Electrical Monitor :: Rotating Machines: An Industry Overview

Rotating Machines: An Industry Overview

Em News Bureau ,

Friday, May 25, 2012, 16:23 Hrs [IST]

The market for rotating machines is dominated by AC motors, starting from single phase motors of a few watts going up to high-tension motors of many megawatts. This is an industry spread across all sectors, domestic, agricultural and industrial. Right from agricultural pump sets that enable food grain and vegetable production, to the processing machinery like rice and flour mills that deliver the food grains to our dining tables, motors are omnipresent. In the Industrial world too, motors have powered the industrial revolution, converting electrical energy to mechanical and powering equipments starting from small blowers, pumps and conveyors, to the largest kilns, extruders and crushers. Motors also enable our modern lifestyles by keeping us and our families in relative comfort by powering our domestic appliances and air conditioners.

This industry is a mature manufacturing industry; motors have been in production for more than 150 years, and more than 100 years in India. There exist a wide number and variety of manufacturers in our country, starting from small scale 'cottage' industries to medium and large scale indigenous manufacturers to the very large industries including multi-national companies. It is an interesting point to note that many of the small-scale manufacturers are clustered in a few pockets in western, northern and southern India, where proximity to components and skilled manpower pools help achieve economies of scale. This industry is labour intensive and provides direct and indirect employment to an estimated 100,000 people. The overall size of the rotating machines industry is estimated at about Rs.6,300 crore as of March 2011.
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Opportunities and Challenges facing the RM Industry

This industry has weathered many challenges over its history, and not only survived, but also prospered. However, the nature of challenges the industry faces today is getting more complex.

Costs: rising input costs, labour costs, unprecedented volatility in the prices of key metals like copper — both base metal prices as well as due to foreign exchange fluctuations

Free trade & Rising imports: As of Mar 2011, the estimated import figure was Rs.690 crore (11 per cent of the total market), while the export figure was Rs.115 crore. Importantly, exports have been showing an increasing trend over the years.

Standards: From the introduction, the usage of motors is widespread, but there is a flip side to this. It is estimated that motors consume 65 per cent of the power in industries. That is a staggering figure, and consequently it makes the "efficiency" of motors the most vital topic for the industry as a whole. The latest efficiency norms are IE2, IE3 and IE4, in which the IE2 corresponds to the earlier EFF-1 or high efficiency standard.

Technologies: In this industry, technologies are usually driven by standards and in today's scenario, the development of technologies for manufacturing higher efficiency motors, and investing in advances testing facilities to validate the output (there are changes in the standards here too) are the biggest challenge the industry faces today.

Raw Materials: Apart from the volatility in costs, the availability of key raw materials like Copper and Steel is expected to become a challenge in the coming years. The supply of rare earth materials, used for permanent magnets, is already scarce. Ironically, both will be needed in increasing quantities for the manufacture of IE3 and IE4 motors in the future.

Green Manufacturing: The environmental standards (ISO 14000 or equivalent) will need to be more vigorously implemented and monitored in the coming years. All manufacturers (and their vendors) will need to reduce their effluents and their waste gas emissions — even after taking into account the growing production figures. Even small areas like usage of packing wood will need to be focused upon to comply with the current and expected norms in the near future.

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