Ramesh Babbar, President & Director - Columbia Machine Engineering

Columbia has close to 300 Automatic Concrete Block Plants working in India. Most of these are working with semi-automatic working systems for the handling of pallets with green and cured products. We have developed automatic handling systems for our small pallet machines which will be displayed at Excon this year.

Columbia introduced automated lubrication system and has sold over 20 plants with this system.
We have introduced automatic lubrication systems for the vibrator assembly of our Concrete Block Machines Model SPM20. All our high output plants are equipped with the same. Manual greasing may affect the life of vibrator and associated parts. To rule this out, Columbia introduced this automated lubrication system and we have sold over 20 plants with this system in the last one year. All of them are working successfully all over India, producing value-added concrete products.

Automation erases the errors caused by human intervention, and day by day manpower is getting expensive, and with the introduction of automation, these two issues can be addressed. Automation involves capital investment. The initial cost involved in automation is still a challenge, but Indian customers are slowly and steadily moving towards automation.

Manufacturing precast Concrete Products in a controlled environment under the supervision of trained and skilled workmen is being increasingly preferred.
In India, hiring skilled workers in construction and equipment industry is still a challenge, due to which manufacturing products and getting work done at site becomes difficult. This hampers the quality and progress of the project. Hence, it is preferred to manufacture precast Concrete Products in a controlled environment under the supervision of trained and skilled workmen. This also ensures more productivity and consistent quality products. Our customers have realized this and are implementing it at their plants. We share the success stories of one customer at one location with another customer at another location across India. This spreads awareness of the latest technology and trends even to remote locations. Tradeshows like Excon also play a major role in sharing and implementing knowledge and information among customers.

Many low cost manufacturing countries’ machines fail in producing quality products or meeting the quality benchmarks set by Columbia customers.
Manufacturers from these countries dump low cost equipment in Indian markets. Some of these Indian buyers get attracted by their price and buy these machines. Most of these machines fail in producing quality products or meeting the quality benchmarks set by Columbia. These products fail miserably at site, thus spoiling the name of that particular Concrete Product manufacturer brand. If the buyer is financially sound enough to survive this disaster he comes back to Columbia. Such low cost manufacturing companies have started entering into partnership with local Indian or European companies and have started selling their machines in their name. This has spoiled the market to a great extent.

We can make products as short as 25mm and as tall as 175mm.
We have made several design changes on our flagship product SPM20 and launched new and fully automatic Concrete Block Machine SPM30 last year. The Model SPM30 machine is provided with a unique Rack Loader / Unloader Model UL30 made in India with technology from Columbia Machine, USA.

UL 30 provides completely automatic loading and unloading the production pallets into the racks. Further cured products are automatically cubed on wooden pallets using the Plate Style Cuber PSC 200, again made in India with technology provided by Columbia Machine USA. This increased pallet and product handing efficiency improves productivity as well as reduces product handling damages drastically.

We have made numerous design changes on our flagship model SPM20 to make it more price effective and suited to the ever-changing demands of the market. Now we can make products as short as 25mm and as tall as 175mm. Another enhancement is the special mold design with core puller arrangement. This is a special attachment / accessory in model SPM 20 block machine, similar to front feed drawer. This works with the specially designed molds to produce speciality products on SPM 20 machine like Flyash bricks with hole, interlocking solid blocks and special retaining wall blocks.


Our team of experienced engineers can design a plant to fit local production needs.
Local sales and service network, along with our easily available local spare parts, moulds and training facilities, provide unmatched world-class support locally. Our team of experienced engineers can design a plant to fit local production needs as well as provide installation support and training for plant personnel. We have a full team of service engineers who continuously provide after sales service that includes installation, commissioning and successful trials. The customer has access to our 24-hour customer service helpline number where engineers take care of all queries.

There is a shift towards automation, restriction in over utilization of natural resources, and relevance of green technology for a sustainable future.
Since there is market for quality equipment manufacturers, we get customers from all over India. Shift towards automation, restriction towards over utilization of natural resources, relevance of green technology for a sustainable future have all led to the increased demand of our machine and technology for the growth of our nation and economy.

We have expansion plans not only for India but for other Asian and African countries as well. We have a presence in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Nigeria. In India, our database of existing customers include UltraTech, Shobha Developers, Adani, JSW, Rockwool, MAN Infrastructure, Vyara Tiles, Nitco, Super Precast and Infrastructure, PM Pavers, Super Tiles & Marbles, Mundra Port, JNPT, road projects like the Golden Quadrilateral, NH 8, NH 3, and many more.