Ramkrishna Forgings Limited (RKFL) started its journey on 12th November, 1981. It became a limited company on 25th May, 1995. Today, it has grown into a 2000+ manpower organisation manned by qualified and highly skilled people with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and international levels of quality control.

Technology is high on the agenda at RKFL. The company is reliant on technology in different areas of business operations, primarily focussed on customer delight. It is also beneficial in the production and delivery of goods and services worldwide.

"As per my belief, technology is an application of engineering to meet an objective or solve a problem and hence keeping in view the aforesaid definition my company has always adopted new technologies in order to create an indispensable place in the 'Manufacturing Industry' and also to serve our various clientele throughout the world. Technology is just like a bloodstream of the business," says M P Jalan, Chairman, Ramkrishna Forgings Limited.

Perfectly in sync with the present age of awareness, RKFL is committed to develop and implement EMS (Environment Management System) throughout the plant, so that there should not be any harmful impact in the environment in terms of hazards. The company studies carefully the environmental impact of its technologies and aims at developing products and processes that are environmentally friendly.

"Our company is certified in terms of TS 16949, OSHAS 18001 and ISO 14001 and is a manufacturer and supplier of open and closed die forgings of carbon and alloy steel, micro alloy steel and stainless steel forgings, which can be supplied in as Forged + Heat Treated + Machined and in fully assembled condition as per the customer's requirement," says Naresh Jalan, the Managing Director of RKFL.

"It was my dream that I will create a multi technology capability for manufacturing various items in catering the needs of RKFL buyers and also to establish ourselves as a leading global forging company offering turnkey solutions in various products by providing high standard of quality to all our customers worldwide," adds M P Jalan.

The company has introduced a Forging Simulation Process for its key products. The use of finite element method increasingly as tool in metal forming industry results in cost reduction, time saving and improvement in product quality. The simulation software in the forging industry shows material flow, captures the defects and allows determination of process parameters such as press forces, die stresses, predict the tool life and fracture and calculate residual stresses.

According to the Jalans, RKFL has made its presence felt in various fields like automobiles, oil exploration, general engineering including wind energy, mining and earth moving, farm equipment, railways and defence.

Railways: a supplier for critical safety items for undercarriage like screw coupling, hanger for bolster suspension and draw gear assembly and various other items for rail coaches and diesel locomotives.

Defence: engaged in supplying parts ranging from the smallest to the biggest, which get fitted in self-armoured vehicles like Stalion, LPTA, TATRA vehicles and tanks.

Mining and Earth Moving: a supplier of all varieties of links, rollers, shafts, bosses, pins and other forgings for dozers, excavators, dump trucks and back loaders. Automotive: a major supplier of ring gears, pinions, diff case, gears, shafts (input shaft, output shaft) and many other items.

RKFL is an international supplier to Volvo, Daimler and Paccar along with top OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in India like Ashok Leyland, TATA Motors, Eicher, etc. The company manufactures and supplies forgings for all areas in a truck:

Gearbox: all varieties of gears and shafts

Transmission: all varieties of gears and shafts + coupling flanges

Rear axles: crown wheels, pinions, rear axle shafts, spindles, brackets, etc

Front Axle: I-beams, knuckles, steering arms and tie rod arms, and

Engine: crankshaft, camshaft and connecting rods.

RKFL is the first among equals and an integrated forging cum machining company, as also a fully automated ring rolled gears supplier. The company possesses a ring rolling plant, which really deserves a mention as it is a brand new, state-of-the-art, fully automated technology from SMS Meer - Germany, known as Wagner Banning Mill, to manufacture ring rolled components. "With such adoption of technology we have made ring gears a "flagship" of our company," proclaims a proud Naresh Jalan.

At present, the company is exporting products to various continents across the globe-Europe, USA, South America, North America and Asia - and is now targeting Australia and the Far East to establish a global footprint. By offering innovative processes, RKFL is seeking to increase the overall exports and also to enhance the domestic business as a whole which is going to be nearly 50% of its projected turnover.

Forging industry is a basic industry and such industries tend to grow in a country in relation to the rate of growth of its GDP. India being an emerging economy with lot of in-house potential, the Jalans expect the GDP on a rising trend. A forgings company like RKFL is largely dependent on the automotive sector, which is expected to continue to grow and do well in a bigger and better way in the forthcoming year. With such optimism, the Jalans are augmenting a new, state-of-the-art facility of Press Lines with an investment of USD 200 million to manufacture and supply critical forged components for LCVs, HCVs and also PVs, i.e., passenger cars.

"We will be serving customers across the world and will be competing with our modernised facilities, which help us to participate actively in the global economy," says M P Jalan. "In future we will move towards the introduction of cold and warm forging line which can again give a turning point of the company's adaptation of technology," he adds.

With the advent of new tools of technology and eager adoption of latest process innovations, the management of RKFL is confident of becoming one of the prominent and eminent forging companies in the world and very soon the No. 1 in India.

"We are proud to mention that we are a big supplier of forged parts in India with the capability to supply all parts related to engines, transmissions, gearboxes, and front and rear axles for any product of the automotive industry," says Naresh Jalan. "We can sum up by saying that we are a one stop destination for our domestic as well as our overseas clientele," he concludes.