It
is quite easy to miss the turn to the works of Automation and Control (Pune)
on the Pune Bypass. A small building in the corner of a road leading to a
locality from the Bypass represents the automation specialist. On the ground
floor is the facility that could be easily identified as a small-scale
enterprise, which it is, and on the first floor is the administrative
block.
Automation and Control (Pune) or A&C for short, is a small-scale
enterprise catering to the manufacturing sector with unique solutions that
could range from anywhere between basic to highly automated. Ask S R Ambekar,
managing director of A&C, and he states that his company makes
tailor-made equipment. "It is our strength as well as weakness,"
he promptly adds. A little startling it may sound but take a tour of the
facility and it is clear A&C is an automation company that is unlike
other automation companies. In other words, A&C manufactures
challenging, new machines that find use in the auto sector as well as
others.
"We take the challenge of making new machines. We are working towards
machines that are usually imported. This helps costs and makes availing
service easy," quips Ambekar. A clue to what Ambekar is trying to put
rests in his background. He worked in SKF Bearings' Chinchwad plant. Right
from inception it was a sophisticated plant, according to Ambekar, and
possessed sophisticated imported machinery, which needed maintenance and
spares. "In the 1980s, with stringent import restrictions in place, it
was very difficult to cater to the maintenance of the machines and
spares," explains Ambekar. "We came to develop ingenious and
innovative methods to maintain these machines. And thus was born the idea of
making machines - automated machines that eliminate the task of importing
costly machines and then seek service." 
A&C was established in 1993 and caters to the automation and SPM needs
of various industries from concept to commissioning. This is what is known
as "application engineering" according to Ambekar and the machines
made by A&C are broadly divided in areas like automation and robotic
systems, specialised material handling systems, auto gauging units, custom
built special purpose machines and palletising units. The machines the
company makes are appropriately automated as per the customer's requirement.
Stressing on the issue of automation, Ambekar expresses that there are
companies, which require semi-automated machines as part of a certain
automation set-up. "Imported machines are often highly automated and
may call for more changes than warranted and this is where we come in,"
he says.
Surprisingly 80 per cent of A&C's business comes from the auto sector.
"Bharat Forge is one of our major clients. We manufactured a
palletising unit for GKN Sinter Metals, which manufactures sintered
products. We developed this unit in India as a substitute to machines from
Europe. The German principals of the company approved it. We supplied 20
machines and do a lot of work for GKN," says Ambekar. Like GKN and
Bharat Forge, A&C has numerous auto sector clients. Adds Ambekar:
"We are working on an automated machine for measuring cylinder liner
bore for an auto components company." For Pune-based ZF Steering Gear
India, A&C developed an endurance testing unit. It bagged this order in
competition with TAL. "The machine that we made for ZF India is
modelled on the lines of high-tech servo machines used in Germany. Another
order is on the way." For Pithampur-based Mahle Migma, which
manufactures camshafts, A&C developed a phonic wheel assembly and auto
straightening press.
For a company, which achieved a business of Rs 1 crore in the period between
1992 and 1996, and has steadily grown to achieve a turnover of Rs 4 crores
in the FY2007-08, the strength lies in the ability to develop machines that
can meet the exacting needs and requirements. This is often followed by
maintenance and regular service. "Our capabilities speak through the
machines that we have developed for world-class manufacturers and this year
we are targeting a business of over Rs 5 crores," concludes Ambekar.
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