IAMPL - a first tier supplier in India
Strong local partnerships are at the heart of our long-standing presence in India. Our enduring relationship with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) is an example of this. It’s a relationship that began with the licensed production of our Orpheus engines in 1956 and evolved to a joint venture in 2010 for manufacturing aero-engine components.
Located in Bangalore, International Aerospace Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd (IAMPL) is a full accredited benchmark manufacturing facility within the Rolls-Royce gas turbine supply chain, operating the latest technologies to the highest levels of aerospace compliance.
IAMPL manufactures over 100 different parts for use across a range of our civil aerospace engines, including the Trent engine family, RB211 and V2500 engines.
As the new CEO of IAMPL, Mr. Seenivasan Balasubramanian’s focus is on delivering operational excellence, leveraging India’s supply side advantage. We spent a few minutes with Mr. Balasubramanian on his priorities for the business.
As the new CEO of IAMPL, what are your priorities?
A robust and efficient supply chain is an important part of the global growth strategy for Rolls-Royce. IAMPL plays an important role as one of the first tier one suppliers in India for civil gas turbines for any major foreign OEM. Our facility in Bangalore is a demonstration of our long-term commitment to ‘Make in India’.
My overall focus will be to sustainably grow IAMPL, so that we remain a partner of choice for our customers - Rolls-Royce and HAL, a good employer and a contributor to the wider community where we operate.
We continually strive to deliver best-in-class quality products on time, every time and at the best value possible. It is important that we develop and maintain a gold standard of technical instruction that clearly defines the exact manufacturing process for each part and ensure compliance to this standard at all times.
In addition, with the imminent adoption of Industry 4.0 by almost every technology-based industry, including aerospace, my endeavour will be to explore the integration of technologies into our manufacturing processes, contributing to a smarter and more cost-effective manufacturing ecosystem within the country.
With Rolls-Royce focussed on smart manufacturing, what is IAMPL’s plan to get on board with the trend?
Smart Manufacturing is an attractive way to improve productivity and achieve cost efficiencies. It starts with aligning strategic objectives, setting aside the right level of investment, building an infrastructure to support the technology and ensuring that our employees understand that Smart Manufacturing is about helping them work better, not replacing them with robots.
At IAMPL, we have already taken several fundamental steps to improve manufacturing productivity. Today, we are workin0g on the implementation of cellular manufacturing using advanced manufacturing technologies. Apart from that, as we focus on going increasingly digital, we’re turning to robotic process automation across functions such as HR, Finance, Quality and Supply chain to boost productivity levels and improve overall efficiencies.
With India focused on ensuring sustainable development, what are some of the key initiatives you have taken to prioritise green initiatives at IAMPL?
Sustainability is a priority for our business and we’re stepping up our commitment to implement green initiatives across the facility. Progress has been made in several areas including efficiency in operations, the use of energy and water and waste management.
Our facility operates with paperless manufacturing instructions, helping to dramatically reduce costs, improve productivity and efficiency of our workforce, and deliver right first time quality which helps to reduce waste.
To enable recharging of ground water, we have a set of 10 soak pits attached to rain water drains and our in-house sewage treatment plant produces approximately 500 litres of recycled water which is used for watering the plants on the periphery of the facility. Our facility has also upgraded from mercury vapour lamps to LED lighting on the shop floor to conserve electricity. We also ensure efficient control of emissions and effluents and are completely compliant with the requirements of the Karnataka State Pollution Control board guidelines.