Viralimalai Madurai Trichy Highway Sanmar Group to become a Global Engineering Hub

As the engines hum and metals clank, the Viralimalai plant of Sanmar Group looks more like a global engineering hub as workers and engineers tirelessly toil to meet the deadline of global customers.

“We have grown in the last 35 years from a Rs 20-lakh company to Rs 1,200-crore company and expect to reach Rs 1,600-crore sales this year,” says Vijay Sankar, deputy chairman of Sanmar Group, a synergistically integrated collection of engineering companies and steel foundaries.

Located on the Madurai National Highway, the plant is bustling with activity as orders have poured in from various parts across the globe. These include valves for power plants, rupture disks for nuclear plants, safety relief valves for refineries besides automobile components for global majors.

After the company started production on July 1, 1976, as Durametallic India after tying up with US firm Durametallic Corporation, Kalamazoo, Michigan, a global leader in engineered mechanical seals, there was no looking back for the company.

Now it has five joint ventures with top US firms. These include Flowserve Sanmar, BS&B Safety Systems (India), Xomox Sanmar with its two divisions - Xomox Valves and Pacific Valves, Tyco Sanmar, Sanmar Foundries, Matrix Metals and Sanmar Engineering services. It also has seven legal entities and 12 business units in five locations of the world. These include Iowa, Houston and Mexico in North America, Karapakkam and Viralimalai in Tamil Nadu.

“Sanmar has set a target of 21 per cent growth over the next five years to become Rs 3,500 crore company and we vow to continue to work towards a system based on trust and transparency,” says Vijay.

sourced from ibn live.