L&T inaugurates its switchgear facility at Vadodara

Company's Electrical & Automation wing will manufacture air circuit breakers

Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro today inaugurated its manufacturing facility for switchgear products at Vadodara, a capacity expansion initiative for its Electrical & Automation (E&A) wing.

The E&A wing, one of the market leaders in low voltage switchgear in the country, will manufacture air circuit breakers (ACBs) and moulded case circuit breakers (MCCBs) at this facility, the company said in a statement.

"The facility houses modules for the assembly lines for circuit breakers - ACBs and MCCBs - along with the shops for press working, moulding and tooling. A development centre to provide research, development and engineering for circuit breakers will also be located here," the statment said.

L&T Chairman and Managing Director A M Naik said, "The new Vadodara switchgear facility is an investment for the future. It forms part of the wide ranging initiatives we are taking forward ... The facility will enable us to elevate switchgear manufacturing technology to the next level, and advance further in our goal to upgrade India's manufacturing capabilities."

The company said a smart mix of labour and automation deployed there would enhance productivity by 2.5 times.

"All critical-to-quality steps have error-free assembly. The lines are equipped to produce circuit breakers of different frames and several ratings from 16A to 6300A," it added.

The company's Senior Vice President & Head of Electrical &Automation, S C Bhargava, said, "This facility is an expansion of capacity that will augment E&A's competitive strengths. We intend to extend our manufacturing expertise to suppliers and support the development of a high quality manufacturing environment in and around Vadodara."

The manufacturing facility has applied for 'Green Factory' certification in line with the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) norms and audited for the ISO 9001 certification.

All material used in the construction are green-certified and eco-friendly, it said, adding environment management measures include tree plantation, rain water harvesting and zero discharge of water.