August 10, 2023

We are planning to double the size of our facility in Vadodara to cater for increased volume of rotor grinding, pelletizer assembly, pump skid assembly and overhauling of pumps

Describe about MAAG Group and its area of operations?

The MAAG Group is solution provider for customizable systems and integrated solutions in process technology for the Polymers, Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Pharmaceuticals, and Food industries. We offer customized product solutions and services from a single source to maximize your performance and create a competitive advantage. All the components, products, and systems of our product brands AMN, Automatk, Ettlinger, GALA, MAAG, Reduction, Scheer, Witte and Xantec are of the highest quality and deliver outstanding performance in their respective segments. Within the MAAG Group, innovation and cutting-edge technology, paired with comprehensive after-sales service, form the basis for offering outstanding solutions to meet demanding customer requirements in production, processing, and recycling.

Global size of Pumps & Process Solutions in 2023. What are the global trends in Pumps & Process Solutions?

We see the Chemicals market is growing with the CAGR of 9.2% by 2025. Ongoing Petrochemicals and Chemicals plant expansion will increase demand for gear pumps for critical applications. 

Performance of the Indian subsidiary in FY 2022-23 and plans for FY 2023-24?

Maag India team was established in 2015 and since then the company has been continuously growing and providing best services in the India market.

What products/solutions are you manufacturing in India? Verticals which will benefit from this product portfolio and how?

Maag India currently focuses on the aftermarket sales and service with a dedicated well trained service team to cater Indian customers locally. We have a state-of-the Haas CNC machine for rotor grinding which is in line with the highest quality performance provided by Maag globally. We have localized smaller size pelletizers from size 100 mm to 300 mm for compounding and masterbatch industry. We are assembling pump skids for industrial pump and extrusion pump, where pumps are imported from the respective center of excellence and remaining parts are sourced locally.

What are your future expansion plans with respect to Vadodara facility for leveraging polymer, extrusion, industrial line filtration system, pelletizers, and underwater pelletizers? How are you planning to leverage it?

We are planning to double the size of our facility in Vadodara to cater for increased volume of rotor grinding, pelletizer assembly, pump skid assembly and overhauling of pumps. Additional capacity will increase our supply strength and reduce significant lead time. 

How will this expansion plan lead to additional synergy within the MAAG group portfolio and how do you plan to leverage it?

Certainly, this will help all our centers of excellence globally to focus more India centric on the future plans for the India market.

The company also provides downstream solutions for plastic recycling? Solution portfolio which will help in plastic recycling?

Well, recycling plastic is a growing circular economy. MAAG is providing the complete turnkey solution for recycling of plastic. With specialized continuous Ettlinger Filter, Melt Pump, Underwater Pelletizer, Strand Pelletizer & Dryer.

Our expertise in downstream equipment enables us to meet the rigorous demands of the virgin polymer industry. This is why MAAG is also regarded as an important partner to the recycling industry; delivering energy efficiency, productivity and product quality. Our solutions save resources through smart design, compact construction and durability of components.

MAAG Group's downstream equipment recycling systems help users to quickly and efficiently remove heavy contaminants such as paper, aluminum and wood to produce reusable pellets. MAAG equipment is the right choice for mechanical, chemical and advanced recycling.

MAAG Downstream Equipment recycling systems are coordinated to each other, and can be operated via our proprietary control system.

Aftermarket services being provided by MAAG Group? Are you planning to expand your team in India to cater to aftermarket services?

We already have a dedicated team for the aftermarket service, and we have plans to add more resources in the current year as well to leverage growing demand in the market.

August 03, 2023

In an exclusive interview with Pravin Prashant, Editor, Indian Chemical News, Rohit Kochar, Founder, Executive Chairman & CEO, Bert Labs shares his views on market size of factory automation, company’s performance, clients signed, funding, IPO listing, manpower addition, ensuring error free plant operations, managing brownfield capacities, and new areas of research.   

How has Bert Labs performed? 

In terms of Bert Labs performance, it is important to evaluate it from the perspective of Bert Platform Solution. For a deep tech company, it becomes not so prudent to just focus on our financial performance. We haven’t audited our results, but I can say that the first nine months of FY 2022-23 was slightly north of Rs. 100 crores on revenue with around 25% EBITDA. More importantly, the Bert Platform Solution has been deployed by 30 clients across sectors. This is creating digital transformation infrastructure and bringing business transformation. We commit numbers in terms of energy efficiency improvement, reduction in carbon footprint, and production efficiency improvement.

We help to improve clients on overall equipment effectiveness and quality improvement. The other way of measuring efficiency improvement is through intellectual property that we are creating since one of the pillars on which we are building Bert Labs is research and innovation. We have Digital Twins built up for the electrolysis unit, HCL synthesis rectifier and on top of these Digital Twins, we have Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents which bring in the optimization. Similarly, in the soda ash manufacturing, we have Digital Twins created for ammonia recovery, ammonia absorption, and carbonization. Again, we have Reinforcement Learning agents for optimization.

What is the number Bert Labs is aiming for in FY 2023-24?

So, in terms of numbers, Rs. 500 crore is what we are aiming for. On a conservative basis, we are reporting Rs. 300 crore but keeping the order book in sight, Rs. 500 crore seems to be very realistic. We will continue to grow at 200% plus year on year and plan to be a US $1 billion company by 2027 and then file for IPO.

Would you talk about your clients?

There is a Rs. 5,000 crore specialty chemicals company which is our client. We have been focusing on caustic chlorine as well as other bulk intermediate products. As per the clauses of agreement signed with them, towards the end, we will be deploying Bert Platform Solutions in their power plant and all the manufacturing plants. Then there are two soda ash manufacturing companies which are our clients. We are focused on ammonia recovery of ammonia absorption and carbonation to begin with. We will look at other integrated unit operations, including power plants. Besides this, we are focused on API manufacturing. So, one of the largest business conglomerates has speciality chemical manufacturing as well as API manufacturing.

Are you adequately funded or are you looking at raising funds in the near term? Are you looking at international or Indian listings?

We are adequately funded and that is what differentiates us from other early-stage companies. From day one, we have been relying on ourselves. Obviously, we started with bootstrapping this company but then we started to focus on revenues and profits. Every programme of ours and every deployment is profitable. That's why in our sixth year of operations, I spoke about profitability, which is around 24-25% at the operating level and this is unheard of when it comes to early-stage companies. So, a lot of internal accruals is what we use not just for working capital requirements, but also for investment in research and innovation. But whenever we have required external funding to fuel our growth as well as our research and innovation, we have brought in funding.

As I speak with you, we are closing a US $10 million fund through family offices. And a year from now, we would close our large global institution round from a company that is one of the largest energy players globally. Along with them we will take this company for a US IPO. So, we are looking at three rounds of funding, US $10 million at the end of August; a large global institutional round which will be for US $25-30 million; and then another round of US $50-70 million.

Would you talk about your setup in India? What's your plan on manpower addition?

One of the biggest assets as well as biggest challenge is human capital. We are currently 50 odd people, growing 3-4 people every week. Ours is a pure product platform play. We're not dependent on people whom we bring on board. By the end of this year, we plan to add 150 plus people. In the next four years leading to the US IPO, reaching 2,000 plus people is our focus. The strength comprises largely research and innovation professionals from computer science, software development, distributed computing, embedded systems, and hardware as well as software. Then there are people from wireless sensor network background. 85 to 90% of our team strength comprises researchers and scientists from premium institutions and many of them are PhDs. Along with them, we have product management leaders. So, ours is not a sales driven go to market strategy but a pure product management driven GTM strategy.

We plan to set up Bert Labs Research in 2024-25 in Bangalore, West Coast, and Germany. Bangalore and West Coast will focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the research team will not have any pressures of client deliverables. Germany Research Centre will focus on everything around the Internet of Things (IoT) like IoT devices and IoT powered wireless sensor networks. This also will be a major part of the 2,000 plus team which we would build globally.

We are starting with presence in APAC, Middle East, US, UK, and Germany this financial year and global expansion will continue. We are in the process of hiring locals in the Middle East and other geographies. That is how we aim to build this team globally.

You have a baseline model and then you build up on it to improve the processes. How do you ensure error free plant operations?

These are highly constrained process environments and if there is any deviation in fact in case of API, it leads to FDA questioning and even cancelling of license. One of the Hyderabad based companies have engaged us just to focus on deviations and bring Rs. 50 crore revenue to them.

