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www.issuu.com/mediamart14 April 2013

Sridhara Ramachandran

[email protected]

Opportunities in the growing IndianAerospace Engineering Industry

The aerospace industry in India is still in a nascent stage of growth even though aerospace majors from the West have

been operating in India for close to a decade now. A number of articles have been written on the changes needed in theindustrial approval policy and tax regulatory framework to enable growth. This article will skip these often-covered areas

and focus on the opportunities in the manufacturing aspects of the industry.

There are many reasons for the prolonged

development stage of the aerospace

industry in India. These include lack of

understanding of aerospace quality

management systems, scarcity of mentors

who can bring the best practices from the

West to India, scarcity of readily-available

talent pool at the operator level and lackof aerospace approved raw materials,

machine shops and treatments houses.

Like in any industry which is in the early

stages of growth, the above-mentioned

gaps oer abundant opportunities in

aerospace.

Raw Materials:

In the aerospace industry, due to the lack

of scale in most segments, raw materials

have to be procured from distributors

who source their supplies from aerospace-

approved mills. There are no mills in India

that are certied for aerospace, and as

a result the Indian aerospace industry is

dependent on US and European mills.

The size of aerospace business in India in

the last decade did not justify stocking

locations within India for the distributors.

As a result of this chicken-and-egg

situation, the industry was not competitivewhen it came to prices of the nished

products they could oer.

This is beginning to change now with a few

distributors building stocking locations

in India. A signicant catalyst for growth

will arise when a mill in India focuses on

aerospace and receives quality approvals

from the majors.

Materials Testing:

The cost of importing raw materials ishigh. This is driven even higher when

the materials require further testing to

aerospace specications at laboratories

located in developed countries.

Similar to approvals for manufacturing

processes, the Western majors approve

laboratories that are focused on material

testing. There are no privately-owned

laboratories in India that have received

approval from the likes of Pratt andWhitney.

Quality Management Systems:

In aerospace, a thorough understanding of

quality requirements and a strict adherence

and execution to aerospace quality

management systems (QMS) determines

success. Though aerospace itself originated

from the automotive sector, the quality

management systems are signicantly

dierent in many areas. Many companies

fail as they view the QMS as a checkbox

and policing entity instead of making it a

part of the manufacturing DNA.

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www.issuu.com/mediamart 15April 2013

Manufacturing:

Within core manufacturing, there are

many opportunities in medium to large

sized precision machined components,

metal fabrications, on-board electronics,

manufacturing and machining of composite

materials.

As machine costs are roughly the same

whether it is the US, Europe or India, the

economics for manufacturing in India is

justied only if the labour content in the

value add is much higher than the machine

content.

When the engineering content in a package

is high, Indian companies excel when

compared to other Eastern or Far-Eastern

competitors.

Special Process or Treatments:

A majority of aerospace components

including structures require chemical

treatments to meet the functional and

aesthetic requirements called out in the

specications. Various forms of chemical

processing, non-destructive testing, heat

treatment, welding and plasma coating

services are needed in the industry.

Aerospace customers would prefer a

fully-nished component

i.e., including treatments,

to be supplied at their

inbound docks. Again,

understanding the stringent

requirements and operating

to quality standards in the

special processes area is achallenge but therein lies the

opportunity.

Packaging:

Packing requirements are stringent in

aerospace. After all the value addition

and attention to quality, the last leg of

manufacturing is even more important.

Packing materials approved by aerospace

original equipment manufacturers are

not easily available in India. Similar to raw

materials for manufacturing, raw materials

for packing often have to be imported

from developed countries.

Contributions of Indo-US MIM Tec in the

Aerospace Industry:

Indo-MIM, as we are referred to by our

customers, is the world-leader in the

metal injection molding (MIM) industry

both by sales and installed capacity. We

have successfully penetrated Industrial,

Automotive, Sporting Goods, Commercial

and Medical industries over the last fteen

years.

After careful industry research and

analysis, we set up the aerospace business

unit a couple of years ago to oer precision

machining and special processes to the

aerospace industry.

Quality Management Systems:

Within six months of operations, we

received AS 9100 revision B certication

through Lloyds Register Quality Assurance

Ltd. We were successfully upgraded from

revision B to the more stringent revision

C certication last year. In addition to

AS certications, we are also NADCAP

approved for various special process

services that we oer the industry.

