
Although concrete / flyash blocks have a proven track record and are used extensively in developed countries but they havestarted getting wider acceptance in India only few years ago when Equipment manufacturers focused on providing machinery which offers superior quality of blocks using less manual labour, environmental impact and feasible production cost.
NBM&CW initiated an interaction with various players in this segment on following points:
- Reasons for the late acceptance of flyash/concrete bricks products despite several advantages over conventional bricks?
- Demand Forcast-brick manufacturing machines in India.
- Government support needed for the promotion of these products.
- Product range of the companies' dealing with this segment.
- Quality control system placed in the company and focus on R&D activities
- After sales service and availability of spares parts facilities.
Hess India

Mr. Manoj Kumar, AMICT, Managing Director HESS India
Demand forecast: There is a huge potential in India for the latest technologies and universal machines. Only fly ashutilisation or brick production is not the target. The same machines can produce avast range of products which can be utilised in the construction of buildings, roads, bridges, parks and other amenities.

Company's products offerings: Hess is the biggest machinery manufacturer mainly for concrete industry for the production of AAC (Autoclaved Aerated Concrete), Fly ash bricks, Concrete blocks, Concrete pipes, Slabs and Interloc- king Pavers. We do turnkey job also and this will help the new comers very much. We have experienced people in different positions who can support as and when needed and this will help to keep up with the schedule. Now-a- days time is money and any of the project within the time schedule is vital.

After sales services & spare parts availability: All the Hess machines are using standard components from International suppliers with original model and serial numbers. Secondly, we have service facilities in most of the countries and all the machines are equipped with modem system to check for electrical, electronic and software problems at any time.
Hess is in the process of starting the service and parts facility by end of this year. Apart from that Hess decided to start assembly of machine in our Bangalore facility which will officially open before Excon 2011.
Pakona

Mr. T.P. Soji, Senior Manager Marketing, Pakona
Demand forecast: Various models manufactured by Columbia Machine, Inc. U.S.A. are capable of producing 50,000 to 300,000 bricks per day. Builders and developers who are into Special Economic Zones, townships and residential complexes are purchasing our plants for manufacturing blocks, bricks and pavers for their captive consumption. (Quality conscious builders who are having less requirements are also purchasing bricks, Pavers and Blocks from building material suppliers who manufactures concrete products from Columbia Machines). Good clay is not available for manufacturing clay bricks. Due to non-availability of good clay bricks and scarcity of manpower, builders have started using fully Automatic Columbia Concrete products plants for manufacturing Hollow/Solid Blocks, Pavers and Flyash Bricks for their requirements. Builders and entrepreneurs were purchasing local or manual machines of low investment, however due to bad quality concrete products manufactured by these machines, now have switched over to fully automatic machines which guarantees a premium selling price.
Government's support & incentives: Government bodies / institutions should educate architects, builders and masons about the advantages of flyash /concrete bricks. The government should amend the rules and policies making it mandatory the usage of flyash bricks near thermal power plant in a radius of 100-150 kms. However, transportation of flyash makes flyash an expensive by-product. The government should also make arrangements to transport flyash at a subsidized rate for manufacturers who are having factories away from power plant. Government should not charge any manufacturing duties, sales tax for flyash/concrete bricks. Further, the government has to make arrangements for loans at lower interest rates for such manufacturers.

Quality control systems: We have manufacturing facilities in USA and Vadodara, Gujarat. In our factories, we have three stages of Quality Assurance. We have a full fledged quality assurance department to take care of incoming, in process and final quality tests. Equipment are passed through Factory Acceptance Test before despatch. Columbia Machine, Inc. USA has got a separate department at Vancouver USA dedicated for R&D and Application Engineering (AE). Our AE team takes feedback from Customers and gives feedback to R&D department which designs and develops customized solution. Our AE department in Baroda conducts trial for our customers in developing new concrete products.
After sales services & spare parts availability: We started our manufacturing unit in 1999 with full fledged service team based at Baroda and Mumbai to take care of our customer’s service requir- ement. We always keep stock of spare parts at our factory in Baroda and we ship it to customer at the earliest by Air Cargo or by overnight courier. We train our customer’s operators at our factory before despatching and further train them in their plant immediately after commissioning of the Plant. Through this two phases of training, the customer’s operators and technicians will be able to operate the plant. Many of our customers have placed repeat orders which itself explains our prompt after sales support.
Neptune