For the chemical and speciality chemical manufacturing, we do multiple things. We first understand the underlying physics and chemical engineering principles, we just don't rely on operational data of these unit operations or these equipment operational data from the DCS - PLC network, we also do simulations around physics and chemical engineering. That helps us to understand the unit operations of a particular equipment at the design level and at the component level. Then we integrate that with the historical data on which deep neural network models are trained. So, when we do that, the Digital Twin which gets created, exactly replicates the real plant environment. We hand over these Digital Twins for our clients to play with. The Digital Twins powered dashboard that we provide them can be operated from anywhere. Prediction accuracy is anywhere from 94-95% going up to 99.99% in a few cases.

With our Reinforcement Learning philosophy in action, we first train our Reinforcement Learning agents in an offline environment, and that training goes for millions of runs. Millions of episodes are called and that millions of episodes coincides with training equivalent to the next 10 years. And once these Reinforcement Learning agents start converging, meaning every time action is taken and the output which gets generated is the output which the plant is looking for, at the same time, the energy, the power consumed, the electricity consumed by the electrolysis unit also comes down. That is the time we decide in consensus with the client that the Reinforcement Learning agent is ready to be deployed in the real plant. That's how we make sure that all the operating conditions are met where the Reinforcement Learning agent is deployed to perform with respect to energy efficiency improvement, production efficiency, and quality improvement.

Now you have Digital Twins and a simulator simulation platform but if there is any exigency, how do you manage them? 

Our training happens on historical data and the exigency which the plant has gone through is anywhere from one to five years. Our neural network model or reinforcement minimal learning model has learned and has adequately taken care of meeting those exigencies and yet the Reinforcement Learning agent gets trained on a Digital Twin which has a power to predict at an accuracy going up to 99%.

We have a four-pronged control strategy. AI controls which get executed on  the cloud from a remote server. Then AI control gets executed from an on-premise server and the third level of control is on our edge computing device. So, we have two edge computing devices - Bert Titan and Bert Aksh. AI controls run on these IoT devices and are very close to where the equipment is placed. The fourth level of control is on our controllers, Bert Minnie and Bert MinnieComm, the two controllers were PID control runs. If for some reason, the edge computing device is not able to activate controls through our controllers then the PID control gets executed. For some reason if the premise server is not able to execute controls, then the edge computing device actuation control comes into picture. For some reason, if the cloud-based AI controls don’t get executed then either there is an on-premise server or the edge computing device. So, there's a business continuity which is maintained through these four prong control strategies.

It is easy to manage greenfield operations but how do you manage brownfield facilities?

In a greenfield project, we integrate Bert MinnieComm with thousands IO points, digital analogue, hard and soft IO points. In a chemical plant, we are working with, the IO points are anywhere from 2,500 to 5,000. Now in the brownfield plant, we integrate Bert MinnieComm that either integrates with the Emerson PLC or a DCS or Allen Bradley, Rockwell, Siemens and this way with other PLC and DCS servers and controllers.

This integration happens through standard industry communication protocols like OPC UA, OPC DA, BACnet etc. Bert MinnieComm in a brownfield project captures all the data points which we need and from Bert MinnieComm, the data gets transmitted through wireless sensor network to Bert Titan which is a base station of our wireless sensor network. And Bert Titan aggregates data and AI computation gets done on it. Bert Titan also pushes data to the on-premise server and to the cloud server where we have Bert Nova. Our solution works seamlessly, plug and play, both in a brownfield environment as well as in a greenfield environment. Some of the control levers which are manual, some of the control levers which are digitized, both become part of Bert Platform Solution and then compute happens in real time.

What is the market size of factory automation globally and in India?

The size of the market could be US $3-4 trillion, corroborated by McKinsey studies but we don't rely on the size of the market because digital transformation is and should be ahead of physical infrastructure where a chemical or API manufacturing or any other manufacturing plant in any sector should focus today. My advice to all my CEO friends is that if you are laying out a greenfield project, please have the digital transformation strategy executed before you are laying down the physical infrastructure of your plant and all along with it as it is fundamental and therefore critical. The other way of looking at it is sustainability and decarbonization. Today every Chairman, CEO, Managing Director in developed and developing markets, in chemical, pharma, and other sectors like cement have their mandate for zero carbon and carbon neutrality.

Whom do you consider as your competitors?

We come across Allen Bradley, Rockwell, and Siemens. We also come across companies like AspenTech, Star CCM and 1D, 3D, and CFD simulation companies; however, they are more of our collaborators. When I am talking about first principle chemical engineering simulations, our research scientists use AspenTech as a tool and they do all the chemical engineering-based simulations. When they do neural network simulations in parallel, our physics face modelling is done using Star CCM and other tools like GT suite etc. Our competitors are largely hardware companies but they do have software platforms also which are largely around monitoring and which are also largely around rule based control logic or PID control logic. We end up sitting on top of the control logic of Emerson, Siemens, and Yokogawa at our client sites and obviously one control logic has to be actuated. So, it’s Bert Optimus and Bert Geminus Control Logic which gets actuated. It overwrites the existing control logic from these technology companies.

New areas of research that you are working with respect to smart factories?

There are several of them. I am bucketing these into two areas. One is the area of sensing and the second is the ability of the algorithms to find correlations between those thousands of parameters and variables. Bert Platform Solution is at the intersection of these two. So, broadly speaking, our research will focus on how we can improve the capability of Bert Maximus IoT devices and their ability to sense capture data points. We have one image processing device called Bert Aksh which integrates digital camera and thermal camera. Now the processing board is all Bert patented but the thermal camera and the digital camera gets integrated as a third party. So, the future of sensing is non-intrusive and Bert Aksh is enabling it to sense some of the parameters. On the AI side, it is the power of algorithms and neural networks. The Reinforcement Learning that we have created is a combination of two very powerful neural networks. So it is, real time and every second, every split second, it is able to find correlations between thousands of variants. This is where we would focus heavily on research. Just imagine how powerful that algorithm will be.

July 29, 2023

The company focuses on greenfield and brownfield project engineering which includes: Plant Engineering, Facility Master Planning, Engineering (Basic & Detailed), and Project & Construction Management

What is the overall size of Global EPC business in FY 2022-23 and what percentage comes from the Chemicals, Petrochemicals, and Energy sector? Forecast for FY 2023-24?

The global EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) market is expected to be around US $8,000 billion in FY 2022-23. Favorable government norms towards reduction of carbon emissions and increasing production of renewable energy will boost EPC market growth. With a lot of old infrastructure, the demand for redevelopment projects is expected to be high in future.

Increased government expenditure on infrastructure as well as private Capex would boost the Indian EPC sector and will have an impact on the steep increase in Capex outlay of around 32% from Rs. 7.5 lakh crore to Rs. 10 lakh crore.

Brief about Shiva Engineering Services and the kind of work that the company is undertaking for Chemicals, Petrochemicals, and Energy vertical?

Shiva Engineering Services (SES) is a leading engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCm) and EPC company that specializes in providing turnkey solutions for various industries, including chemicals, pharma, food processing, petrochemicals, and energy. The company focuses on greenfield and brownfield project engineering which includes: Plant Engineering, Facility Master Planning, Engineering (Basic & Detailed), and Project & Construction Management.

With respect to Plant Digitalization and Management Services, the focus is on Laser Scan, Digital Twin, Drone Survey, Project Management, Architectural, Civil & Structural, LEED, Green Building, Warehouse, Safety Studies, Utility and Offsites, and Fire Protection. EPC segment focuses on Construction & Turnkey and Solar EPC.

In the Chemicals, Petrochemicals, and Energy sector, SES has undertaken several projects and provided services. The company has a team of highly experienced professionals who have expertise in their respective fields. SES uses the latest technologies and innovative solutions to deliver high-quality projects within a given timeline and budget.

Key greenfield and brownfield orders bagged in the Chemicals, Petrochemicals, and Energy sector in FY 2022-23? What's the total order value in these sectors till date?

SES has completed a considerable amount of work in the chemical, specialty chemical, agrochemical, paint, aroma, food processing plants, bromine & its derivatives, and numerous adjacent markets in India and across the globe over the past 13 years. In the fiscal year 2022–23, SES won projects worth more than Rs. 2,500 crore. 

