Pune-based Vineet Marathe, the founder of Vinarc Engineers, is one of the very few in the country with specialisation in aluminium welding processes. It is this expertise that has made his company a dependable vendor for making various products and systems for India's defense establishments

Very few people outside the defense forces of India would know much about the design, manufacture and functionality of the weaponry that is used, including carbines, assault rifles, grenade launchers or sophisticated rocket deployment systems. Pune's Vineet Marathe, in that sense, is the fortunate one who has access to all such information and more. That's because Marathe has been associated with such defense bodies as the Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) and the Defense Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), among others, for more than two decades now, having received the first manufacturing inquiry in 1994 when his company, Vinarc Engineers, was just two years old.

Recalling that heady period when he got a call from the ARDE to help design and manufacture aluminium pod launchers for a rocket deployment system, Marathe says, "We were already into the business of welding and fabrication but this particular inquiry came my way because I had domain expertise in aluminium welding. This particular branch of welding requires specialisation and there are very few companies even today that offer this service." It took up to two years for Marathe and his team to design, test and validate the perfect pod launcher, which eventually came into use during the Kargil War. "More than the business part, it was immensely satisfying to know that there had been no hiccups during their use in such a critical situation," he adds.

However, the story of Marathe's entrepreneurship began much earlier and in fact can be traced back to 1983 when he graduated from the prestigious College of Engineering Pune (COEP) in 1983 with a degree in metallurgy. "I immediately joined TELCO as a welding in-charge and worked there for eight years but at the back of my mind was the dream of setting up my own enterprise. This came true in 1992 when my father, Subhash Marathe, and I decided to start our own welding business. With my contacts in the automotive sector, we got our first few welding jobs from companies known to me but then the business began to expand with new customers, mainly automotive OEMs and component manufacturers, who were looking for the best kind of welding," Marathe narrates.

Today, Vinarc Engineers, with two production facilities in Bhosari, has an extended portfolio of services that includes welding, machining, fabrication, painting, inspection, material handling, and prototype development. "When it comes to welding, we can work with any material of any thickness. We have all kind of welding facilities such as gas, arc, TIG, MIG, SAW, plasma cutting, metal spray, and resistance," Marathe informs. But what really gives his company an edge over the others is that it can even undertake welding of two different materials. Also, apart from customisation, Vinarc Engineers offers end-to-end solutions, including for products that the Indian Army may require. One such is the shell used for bombs, the making of which requires precision and seamless welding techniques.

Elaborating about his business model, Marathe reveals that while 30 per cent of it is derived from the jobs received from the defense establishments, the rest continues to be primarily taken up by the automotive and related sectors. Interestingly, even at full capacity, Marathe finds time to explore niche areas such as making chairs for specific purposes, as for example foldable ones that can be used in tuition classes run in homes or small spaces or those required by people suffering from certain ailments. "We have patented these chairs," he says. Walkers or baby carriers are some of the other items that Marathe finds the time and resources for.

One of the best parts of Marathe's venture is that it has never experienced any cut-down in production, not even during the last two years when the economy has been going through a tailspin curve. "You can attribute it to the fact that we have not been dependent on any one sector. Even when the automotive industry gets into a slowdown phase, there always are new defense projects that we get orders from. As such, the growth has been a consistent 15-20 per cent over the past 20 years and we hope to see it remain that way," he says. In the course of this exciting journey, Vinarc Engineers has also been bestowed with many honours, including the prestigious G S Parkhe Award by the Maratha Chamber of Commerce, Industries & Agriculture for the Pinaka Multi-Barrel Rocket System and the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.

Elaborating about the various USPs of his company, Marathe says that primarily these can be credited to his never-ending search for the latest welding technologies from around the world and the best-in-class welding machines. "We procure state-of-the-art equipment from Germany and elsewhere for the simple reason that we don't want to compromise on the quality of our final products. That also explains why our products made for the country's defense forces have never faced any rejection problems," he states.

The R&D that Marathe indulges in along with his out-of-the-box thinking to find innovative solutions is what keeps him at the forefront. "I need to keep exploring new ideas, new methods, and new ways of doing things," he says. For example, he is now paying serious attention to laser welding. "It's a process that finds few takers in India right now but I am sure that it will provide good scope in the future," he says. Also, the healthcare and aerospace industries are the two other sectors where Vinarc Engineers wants to a make a mark. "We are already moving in that direction," he says.

Meanwhile, the next big thing on Marathe's mind is to contribute to the welding industry as part of his social corporate responsibility. "The industry has given a lot to me and I feel that my knowledge and experience must be put to use to help the next generation of welding technologists. That's a task he fulfils in the role of the chairman of the Indian Institute of Welding-Pune Branch. Marathe is also a committee member of the American Society for Metals and the American Welding Society. Very soon he will be an examiner for students specialising in welding outside India. "Welding is an ever-growing field and with the kind of research that is being carried out in composite materials, the scope to move ahead is tremendous," he says.

Contact: Vinarc Engineers, W-258, S Block, MIDC, Bhosari, Pune - 411 026. Tel.: 020-27121622, E-mail: vineetsm@vsnl.net, Website: www.vinarcengineers.com.