BLW holds an interactive Vendor Meet
Varanasi: Under the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, the Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW) organized an interactive vendor meet on Saturday to spread awareness amongst the domestic manufacturers about the types of products that the BLW is presently importing and those where there are limited domestic suppliers.
Talking to reporters the BLW general manager Anjali Goyal said that BLW’s electric locomotive production line has 98% indigenous materials input, supporting MSMEs and the domestic manufacturing sector in a large way. “We are seeking to encourage domestic manufacturers to start making those products where there are limited indigenous manufacturers,” she said.
“We have organized this vendor meet to spread awareness amongst our domestic manufacturers about the types of products that we are presently importing and those where there are limited domestic suppliers,” said Goyal adding that the vendor will get to interact with the engineers of BLW who will explain the features of these products as well as machines and material and skills required to produce them. This will improve ease of doing business for interested enterprises. In order to facilitate prospective suppliers, several arrangements were made at the meet cum exhibition. During the vendor meet, the officers of the State Bank of India officers interacted with vendors to explain the Letter of Credit scheme introduced on Indian Railways, she said and added that
She said that the BLW is strengthening the economy of country by manufacturing more electric locomotives in pace with target of 100% electrification of Railway network. This will increase procurement of material from domestic industry, creating more employment opportunities. According to the GM, the annual procurement of BLW in 2020-21 is ₹3,000 cr. A substantial share of material is procured from MSMEs. In 2019-20, purchases from MSMEs were nearly ₹1,400 cr. The turnover of nearly ₹4,000 cr. per annum adds to the manufacturing GDP of the economy.
The demand for rail-based freight demand is forecasted to double in coming years, as per draft National Rail Plan. Railways require faster and heavier trains to achieve this objective. The BLW has planned to step up manufacture of 6000 HP freight locomotives of WAG9 class in a big way to meet requirement to run faster and heavier trains.
She said that the BLW continues to make diesel locomotives for export. 165 locomotives have been exported so far. “Presently, we are on the export order for six locomotives for Mozambique. Two Locomotives for Mozambique are in final stages of production. We are also manufacturing diesel locomotives for non-railway customers,” she said adding that the BLW turned out the first export Loco for Tanzania in March 1976 and since then 165 locos have been sold to various countries like Tanzania, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Senegal, Sudan, Angola, Mali, Mozambique and Malaysia.
She said that the BLW has been certified with International Railways Industry Standard (IRIS), and has become the first locomotive production unit of Indian Railways to be certified with this certificate. This IRIS certificate put our practices at the same footing with other world leaders in Locomotive Manufacturing. Apart from this certificate, various other prestigious quality certificates awarded to BLW are ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, OHSAS 18001:2007), ISO 50001:2011, 5-S, NABL ISO 17025:2017 & GreenCo.
Keeping pace with green initiative goals, the BLW has enhanced its solar power generation capacity by 17.31 % and reduced the overall grid energy consumption by 24.51% up to January 2021 compared with corresponding period of 2019-20, she added.
The GM said that the BLW has embarked upon various initiatives to improve quality of locomotive manufacturing. In this connection, BLW has engaged with vendors of large fabricated items, to have their welders trained to ISO-9606 standard at BLW state-of-the-art Welding Research Institute, capable of certifying welders. This will help in skill building and improve competitiveness of the private sector especially MSMEs which enhance Brand India image. BLW is also working on skill up gradation modules for e-learning. Technical Training Center has been developed as “Centre of Excellence for Skill Development”. Under “Skill Development initiatives” envisioned by our Hon’ble PM, a total of 521 local youths have been trained free of cost in various trades and certificates have been awarded so far. Further, 45 youth will be trained in Welding trade in Feb-Mar’21. BLW has also installed Eco-friendly Welding Simulator to enhance welding skills of BLW staff which does not require consumables or emits smoke. Every trainee and welder can test his quality and improve his workmanship under guidance. The shortcomings that have been found in some of the products supplied by private trade are also being addressed to improve quality by way of guidance on jigs and fixtures, welding, workmanship and better understanding of drawings. The whole effort is to improve Brand India.