SES Digital focuses on next-gen smart solutions to help industrial business leaders to grow into smart organizations. Technologies where you have gained mastery to deploy smart manufacturing? Services that you are providing to customers?

SES Digital’s next-gen smart solutions focuses on Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing initiatives with cutting-edge technologies along with our domain expertise in engineering services that helps our customers to build smart organizations. top- notch technologies like 3D laser scanning, drone survey, AR & VR tech for project reviews, helped our customers with reducing various engineering spends as well as decreasing the overall projects timelines. These technologies also helped us by providing us with market wide competitive advantages.

What's the impact of digital transformation technologies on SES? How are you helping your client?

SES is at forefront while adopting digital solutions for quality and quick delivery and helping them to operationalize their capex cycle and investment. Some of the key solutions that we regularly use are Laser Scan and Drone Survey.

Laser Scan – They are very effective for any capacity addition, modification, debottlenecking, or brownfield project requirement. All the data related to existing plant setup can be very accurately captured using a laser scanner. This data can be used for super imposed modelling, where you can see old plants and new recommended modifications together. This helps in construction sequencing, reducing the downtime, and optimization of existing setup. We are focusing on drone survey, construction camera, 3D Modelling and VR (Virtual Reality).

Drone Survey – Contour mapping, topography survey, remote construction progress monitoring, thermography survey, inspection and many applications are associated with drones; Construction Camera – Construction progress, real time update, comparison, contractor mobilization details, security all these applications are associated with construction camera solutions. With app base interface SES helps its clients to monitor their sites remotely; and 3D modelling & VR – Visualization of your plant and immersive walkthrough and training are well known use cases of these solutions.

Are you working on sustainability and EV initiatives?

Shiva Engineering Services is working very closely with leading industrial players to develop sustainable and green infrastructure which includes green industrial building setups, solar infrastructure, recycle material process, and manufacturing plants. For example, SES is working very closely in bromine, bromine derivative manufacturing plants, PVDF films, fluorine chemistry, sustainable packaging plants, and many more.

How is Shiva Engineering Services managing sustainability and growth at the same time?

Creating sustainable value and enhancing market performance has never been more challenging. Being a company with a mission, we've integrated sustainability into our core business strategy with the goal of expanding our firm's circle of responsibility beyond just doing long-term good. Our focus on the needs of the consumer, along with technological advancements, has always given us a competitive advantage.

July 17, 2023

Would you elaborate about the company and services offered from the facility located near Nhava Sheva Port with respect to cleaning facility, tank testing, and tank repair?

Zodiac Tank Container Terminals was commissioned in March 2021, is a Samsara Group company, one of the leading shipping agency and logistics organizations operating since 1996 in India. Zodiac Tank Container Terminals state-of-the-art facility was developed as a 'one-stop-shop' for all ISO tank container cleaning, maintenance & testing, and road tanker cleaning matching with world-class quality standards.

The facility has dedicated exclusive cleaning bays for ISO tank containers as well as for cleaning of road tankers and food grade ISO tanks. The facility is carefully planned and run by a competent workforce using a fully automatic ISO tank container cleaning system with advanced German technology from Weidner. The cleaning facility is strategically located on Mumbai to Pune Highway, about 55 km from Nhava Sheva port with an excellent connectivity through a toll-free road, old Mumbai-Pune highway and also Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

Key milestones achieved by Zodiac Tank Container Terminals in the last two years? What are your expansion plans for FY 2023-24?

Zodiac Tank Container Terminals is the only ISO tank container cleaning & maintenance facility in India with ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 45001:2018 certification. It is the only professional facility for cleaning of road tankers carrying edible oil/products and chemicals, which is fully compliant with environment protection regulations. It is the first such facility in India with a roof top solar power plant and our entire facility is running on solar power. The facility is also compliant with Kosher and Halal certification and Welders certified by Bureau Veritas. Recently, we have safely handled the T75 LNG gas tank at our facility. Zodiac is also signatory to Responsible Care.

Can you elaborate on the technology used in the facility – The German made cleaning machinery set-up from Weidner?

We are the first facility in India to have a fully automatic ISO tank container cleaning system with advanced German technology from Weidner. Weidner is a German company with over 40 years of experience in the special cleaning equipment. They have set standards in the cleaning equipment industry due to their innovation power and high quality. The system is user-friendly, high performance, low maintenance, robust and efficient. It has fully automatic cleaning procedures through various cleaning programs which can be done anytime by the operator. The Weidner cleaning plant also comprises a scrubber unit and steam generator.

How has been the response with respect to ISO tank and road tank cleaning facilities? How are you providing quality service?

The response is extremely good from various stakeholders in the trade. We have not only met their expectations but were able to provide world class cleaning, testing, and repair services in India which till date was not available.

Our quality services have prompted various customers to bring their ISO tank container across the globe to our facility in India for repairs and cleaning. This will help bring more business into India. Besides ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001, various reputed chemical manufacturers and global ISO tank operators have audited and approved the facility.

How do you ensure regulatory compliance with respect to achieving Zero Liquid Discharge?

Zodiac Tank Container Terminals is fully compliant with all applicable regulations and best global practices related to health, safety, quality, and environment. The company has an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) which has Zero Liquid discharge consisting of aerators, double RO, electrode system & evaporators and issued a Red Category license by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board. Being ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 standards terminals, periodic audits help us in maintaining our standards.

Environmentally friendly technologies adopted by Zodiac to promote a clean and green environment? Key initiatives by the company to help customers achieve sustainable practices in the shipping and logistics sector?

We have set up the facility with an aim to provide an international standard of cleaning with environment care at its core. The German made tank cleaning equipment from Weidner is most efficient and has measures for noise containment, low energy consumption at high efficiency, use of biodegradable detergents, water and energy saving techniques, etc.

Our facility is fully compliant with all applicable statutory regulations including Maharashtra Pollution Control Board. This facility is first of its kind to operate on solar power in India. Zodiac Tank Container Terminals is an ISO 14001:2015 certified company and promotes and imbibes best practices in the environment. Customers using our facility are indirectly achieving sustainable practices in the logistics industry.

In 2022, the company successfully commissioned a 150 kWp rooftop solar power generation plant at its Khalapur facility. How does this facility help you in terms of providing green and clean energy?

Towards our initiative to promote a clean and green environment, Zodiac Tank Container Terminals has been at the forefront in adopting environmentally friendly technologies to safeguard nature, climate and communities. In 2022, we successfully commissioned a 150 kWp rooftop solar power generation plant at our facility. This initiative is first of its kind in the ISO tank container and road tanker cleaning & repair facility in India. Our depot is entirely consuming electricity generated from solar power plants. It has been recognized by our partner Oorja Solar which is a testimony towards our commitment to promote a cleaner environment and inspire communities to adopt similar methods.

How is the company developing highly customized services in collaboration with its customers? Any examples?

Zodiac has been on the forefront of providing customized services to its customers. Cleaning of road tankers carrying chemicals and edible oil/products in a fully environmentally compliant as per regulations is one such successfully developed service. For ISO tank containers, besides top-class cleaning standards including scrubbing/steam treatments we have created fully in-house capabilities of major repairs which are approved by reputed classification society/certifying authorities.

We will soon be commencing re-furnishment of ISO tank containers. With fully equipped workshops, professional welders/manpower, and world class quality standards, we are creating Zodiac Terminal as a cost effective hub in the region for carrying out extensive repairs of ISO tank containers, placing India on the map for many globally reputed ISO tank operators.

How is the company striking a balance between environment-friendly policies and sustainable growth in future?

It is very important for any chemical cleaning facility to comply with environment related policies applicable rules and regulations being fully implemented. We have been at the forefront in implementing various environment-friendly initiatives as mentioned earlier and we shall continue to do so with support from more chemical customers/ISO tank operators which are adopting such practices across their supply chains, which is a norm today, Zodiac Terminal is confident of achieving long term sustainable growth in this initiative.

July 08, 2023

Global trends in water treatment chemicals and ion exchange resins market?

The global ion exchange resins market, even in its maturity stage, is growing at an impressive CAGR of 4.2% and is projected to reach US $2.2 billion by 2025. The growth trends are already visible in APAC countries and emerging economies such as India, China, and Brazil which offer many untapped and unexplored opportunities.

