Continued success CUMI

CONTINUED SUCCESS

The Indian group Carborundum Universal Ltd, or CUMI, specialises in abrasives, ceramics, refractories and electrominerals. Industry Europe looks at the latest developments at the company and how it maintains its successful operations.

CUMI’s story began in 1954, with the tripartite agreement between the USA-based Carborundum, the UK group Universal Grinding Wheel Co., and India’s Murugappa Group. The group has risen to become a leading global player in the fields of abrasives, ceramics, refractories and electrominerals.

At the beginning, the focus was on absorbing the manufacturing technology and knowledge of its joint venture partners in order to meet the requirements of the Indian market. The second major developmental phase saw the exit of the JV partners and a major drive towards developing internal R&D know-how. New JV partners and alliances were forged to reinforce growth areas in super abrasives (through partnerships with Wendt GmbH), in fibre refractories (through an agreement with UK-based Morgan Crucibles) and collaboration with US specialist Coors sparked the growth of its ceramics line.

Today, CUMI operates in over 18 plants in India and in six main overseas sites, located in Russia, China, South Africa, Australia, Thailand and Canada. In addition, the group boasts eight subsidiaries and four JVs. Its products are available in 42 countries and in several key markets it has its own distribution companies and sales alliances.

Product diversity

CUMI manufactures and delivers custom-built products and seeks to supply ‘European quality at Asian prices’. For example, with regard to its abrasives business it offers an integrated system solution. Its business strategy is to manufacture at the lowest cost locations in India, Russia and China and to provide local deliveries using local forces and application engineering within markets including the Americas, Europe and Asia.

The group’s joint venture with Wendt India Ltd and the Chinese-based Jingri-CUMI Super Hard Materials Company Ltd enabled CUMI to reinforce its position within the super abrasives market at global level, while remaining the market leader within India.

The group always seeks to add value in all of the areas in which it operates through offering high end variety and diversity. For example, its range of bonded abrasives comprises in excess of 20,000 varieties. It also supplies a diverse range of metal working fluids for grinding applications, as well as an extensive array of power tools used in metal and wood working, construction and decoration applications.

Its range of ceramics product lines is equally varied, and it is the established market leader in industrial ceramics in India, where it is also the only manufacturer of metallised ceramics. In addition, CUMI has also carved out its reputation as the Indian market leader in super refractory products, and its ceramics portfolio also includes numerous anticorrosion products as well as bioceramic lines such as ceramic wound dressing solutions. It delivers customised solutions to coal washeries, power plants, cement plants and steel plants in Australia and the Americas through its local subsidiaries.

CUMI’s ranges of electrominerals include silicon carbide, brown aluminium oxide and white aluminium oxide. It is one of the leading players in aluminium oxide grains within the Indian market. The group also manufactures mullite, bubble alumina and other speciality products in smaller quantities.

In addition, the acquisition of Volzhsky Abrasive Works has made CUMI the

number two player in the world in silicon carbide production. In its Indian production facility, the powdered form of silicon carbide is then converted into photovoltaic cells for higher end market applications.

Leading position

CUMI’s R&D programme draws together in-house capabilities and joint programmes with research institutes. It holds over a dozen patents in various key areas of ceramics and abrasives. It works globally with top research institutes on an ongoing basis, allowing it to remain at the forefront in its field.

This approach, together with the group’s commitment to cutting edge quality, environmental protection and improving local communities through continuous investment in safety and health project gives it a major competitive strength in these undeniably tough economic times.

CUMI’s strategy involves three key strands: firstly, organic growth based on proven world class processes such as Sigma, Lean etc. The second strand involves inorganic growth through the strategic acquisition of niche technologies and markets. The third is innovative product and process development. n