Sujata Agrawal

The boom time in infrastructure development has put TRF on a good wicket. New investments in adjacent business areas and expanding the current business will help the company to flourish further in the days ahead

For over 45 years, TRF has been lending a hand to fulfill India’s infrastructure needs in the design, manufacturing, supply and installation of bulk-handling equipment and systems.

TRF was established in 1962 at a time, when Tata Steel had expanded its production capacity to 2 million tonnes and started feeling that it required to acquire in-house capabilities to take care of its bulk material-handling needs. Tata Robins Fraser (renamed TRF in 1984) was set up as a joint venture between Tata Steel, Robins Engineers and ACC.

Over the years, the company expanded the scope of its work to undertake jobs for other steel and power plants. It managed this through two Jamshedpur-based divisions, bulk material handling equipment and bulk material handling systems. In the late 1990s, two more divisions were added, port and yard equipment and EPC
and EPCM (earlier Tata Korf Engineering Services), both based in Kolkata.

Today TRF caters to four major sectors: power plants, steel plants, ports and mining. It provides a comprehensive range of material-handling equipment and allied services. In the products space, apart from manufacturing idlers and pulleys, it has expanded its range to deliver conveyor components, crushers, vibro-feeders, screens, apron and plough feeders, wagon tipplers and loaders, shuttle conveyors, grab buckets, underground mining vehicles, shipyard cranes, special-purpose cranes and more.

TRF also undertakes consultancy work for mini blast furnaces. It has the mini sinter plant technology and is currently looking at mini pelletising plant technology. “Iron ore mining generates huge amount of fines and these technologies will help convert these fines into
useable intermediates for the steel industries,” says TRF managing director Sudhir Deoras. “This would be TRF’s endeavour to protect scarce natural resources.”

A feature of TRF’s business is its designed-to-order products (the company does not have standardised off-the-shelf products). “Each equipment is designed to suit a specific application. We have an R&D and engineering group that monitors the development of new equipment and designs to meet the demands of our customers,” says Deoras.

In the last 18 months, TRF has designed, manufactured and successfully tested two new mining machines. Commercial production and marketing of these is expected to begin soon. On the services front, the company’s project management software (with an online data-generation facility) provides timely and essential information for resource planning and execution of projects, giving customers a crucial competitive advantage.

Finding the right people has become a big challenge for TRF. With business opportunities increasing, there is a growing demand for skilled manpower: designers and production engineers as well as welders, fitters and gas cutters. “Our attrition rate, which was insignificant four years ago, has risen to 15-20 per cent over the last two years,” says Deoras. “We have to train people to meet our future requirements and rebuild the team. Our focus on new HR initiatives and business excellence will help us.”

The infrastructure industry is all about tenders and customers, mostly large organisations and government companies. “Traditionally, the business has low margins and involves large working capital requirements, especially in the form of retention money,” says Deoras. “However, the spurt in infrastructure development has led to an
increase in demand for our equipment and services.”

That is the most important reason why TRF’s turnover has increased from Rs216 crore in 2005-06 to Rs347 crore in 2006-07. “This year, we expect to touch Rs500 [crore],” says Deoras. “Once there, we hope to double our revenues, in the next three years. Sustaining such growth will mean upgrading our technolgoy and people skills on a continuous basis.”

TRF recently acquired a 51 per cent stake in York Transport Equipment Asia, a Singapore-based company that manufactures trailer axles and trailers. The company has a manufacturing base in Singapore, China and Australia, and sells in 27 countries worldwide including India. Deoras is confident that with the development of the golden quadrilateral project, road transport will increase dramatically and the ensuing demand for trailers and trailer axles will provide a huge growth avenue.

With infrastructure development expanding by leaps and bounds, TRF has a bright future ahead.

Uploaded in February 2008