The trend in growth strategies adopted by companies in this business includes development and launch of new products through sustained research & development initiatives, mergers and acquisitions, and investment in brownfield and greenfield projects. In order to sustain the robust demand from major ion exchange users like thermal power plants, chemical and petrochemical industries, steel, rising number of nuclear power plants, and high purity ion exchange resins for the pharmaceutical and electronic industries.

Expandable markets for ion exchange resins also include life sciences through bio-pharma applications and production of ultrapure water for solar/semiconductor applications.

The global water treatment chemicals market is also growing at a healthy CAGR of 4.4%. The growth can be attributed to growing requirements of utility and process chemicals from sugar and ethanol, petrochemical and refining, steel, alumina, and geothermal power generation, especially in emerging economies.

The global trends also indicate that the major factors for the growth of water treatment chemicals are increasing demand from chemical treatment of wastewater in South-East Asia. Further, it is predicted that the market for water treatment chemicals will grow due to demand for clean water in mining, pulp and paper, chemical process, oil & gas, and power plants. Coagulants and flocculants which dominate the market with largest market share for chemicals will continue to see good growth for use in water treatment in developed economies like North America and Europe.  

Global water treatment chemicals market size is projected to grow from US $39.1 billion in 2021 to US $61.1 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of 9.3% whereas global ion exchange resins market is expected to reach US $2.26 billion by 2026. How are you planning to leverage these opportunities?

The growth momentum in ion exchange resins and specialty water treatment chemicals is quite good despite the slowdown in demand, earlier due to the pandemic and presently because of the geo-political situation in the Eastern part of Europe. This is mainly due to preference of Indian customers for our products and associated services. Our ion exchange resins and water treatment chemicals have good acceptance in global markets where we already have a presence. Robust CAGR, diverse range, customization and consistency in quality, and timely supplies, will help the company to benefit from growth of these products in coming years.

Company's financial performance in FY 2022-23? Forecast for FY 2023-24?

For nine months of FY 2022-23, on a consolidated basis our operating income increased 24% YoY. Profit after tax increased 45% on a YoY basis. We also expect our operating income for the FY ending March 2023 will be in the range of 25-30%. Considering a good backlog of orders we predict our growth in FY 2023-24 should be equally good.

The company has a revenue mix of Engineering (58%), Chemicals (34%), and Consumer Products (8%). Do you see any change in revenue mix in FY 2023-24?

We do not anticipate any appreciable change in the revenue mix in FY 2023-24.

Key achievements of Ion Exchange (India) Limited in FY 2022-23?

The company witnessed steady order flow, both in the domestic and international market for engineering, chemicals, and services. This includes a 40 MLD seawater desalination project for a leading EPC company in North Africa. We also received EPC contracts for desalination and complex waste treatment from one of India’s largest offshore oil exploration units. Other significant orders include complete zero liquid discharge plant at Indian Oil Corporation, Panipat Refinery at a contract value of Rs. 343.36 crores, a turnkey contract from Indian Oil Corporation’s Panipat Refinery capacity expansion at contract value of Rs. 726.13 crores. The scope of work includes supply of water treatment plant including reverse osmosis based demineralization plant, condensate polishing unit, zero liquid discharge plant with comprehensive operation & maintenance for two years and annual maintenance charges for five years. We have also received several EPC contracts for water treatment, recycling and complete zero liquid discharge plants from leading companies in paint, food & beverages, steel, textiles, to name a few. Our Zero B range of home water solutions also had good growth in a highly fragmented market dominated by several regional unorganized players.

In FY 2022-23, the company has also bagged orders from NRL. What are you doing in the NRL?

NRL (Numaligarh Refinery Ltd.), for Assam location has awarded a contract for design, supply, construction, and erection & commissioning of 4X250 m3/hr resin based DM plant and 2X120 m3/hr for Condensate Polishing Unit. Further, our scope also includes pre-treatment of raw water by 9 X 400 m3/hr Horizontal Dual Media Filters and 2X383 m3/hr Rapid Gravity Sand Filters.

The company has an approximate total order book of Rs. 2,923 crores with more than Rs. 8,405 crores in the bid pipeline as on December 22, 2022. How are you planning to leverage these enquiries?

With the current order backlog and faster conversion of orders from the bid pipeline, we see a strong visibility for sustaining our growth in the next 2-3 years. We are well placed to undertake a significantly increased pace of execution in the coming years, in line with our customers’ expectations.

The company has seven manufacturing and assembly facilities across India and one assembly facility each in UAE, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Saudi Arabia. Any plans of increasing manufacturing and assembly facilities in FY 2023-24 and Capex investment in greenfield and brownfield expansion?

Consistent with increased demand for ion exchange resins, we have planned a greenfield expansion project for manufacturing world-class ion exchange resins in Roha, Maharashtra. The state-of-the-art manufacturing facility will also be aligned with internal sustainability goals and environment quality management practices.

Exports contribute around 29% of total sales to Africa, Japan, Middle East, Russia, South East Asia, Europe, UK, USA, Canada, and neighbouring countries. Are you looking to enter the South American and Australian market?

For nearly three decades we have built a favourable position as a reliable exporter of quality ion exchange resins, water treatment plants, chemicals, and services. The plan is to further consolidate our position in these geographies and increase business volume with existing and newer products and technologies, all backed by efficient after-sales-service in these regions. In the current year, we have formed a European subsidiary for penetrating the European market as part of our sustainable growth strategy.

R&D activities undertaken in FY 2022-23 and plans for FY 2023-24?

The state-of-the art R&D and technology centres manned by scientists and technologists have been the strength of our company since 1965. Apart from synthesis of new chemistries, polymers, formulations, R&D centres have developed specialty water treatment chemicals using green chemistry thereby offering our customers in India and abroad environment friendly products meeting their sustainability ESG goals.

Our technology centre has developed several engineering products and processes for separation, purification, and concentration using novel membranes, ion exchange resins, adsorbents and thermal evaporation processes benefitting a large number of industries. Some of these exciting commercialized technologies include Zero B Hydrolife range of alkaline water purifier machines, standardized range of state-of-the-art high purity water system for artificial kidney dialysis, the Quencher series of Bottling plant – an innovation that fulfils the processing need to replace plastic with glass bottles for hospitality industry.

Company's future strategy focuses on three pillars: Increasing export volumes for resins; Newer chemistries and formulations; Capacity expansions to meet increased demand in local and international markets and increasing market share in domestic markets with ‘Make in India‘and China + strategy. How are you planning to move in this direction?

We are excited by the success of world-class membranes (UF, RO, and NF) supplied from state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Goa to a large cross-section of customers including OEMs. With earlier than planned capacity expansion we are now aiming to further increase our market share in India and to export membranes to geographies where we have local presence. We will also continue to improve operation efficiency and operational throughputs along with various capacity expansion plans to take advantage of the China+ strategy.

CSR projects executed in education, health, and hygiene in FY 2022-23 and plans for FY 2023-24?

Ion Exchange is committed to sustainable development and through its CSR arm – Ion Foundation, has been engaging in various social and community initiatives in the health, water, education, women empowerment, agriculture sectors over the last many years. These initiatives undertaken directly by the company and also through various organisations, are majorly spread across Maharashtra, Telangana, and Gujarat. In FY 2022-23, our activities included providing equitable, inclusive, high-quality and sustainable education through various initiatives focussed on education infrastructure, innovative learning methodologies, supporting NGOs for the Science on Wheels program, providing after-school support and scholarships, to name a few.

On the healthcare front, our CSR initiatives aim at providing quality and affordable healthcare services. We have been supporting the Indian Red Cross Society, a unique humanitarian organization that plays a pivotal role in providing safe blood transfusion services to patients suffering from Thalassemia Major. Last year, we helped support almost 6,000 patients through our initiatives.

We also continued to provide safe drinking water to various schools/residential care units for the underprivileged/disabled people in states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi by setting up RO water plants across urban and rural communities. Initiatives planned will focus on Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) and include providing adequate access to safe drinking water in high-water-risk communities or households; improved hygiene, and sanitation practices. The key objective will be to benefit close to one lakh people directly and indirectly by March 2024.

When are you planning to achieve net carbon zero and plans for achieving it?

We have definite plans for investments to become net carbon zero by the year 2032. This includes sustained transition from use of fossil fuel to renewable, maximizing use of alternate sources of water.

July 07, 2023

2023 trends in Construction Chemicals, Textile Chemicals, Carpet Chemicals, Leather Chemicals, and Paper Chemicals?