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Manufacturing:

To eliminate the uncertainties and to

simplify the supply chain, Indo-MIM has

established the precision machining and

treatments on one campus. Hence, it oers

fully nished components to the aerospace

industry through a one-stop shop solution.

We have successfully delivered many work

packages from the machine shop and

treatments plants to aerospace customers

in India, Europe and USA.

In addition to machining and treatments,

we have introduced the advancedmetal injection molding technology to

the aerospace industry. Material and

technology certications for MIMs

acceptance in aerospace are in progress.

Special Processes:

To address the one-stop shop strategy,

we have invested signicantly in the

special process lines. We oer NDT,

chemical processing, painting and surface

enhancement technologies to the

aerospace industry. The special processesshop is open to third-party

work and is not captive to

to Indo-MIMs aerospace

machine shop. The NDT,

chemical processing

(chromic acid, sulphuric

acid and conversion

coating lines) and

painting lines are NADCAP

approved.

We have also receivedthe prestigious quality

approvals from OEM

aerospace major Pratt &

Whitney USA and from tier one companiesincluding Meggitt PLC and Rafael (Israel).

Indo-MIM is the rst company in India to be

approved by Pratt & Whitneys Materials

Control Laboratory for NDT (FPI and MPI)

and Chromic Acid Anodizing processes.

To add to the above services and

contributions, we have undertaken and

delivered assembly services relevant

to the work packages we are currently

manufacturing at Indo-MIM.

For the aerospace industry to be successful

in India, it is necessary to develop an

ecosystem of aerospace companies, with

each member in the ecosystem having a

signicant critical mass of business. The

Indian governments purchases in the

defence sector have generated billions of

dollars in oset obligations for aerospace

companies in the Western hemisphere. But,

the aerospace ecosystem in India is not

yet ready to absorb the oset spending.

The investors mindset in aerospace needs

to be long-term and requires patience.Indo-MIM, through its operations, is doing

its best to contribute to the success of

aerospace industry in India.

What is the scenario of Aerospace Industry

globally?

The defense budgets are being cut in

the US and Europe. At the same time,

India and China are increasing their

defense spending. Its a dierent story

in commercial aviation. Commercial

aviation all over the world has come backin full force since the slowdown in 2008.

IATA has just revised upwards the 2013

prot forecast for commercial airlines

throughout the world. Both commercial

and defense aviation growth portends

well for companies involved in aerospace-

related manufacturing.

Which are the weaker links you feel in

India for the Aerospace and Aviation

Industry?

Lack of a critical mass in distributors

of aerospace grade raw material, no

aerospace certied mills and scarcity of

talent pool at the shop level are the weaker

links in Indian Aerospace and Aviationindustry.

Major steps have been taken by Indo-

MIM to uplift the Aerospace Industry in

India. When do you feel India will become

eligible to compete with the global giants

in Aerospace sector?

We have to rst walk before we run and we

have to run enough and train intensively to

compete in a marathon. Indian aerospace

industry is at the early stages of walking.This does not mean the industry is not

attractive to work in. It is a fantastic

opportunity to be a part of shaping the

aerospace future in India. To be ready

to compete with the global giants in

aerospace will take another 10 to 15 years.

Tell us about your future plans as a

manufacturer in Aerospace Industry in

India.

Indo-MIM is already working with and

getting the attention of a number of

aerospace majors from India, US and

Europe. Our focus in the short-term is on

perfect execution in all the projects in

progress. In the medium-term, our goal isto enter into key programs in aerospace

that are being driven by the OEMs. With

solid execution in our short-term and

medium-term goals, we are condent we

will be the supplier of choice for various

long-running aerospace programs. We

will continue to expand our capabilities in

the manufacturing and special processes

domains.

How is the economic slowdown hitting

the Aerospace Industry? What are thepreventive measures taken by Indo-US

MIM Tec to combat the current slowdown?

We are not seeing a slow down. Aerospace

industry in the West as well as in India is

growing and will continue to grow over

the next decade. Indo-MIMs objective is

to contribute to the success of aerospace

industry in India and the world.

Sridhara Sri RamachandranVice President & General Manager

Aerospace Products GroupIndo-US MIM Tec Pvt Ltd


Download - MART April 2013 Sridhara Article.pdf

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