Die Change
Since the company makes over 200 varieties of seals in different sizes, weight and materials, the changeover of dies in the shortest possible time is imperative to enhance productivity. At present the changeover time of dies ranges from 30 minutes to 120 minutes, and to contain it the company has pre-heating facility of the core.

JKFenner_HEndurance Test

Uniqueness
The Sriperumbudur plant is the newest plant of Fenner and is, therefore, the culmination of best practices garnered from the company’s manufacturing facilities in Madurai and Hyderabad. The blanking section of the new plant has a closedloop system unlike the other plants having an open-loop one. The operator sets or corrects the machine based on certain parameters including the weight of the blanks. The closed-loop extrusion system in the new plant automatically corrects the setting according to the parameters, thereby assuring quality, besides saving time. This system helped the company in improving the yield ratio up to 95% against 80% in the open-loop system.

JKFenner_CIn addition, most of the process in this plant is automated with manual operations confined to loading and unloading. A dedicated tool room supports its requirements in terms of preparing and maintaining the tools, cavities etc. The company has also introduced an interlocking system in the ovens; this helps to ensure that the curing process is strictly maintained in terms of timing and temperature, since the system does not allow for any intrusion in the process.

The plant also has ‘online energy monitoring system,’ a unique process to check the quantum of energy consumption and its pattern. This helps the company in taking corrective action to conserve energy. It also has a couple of windmills attached to this plant, and is currently working to harness solar power. At present about 10% of the total energy consumption is contributed by a renewable energy source – the wind. To conserve energy, the company has magnetic induction lamps in the shopfloor; a 150 watt magnetic induction lamp can replace a 250 watt conventional vapour lamp.

Incorporated in 2007, the Sriperumbudur plant of JK Fenner has about 450 employees. Of the 31,524 sqmt of land the plant stands at 5,814 sqmt. It has an installed capacity of 150 million seals per year and utilises about half of it now. Currently, over 85% of the products manufactured go to OEMs, 10% to the aftermarket, and the rest to exports. ACI

JKFenner_BINTERACTION
Nagaraju Srirama, President & Director, JK Fenner (India) Ltd
Q: What is the current ppm level and how do you plan to contain it further?
Nagaraju: For most of our customers we are delivering at zero ppm and for some it is at 0-100ppm. But we are continuously working towards delivering zero PPM for all our customers. The customer always look for quality, cost and on-time delivery. We have institutionalised a 2-bin concept for customers in Chennai; we have also modified our logistics partner for daily delivery at the customer’s place wherever they are. There are two levels in quality – consistency and performance. Our cellular layout and unidirectional work flow processes help us achieve consistent quality.

Q: What are the driving forces for you to provide solutions to your customers?
Nagaraju: The driving force is our constant endeavour to better our product offering to meet our customers’ requirements. For example – one of our global customers wanted us to develop a product that can withstand temperatures from minus 50 degree centigrade to plus 140 degree centigrade. In collaboration with material suppliers like DuPont we developed a new material, which has surpassed all tests at our labs and is under testing at the customer’s lab in Europe. After testing the customer is planning to launch the product in Europe followed by the other markets across the globe. Similarly, we are working on developing new materials that are free from some specific chemicals, that goes in to making the oil seals. Today our R&D spend is at around 10% of our sales which is 3 to 5 times more than that of other players.

Q: Tell us about your plans for the Sriperumbudur plant.
Nagaraju: We are expecting to expand the plant 3 fold in the next 5 to 7 years. We are working towards enhancing our market share. We have bifurcated the OE and aftermarket sales since each division has a huge potential to grow and thereby help us grow.

Text and Photos: T Murrali

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