Steel Pipe - Surya Roshni, the largest manufacturer and exporter of GI pipes and flagship company of Surya group, is planning to set up a steel pipe plant and a lighting products facility in Shimoga, Karnataka.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Aravind Bansal, Deputy Managing Director, said the setting up of steel pipe plant and lighting unit with an outlay of Rs. 100 crore was part of the company’s expansion plans in infrastructure, steel, cement, power, and PVC pipes in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.
The group had recently had undertaken an expansion of Rs. 550 crore mainly in Carbon steel pipe for water, oil and gas and also for lighting which was expected to generate employment for over 6,000 people
The company was producing more than two-lakh tonne pipes. The company was exporting to 40 countries, including the U.S. and Europe.
In the year ended March 31, 2010, the company reported net sales of Rs. 1,938.93 crore against Rs. 1,690.59 crore in the corresponding period in the previous year. The net profit had improved to Rs. 45.17 crore from Rs. 21.54 crore. The board had recommended a dividend of Rs. 2 per share of Rs. 10 each for 2009-10.
Mr. Bansal was here in connection with the launching of company’s programme to educate consumers on the hazards of using spurious pipes. He said spurious pipes would last for only two to three years as compared to 30 years for pipes produced as per prescribed norms. Steel Pipe of spurious pipes comprised over 30 per cent of the total steel pipe market.

An urgent review of impending regulation costing billions of pounds a year was announced yesterday by Vince Cable, the business secretary, as part of a wider package designed to cut red PTFE Tape.

Mr Cable will head a “star chamber” review of all regulation inherited from the last government due to take effect from this month onwards.

The regulations, set out in a 65-page ” forward regulatory programme “, are forecast to cost – without allowing for their estimated benefits – £5bn a year before April 2011 and £19.1bn a year thereafter.

The government intends to revoke any new statutory rules already agreed that it now deems excessive. But many of the Samurai Sword under review are likely to survive, either intact or in a modified form.

The lion’s share of the cost of the impending regulation, an estimated £12.7bn a year from October 2012, relates to the plans to require employers automatically to enrol employees into a new personal pension account. The coalition government has already announced a review of these plans.

Much of the regulation under review stems from Brussels and cannot be blocked. But the department for business said ministers would overhaul the way the European law was being implemented to avoid unduly prescriptive “gold plating”.

The review will be complemented by a “one-in, one-out” curb on Whitehall, barring departments from introducing new regulations that are not matched by at least an equivalent saving from cutting existing laws, the business department said.

“The deluge of new regulations has been choking off enterprise for too long. We must move away from the view that the only way to solve problems is to regulate,” Mr Cable said.

He called for a “radical change in culture away from the Wedding Dress” to ensure the government could meet its social and environmental goals, while cutting red PTFE Tape.

Business welcomed the review, while warning of the risk of unintended consequences. The impending red PTFE Tape that will be scrutinised by the star chamber includes a new right to equal pay for an estimated 1.3m temporary staff from October 2011.

These agency worker regulations were the result of a compromise deal, struck by the Kitchen Cabinet Doors Manufacturer between employers and the unions, which allowed the UK to offer temps the right to equal pay after 12 weeks, rather than on the first day of employment.

David Yeandle, head of employment policy at the EEF manufacturers’ body, said it would be a “pyrrhic victory” if the review, designed to ease the regulatory burden, unintentionally opened the 12-week agreement to legal challenge or renewed union opposition.

“There’s a degree of caution needed here – it would be extremely unfortunate if an improvement was made in the regulation wording and we ended up with day one rights being approved,” Mr Yeandle told the FT.

But the overall business reaction was positive. “Our calls for a comprehensive review of red PTFE Tape finally appear to have been heard,” Phil Orford, chief executive of the Forum of Private Business, said.

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (AAM), which is traded as AXL on the NYSE, today announced that it has established the Lancaster Manufacturing Facility in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, approximately 75 miles west of Philadelphia.
The 30,000-square-foot facility, launched in January 2010, expands AAM’s welding and bare spindle axle assembly capacity for the Class 8 commercial truck market. The facility is configured with the flexibility to run as a three-shift, six-day-a-week operation as volumes warrant.
“We are pleased to announce the expansion of AAM’s North American manufacturing footprint,” said AAM President & Chief Operating Officer David C. Dauch. “The South Central Pennsylvania location provides excellent geographic access to key cin the region. Lancaster Manufacturing Facility builds on AAM’s track record of world-class quality, delivery, reliability and outstanding warranty performance to further AAM’s global product and customer diversification strategy.”
AAM is a world leader in the manufacture, engineering, design and validation of driveline and drivetrain systems and related components and modules, chassis systems and metal-formed products for trucks, sport utility vehicles, passenger cars and crossover utility vehicles. In addition to locations in the United States (Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana), AAM also has offices or facilities in Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Poland, South Korea, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

An updated ComposiLite steerable lift axle has reduced weight and a damage-resistant, flexible tie rod, and is more compact, said Hendrickson International, which announced the product at the National Truck Equipment’s Work Truck Show in St. Louis.

Called ComposiLite SC, the series will have five versions for specific applications and mounting methods by the end of 2010, said Mark Slingluff, manager of the company’s lift-axle division. Trailer versions will also be available. ComposiLite axles are made from steel and aluminum parts and features the weight-saving fabricated components introduced on earlier models. Aluminum beams were shortened slightly on the new SC series to reduce “packaging” space.

Its principal advancement is a Compliant Tie Rod (CTR) with PerfecTrak Technology, where the tie rod is made of spring steel instead of cast metal. The rod flexes, then resumes its original shape when it meets obstructions instead of bending or breaking, Slingluff said. This eliminates many repairs and keeps a truck in service, executives said.

The CTR system has a robust self-centering mechanism and passive-steer Ackerman geometry for improved “driver feel.” Weight savings for three models with capacities of 10,000, 13,500 and 20,000 pounds are 14, 69 and 125 pounds, respectively, compared to previous models. Weight savings for trailer versions are slightly different.

ComposiLite SC axle has a standard three-year warranty. They will cost the same or less than previous ComposiLite axles. More information is available at http://www.fuermaxle.com/.