With four to five hours of unscheduled power cut every day, Coimbatore industries are facing several challenges.
The demand is good for several engineering products. Industries that have generator sets are able to supply the orders. Micro units that do not have generator sets continue to keep the labour idle when there is no power and their production schedules are hit.
“We (small and medium-scale enterprises) get a lot of inputs from our sub-contractors. Their position is very bad and the supply chain is a challenge,” says T.C. Thiagarajan, vice-president of Southern India Engineering Manufacturers' Association.
Delay in supply
When a small-scale industry faces delay in the supply of one component from a sub-contractor because of power problems in the unit, the other components are stocked for a longer duration, he explains.
The State Government should consider supply of diesel at concessional price to the small-scale industries, he says.
President of Coimbatore District Small Industries' Association M. Kandhaswami said though the power situation had improved slightly because of availability of wind energy, “we are still living with power cuts.” And, the power disruptions are now unscheduled.
Though the orders are good for the industries here, the smaller units are unable to plan well because they do not know when there will be power or the duration and schedule for load shedding.
Though the daily load shedding has come down from more than 10 hours a day to four or five hours a day, the situation has not given complete relief to industries.
Power is available when wind energy generation is good and winds are inconsistent, say industry sources here.
Some of the industries have lost orders because they do not have facilities to continue production when there is no power. And these requirements have come to those that have adequate infrastructure to continue production. However, they are unable to meet the demand. The industries also fear that if there is a hike in diesel prices even those who have generator sets will be hit. The margins are affected for the industries, they say.
