ‘Make In India’. We have been striving towards our ambition of being known as the best in class company that can offer the complete set of the solutions to the industry.

 

Our latest offering is our state of the art pulsed mig machine Champ Pulse 500 that promises to be a standout product against the best in its class worldwide. We have the full range of CNC gas and plasma cutting equipment. We have recently developed our ESSC fluxes and strips to meet the requirements of fertilizer, oil and gas and related industries. We have a vast array of products in our welding consumables, welding equipment, gas cutting and PPE, welding automation and our CNC cutting equipment range.

 

We are also into project engineering business and into the manufacture of flares for refineries, heat exchangers and pressures vessels , process equipment, incinerators.We have also forayed into EPC contracts in the last couple of years and have big plans for this sector in the times to come.

 

With the cut-throat competition from the global counterparts how important is the investment in R&D department?

 

Our philosophy is to be the best in class for which we have detected R&D centres at our Pune plant. We call them Technology Development Centres ( TDC). We have invested hugely in TDC and are fully equipped to develop products to meet the stringent demands of the industry as also to counter international competition. We have a dedicated team of more than 50 engineers working tirelessly towards technological enhancements. The NABL accreditation for our TDC for welding consumables is a result of our focus towards offering the best quality products.

 

With the current government policies, how important do you think would be the role of skill development in the Indian welding industry?

 

Ador welding firmly believes that quality welders are the need of the hour especially with the Govt of India’s ‘Make in India’ program. The Ador Welding Academy's mission is fully aligned with the national skill development policy and focuses on creating a pool of skilled welding technicians who will serve the cross-section of infrastructure building-related industries. Welding is at the core of manufacturing and construction, and growth estimates indicate that the country will need over 1 million welders and welding supervisors by 2020. Further, along with the requirement to raise manpower productivity standards new competencies relevant to automation and mechanised 

welding techniques will have to be developed. The role of skill development in welding is therefore of paramount importance.

 

One of the major challenges of welding industry is its unorganised layout due to lack of standard specification and tedious approval process. Has 'Make in India' made any difference in this issue?

 

The Indian welding industry has seen some correction after demonetisation and especially after the implement-ation of GST to the extent that the smaller unorganised manufacturers have had to correct their systems and fall in line. The change in market needs due to the sudden shift from stick to MIG has meant that these unorganised players have had to realign themselves accordingly.

 

The Indian welding equipment industry still suffers from this menace due to sub-standard quality imports. The approval process in government and semi government organisations remains a long and tedious one and is a big hindrance. We hope that the thrust on ‘Make in India’ will eventually bring about this much needed change.

 

What are the factors that have been consistently impacting the prices of welding consumables and thereby the revenue?

 

Welding consumable prices depend heavily on the prices of raw material especially metals and minerals. The raw material prices especially for steel wire rod have seen a tremendous surge in the past few months. The prices of minerals (the other major ingredient in welding consumables) too have been rising steadily. This has led to an increase in overall prices to end users across segments. There has also been a shortage of steel wire rod availability as steel plants look at more lucrative export options.

 

A considerable amount of welding equipment import has been affecting the manufacturers. How are the present import conditions?

 

Welding equipment import especially of substandard quality has been happening for quite some time now. This remains a cause of concern and a major challenge to overcome for all Indian manufacturers. 

 

By 2026, India is expected to be the third largest automotive market by volume in the world. What are the other major areas, the Indian welding industry can look forward to?

 

Robotics, friction welding, laser welding, IoT, ANN ,Weld 4.0 are some exciting development that could aid in furthering demand for the next generation products in the welding industry in the near future.

 

What are the growth plans of AWL?

 

Our plans and strategies for growth are firmly in place. Ador welding is the only company to have grown both in values and volumes each year over the last decade. We surpassed our best ever achievement in the last financial year ( FY17-18) too and have our plans well laid out to breach the 500 crore barrier in the current financial year.