| Bharat Forge Ltd (BFL), the Pune based Indian multinational, is a technology-driven global leader in metal forming having trans-continental presence across a dozen manufacturing locations, serving several sectors including automobile, power, oil and gas, rail & marine, aerospace, construction & mining, etc. The company is a part of Kalyani Group. The company has the largest repository of metallurgical knowledge in the region and offers complete service supply capability to their geographically dispersed marquee customers from concept to product design, engineering, manufacturing, testing and validation.
The company has their manufacturing facilities spread across India, Europe, US & China. They manufacture a wide range of safety and critical components for the automotive & non-automotive sector. It is the country`s largest manufacturer and exporter of automotive components and leading chassis component manufacturer. The company customer base includes virtually every global automotive OEM and Tier 1 supplier.
Bharat Forge Ltd was incorporated in the year 1961. In the year 1996, the company commenced commercial production. In the year 1995, the company commenced exports to erstwhile USSR by winning a large contract for under carriage components. In the year 1990, they made investment in state-of-art forging technology. Also, they commissioned 16000 MT press line. In the year 1991, the company commenced supply of engine & chassis components to Japan, USA and UK.
In the year 2001, the company commissioned their second 16000 MT press line. Also, they acquired the order book of Dand Kirkstall. In the year 2002, they made investment of $ 80 million in Research & Development, Testing & Validation and state-of-the-art Heavy Duty Truck Crankshaft Machining facilities. In November 21, 2003, the company acquired Carl Dan Peddinghus GmbH & Co. KG (CDP) of Germany and with this acquisition, the company emerged as world`s second largest forging company. Also, they acquired Imatra Kilsta AB, Sweden & Scottish Stampings, Scotland.
In the year 2005, the company signed a joint venture contract with FAW Corporation for their forging business. In September 21, 2005, the company through their wholly owned subsidiary, Bharat Forge Beteiligungs GmbH, Germany, acquired Imatra Kilsta AB, Sweden along with its wholly owned subsidiary, Scottish Stampings Ltd, Scotland (together called Imatra Forging Group), which are now renamed as Bharat Forge Kilsta AB (BF Kilsta) and Bharat Forge Scottish Stampings Ltd, respectively. Also, they acquired Federal Forge now known as Bharat Forge America Inc., which provided the company with a manufacturing presence in USA, one of their largest markets.
In the year 2006, the company made investment of $ 100 million to set-up dedicated state-of-the-art forging & machining facilities for non-auto components. In the year 2008, they signed an MoU with NTPC. In August 2008, they commissioned India`s Largest Commercial Open Forging Press. Also, the company in association with Alstom formed a joint venture in Indian to manufacture state-of-the-art super critical power plant equipment. In March 2009, the company started operations in the new state-of-the-art 80 Mtr-T counterblow hammer in Baramati for production of heavy forgings for large diesel engines and aerospace applications as well as Machining line for heavy duty.
During the year 2009-10, the company incorporated a joint venture (JV) company, BF-NTPC Energy Systems Ltd (BFNESL), with a 51% equity interest held by the company and balance held by NTPC Limited for the manufacture of critical items of Balance of Plants and other equipment for which India still remains dependent on imports. Also, the company set up two joint venture companies in partnership with ALSTOM Power Holdings S.A. for manufacturing sub-critical and supercritical thermal power plant equipment. The two JV companies named ALSTOM Bharat Forge Power Ltd and Kalyani ALSTOM Power Ltd will manufacture turbine and generators for power plants in the 300- 800 MW range and auxiliaries like heat exchangers, condensers and deaeraters, respectively.
During the year, the company entered into Preliminary Joint Venture and Shareholders` Agreement with AREVA NP, France, to create a manufacturing facility for heavy forgings and castings for the power sector particularly Nuclear Power segment and other heavy industries in India. In January 2010, the first phase of the capacity creation plan for the non-auto components business was completed with the commissioning of the ring rolling facility at Baramati. Also, they established Kalyani Centre for Technology & Innovation.
During the year 2010-11, the company commissioned new vertical heat treatment facility for manufacture of Turbine and Generator Rotors alongwith thermo stability test facility. Also, Ring Rolling Mill in BARAMATI became fully operational and became a supplier of critical rings for different customers specially for Gear Box manufacturers. Also, they company made an additional investment of Rs 150 crore in expanding machining line further for crankshaft machining in Baramati. |