Green initiatives a priority for Coimbatore foundries

The medium and large-scale foundries in Coimbatore are looking at ways to address the environmental challenges faced by them.

Jayakumar Ramdass, the newly-elected president of Indian Institute of Foundrymen – Coimbatore, told TheHindu on Wednesday that awareness was high among the people on environment problems.

Therefore, foundries had to address the environmental challenges.

Hence, the association was studying the possibility of a cluster method to set up a sand reclamation plant.

A group of its members had studied the Belgaum cluster that set up a sand reclamation plant nearly seven years ago.

The association also proposed to seek assistance from the Government to set up the plant.

It organised a meeting here on Wednesday on discuss the matter. Chris Wilding, Managing Director (Asia) of Omega Foundry Machinery, and Biswajit Ghosh, General Manager of Gargi Engineering Enterprises, made a presentation on the sand reclamation plant project it had established in the country.

They told The Hindu that the U.K.-based Omega had supplied several mechanical reclamation plants in Coimbatore.

It was making thermal reclamation plants at the joint venture facility (Omega Sane Foundry Machinery) it had in Pune.

These were available in various capacities and could reclaim 75 per cent to 100 per cent sand used in the foundries.

The company was talking to foundry clusters in Rajkot and Kolhapur too for sand reclamation plants as common facility. These machinery had higher level of automation and energy conservation, they said.

India was one of the biggest markets for Omega with annual turnover of nearly Rs. 25 crore.

Though sales had declined by nearly 30 per cent during the last one year because of economic slowdown in the country, India continued to be an important market because of the potential.

“Though investors are cautious the demand continues,” Mr. Wilding said. Omega manufactured several smaller machinery at its Pune plant. It was exporting some of these to west Asian countries, Sudan and Turkey.

“We are introducing new range of equipment at the Pune plant this year,” he said.