The jewel in the innovation crown
In recent times, the words ÔÇÿenterpriseÔÇÖ and ÔÇÿIndiaÔÇÖ have become very much intertwined as the sub-continent emerges as the home of the latest technological innovations. One company producing its fair share of these is Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is a company that has very much come to the fore on the global stage through extensive investment in research and development, with its imprint today reaching to over 60 countries around the globe. With headquarters in New Delhi, BHELÔÇÖs operations are organised around three business sectorsÔÇönamely power, industry (encompassing transmission, transportation, telecommunications and renewable energy) and overseas business.
BHEL is the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise in India in the energy-related/infrastructure sector. The company was established more than 40 years ago, ushering in the indigenous heavy electrical equipment industry in IndiaÔÇöand has been earning profits continuously since 1971/72 and paying dividends since 1976/77.
Today, the business manufactures over 180 products under 30 different major product groups that are focused on supplying IndiaÔÇÖs core business infrastructure in the areas of power generation and transmission, industry, transportation, telecommunications and renewable energy.
The enormity of BHELÔÇÖs business empire becomes apparent when one considers it controls 14 manufacturing divisions, four power sector regional centres and over 100 project sites. At present, the company is considered one of the largest power plant equipment suppliers in the world and is also one of the biggest exporters of engineering products and services from India.
Of course, export on such a grand scale requires reliability, quality and engineering expertise in equal measure. It therefore comes as little surprise that BHEL utilises state-of-the-art technologies in the power and industrial equipment sectors.
The company has successfully undertaken turnkey projects under its own steam and its flexibility has not only enabled it to work closely with its clients around the world but has also meant it can adapt techniques to manufacture and supply intermediate products to customer specifications, or to the design of other manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
BHEL has now become an established name from as far afield as the US to New Zealand and the Far East, with its range of exports including turnkey contracts for power plants; EPC contracts; HV/EHV sub-stations; O&M services for familiar technologies; specialised after-market services such as residual life assessment (RLA) studies and retrofitting; refurbishing and overhauling; and supplies to manufacturers and EPC contractors.
Naturally the company abides by the strictest quality regimes across all of its sites, having implemented a corporate and unit level quality structure that enables requisite planning, control and implementation of a company-wide policy which is linked to its vision statement. BHELÔÇÖs processes have seen it attain ISO 9001 accreditation while its environmental management systems are ISO 14001 accredited. At the same time, a stringent health and safety programme saw the company awarded OHSAS 18001 certification.┬á
To help support its quality control, the company has furthered its advancement towards business excellence by adopting the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model, conducting annual self-assessment and implementing continuous improvement in all its operations.
The company is clearly well on its way to accomplishing its vision of becoming a world-class engineering enterprise committed to enhancing stakeholder value. It is a view shared by a workforce that today numbers in the region of 42,600 employees. The company firmly believes in providing every worker with equal opportunities and has a special focus on personal development and career planning, achieved through extensive training and retraining.
Product quality and reliability can be attributed to BHELÔÇÖs significant focus on design and research and development. Its engineering and manufacturing services are supported by world class technology developed both externally and in-house. The companyÔÇÖs calibration and testing laboratories are accredited under the National Accreditation Board for Calibration and Testing Laboratories scheme of Laboratory Accreditation, which has mutual recognition with Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation. The emphasis (and investment) on quality and technology has very much enhanced the companyÔÇÖs international reputation, resulting in product certification from various international bodies, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Petroleum Institute.
BHELÔÇÖs reliance on research and development is unquestionable. During the fiscal year 2008-09, almost 20 per cent of the companyÔÇÖs total turnover of just over Rs280 million was raised through the sale of products and systems developed by way of its in-house research and development efforts. Success breeds success; during the year, BHELÔÇÖs spend on research and development increased by roughly 46 per cent from the year before. This accounted for reinvestment in the region of 2.4 per cent of turnover and is among the highest in India for the type of business that BHEL is involved in. The company is also regarded mid-way among the top 1,000 spenders on research and development in the world.
And it is that focus on developing new technologies and products within its research and development facilities that saw BHEL announce the successful development of the countryÔÇÖs first high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) transformer in December 2009. IndiaÔÇÖs first 1.0 MVA, three-phase 33/6.6 kV HTSC transformer, the product was developed, manufactured and tested entirely via in-house know-how, using bismuth-based HTSC wire instead of the conventional copper, enabling the conduction of 100 times more current than the normal copper conductors permit.
Significantly, the availability of bismuth-based HTSC wire commercially has opened new opportunities for manufacturers of power system equipment the world over; and BHEL hopes that this particular development will herald a new era of applying superconductivity in the area of transformer developmentÔÇösomething currently exclusive to a small handful of countries.
The development of the HTSC transformer will open up new markets and opportunities in the area of efficient transmission and distribution of power but will also provide large-scale reduction in the loss of energy, resulting in safer, more environmentally-friendly technologies.
And so IndiaÔÇÖs reputation for innovation, enterprise and technology is further enhanced through the many endeavours and successes of BHEL.