The industry is in sync with India's growth with a country focused on textiles and construction. We expect growth in textiles and construction to be around 12%.

Company's financial performance in FY 2022-23? What's the forecast for FY 2023-24?

In FY23, Jesons Industries Limited has shown a flattish volume growth and forecasts a volume growth of around 25% in FY24.  

Revenue mix within India and outside India for FY 2022-23? What will be the revenue mix in FY 2024-25?

In FY23 exports contributed 26% of overall revenues whereas within India it was 74%. In FY24, the company is planning to increase its share of exports further to touch 28% of overall revenues.  

The company is focused on Specialty Coating Emulsions (SCE) and water-based Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (PSA) in tape and label segments in India. Any new developments on this front?

Our technology centre at Turbhe, Navi Mumbai is churning out new products in the SCE and PSA categories for different applications. We are also in talks with a few global prominent players for collaboration.

Capex investment in FY 2022-23 and projects/facilities where the company has invested? Capex plans for the company in FY 2023-24 and how will this help the company in the long term?

In FY23, the company expanded capacities in Roorkee, Chennai, and Mundra locations. Capex plans for FY24 include a new technology centre in Navi Mumbai and a new manufacturing site at Saykha, Gujarat. With these expansions, we expect to introduce innovative products and show robust growth in the coming years.

The company holds about 30% market share as a specialty coating emulsions (SCE) supplier in the Indian paint sector? How does the company plan to increase it further? Any new product launches in the offing?

Jesons has several new products in the pipeline in the SCE category for various applications and end uses. We are also in talks with several players for joint ventures and collaborations which will help us increase our market share.

The company's portfolio of 170 products are marketed under seven different brands. Have you made any additions to this portfolio in 2022-23 or plan to do so in the near future? 

Yes, it is a continuous process and we have added several new products to the list. Our pipeline remains strong for the coming few years.

What is the total installed capacity across six manufacturing plants and how much additional capacity added during FY 2022-23? What is your current capacity utilization and strategy to improvise it further?

In FY23, the company’s capacity was around 283,000 MTPA with capacity utilization at around 65%.  

What are the key innovations undertaken at the company's DSIR recognized R&D centre? How will these innovations make an impact on the company and society? 

Innovations in Jesons are focused on enhancing customer productivity, delivering parallel innovative solutions, minimising impact on nature, and expanding our product adjacencies. The company is also focusing on minimizing natural resources such as water by developing high polymer content ready to use pressure sensitive adhesive for tapes and labels applications.

Focus is also on products that enhances customer productivity by running at higher speeds on the coater line, safer in-compliance with FDA, and with highest quality standards products for packaging adhesive applications such as lamination, side pasting, etc., CMR free products for furniture adhesive applications; Coating binder which acts as scavenger for carcinogenic emission in the atmosphere; Development of green paint binders with latent crosslinking technology to enhance paints shelf life; Elastomeric coatings using sunlight for crosslinking; Moisture barrier coating for reducing water demand required for concrete curing; and using in-house products as raw materials for formulating competitive high-performance construction chemicals.

The company has received prestigious Responsible Care certification from Indian Chemical Council (ICC). How will this strengthen your commitment towards future sustainability goals?

Jesons Industries Limited is a Responsible Care (RC) Logo Certified organization which is an internationally recognized and global voluntary initiative through ICCA internationally and ICC in India. RC addresses community concern about chemicals and their impact on people and environment during processing, transportation, and use. This helps us to build trust and confidence with stakeholders i.e. employees, community customers, suppliers, contractors, and government.

RC covers process safety, employee health and safety, pollution prevention, emergency response and communication, distribution, product stewardship, and security. RC logo is a symbol of commitment towards EHS excellence and thus helps us to strengthen a move towards sustainability.

Level of automation and digitalization projects carried out in FY 2022-23? How do you plan to move ahead on this front both on brownfield and greenfield projects? 

We are currently at 75% automation in our plants and wish to enhance it to 90% by 2027.

CSR projects undertaken in FY 2022-23 and plans for FY 2023-24? 

We have undertaken several CSR projects for promotion of education and healthcare. We have also carried out CSR activities towards the Prime Minister Relief Fund (PMRF).

How is the company striking a balance between environment-friendly policies and business growth? Key sustainability initiatives of the company across various segments?

In the energy sector, the company has installed 60 kw solar panels at Mundra; In water management, the company has developed a water harvesting system at 8 kl/hr at Mundra; In waste management, the company is opting for paperless work procedures at Mundra; Reuse of drums; In biodiversity we are increasing green belt with plantation of 1,588 trees at Mundra; In supply chain, the company is deploying nicer globe tracking system into transported vehicles; and Journey Risk assessment of transportation. Compliances with national environment compliances. Prepared & implemented QEHS (Quality, Environment, Health and Safety) policy & its goal and third party certification for our system like ISO and Responsible Care. The company is going to implement the EcoVadis and ESG certification process.

When is Jesons Industries planning to achieve Net Carbon Zero? What are the different milestones set up by the company to achieve it? 

We have appointed PwC as our ESG implementation partner and the milestones are under development.

July 05, 2023

How would you rate the company's financial performance in FY 2022-23? What's the forecast for FY 2023-24?

Our performance for FY22-23 was as per our projections and aspirations. In FY23, we celebrated crossing the milestone of Rs. 3,000 crore topline with 23% EBITDA. Our FY23 topline is 65% more than the previous year. The continuous growth and success of our business is cemented on our robust, sustainable business model, powered by the innovation and quality of our products, and commitment of our team.

Performance of the company in different segments - Aluminum, carbon black, construction chemicals, specialty chemicals, wood preservatives, coal chemicals, tyres, mechanical rubber goods, and masterbatches in FY 2022-23. What is the future roadmap?

In FY23, we became the major exporter of solid CT Pitch globally. 40% of the Aluminum segment in India consumes our products, we integrate operations, provide uninterrupted supplies, ensure superior quality, and adhere to best industry practices for manufacturing, supply chain management, and sustainability. Our commitment to quality, stringent safety protocols and standards, ethical governance principles, and industry certified processes sets us apart in the industry.

With the projected expansion of the aluminum business as well as reduced CT Pitch availability from China, we have an opportunity for organic growth. We are installing a 500 KTPA Coal Tar distillation plant at our second site in India and with state-of-the-art specialty chemicals complex of import substitution products to cater several industrial applications other than Aluminum industry.

Capex investment in FY 2022-23 and projects/facilities where the company invested? Capex plans for the company in FY 2023-24 and how will these investments help the company in the long term?

In FY23, we invested strategically in various projects, with Capex exceeding Rs. 525 crores, to expand our current production capacities and development of a township for our employees and their families.

For the upcoming FY24, we plan to invest more than Rs. 1,200 crores in projects like – setting up a new carbon derivative complex in Jharsuguda, Odisha; to increase the capacity of our carbon black, captive power plant at Vijayanagar; construct another new township and many more. These investments will help double our topline by FY26.

By when Rs. 550 crore projects for adding 1,15,000 - 2,15,000 tonne capacity in Karnataka will get completed? How will this project enhance the overall capacity, market share, and overall revenue of the company?

We're making good progress on our project in Karnataka, and it is projected to be completed by the first half of 2024. This will almost double our Carbon Black capacity, giving us a major share of the domestic market, and further enabling us to compete in the international market. We anticipate this project will generate revenue of approximately Rs. 900 - 1,000 crore annually. This plant will produce niche grades for high performance automobile tyres.

The company has collaborated with edible oil refiner Sri Anagha Refineries to construct molten pitch storage tanks with capacity of 10,000 metric tons at Mangalore port. Expected completion date and long-term outcomes in terms of scaling up coal tar pitch production?

Currently, we are focusing on creating India’s first ‘liquid CT Pitch port’ for exports. The facility will be ready before the end of Q1 FY24. This port will enable us to expand our reach in international markets for our products. By leveraging the utilization of this facility, we anticipate an estimated 3 lakh MT of exports in the next five years and adding over Rs. 2,000 crores to the top line.

What are the key R&D projects under progress by the company? How will these innovations make an impact on the company's revenues?

We are innovating new grades of Coal Tar Pitch and of Carbon Black. We are continuously working to produce high quality Carbon derivative products, such as Naphthalene, Indene, Anthracene, Phenols and Cresols. These products will substitute imports in India and have the potential to significantly increase our current business revenue.

