Everlast forays into Egypt

Fibreglass composite materials producer Everlast Composites has signed an agreement with Egypt-based Future Pipe Industries (FPI), the world's largest fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) pipe manufacturer and exporter. According to the agreement, Everlast would provide the technical expertise to FPI to produce fibreglass composite materials in Egypt.

"This is a major breakthrough for us, as our indigenous technology has now been recognised by a multinational company," said Everlast director, Dilip Dedhia.

In addition to supplying 75,000 pieces of fibreglass composite manhole covers per year, Everlast would facilitate manufacturing another 25,000 pieces in Egypt to meet the country's annual requirement of 100,000 pieces. For this, the company plans to set up a new facility, with a manufacturing capacity of 10 lakh tonnes of fibreglass composite materials in Gujarat, at an investment of Rs 10 crore. The plant is expected to come on stream in three years. The company plans to enter the capital market to raise funds for further growth.

 

Currently, its plant in Thane has a manufacturing capacity of 50,000 tonnes. The company supplies FRP products to the Bombay Municipal Corporation, Mahanagar Telephone Ltd, City and Industrial Development Corporation, the Bombay Port Trust the and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, among others. The overall size of the industry in India currently stands at Rs 2,000 crore.

FRP and glass reinforced plastic (GRP) composite products such as manhole covers and frames, moulded and pultruded gratings and profiles, fancing, cabins etc are gaining momentum for use in daily life. Despite FRP being non-corrosive, the product directly work as a substitute of cast iron currently used for all these applications.

Talking about the life span of FRP products, Amrit Sanghai, technical director of Everlast said, "Technically speaking the durability of FRP material is 15 years as compared to 30 years of cast iron. But, product made of cast iron does not last to their full life span due to theft and recyclability. Being FRP 30 per cent cheaper, light weight, consumers prefer to replace cast iron with reinforced plastics.

"We have indigenously designed and developed high strength, light-weight, zero scrap value, abrasion-resistant, UV stabilised, anti - corrosion, anti slip/skid, weatherproof FRP and GRP products for both local and global markets. With this innovation, it has provided an alternative to traditional manhole covers which are of cast iron or concrete and prone to breakages, theft and a low lifespan. Use of this product will result into a big lifecycle cost saving on account of zero scrap value and a high lifespan," Sanghai said.