Chandigarh BDS Cluster

Profile of a BDS provider: Delta Energy Nature

Energy audits help to identify potential as well as options for improving energy efficiency. However, the actual adoption of energy efficient options is often hindered by the fact that there is lack of capacity at the ‘cutting edge’ of technology delivery and support services in MSME clusters. For instance, local fabricators must be capable of making the necessary equipment according to strict quality norms; the raw materials and components for the new/modified equipment must be readily available to the cluster at affordable prices (which means putting in place sustainable market linkages); a pool of local technicians must be available to meet routine maintenance and repair requirements for the new technologies; and so on. Such trained BDS providers are not readily available in SME clusters; they have to be identified and their capabilities strengthened where necessary through intensive and sustained capacity building programs.

Delta Energy Nature, Mohali, is one of the two BDS providers whose capacities have been built by the project for conducting energy efficiency studies/energy audits of units in the MPC cluster. Its proprietor, Mr Gurinder Jeet Singh, is a qualified mechanical engineer with over 28 years’ hands-on experience in a variety of positions in the engineering industry. He specializes in designing and fabrication of a wide range of energy efficient furnaces, hydraulic systems, and process control systems. These systems are used in various industries including automobile, engineering, chemical sheet cutting, oil and gas, rubber, plastic, etc. Delta Energy Nature also provides support in the installation and commissioning of these systems; and in training factory workers in their operation and maintenance.

Gurinder’s story as an MSME entrepreneur began in Amritsar, Punjab, where he spent his formative years. His father worked in the railways tool room; his uncle was the foreman at a rolling mill. Gurinder was keen to become an engineer. He completed school and the pre-engineering level but was unable to enroll for a graduate engineering program and instead had to take up a BSc (non-Medical) program. He grew increasingly dissatisfied with what he felt was an uninspiring and excessively ‘theoretical’ syllabus. In 1981 he temporarily gave up his studies to ‘learn the job hands-on’ as a helper at a gear manufacturing factory in Amritsar. With his enthusiasm backed by a good grounding in science, Gurinder was quick to learn the job and became a highly skilled worker within a year. When an imported gear hobbing machine was installed at the factory, he was given the opportunity to operate this sophisticated machine as well. In the meanwhile, at his parents’ urging he also resumed his studies for the B Sc. non medical program in the final year.

During this time his daily routine was gruelling but rewarding, in terms of both experience and education; also, he was earning Rs 880 per month, a handsome sum in those days. Typically, he rose at 0600; took a brisk walk and fetched milk for the household; got ready and left for college by 0830; completed classes at 1330 and went straight to the factory, where he worked in the ‘B’ shift from 1400 to 2200 before returning home. Having settled down in his job, he continued to expand his knowledge of engineering by reading books even on the shop floor.

In 1984 Gurinder left Amritsar to join a mini steel plant in Ludhiana, for this job enabled him to take up evening college classes and complete a diploma course in mechanical engineering. Simultaneously, he took up studies for a Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the AMIE-Institution of Engineers. During this period too, he worked a punishing schedule; yet he made it a practice to study during off-work hours and eventually obtained the AMIE Degree in Mechanical Engineering—equivalent to a  graduate degree in engineering—in 1987.

In 1993, he was offered a job as deputy manager (maintenance) in a Mohali-based auto components manufacturing company. “I accepted the job because Mohali was a much cleaner city, promising a much better quality of life than Ludhiana, which by then had become a very polluted city.” However, in 1998, Gurinder resigned from the firm on ethical grounds, and joined Anand Nishikawa Co Ltd—a company with Japanese collaborators located in Lalru. By this time Gurinder had obtained valuable experience and training in managing a variety of furnaces and temperature control systems, as well as related electrical systems. He had also gained knowledge on quality control aspects.

At Anand Nishikawa Co Ltd, Gurinder obtained an opportunity to display his innovative skills when the management asked him to try and modify the existing furnaces to use furnace oil instead of light diesel oil (LDO). “Furnace oil cost only around Rs 3/50 per litre at the time, compared to Rs 6 per litre for LDO. Hence, the management saw a great opportunity to cut down production costs – provided of course that I could retrofit the existing LDO furnaces to burn furnace oil.” It was a challenging task, particularly because furnace oil had to be pre-heated to 70 °C for proper combustion. Eventually, Gurinder succeeded in developing special valves to solve the pre-heating problem, and he was able to retrofit all the existing LDO furnaces to use furnace oil—to the delight of the management.

“This gave me the idea—and the confidence—to set up my own company to re-design furnaces and other systems for better energy efficiency,” says Gurinder. “I set up Delta Energy Nature in the year 2000 with a capital of just Rs 15000! Today I have my own plot of land and fabrication unit with machinery.” His work starts with a visit to the client’s unit, where he examines the furnace and related systems, identifies ways by which energy efficiency can be improved, and supports the unit in implementing the energy efficient solutions by designing and fabricating the necessary equipment and by training the operators in the use of the equipment. “So far, I have retrofitted 90–95 furnaces; my clients are based all over India, from Kanpur and Nagpur to Kochi and Bangalore.”

Indeed, the story of Delta Energy Nature and its proprietor, Mr Gurinder Jeet Singh, illustrates how a young entrepreneur can run a successful business in the Indian MSME sector through a combination of dedication, innovation, courage, and sheer hard work.