The refractory industry has played a salient role in the development of core sector industries and unlocking their value potential. Refractories are consumable products that are constantly replaced during normal production cycles of various industries involved in heat treatment or heat generation. The transnational refractory material market was earlier valued at $19.2 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $30.3 billion by 2030, growing at a 4.7 percent CAGR between 2021 and 2030.
Clearly, the demand for refractory materials, which are widely used in kilns and furnaces for thermal insulation in glass manufacturing units, may increase. The Indian refractory sector is growing at a rapid pace, owing primarily to an increase in local manufacturing of various construction-related industries, particularly steel, and cement.
The government's key building endeavors, especially in constructing highways across the nation, flyovers, affordable housing, airports, and ports, additionally contribute to the sector's explosive expansion. With a comprehensive selection of castables, guniting and shotcrete refractories, ramming masses, refractory mortars, insulating castables, and others, P.P. Minerals is setting milestones as a leading manufacturer of a full range of alumina-based unshaped monolithic refractories.
The Inception Story
Established in 1973, P.P. Minerals is now commemorating its 50th successful year of producing cutting-edge monolithic refractories in India. The firm is a family-owned business and is a leading manufacturer of alumina-based unshaped monolithic refractories. With a facility located in Porbandar, Gujarat; P.P. Minerals has the advantage of leveraging the rich resources of the land, abundant in high-quality pure alumina. As an ISO 9001:2015 quality management system standard certified business, the firm further enforces the reliability of the products manufactured by them.
P.P. Minerals’ journey over the decades has been quite exciting and inspiring. Ever since the firm began operations, it has achieved manufacturing expertise in various refractory products which cater to diverse industrial sectors. P.P. Minerals also enjoyed a monopoly as sole suppliers of myriad monolithic refractory products for multiple governmental and semi-governmental projects as well as private firms for a long time. With such tremendous opportunities also came a number of challenges, and valuable lessons which made the firm stronger and wiser.
A thrilling journey to say the least! Currently, P.P. Minerals operates as a B2B business serving corporate customers across India. “Since 1973 our mission has been to set a benchmark in delivering cost-effective refractory products and solutions in the Indian market thereby reducing the Indian industry's dependency on imported goods. The company emphasizes the glocalization concept (meaning: the practice of conducting business according to both local and global considerations) to make P.P. Minerals more appealing to the local market.
We are focusing on the innovative localization of a large portfolio of unshaped monolithic refractory products which were once only available in developed countries and Indian companies had to pay a premium price to purchase from overseas. We proudly say that we are still a very young and dynamic company and there are still a lot of unexplored areas that we need to innovate
ourselves to have a competitive edge under prevailing market conditions”, says Nitin Anantrai Kamdar, Founder Partner of P. P. Minerals.
Unique Product Portfolio
P.P. Minerals has provided a unique range of products and solutions to many industries like steel, thermal power plants, cement, forging, ceramic, and many other heat treatment industries. The company’s flagship products include Gel Bonded and Chemically Bonded Monolithic Refractories (namely PP-GBC-AF and PP-NBC-1200), Chemically Bonded Guniting and Shotcrete materials (namely PP-GUNN-500 and PP-GUNN-600), special application castable refractories characterized by wear-resistant, coating repellent, chemical attack resistant, thermal shock resistant, steel fiber reinforced castable refractories. Recently, the business has also developed special grades of castable refractories for the cement industry based on its use of solid and liquid alternate fuels.
"P.P. Minerals is also creating ground-breaking & innovative products with a clear purpose that helps clients grow their own businesses"
The journey from the first interaction to delivery starts with client interactions. Typically, a team visits customers of different sectors and companies to create awareness about the company’s offerings. Thereafter, the technicality of the products are discussed to understand the client's requirements and expectations. For any pain areas found, further discussions take place to suggest a proper remedy in the form of changes in installation methods, designing changes of the machines, and more.
Following that, the team advises the customer to use skilled labor for better application and, finally, to use the most appropriate products. The client is engaged in technical and commercial discussions regarding the product supply. When the inquiry-to-order procedure is finished, the products are shipped to the client's location. Post this, expert installation supervisors are assigned to ensure proper product installation and application to the customer's satisfaction.
Backed by Strong Teamwork
The team working in the background is really the backbone of any company, and the special workforce of experts at P.P. Minerals is a living example of this. The firm is led by founder Nitin Anantrai Kamdar who possesses over five decades of experience and unmatched business acumen which guides the entire organization. Sandip Nitin Kamdar, Managing Partner of the firm possesses nearly two decades of experience in the industry, which has equipped him with valuable knowledge and a distinctive perspective.
While the firm's two pillars are exceptionally skilled, the remainder of the workforce and supervisory team is equally so. The supervisors and managers on the team are all highly knowledgeable individuals who each offer a unique advantage to the firm, facilitating it to stand out from the competition. This strong team guarantees that all operations are carried out in accordance with the company's standards.“We have a Zero Tolerance Policy towards Quality Breaches at all levels.
Our entire team is well versed with this strict Quality Policy and every instance of any such incidence is taken up with absolute seriousness, and remedy is sought immediately after conducting a series of inter-departmental brainstorming meetings involving the owners of the company as well. We have our own in-house SOPs for quality and consistency assurance”, further shares Nitin Anantrai Kamdar.
We are focusing on the innovative localization of a large portfolio of unshaped monolithic refractory products which were once only available in developed countries & Indian companies had to pay a premium price to purchase from overseas
Future Plans
“The future roadmap of our company is centered around innovating products which are sustainable, encourage recycling, and are environment friendly which shall also be recyclable and/or biodegradable to the maximum extent possible. We are also exploring various eco-friendly yet rugged packaging solutions for packing our products”, shares Sandip Nitin Kamdar, Managing Partner of P. P. Minerals for the last 20 years.
The company is also creating ground-breaking and innovative products with a clear purpose that helps clients grow their own businesses. For instance, the country's largest cement producers are now undertaking extensive trials for exploring the possibility of utilizing liquid and solid alternative fuels to the maximum extent; and P.P. Minerals is closely collaborating with them to research and produce products that can survive the damaging effects that use of these alternative fuels can have both immediately and over time on monolithic refractory linings.
The company's other primary goal for the upcoming few months is to increase its current manufacturing capacity from 2500 metric tonnes to 5000 metric tonnes. To put it briefly, the company is also focused on investing in multidimensional development activities like capacity enhancement, digitalization, R&D infrastructure upgradation, and more, in order to reach various milestones for the organization and achieve a better market position, ultimately emerging at the top of the industry.
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