Mr. Sandeep Dave
Director - Marketing

Mr. Shakti Nissonko
Marketing (Pan India),
Neptune Industries Ltd
Demand forecast: The existing conventional brick kiln owners are still reluctant to go for technology advancement mostly due to lower awareness level along with the finance aspects of it. They have apprehension about the acceptance in the market for these products. However, we have found a new market segment wherein forward looking entrepreneurs are keener in setting up these eco-friendly fly ash based brick/block plants and even the light weight high strength Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Block making plants. They are knowledgeable and are quite aggressive in their approach for the future prospects of Fly ash based products such as Fly ash bricks, Concrete Paver & Blocks and Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Blocks etc. Also we see real estate developers, Cement manufacturing companies; steel & thermal power plants and civil contractors as the next future market segment.

Some of our esteemed custo- mers are Balaji Fly Ash PVt. Ltd., Usha Martin Limited, Uttam Galva Steel Ltd, Janki Corp. Ltd., Nirma Limited, Salasar Steel and Power Ltd, Chiripal Group, Atul Ltd etc.
Government's support & incentives: Proactive role of Governments e.g. preference for use of the new products in government projects would build confidence among end-user and enhance market for new resource efficient brick products.
- The government can also consider some fiscal incentives, tax benefits e.g. lowering of sales tax for promotion of these products.
- While the brick sector must strive for these improvements, government must provide industrial status, accessibility to easy term loan etc to brick sector.
- The role of co-financing in the project is very important. The past record on financing brick sector is not very encouraging. However with new forward looking entrepreneurs, the financial institutions should support and consider loan assistance to viable projects.
- Promotion of light weight bricks in RCC structures is more relevant as bricks/blocks will be used as a filler material and not as a load bearing material.
- Role of institutions such as TERI, BMTPC are very critical in Training & awareness building.
Neptune Industries Ltd has been actively involved in promoting Fly Ash utilization technologies in India for almost 12 years. Neptune has developed Powder Compacting Technology for Fly Ash Bricks making plants with Hydraulic Press, where upto 70% Fly Ash can be used.
Neptune offers the following Plant & machinery and Turnkey based Project Solution for producing innovative Eco- friendly Fly Ash based products:
Powder Compacting Technology for Fly Ash Brick Plant:
- Neptune Lite – 1000 (Capacity 1000 Bricks/Hr.)
- Neptune Lite – 1500 (Capacity 1500 Bricks/Hr.)
- Neptune Lite – 2000 (Capacity 2000 Bricks/Hr.) Vibro Compacting Technology for Fly Ash based Brick, Block and Paver making plant:
- Neptune Vibro 5000 (Capacity 5040 Bricks/hr or 2880 I-Paver/ hr)
- Capacity 3,00,000 brick/ block per day Alpina Neptune Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Technology (AAC): A JV with Alpina Industriale SpA – Italy for Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Technology (AAC)
- Capacity 200 – 600 cubic meter per day

After sales services & spare parts availability: We operate out of our Sales & Marketing Head office in Ahmedabad. We have got our Business associates in Kolkata, Ranchi and Pune. Pre-sales consultancy puts Neptune’s experience at the customer’s disposal i.e. each single project is elaborated in accordance with requirements and limits of the clients. This means a highly qualified consultancy with regard to technological development and guaranteed efficient performance. The after-sales service represents the long-term guarantee for the investment of the customers has made by associating with Neptune. We not only provide original spare parts on demand but also an on-call service to ensure a prompt arrangement of the service team.
Prensoland