Level of automation and digitalization projects conducted in FY 2022-23? How do you plan to move ahead on this front both on brownfield and greenfield projects?

Currently, our plants are automated using DCS systems, and we have complemented this with digital solutions for greater process efficiency. We are now driving an overall organizational digitization program, in collaboration with one of the top consultants, which will enhance our existing operations and future projects and further upgrade us to Industry 4.0 level within the next 2-3 years.

CSR projects undertaken in FY 2022-23 and plans for FY 2023-24?

In FY23, we strengthened our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in sectors like healthcare, education, sports, and infrastructure development. These initiatives have positively impacted over 3 lakh people. We plan to continue our efforts of strengthening educational infrastructure by providing basic educational amenities, drinking water facilities and digital classrooms. We are further prioritizing preventive healthcare through the Mobile Health Clinic initiative, which has impacted 32,000 individuals in 8 villages. In the coming years, we intend to extend our support to women’s Self-Help Groups in the villages through livelihood interventions within the vicinity.

How is the company striking a balance between environmentally friendly policies and business growth? Key sustainability initiatives of the company across various segments?

We constantly integrate sustainability into our design & operations and the concept of circularity has been designed to ensure minimum wastage and emissions across the manufacturing facility.

Our second sustainability report was published in December of 2022 based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standard. We have planted 47,500 trees to help minimize air pollution. We are continuously optimizing our operations and usage of non-renewable utilities like water and power which is prioritized in our consumption trends of utilities per metric ton on a year-on-year basis. 

Our company is committed to sustainable business growth, providing a secure source of captive raw materials and long-term contracts. Additionally, our manufacturing methods reduce emissions by using cleaner fuels, low Sulphur feedstocks, and zero discharge.

The residue gases produced during our process is used to generate steam and electricity in our captive power plant. This helps us to reduce our carbon footprint significantly, to the extent that our product Carbon Black has nearly 20% less footprint compared to our domestic peer industries. Also, our value-added product which is a synthetic graphite for Anode material has nearly 77% less CO2 footprint compared to peers. 

Our CSR and CER goals are aligned with the United Nations' SDGs for Good Health & Wellbeing, and economic growth, zero hunger, quality education, sustainable cities and communities, clean water and sanitation, and gender equality. We have contributed to supporting the elderly, Covid-19 care, and especially abled people, as well as hospitals. Over 4 lakh lives have been benefited in the last 4 years. Quality education is another goal we are actively supporting; we have upgraded teaching & learning facilities in 4 Direct Impact Zone villages and developed model libraries which have helped more than five thousand students.

We are also working to support animal welfare trusts and restore ecological balance through afforestation and wildlife conservation. We have contributed to women empowerment, sports development, village street lighting, livelihood programs, relief funds, solid waste management programs, and many other initiatives. Our efforts towards sustainability are well recognized by many rating agencies. We are a Responsible Care logo holder and EcoVadis -Silver Rated company.

We upgraded our ISO certifications of – 9001 for QMS, 14001 for EMS, 45001 for OH&SMS, 50001 for Energy Management System. Also, we are certified by IATF 16949:2016 – Automotive QMS, ISO/IEC 17025:2017, ISO 27001:2013 - Information Security Management System, ISO 28000: 2022 – Supply Chain Security Management which highlights our approach to data credibility and integrity. We are now preparing for SA 8000 certification, which is an international certification standard that encourages organizations to develop, maintain and apply socially acceptable practices in the workplace.

When is Epsilon Carbon planning to achieve Net Carbon Zero and what are the different milestones set up by the company?

We are continuously working through various initiatives to reduce our environmental load and carbon footprint. These efforts are gauged, and monitored by doing life cycle assessment through recognized third-party experts. Currently, we are in discussion with one of the top consultants to design a long term ESG roadmap for the organization and charter a time bound milestone plan.

July 01, 2023

Haropa Port is the fourth largest North European Port. What's your plan for 2023? 

Eighteen months after its creation (merger of three ports - Le Havre, Rouen, and Paris) and following a historic year in which three million TEU was surpassed, Haropa Port has consolidated its positioning in the group of Northern Range Port. In 2022, Haropa Port was one of the only ports in Europe with a progression of container traffic. In addition to the remarkable resistance shown by traffic levels, key milestones have been achieved, foremost among them is the announcement by MSC TiL last July that they would be investing €700 million till 2028 to triple container volume, making us a major port of entry for France and Europe and giving us the means to develop river-based services to the Paris basin.

What makes Haropa Port different? Would you talk about the Green Logistics Corridor?

The model of Haropa Port is based on its ability to provide a unique green corridor to connect the maritime ports of Le Havre and Rouen to the consumption region of Paris and to NW Europe. As an efficient alternative to a very efficient motorway network, the Seine River and the railway system are the backbone of Haropa Port. Our port system includes more than 25 terminals all along the Seine River. It means 25 different places along the Seine River to load and unload containers.

In 2022, rail and river transport on the Seine Axis were increasingly seen as an alternative to road for goods import/export, the modal shares of rail and river expanded from 12% to 13.3% for containers exiting Le Havre. Operators have completely understood the complementarity of maritime terminals and inland terminals. Some goods need to be handled in the maritime port of Le Havre to be transferred by truck in a few hours to Paris. Other goods could be transferred by rail or inland waterways to Rouen or to Paris and/or to various other industrial hubs in NW Europe within a couple of days without any kind of congestion, taking advantage of the possibilities of massification offered by rail and river transport.

Moreover, Haropa port displays a smart cargo community system completely connected to its port community system to follow the flow of goods from vessels arrival to the final delivery.

At 110 million tons/year, Haropa Port is a global heavyweight. How are you planning to increase traffic in the next five years?

Haropa Port is definitely a multi sector port combining container, dry bulk, liquid bulk and grain traffic. Haropa Port includes maritime and inland waterway traffic, which makes our model particularly resilient in a context of crisis. We continue to invest on our port infrastructure to extend our capacity to accommodate more traffic. In 2022, we have finalised the maritime works to add 700m of quays which will complete the existing 3500m of quays in Port 2000, our main container terminals area. 

In 2023, to create a specific access for INW barges, we will fulfil the story of Port 2000 started 20 years ago to have reference port terminals able to welcome the largest vessels in the word, safely, efficiently, and in deep sea conditions. These nautical conditions are unique in the Northern EU.

In 2023, we will also start the civil work to create a new port of 100 ha on the Seine River 50 km from Paris. This project is unique in port history as we have not created a new port in the last 50 years. This aims at fostering the transport by Inland waterways for construction and recycling activities.

How has the Russia-Ukraine war affected the business dynamics? How did you tackle the challenges arising out of the geo-political situation?

The Russia-Ukraine war has led to major geopolitical disruption between Russia and Europe, in addition to fears of an energy crisis. Also, the last summer’s drought notably affected certain types of agricultural production in France and the rest of the world. Nevertheless, despite these difficulties for Haropa Port, the past year was a year for a change of scale and high resistance to turbulence and defined resilience. In particular, for the export of Cereals, 2022 was one of the best years of the decade with 8.6 metric tonnes of grain shipped this year (+12%). It was definitely a good trading year (quantity/quality). Due to efficient port logistics, our producers were among the first sellers to propose grains to the market. We were able to sell our shipments to Israel, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran - destinations rarely served by France in recent years. These grain volumes were additional to substantial purchases by Algeria, Egypt, West Africa, countries which have suffered from an intense drought this year. 

How are you gearing up towards making Haropa Port a Green Energy hub?

Haropa Port aims to be a Green hub by:

* Development of low-carbon port/industrial zones; Production of green energy from biowaste;

* Deployment of a network of CNG stations; and New Industrial Cluster will be implemented in the coming years.

* Development of low-carbon port/industrial zones: An MoU has been signed on the Seine River by chemical groups such as Total, ExxonMobil, Air Liquide, Yara, and Borealis to lead a major Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) project. Its first step aims at reducing carbon emission by 1.5 million tons/year by 2030. In the context of this CCUS project, we also aim to put in place one of the first CO2 export hubs in Europe.  

* Production of green energy from biowaste: PAPREC, a major waste management company, will be operating the future methanisation plant for Greater Paris household biowaste at the port of Gennevilliers.

* Deployment of a network of CNG stations: A new generation of multi-energy service stations will be implemented in our main platforms in the Paris Région.

