Foundryman Study Tour To China
Nearly 30 foundrymen from here went on 11-day study tour to China recently. On return, they shared their experiences with the local industrialists at a special meeting organised on Tuesday. “We can follow several methods here too and introduce process control systems in the foundries,” says G. Rajendran, president of the Coimbatore Industrial Infrastructure Association (COINDIA), which organised the visit. The entrepreneurs went to 10 foundries in Shanghai and the valve and pump city – Wenzhou. They also visited two pumpset manufacturing industries. The medium and large foundries have strong Government support in terms of infrastructure and export subsidies. The bank rates are relatively lower. The power cost comes in three slabs. While the day time charges are higher than that in India, the night hours charges (in two slabs) range between Rs. 1.80 and Rs. 3.40 a unit. So, the melting is mostly done at night hours. This makes the production cost competitive for the Chinese units, he says. According to Mr. Rajendran, what will impress most visitors to the Chinese foundries are the productivity levels. “A single operator takes care of two lathes. They work with both their hands,” he says. Some of the larger foundries have imported technology from European countries and a substantial portion of their production goes for exports.
The foundrymen held meetings with the Chinese Foundry Association and also made presentations on the COINDIA activities and details about the Indian units. The Chinese exports are five to 10 times higher than that of the Indian units..They sought the Chinese support in terms of technology and component supply. “We plan to pool in the views of the team and take up with the Government issues regarding which the State and Centre can help us with to improve our competitiveness,” he adds.
