Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Tiruchi Complex, has set its sight on enhancing its turnover by 30 per cent to Rs. 16,000 crore in 2011-12. It has the highest ever outstanding orders worth Rs.39,129 crore, inclusive of this year's order bookings to the tune of Rs. 15,631 crore.
Consisting of Heavy Pressure Boiler Plant and Seamless Steel Tube Plant in Tiruchi, Piping Centre in Chennai, and Industrial Valves Plant at Goindwal in Punjab, the Tiruchi complex has achieved an all-time high turnover of Rs. 12,275 crore in 2010-11, registering a 22.63 per cent growth over previous year.
The Tiruchi complex's turnover accounts for 28 per cent of that of the Corporation. The profit before tax, up by 15.54 per cent to Rs. 3,250 crore, amounting to 36 per cent of the extent posted by the Corporation, has quadrupled in the last five years, the Executive Director of BHEL, Tiruchi, A.V. Krishnan, told presspersons on Tuesday.
Of the record 6,00,000 tons of boiler components the Tiruchi Complex has produced, local vendors supplied 2.20 lakh tons. Supplies through away centre fabrication vendors exceeded 1.25 lakh tons, Mr. Krishnan said, favouring sub-contractors forming clusters as in Dindigul. The BHEL, Tiruchi, he said, was leveraging the utility of the Karaikal port to the maximum for transporting components to other ports and from there to the customer-end. A total of 11,500 metric tonnes components were despatched to overseas countries – New Caledonia, Indonesia, Sudan and Belarus. Admitting problems in transporting materials by road, he said construction of a new road linking Thuvakudi with Samayapuram would offer a long-term solution.
Orders were received during 2010-11 for a record number of seven supercritical projects: three 800 MW, one 700 MW, and three 660 MW sets. In all, 14 utility boiler orders totalling 14,140 MW were secured, owning to the confidence that customers had reposed on BHEL.
On expansion, he said the growth was aligned to the corporate strategic plan 2007-12. Preparatory and pre-execution works have been carried out in time to increase the capacity from 15,000 MW to 20,000 MW under the phase-3 augmentation scheme. A targeted capital expenditure of Rs. 296 crore for the financial year has been achieved, and notable direct benefits could be achieved by implementing the phase-2 investment scheme for 15,000 MW through reduced product delivery period and improved quality. Cycle time could be reduced from over 40 months to 28-30 months to make deliveries for the mega supercritical projects at Barh and Krishnapatnam.
The capacity augmentation programme for industrial valves plant at Goindwal has reached the final stage to increase output to 3,200 metric tonnes a year. Over the next two years, the capacity of the SSTP would also be increased to enhance output from 35,000 MT to 85,000 MT, Mr. Krishnan said. The BHEL, Tiruchi, recruited 499 artisans, 193 supervisors and 228 executives. A workforce of 2,000 – 1000 workmen, 400 executives and 600 supervisors – will be added to the existing manpower strength of 10,500, covering the Thirumayam unit as well.
Pre-engineered building concept was adopted for the factory building at Thirumayam to reduce the project execution period and investment cost. Production from this piping unit, which will have an annual output capacity of 30,000 MT, will commence from January 2012, Mr. Krishnan said.
He hoped coal linkage could be secured in a couple of months for the Udangudi project in the State where the BHEL has set up the first super critical thermal power project with 2 x 800 MW capacity. The vast area in the Tiruchi Complex will be utilised for generating one or two MW solar power, Mr. Krishnan said.
