Nippon Steel & Sumikin Materials India Pvt. Ltd. (NSMAT), a fully-owned subsidiary of Nippon Steel Sumikin Materials of Japan, is one of the leading manufacturers of metal substrate for catalytic converter (NS HoneycombTM).
To meet the growing demand for vehicles to be environment-friendly, Nippon Steel & Sumikin Materials has developed metal substrates for catalytic converters with extra-thin stainless steel foil. These substrates have attracted worldwide attention as compact components for exhaust after-treatment systems, which bring out both high efficiency for exhaust emission conversion and high engine power of vehicles.
The company has also developed new stainless steel foil that bears high atmospheric temperature of more than 1000oC, which fully meets the high demand for reduced fuel consumption. Together with the computer simulation techniques such as computational fluid dynamics, the company offers technical services for meeting the demands from automobile manufacturers.
In India, NSMAT has emerged as a trend-setter in successfully managing its operations with an all-woman workforce. In order to know the company’s philosophy in engaging the woman power as well as its future plans, MOTORINDIA recently had an exclusive interview at the Oragadam plant with Mr. Shimizu Junichi, Managing Director, Company President, Metal Substrate Company, Nippon Steel & Sumikin Materials Co. Ltd., who is based out of the headquarters in Japan.
It is heartening to note that the manufacturing operations of NSMAT located at the SIPCOT Industrial Park, Oragadam, near Chennai, are fully managed by women with diploma qualification from different fields of manufacturing. Even a fork lift used at the shop floor for movement of goods is driven by women.
Mr. Shimizu said that, with women managing NSMAT’s Indian operations, they have become a trend-setter by maintaining high productivity and quality standard. In fact, a few women from Indian operations have been sent to the company’s Indonesian plant to give training to their women workforce.
Mr. Shimizu further said that the company’s current focus is on catering to two-wheeler producers by supplying the metal substrate for leading catalytic converter manufacturers like BASF, Johnson Matthey, Mitsui-Kinzoku Coatings, Sud-Chemie, etc. It also has plans to expand supply to four-wheeler and commercial vehicle manufacturers.
Headquartered in Japan, currently the company has its manufacturing plants in China and Indonesia, besides India. Since there is growing demand for the company products, it proposes to set up its second unit in Gujarat which is considered one of the fastest growing automobile hubs in the country.
According to Mr. K. Unnikrishnan, General Manager, who is heading the Chennai operations, NSMAT has entered the Indian market with a long-term vision and has been growing steadily since inception. All the company products are meeting the required environmental norms. Barring a few critical components which are imported from Japan, the company maintains a good indigenous production level to ensure cost advantage for customers.
Since safety is of utmost importance for Japanese companies, NSMAT has given training at company’s expenses to its’ female employees to learn fork lift driving as well as to obtain the required licence, he said.
