Mazda eyes polyester plant parts market

The city-based Mazda Ltd is now developing processes to reduce pollution and improve efficiency of polyester plants in the country.

The company had earlier bagged several orders for critical high pressure control valves and other equipment for some of the major infrastructure projects like refineries, power plants and heavy machinery.

Mazda managing director S R Mody said with the future of the polyester industry appearing bright, the company has invested close to Rs 2 crore in setting up the research and development unit that will help develop processes for increasing efficiency of polyester plants in India.

"We expect a revenue of at least Rs 7 crore this year through the new venture and aim at increasing this to Rs 15 crore by the next two years," Mody said.

The company has already implemented a project for the Ahmedabad-based Nova Petrochemicals and has supplied components to another polyester plant in China through its collaborator.

Mazda, which posted a turnover of Rs 24.53 crore in fiscal 2003-04, aims to increase the figure to over Rs 32 crore by the end of the current fiscal year, Mody said.

He said, "The fourth quarter of the past fiscal year was extremely good for the company and we hope to continue the momentum through the year."

Mazda registered a 120 per cent rise in sales in the last quarter of the past fiscal year, posting sales of Rs 9.27 crore as against Rs 4.21 crore in the same period the previous year.

The company has orders worth around Rs 12 crore on hand at present. The orders will be completed in the next few months.

Major among these is an order for the Keelung Incinerator of Taiwan, replacing super critical turbine bypass valves for the nuclear power plant at Tarapore, an order from Daelim Engineers and Constructors, Korea, where Mazda will supply five desuperheaters, a contract from Larsen& Toubro for 12 desuperheaters for the Panipat Refinery and a contract from Siemens (earlier Alstom Power) for supply of pressure-reducing systems, gland sealing systems and safety valves.

Mazda is involved in manufacturing of critical control valves for power plants, refineries and other heavy duty machinery, besides biolers, condensers, cooling towers, recovery systems and large capacity pumps.

Besides, it is also into the manufacture of air pollution control systems, evaporators and crystallisers, vacuum pumps and turbine systems.

Last year, Mazda entered into a strategic alliance with the US-based Croll Reynolds, under which Croll Reynolds will use Mazda products for its product sales outside the United States.

"The equipment supplied by Mazda to Croll-Reynolds in the past fiscal year are worth Rs 2.80 crore and we expect this to be between Rs 6 crore and Rs 8 crore by the end of the current fiscal year," said Mody.

Besides Croll Reynolds, Mazda also has a tie-up with Kauer Engineering, Germany, for manufacture of speciality valves for power plants. Only three or four companies globally have the technology and precision for manufacturing hypercritical valves in power plants, even nuclear power plants, the company said.

Mazda pays a royalty of five per cent to Kauer for all domestic sales and eight per cent export royalty.

Formerly known as Mazda Controls Ltd, the company went public in 1993 and has been paying dividends regularly, the company said.

It has completed a 10 per cent buyback of equity shares in July last and the net worth (capital and reserves) stand at over Rs seven crore.