Heavy Metal & Tubes: Indian quality, global success

Quality assurance

“As is known,” says Mr. Mathur “we have been specialised in the manufacture of heat exchanger & boiler tubing for several years now. As these tubes play a very critical part and are at the heart of heat exchangers / boilers for heat transfer operations, it is not surprising that such tubes have to pass through a series of very stringent quality checks during the entire production process.”

Building a pathway towards success therefore necessitates that Heavy Metal & Tubes places great emphasis on the quality aspects of its work. It has therefore attained ISO 9001:2015 and PED accreditation. Moreover, the company has implemented a quality assurance system that covers all production stages from raw materials, cold working, and heat treatment, right through to packing and dispatch. All components of this system correspond to the requirements of national and international codes, as well as, where needed, to individual customer’s quality and technical requirements.

The company’s quality control department works independently of the manufacturing shop. Quality is further guaranteed by a wide range of testing facilities, as per code requirement, mandatory & supplementary test including: air-under-water, eddy current, flaring, flattening, hardness, hydro, reverse bend, tensile, ultrasonic, as well as laboratory tests with spectrometers, metallurgical investigations by metallurgical microscope and to determine grain size, corrosion, and microstructure. Both the plants have their own separate laboratory set-up with testing equipment. All tubes undergo hydro testing. Testing is carried out by trained, qualified personnel in compliance with the company’s strict ‘Quality Assurance Manual’.

The tests help to safeguard that the highest quality manufacturing standards can be maintained according to the intended application, technical delivery conditions and customer’s specifications. In addition, the production sites have also been equipped with reliable testing and measuring equipment for destructive and non-destructive testing such as Inter-granular corrosion testing, Eddy Current testing & Ultrasonic testing.

It goes without saying that the mill and its products has been approved by significant inspection agencies including: ABS, Bureau Veritas, DNV, EIL, IBR, LRIS, Intertek, PDIL, SGS, and TÜV, among numerable others. Additionally, the company is approved by a large number of major customers and end users to whom it regularly supplies products such as PEMEX, QP, SABIC, BHGE, Alfa Laval, BHEL, BPCL, CPCL, FACT, HPCL, IOCL, KFL, L&T, NFL, NPCIL, NTPC, TECHNIP, Reliance, SAIL, and many others.

Quality staffing

“Another factor that particularly stands out in our company is the high standard of technical competence of our staff,” says Mr. Mathur. “They are not only knowledgeable and skilled, having relevant technical degrees where appropriate, but are also loyal and committed.

Some of our employees have worked with us for anything from fifteen to thirty years. It says a lot about the culture that we have been able to hold on to them and this ensures that we have a great deal of skill and experience in-house to fall back on.

Certainly at a time when many companies find it difficult to fill technical vacancies, we do not experience this type of trouble. Young engineers clammer to join us and build their careers under our guidance.

They feel involved and challenged in contributing to our success and we likewise take a great interest in helping them shape their careers.”

Management is equally concerned for all employee’s health & safety along with environment hence been accredited with certification ISO 14001: 2015 and OHSAS 18001: 2007 & 45001.

HMT global presence

Roughly 60% of the Heavy Metal & Tubes products are sold within India. The remaining 40% is exported around the world. Today the company’s products reach as far as the Americas – Argentina, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, USA – and Europe – Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, whilst in the Middle East their products are exported to Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE. In addition, they also have clients in South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Australia and several other countries. “The quality and services that we provide are very much appreciated by our clients,” says Mr. Mathur “as is seen by the large numbers of repeat orders we receive on a regular basis.”

With regards to the tubing market for heat exchangers, Heavy Metal & Tubes tend to concentrate its sales to four major regions of the world: India, South Korea in Asia, Italy in Europe, and North America, though manufacturers of heat exchanger equipment in the former Eastern Block countries of Europe and Russia as well as the Gulf nations are also equally important. Certainly not much has changed in the past ten years with regards to this market situation.

Strategy for the future

Heavy Metal & Tubes understands that enlarging a product range is a simple way to grow and better serve a customer base. The company is now entering the fittings and flanges market and very shortly will define the entire product range. “Our strategy for the future will be to continue to service the domestic and global markets to the highest possible quality standards with fully Indian origin material right from basic raw materials,” says Mr. Mathur. “As such, we expect our business to continue to expand as the demand for tubes and pipes in demanding applications continues to grow. In particular, we intend to concentrate increasingly on serving the manufacturers of heat exchangers / boilers. To this effect we have expanded our marketing team to aggressively cover this market. We intend to be there for our customers to ensure that their future is also a great success.”