Business

TeraSpin Embodies A.T.E.'s Philosophy of Sustainable, Responsible, Ethical Practices That Offer Value To Customers And To Society

How has TeraSpin progressed since 2012?

TeraSpin's state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Ahmedabad was established in May 2012 after A.T.E.'s acquisition of SKF India's spinning machinery components business including manufacturing process knowhow and equipment. TeraSpin components are thus built on the deep foundation of SKF knowledge and expertise, ensuring high product performance and reliability. TeraSpin components manufactured based on SKF technology are very well accepted in the market globally. Today, we are a leading supplier to a major OEM and we are also exporting our components to the overseas markets in 10 countries, including Bangladesh, Indonesia, China, Korea, Taiwan, and Germany.

Our major competitive advantage is excellence in quality. We achieved the ISO9001:2008 QMS certification by TUV Sud in the first year of our manufacturing operations in Ahmedabad. Thereafter, we have been striving for continual improvement in our quality levels and moving steadily towards our goal of 'Six Sigma' quality which allows only 3-4 defects per million opportunities.

To this end, we have been focusing on effective deployment of the best methodologies, practices and tools like DMAIC, DFSS, SPC, MSA, Kaizen, TPM, FMEA& DOE etc. Today, "zero defect" and "zero customer complaints" have become our watchwords.

What's new from the TeraSpin shed?

In order to maintain an edge over other component manufacturers and to meet future requirements of the industry, TeraSpin is focusing on continual product innovation and new product developments. Building on the SKF product lines, we have developed:

1. HF 100 spindle inserts for speeds of upto 25,000 rpm

2. OHS 168 smart cradles for maintaining uniform apron tension without varying nip distance

3. PK 1500 top arms with new ergonomic lifting handle and nickel chrome plating

Each of these components is a proven improvement over existing designs and the customers have experienced their better performance.

TeraSpin is planning to increase investments in the spindle manufacturing facilities. How is the project progressing?

We have been supplying complete spindles under 'TeraSpin' brand for both domestic and overseas markets since the start of our component business in 2012. Our plan to increase investment in the spindle manufacturing facilities is aimed primarily at maintaining our quality edge over the competition. We are progressing steadily towards this goal.

Tell us about the green initiatives at TeraSpin. What prompted you to set up a green building?

Our corporate philosophy of "Partnering People and the Planet" is essentially reflected in all our activities. We believe in sustainable, responsible, & ethical practices that offer value to our customers and to society. With this as the basis, we have in place a number of green initiatives. This includes conservation of energy, water and other natural resources; reduction, recycle and re-use of waste; zero liquid discharge from our site, rainwater harvesting, and zero pollution, etc. We encourage everyone in the company to be responsible employees and citizens and their contribution towards these objectives are duly recognised and rewarded. 'Zero waste' and 'zero pollution' have truly become our motto.

We are also trying to become a paperless company by creating, sharing and storing most data in the electronic form. We are trying to minimise the use of plastic and bring down food waste by creating awareness among our people.

How are you conserving energy at this site?

Firstly, the building has been designed to minimise heat load. For this, we have created green wall structures around the building, which will have various plants, creepers, etc., to cut down heat coming into the structure. Secondly, to keep the structure itself cool, we have a water pipe network inside the building structure. Water circulates through the pipes 24 hours a day, keeping the building cooler. The heat, via the water, is thus transferred to an underground storage tank. This significantly reduces the heat load inside the building.

The third initiative for energy conservation is the unique comfort cooling concept developed by HMX, another business unit of A.T.E. This concept involves a two-stage evaporative cooling process where the first stage cools the fresh ambient air without the air coming in contact with water and the second stage cools it further with the conventional evaporating cooling process. This technology is not only highly energy-efficient, it also provides 100% fresh air all the time, thereby ensuring a healthy environment inside the building, unlike the conventional air conditioning which increases CO2 levels due to limited fresh air intake. Another advantage of this technique is the positive air pressure which helps in maintaining cleaner work environment for our precision manufacturing operations.

Our fourth initiative for energy conservation is using natural light for our working during the day time. You may be surprised to see that not a single light is used in our office or factory during the day time. Natural light and comfort cooling gives us a very lively ambience. We are also measuring, monitoring and optimising energy consumption in production equipment. It is a result of our environment management initiatives that we have been certified by TUV Sud for ISO14001:2004.

Can you please highlight the ongoing initiatives towards zero defects, zero waste at TeraSpin?

There are a number of initiatives currently ongoing in TeraSpin. Most important of all is the deployment of 'Lean Six Sigma' as our philosophy, methodology and culture of business. It combines lean methods with Six Sigma infrastructure and tools to streamline our internal value-chain processes. Lean methods help us in minimising waste and increasing process speed by identifying and eliminating non-value added activities, whereas Six Sigma helps in eliminating quality defects by reducing process variability. Both of these philosophies are complementary to each other. This initiative is expected to help us achieve operational excellence with world-class quality levels.

What are you doing towards creating responsible workers & citizens?

We try to ensure that everyone in our company is a responsible citizen. So a biker without a helmet is not allowed into the premises by our security staff. Also, a vehicle without PUC is not allowed in the premises. Responsible behaviour needs to be a way of life; we want a transition from compliance to commitment.

Worker safety is a top priority here. We are trying to achieve zero injuries. Even the smallest incident of injury, and near misses, have to be reported, these are analysed, documented, and preventive measures are put in place. It is a result of such initiatives that we have been certified by TUV Sud for OHSAS 18001:2007 To reiterate, TeraSpin's focus is on excellence in quality, single-minded commitment to protect the environment, and ensure the health and safety of workers.

What more are you doing towards greening your business?

For soil conservation, we have a special type of PU coated flooring, which prevents any seepage into the soil. And it is easy to clean too. Ours is one of the very few buildings in the country which is not only 'green' but uses remote monitoring to ensure that temperatures, CO2 levels, etc., are always at the intended levels.