The industrial gases sector in India is experiencing rapid growth fueled by the immense scope for development in the industry. Through supportive and visionary governmental initiatives and far-sighted efforts to make India self-sufficient, the industry has gained a lot of traction and investment, which is anticipated to power the sector’s growth four fold. Growing industrialization and urbanization coupled with increasing manufacturing activities in India such as car manufacturing, steel production, and affiliated markets promise tremendous opportunity for advancement for the industrial gases sector.
However, the sector also faces key challenges in the form of unethical practices in gas sales with respect to purity and weight/volume of the gases filled in cylinders. To combat these challenges, Southern Gas, a prominent player in this market with over sixty years of experience follows ethical business practices aligned with governmental rules and regulations to supply exactly what it promises. A leading manufacturer and supplier of industrial, medical, rare gases and related services, the company caters to a diverse client base spread across Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
Experience-Driven Excellence
An ISO 9001-2008 standards certified firm, Southern Gas has expanded exponentially over the decades and currently boasts extensive manufacturing facilities with nine distinct manufacturing units and over 200 employees. With its massive manufacturing capability, the firm is able to meet all the gas requirements of the regions where it is functional. With an expansive product portfolio featuring products like medical oxygen, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, helium, gas mixture, acetylene, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, and oxygen, which are available in varied cylinder sizes to suit the unique needs of the clients, the firm extends its unique solutions for distinctive applications. Housing a highly skilled workforce composed of seasoned technicians and engineers to offer world class manufacturing processes strengthened by rigorous quality checks.
“With our engineering expertise, we have enabled our customers to gain an edge in the Southern market and manufacture innovative products in a cost and resource friendly way. And in turn, these innovations always bring us one step closer to our customers. We produce a comprehensive range of medical, industrial, chemical, shielding, cutting and laser gases from our state-of-theart filling plants.
Our newly acclaimed ISO 9001:2008 Certified plants operates and thus focuses to build a skilled workforce of technicians and engineers who can provide best-in-class service and produce globally acclaimed products”, shares Sadanand Pai, GM Operations. Leveraging its vast industry experience, the company is well-equipped with the knowledge and resources to fulfill customer requirements and tackle any challenges or anomalies without compromising on compliance demands and ethics. Furthermore, Southern Gas has strategically located its air separation unit plants close to customers, which enables it to save logistical costs, ensuring greater cost-effectiveness for customers.
Quality Assurance
Focused on client satisfaction, the firm adopts a zero-tolerance against ethical compromise policy, thereby fostering long-term relationships built on trust and transparency. Through extensive quality assurance tests planned at every stage of the manufacturing process right from sourcing the raw materials to manufacturing the gases as per predetermined specifications and delivering the final products. “The Southern Gas company has one of the highest ratings for customer satisfaction in the industry.
Integrity, respect, transparency, and health and safety of the clients as well as our employees are our core values and priorities, and acting as good corporate citizens we operate right from the foundation of our work. We continue to find new innovative ways to reduce cost without compromising on quality. We stand out for delivering the purest form of gases, executing stringent safety tests for the cylinders, adhering to highest international safety standards, and good manufacturing practices”, further shares Saineel Pai Kakode, Executive Corporate Affairs.
The firm follows the standard operational procedures prioritizing worker safety, and has a dedicated unit with experienced chemists and fully functional state-of-the-art laboratories to inspect every batch of manufactured gases for purity and quality, along with testing the hydraulic cylinders aligned with the unique set of regulation laid down by PESO.
Southern Gas’ quality assurance initiatives are further strengthened by the company’s comprehensive R&D capabilities which it leverages to continuously improve and advance with market trends and demands. With a highly encouraged, zealous, and skilled information tech department committed to embracing advancements in technology and industry-specific transformations and innovations to refine the existing solutions, the firm spearheads industry reforms. Innovations like pressure swing absorption technology for the production of oxygen and nitrogen, industrial IoT, AI, cryogenic technologies, cloud computing, and more are quickly adapted to suit the firm’s continuous innovations.
The Southern Gas company has one of the highest ratings for customer satisfaction in the Gas industry
Future Roadmap
“As we envision the future, we will remain dedicated to cultivate a 'holistic empowerment' of the community, through implementation of sustainable initiatives which will have maximum societal impact by identifying the critical needs and gaps. However, at the helm of affairs, the commendable contribution of our Managing Director’s son Saineel G Pai Kakode in the company's corporate affairs, business objectives, goals, missions and visions, and setting road maps to achieve the same, will be the big motivation and boost for the rapid growth of our organization”, adds Shashidhar Haridas, CFO.
With a thriving ecosystem dedicated to drive business success, Southern Gas has curated a robust blueprint for its future endeavors, centered around the goal of doubling its revenue in the following five years. Adopting a multi-pronged action plan, the company aims to make tremendous strides across market expansion, technology adoption, innovation, and greater industry exploration and penetration to boost product applications.
The company will further strive to strengthen the existing market through proactive measures for maximizing consumer satisfaction, ease of doing business, and encouraging flexibility. In exploring new potential markets, assessing supply and demand and proximity to end user locations will be the core tasks undertaken by the firm to ensure cost-effectiveness before seizing new opportunities. Beyond this, the firm also aims to expand into new geographical locations starting with states like Andhra Pradesh, particularly in the Tirupati district as well as Tamil Nadu.
“We at The Southern Gas want to ensure truly sustainable growth, constantly strive to be a needed and trusted corporate entity, favoured by society and consumers. We make sure to take a consumer-centric approach by persistently providing new value through new products and services that surpass society in a variety of tangible and intangible ways and are committed to the accomplishment of our medium-to-long term strategy”, lastly adds Gautam V Pai Kakode, Managing Director.
As gases emerge as the potential substitutes in the search for greener alternatives to drive forward the purpose of reducing global warming, the firm is committed to exploring the potential growth avenues it presents, and adapt to advanced technologies and innovations to meet the dynamic needs of the evolving markets. Implementing innovations to continually upgrade its production plants and procedures, along with digitizing supply chain processes to enhance inter-connectedness, the company aims to reap the cost optimization, enhanced productivity, and process improvement opportunities.
Through this holistic approach, Southern Gas aims to fulfill its goals of expansion, and is poised to emerge as the go-to partner in the industry in the next few years.
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