June 2012 : CMI Spreads in India - Cover Story - CMI FPE LTD

Cover Story
Are you satisfied with the progress in
the past four years ?
- In a turbulent economic context worldwide,
CMI Industry further reinforced its leadership in
galvanizing lines by demonstrating that its latest
generation '100% CMI technology' lines give
steelmakers a major competitive edge. In India, we
have been actively developing our subsidiaries CMI
FPE and CMI Industry Automation during the last
four years. Beyond the integration and development
of new technologies we have enhanced our 3D
engineering and project management capabilities,
developed automation solutions, invested in safety
equipment and training, marketing supports, the
image of the company in India has dramatically
changed and we received very prestigious orders
from more and more customers.
When we decided to develop the turnover of
CMI FPE, we came to the conclusion that
manufacturing is a bottle neck and decided to
expand the capacity of our workshops. To do that,
we invested in machining centres and built new
sheds with heavy handling capacities while
optimizing the overall lay-out of the plant in order to
improve the production-flow. In addition, by
dedicating each shed to a specific part of the
manufacturing process (machining, assembling,
packaging, expedition...) we now benefit from the
advantages of a more efficient and focused
manufacturing set-up. With such new infrastructure,
CMI FPE is now is now able to house, for instance,
the assembly of up to ten cold rolling mills or even
two 5-stand tandem rolling mills at the same time!
Can you brief us about the expansion
plans of CMI industry in environmental
engineering sector in terms of capacity
building, technology advancement, R&D
activities etc. ?
- CMI Industry has expanded its offer as service
to project provider as well as provider of solutions to
reduce the environmental footprint of industries.
CMI Industry now has a foothold in the industrial
effluents treatment market with the acquisition of a
French company named Proserpol.
CMI Industry continues to develop its energy
efficiency solutions for energy-intensive industries
(steel, glass, paper, etc.). Thanks to these solutions,
the customers of CMI Industry can save up to 50%
on the energy bill for their facilities. In 2011, CMI
Industry booked several orders, particularly in
France and the United Kingdom, for different types
of industries. CMI Industry has also developed new
generations of burners that could dramatically
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June 2012
reduce the consumption of steel furnaces. They are
currently tested in a pilot furnace in Spain.
How do you find market outlook in India
and across the world i.e Europe as well as
Southeast Asia ?
- After three years of constant adapting to the
uncertainties on its traditional markets, CMI
Industry is emerging stronger from the successive
crises that have shaken the world economy. In India,
CMI FPE, the Indian subsidiary of CMI Industry,
registered unprecedented order level in 2011,
capitalizing on the vitality of the local economy. At
the same time, on the operational front, the
execution schedules of certain projects in 2011 were
revised owing to market conditions. CMI FPE thus
closed 2011 with a very strong order backlog.
How do you compare Indian and
Chinese market ?
- Both markets are of capital importance for CMI
Industry. We are expecting these markets to sustain
strong growth patterns in the steel sector and we
have accordingly strengthened our presence in both
geographies in order to capture such growth. While
our development strategy in China has been based
on partnerships and joint ventures, our approach in
India is centered around our own unique