Pune's Ravindra Gadre is the director of a company called Hacop Pumps, which is famous for its unique line-up of engineering products that are almost always first of their kind

Recession is just an excuse. That's the perception of Pune-based Ravindra Gadre, the founder-director of Hacop Pumps (P) Limited, who firmly believes that those who constantly crib about the economy taking a toll on their business have simply not got their entrepreneurial instincts right. Gadre isn't talking out of his hat. For over 25 years now, he has not only won numerous awards for innovative products but has also never registered any loss in business. "We are a small company with an annual turnover of just about Rs 2.5 crore but there has been year on year growth every time," he says.

With 18 different products in its portfolio, Hacop Pumps though is primarily known for its motorised barrel and container pumps, which are available in two types - electrically and pneumatically, operated. These provide a maximum output of 100 litres per minute. "We innovated this pump in 1987 as an import substitute product and received an award for it from the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA). The salient feature of this pump is that it can be operated from a height of 30 feet and is widely used in various industries such as chemical, pharmaceutical, dies, pesticides, textiles, paper, engineering, food, etc. It is sold across India through a dealership network," Gadre informs.

Born in 1956, Gadre has a diploma and a degree in Mechanical Engineering along with an MBA in Marketing. Unwilling to take up a job right from the beginning, his first tryst with entrepreneurship was through trading in Unistep gearboxes, NGEF make electric motors, biosides of Hico Limited and zircon flour of Devidayal Industries. This was under an entity called Harison's Corporation, which he set up in 1983. However, the itch to innovate and create products that no else had led Gadre to get into engineering and his first creation was Miracle 750, a versatile portable machining unit which could perform a wide range of functions such as milling, boring, drilling, shaping, chamfering, gear cutting, honing, etc. "I designed this unit at a time when I had found Ravikiran Engineering along with Kiran Sheth. The unit was a first of its kind because it could perform 20 operations," Gadre narrates.

Since then, he has consistently devised products that have either provided an economical indigenous substitute for imported items or filled a gap in any engineering or other process. Take for example the Hacop-TP 1000, which is India's first and only portable tanker decanter. Recalling how this product got to be made, Gadre says, "I was once travelling on business and happened to come across a tanker which had overturned on the highway. Frantic attempts were made by several people to transfer the chemical being transported by this tanker to another one with the aid of buckets. It was proving to be a futile task. It is then that I gave thought to the matter of how a tanker could be decanted easily, which led to this new product." The Hacop - TP 1000 has an immersion depth of 1,800 mm with an outlet of 1.5 inch and a maximum discharge capacity of 12,000 litres per hour.

Down the years, this ability to observe and find engineering solutions has led Gadre to build up an impressive portfolio with a high rate of marketing success. One such is the Algad flexible vane pump, which came out of Gadre's realisation that certain compounds require gentle transfer. "You cannot use conventional pumps for things like cream or shampoo and therefore the Algad pump was devised out of that necessity," Gadre says. Yet another example of this never-ending passion for experimentation is Ravi Drier, India's first and only agro product drier operating on solar and thermal (chula) heat with temperature controller. "It is a product that will help farmers earn extra income by drying their produce even at times when there is no electricity," he says. Gadre has also made the Ravi Roaster, which has built-in vacuum transfer technology so that no material has to be manually handled. It is suitable for grains, cashew, almonds, etc.

Elaborating about he markets such different products at the same time, Gadre says that most of this is done through media advertisements and word-of-mouth publicity. "All these are off-the-shelf products and we keep batches of 100 ready at all times," he states. In the pipeline are at least another four to five product ideas which Gadre and his team of seven technicians are working on to build prototypes and test them. "There are two ways of doing business: one, manufacture and sell a stereotyped product, which has a huge demand but competition too; or two, make something unique which will find buyers in time but comes with the risk of investments going bust. I prefer the latter because every product I make has to be a challenge to my intellect. This is the stimulus that drives me," he says.

Hacop Pumps, Raje Manor Apartments, B1/2, S No 1, CTS 694, Hingne Budruk, Karve Nagar, Pune - 411 052. Tel.: 020-25431638. Email: hacop@vsnl.net