Despite various industries leaving no stone unturned to tap the potential of Vijayawada to the fullest, by taming the ‘bottlenecks’, two metal casting companies here have made their presence felt in the global arena.
Liners India Limited (LIL) and Kusalava International Limited (KIL) have emerged as two dominant players in the domestic market for cylinder liners (cylindrical parts in engine blocks containing pistons and rings) used in truck and tractor engines, besides being sole suppliers of the products to some leading international automobile manufacturers.
Their combined share of cylinder liner market in India is between 70 and 80 per cent and they are poised to grow bigger in coming years.
Advanced technologyThe LIL is doing well in meeting the worldwide requirement of cylinder liners (or sleeves) used in Euro-II engines of the John Deere and is a major supplier to the manufacturers of the Royal Enfield and Triumph motorcycles. The company is now bracing up to manufacture cylinder liners compatible with the Euro-III emission norms and those made up of Bainite (strongest form of composite steel).
Speaking to The Hindu , LIL Chairman & Managing Director S. Ganesh narrated how he had set up the industry in 1974 and developed it into a global player. The company in its formative years used to manufacture 36,000 liners a year and it has now become a medium-scale industry making 25 lakh pieces a year. “It has become possible due to adoption of latest technologies and the hard-work of its skilled manpower,” he says, adding that the LIL would have been a much larger entity, had it not faced the perennial problem of power shortage, which affected production by crippling the function of electric furnaces.
Mr. Ganesh said that the city would become an automobile component manufacturing hub, provided the Industries and other departments concerned gave faster clearances and played facilitative role.