Mr. Udey H Sardana,
Area Manager-India, Prensoland
Fly Ash products are based on the Puzzolanic reaction of Fly Ash, Lime and Gypsum, which requires a lot of energy in the form of Autoclaving to be able to make a good and strong product. The curing infrastructure in this case requires a much bigger investment, and the manufacturers escape that, by replacing some quantity of Fly Ash with Sand and by adding some Cement to the mix design, compromising the environmental and technical characteristics of the Fly Ash Brick, making it relatively weaker when compared to a Red Brick.
Demand forecast: Hollow Concrete Blocks are now finding much better acceptance as they are lighter and better insulated. They require way lesser mortar for joinery of wall, and need much less mortar of plastering. The final product, the wall made is cheaper, stronger, better insulated (Reducing the energy requirement of the building for Cooling and Heating) when compared to a Red Brick Wall. Indian Standards, allow for using upto 30% fly ash, when making Hollow or Solid Concrete Blocks.
Solid blocks are also finding better acceptance against the Red Bricks, as the wall made with Blocks is much superior technically to a Red Brick Wall, at the same price.
Pre-cast Concrete Products are all about adding more value to your Concrete when you manufacture the products on Prensoland machines, using state-of-the-art technology of Vibrocompaction. These machines are now finding more buyers as they are more dependable, and the products manufactured on them make the construction Faster, Cheaper and Greener.
Government's support & incentives: The government needs to have a taxation policy that encourages the use of Greener Construction products that are made using Fly Ash, or have better insulation qualities making the buildings more eco-friendly.
Company's products & customers support services: Our company provides turnkey solutions to set up Vibro Press installations for making Hollow/Solid Concrete Blocks, Pavers, Tiles, Kerbstones and many more profiles.
We also provide turnkey solutions for manufacturing pre-stressed Concrete Products like Hollow Core Slabs and Beams of Concrete, Stadium Seats, Wall Panels and much more.

We have made more than 1000 machinery installations, and have satisfied customers in more than 50 countries. The oldest working machine is 42 years old and still going strong in Mexico. We have very strong and authentic experience and expertise in the field of Precast Concrete Production lines and practices. We are now equipped to share this experience with you through our associates and presence in India.
Fujian Quangong

Ms. Sandy Yuen,
Fujian Quangong Machinery Co., Ltd.
It takes time and more money for people to accept new materials. New materials produced from industrial waste give people the impression of harmful effect. Like China, fly ash bricks are becoming popular only since 1995. Flyash is cheaper than normal construction materials and has a good insulation property. Together with its environment- friendly characteristics, it eventually earns the public recognition.
Demand forecast: It is believed that the popularity of bricks manufacturing plant will keep on increasing. The demand and supply of the bricks is set to go up every year.
For the demand aspect, the increase of living standard and population would lead to a huge demand of houses in India. Together with the safety awareness of building design, the society pays more attention on the quality of building materials. Supervision and quality control is widely adopted by the industry.

Government's support & incentives: The government promotion is essential because without the government support, nothing can be easily and widely accepted by the society in the shortest time.
Secondly, for quality control, environmental protection as well as resource allocation prospect, regulation and policy can be implemented to restrict the use of conventional bricks in some region. The government can impose heavy tax or provide more additional regulatory requirements on the conventional bricks. Tax reduction should be imposed on the flyash and other environment-friendly materials for promotional purpose.
Company's products offerings: QGM is the only provider of Integrated Solutions for Concrete Block Making in China. We have large R&D, Design and Production teams to tailor-made the design for customers. According to the budget, land size, location, production output and product requirement, we offer different degrees of automatic production lines to suit the needs of customers. If customers have special needs, we will tailor–made the special production solution for them.
We provide comprehensive turnkey solutions based on the application of German frequency conversional technology. In the fully automatic production line, from materials batcher to the picketing machine, the whole procedure is fully automatic and just needs 3 workers in operation. Workers just need to touch the Siemens PLC screen to control the whole block making process.
Quality control systems: QGM has a large team of Quality Control in more than 10 production stages from production materials to packaging process according to the 6S and ISO9001 Quality Management System.
Our main focus is the commissioning procedure of finished products. To ensure the whole production line is working well, QGM has commissioning workshop for every component before painting and packaging procedure. We spend 20-30 days for this rigorous and significant process. All inferior goods are eliminated. Our 100% Quality Control gives high guarantee for customers.
With 28 R&D top engineers and 60 technicians, QGM has been consistently supporting its customers from around the world with up-to-date development. In the same pace with international well-known European block making enterprises, quality of QGM machinery is in the top international standard.
After sales services & spare parts availability: Machines from QGM are distributed to more than 100 countries. To provide efficient after-sale services, QGM has 10 overseas offices and 25 warehouses, including India.

