Shirole Group In Pact With Armstrong Subsidiary

Armstrong Industrial Specialties Inc, the US-based subsidiary of the $2.8-billion Armstrong World Industries has entered into an alliance with the Pune-based Shirole group to initially market Armstrongs non-asbestos gasket material and later produce it in India.

Armstrongs non-asbestos-based gasket material has wide applications in the automotive and industrial sectors. It has high resistance from temperature, chemical, internal pressures and prevents disintegration and leakages in engines.

We want to develop sufficient amount of volume in the country to justify local manufacturing and bring in new technology, Fred Burgess of Armstrong Industrial Specialities said.

Since the production of non-asbestos gasket materials is very capital intensive with a plant costing around $15 million we need economies of scale to set up a plant in India, he said. Armstrong has two manufacturing facilities in the US and marketing arms world-wide. It also plans to set-up production units in Europe and South America.

 

Amstrong Industrial Spec-ialties is a OEM supplier to several multinational corporations which are already operating in India or are in the process of entering.

Fitwel Gasket Company is a Shirole group firm producing both asbestos-based and non-asbestos based gaskets in Pune. We are already supplying our products to L & T, Kinetic Engineering, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Auto and export our products on a small scale, CS Shirole of the Shirole group said.

Though asbestos-based gasket products are cheaper, the alternative materials developed by Armstrongs research and development laboratories are better performer having higher heat resistance and tensile strength.

World-wide the demand for alternatives to asbestos is on the rise and several countries, except India and US, have already put a ban on the usage of asbestos. Several corporations in the US have voluntarily discontinued the use of asbestos-based products because of the lawsuits as asbestos is found to be detrimental to health.

Since 1979, Armstrong discontinued the use of asbestos and introduced alternative materials for gasket production which are eco-friendly.

In India, over 60 per cent of the Rs 800-crore gasket products market is still dominated by asbestos material.

However, with several MNCs setting up their manufacturing facilities in India, particularly in the automobile sector, the demand for non-asbestos based materials is on the rise. Besides, the importing countries also insist on the use of non-asbestos materials, compelling Indian manufacturers to shift to non-asbestos products.