* At the Port-Jérôme port/industrial zone (40 km from Le Havre Port) a new industrial cluster will be implemented in the coming years – “Plastic Valley” – dedicated to recycling and producing latest-generation renewable plastic is currently being organised, most notably around the projects of the chemical groups Eastman and Futerro. The site will also see production of renewable hydrogen with Air Liquide’s Normand'Hy Project which has an unprecedented capacity of 200 MW to be operational by 2025.

* Haropa Port will be OPS ready by 2028 for container and cruise vessels – two years before the European legislation commitments.

Haropa Port has announced a Euro 700 million investment at Le Havre. What's the update on this front? 

Terminal Investment Limited (TiL), the ports division of leading liner Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), has taken total control of the TPO/TNMSC container terminals at Le Havre, and announced in July 20222 a €700 million investment program. This program will ensure the terminal hub can handle the largest boxships afloat. This ambition promises to shake up the port hierarchy in the competitive group of Northern Range European Ports system and help Le Havre become an even more significant gateway point for the French cargo market, and beyond. TiL/MSC is going on this program by installing new gantry cranes and also extending the terminal’s storage capacity with the installation of fleet services at six berths. The new gantries will be electrically powered and the port will provide shore power for ships.

Haropa port is also focusing on the Digital Transformation Project. What's the update on this front?  

Haropa Port is totally focused on its path breaking digital initiatives and innovations in the technology domains for more transparency, greater facilitation, and ecological transition. Haropa Port is the first French port to switch to 5G, making changes in the Port Community System aimed at harmonising the digital tools for port call management along the Seine Axis and preparing for the port one-stop-shop S-WiNG, and S)ONE 100% digital and paperless procedures and solutions, the creation of the Easyport software program for facilitation of port goods throughput, a plan for digital twinning with the port of Rotterdam as part of the MAGPIE project in order to consolidate the port’s environmental competence, AI placed at the service of port call predictions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among others.

By means of these many innovations, Haropa Port is setting out to make gains in efficiency, rapidity, and flexibility, to provide its customers with greater transparency and to foster the ecological transition.  

Haropa Port does have plans to receive the first green hydrogen molecules on its platform. If yes by when and how?

In addition to projects to produce green H2, like the Air Liquide Normand’Hy project with an unprecedented capacity of 200 MW to produce 28,000t of H2/year by 2026, Haropa Port is also working on its capacity to import H2, by mobilizing its storage facilities. The EU commission foresees that the energy mix in Europe will rely on production and on import of green H2 to answer the needs by 2030.

How is Haropa Port helping in enhancing the trade between India and Europe? What is your future outlook?

The global trade between Haropa Ports and the main Indian Ports continues to grow with a strong growth of over 7-8% per year on imported traffic from India to France. We already have a strong position to import textiles, clothing, vehicles, transport equipment, and chemical products. We believe there are many opportunities to develop sectors like pharma, as Haropa Port is in the middle of a Pharmaceutical Valley on the Seine River. Our ambition is also to further develop reefer traffic as we are the main Port for reefer products in France: we also have the facilities and we have developed a strong know-how to manage this kind of traffic.  

Key benefits for Indian chemicals and other industries if they prefer the Haropa Port for business?

One of the key assets of Haropa Port is to be able to provide turnkey greenfield or brownfield lands for new investments. We are one of the only ports in Europe to provide large plots of more than 40 ha for the settlement of future plants. Moreover, when you choose to settle on the Haropa Port network (we control more than 16 000 ha on the Seine River Valley), you will join an existing industrial cluster with all the facilities needed (electric, water grids, and pipelines) and you will also be able to develop synergies, circular economies with the neighboring firms. 

What will it take to build a world-class chemical hub in India?

The most important characteristic for a hub is to be connected to other chemical valleys around the world. The strong maritime relation between India and France will enhance the position of the Indian chemical hub to import the products it needs and to export its production. The common ambition is to strengthen the supply chain for all the chemical actors in India and France.

June 29, 2023

In 2023, Solvay is celebrating 160 years of its existence. Please list some of the key achievements, which have helped Solvay make a difference in the world of chemicals?

A young Belgian named Ernest Solvay made a technological breakthrough, creating a more environmentally friendly ammonia-soda ash process, which changed the way glass was made. This allowed many industrial revolutions to happen. With this innovation, Ernest set up a company called Solvay, which was created with science, ingenuity, and globalization. This magical combination has had a positive role in the progress of humanity. That was 1863. Today, we are the 7th generation of builders of this extraordinary human adventure. We received this heritage as a gift, with the duty to build on our legacy and to pass it on to generations to come.

Ernest believed that science would derive the progress of humanity. He brought the brightest scientific minds together and these meetings laid the foundation of quantum physics. The Solvay conferences laid the foundation for future quantum physics. In addition, the Solvay Institutes further advanced research in Psychology and Social Sciences. He believed in social caring and put a strong emphasis on the well-being of employees.

The company survived two world wars, the Great Depression, and the financial crisis. The company has been at the heart of four industrial revolutions and emerged stronger from the Covid pandemic in a multipolar world, continuing to demonstrate more than ever that we are essential.

In the 19th century, Solvay enabled populations to access light, hygiene, and cleanliness. Later, the company explored opportunities in life sciences, solving health problems for humans and animals. The company multiplied solutions for a cleaner mobility, safer air, drinkable water, smart connectivity, and beauty. More recently, the company enabled solar impulse to tour the world without a single drop of fuel. These are examples of how our chemistry is part of the solution to save our planet for generations to come.

Our chemistry is the cornerstone of a sustainable future: it enables EV batteries, green hydrogen, circular materials, and bio-based solutions. Over the past four years, the company continues caring through The Solvay Solidarity Fund, which donated more than 9 million euros to employees, families, and communities facing hardship. The company continues raising the bar and delivering on its growth strategy. We are proud of our Solvay One Planet achievements and we continue driving the Solvay One Dignity towards more inclusion, equity at the service of diversity.

As a global leader in materials, chemicals, and solutions, Solvay brings advancements in planes, cars, batteries, smart and medical devices, and water and air treatment, to solve critical industrial, social and environmental challenges. How is Solvay contributing to the innovative solutions thereby helping a safer, cleaner, and sustainable future?

At Solvay, we believe that solutions to major humanity challenges will be led by scientific breakthroughs, while taking care of our legacies. Today, we put our expertise at the service of some of the most pressing issues of our planet. Through Solvay One Planet, we focus on areas where our innovation and sustainable solutions can have the biggest positive impact, directly and indirectly, in line with the ambition and requirements of the UN Sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Underpinned by our Purpose and G.R.O.W. strategy, our sustainability agenda will be brought to life by a set of clearly defined programs and actions, around measured ten key goals and enabled through a set of concrete actions and projects.

The journey is long, but our commitment remains stronger than ever. Like all industries, we are part of the problem, but we can also be part of the solution, by putting our activities at the service of sustainability and circularity. In fact, despite the major disruptions caused by Covid-19, we increased our ambitions in 2020, raising the bar in terms of our climate and resources objectives, while continuing to promote a better life for all Solvay employees.

All these actions are the consequence of the reinforcement of our Solvay One Planet goals. By 2030, we will work to fight climate change by phasing out coal-based energy and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 26%; we will reduce resource consumption by generating 65% of our revenue from sustainable solutions and more than doubling our circular sales; lastly, we will continue to improve quality of life by aiming for zero accidents and accelerating inclusion and diversity in our workforce.

Additionally, Solvay is hard at work building a circular ecosystem, reaching out to our partners all along the value chain in order to use more waste as a raw material, boost recycling, and promote the switch to biomass energy.

Some of the key achievements of RIC Vadodara center in FY 2022-23?

R&I center Vadodara was inaugurated in 2012 and recently completed 10 years in India. In the past decade, the center has been recognized for its high standards of safety culture by both Solvay and external agencies. Recently, the center received the British Safety Council Award distinctions for its safety performance. “Safety KPIs are important to us. Yet what is utmost rewarding is our employees go home safe & unhurt back to their families at the end of each working day” says Ankit Thakar, Site HSE manager. Ankit recently received ‘Passion for Performance’ award from the CEO’s office as a part of global recognition program in Solvay.

In the past three years, we have invested significantly in infrastructure & people, which strengthens the center’s position as a worldwide research & innovation hub. The R&I focus is increasing in the field of sustainable chemistry & digital ways of working.