QGM has 100% quality guarantee and 100% technical support for overseas customers. To minimize the downtime of machinery, all QGM machinery has 1 year quality warranty and unlimited spare parts replacement and consultation system. All spare parts can be replaced conveniently in our warehouse or office in India or in China. To make sure Indian customers can have better after-sales services and get the spare parts replacement quickly, we are going to set up a large-scale office and warehouse in India.
Sree Parijatha Machinery

Mr. J. Ramesh,
Managing Partner, Sree Parijatha Machinery Works
Fortunately due to its excellent pozzolonic properties, it was discovered that it could be easily blended with Cement to produce good concrete products thereby completely eliminating it from the dump yards.
The use of fly as based products started very late in India as compared to western countries. This is due to skepticism expressed by the users due to lack of awareness and knowledge about Fly Ash and its advantages.
In fact, processed fly ash is being sold in packaged bags in some developed countries for various application and the recovery and utilization is very organized and maximized in these countries.
However, thanks to various government initiatives and better understanding and awareness of Fly Ash and it is being extensively used in various construction related materials and products.
Demand forecast: Brick or Blocks manufactured using Fly ash have all the requisite properties required for the construction industry apart from being light weight which is an additional advantage for Builders. Therefore, they were quick to realize its potential because of which, there is a huge spurt in demand for Fly ash based Bricks and Blocks in the construction Industry.

Government's support & incentives: Although there has been initiative on the part of the Central Government earlier to promote the use of Fly Ash based products, the enthusiasm for the same has waned of late. To promote better use of Fly ash based products, the government should provide incentives like exemption or reduction in Excise duty and VAT.
Also, since the accessibility of Fly Ash to Metros is quite far in many cases, the government should provide subsidy by way of reimbursing part of the excess Transport costs for the same.
Company's product offerings: Parijatha, is the leading manufacturer of Fly ash based plants in India with the maximum number of plants compared to any manufacturer in India.This is because of our unique systems and technologies which enables us to produce products with the maximum utilization of Fly Ash. This translates to a huge cost saving for the Brick manufacturer apart from importantly maximizing the usage of this environmentally hazardous material for constructive purposes.
The unique Vibro-press technology perfected by Parijatha over the years, has made our range of machines the most successful in the market which meets the customers requirements in terms of excellent cost reduction in manufacture and minimum working/maintenance costs.
We offer complete plants for manufacture of Fly ash based products which incudes the batching plants, Mixers, conveyors, Block machine, Pallet handling systems and related accessories.

Quality control systems: Parijatha has the best manufacturing facility compared to any manufacturer in India which can easily matchor exceed International standards. We follow the best and most proven machining practices and techniques apart from thorough inspection by qualified engineers. Also, our design team is continuously innovating to ensure that the products are completely troublefree. Also, our R&D team is striving to launch new products, systems and technologies regularly to maintain the leadership position in the market.
After sales services & spare parts availability: Parijatha has a team of very experienced technicians and engineers who take care of the Installation and Commissioning of all our plants apart from providing Service Back up.
Additionally, we have a ready stock of all consumable spares required by the customers to be able to deliver to them at immediate notice. Also, we recommend our buyers some essential spares parts which ensure that there is very little downtime of the machines apart from following a regular preventive maintenance schedule. Moreover, the quality of Parijatha products is such that the need for such a situation is very far between.
SRS Finlay

