The green field unit of Tube Investments of India (TII) to manufacture large diameter tubes at the Tiruttani facility near here, will be inaugurated on Thursday.
Dubbed as one of the single largest investments by the company in the South, the Rs.250-crore unit would manufacture a wide variety of cold drawn-welded and electric-resistance welding tubes of different diameters and thickness.
Briefing reporters, Murugappa group Vice-Chairman M. M. Murugappan said the new plant was entirely conceptualised by their team members. They made a foray into the large diameter precision tubing sector, which they were not serving.
The new plant would address the requirements of the infrastructure sector such as hydraulic cylinders for earthmoving and construction machinery, propeller shafts for high payload vehicles and rear axle tubes for utility vehicles, structural applications and automotive chassis applications that were currently being served through imports, he said.
Tube Products of India President K. K. Paul said the new plant had an installed capacity of 11,000 tonnes a month, and it would be reached in phases. In 42 months, the new plant would add Rs.450 crore to the topline, and in the next five months, it would be in the region of Rs.50-60 crore. The payback time for the investment was seven years.
Located on a 63-acre outside, the Tiruttani plant would add significantly to the group’s export volume besides reducing imports, estimated to be around 30 per cent. The new plant would provide employment to about 250 workers.
Though trial runs were on at the plant, it would take at least a month or two to begin commercial production. At present, TII had an order book of 1,000 tonnes, Managing Director L. Ramkumar said.
TII had signed two more agreements with the Tamil Nadu Government, totalling investment worth Rs.250 crore, for expansion of bicycles and chains, he said, adding that the process was on how to ramp up the production capacity at these units as the market sentiments had improved.