In addition to that we focus on science that creates value in society e.g.: major contribution in development of products in the field of medical – dialysis membranes, medical implants, automotive & light weighting, home & personal care markets, agricultural markets, etc.

"I am a new member to the Solvay Family, joined only last year. I feel proud to work for Solvay as part of the HPC lab. It offers challenging and exciting opportunity to work on futuristic & innovative global home & personal care solutions, which are caring not just for people but also for the planet. Solvay's unique work culture focused on employee well-being and innovation leadership along with safety-first attitude sets it class apart in the industry.  The well-equipped formulation research labs are supported with best in class in-house analytical facilities to expedite the innovation process. Solvay's sprawling Research & innovation center at Vadodara with world class research infrastructure and highly diverse talent pool with experienced scientists from Indian and Global prestigious institutions offers one of the best environment to cross fertilize ideas and bring path breaking innovations to life." quotes Vishal Javia, Technical Leader (Formulations) Home & Personal Care market. 

We also provide technical support to local manufacturing plants, support development of the Indian market by creating products adapted to this market.

To enhance Solvay’s R&I innovation ecosystem, the company is joining hands with academia and partners in India. How are you leveraging this initiative in India?

Solvay R&I has reputation & connections with academia and going forward is planning to leverage it for a better future via open innovation in domains of sustainable growth. Taking the cue from DST’s focus on increased collaboration between industry and academia, we have been in touch with many institutions in the field of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Data Sciences etc. for opportunities of co-creation. We are involved in different activities like: Internships, CSR, PhD sponsorship, assignment based projects, teaching/talks on industrial safety, chemistry curriculum, and talks & interactions by eminent professors from academia; and more.

How is RIC Vadodara Centre planning to leverage more than €10 bn growth opportunity in Battery Materials; Thermoplastic Composites; Green Hydrogen; and Renewable Materials and technology?

R&I Vadodara Centre is matching the pace of growth with Solvay. Work is going on in some areas of battery materials supporting clean mobility. The center is significantly focusing on renewable materials and sustainable chemistry via various ongoing projects. 

Are you planning to ramp up work force in RIC Vadodara Centre? If yes, areas where you are planning to recruit and number of people you want to recruit in the next two years?

R&I Vadodara is focused on areas of organic chemistry, polymers, and material sciences. We do have plans to ramp up our work force over the next few years. We do not hire in bulk but it is as per project requirements. We are open to profiles with background in above segments with sustainability and innovation mindset.

Solvay is a materials company with very high standards in safety and ethics. The company takes care of its employees by providing a safe & employee friendly work environment. R&I center is recognized with the employee's families & local community as a great place to work. In 2021, Solvay received an award from the Economics Times as Best Place to Work for Women owing to our DE&I policies. 

When is Solvay planning to achieve Net Carbon Zero and steps taken by RIC Vadodara Centre?

Solvay is planning to achieve Net Carbon Zero by 2050 (except for its Soda ash business). Solar plant at the RIC Vadodara Centre provides upto 25% of total site energy. Going forward, we are moving towards zero waste and moving away from single use materials. R&I projects have sustainability scores as a part of the approval process. In addition to that, we are working in-line with Solvay’s One Planet Goals (published) for sustainable growth.

June 25, 2023

What new products you are launching in the Indian market?   

Our products are focused on several segments, mainly packaging, sustainability, and circularity. For example, we have a mono-material solution for packaging that enhances recyclability. The other part of our business is mainly focused on infrastructure, including pipelines and NEG which is the cable transporting the electricity. We have a lot of products to support the water safety programme, automotive, medical, and agriculture. We built 900 greenhouses in Jaipur, Rajasthan to help farmers enjoy better crop efficiency, water conservation, and farming efficiency. 

You look after the South Asian market. What are your India plans for 2023? 

India is clearly one of the most strategic markets for us. We are a Middle-East and Asia Pacific market company and we are currently among top five Polyolefins providers in the market. 

The South Asian market is leading the growth engine of the world Polyolefins market and within this market, India is the hottest spot. After meeting all sets of people including our customers, we have seen a lot of positive outlook. Our customers and stakeholders in the recycling industry are positive about the growth story. These include a few key drivers of growth among which the number one is headroom of the consumer. 

India over the last several years accumulated the growing consumption power of the middle class. This can grow only further. Another factor is the huge focus by the government on infrastructure, as witnessed in the recent budget. In this category, we have quality product offerings in gas, water, and energy projects. In downstream sub-segments, we have found whether it is consumer or B2B industry customer perspective, the requirement for premium grade is growing strongly. Going by our innovation capacity and commitment to sustainability, this will be our strength to serve the Indian market better. 

There are a lot of manufacturers in India which focus on Polypropylene and Polyethylene. How are you cooperating or competing with them considering there is a shortage? 

Rightly so, India is a net import market for Polyolefins. This requires joint growth from both domestic and international suppliers for the market to grow and support ‘Make In India’ vision for downstream segments. We as a company have a unique geographical advantage as our location in UAE is relatively not a long supply line. We can quickly address the customer needs due to a robust supply chain. 

The Indian government’s ongoing efforts on transparency and reducing tariffs are helping in not only opening up opportunities for us but also increasing trade opportunities for both countries. In the longer run, the Indian market must open up more for the international upstream players. It will help in opening the access to upstream technologies, not only for the polyolefin industry but also the downstream segments to be more robust. 

The company's fourth plant is coming up in Ruwais which will add a cumulative capacity of 6.4 million tonnes per year by 2025? How do you see the new facility helping India?  

Growth is the key story of Borouge in investment terms. In the past 21 years, we have been revamping our capacity from Borouge 1, Borouge 2, Borouge 3, and potentially Borouge 4. Last year with the successful launch of PP5, we boosted the capacity by 5 million tonnes and on top of that, it will be Borouge 4, going forward. This has supported our ambitions in the Indian market and also because of the proximity of the supply chain and also because of both the quality and volume requirements in the Indian market. This market will, therefore, be a highly strategically important market for us. 

Will you be setting up your 5th factory in India?  

Currently, our capacity will have very good agility and a robust supply chain to service. In the longer run, we do believe that the Indian market will open upstream to international players and open up opportunities and access to new technologies. This can also be very much in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Make in India’. If you have higher technological access to differentiated products, it will help the downstream industry regardless whether it is for domestic utilization or exports. 

You talked about infra, energy, and agriculture but not about mobility and pharma. Aren’t you interested in these two segments?  

Yes, we are very much into mobility and pharma. Our PPE product range is very much focused on syringes, and pouches for medical packaging needs. For mobility, we don’t have a local manufacturing facility but we do have OEMs to supply specifically the bumpers, interior design panels, etc. 

You talked about sustainability and circularity. What's Borouge focus? 

The circularity and sustainability form the core part of our strategy. This lies in two parts: innovation and recycling. If we look at the enabler of the circular economy on the plastic side, we talk about reducing, re-use, and recycling. On the product design side, it requires a lot of investment and innovation to provide recyclable products. 

We spend a lot of our innovation pipeline into design for recyclability. It is not only about the product itself but also the process. Then, the second part is the recycling. When the material is recyclable, we need to find ways to not allow the materials to leak into the environment but to create a full circle. We are polyolefin experts but don’t have expertise in waste management. We need to sit with the waste management experts. In the last couple of years, we have already signed twelve agreements including two in India. The collaboration with brand owners and machine equipment for packaging designs or the other applications. 

This year you are completing 20 years of India presence. Any major plans this year?  

We have a very strong team in our headquarters in Mumbai and also the Sales & Marketing teams are developing business across India. At the same time, we are not only taking care of the business development side but we are also gearing up for developing deep innovation capacities that fit the Indian market. We have a long way ahead here in India. 

Apart from the business development office in India are you looking at setting up an R&D centre? 

Over the longer run, it could be an option but in the short term we have an innovation centre in UAE that is in close proximity to our production side. We believe that this centre can serve all the needs of the Indian market. 

What is the contribution of South Asia to the overall revenue of the company? Is this the biggest region in terms of revenue?  

We are very strong in all the regions we are present currently. If one looks at the growth potential, we can clearly see a few mega trends for South East Asia, South Asia regions. Given the potential, many experts have migrated from other parts of the world into South East Asia and also India. The domestic demand is early in India and there is a rising infrastructure demand not only in quantity but also quality, making it one of the fastest growing in the entire region. We are very excited to be a part of this growth.