Mr. Yireikan Khapudang,
General Manager - SRS Finlay
Though there are few R&D institutes such as INSWAREB which actively promots the use of fly ash. The brick manufacturer’s awareness on the usage of fly-ash is also low as majority of them are in an unorganised sector. For instance, fly bottom ash (FBA) which is a grade of fly-ash generated in every thermal power plant is used extensively to make bricks in Scotland. These bricks are rated as a premium green product satisfying all the UK (United Kingdom) standard building norms. While in India, (FBA) ash is dumped in the pond without any significant value, due to lack of awareness.
The fly-ash quality (chemical composition) also depends on the coal quality used in different plants, so the mix design at one end may not be the same for another region which needs a deeper understanding delaying the process.
Demand forecast: I will not completely agree that every other real estate developer in India is planning to have their own manufacturing plant. A few developers who have gone ahead with such facility are looking for quality building materials; reduce the risk of cost overruns of delay in project timelines due to shortage of bricks. It also reduces the overheads cost by avoiding the tedious job of verifying the quality of bricks in every truck at entry point supplied by many vendors.
As global construction practices get adapted in Indian Industry, which stresses on the importance of meeting timelines and quality, EPC and developers are likely to adapt time tested concrete blocks in their structures.
The Indian market is huge for all equipment manufacturers but a good machine which can produce quality will dominate over the years.
Government's support & incentives: The 70% of India’s electricity is generated through coal fired thermal power plant. Fly ash disposal continues to remain a challenge to many thermal power plants across the country as there was no effective use of fly-ash in civil construction in the past, the accumulation of ash in the dump pond over the years has simply overshot its capacity. Such disposal/storage cost relatively affected the profitability of the power plant.

One interesting trend that was noted is when the project tender specifies the usage of fly-ash bricks usage. The EPC players take initiative at their end to fulfil such norms at the time of bidding, thus creating the demand. Such regulatory steps need to be taken by the government to actively spur demand for fly-ash bricks.
Thermal power plants should provide fly ash at such a rate that the brick manufacturers find fly ash bricks making profitable.
Company's product offerings: SRS Finlay is a Northern Ireland based company which has been into concrete/fly ash bricks making equipment for over 60 years with worldwide presence.
Our machines are popular for their simplicity and easy to operate in design which made us popular worldwide unlike a complicated huge static block manufacturing facility.
The principle of our block making machine is as simple as an Indian made (Coimbatore) egg laying machines, however the size and the scale is 7-8 times more achieving huge reduction in labour coupled with intense R&D engineering design to get quality products.

Quality control systems: SRS Finlay is constantly innovating its products. With over 20 years of experience in Middle East, we have integrated quite a number of localized technologies into our equipment based on application. Our machines are also operating in Africa in extreme conditions; we continually customize our machines to suit the local conditions.
After sales services & spare parts availability: We have sales offices and distributors in more than four cities of India. We offer fast moving spare parts in first deals which are easy to replace and re-run. Our 24 hrs after sales service support number is available to all customers. In case of major problem, our engineers will attend the machine within 48 to 78 hours.
VED PMC Ltd.

Mr. Ramachandran,
Director, VED PMC Ltd.,

It’s worth acknowledging the government’s tremendous efforts to boost infrastructure through proper channels and national organization. A similar foundation needs to be set up to support and serve as information source for training, technological research, facility modernization and new products development. A National promotion body to broaden knowledge base and to ensure effective industry participation is also needed.

For the first time in India, "The fully Automated and most economical Plant AME GmbH, from Austria" have been installed at VED PMC LTD (our factory), Taloja, Dist Raigad and is in full operation. The single automated machine can produce a range of 100 products. We are collaborated with AME GmbH, Austria for their sales promotion in India. We give complete end to end solution with most economical operations.
Sahjanand

Er. Nikunj Bhatt
Director Technical,
Sahjanand Flyash Bricks Plant (P) Ltd
- It is eco-friendly.
- High strength and light weight.
- Full size and shep saving cement in mortar and plaster.
- Less wastage and breakages.
- Effloresce and termite free
- Reduce dead load on total Building Structure, thus saving steel and cement
- It is Aging material

- Transportation
- Brakeage and wastage
- Quality control
- Targetive Production.
- Free flyash
- Special subsidy for plant installation
- Special quota reserved of flyash
- Tax benefit on Final product
- Compulsory use of flyash bricks in government projects
- Promotions to Flyash Brick Manufacturers

In every part of country, we have appointed sales service – spare parts dealers, we provide them technical training and maintain enough stoke of spare in their stores.
At the time of installation, our technical person will stay at least for 7-10 days on Project site and they will Provide installation – Training how to operate and maintain the plant without taking any charge. After customer satisfaction report, our Technician will handover the plant to customer after that our local dealer will look after Sales Service.