India continues to ride along an impressive growth curve, thanks to its growth trajectory based on self-reliance. Today, we are the world’s second-largest manufacturer of castings. The Indian foundry industry has a turnover of around $20 billion, with exports touching approximately $3.54 billion. The country produces an estimated 12 million MT of various grades of castings every year, adhering to international standards from approximately 5,000 production units. The challenge starts precisely here. Of these 5,000 units, 85 percent are classified as small-scale units, 10 percent as medium, and only five percent as large-scale units. The anticipated growth of India's casting industry—a $25 billion market by 2025—hinges on the strategic organization of the currently unorganized sector, enhancing profit margins, and expanding and raising the number of large-scale operations.
“The foundry industry in India is often perceived as a commodity business, with thin margins on high volumes. With many foundries classified as small-scale industries, pricing—largely influenced by the cost of raw materials— becomes a critical element for business sustainability,” explains Indranil Dutta, CEO of Datre Corporation. Datre, one of India’s leading steel foundries specializing in niche castings used as Grinding Mill liners, Coupler components for semi-high-speed rail coaches, and undercarriage components for Construction equipment has broken a new path to manage better margins by choosing and developing critical components served as customer’s critical machinery parts. This innovative and challenging approach that pivots on engineering value is also the forte of Datre’s business philosophy.
The Datre Factor
Datre operates within the secondary steel market, producing niche steel casting components. The company harnesses its engineering expertise to the fullest and has established supply partnerships with leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the sectors of mining, construction, and railway passenger coaches.
“Our product portfolio is strategically diversified to cater to both domestic needs like Indian Railways and construction equipment while providing parts under a global supply chain for grinding liners. Today, we are a vital component supplier to prominent OEMs built through strategic tie-ups. It spans various industry sectors and geographical regions, ensuring robust business sustainability in the mid-term outlook,” adjoins Indranil. He takes pride in the company’s strong legacy of rebuilding its brand more as an engineering company.
Datre continues to set new benchmarks through a strong approach focused on quality that is designed to create the utmost customer satisfaction. For instance, the development phase in Datre is a comprehensive process that incorporates extensive insights derived from data provided by customers. It begins with creating a design module, progresses through sample testing, and culminates in field trials. This meticulous and protracted journey, often devoid of readily available foreign technology, necessitates long gestation periods. The development gestation period of each of Datre’s signature products has been at least three years.
The company uses a diverse array of alloys in its manufacturing process, including Molybdenum, Nickel, Aluminum, Copper, Chrome, Silicon, and Manganese, which are utilized as both ore and virgin forms alongside Mild steel scrap in the melting process. This is followed up by a series of heat treatment procedures designed to instill the requisite physical properties in the finished product. The specific properties of the metal castings are tailored to their intended application, whether in mining, construction, or railway industries. This meticulous process encompasses mold design, profile development to match technical drawings, precise elemental melting, followed by heat treatment, and concludes with thorough finishing and quality assurance checks.
The Commitment to Quality
Above all, Datre is an ISO-9001:2015 certified company that fulfills its quality commitment through rigorous measures. From instilling its workforce with a stringent quality mantra to conducting effective internal audits to ensure compliance with ISO 9001 standards, Datre’s approach includes both corrective and preventive actions, along with periodic reviews in response to audit findings.
“We emphasize the active participation of all team members to foster a collaborative quality culture. Risk analysis and the mitigation of identified risks are integral to our process. We adhere to a Quality Policy that sets clear objectives, allowing us to evaluate and refine our action plans continually. Lastly, our execution framework is designed to facilitate ongoing improvement, ensuring that our quality standards are not just met but consistently exceeded,” Indranil elucidates. Let’s take the example of Datre’s steel casting hammer products used inside crushers in steel plants and similar units. The steel hammer's quality and durability were designed as a deliberate strategic initiative—to match the imported crushers used across various steel plants. Following this, the company has set robust processes and quality parameters in place. Stringent adherence to these established quality parameters while focusing on continuous, incremental improvements to further enhance performance and reliability has been a significant aspect of Datre’s success.
Datre continues to set new benchmarks through a strong approach focused on quality that is designed to create the utmost customer satisfaction
Sustainable Future
Datre comprehends that its success needs to be sustainable and that it holds the key to the future. Hence, the company has adopted a multifaceted sustainability strategy, encompassing a range of initiatives to minimize the environmental footprint. Datre has curtailed the use of diesel in ladle heating and adopted electric cargo vehicles for in-factory logistics, as well as electric passenger vehicles for local travel. The company’s production processes leverage high-quality recyclable materials and induction furnaces that emit lower levels of gas. Energy conservation is achieved through optimized electricity usage, enhanced natural lighting, regular maintenance of electrical motors, and widespread use of LED lighting.
“Additionally, we are exploring installing solar energy systems, have initiated rainwater harvesting for industrial purposes, and transitioned to environmentally friendly sand binders for mold preparation. Our commitment to the environment is also evident in our routine tree planting initiatives and our ongoing efforts to develop a comprehensive Net Zero strategy,” adds Indranil.
Going Forward
Established in 1995, Datre is headquartered in West Bengal with a state-of-the-art Integrated Special Steel and Alloy Steel Casting manufacturing plant in Falta. While savoring the immense success the company chiseled over the past two decades, it is also at the forefront of giving that success back to society with many CSR initiatives, including Medical Camps, vocational training in colleges, and food, clothing, and blanket distributions in the area. This empathetic mindset is an important aspect of Datre’s future endeavors.
Going forward, it’s a sure bet that the foundry industry foresees bright days ahead. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently announced the government’s plan to introduce 3,000 new trains in the next four to five years to raise the railways' passenger capacity from 800 to 1,000 crore. This, combined with the pace of infrastructure developments in the country, creates immense opportunities.
“The sector's growth is intrinsically tied to infrastructure development, fueled by government investments. Despite global economic challenges, the domestic market is positioned to outpace developed nations and rival the growth of other large emerging economies. With a foundation built on three business verticals and established signature products, our mid-term expansion strategy involves broadening our reach within these verticals. We aim to connect with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), leveraging the 'China Plus One' strategy to enhance our growth trajectory,” Indranil concludes.
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