Sanmar Engineering Corporation (SEC) had a record year both in terms of sales and profit and reached several new milestones in the process. The overall sales exceeded Rs 520 crore, Fisher Control Valve Division and Foundry crossed the 100 crore mark in sales. Xomox Sanmar crossed Rs 50 crore by way of orders and Rs 46 crore through sales, Flowserve and Tyco
recorded over Rs 75 crore through sales, BS&B Safety Systems (India), Sensortronics Sanmar and Fisher Regulators also recorded a growth of Rs 20 crore in sales.
Despite a big shrinkage in petro vending valve sales, Asco (India) recorded a high in sales and explored new opportunities for the future.
The year 2005-06 was not only a year of growth for SEC, but also a year of achievements.
• At a strategic level, SEC made investments in capacity addition, divested from non-core areas, created new capabilities in the machine shop, further increased the JV partners’ engagement and launched a new foundry project.
• At an operational level, the LEAN initiative began in many businesses, training was offered to people through 35 different Six Sigma projects, customer metrics improved and working capital reduced.
• On the people front, besides the planned focus on training at all levels, several new initiatives were undertaken including an organisational review and a Gallup Employee Engagement Survey. The follow up actions being implemented at all levels should lead to a better working environment at SEC.
• SEC is all set to face new challenges in the form of new targets, new expectations, new initiatives and to play new roles. The year has been announced the “Year of customer delight”.
The intellectual capital at SEC is equipped to make valuable contributions to continued growth and meet bigger challenges with commitment for real “execution excellence” in every aspect of its business. The SEC leadership team met recently to make plans for rolling out initiatives, programmes and processes aligned to these two themes in each of its businesses.
It is the silver jubilee year for BS&B in India. The BS&B (India) team in Mumbai has performed some sterling feats to celebrate the occasion. On 18 March 2006, the Mumbai team completed the processing for the single largest order in the history of BS&B (India), an order for rupture disks from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL). This feat was achieved through sheer determination and perseverance by the team.
When the first quarter of the fiscal year began, the Mumbai unit had slipped from the premier position it had so far enjoyed within BS&B (India) in terms of sales. This was the situation when Mumbai’s new team was put in place.BS&B (India) was pitching for high value orders for rupture disks from NPCIL. This was not a project order but a Maintenance and Replacement Order (MRO).
The team had to go through the acid test of passing through various stages of approvals with NPCIL. As the enquiry was for large rupture disks and it was a high value order, the team had a lot of explaining and convincing to do before bagging the order.
Sanmar Engineering Services Limited, (a constituent of Sanmar Engineering Corporation) has sold the Strategic Weighing Systems (SWS) business to the Sudhir Jalan Group from Kolkata.
For SEC this is another step in line with the earlier ones taken to sharpen the focus on its core engineering businesses. The Sudhir Jalan Group is headquartered in Kolkata and occupies a leading position in the businesses of tea, printing inks, agro, software development and real estate.
The Sanmar Group has through its sale agreement ensured a strong commitment from the new owners to the employees of Strategic Weighing Systems – this includes protection of employees’ compensation levels, assurance of continuity of service, etc.
Fisher Sanmar’s control valves division (for order, sales and collection) and Sanmar Foundries have each crossed the Rs 100 crore mark.