Metal casting is gaining momentum in India owing to its evident benefits of cost-efficiency and reduced wastage of scrap metal. Driven by the growth of automotive industry and the acceleration of urbanization and industrialization, the demand for lightweight vehicles and machinery equipment is rising sharply. As the demand for metal casting spreads across sectors, the customer expectations continue to evolve. In addition to the major expectations of quality, cost, and delivery, the customers today are looking for an end-to-end solution provider. Right from manufacturing and machining to assembly, painting, and making the product ready for shipment, they expect all the processes to be taken care of.
This is where Orange City Alloys has positioned itself as comprehensive steel casting solution provider. It is one of the major manufacturers of steel casting in central India, producing casting from 100 kgs to 22000kgs of single pieces of casting with an annual capacity of 6000MT. It caters to the needs of different industries such as sugar, steel, cement, mining, dies and mould. “Having an integrated facility for design and development, we are well-poised to understand the customer requirements properly and address them in a better way”, says Hardik Doshi who leads the group company’s day to day operations.
Orange City Alloys is a group company of the Orange City Group of Nagpur having its operations in Maharashtra and Gujarat. The group is into steel business for the past 40 years and has extensive diversification in the category steel products. It manufactures steel angle for transmission line tower with certified power grade approved rolling mills with 45000 MT annual production. The group has a trading firm by the name of Bharat Hardware and Iron Store which trades in steel related products of SAIL, JSW, TATA, and JSPL to name a few.In Bhavnagar, Gujarat, it has a unit Prakash Rerollers which is into manufacturing of angle, flats, and bright bars. The group also has a ship breaking business in Alang. In addition, it has a casting division called Priti Marine Pvt. Ltd. for steel casting, manganese steel casting and alloys steel casting with a range of 50 kg to 5000 kg.
From Humble Beginning to Stellar Growth
Orange City Alloys started its operations in 2005, beginning with manufacturing of MS Ingots for its captive rolling mills. With time, there emerged a need for product change and diversification in the business.
In 2008, the company started with production of steel casting and used to manufacture approximately 1200 MT annually, offering it in un-machined condition to the customer. Gradually, the demand for steel casting gained momentum and so did the company’s production. In 2011,when the customers started demanding steel casting in machined condition, the company was catering to cement, mining and steel industries. It ramped up its production capability further as per the changing needs of the market and the requirements of the customer.
In the same year, it started an in-house machining facility to perform the proof machining of the casting. While catering to different customers, its unit received certification of ISO, ABS and IRS. The unit’s production gradually increased but the maximum casting pieces it was able to manufacture were of 12000 Kg. Today, by virtue of a continuous process of operational and technology upgrade, it has the most advanced machinery and is able to pour up to 22000 kg of steel casting with different grades and annual capacity of 6000MT.
As is the case with most sophisticated foundries, Orange City Alloys can manufacture castings as per the demand. The steel foundry produces steel casting for a wide range of grade from IS 1030 to IS2707, IS2708, IS2644, WCB, IS4491, EN Series, 42CrMnMo7, and Din2704. Moreover, it manufactures die and mould as per the customer requirement and in assemble condition. It is an ISO 9001 and ISO14001 certified company and has also been approved by ABS and IRS for casting requirement for marine application. It has successfully supplied casting for the coast ship guard ‘A Bracket’ and ‘P Bracket’ duly inspected by the ABS and IRS agencies. “We are the most preferred vendor for OEMs and we have received several recognition letters from companies such as L&T–MHI Power Boilers, and Godrej and few others. adds Hardik.
Integrated Steel Foundry
Orange City Alloys is an integrated steel foundry having its shed premises of more than 10000 sq mtr. It has induction furnace of Electrotherm E&T and a power connection of approx 4 MW, with solar generation for green energy for 600 kVA on the roof top of the shed. It has multiple overhead cranes and mobile cranes cater to different needs inside the plant and a multitude of CNC machines to cater to the demand of the customer. The foundry manufactures 300 kg to 22000 kg single pieces of casting through its in-house integrated facility from pattern to painting and a designing software is used for understanding and drafting.
The company has resources and trained team for NDT testing and material testing which is still lagging in most of the foundries at present. With multiple machines, it reduces the turnaround time and delivers the product to the customer faster. What also helps the company stand out is its approval of environment and quality, and a team experienced welders with welding certificate, which is still not been available with many of the SMEs.
In-built Mechanism of Quality Control
When it comes to quality control, Orange City Alloys follows a thorough in-built mechanism of checking the pattern up to the final product. The company is well equipped with the Spectrometer for 24 element to check with the chemical composition of the metal before pouring. It has a fully approved NABL lab where all the mechanical testing is carried out. Its Non-destructive test (NDT) testing facility has German made machines which are used for ultrasonic testing of the casting. Furthermore, wet and powder based MPI test is carried out at by the most efficient and qualified staff having experience of more than 20 years. The company has a system in place to check all the raw material which is used in making the product. It has an in-house CMM facility to check the dimension of the casting and mould base which make them much superior then the other casting units in India.
With a motto of 'Persistence is the key to success', Orange City Alloys has been growing from strength to strength. As the market and the demand for the steel casting keeps on increasing, the bottle neck will be the base price of the steel scrap and the government’s role with the duty being levied on the steel in the near future. Notwithstanding the headwinds, the company is looking to get into the export market into Europe and USA. The company is exploring different opportunities in the field of automobile and transmission.
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